The Development And Implementation Of Curriculum With Typical Foreign Language Characteristics

This research is conducted to probe into some fundamental problems regarding the development and implementation of the curriculum with typical characteristics of foreign languages in foreign language schools.With the influence of globalization over China’s elementary education,the number of foreign language schools has largely increased and their expansion in scale has been witnessed.School E,the case school in this research,has committed to the development of a series of courses with foreign language characteristics so as to avoid simply taking overseas courses home or adding only some multi-lingual courses in a piecemeal approach.With the practice of the curriculum featuring foreign languages in E school for nearly eight years,the students’ global literacy has been effectively improved while the theoretical knowledge and practical experience of those who have participated in the development of the curriculum have been visibly enriched,which in turn,has helped to promote a high-quality and characteristic development of the school.The researcher of this essay has proposed some thoughtful reflections and practical experience,which hopefully would shed light on how to develop special courses with foreign language characteristics for primary and secondary schools.This study adopts the literature method to sort out the history and process of E school’s curriculum with foreign language characteristics.Interviews and surveys are also conducted to learn about the needs of teachers and students for foreign language curriculum and its development.Action research and case study are continuously carried out to improve its fundamental courses,orientation courses,challenging courses,universal courses,and social activities courses.The courses have undergone a process of developing,trying out,improving and then developing again.After 8eight years’ exploration and practice,the school specific FOCUS curriculum is formed.We can safely draw the conclusion from our research that by building up its own special curriculum system with its typical value of education and course syllabus,it is feasible for a school of foreign languages to realize its characteristic development by way of curriculum integration.Specifically,it includes:First,developing courses with special features through curriculum integration is one of the basic ways of school development.Such integration,based on the demands for talents in the era of globalization as well as the practice of localization of international curriculum,which integrates Chinese and foreign cultures and educational values in curriculum and implementation of foreign language special programs,is a most important route to the development of foreign language schools in China.Secondly,the FOCUS curriculum plays an important role in developing students’ global competency.Abiding by Constructivism Learning Theory,Multicultural Education theory,education for international learning theory,and Global Competency Theory,the FOCUS curriculum aims to expand students’ horizons,to develop their communication skills,to build the innovation ability,to enhance their comprehension ability,and to promote the ability to act.Each of the five letters FOCUS stands for a type of course.F stands for fundamental,referring to the school-adapted Oxford English course integrated with social and cultural background knowledge.O means Orientation,a series of courses designed to help train students’ interpersonal communication ability.C represents Challenging,aiming to cultivate students’ innovation ability by giving cross-subject classes.U refers to Universal,intending to enhance students’ understanding of different cultures by offering them second foreign language courses.S indicates Social activities,which allow students to put what they have learnt in classes into practice.Thirdly,the development and implementation of foreign-language courses are integrated based on the characteristics of the subjects,and point to a comprehensive learning time and space.In the implementation of FOCUS courses,efforts are made to integrate teaching and learning forms,teaching contents and teaching methods.Fourthly,joint efforts are called for as to promote the evaluation of the curriculum and its improvement.E school has employed a multi-evaluation system,engaging students’ feedback,teachers’ interview as well as professional guide in terms of course development.A specialized team with teachers,professors and administrative staff is set in the school to guarantee that the development of the school curriculum is always supported from different sides.Last but not least,the special curriculum development of a foreign languages school serves as an effective way to arouse teachers’ awareness of curriculum and their competence of curriculum development.In the course of E School’s curriculum development,the school has organized different levels of workshops to enhance teachers’ awareness of curriculum,including school-based teachers trainings with experts’ guidance,teaching groups sharing their teaching experiences,international communication on teaching methodologies and theories.While offering students courses of cross-culture and cross-subject and practicing interactive teaching,teachers’ abilities to design and develop a new course have been promoted.