A Social Needs-based Survey Of The Curriculum Design For Undergraduate English Education Majors

The implementation of new curriculum reform has made normal universities, the cradleof future English teachers in elementary and middle schools face a series of new challenges.Correspondingly, reforms need to be carried out in curriculum design for English educationmajors. Some normal universities, however, lack distinguishing features of normal schoolsand are more likely to deviate from social needs for English teacher education majors. Toeducate students to live up to the social standards of qualified English teachers, normaluniversities need to take social demands and social feedback based on the practical teachingexperience into consideration in terms of curriculum design.What is the current status quo of the curriculum design of Shandong Normal Universityand Qufu Normal University, the two cradles of future elementary and secondary Englishteachers in Shandong province? No social needs-based research has been done on thecurriculum design for undergraduate English education majors in the two universities. Andthis thesis attempted to do the survey based on social needs, expecting to bridge the researchgap and hopefully contribute to studies of curriculum design for English education major.This thesis employed questionnaire and interview and did qualitative and quantitativeanalysis of the data, based on the needs analysis models put forward by Hutchinson&Waterand Shu Dingfang.73new English teachers (46of whom graduated from Shandong NormalUniversity and27from Qufu Normal University),62experienced English teachers and6educational administrators from primary and middle schools in Jinan were surveyed, aimingto answer three questions:1) What satisfaction degree do new teachers graduated fromShandong Normal University and Qufu Normal University respectively have over theuniversity curriculum design for English education majors, in terms of curriculum objectives,curriculum intensity and curriculum variety?2) What are the current social needs for teachingcapacity and knowledge in elementary and secondary school English teachers in Jinan?3)Can current curriculum design effectively meet social needs? How to optimize the curriculumdesign if there is some deviation between the curriculum design and social needs?The findings show:1) the curriculum design in the two normal universities are generallysatisfactory, according to New English teachers graduated from Shandong Normal University and Qufu Normal University. However, some problems remain, such as the periods andvariety of teacher education courses are inadequate, and Oral English, English culture andliterature courses can hardly well cater for the current teaching needs of new English teachers.2) In elementary and secondary schools in Jinan, English teachers’ ability of analyzingtextbooks, teaching creation, teaching reflection as well as the knowledge of Psychology,English teaching and English culture and literature need to be much enhanced.3) Generallyspeaking, the curriculum design for English education majors of the two normal universitiescould meet social needs for elementary and secondary school English teachers in Jinan, yetsome disparities exist. Based on the findings, the thesis proposed some suggestions on thecurriculum design, for instance, to reinforce the variety of teacher education courses andstrengthen the quality of the teaching practice, etc.