Study Of Contemporary American Development Of Basic Education, Foreign Language Courses

The rapid development of science and technology has enhanced the infiltration and interflow among countries in the political, economic, scientific and cultural aspects. Opening up and participation in international competition, exchange and collaboration are new historical trend which is a consensus reached by all nations in different parts of the world. The internationalization of basic education has become a world-wide movement in education reform. In addition to placing emphasis on teaching knowledge of the world, schools foster in students the spirit of accepting, borrowing and ideologies. The learning of foreign language in this context is of significant importance. The reform of the foreign language curriculum takes place in all countries undergoing education reforms. As a country leading the reform of education in the world, the United States is conducting its foreign language curriculum reform. This paper aims at investigating the reform of the foreign language curriculum for basic education in contemporary America.This paper is composed of 6 parts. First, the historical development of the foreign language curriculum in the U. S. is described. The curriculum standard, its implementation and evaluation are then discussed. The paper suggests that the American foreign language curriculum reform fully reflects contemporary theories of education and foreign language. Detailed examination and research on the foreign language curriculum reform of the U.S. does not only enrich the literature of foreign language theories but it widens people's perspective of foreign language education theories. A better understanding about the development of foreign language curriculum can be gained. More importantly, the result can be taken as reference for designing a foreign language curriculum with Chinese characteristics in the 21st century.