A Study On The Rationale And Feasibility Of Foreign Literature Education In High School:Analysis Of The Selection Of Assays In The Language And Literature Textbooks By The People’s Education Press,2009Edition

In2009the official reform of the new high school curriculum has started in full swing, with the ultimate aim of revolutionizing the education pattern and encouraging the spirit within the students for innovation and practicing. As a teacher of language and literature in high school, I was very lucky to be selected in the first batch of participants of this reform. However, after two years of observation and thinking, I have to point out that the current educational practices have significantly betrayed the ideals of the education reform, and there is still a long way to go to address the historical long standing of drawbacks in high school language and literature education.There may be many reasons for the predicament in the current teaching of language and literature, and this thesis aims to address a specific part of the challenge by examining the foreign literature section in the present textbooks, based on my own practice and experience in teaching. I will compare the four editions of the official nation-wide language and literature textbooks published by the People’s Education Press in the last30years, and identify the problems in the selection of foreign assays by analyzing the rationale behind the arrangement and the feasibility of teaching practices. Possible amendments and improvements will be suggested.In the introduction part of the thesis, I will list several problems existing in the language and literature education in high school, especially in the foreign literature section, and point out with objective facts that the course schedule is excessively tight with high level of difficulty. In Chapter1, I will dissect the constitution of the selection of foreign assays in the required and elective courses with the official textbooks published by the People’s Education Press,2009Edition. In Chapter2, the feasibility issues of teaching practices using these selected assays will be discussed, by comparing the changes of assay composition and teaching methods along the timeline of four different editions of the textbooks published by the same press in1983,1990,2002and2009, with special analysis on the teaching method in the elective course Appreciation of Foreign Novels. In Chapter3, I will discuss the problems in the arrangements of the selected assays based on the common principles of textbook writing and organization as proposed by many specialists in this area, both within China and abroad. In the conclusion chapter, I will try to propose possible solutions and improvements, including making the textbook more flexible in contents and schedule, and promoting the interaction and collaboration with textbooks for other subjects and courses.