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The evolution of the college English curriculum in China (1985–2015): changes, trends and conflicts

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Abstract

English language education has always been accorded paramount importance in China since the mid-1980s. In order to improve English teaching quality, China has initiated several rounds of English curriculum reform at various levels against the backdrop of the unprecedented spread of English as a lingua franca. Drawing upon the texts of the national curriculum documents and the relevant research literature, this paper examines the evolution of the College English curriculum for non-English majors in Chinese higher institutions over the past three decades. It reviews a number of what we see as the most important trends relating to the College English curriculum development, together with some discussion of particularly controversial issues arising from this process. We base the paper’s findings on a three-part theoretical framework consisting of social development, students’ needs and knowledge development to identify the factors which provide the impetus for change in the College English curricula.

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Notes

  1. Kachru (1986) developed a three-circle-model representing World Englishes, namely the Inner Circle (where English acts as the first language), the Outer Circle (where English is used as the official or co-official language) and the Expanding Circle (where English is taught as a foreign language).

  2. The first four bands (1–4) correspond respectively to the English teaching in the four semesters of the first 2 years in college. The last two bands (5–6) are optional, giving students autonomy to choose to study or not. Since 1987, the national standardized College English Test 4 and 6 (CET-4, CET-6) have been administered to examine the effect of graded teaching.

  3. The teaching objectives of Guidelines are divided into three levels: basic, high and advanced. Each level has its corresponding teaching requirement described by general language competence and separate language skills.

  4. A Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offer online courses with unlimited participation and open access via the Web.

  5. In a flipped classroom, students learn contents online by watching video lectures outside of the classroom, and engage in discussing and solving questions with teachers and peers during the class period.

  6. The Mobile English Learning Platform intends to provide students with mobile learning (commonly known as M-learning) opportunities. M-learning is a form of distance education that enables learners to use mobile devices such as mobile phones and MP3 players for instructional purposes.

  7. In China, a college can be research-, teaching-oriented or a combination of the two. In addition to the traditional comprehensive universities, normal universities and science and engineering universities, there are also some specialized universities like ocean university, agricultural university, forestry university, etc.

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Funding

This work is supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China [Grant Number 15BYY075].

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  1. School of Foreign Languages, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Guanshan Street, Wuchang District, Wuhan City, 430074, Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China

    Jinfen Xu & Yumei Fan

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  1. Jinfen Xu
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  2. Yumei Fan
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Correspondence to Yumei Fan.

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Xu, J., Fan, Y. The evolution of the college English curriculum in China (1985–2015): changes, trends and conflicts. Lang Policy 16, 267–289 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-016-9407-1

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