Listening Course. Book 2 Teacher's Book

Author: Shi Xinyuan / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-04-01
Features: With the deepening of reform and opening-up, the demand for foreign language talents in all sectors of society has been continuously growing. The enrollment scale of English majors in China has been expanding year by year, and the teaching quality has been constantly improving. Significant achievements have been made in the reform of undergraduate English education, discipline construction, and the publication of teaching materials, with a series of high-quality textbooks that have had a nationwide impact. The arrival of the 21st century has raised higher standards for cultivating English talents, while also presenting new requirements for discipline construction and textbook development. With China's entry into the World Trade Organization, society no longer needs graduates who only know English but rather high-quality specialists with scientific thinking, mental health, broad knowledge, strong comprehensive abilities, and proficiency in English. Due to the implementation of new curriculum standards in secondary schools, students' English proficiency has been improving year by year, and the foundation and comprehensive qualities of English majors upon entering university have also correspondingly increased. Additionally, the rapid development of college English education (for non-English majors) and the improvement of students' English abilities have posed severe challenges and higher requirements for the cultivation of English majors. This has determined that 21st-century English teaching is not merely English training but English education—a comprehensive cultivation of high-quality compound talents with English as the core. The writing and publication of textbooks should also follow this trend.
To meet the challenges of the era, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press (SFLP), one of China's largest foreign language textbook and book publishing bases, should naturally take the lead in foreign language textbook publication. Based on thorough research, SFLP seized the opportunity in the early days of the new century by inviting over 50 English educators from 25 major foreign language universities and key comprehensive universities under the Ministry of Education to hold the "National Series Textbook Writing Committee Meeting for Undergraduate English Majors" in Shanghai. The representatives unanimously agreed on the necessity, feasibility, and urgency of writing textbooks for the new century, and proposed suggestions and requirements regarding writing philosophy, textbook structure, writing procedures, and more. Subsequently, SFLP held multiple expert and scholar meetings across the country and Shanghai to draft writing outlines, determine textbook categories, select textbook projects, and discuss and review drafts. After more than a year of effort, the batch of manuscripts was finally completed. This series of textbooks is divided into several sections, including language knowledge and skills, linguistics and literature, language and culture, humanities and social sciences, testing and teaching methods, among others, with a total of over 150 titles, covering almost all courses currently offered in English majors at Chinese universities. The content is both accessible and profound, reflecting the latest research findings in various fields; the writing format adopts the latest national standards, striving for scientific rigor and meeting the specific requirements of each course; and the writing philosophy focuses not only on helping students build a solid language foundation but also on cultivating their ability to analyze and solve problems, improving their humanities and scientific literacy, fostering a positive life outlook, and enabling them to truly become the foreign language specialists China needs in the 21st century.
The writing committee of this series is composed of renowned figures in China's English education field, with most being experts who have made significant contributions in various fields and many serving as members of the National Advisory Committee on Foreign Language Teaching in Higher Education. The textbook authors were all selected by the writing committee after careful review of drafts, with some chosen from among multiple candidates. Overall, they represent the development direction and level of English education in China. Given the innovative writing philosophy, distinct features, grand system, and authoritative authors of this series, the Ministry of Education has included it in the "11th Five-Year Plan" key textbook project.
We believe that following the "Series Textbooks for Graduate English Language and Literature Majors," the writing and publication of this series by SFLP will not only meet the needs of cultivating English talents in the 21st century but also its foresight, advancement, and innovation will open up new ideas and perspectives for the writing of foreign language textbooks and even textbooks in other disciplines.