An Analysis On Humanistic Education In Foreign Language Teaching And Learning

Means of concept and communication and medium of information and culture, languages have long been endowed with emotions, characters, and value juegement of different peoples. Foreign language teaching and learning, whose surface significance only involves training in languages, is essentially merging and exchange of different cultures, hence the essential characteristics of foreign languge teaching and learning being an interaction between its practical and humanistic functionings. Students, upon the process of language teaching and learning, are equipped with an approach to a mastery of practical language skills; while humanistic functioning, through the former phase of functioning, refers to the very requirement of quality education with its hightlights on an improved humanistic understanding, reshaped idealized personalities, fulfiled intellectual potentials, and realization of harmonious development between human beings and society. Humanistic functioning is the representation of supreme requirement of quality education.Having long been overshadowed by utilitarianism and exam-oriented educational system, China's foreign language teaching, true to other subjects as well, once paid utmost attention to language skills when considerably ignoring the cultivation of inner quality of students. Rather than a due focus on humannistic encouragement and personality orientation, enhanced practical functioning and highlighted but detailed training only in listening, speaking, reading and writing resulted in a mechanical training unavoidably monotonous, complicated, repetitive, time-consuming, and fruitless, murdering in doing so both students'imagination and creation, and in the long run, their comprehensive development. It is apparently wrong to deal with foreign language teaching as practical functioning only when totally neglecting its importance in humanistic education. It is therefore both necessary and feasible to promote humanistic education in foreign language teaching, but this possibility may actually lie in some practical base (reflection of the whole society over utilitarianism and exam-oriented educational system), some theological base (profound humanistic concepts home and abroad), some consistent exploration on foreign language teaching by theorists and educators, and some guarantee of abundant humanistic resources in foreign language teaching.The above-mentioned abundant resources in foreign language teaching exist in a variety of teaching materials, embodied in teachers'academic and personal qualities and permeating in teaching environment and activities. Scientifically integrated and utilized, these humanistic resources are to be coordinated so to exercise their functioning in education, to cultivate students'humanistic mentality and spirit, to better shape their humanistic accomplishment, and last but not least, to fulfil the all-round development of students as human beings.Humanistic education in foreign language teaching comprises various aspects, ranging from improvement of ideas, emotions and moral quality, personality development, to awareness of multi-cultural communication, exploration of intellect and non-intellect factors, and enhancement of practical ability and pioneering spirit. Coupled with the spirit of modern time (advocation of personality, freedom, renovation, communication, and harmony) and based on the principles of"harmonious development of students"and"man comes first"in foreign language teaching, this thesis explores measures available in humanistic education in four aspects: cultivating students'creative thinking with unique humanistic resources in foreign language teaching, shaping their healthy personality, improving their ability in multi-cultural communication, and bringing students'principal part into main play.