Well,this is a very common problem among Chinese students.There are numerous reasons behind it.It could be that the Chinese education,when it comes to teaching foreign languages,emphasizes too much on reading and writing,and not nearly enough on listening and speaking.A lot of Chinese students are taught to memorize vocabularies,paragraphs of texts and dialogues,rules of grammer,etc.And most of all,they are taught to pass tests.In their mind,English is just another subject they learn at school,another test they have to take.Many of Chinese teachers,parents and students fail to realize that English is a language that is supposed to be put in USE.The best way to learn a foreign language is to use it,not just in writing and reading,but also in speaking and listening.
Another thing is that there is still limited resources when it comes to the area of foreign language education in China.Students,as well as teachers,don't have a whole lot of other materials they can use to improve their learning/teaching.Some of the text books they use are out-dated or old-fashioned.There's limited (and sometimes pitiful) amount of listening material.To tell you the truth,some of the listening material used in China are done by non-native speakers,they sound RIDICULOUS because their accent is SO bad.
Then there is the problem about the teachers.First of all,I have to say that it's not totally their fault that they are behind on their teaching methods.Because,one,that's the way they were taught,two,they don't have a lot of ways to first realize that they're doing something wrong and then actually have the ability to correct them.But still,their teaching methods are out-dated and sometimes just wrong.( Then again,most of them don't even know that.What can you do?!)
Another thing is that there still aren't very many foreign English teachers in China.Most Chinese students don't really have the opportunity to listen to,as well as talk with native speakers,which is very important when it comes to learning a foreign language.You can recite your texts five hundred times fluently,but that doesn't mean you can hold a five-minute conversation in English,not to mention with a native speaker.
