A Study On The English Specialty Course Design In Institutions Of Higher Learning In China

Course design is the embodiment of teaching objectives, and also a key element for talents cultivation. To a great extent, course design is decisive on the content of students'learning and their knowledge system, and on their English proficiency and all-around abilities as well. Under the requirements of the new era of the 21st century, the new national English Teaching Syllabus for English Majors (Syllabus hereafter) was issued by the Ministry of Education in April, 2000, which gives a detailed description about the cultivation objectives and the course design requirements for English majors. After eight years'implementation of the Syllabus, to what extent is the current English specialty course design in accordance with the Syllabus? Are there any differences of the course design in institutions of different types and ranks? Is there any preference in English majors'selection of courses? Are the English specialty class hours and their allotment in accordance with the Syllabus? These questions are addressed in this paper.Three research methods are employed in the present study, i.e. questionnaire survey, document analysis and interview. The subjects of the questionnaire survey are 115 teachers of English majors at the TEM-8 marking center in Shanghai in March, 2008. The survey is mainly about the course design of their departments or colleges and their evaluation on it. The documents for analysis are the academic transcripts (with information about course titles, course attributes, class hours, credits, scores, etc.) of 42 English major graduates of the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 from 42 universities in 11 provinces and municipalities. The analysis concerns their course information and class hours. Among them, 15 were interviewed about their evaluation and expectation on the course design in their previous universities.The major findings of the present study are as follows:The current English specialty course design accords with the Syllabus to certain extent, but disaccords are revealed. The design of courses on English skills is in higher accordance with the Syllabus than courses on English knowledge and knowledge of related specialties, and required courses higher than electives; literary, cultural and linguistic courses have not aroused adequate emphasis; business & trade has aroused more concern than other related specialties; preference on pedagogic and business courses is revealed in English majors'selection of electives; the four-year total class hours of English specialty courses are generally 100-300 hours fewer than what is required in the Syllabus, and the class hour allotment on the three categories of courses is largely out of rationality, while skill courses take up most of the class hours and very limited time is devoted to related specialty courses.Differences are revealed in the course design in institutions of different types and ranks. Required courses on English skills and English knowledge are set in relatively larger proportion of normal universities and universities of science and technology; literary electives are set in larger proportion of normal universities and comprehensive universities; teaching-related courses are significantly more highly concerned in normal universities; knowledge courses are generally more neglected in universities of foreign languages; courses on business-related specialties are relatively more commonly set in universities of science and technology. Relatively, the course design in normal universities is in higher accordance with the Syllabus than other types of institutions. And generally, the overall course design is in higher accordance with the Syllabus in key universities than that in ordinary universities.Over 20 percent of the teachers and 60 percent of the students expressed their dissatisfaction with their course design either in the subjective items in the questionnaire survey or in the interview. They presented some problems such as insufficient class hours, limited electives, limited literary courses and related specialty courses, which generally agree with the objective data of the investigation.Through the study, this paper has revealed the implementation of the Syllabus. Based on the findings, suggestions are put forward for the improvement of the English specialty course design and for the future revision and optimization of the Syllabus.