Comparative Study Of Basic English Curriculum Systems In China And Japan

Basic English education, as a fundamental project of improving national quality, has been attached great importance in the context of globalization, as English is nowadays a global language. With the rapid globalization of education, it is of great significance to carry out comparative study of curriculum systems of different countries in order to enhance the competitiveness of a country in the globally connected space, as education is an important means to cultivate talents equipped with necessary skills to cope with the challenges of globalization. Japan, a neighboring country of China, shares a lot of similarities with China, especially in English education, while it maintains its own distinctive characteristics. It is worth comparing China’s English curriculum system with Japan’s, so as to gain a better understanding of English curriculum systems in both countries and learn from Japan’s experience of English education reform.This study aimed to first provide a detailed and comprehensive description of the current basic English curriculum systems in both Japan and China and then offer pedagogical implications for China’s future English educational reform, based on the comparative study of the two curriculum systems. This study adopted an interpretative-evaluative viewpoint and employed qualitative ethnographical and comparative methods as the main research methods to collect research data. Data were mainly collected from official documents, previous academic research papers, national survey reports, and personal interviews etc.Carried out within the theoretical framework of curriculum system description and comparison, this study first conducted interpretative and multi-level description and analysis of the curriculum systems from ten aspects:Socio-cultural background, Curriculum ideology, Starting grade, Curriculum setup, Level, Assessment, Teaching methods, Teacher training, Teaching materials and Learning culture. The descriptive and comparative study of the basic English curriculum systems in China and Japan then reveals that the two curriculum systems share a lot of characteristics in common, for example, the curriculum ideology of progressivism which advocates students’all-round development, an emphasis upon communicative language ability, more progressive and balanced curriculum setup, diversified assessment system, promotion of teachers’ professional development, etc. Undoubtedly, there are still issues of each country’s curriculum system, and even some common issues, for example, the ingrained influence of examinations, especially Senior High School Entrance Examination and College Entrance Examination, the traditional teaching methods and learning culture, and the lack of high-qualified English teachers etc., which poses great challenges to the successful implementation of the new English educational reforms in both countries.Despite all these issues in the basic English current curriculum systems in China and Japan, the comparative study revealed several shining points of Japan’s curriculum system and offered several implications towards China’s future English curriculum reform policy, including giving more autonomy to teachers and students, adopting graded assessment system, constructing more diversified teaching staff, enhancing education equality, and increasing students’ cultural awareness, etc.