6. Conclution…… 9

References 10

Appendix 11

I. Introduction

Private supplementary tutoring has been expanding rapidly in China (Lei, 2005; Tsang, Ding, & Shen, 2010; Xue & Ding, 2009) and elsewhere (Bray & Lykins, 2012; Bray,2009, 2011; Dang & Rogers, 2008). According to Xue and Ding (2009), for example, 73.8% of students in elementary schools, 65.6% of junior middle school students, and 53.5% of senior high school students participated in private tutoring in urban China in 2004. It has become more and more prevalent for high school students to employ private tutors to improve their competitiveness in the college entrance examination in China (Xue & Ding, 2009).

    As we all know, English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now a global lingua franca. It is an official language of almost 60 sovereign states and the most commonly spoken language in sovereign states including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and a number of Caribbean nations. It is the third-most-common native language in the world, after Mandarin and Spanish. It is widely learned as a second language and is an official language of the European Union and of the United Nations, as well as of many world organisations.

“In the world, the official language of  45 countries is English. The 1/3 of the world’s population speak English. 75% of the world’s TV shows broadcast in English. 80% of the science and technology information express in English. And nearly 100% of the software's source codes are written in English.”

    Household costs on private tutoring and students’ time devoted to private tutoring are part of the household’s private spending of education. And private cost of education has been found to be an important part of the total cost of education in China and elsewhere (Li & Tsang, 2003; Tsang, 2002). Thus, a better understanding of the effect of private tutoring on students’ achievement would shed light on policy decisions towards more efficient resource allocation in education in China. And it is necessary to find the efficiency of private tutoring and the reason why an increasing number of students are sent to private tutoring school. If this number indicates there is something wrong with education system in China?

    It is important to clarify that only private tutoring for English is discussed here, for there are so many different kinds of tutoring schools in our life. Tutoring services supported by public funding (such as the Title 1 supported tutoring which is discussed in Zimmera, Hamiltona, and Christinaa (2010)) are not studied in this paper. Private tutoring in math, science, and other subjects like music and arts are also beyond the scope of this study. Three different kinds of teaching forms of private tutoring include (a) one-to-one private tutoring, (b) small groups of students with one tutor, and (c) private tutoring in a large class setting. Two kinds of teachers are included: both schoolteachers and other tutors are considered as private tutors as long as they charge fees for providing tutoring. Also, some public schools require students to participate in some kind of remedial classes or classes for enrichment on weekends and charge extra fees for these classes. It would be considered as private tutoring as well. In this paper, the teaching form of my tutoring school is small group teaching, in which about 20 students are given class. Also, sometimes one-to-one private tutoring is used if necessary. 

    This paper tries to identify the true motivation that parents send their children to tutoring school. From my own working experience in a private tutoring school (Adress: 15 Hubin Park, Lianshi, Nanxun, Huzhou, Zhejiang Province) for four years during my college life, some underlying reasons turn up during my work. Usually improving children’s academic achievements are considered as the main reason why parents send their children to tutoring school. But the truth is that even for those parents whose income actually can’t afford the high tutoring fees still stick to send their children to tutoring school. Does tutoring school have magic effects in improving children’s academic achievements so parents are so eager to send their