New Course: English Teaching and Learning

Author: Huang Yuanzhen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-09-02
Features: I believe this book will effectively help foreign language teachers, students in normal universities, and teaching researchers to deeply understand the new concepts, content, and perspectives of the English Curriculum Standards, and to learn about the ways and methods of implementing the new curriculum. It will guide them to actively participate in teaching practice and promote the reform of English curricula in primary and secondary schools. — Liu Daoyi
With the official publication and release of the English Curriculum Standards, the curtain was drawn on the reform of English curricula in primary and secondary schools. This marks a pivotal step in the reform of basic education curricula, and the new curriculum concepts are gradually gaining acceptance. The current round of curriculum reform is unprecedented in its scale and speed. For all English teachers, the new curriculum reform presents both opportunities and challenges. To help English teachers adapt to the needs of the reform, meet new challenges, and promote their self-development, Associate Professor Huang Yuanzhen of the College of Foreign Languages, Fujian Normal University, wrote Teaching and Learning of English in the New Curriculum (hereinafter referred to as Teaching and Learning). This monograph on English teaching was edited by Mr. Liu Daoyi, Chief Editor of the People's Education Press, and published by Fujian Education Press. It was introduced to the public in August of this year. The book spans 250,000 words and is a powerful work that keeps pace with the times and reflects the new direction of English teaching reform. It not only tells us how to teach more effectively under the new curriculum but also brings deeper reflections on the field of English teaching.
As one of the first readers of Teaching and Learning, I was deeply inspired and enlightened after reading it. I am amazed by the author's profound theoretical foundation, broad perspective, novel viewpoints, keen insight, ingenious design, and scientific approach. The book is lively, engaging, and captivating, with exquisite cover design, making it hard to put down. Thus, I eagerly took up my pen to write this review.
The book Teaching and Learning has the following five strengths:
1. Keeps Pace with the Times and Reflects the Spirit of Curriculum Reform
Chapter 1, "Entering the English Curriculum Standards," briefly analyzes the trends of curriculum reform in China and abroad, the development process of English teaching syllabi in China's primary and secondary schools, and interprets the advanced concepts of curriculum reform, guiding readers to examine curricula from a fresh perspective and embrace the new curriculum. Teaching and Learning emphasizes the harmonious development of three-dimensional goals in English teaching: knowledge and skills, processes and methods, and attitudes and values. Chapter 4, "Emotional Teaching in English," advocates emotional teaching in English instruction, replacing purely intellectual teaching. It incorporates cognitive strategies for mastering knowledge into the goals of emotional teaching, freeing students from being mere learning machines and making them masters of learning activities full of emotion, fully reflecting the idea of "human-centered" education. Chapter 5, "Learning Strategies and Their Cultivation," systematically elaborates on the connotation, structure, and strategies helpful for language acquisition. The author believes that learning strategies can promote students' intellectual development, foster a positive attitude and personality, make learning behavior proactive and determined, and significantly improve efficiency. Moreover, "there is no fixed method in learning; everyone must fully utilize their subjective initiative and continuously regulate their learning methods."
2. Innovative Titles and Rich, Fresh Content
The book consists of ten chapters, with the titles of chapters other than "Teaching of English Knowledge" (Chapter 6) and "Teaching of Language Skills" (Chapter 7) being very novel, such as "Transformation of Learning Methods" (Chapter 2), "Transformation of Teaching Methods" (Chapter 3), "Cultural Awareness and Cultural Teaching" (Chapter 4), and "Developmental Curriculum Evaluation" (Chapter 9). The content of each chapter is infused with cutting-edge concepts. For example, in Chapter 2, the author states, "The transformation of learning methods aims to change the situation where teachers are centered, classrooms are centered, textbooks are centered, and students are primarily passive recipients of knowledge. It guides students to engage in independent learning, inquiry-based learning, and collaborative learning, bringing substantive changes to their learning." Chapter 3 discusses the theory of multiple intelligences and its impact on English teaching, reviewing representative teaching methods that reflect the current concepts and dynamics of curriculum reform, such as task-based teaching, collaborative learning, and lexical teaching. Chapter 8 emphasizes the goals of cross-cultural education in English and explores the ways to achieve these goals. Chapter 9 advocates the idea that "everyone can succeed" and the evaluation perspective that "the more evaluation criteria, the more excellent students." It encourages actively seeking students' strengths, discovering their potential, helping them recognize themselves, develop themselves, and surpass themselves.
3. Emphasis on Theory and Practice, Integration of Curriculum and Information
The book does not simply present teaching theories to readers but organically combines theory with teaching practice, transforming the theory of English curriculum reform into teachers' curriculum behavior. This not only broadens teachers' horizons but also provides them with accessible, actionable methods and strategies, giving them a clear guide. For example, Chapter 7 explains the teaching of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills from the perspective of cognitive psychology theory, focusing on reviewing relatively mature teaching models for "speaking classes" and "reading classes," which may be of reference value to English teachers. Chapter 10, "Information Technology and English Teaching," provides practical guidance for teachers to discover, utilize, collect, and apply resources, opening up broad space for the integration of information technology and English teaching. In the current round of curriculum reform, the development of curriculum resources has been placed on the agenda. Schools and teachers should become important forces in curriculum resource development, and textbooks are no longer the only curriculum resources.
4. Reforming Traditional Teaching Methods and Boldly Transcending Textbooks
Chapter 3, "Transformation of Teaching Methods," tells readers that textbooks are merely examples, carriers of knowledge, and media for teaching. Teachers should teach with textbooks, make the best use of them, and transcend them, rather than teaching the textbooks themselves or blindly following them. For example, the author lists more than ten implementation methods for task-based activities, which are highly practical and instructive. In collaborative learning, interaction has become the basic form of co-creation, co-existence, consensus, and sharing between teachers and students. The classroom is a dynamic, vivid, and open information transmission system. The author believes, "Teaching, in essence, is a form of 'communication' and 'cooperation'; teaching can be understood as a linguistic form of communication or activity." Therefore, teachers should rely on textbooks, master them, and design teaching activities that allow every student to achieve different levels of development and success, maximizing the benefits of foreign language teaching.
5. Cultivating a Sense of Inquiry and Developing Reflective Abilities
Teachers should be thinkers and researchers. Another feature of Teaching and Learning is that each chapter includes a section titled "Questions and Reflections," which poses insightful questions, leaving readers with ample space to exercise wisdom and creativity. It evokes the feeling that "learning, then one knows one's shortcomings; teaching, then one knows the difficulties." The questions are often thought-provoking and encourage deep reflection. For example, the question in Chapter 5, "How to Understand the Relationship Between Metacognitive Strategies and Cognitive Strategies," guides readers to explore the intrinsic connection between the two after understanding metacognitive and cognitive strategies, thereby enhancing their rational understanding of teaching and learning. The design of "Questions and Reflections" aims to encourage teachers to discover and master the laws of education and teaching, reflect on their teaching behavior, solve teaching problems, and strengthen their innovative awareness and ability, which is beneficial to the professional development of teachers.
Teaching and Learning has many other strengths, but due to space constraints, they cannot all be elaborated on here. Of course, the book also has shortcomings, such as a lack of classroom recordings and cases in English teaching and insufficient summaries in some chapters. However, these are minor flaws that do not detract from the book's overall excellence.
In summary, Teaching and Learning is a readable, thought-provoking, and essential work. As Senior Foreign Language Teaching Expert Liu Daoyi stated in the preface, "I believe this book will effectively help foreign language teachers, students in normal universities, and teaching researchers to deeply understand the new concepts, content, and perspectives of the English Curriculum Standards, and to learn about the ways and methods of implementing the new curriculum. It will guide them to actively participate in teaching practice and promote the reform of English curricula in primary and secondary schools."
Walking Alongside Curriculum Reform to Promote Teaching Development
— Review of Teaching and Learning of English in the New Curriculum
Yang Liangxiong (Specialized Teacher)
Zhejiang No. 1 Middle School, Zhejiang Province
About a year ago, Professor Huang Yuanzhen told me about his intention to write a monograph on English teaching methods. I immediately encouraged him to write about the practical problems in the current reform of basic education curricula. He happily accepted my suggestion and spent nearly a year completing this challenging yet meaningful work, resulting in the book Teaching and Learning of English in the New Curriculum. At this moment, on the one hand, I celebrate the publication of this book; on the other hand, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the author, Professor Huang Yuanzhen. He has done a good deed for the reform of basic English education curricula. I believe this book will effectively help foreign language teachers and teaching researchers to deeply understand the new concepts, content, and perspectives of the English Curriculum Standards, and to learn about the ways and methods of implementing the new curriculum. It will guide them to actively participate in teaching practice and promote the reform of English curricula in primary and secondary schools.
The English curriculum of the new century has gone beyond the scope of foreign language subject research. It is a microcosm of the current reform of basic education curricula in China. The reform of basic education curricula is an objective need for China's political and economic development. In the era of knowledge economy, science and technology have become productive forces, and in the era of competition in national comprehensive strength, education plays a foundational role in this competition. The focus of the competition in comprehensive strength will inevitably shift to education. Education, especially basic education, is key to improving the overall quality of the nation and the main reliance for cultivating hundreds of millions of high-quality laborers and millions of specialized talents needed to enhance national comprehensive strength. Therefore, the core of curriculum reform is to prioritize human development, improve people's quality, and change teaching methods centered on textbook knowledge, teachers, and exams. It transforms the process of students mastering knowledge into a process of inquiry, selection, and creation, and becomes a process of forming students' scientific spirit, innovative spirit, practical abilities, and even their worldview.
The new English curriculum explicitly states that student development is the starting point and destination of the English curriculum. This means that the goal of the English curriculum is to enable students to have sound moral sentiments, form a correct worldview, life philosophy, and values, and possess good personality—humanistic qualities. They should also have the basic knowledge and skills for lifelong learning; more importantly, they should have learning abilities, actively participate in inquiry, be diligent in hands-on activities, good at collecting and processing information, and possess the ability to comprehensively use language and communicate with others.
Since 1977, the development of basic education English curricula can be roughly divided into three stages: 1977–1990, 1985–2000, and 1999–present (see Chapter in this book). Each round of curriculum reform has brought about a collision of new and old ideas and concepts. This time is no exception. Currently, many foreign language teachers or teaching researchers face various doubts and confusions in the face of the new curriculum. For example, how to change students' learning methods? How to truly help students learn independently? How to organize collaborative learning in large classes? Can foreign languages be acquired in China's teaching environment? What is inquiry-based learning? How to carry out task-based activities? How to ensure the training of basic knowledge and skills? How to implement formative evaluation? How to enable students to have both abilities and good exam scores? Can diversified teaching goals be achieved without changing the college entrance examination system? Etc. There are many questions, but they are not surprising. A reform involving hundreds of millions of students and nearly a million foreign language teachers, both in teaching and learning, faces new challenges. If there were no problems, it would actually be abnormal. The solutions to these problems require efforts from both theory and practice. I have repeatedly called for the help of experts from universities and research institutions in the reform of basic education curricula. This applies not only to curriculum design but also to its promotion and implementation.
Professor Huang Yuanzhen, with a strong sense of historical mission, tirelessly collected a wealth of materials and conducted research to pave the way for the implementation of the new English curriculum and provide theoretical and practical guidance to solve everyone's problems. I myself am one of the first readers of this book and found it deeply inspiring. The book consists of ten chapters, with the exception of Chapter , which outlines the background of the English Curriculum Standards, the remaining nine chapters discuss hot topics in English curriculum reform: transformation of learning methods, transformation of teaching methods, emotional teaching in English, learning strategies, teaching of English knowledge, teaching of language skills, cultural awareness and cultural teaching, developmental curriculum evaluation, and information technology and English teaching. Each chapter includes a section titled "Questions and Reflections," which encourages readers to study and research in depth based on practical situations. I believe this book is highly suitable for self-study, training, and pre-service training for foreign language teachers and teaching researchers in primary and secondary schools.
Just as Professor Huang Yuanzhen pointed out, the new curriculum has changed the situation where textbooks control teaching, integrating teachers, students, content, and environment into a dynamic and developmental "ecological environment," providing a new curriculum environment for teaching. In teaching and learning, students are the main body, and whether their subjectivity can be realized depends on teachers. Among the factors of curriculum standards, textbooks, environment, and teachers, teachers should be the main body. Teachers are the main force in implementing the new curriculum. The new curriculum standards present both challenges and opportunities for teachers. Teachers should bravely accept the challenges, study hard, continuously "recharge" and update their concepts, keep pace with the times, and actively explore, innovate, reflect, and improve in teaching practice. In the implementation of the new curriculum standards, teachers should demonstrate their talents and contribute their strength to the reform of basic foreign language curricula in China.
I am confident that this book will serve as a "recharge" for those committed to foreign language curriculum reform, inspiring them to generate motivation during their study and research, and to continuously emit light and heat in a democratic, relaxed, harmonious, diverse, and selective curriculum environment, advancing foreign language education reform and improving teaching quality. This will be the best reward for Professor Huang Yuanzhen and all those who contributed to this book.
Liu Daoyi
June 2003, Beijing