A Textbook Study Of Aesthetic Orientation

"Education is the foundation of a country,and the essence of education is textbooks." As one of the most important texts in school education,textbooks carry the important mission of inheriting human civilization,transmitting social values and assist teachers in their teaching and students in their learning.With the evolution of Chinese primary and secondary school textbooks from "one syllabus-one textbook" to "one syllabus-multiple textbooks" or "one curriculum standard-multiple textbooks" and then “unified textbooks of three subjects”,recent years has also shown a positive trend in textbook research area with the continuous expansion of research perspective,the improvement of research methods and the acquisition of more fruitful research results.From the theoretical perspective,an aesthetic-oriented textbook research will be the inevitable result of the perspective expansion on textbook research,and also the indispensable part of the educational aesthetics' theoretical system.From the practical perspective,students' weariness of books and tearing books' issue has occurred from time to time,and the aesthetic value of textbooks has always been mercilessly shielded.Therefore,how to get out of the "exam oriented" and "utilitarianism" mire and how to regain students' close sense of textbooks have both become urgent questions to be answered in educational research.Aesthetics,because of its utilitarian transcendence,has become a good medicine to cure the disadvantages of a one-sided development and constrained inculcation brought about by educational alienation.Therefore,it is of great theoretical value and practical significance to study the textbook from aesthetic orientation.Since the 20th century,four representative theories of Aesthetics from China and the West namely,practical aesthetics,aesthetics of reception,somaesthetics and life aesthetics,have had profound pedagogical values and played an important role in the theoretical foundation of an aesthetic-oriented textbook research.Practical aesthetics have helped us build a textbook that integrates truth,goodness and beauty,conform to the current aesthetic trend and effectively improve the aesthetic ability of teachers and students.Aesthetics of reception have enlightened us to understand students' "horizon of expectation",choose the appropriate content of "aesthetic distance" to promote students' "reconstruction of horizon",adhere to the "reader centered" principle,attach importance to students' independent thinking,and make good use of "blank" to create wordless beauty.Somaesthetics have helped us understand that body perception is the starting point of education,therefore,we should pay attention to the aesthetic of textbooks appearance,expand body consciousness,constantly enrich textbooks content,use aesthetic to bridge the body-mind gap and pay attention to the construction of Sports and Art textbooks.Life aesthetics mentioned the importance of attaching life meaning in textbooks,promote the growth and development of teachers and students' life,and carry out textbook evaluation from the perspective of life.According to the whole life cycle of textbooks,the study of textbooks from aesthetic orientation focuses on four aspects: textbook compilation,product,use and evaluation.First,from the aspect of textbook compilation,the research answers the basic theoretical questions of the connotation,basis,subject,type and steps of the compilation of aesthetic-oriented textbooks.Specifically,the compilation of aesthetic-oriented textbooks refers to the activities in which the compilation subject establishes relevant aesthetic education concepts,increases the aesthetic elements in textbooks and enhances the aesthetic education value of textbooks according to relevant aesthetic principles.The main basis of the compilation of the textbook is the aesthetic requirements in the curriculum plan and curriculum standards,the aesthetic needs of social and political development,the students' aesthetic tendency and aesthetic level.The subjects of the textbooks' compilation include the "front stage" subjects and the "behind the scenes" subjects.The "front stage" subjects are the writers in the process of textbook compilation,such as subject experts,educators,subject pedagogy researchers,psychological researchers,excellent teaching and research staff,primary and secondary school teachers,art editors,illustrators and book cover designers."Behind the scene" subjects are the developers of curriculum standards or syllabus.They do not directly participate in the textbook compilation activities,but they point out the direction for the compilation of textbooks.The subjects of the textbooks' compilation need to have strong aesthetic consciousness,rich aesthetic knowledge,high aesthetic ability and positive aesthetic attitude.The compilation types can be classified according to different standards.From the integration of aesthetic elements,it can be divided into element additional compilation,system integrated compilation and topic expansion compilation;From the emergence of textbook text,it can be divided into work text textbook compilation and subject text textbook compilation.The compilation steps include preparation,design,compilation,test and submission for approval,among which the most important is the specific writing process.Secondly,research on aesthetic-oriented textbook products focuses on two main aspects: the aesthetic of textbooks' content and the aesthetic of textbooks' appearance.This type of research belongs to the static study of textbooks.In terms of the aesthetic of textbooks' content,from the perspective of disciplines,textbooks are divided into humanities,science,sports and arts,and the aesthetic of the textbooks' contents from different disciplines are analyzed;from the perspective of content presentation,the aesthetic of textbook content is divided into the beauty of language,illustration and other symbols;from the perspective of the aesthetic concept,the content of textbooks can be classified into aesthetic in the narrow sense which refers to "beauty",while aesthetic in a broad sense which refers to the sublime,the magnificent,the tragedy,the comedy,the ugly,the absurd and so on.The rich and colorful aesthetic elements in textbooks have important aesthetic value.In terms of the aesthetic of textbooks' appearance,textbooks aesthetic can be classified into the aesthetic of a textbook physical properties and the aesthetic of a textbook layout design.The aesthetic of a textbook physical properties is related to the format(size),sheet(thickness),material(paper),printing,binding and other aspects of textbooks.On the basis of meeting national standards and requirements,the aesthetic of a textbook physical properties live up to aesthetic standards.The aesthetic of a textbook layout design which require a sense for designing includes the front cover,spine,back cover,title page,copyright page,table of contents,preface and postscript of textbooks,all of which present the basic information of the book.Thirdly,research on the use of aesthetic-oriented textbooks can be classified into two categories:theoretical research and empirical research.Theoretical research discusses the connotation,basis,subject,type and steps of the use of aesthetic-oriented textbooks.Aesthetic-oriented textbooks use refers to teaching activities in which teachers and students aesthetically use beautiful textbooks in order to "teach with grace and learn with pleasure".The needs of the subject,especially the needs of students,are the basis for the aesthetic-oriented use of textbooks,and the main users of textbooks are teachers and students.According to the self-consciousness of the subject,the use of textbooks from aesthetic orientation can be divided into two parts: the spontaneous use and the conscious use.Understand-apply-evaluate and preview-learn-review are respectively the steps teachers and students have to follow while using the textbooks.In the empirical research,513 teachers were investigated with questionnaires on the aesthetic-oriented use of textbooks.Combined with depth interviews and classroom observation,test results showed that there was a difference in the degree of aesthetic-oriented textbook usage,the aesthetic-oriented understanding of textbooks was better than the use of textbooks,the consciousness of using textbooks to carry out aesthetic education was still insufficient,the aesthetic literacy of teachers was not satisfactory,the use of illustrations in textbooks was basically spontaneous,and the evaluation of textbook cover design was not high.Finally,from the aspect of textbook evaluation,theoretical research is carried out around the connotation,basis,subject,type and steps of aesthetic-oriented textbook evaluation.Aesthetic-oriented textbook evaluation refers to the process in which the evaluation subject measures and judges the aesthetic elements and aesthetic education value in textbook products according to certain standards.It has the functions of judgment,prediction,selection and guidance.The needs of students,society and teaching are the starting point of textbook evaluation and the basis for the establishment of evaluation standards.The evaluation subjects include internal subject and external subject.Textbook writers and publishers are internal subjects,while students,teachers,parents and professional researchers are external subjects.Aesthetic-oriented textbook evaluation requires that the evaluation subject has aesthetic knowledge,aesthetic ideal,high aesthetic power,discrimination power and rich emotion.Aesthetic-oriented textbook evaluation can be classified according to the evaluation criteria,evaluation subject,evaluation function,measurement method of evaluation object,existing state of evaluation object and evaluation scope.Evaluation steps include determining the evaluation object and scope,determining the evaluation objective and method,defining the evaluation standard,constructing the evaluation index system,carrying out the evaluation activities and writing the evaluation report.Secondly,combined with the chapter of Aesthetic-oriented Textbook Products,using Delphi method,this paper constructs an aesthetic-oriented textbook evaluation index system,which is composed of two first level indicators,four second level indicators,seventeen third level indicators and specific evaluation criteria of each indicator.The ultimate goal of aesthetic-oriented textbook research is "establish aesthetic,educate students".As the main media of school aesthetic education,the aesthetic value of textbooks needs to be clarified.From the internal value of aesthetic education,textbooks contain rich aesthetic elements.From the external value of aesthetic education,textbooks are indispensable media for aesthetic education activities.To promote the realization of an aesthetic education value of textbooks,we need to educate students with aesthetic,enrich the aesthetic elements of textbooks;integrate aesthetic into teaching,improve teachers' aesthetic literacy;integrate aesthetic into learning,promote students' all-round development;promote aesthetic through evaluation,carry out an aesthetic-oriented textbook evaluation.Looking forward to the future,the aesthetic-oriented textbook research will be a matter of concern,the research scope expanded,the research methods diversified and the research characteristics distinguished.