| Different from the traditional approach to curriculum, this study is engaged in understanding curriculum from autobiographical texts. Eight Chinese graduate students in the U.S. were engaged in three rounds of reflective writings over their English learning experiences in China and the U.S. As the researcher participant, I wrote my autobiography as well. The study is intended: to gain an understanding of the individual learner's inner experiences of English learning, the transpersonal experiences among the eight participants, and to further inquire how English learning became or could become part of the learners' life.;The study attained three thematic categories on the basis of the core categories. The core categories reflect the commonly expressed feelings and experiences. The thematic categories are: Vision, Hope, and the Sense of Achievement.;The study has implications for daily classroom practices, for English curriculum reform in China and for the foreign language education at large. For daily classroom practices, it suggests that the learners should get access to the in-depth knowledge in English cultures and both the target and the native cultures should be incorporated into the learning content. To the English curriculum designers in China, the following aspects call for attention: A. Help learners construct a broad vision in the very beginning; B. Create opportunities for learners to use English in the beginning; C. Design materials that set learners thinking and enlighten them on life; D. Change the traditional assessment to be writing-centered. The study also invites researchers to extend their thinking to foreign language education at large: A. To learners, foreign language learning might be an emotional experience; B. Foreign language learning involves thinking; C. Culture embedded in life might be attractive to foreign language learners.;Following the finding, I applied the three thematic categories to a brief evaluation of the New College English textbook series in China. It was found that the content actually narrowed the open-ended themes and they could hardly help learners construct vision or achieve the sense of achievement, nor could they satisfy learners' potential hopes. In the end, future research areas are presented and the limitations of the study are discussed. |
