A Diachronic Study Of China’s Foreign Langauge Education Planning

Since 1949,when the People’s Republic of China(PRC)was founded,new China’s politics,economy and diplomacy have experienced sustained transformation,thus sparking off a huge demand for talents speaking different languages.Historically,there have been three periods of time when there was a surge of demand for foreign language talents: the time immediately after the establishment of the PRC,when China was in great demand of Russian language translators,the time after China’s reform and opening up,when the country was short of talents of English,Japanese and other languages equipped with their professional knowledge,and recently,the third period beginning with China’s introduction of the Belt and Road Initiative,when participation in global governance and the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind has given rise to an acute shortage of high-end talents with a good command of non-common languages and those serving international organizations.Universities,at the meso level of the national foreign languages education planning,have their mission to formulate and implement their own corresponding foreign language talent cultivation planning by conforming to the national macro strategy and foreign language education plan as well as considering local needs.Foreign language education planning at the tertiary level is an essential stage on the way towards the implementation of the national foreign language syllabus.Whether a curriculum policy is scientific and effective determines the quality of language talent training.In the theory of education and language planning,curriculum policy is also an integral part,its objectives embedded in the curriculum policy,contents,carriers,objects and so on all determine the quality of the curriculum system.With this in mind,this study aims to answer the following three questions:(1)How has China’s foreign language education policy evolved since the founding of the PRC?(2)How have the curriculum policies of different types of colleges and universities evolved in their history? Has the change been consistent with the national foreign language education policy in the same period?(3)What are the factors influencing the foreign language curriculum policy in different types of institutions of higher learning?This paper mainly studies foreign language education planning in Chinese colleges and universities from a diachronic perspective,combining public policy theory,language education planning theory and curriculum policy theory to generate the theoretical and analytical framework of the research.Qualitative research is the main method.Specifically,the methods of data collection are interviews and literature research and the methods of data analysis are text analysis and multiple cases study.In order to carry out effective research and discussion,this dissertation covers seven chapters,the first four of which are introduction,literature review,theoretical basis and research design.Beginning with Chapter Five,the thesis embarks on a detailed discussion of the evolution and characteristics of foreign language education planning in different periods of China since the founding of the PRC.Then,based on various foreign language education policy texts issued by China,it analyzes the changes of policy subjects,systems,power distribution and ever-changing curriculum policies.The sixth chapter is a case study composed of both in-case study and cross case study.With four universities as the focus of this research,it analyzes the evolution of their curriculum policies coupled with an insight into the history and motivation of their foreign language policy development.Cross-case study is carried out based on the corpus collected in semi-structured interviews through variable-oriented analysis,and further summarized together with policy texts and historic materials of the cases.On the basis of this,Chapter 7 puts forward suggestions and corresponding strategies of foreign language education planning in China.Based on the above research questions,the findings are as follows: for question(1),foreign language education planning in China has long been closely related to politics,economy,and diplomacy.The subjects of policy have evolved from multiple ones to one subject,i.e.,the Ministry of Education and the language management features top-down,centralized administration with the intention of serving the national need and socio-economic development.The enactment of foreign language education policy has changed from focusing only on one language to providing one guiding policy of different languages and the curriculum syllabus is gradually standardized.For question(2),the curriculum policies of the four different types of universities have been consistent with the national foreign language education planning in the same period.The development of foreign language curriculum policy at foreign studies universities pays attention to national orientation and its advantageous disciplines as well.The foreign language curriculum policy of comprehensive universities breaks the discipline barriers and embodies the educational concept of diverse development.The foreign language curriculum policy in normal universities adheres to the tradition of English education and also extends to less commonly taught foreign language education.And finally,the foreign language curriculum policy of science and engineering universities is actively experimenting with the combination of school characteristics and national needs.For question(3),the four different types of universities have both similarities and differences in subjects,objectives,structures and contents,objects and carriers of curriculum policy: the subjects at various levels of curriculum policy reflects the complexity and dynamics of power game.For different universities,their objectives of curriculum policy have their own characteristics,and the main influential factors of which are various.In terms of the structure and content of curriculum policy,foreign language universities,comprehensive universities and science and engineering universities all embody the educational concept of “whole person”.The objects the foreign language curriculum policy in universities demonstrate the feature of multipolarity in that it is mainly affected by the national education policy and national syllabus and the major subjects of a college foreign language curriculum policy are mainly stuff members responsible for college and school management,but sometimes the local government and university authorities will have a decisive impact.The carriers of a curriculum policy favours high-level universities and strength disciplines.The foreign language curriculum policy of universities is mainly affected by the national education policy and national syllabus.The major subjects of a college foreign language curriculum policy are mainly college administrators responsible for college and school management,but sometimes the local government and university authorities will have a decisive impact.Based on the above findings,in order to effectively plan foreign language education at different types of colleges and universities,this study firstly puts forward suggestions for both the central government in terms of foreign language education planning.Then it proposes a diversified foreign language curriculum policy,and further explains the principles of the five elements of curriculum policy and the letter model of foreign language curriculum policy models of different types of universities.As a diachronic and synchronic comprehensive research,this paper combines the theory of public policy,language education planning and pedagogy,and comprehensively uses various research methods to expand the theoretical space of language education planning and enrich the connotation of qualitative research in the field.This study takes multiple foreign languages as a whole to explore the changes and characteristics of language education planning in the process of social development in China,especially the changes and characteristics of curriculum policies.Against the background of China’s participation in global governance and the improvement of national language competence,the findings of this paper are of positive significance for the rational and effective planning of foreign language education in the hope of cultivating high-end language talents for social and national development.