An Investigation On Curriculum Setting Of Master Of Education In English

To implement The Education Reform and Development Schema of China, The academic degrees committee of states set up master of education as a professional degree in 1996. With the urgent need for high level practical talents due to rapid development of China’s economy and society, The Education Ministry has decided that the enrollment of full-time master of education mainly targeted at undergraduates should be expanded in 2009. Ever since then the enrollment of master of education has seen a rapid increase in number and subject. Consequently it has brought up many excellent primary and secondary English teachers. However, the master of education cultivation is still at preliminary period, there are many problems with the program. The cultivation of master of education is concentrated on course learning and course setting determines the quality of master of education cultivation. The study intended to explore how to promote cultivation of master of education from the perspective of curriculum setting.Based on related research on curriculum setting, scholars have explored it from many aspects such as the contents, the target, or the purpose of it and so on. While master of education cultivation is targeted at bringing up practical talents and curriculum setting is guided more by practical needs, the goals between master of education and master of pedagogy are different. Master of education is a professional degree, which has attracted little attention in the research field, let alone study on curriculum setting for master of education in English. The study expected to explore the characteristics and possible problems in curriculum setting for English postgraduates according to the framework set by Tyler and tried to optimize curriculum setting to boost the quality of master of education in English. The study wished to investigate the problem from three aspects:(1) Are masters of education in English satisfied with the curriculum setting of teacher education program?(2) What is M.Ed program students’ view of general features of the curriculum setting of teacher education program?(3) What are major problems in the curriculum setting of teacher education program?The study intended to take 51 TEFL postgraduates who have been recruited in Foreign language Department of CCNU (Central China Normal University) in 2014 as participants. Then a questionnaire and interviews have been conducted among them. Among 51 TEFL postgraduates,38 were full-time postgraduates and 13were part-time postgraduates, all of whom have participated in the questionnaire survey. Six full-time postgraduates, three supervisors from the university and the practicum school have been invited to have interviews.According to the survey, the curriculum setting in the foreign language school of CCNU is satisfying both in the quantity and quality. In order to boost its development and adjust better to social needs, there should be improvement in the amount of courses, the structure, the content and the assessment. To be more specific, problems have been found in the following aspects:problems concerning practical courses such as teaching skills or language skills; teaching content’ divorcement from middle school reality; Problems with teaching methods; Problems with assessment. To solve these problems, the study has presented several solutions such as:Changing teaching methods by emphasizing case study and group discussion; Enhancing students’ practical ability by combining universities and schools; Increasing elective courses; stressing teacher’s feedback in assessment.