A Comparative Study Of English Curriculum Standards For Compulsory Education Between China And Finland

As one of the international language,English is not only a tool of language communication,but also a medium of information and cultural communication.It plays an increasingly important role in the process of economic globalization and social informatization.As a programmatic document guiding education and teaching,curriculum standards play an important role in implementing curriculum reform and improving English education and teaching.In 2012,China promulgated the English curriculum standard for compulsory education(2011 Edition),which further consolidated and deepened the achievements of the reform.During the same period,Finland promulgated the national basic education core curriculum 2014 in 2016,which defined the overall planning of compulsory education.As the curriculum standard of compulsory education under the background of information age,the comparison and analysis of the two can not only enrich the relevant theoretical research,but also perfect and improve the English curriculum standard of our country as well as improve the level of education and teaching.Through literature research,historical research,comparative research and other research methods,this paper combs and compares the relevant contents of the two countries’ English curriculum standards,including the historical development process of the two countries’ English curriculum standards,the background of the latest curriculum standards,the nature and concept of the curriculum,the structure of the curriculum standards,curriculum objectives,curriculum content and evaluation suggestions.The results show that the curriculum standards of the two countries share the same development background and curriculum design concept,focusing on quality education,cultivating students’ cross-cultural awareness and future oriented abilities;the nature of the curriculum pays attention to humanity and instrumentality,emphasizing that foreign language learning should not only cultivate students’ basic English literacy and thinking abilities,but also cultivate students’ comprehensive talents in the process of learning.The aim and content of the course are systematic and hierarchical.Beside,there are many differences between the two curriculum standards.Firstly,there are differences in historical development.The revision history of curriculum standards in China is longer and more frequent,while curriculum of Finland is shorter,but the revision is more regular.Secondly,there are differences in curriculum structure.Finland’s curriculum standards include more disciplines,as well as guidance and requirements for local curriculum.While in China,English education are planned only.Thirdly,the details and emphasis of the course content are different,Chinese curriculum content includes five modules of language knowledge,language skills,learning strategies,cultural awareness and emotional attitude,which are vertically divided into five levels,while Finland just includes four modules of language knowledge and abilities,learning strategies and cultural awareness,which are vertically divided into two levels,and the difficulty is higher;Fourth,the evaluation methods and standards of the two have their own advantages.According to the results of comparative analysis,this study puts forward four suggestions for the establishment of English curriculum standards for compulsory education in China: first,to set up courses scientifically and enrich the structure of members;secondly,to integrate curriculum objectives and strengthen discipline connection;third,to balance curriculum content and strengthen local guidance;Fourth,to diversify evaluation methods and improve self-evaluation ability.