A Research On The Problems And Improvement Strategies Of The Curriculum Management System Of College English

As an important component of the higher education curriculum system,college English has constantly focused its attention on the training and education of high-quality talents with the ability to use English in a well-rounded way.Meanwhile,it has always been where the main difficulty lies so far as the curriculum reform and teaching research are concerned.For a long time,people have conducted researches into various issues such as the philosophy and contents of teaching,teaching and evaluation methodologies,learners' progress and teacher development,and have made remarkable achievements.In 2007,the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Educaiton published the Collge English Curriculum Requirements(the trial version was put out in 2004),which brought about a new upsurge in the reform of college English curriculum.In the process,people's attention gradually shifted to the management of college English curriculum.Based on the theories of organizational ecology and governance,the study on the curriculum management system of college English will help promote the horizontal expansion of the discipline of educational administration,lead to the application of governance theory,improve the management practice of educational institutions,and in particular,guide the optimization of the college English curriculum and teaching management.This study attempts to come up with suggestions on how to improve the college English curriculum management system,so as to promote the management efficacy of college English education.To achieve this goal,by following the problem-analysis-solution logic,adopting such research methods as documentary analysis,historical study,investigation and interviewing,and comparative study,relying upon previous researches and defining relevant core concepts,the researcher will try to interpret the problems concerning the curriculum management system of college in China,analyze the mainstream curriculum management system of college English,discuss the present condition of the curriculum management system,and draw lesson from foreign practices in college English education.The curriculum management system is the expression of the institutionalized,organized and ordered curriculum management.The college English curriculum management system is an important component of the management system of institutions of higher education.It refers to the whole of the organizations and organizational regulation,which are engaged in the implementation of the college English curriculum management function,guided by the national education policy and foreign language education policy.Its value lies in the fact that it can ensure the achievement of the set teaching goals by means of reinforcing the process of guidance,supervision and inspection.With the theories of organizational ecology and governance being its theorectical basis,this dissertation endeavors to conduct an objective and scientific study through the analysis of the gist and application of the theories,so as to assist in the functioning of the curriculum management system of college English.The college English curriculum management system is closely related to the historical development of the national management system of foreign language education.Looking back on the development of China's English curriculum management,it has had a history of over a hundred years since the founding of the Republic of China.With the political and economic changes happening at home and abroad,China's college English curriculum management has gone through the five periods of the nationalist era,the beginning of the founding the People's Republic of China,the Cultural Revolution,the Opening and Reform,and the new century,and therefore has experienced five distinctly different phases,namely,the pluralist management phase,the highly centralized management phase,the chaotic operation phase,the decentralized management phase and the management-by-level phase.It has been proved that with national guidance,local institutional management,and democratic governance,the teaching and management of college English will glow with vigor and vitality.Undoubtedly,achievements in the field of college English education is intimately related with the care and concern of the Party and the government,the social stability after the implementation of the open and reform policy,the rapid economic development,the cooperation and support from the various academic institutions and social group,and the joint effort of the college teachers.China's college English curriculum management system encompasses the following contents:under the macro guidance of the national foreign language education policy,relevant professional advisory committees headed by the ministry of education formulate the standards and requirements of college English teaching;colleges and universities work with college English departments to design the syllabus,the teaching contents,and carry out specific teaching activities.Under such a system,various universities set up their own management institutions in conformity with their own actual situation,thus different college English curriculum management systems are formed.The mainstream curriculum management systems of college English fall into three types as follows:the department system,the center system and the college system.Among them,the department system can be subdivided into the big department system,the medium department system and the small department system,considering the administrative relations,the power they enjoy and the duties they are to undertake.The different systems have their own advantages and disadvantages.Departments,colleges and centers directly under the universtiy have independent administrative power over financial and personnel affairs.As a result,they have more direct and convenient channels of communication with the functional divisions and so they have better funding and are more independent so far as teaching and research are concerned.The medium department system has a bigger professional advantage,as teachers have a stronger sense of professional belonging,get more opportunities to communicate academically and professionally with other members of the foreign languages college,and professional development is easier.The small department system has more direct and simple tasks,which means they will fulfil their tasks in an easier and better manner.The disadvantages of the different organizational systems are decided by their respective subordinate relations and division of responsibilities and display themselves in different ways.The college English curriculum management organization has such functions as a coordination,education and research,encouraging innovation,and optimizing discipline.Its responsibilities include the establishment of the syllabus and curriculum system,the selection of teaching materials,the compilation of quality textbooks,the construction of the teaching team,the management of teachers,the reform of teaching concepts,and the evaluation and inspection of teaching effect.Indepth interviews with heads of the college English curriculum management organizations of domestic colleges and universities reveal that there exist difficulties and problems in the college English curriculum management system,despite the relatively orderly operation in aspects such as the setting up of organizations,the deployment of management personnel,the construction of organizational systems,the operation of coordinating mechanisms and the implementation of evaluation and assessment.These problems are mainly reflected as:the overlapping of organizations,poor management efficiency,unreasonable personnel deployment,underevaluation of teachers' and students'roles,incomplete organization system,difficulties in the employment of talents,contradictions among the coordination mechanisms,awkward multilateral relations,rigid assessment mechanisms,and imperfect evaluation systems.The problems have resulted from national policies,the administrative trend in the management of colleges and universities,the conventional thinking of managers and the public,as well as the non-major nature of college English.The college English curriculum management systems in developed countries provide good experience for us to learn from.Such countries as Japan,Korea,Singapore,Germany and France have had relatively mature practices concerning the college English curriculum management system.In the light of their experience,it is important that the government,the society and institutions of higher education work together,to stress the different roles of the English courses in primary and higher education,to give teachers autonomy,and to establish a web-based interactive platform for English language teaching and learning.Considering the various problems existing in the college English curriculum management system,drawing on the good experiences of foreign countries,there are some orientatins to consider and principles rule to comply with concerning the reform of the college English curriculum system.These include the orientations of multiple subjects,co-management,match of power and duty,sharing of authority,combination of centralization and decentralizatin,overall optimization,network intervention and intelligent management;and the principles of democry,dialectics,integration and efficiency.Some transitions are necessary concerning the functions,organization,coordination and evaluation of college English.College English teaching should be service-oriented;its organization should follow the rule of multiple subjects;the coordination mechanism should be negotiation-based and its evaluation should emphasize process.