Abstract
The unprecedented expansion of English as a Lingua Franca has largely shaped the state of English language education worldwide, particularly in Asian countries where a number of countries used to be British colonies. With English being spoken as a second or foreign language in almost all Asian countries and required as an essential skill for nearly every profession, English majors, who in the past possessed the competitiveness of being proficient English users, are rapidly losing their advantages. English departments are criticized for developing graduates who can merely use English as a tool but lack critical, independent and innovative thinking skills. This phenomenon, significantly evident in China, is mainly caused by the outdated design of national curriculum for English majors. The present research takes the form of a case study in a Chinese university English department. Classroom observation and in-depth interviews are employed to investigate the problems of and solutions to the current curriculum. Participants believe that excessive language training has led to the weakening of English Language and Literature as an academic discipline and that a return to the humanities-oriented approach for future development of English departments should be adopted. A language plus liberal arts curriculum model is proposed and relevant issues regarding disciplinary construction are discussed. It is hoped that research questions in this study can be further explored with a larger sample elsewhere in China and that the findings could shed some light on the development of English departments in other Asian countries.
Highlights
English Language and Literature ( ELL) as a discipline has been continuously developing for a century in China and the debate over and the reform of the curriculum for it have never ceased
All the participants in this study agreed with a language plus liberal arts model as the future development direction of English departments in China, their considerations seemed to be based on different reasons
Through classroom observation and in-depth interviews, this study discovers the problems existing in the current curriculum for English majors, suggests the direction of returning to a humanities-oriented approach for English departments’ future development, proposes a language plus liberal arts curriculum model and discusses other issues concerning ELL disciplinary construction
Summary
English Language and Literature ( ELL) as a discipline has been continuously developing for a century in China and the debate over and the reform of the curriculum for it have never ceased. Before the founding of The People’s Republic of China in 1949, the educational system of western countries such as the UK and America was adopted by foreign language faculties in China Within this system, students’ knowledge and ability to appreciate English and American literature were emphasized and graduates were expected to become experts in teaching and researching foreign literature. The current curriculum did not reflect the inclusion of courses related to Chinese literature and culture, participants had to take the initiative to provide students with this type of knowledge even if it was not specified in lesson objectives.
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