On Language View Of Practical Materialism And The Praxis-based Driving Model Of FLT

If foreign language teaching (FLT) in universities is deeply introspected in the setting of social praxis system, the following three problems can be found. The first problem is the restriction of"linguistics-centered"paradigm, which restrains teaching within linguistic forms and ignores era characteristics as well as the social praxis system in which FLT exists and develops. Secondly, the"time-consuming and inefficient"phenomenon results from the fact that students are not in a position to express their native thoughts and contents in a foreign language and that the close relation between language teaching and life world has been dissevered. Thirdly, Practicality and overemphasis of language's instrumentality lead to the spiritual deficiency of humanity and nationality; that is, FLT in universities calls on quality education. Quality teaching is to internalize the spirit of the times into human essential power, so quality teaching can not be succeeded if it is isolated from the times and social praxis. The essence of solving problems of FLT in universities is how to guide students, who are qualified with human essential power of the times, to effectively cognize and express social praxis in a foreign language. On the other hand, the basic principle of language view of practical materialism (LVPM) is the transcendence of language's ontological proposition of"what is language", and the mastery of language's praxis essence:"why"and"how". So there is an inherent correlation between the essence of solving problems of FLT in universities and LVPM. Furthermore, different views of language lead to different language theories and models, i.e. language views are decisive to language teaching. It is necessary and feasible for LVPM to guide foreign language teaching in universities. The researches both abroad and home show that LVPM needs to keep pace with the changing day and grasp the characteristics of the times.The essence of language,according to LVPM, is the dynamic symbol system of special signification and communication owned by human beings living in the field of social praxis, which is the immediate actuality of thought and has a motile reaction to people's understanding and cognition. The concentrated embodiments of LVPM are: the objectivity of signifiers, the isomorphism of linguistic communication and communication praxis, and language evolution rooted in the social praxis system. This thesis, according to the mainstream of era philosophy, latest tendency of practical materialism and the researching results of philosophy of language, sums up LVPM with characteristics of the times in three perspectives: the unification of Presence and Absence, the unification of native contemplation and foreign reference, and the unification of ontology and praxis. The unification of Presence and Absence not only pays attention to the reality of language, but tries to explore what Heidegger says"the poetic existence", which focuses on language's thoughtful ontology and poetic property. The unification of native contemplation and foreign reference requires coping with language's homogeneity and heterogeneity based on its praxis and asks the subject to have a good command of culture, history and thought in his own praxis system which will play a key role in language activities and communication praxis; at the same time, the neglect of foreign reference may also result in the isolation and stagnation of language praxis and international communication. LVPM not only involves ontologically "what is language", but in praxis sense"why"and"how", and then advocates constructing and cultivating one's homestead of language. Thus the unification of ontology and praxis of language is achieved.Guided by LVPM, FLT in universities breaks through the linguistics-centered model which mostly focuses on language forms and skills, and theoretically constructs the"praxis–based driving"(PBD) model of FLT. In the PBD model, FLT is considered and put into the social praxis, and the social praxis contents, such as the knowledge system, culture deposits and ideological connotations, are developed in praxis and life world and are actively reflected by the subject, so this model is helpful to grasp the ontological significance, the fundamental way and the eternal motivity of FLT. The PBD model consists of the double mission of"introducing the world to China"and"introducing China to the world", the double aim of improving language proficiency and achieving quality education, arousing students'motivation with thought driving, enriching teaching with Chinese contents, and establishing the connotative assessment teaching based on the thought - content of language. The PBD model surmounts the traditional linguistics - based teaching restriction and highlights the praxis nature of language teaching. It is concerned about students'own life and praxis, reflects the unification of langue's ontology and praxis, Presence and Absence, native contemplation and foreign reference, and the combination between content and process teaching and between thought evaluation and language appraisal.Because"writing is the weakest one among students'foreign language skills"(by Huang Yuanshen), it is representatively meaningful to adopt teaching writing as the empirical study to test the PBD model of FLT in universities guided by LVPM. The results of the study indicate that three assumptions are tenable: there is significant difference in writing proficiency between EC and CC, there is a positive correlation between thought-content scores and total scores in EC, and the promotion of quality teaching in EC is more obvious and better than that of CC. The empirical study improves the effectiveness of the model and has inspiring and referential value for the application of the PBD model in other subjects or courses in FLT.The theoretical construction of the PBD model of FLT in universities guided by LVPM needs to be improved in theory and praxis because the times and praxis are advancing, so is LVPM.