A Case Study Of Offering English Literary Appreciation Course As A School-based Curriculum In Senior High School

In the past, reading literature as an essential part of English Second or Foreign learning (ESL/EFL) has been proved an effective way to improve students' language skills, cross-cultural awareness, communicative competence and learning interest. But with the advent of the communicative teaching approach, it has almost been removed from the class of Senior High School. Few studies have been made in theory and in practice since then. Though the latest Curriculum Criteria of Secondary Education stipulated literary appreciation as an optional course in 2001, until today few studies have been done to introduce literature into senior high school.This research explores the issue of offering literary appreciation course as school-based curriculum development (SBCD) in senior high schools through a one-year teaching experiment, with the focus on the feasibility and benefits of introducing literature into high school. The experiment proves offering literary appreciation course as SBCD can open up a bright new channel for English learning which ended up with arousing students' motivation, cross-cultural awareness and the over-all development of English language skills.