On The Discourse Order Of College English Education Policies Since The Reform And Opening-up

Since the reform and opening up，great changes have taken place in Chinese society，andforeign language education has met with new developing opportunities which requires betterand newer foreign language education, and asks for an adaptive policy discourse system tosuit the practical society. Foreign language education policies have reflected what kind offoreign language education was needed, what kind of foreign language talents should becultivated，and how foreign language education should be reformed and developed. Theforeign language education policy texts have been a mirror which reflected the languageeducation discourse practice.This study critically analyzes college English education policies with statistical tool ofAntconc and selects the most typical five texts of college English education policies toestablish a small corpus, in order to explore the historical background of the policy changesand the discourse order behind the policy texts. Through the analysis of the policy texts, thepaper firstly attempts to reveal how various policy discourse embodies and reshapes thereforming ideas of college English education, how the policy texts consolidate the nation’slatest decision about the college English education, and how the government promotes theimplementation of the policies. Secondly, this study tries to learn whether the college Englisheducation policy texts reflect the social reality objectively, what kind of political propagandahas been carried on to the society, what kind of political ideas are emphasized, and what kindof problems are ignored and hidden. Thirdly, this study attempts to show how college Englisheducation policy texts reflect the social development, and how policy discourses construct,maintain and change the cultural background and social political and economic order.After studying, this paper finds out the college English education policy texts manifestedthe characteristics of continuity, consistency, expansibility and innovation. Since the pastthree decades, the college English education policy texts have shown the historical economicchanges, from the initial tentative and heuristic measures to tactical policies in the1990’s, andfrom tactical policies to strategic policies in the end. At the beginning of the reform andopening up, the discourse order was mainly constituted by "teachers ","technology","talents"and " the science and technology is the primary productive force"," early talent faster talent "deriving from the Third Plenary Session. In the1980’s," language foundation","readingability","hierarchical teaching in stages" and "to reform"," education management ","tocultivate talents"," to develop the economy" were the key discourse order. In the1990’s,"grading"," language foundation","language application ability", and " Priority to thedevelopment of education"," knowledge innovation","quality-oriented education" constitutedthe primary discourse order. In the21st century,"language application","listening andspeaking skills","autonomous learning", and "the comprehensive development","to improve the quality" advocated in the Sixteenth National Congress of the Communist Party form thestream of discourse order.Studying the college English education policy texts in different periods will help peoplelearn about previous experiences better from the policy discourse, discover new educationproblems from reality and feed back to education policy formulation, and furthermore help torevise the future college English education policy discourse and carry on the policy texts moresmoothly.