hure). The 10-question survey was conducted at the 21st Century website) among all the browsers and at the 21st Century Reader’s Club during the two weeks from June 10 to June 23, 2001. During the two-week net survey [2], the survey receives a total of 1,451 responses from readers, far exceeding the 200 minimum level for effective surveys [3]. The survey focuses on how readers make use of 21st Century for English learning (their general purpose, effectiveness after reading) as well as their overall impression of the newspaper and readership information. As we can see from Table 1, half of the overall respondents (26%+24%) chose to read 21st Century for the purpose of learning English, improving English and reading proficiency while about 50 percent (16%+32%) of them have realized their purposes. Of course, the newspaper seems to be most effective in improving their reading proficiency in English (32%). The increase of knowledge and improvement of written ability in English are also listed as major purposes, but more respondents (14%) are confident in their improvement of the writing ability with the help of the newspaper. Table 1: Reading Purpose & Realization of Purposes General Reading PurposeN0. %No. & % Readers Achieved Purposes To learn and improve English11132641516%To improve English reading proficiency10202482032%To enlarge my scope of knowledge70016432%To improve English writing ability4961236814%To read English stories about the world4461053421%To relax to myself38091114%To get to know more people76227411%Others371 According to the net survey result, more than two thirds of the respondents (52%+27%)) say they like 21st Century or very much, although half of them still think the newspaper needs improvement. 0nly about less than ten percent of the respondents do not seem to like 21st Century. Table 2: Preference Reader’s PreferenceNumber PercentageI like it, but it still needs improving69852I like it very much36527I think it is just so-so, but still love to read17113I have no other choice796Other: 212The above results also correspond with the overall evaluation of the newspaper by the respondents. Ninety percent of them agree or partially agree that 21st Century has helped them in their English learning while only less than 10 percent do not agree. Table 3: Overall Evaluation Do you think 21st Century has helped greatlyN0. %Partially agree73455Agree47135Don’t agree1038Others272Of the 1451 respondents, most of them are young readers, with 62 percent from 18 to 25 years, 22 percent from 26 to 30 years (see Table 4). Therefore, it is no surprise that 80 percent of the reader’s education is at the undergraduate level and about 40 percent are basically students and ten percent teachers now. However, it is a little surprising to find that readers who read 21st Century less than six months and more two years are the major respondents during the survey with only about one third of the respondents who have read the newspaper for more than six months but less than two years. Table 4: Readership Information AgeBelow 1818 to 2526 to 3031 to 35Above 35 474%86462%31122%1168%635%Edu.Senior HighUndergraduate MA or Above Job: Others 1017%109380%17413%15812%JobHi-School StudentUniv. StudentTeacherOffice ClerkFactory Worker 655%48936%12810%24518%26720%Read PeriodWithin six months6 to 12 months1 year to 2 years More than 2 year 47035%20215%29322%38429% 3. TV Era: CCTV-Channel 4 The English-language TV programs at China Central Television Station (CCTV), the leader of the TV industry in China, started with English educational programs like “Follow Me.” However, English TV service did not really come into existence until English News was broadcast at the end of 1986, coupled with an interview program Focus and more entertaining programs such as Cultural Lounge and Hello Beijing, which gradually formed a network of English TV program at CCTV (Yang, 1993: 4). On September 20, 1997, this network was turned into CCTV-4, also know as CCTV International, an English satellite channel serving Chinese citizens living overseas, foreign nationals of Chinese origin and foreign viewers who are interested in China. For now, it is a general channel with 17-hour English programs focusing on news and current affairs, as well as economics, entertainment, sports, and children’s programs, movies, TV dramas and documentaries. Since 1998, CCTV International has broadcast 24 hours a day, in four units rotating every six hours. This arrangement enables audiences in different time zones to watch CCTV International at the time most convenient for them(CCTV website). As is the case with most Chinese TV programs, English-language CCTV-4 has also proved attractive to most foreign and Chinese viewers. According to a survey done among 4,600 viewers who responded to the survey organized by the TV Guide, 85.1% of the respondents said that CCTV was their major English channel to get to know China, with 34.7% for CRI, 28.8% for China Daily, 34.9% for BBC and 26.3% for VOA (Yang, 1993: 6). Regional English TV Services in China started to boom in the 1980s. Shanghai Broadcasting Network, officially launched on October 1, 1998, is the only satellite system dedicated to showcasing Shanghai to the world (Dai Hua, director of SBN, personal communication, 2001). With a mixture of English and Chinese programs, SBN now broadcasts 24 hours a day, as part of Shanghai TV Station. Guangdong TV Station started its daily two-hour English News in Guangzhou in 1988 and was forced to stop in 1994 because of the “over-spilled” TV waves of two English channels from Hong Kong (Ranny Lei, vice-head of International News Section of Guangdong TV Station, personal communication, June 11, 2001). 4. Symbiosis Era: An Internet Symbiosis with Traditional Media Internet did not start in China until April 1994, but it is developing rapidly. As of January 30, 2001, the number of internet users in China has risen to 22.5 million with 8.92 million computers. Most of 上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] 下一页
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