A Research On The Development Of Modern Rhetoric Teaching In China

Rhetoric refers to the activity of adopting appropriate manner of speech to describe one's thoughts in a given context.Rhetorical literacy is one of the many key factors influencing verbal communication effect.During the periods of elementary and secondary education,rhetorical education is an important way to cultivate students' "key competencies of the Chinese language discipline" and should be an important component of the Chinese language course.At present,rhetoric teaching faces a serious dilemma,with so many crises as can be reflected in the limitations of rhetoric teaching prescribed by course standards,the randomness of teaching contents in textbooks,the contingency in the teaching practice,the one-sidedness in the academic evaluation,and the inadequacy of Chinese teachers' rhetorical competencies and rhetoric teaching competencies.The realistic difficulties and the importance of teaching rhetoric form a sharp contradiction Given the actual demands of cultivating students' "key competencies of the Chinese language discipline",we need to review the development of modern Chinese rhetoric teaching,thereby gaining some historical lessons which would help improve the contents and strategy of rhetoric education and advance the modernization of rhetoric education.Historical materials of modern Chinese rhetoric education include treatise and papers on the studies and history of rhetoric,course standards of elementary and secondary Chinese language education,representative Chinese textbooks and auxiliary resources,and relevant monographs by linguistic scientists ang Chinese educators.Through collecting,arranging and investigating these historical materials,and sorting out the historical facts concerning the evolution of rhetoric education ideology and practice,we can divide the development of modern Chinese rhetoric education into five stages,taking into consideration the historical evolution of Chinese education and rhetoric research as well as the transformation of social and cultural background.These five stages are:1)Germination(1904-1929),when modern rhetoric teaching sprouted along with the establishment of modern rhetoric and the establishment of modern Chinese language curriculum;2)Burgeoning(1929-1949),when modern rhetoric education grew vigorously along with the primary establishment of the modern rhetoric discipline and the steady growth of the Chinese language curriculum;3)Maturity(1949-1977),when modern rhetoric teaching reached maturity along with the formal establishment of modern Chinese rhetoric and the nomenclature of the Chinese curriculum;4)Bloom(1977-1997),when modern rhetoric teaching flourished along with the thrive of rhetoric research and the scientification fervour of Chinese curriculum;and 5)Rebirth(1997-2020),when modern rhetoric teaching was reborn along with the interdisciplinary extension of rhetoric studies and the epistemological revolution in curriculum reform of elementary and secondary education.The achievements of modern Chinese rhetoric teaching are results of the joint efforts by generations of rhetoric scholars and Chinese educators,who have experienced ups and downs.In various stages of the development of modern rhetoric teaching,the emphasis rhetoric teaching also differs and thus achieves different historical tasks:in the germination period,the independent establishment of the Chinses course provides the foundation for the curriculum;in the burgeoning period,the preliminary establishment of the rhetoric discipline provides disciplinary foundation for rhetoric teaching;in the maturity period,discussions of dual-basis teaching define the basic methods of rhetoric teaching;in the bloom period,establishment of the principle which treats competence as the course helps clarify the values sought by rhetoric teaching;and in the rebirth period,highlight on the concept of context strengthens the situationality of rhetoric teaching.In modern times,the certain social environment provides external conditions for conducting rhetoric teaching;the independence and development of the rhetoric discipline provides the disciplinary foundation for conducting rhetoric teaching;the independence and development of the Chinese curriculum provides curriculum basis for rhetoric teaching.All these three aspects form the primary agents motivating the development of modern rhetoric teaching.Modernization of both the contents and the strategy of rhetoric teaching underwent a historic breakthrough.We still have a long way to go in our advancing the modernization of rhetoric teaching.In terms of disciplinary origin,ways of presentation and the pursuit of values,the contents of modern rhetoric teaching has undergone significant developments,yet the systematic construction of rhetoric teaching contents is still inadequate.The contents of modern rhetoric teaching have the three following features.Firstly,in terms of disciplinary origin,while these contents absorb the achievements of modern rhetoric studies and are updated as rhetoric develops,the disciplinary contents of rhetoric do not always immediately and thoroughly transform into those of the Chinese curriculum.Secondly,in terms of the ways of presentation,course standards and textbooks have both manifest contents of rhetoric knowledge and latent contents embedded in accumulation of speech works and speech practices.The presentations of manifest rhetoric knowledge includes both systematic arrangements and fragmentary arrangements.Thirdly,in terms of the pursuit of values,the emphasis is laid not only on imparting static rhetoric knowledge,but also the dynamic application of rhetoric knowledge in specific speech situations.After a period of perplexity,concepts such as "skill","competence",and "literacy" were successively proposed.To advance the modernization of rhetoric teaching contents,active reconstruction of rhetoric teaching contents system is a must.To advance the modernization of rhetoric teaching contents,we need to assimilate achievements from various schools of linguistic theory,draw historical lessons from system construction of rhetoric teaching contents,and actively introduce new achievements of rhetoric research,especially achievements concerning the study of rhetoric's dynamic process.Given the growing focus of linguistic studies on the constraint effects of external factors other than language itself and the deepening analysis of the linguistic context,we should treat the basic principles of rhetoric as the foundational contents of rhetoric teaching.Notwithstanding the challenges facing it,structural linguistics still maintains its significant existential values,hence the necessity for us to regard specific means of rhetoric at various linguistic levels as the main contents of rhetoric teaching.The development of language is so closely bound up with social culture that we need to treat the emotional attitudes of rhetoric as the high-level contents of rhetoric teaching.Constructing the content system of rhetoric teaching also requires classification of education levels into such three stages as primary school,junior middle school and senior middle.By designing academic quality standards of the rhetoric course,we can provide a well-targeted reference for the reformation of primary and middle school Chinese coursesThere have been active pursuits of modern rhetoric teaching strategies from the three aspects of situationality,practicality and procedurality,yet there has been insufficient discussion on teaching strategy.Modern rhetoric teaching strategies have the following three features.The first is situationality,which constantly emphasizes adapting rhetoric to the basic requirements of the linguistic context that keep evolving as rhetoric research and the Chinese language education develop.The second is practicality,which constantly focuses on the practical quality of Chinese language curriculum and the insertion of rhetoric teaching into the actual process of speech practice,mainly by means of conducting rhetoric teaching in listening,speaking,reading and writing activities.The third is procedurality,the step-by-step pedagogical ideology has once led to active exploration of education's procedure system,yet such system failed to be steadily passed on and further developed.In advancing the modernization of rhetoric teaching strategy,we need to scientifically comprehend the routes of practice in learning rhetoric.Based on language learning theories of "acquisition" and "learning",and taking into account the realistic foundation of mother-tongue learning during the elementary and secondary education periods,we can further classify "acquisition" and "learning" into four levels:"natural acquisition","guided acquisition","situational learning" and "systematic learning".Within the Chinese language curriculum,there exist such four approaches of rhetoric studying as natural acquisition,guided acquisition,situational learning and systematic learning,arranged in ascending order of rational level.Explorations on specific rhetoric teaching methods should be conducted in the framework of the above "four approaches" of rhetoric studying.Only so can we relieve investigations of teaching methods from the empiricist paradigm and construct a scientific system of teaching methodsIn advancing the modernization of rhetoric teaching,we should follow scientific and humanistic spirits.Based on the above understanding of the modern rhetoric teaching contents and strategy,we should make reforms accordingly in such aspects as developing standards of the Chinese language course,compiling Chinese language textbooks,advancing Chinese language teaching practice and implementing Chinese course evaluation.In advancing the modernization of rhetoric teaching,we should cultivate the rhetorical competencies and rhetoric teaching competencies of Chinese teachers with great efforts.On the one hand,we need to improve the disciplinary and curriculum settings of Chinese teacher education,update and enrich the contents of rhetoric-relevant courses,improve teaching methods,and cultivate Chinese teachers' competencies in rhetoric theory and practice.On the other hand,we should reform the implementation of Chinese teacher education curriculum,enhance the capability to reflect on the practice of rhetoric teaching and cultivate rhetoric teaching competencies of Chinese teachers via means like"defence-style class description" and "inquisitive class evaluation".We need to cultivate Chinese teachers capable of facing the future rhetoric teaching and promoting the modernization advance of rhetoric teaching.Specialized research on the history of modern rhetoric teaching in China has just begun.In follow-up studies,we need to combine rhetoric and pedagogy ever more closely in the attempt of establishing a relatively mature Chinese rhetoric teaching theory,thereby further advance the modernization of rhetoric teaching in the elementary and secondary education periods in China.