The Experiences And Lessons From The Development Of American High School English Electives

The deepening high school curriculum reform in zheJiang province has put into effect in the fall of2012, the full construction of the electives is finally on the agenda. Effective attempts in many high schools for the construction of electives, they not only classify the courses, but set up a relatively rich curriculum system. The United States is in high levels of taking the basic education stage in the world, The elective system is clearly defined in the high school stage of learning.This thesis is based on English elective courses in the United States through translating projects about elective courses in the United States, and analyzing the correspondency of elective courses implement background and conditions of China compared to the United States, consolidating the part that can be used as reference for the upcoming Chinese new curriculum of ZheJiang province.In this paper, through introducing the advanced English courses project’s characteristics and current English courses as the theoretical support to understand and sort out the experience of English courses, with the hope of it will work out in deepening the curriculum reform of ZheJiang province under the background of Chinese electives construction. This article is divided into four chapters:The introduction part focuses on analyzing the process of the Chinese electives established in our country and the current stage of development, listing what can guide the construction of the courses now and analyzing the theoretical and practical significance of this study.The first chapter is focusing on the American English electives’ development history, and introducing the APEX project. Through the analysis of the structure of APEX, understanding what his role in promoting and summarizing the anomie which caused the decline of English courses.The second chapter is aimed at the current English electives pattern studying. First summarizing the overall construction of American English elective course, from the aspects such as curriculum design and curriculum implementation to electives present situation, and then refining analysis specific to the school curriculum.The third chapter is the summary of the first two chapters. First deeply looking at English electives then summing up by the analysis on the development of its overall characteristics of construction, including two aspects of experience and lessons.The fourth chapter is about deepening high school curriculum reform in ZheJiang.Through the analysis of the current Chinese curriculum construction achievements, rethinking and restructuring American experience. Then thinking how to use it in local conditions to build our curriculum.This paper is focusing on the high school English courses.Electives in the United States have experienced decades of development, they are stable now. But our country is still in its infancy stage, drawing lessons from history in the United States will protect our country avoiding detours in the construction of Chinese new curriculum. As the attention to the students’ personality development, the prosperity of elective courses is the inevitable trend. From this point of view, it’s of great significance in studying the construction of the paradigm and the development direction of Chinese courses.