Introduction to the National English Curriculum

Our education reform has been changing for nearly half a century. In different periods, there are obvious differences in the emphasis of goals in each Syllabus. The 1978 Syllabus emphasized reading and self-study abilities with some listening, speaking, writing and translating abilities. The 1980 Syllabus stressed the practice of listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating as the general aim within which reading and self-learning abilities should be the main focus. This indicates the change of attention given to all the skills as a basis for developing reading and self-learning capabilities instead of over-emphasizing reading and self-study abilities. In the 1986 Syllabus, besides stressing the practice of the skills with listening, speaking, reading and writing, using English in spoken and written forms is added and translation is deleted. In the 1992 and 1993 Syllabuses, listening, speaking, reading and writing become the means for developing the ability to use the language for communication. Communication is first stated in the Syllabus. At the same time, arousing students’ interests in learning, helping them form good study habits, integrating moral education, citizenship and socialism education as well as developing students’ thinking skills are also included in the objectives. The National English Curriculum (2001), instead of taking the linguistic aims as the top priority, takes students’ interests, confidence, study habits and learning strategies as the top priorities. Students’ cognitive ability, cross-cultural awareness and moral values are also stressed; the goal of language teaching is directed to all-round education, rather than only for language’s sake.

Regarding the role of English language teaching, there is a gradual shift from the previous syllabuses. For example, 1978, 1980 and 1986 Syllabuses stress the instrumental aspect of learning a foreign language while the 1992 and 1993 Syllabuses put more emphasis on the humanistic aspect of foreign language teaching. And this is reflected more thoroughly and explicitly in the National English Curriculum (2001).