A Survey On The Implementation Of The Idea Of Subject Core Competencies In English Classroom Teaching In Secondary Vocational Schools

Since the idea of Core Competencies was first put forward by OECD in 1997,a number of experts and scholars have continuously studied and improved it.On March 20,2014,"The Opinions on Comprehensively Deepening the Curriculum Reform and Implementing the Fundamental Task of Establishing Morality and Cultivating People" was issued by the Ministry of Education of China,putting forward the idea of Core Competencies（Ministry of Education,2014）.Since then,the notion of Core Competencies has been placed in the key position of further deepening the curriculum reform and attaining the goal of moral education in our country.In the light of the English Curriculum Standard for Senior High Schools（2017）,this paper aims to investigate the implementation of Subject Core Competencies in English classroom teaching in secondary vocational schools,which are at the same stage as the senior high schools,in terms of the four parts of English Subject Core Competencies（Language Competence,Thinking Quality,Cultural Awareness,Learning Ability）.Questionnaire survey,classroom observation and interviews are adopted to investigate the teachers and students of the secondary vocational schools as regards the following 3 aspects:1.What is the current situation of the teachers and students’ understanding of English Subject Core Competencies in secondary vocational schools?2.What is the current situation of the implementation of Subject Core Competencies in English classroom teaching in secondary vocational schools?3.What are the possible factors that influence the implementation of Subject Core Competencies in English classroom teaching in secondary vocational schools?It is found that（1）while the teachers understand the concept of English Subject Core Competencies better than the students,their understanding still leaves much room for improvement in comprehensiveness and depth.A small part of the teachers and students have not recognized the importance of cultivating the English Subject Core Competencies;（2）The implementation of the four elements of English Subject Core Competencies in classroom teaching is incomplete and unbalanced.Some teachers pay biased attention to the Language Competence,emphasizing on the Learning Ability,ignoring the Cultural Awareness and Thinking Quality;（3）Multiple factors influence the implementation of Subject Core Competencies in English classroom teaching.First,the influence of examination-oriented education is deeply rooted.Second,the teaching materials constrain the implementation to some degree.Third,the teaching and learning environment is not very friendly to the implementation.Fourth,the ability of the teaching staff is not adequate enough for the thorough implementation.Fifth,the present setting of English classroom teaching hours limits the implementation to some extent.Based on the investigation results,some pedagogical suggestions are proposed:（1）The teachers should update their ideas of teaching and education;（2）The teachers should exert more efforts in their instructional designs according to the four aspects of English Subject Core Competencies;（3）The teachers should optimize the teaching materials and update their evaluation standards.This investigation is of implicational significance for both English teachers and learners in the secondary vocational schools as well as the administrative departments of education in that the updated concept of English Subject Core Competencies needs to be publicized with more efforts and the implementation of the concept must be further strengthened.Only with the development of the Core Competencies,will the students better adapt to the future social development and promote their lifelong Learning Ability.The investigation still has some limitations in its range and depth,which wait to be eliminated in future studies.