A Case Study Of Living Language Course Implementation Status In Special Schools For Mental Retardation

Setting up living language course is a meaningful practice for curriculum reform in special schools for mental retardation. The success of curriculum reform resides in the smooth implementation of the curriculum. As living language course is a basic course in special schools for mental retardation, research into its status quo can not only help us grasp a clearer picture of its implementation but also provide us reference for the setup of new courses. Then whether the new concept of living language course curriculum reform has been translated into practice? How is it implemented? Is it effective? Based on the status quo of the implementation of the living language curriculum, the present study attempts to reveal the existing problems pertaining to living language course curriculum implementation and introduce measures to tackle the problems.We launched a case study of a special school for mental retardation in Nanyang,Henan Province to investigate the status quo of the implementation of living language course curriculum. Analysis of the qualitative data gathered from documentation, interview,classroom observation and physical analysis might invite the conclusion that the living language curriculum implementation of T school had achieved some success on the one hand. The concept of living language course curriculum design had been embraced and the teaching methods had been improved. But on the other hand, certain problems still exist. It was noted that there is a lack of awareness and understanding of the goals of living language courses among teachers. It could also be observed that there isn’t a warm bed for the implementation of living language courses. Teaching is to a large extent limited to contents of textbooks and no individualized teaching plan is devised. Besides, it remains to be a shortfall to make up as to the scientific evaluation standards of teachers’ teaching and students’ learning at special schools for mental retardation.In view of all the above-mentioned, we attempt to offer suggestions and introduce measures to improve the implementation of living language course curriculum. teachers are supposed to improve their understanding of the concept of living language courses and schoolmasters should be held accountable to guarantee the smooth implementation of living language courses. It is also proposed to develop new resources and devise school-basedresearch systems to encourage research into this area. Teachers should respect students’ individual differences and devise individualized plans to improve the effectiveness of living language courses. And the curriculum and evaluation standards of living language courses should be improved to boost the mutual development of teachers and students. At the same time, we need to elicit more support for special education from society and families.