A Great Leap Forward: EFL curriculum

Xiohong, Zhang (2009): A Great Leap Forward: EFL curriculum.

Abstract

I have used the name, The Great Leap Forward in relation to my study of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum reform as I have linked economic, political and social developments of the late 20th and early 21st centuries in China with education developments that have occurred at the same time as the reform has been implemented. The EFL curriculum reform that I have researched is based on a program of considerable investigation and preparation designed on the basis of a balance between English language teaching and learning, curriculum, economic development and globalization. I have argued that implementing the current EFL curriculum reform is both a necessary process and a challenge for this country in the context of globalization, evidenced by China’s becoming a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001 and hosting the 2008 Olympic Games. Such phenomena have posed challenges for English language education as it has shifted its focus from traditional to modern EFL curriculum design to improve English competence in the current cohort of Chinese secondary school students.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: education, development, teaching, decentralization
• Subjects: A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A10 - General

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