View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives Curriculum Reform in the Context of Massification in China ----A Case Study of BIPT,Foreign Language Department Xu De Hui MASTER THESIS, THE HEDDA PROGRAM INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FACULTY OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF OSLO October, 2009 Abstract As early as 1971, the collection of papers which make up the book Knowledge and Control (Young, 1971) had a remarkable impact on an enormous numbers of teachers and students of education in the 10 years or more after its appearance (David Halpin, 1990). Moreover, Knowledge and Control played a crucial role in encouraging a wave of innovative and analytical thinking about the school curriculum (Whitty & Young, 1976; Young and Whitty, 1977). Nowadays, curriculum is undertaking numerous changes while the significance to research into the curriculum reform has been lifted to the academic schedule. Mary Henkel (2000) believed, “English was a fragmented discipline, which gave individuals relatively unrestricted space in which to carve out their own identities” (p.198-9). The aim of this master thesis is to explore the general curriculum change in the English majors of Chinese higher education institutions in the recent years and the main causes. The context includes study of policy change on the English majors curriculum reform at the national level, national syllabus for English majors, specific institutional curriculum guideline, English major coursework and field work. My intention is through the case study of BIPT, popularize the result to the situation of English major study in China. After reading through the thesis, readers might have a general impression on how is the situation of English learning in the field of higher education. I Acknowledgement This thesis gives me much pleasure to acknowledge my debt to the following people. First and foremost, my supervisor Professor Berit Karseth, thanks for endless professional advice and suggestions, your profound insights into the field of curriculum of higher education, the process of teaching and learning, proved to be an invaluable contribution in the thesis and help to see it through to the very last completion. Without her help, I won‟t finish it so efficiently. Many thanks to Berit for bringing me into an academic world. Secondly, I want to express my gratitude to my mother institute—BIPT (Beijing Institute of Petro-chemical Technology), Foreign Language Department. Thanks so much for providing me sufficient first-hand materials and so much latest information, enthusiastically supporting my field work. The same thankfulness owes to all the students who participated in my interviews. Thanks for their frank and sincere cooperation. Thirdly, I want to thank Ms Huang Lihong. Through taking care of her baby, Lihong and I knew each other and established a deep friendship. She, as the first and only Chinese researcher in Nova (Norwegian Social Research) and co-lecturer in the University of Oslo, Faculty of Higher Education, gives me help both in the academy and in the daily life. If without her great support, my final thesis would never be finished. My classmate Elena, thanks for taking the time and efforts to read through my thesis and correct language mistakes through the whole text. My Chinese friend Mr. Xiang Jie, a PhD working in Simula Laboratory, many thanks for your contribution to my thesis format, I really appreciate your help. My classmate, Miss Yang Xing, thanks so much for helping me through the most difficult time in my life and I am grateful for all the helps you‟ve given to me, no matter where we are in the future, I will always remember your inspiring encouragement and devoted assistance. Last but not the least, I want to thank my parents, for always being there to love me, believe me and support me. University of Oslo, Norway Oct, 2009 Xu Dehui II Content ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................................... I ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...................................................................................................................II CONTENT.......................................................................................................................................... III 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 GENERAL CONDITIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION ........................................................................ 1 1.2 CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION ................................................................................................... 2 1.3 THE PURPOSE OF MY STUDY ..................................................................................................... 3 1.4 LIMITATIONS ............................................................................................................................ 4 1.5 OUTLINE OF THE THESIS ........................................................................................................... 5 2. A THEORETICAL EXPLORATION ON CURRICULUM CONSTRUCTION ................. 7 2.1 DEFINITION OF CURRICULUM ................................................................................................... 7 2.2 FURTHER THEORETICAL EXPLORATION OF CURRICULUM ......................................................... 9 2.2.1 Content of curriculum ................................................................................................... 9 2.2.2 Learner and instructional process .............................................................................. 10 2.2.3 Evaluation ................................................................................................................... 11 2.3 SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND ASPECT ............................................................................... 12 2.3.1 Global trend-elite to mass higher education ............................................................... 12 2.3.2 Chinese socio-economic background change ............................................................. 13 2.4 HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR .................................................................................................. 14 2.5 SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................. 14 3. THE CONTEXT OF CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION ................................................... 16 3.1 THE FAST DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION.................................................... 16 III 3.1.1 Chinese government function change ......................................................................... 17 3.1.2 Problems during massification ................................................................................... 19 3.2 CURRICULUM REFORM .......................................................................................................... 19 3.2.1 National policy on curriculum reform ........................................................................ 19 3.2.2 National Syllabus for English majors of Higher Education Institutions (2000 revised edition) 23 3.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ENGLISH MAJOR CURRICULUM REFORM ............................................. 29 3.3.1 The necessity and feasibility of the reform ................................................................. 29 3.3.2 Characteristics of the new Syllabus ........................................................................... 30 3.3.3 Teaching method and teaching measures ................................................................... 31 4. DATA AND METHOD ........................................................................................................... 33 4.1 DATA COLLECTION ............................................................................................................... 33 4.1.1 BIPT briefing .............................................................................................................. 33 4.1.2 Sub-colleges and departments .................................................................................... 35 4.1.3 Foreign Language Department .................................................................................. 35 4.1.4 Data ............................................................................................................................ 37 4.2 METHOD ................................................................................................................................ 37 4.2.1 Individual research work ........................................................................................... 37 4.2.2 Field work - Interviews .............................................................................................. 39 5. RESEARCH RESULTS .......................................................................................................... 41 5.1 CURRICULUM REFORM ON THE INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL .......................................................... 41 5.1.1 Exclusive interview with Professor Wei ..................................................................... 41 5.2 TWO CURRICULA STUDY ........................................................................................................ 43 5.2.1 Curriculum contents ................................................................................................... 43 IV 5.2.2 Course