In 2001, Ministry of Education of China announced that English would be a compulsory subject in public school in China; however, local education departments and individual schools have the flexibility to decide what grade to start English lessons. During the last decade, the disparities in English learning between rural and urban schools has generated a lot of attention due to the unbalanced economic development between coastal and inland regions. This paper examines one longitudinal case study of 36 grade one students from the rural area Yichun in Jiangxi, one of the poorest provinces in China, learning English online with qualified English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers from Canada through a Canadian based EdTech Yorke Communicative Education Ltd. (YorkeOnline) Key findings indicate that online learning could not only help students in rural areas improve their English language abilities, but also instil greater confidence and positive attitudes towards studying English. The findings also suggest that applying the same method to other rural regions could help promote equity of education in English language study in China.

Yan Xiao. A Canadian-based online English educational company promoting equity of education in rural China. Frontiers in Educational Research (2020) Vol. 3 Issue 12: 47-61. https://doi.org/10.25236/FER.2020.031208.

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