Abstract:Since 2000,17 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to Japanese scientists.The gap between Japan and China in this field can be ascribed to many factors.Among other things,however,Japan and China adopt quite different foreign language teaching policies.English teaching for non-English majors at tertiary level(College English teaching,CET) of Japanese institutions is devoted to developing students' ability to access and communicate information in their disciplines,while the Chinese CET is regarded as part of liberal education;Japanese CET offer different kinds of English for Academic Purposes(EAP) to address the requirement of subject departments,while Chinese CET offer liberal education courses to meet the individualized needs of students and research interest of English teachers.Japanese CET highlights the development of academic reading and writing skills,while Chinese CET prioritize the micro skills of listening and speaking in the communication of daily life.It seems that Chinese CET is to blame for the lack of academic English literacy of the past generation of Chinese scientists who can neither read nor write in international contexts.To reverse the situation,we may reform Chinese CET policies.