Incorporate curriculum requirement and social requirement into learner needs

Abstract

College English is still treated as an academic center course in China mainland, and college instruction is aimed at transmitting the type of knowledge and skills that academic center courses require; although, the national College English Curriculum Requirements prescribe that the goal of college English instruction should be geared at the cultivation of the ability to use English, at the same time, enhance learner autonomy, comprehensive calibers in order to cater for the demand of social development of international communication. The present study, from the perspective of context-based courses, set out to explore how to incorporate curriculum requirements and social requirements into learner needs. The project adopted Wigginss and Mctighe’s backward design to decide on what to teach, how to teach and how to evaluate. First, the course was analyzed to construct a concept map of the content and objectives of the course, social requirements were investigated, and learner needs were analyzed, based on which the context-based course was developed. For instruction, an optional design was provided so that students could choose according to their requirements, and a variety of teaching methods were adopted with reference to the requirement of different content and objectives. In this project, task-based approach, project-based learning, community service learning, and case teaching methods were tried. To ensure the attainment of basic requirements, the unit assessment was adopted as the main tool of evaluation, which performed the function of both summative assessment and formative assessment. It was found that, when curriculum requirements and social requirements are integrated into learner needs, learners would be more motivated, and they learn better. However, one semester’s study seemed to indicate what learners care about most was not a social requirement, but a summative assessment of the course. Keyword: Curriculum requirement, social requirement, learner needs.