Forging a Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation through Centrally Compiled Educational Materials for Language Arts: Characteristics, Mechanisms, and Pathway

Abstract

The centralized compilation and use of educational materials for the three subjects of language arts, ethics and the rule of law (ideology and politics), and history are important moves in the fundamental task of creating educational materials to build up the state’s authority and instill virtue and nurturing the young. Here, centrally compiled educational materials for language arts have unique advantages with respect to strengthening education in the standard spoken and written Chinese language, enhancing the cohesion of the Chinese nation, and so on, and they play an irreplaceable role in forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation. Centered on the “Five Identifications,” this study sets out from the three-dimensional perspective of cognitive factors, affective factors and behavioral factors, to build a framework for analysis of educational materials based on the connotations of the sense of community for the Chinese nation. The characteristics of the representation of the connotative factors of the sense of community for the Chinese nation in centrally compiled educational materials for language arts are: The educational materials comprehensively and emphatically embody the educational content of the “Five Identifications”; the educational content for the different types of identification comprehensively addresses educational objectives in the three areas of cognition, affection and behavior; and educational content on cultural identification is the most enriched. Among the inherent mechanisms for forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation through the centralized compilation of educational materials for language arts, the first is organically integrating the connotative factors of the sense of community for the Chinese nation on the basis of the patterns of the subject of language arts as well as curriculum standards; the second is to use cultural identification as a focal point in promoting education for the “Five Identifications,” while highlighting the unique value of the subject of language arts; and the third is to comprehensively strengthen education for identification with the community of the Chinese nation centered on the text selection system, in combination with the design of form factors and educational activities. The main pathways for forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation through the centralized compilation of educational materials for language arts are: (1) Synchronously strengthening identification with the community of the Chinese nation in the process of improving students’ language arts skills and accomplishments, based on the learning situation; (2) Creating three-dimensional educational objectives for education in the community of the Chinese nation on the basis of cognitive patterns, to build firm ideological foundations; (3) Applying diverse teaching methods and educational techniques to promote consolidation of the sense of community for the Chinese nation in language arts studies and in life.