A Comparative Study Of The Current Chinese And English Mother Tongue Curriculum Standards For Primary Schools

With the promulgation of the new language curriculum standards in China in 2022,accelerating the study of the new curriculum standards has become an important task to promote the new language reform.This study seeks to find out the similarities and differences between the two countries in terms of the background and process of curriculum reform,philosophy and structure,objectives and content,and evaluation and recommendations through a comparison of the current elementary school mother tongue curriculum standards in China and the UK,and to explore and analyze the reasons for the differences and similarities between the two,and finally to obtain some thoughts on the practice and improvement of the current elementary school mother tongue curriculum standards in China.The first introductory chapter describes the background and significance of the comparative study of Chinese and English elementary school curriculum standards,then reviews the core concepts and related research results,and finally specifies the research ideas on the basis of system theory.Chapter 2 provides a detailed overview of the historical background and process of the reform of the primary language standards in China and the UK from a macro perspective.It is found that both countries have been gradually influenced by the international trend of mother-tongue education,but the core problems of domestic curriculum practice are different,with China mainly emphasizing the transmission of knowledge that leads to overburdened students,and the UK mainly focusing on the low level of students’ basic academic ability and the large educational gap.The two countries are similar in terms of focusing on the participation of multiple subjects and following the basic curriculum development process,but the British curriculum development process has a broader range of subjects and is more empirical.Chapters 3,4,and 5 compare the specific content of our 2022 elementary school language curriculum standards with the UK 2014 elementary school English learning programme from a microscopic perspective.The main aspects of the curriculum philosophy and framework structure,curriculum objectives and content,curriculum evaluation,and curriculum implementation suggestions are used to identify the development patterns and characteristics of the primary language curriculum standards in both countries.In terms of curriculum philosophy,China’s humanistic and social values are more prominent;in terms of curriculum structure,China tends to be more complex while the UK keeps it simple;in terms of curriculum objectives,China emphasizes cultural confidence while the UK focuses on basic language knowledge and competence;in terms of curriculum content,both countries have commonalities and differences in oral expression,reading strategies,writing and expression,literacy and writing,and interdisciplinarity;in terms of curriculum evaluation,China tends to focus on evaluation from in terms of curriculum assessment,China tends to focus on the types of assessment and the UK tends to focus on the specific operation of the assessment subject;in terms of curriculum implementation suggestions,China has a broader range of suggestions.Chapter 6 digs deeper into the reasons for the similarities and differences between the two countries,then elaborates on some reflections on the curriculum standards for elementary school mother tongue in China arising from the results of the comparative study,and gives suggestions for the concrete implementation and next revision of the new standards.The similarities between the two countries are mainly due to the commonality of mother-tongue education itself and the influence of the global trend of learning from each other in mother-tongue education,while the differences are mainly due to the differences in political systems,cultural backgrounds,traditions of mother-tongue education and the main challenges faced by the two countries at present.After comparison and analysis,we believe that we should maintain the advantages of our mother tongue curriculum in terms of political ideology and basic knowledge learning and mastery,and learn from some of the advantages of the British mother tongue curriculum,such as focusing on breadth,evidence and transparency in the process of curriculum development,paying attention to and implementing the needs of specific groups and individuals,increasing the guidance on learning strategies for the objectives and contents of the mother tongue curriculum in listening,speaking,reading and writing,and expanding the autonomy of schools and teachers.