A Survey Study on the College English Instruction from the Perspective of Curriculum Ideology and Politics

College of Foreign Languages,Minjiang University,Fuzhou,China Email:qylin2006@126.com

[Abstract]By means of a questionnaire survey,this study attempts to explore the current status of curriculum ideology and politics in English majors’classroom instruction.Results show as follows:the acceptance of curriculum ideology and politics in college English teaching is generally unsatisfactory.Students’English proficiency has no significant effect on the curriculum ideology and politics they receive.Differences in source of student,grade,and gender all exert certain influence on the English majors'acceptance of curriculum ideology and politics.

[Keywords]curriculum ideology and politics;classroom instruction;English majors;difference

Introduction

The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the basic policy that education is to fulfill the fundamental task of raising people through virtue and requires us to integrate the core values of socialism into all aspects of education.As is known that foreign language teaching has an irreplaceable curriculum status of ideology and politics owing to the coexistence of the value of language tools and cultural diversity.In addition,China’s emphasis on highly qualified talents with both cross-cultural competence and high-level foreign language skills makes the ideological and political foreign language courses promising.Taking these characteristics into account,it is very suitable to integrate ideological and political education into college English instruction.Hence,this study endeavors to make an empirical investigation into the curriculum ideology and politics in English majors’classroom instruction in the hope of excavating some superiorities or deficiencies in the current teaching process so that corresponding measures should be taken timely.

Theoretical Basis

“Curriculum ideology and politics”signifies that the concept of ideological and political education is integrated into detailed course teaching processes to transform the disciplinary knowledge into educational resources so that the knowledge imparting and value guiding could be organically unified(Kong,2020).Under this circumstance,college students’ideological and political education should not only rely on traditional indoctrination teaching mode,but also on it being infiltrated into other subject courses.For many years,the domestic education community has always been advocating quality education,and what counts most is moral education.As far as its definition is concerned,moral education is the judgment and cultivation of an individual’s morality,criterion,evaluation of good and evil(Emilija,2010),which is a crucial part of school education through political education,ideological education,legal education,and quality-oriented education for students.Together they shape an intact and wholesome person.Moral education and intellectual education,physical education,aesthetic education,and labor education are interlinked,infiltrated and closely coordinated,and play an indispensable role in guiding,stimulating and guaranteeing students’healthy growth.Therefore,schools must give top priority to moral education in quality education(Zhang,2018).

Moral education infiltration is grounded on the characteristics of each discipline,fully tapping the moral education factors in the subject teaching,using knowledge as a carrier,adopting appropriate strategies and methods to implement moral education goals in the subject teaching,namely,the goals of emotional attitudes and values in order to achieve knowledge unity with morality,teaching and education(Huang,2000).That’s to say,curriculum ideology and politics and moral education infiltration are essentially identical.Hence,the curriculum ideology and politics of college English instruction refers to taking the English classroom as a carrier and combining the knowledge of English subjects with the content of moral education,which implicitly runs through moral education in the process of imparting English language knowledge,developing English language skills and communicative competence.

In reality,great importance has been always attached to the civic moral education in foreign countries.And the“Discussion Approach”is often applied to clarifying students’value orientation and moral judgment to achieve the goal of education objects(Lynch,1992).Lisievici and Andronie(2016)proposed that teacher should apply their knowledge and judgment to accelerating the motivation of moral education and the clarification of values,thereby to facilitate students’morality improvement by virtue of making the learning environment as attractive as possible.At present,domestic scholars have done a lot of research on moral education infiltration in English teaching.English teachers should dig out and extend as much elements of curriculum ideology and politics as they can during English teaching activities so as to enhance students’moral awareness and moral behavior(Zhang,2015).Besides,college English teachers can start by participating in the development and compilation of teaching materials that incorporate ideological and political education concepts,and do a good job in the top-level design of the syllabus for the sake of improving the effect of teachers'moral education in the classroom(He&Du,2018).Anyhow,the objective of the curriculum ideology and politics of college English instruction is to infiltrate the students with moral education so that the moral quality of college students could be fully promoted and developed(Zhang,2015).

In accordance with the literature available,the majority just focus the moral education infiltration on primary or secondary school English teaching(Yang,2018;Wang,2019),and most of them are the teaching experience feedback or reflections(Zhang,2018; Liu,2018; Cui & Han,2019).That is,the empirical studies on the curriculum ideology and politics(i.e.moral education infiltration)of college English instruction are still lacking.

Research Design

The study aims to make an inquiry of the current acceptance of curriculum ideology and politics in college English instruction in terms of four grades of English majors in Minjiang University,and to further find out its advantages and existing problems.This research will answer the following five questions:(1)How is the curriculum ideology and politics in English majors’classroom instruction?(2)Does the English proficiency affect the curriculum ideology and politics in English instruction?(3)Does the source of students affect the curriculum ideology and politics in English instruction?(4)Does the grade difference affect the curriculum ideology and politics in English instruction?(5)Does the gender difference affect the curriculum ideology and politics in English instruction?

This questionnaire consists of five sections:the first section is the information of the subjects,including gender,grade,source of students,the National College Entrance Examination English scores(for English-majored freshmen and sophomores),and the TEM-4(for English-majored juniors and seniors).The second section is the curriculum ideology and politics in college English teaching,which is adapted from Zhang’s(2015)research.It is divided into 4 parts and a total of 14 questions:Part A(6 questions)(‘Teaching Principles and Aims’); Part B(4 questions)(‘Teaching Process’); Part C(3 questions)(‘Teaching Contents’); Part D(1 question)(‘Teaching Effects’).And each of these questions is divided into 1,2,3,4,and 5(1=strongly disagree; 2=disagree; 3=neutral; 4=agree; 5=strongly agree).Students can combine personal circumstances to make a choice on how much they absorb the curriculum ideology and politics during the English teaching process.The third section is a subjective question about students’opinion or suggestion on the curriculum ideology and politics in college English instruction.

The empirical survey was conducted among 303 English majors from College of Foreign Languages in Minjiang University.Based on the major direction(translation,business,teacher)chosen by the students,they received different English teachers’curriculum ideology and politics in practical classroom instruction.The questionnaire was issued online so as to expound the curriculum ideology and politics in college English instruction in detail.To guarantee the authenticity and the credibility of the survey results,these subjects were required to complete the questionnaire anonymously.In this case,the researcher collected a total of 303 questionnaires; after excluding 23 invalid ones,280 remained valid.

Results and Analyses

All the collected data in the study were analyzed with SPSS and the detailed results are presented as follows for the purpose of providing the most convincing evidence for the above five research questions.

The Acceptance of Curriculum Ideology and Politics in College English Instruction

The descriptive data display that the average value of Part D(teaching effects)is the highest(3.5500),indicating that the effect of curriculum ideology and politics in college English teaching is relatively better.However,the average of Part C(teaching contents)is the lowest(3.1535),which exhibits that corresponding curriculum ideology and politics factors combined with the English textbooks await further improvement.The average value of Part A(teaching principles and aims)is 3.2543,which is slightly higher than that of Part C,showing that college students are currently familiar with the principles and objectives of curriculum ideology and politics,and teachers attach certain importance to the cultivation of students’ideological and political education.The average value of Part B(teaching process)reaches 3.4824,which is slightly lower than Part D,which means that college students now believe that curriculum ideology and politics in teaching is necessary,and that teachers’integration of curriculum ideology and politics into practical teaching is conducive to the cultivation of students' own learning motivation.Besides,the standard deviations of the four parts are less than 1,signifying that students’views on these issues are fairly consistent.

The Influence of English Proficiency on Curriculum Ideology and Politics

The researcher first designed two types of English scores for different grades,namely the National College Entrance Examination English scores(for freshmen and sophomores)and the TEM-4(for juniors and seniors).In line with Qin’s(2003)grouping method,these freshmen and sophomores were further divided into high,medium,and low groups(high score=33,medium score=46,and low score=33).Likewise,juniors and seniors were divided into three groups(high score=45,medium score=78,low score=45).Then a One-way ANOVA was carried out to determine whether the difference in English level will affect the curriculum ideology and politics in English teaching.

Statistics data reveal that among the medium-level students,freshmen and sophomores numerically do best in Part A(3.4664),while high-level students outperform other two groups in Part B(3.8144).Yet low-level students show the highest average in Part C(3.5758)and Part D(3.8586).Among juniors and seniors,the high-level students outdo other two groups in Part A(3.2359),Part B(3.3546)and Part C(3.0296),whereas the medium-level do best in Part D(3.5085).Nonetheless,it is proved that the curriculum ideology and politics in English teaching is not significantly different among students of different English levels in these four grades.Thus,it remains to be further verified whether the level of English has an impact on students’acceptance of curriculum ideology and politics from more subjects with different majors.

The Influence of Source of Students on Curriculum Ideology and Politics

In order to check whether the difference in source of students has an impact on curriculum ideology and politics in English teaching,these subjects were sorted into two groups(rural students=172,urban students=108).It turns out that urban students significantly outperform rural students in Part A(teaching principles and aims)(p=.039＜.05)and Part D(teaching effects)(p=.036＜.05).On balance,the curriculum ideology and politics of urban students is better than that of rural students(see Table 1).

Table 1 Comparisons of the curriculum ideology and politics for different source of students

The Influence of Grade Difference on Curriculum Ideology and Politics

ANOVA results exhibit that the grade difference exerts a significant effect on students’acceptance of curriculum ideology and politics in Part A(F=4.094,P=.007),Part B(F=12.359,P=.000),Part C(F=6.966,P=.000),and Part D(F=9.417,P=.000).And the average of the four parts of the sophomores is higher than that of other three grades.Then with multiple comparisons after the Post-Hoc test,it is concluded that sophomores significantly outperform juniors in Part A(p=.003<.01),Part B(p=.000<.01),Part C(p=.001<.01),and Part D(p=.000<.01)and senior in Part A(p=.002<.01),Part B(p=.000<.01),Part C(p=.000<.01),Part D(p=.000<.01).Still,freshmen significantly outdo juniors in Part B(p=.000<.01),Part C(p=.014<.05),and seniors in Part B(p=.004<.01),Part C(p=.003<.01).What's more,sophomores significantly do better than freshmen in Part D(p=.000<.01).In brief,the results demonstrate that the overall curriculum ideology and politics of the second grade is better than other three grades.

The Influence of Gender Difference on Curriculum Ideology and Politics

The subjects were divided into two groups(38 male students and 242 female students)so as to examine whether gender difference has an influence on students'acceptance of curriculum ideology and politics.Though females perform numerically better than males in all four variables(see Table 2),there is only a statistically significant difference(p=.000＜.01)in Part B(teaching process).As the standard deviation of males in Part C(teaching contents)exceeds 1,this means male students'views on moral education in the teaching process varied.On the whole,the gender difference exerts certain effect on the curriculum ideology and politics in English teaching.

Table 2 Comparisons of the curriculum ideology and politics for different genders

The Existing Problems of Curriculum Ideology and Politics in English Instruction

Through the analysis of the answers to the subjective questions designed in the questionnaire,it is uncovered that there are some problems in the present curriculum ideology and politics in college English teaching.First,some students have a negative attitude towards the curriculum ideology and politics.They believe that the main task of college students is to acquire scientific and cultural knowledge so as to improve their professional quality and lay a good foundation for finding good jobs in the future.They do not know that the internalization of curriculum ideology and politics is also a key consideration in determining whether a person is successful or not.

Then,the rapid development of modern science and technology has caused some students to focus on the trendy and high-grade life,paying too much attention to immediate interests,whereas ignoring ambitions and goals.This situation has seriously impacted the formation of students’sense of social responsibility and morality.Finally,due to the contemporary fierce competitiveness in the society,teachers usually lay greater emphasis on inculcating students with a large amount of knowledge at the cost of neglecting ideological and political education.And the above-mentioned problems are in need of being urgently resolved at this stage.

Implications for College English Instruction

Examining various research questions and synthesizing the results,we can see that the current acceptance of curriculum ideology and politics in college English instruction is generally unsatisfactory.Unsurprisingly,students'English proficiency makes no significant difference to the curriculum ideology and politics they receive.Among them,the differences in source of students,grade,and gender all have a certain effect on the curriculum ideology and politics.Besides,sophomores significantly do better than juniors and seniors in all four parts of curriculum ideology and politics.The reason may be that the concept of ideological and political education has been continuously strengthened to these sophomores in most disciplines during the refreshing and stimulating first college year.Under this condition,it is very likely that these second-year students would present the best acceptance of the curriculum ideology and politics.Instead,after getting accustomed to the routine college life for two or three years,the juniors and seniors have become less concentrated on improving the ideological and political level.On this ground,it casts some light on college English instruction.

First of all,society,schools and families must first recognize the importance of ideological and political education,which teaches students how to be human and how to do things ethically,and then the three are supposed to work together to put the concept into practice in daily life.Once a student’s moral quality is corrupted,even if his or her academic performance is as excellent as possible,he or she will not be appreciated by others.Even though schools should really place ideological and political education first in school work and strengthen the curriculum ideology and politics in the process of English teaching,we still need to reinforce physical education,aesthetic education,labor technology education,and social practice so that education in all perspectives can be coordinatively infiltrated and developed with a view to promoting the comprehensive and healthy growth of students.

In addition,schools and families have to share responsibilities for cultivating students together.As is known that learning English is not blind indoctrination,but the transfer of goodness,the resonance of love,and the awakening of the soul.And good education touches the soul,and this touch refers to ideology and morality(Yang,2018).Thereby,schools can organize English teachers to independently write English textbooks that integrate ideological and political education concepts,and parents and students can discuss them together.That is,home-school cooperation is required to enable students to establish correct values.Since English teachers have been extensively exposed to and been influenced by western culture for a long time,they should constantly update their teaching concepts in routine instructions,adhere to the correct ideological and political education goals,implement moral education in an allround way in order to lay a solid foundation for fostering talents with intact and wholesome character.

What's more,the survey results demonstrate that differences in the source of students exert a significant effect on the curriculum ideology and politics in English instruction.The acceptance of curriculum ideology and politics of rural students is obviously lower than that of urban students in teaching principle and aims,and teaching effects.There is no denying the fact that the level of education in rural areas is relatively inferior and English courses are practically offered late.What’s worse,many rural parents have to make a living by working far away from their home,and the family education is relatively lacking,which leads to these students’low-level recognition of curriculum ideology and politics.As a consequence,rural teachers should pay more attention to the ideological and political education in English classes,and adopt feasible classroom activities and home visits to increase the students’acceptance of curriculum ideology and politics.

Conclusion and Recommendation

With regard to the present findings,the following conclusions can be reached.The overall acceptance of curriculum ideology and politics in college English instruction is not satisfactorily high,which is in need of further promotion.Thus society,schools and families must first recognize the importance of ideological and political education so that schools and families should share the responsibility of cultivating students’morals,and achieve home-school cooperation.Besides,it is revealed that the English level has no significant effect on the curriculum ideology and politics accepted by students,but the difference in source of students and gender play a certain role.In particular,the grade difference exerts a significant impact on students’acceptance of curriculum ideology and politics,and the sophomores do the best in this respect.

Anyway,curriculum ideology and politics in college English instruction is a far-reaching topic,which is worth being examined further and deeply by subsequent research.Since the number of subjects is not wide enough and the survey sample is not representative enough in the study,it is apparent that the current findings can merely represent the status of English majors in College of Foreign Languages of Minjiang University,and the conclusions drawn may not be entirely consistent with the actual situation of curriculum ideology and politics in non-English-majored English classrooms or in English-majored classrooms from other different universities.Therefore,it is strongly recommended increasing the survey scope and sample size in the future studies.

Acknowledgements

This paper is funded by 2019 Minjiang University Teaching Reform Project A(Grant No.MJU2019A002)and 2019 Minjiang University“Creation,Innovation and Enterprise”Education Project(Grant No.YB017).