Redefining the role of English as a foreign language in the curriculum in the global context
- Authors: Zhang, Xiaohong , Zeegers, Margaret
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Changing English Vol. 17, no. 2 (2010), p. 177-187
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The English language has become a global language, a development which has influenced English language teaching and learning throughout the world. This influence has occurred more impressively in China than in other parts of the world as a result of the breathtaking pace at which China has integrated with global economies. Increasing industrial, economic and multicultural development has spurred language educators in China to question the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum in relation to the role of English, particularly in secondary schools. In this paper we present a brief review of the role of English as a global language in the Chinese context, a context which is now to be seen as a global one. The new curriculum has been progressively rolled out in Chinese schools since 2001. We highlight the redefinition of the role of English in the new EFL curriculum in Chinese secondary schools in particular and the significance of this as it presents new features of the new EFL curriculum as part of a developing research field, based on a comparison with the 1993 EFL curriculum. In this study, we focus on policy statements and curriculum documents as well as published previous research in order to understand the redefining of the role of English as a foreign language in the new EFL curriculum.
Place-based citizenship : Is it just a walk in the park?
- Authors: Johnston, Robbie
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at Social Educators Association of Australia biennial conference, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales : 20th-22nd January 2008
- Full Text: false
- Description: This paper explores the connections between place-based learning and opportunities for fostering multidimensional citizenship and recognition of difference. The paper is based on longitudinal research exploring the kinds of field sites selected for children’s learning. Findings suggested that these selected places tended to be high status sites chosen as places unlikely to raise contentious issues. The paper draws upon research and literature in the fields of cultural and social geography as well as civic and citizenship education in considering the ramifications of such decisions for multidimensional citizenship in the contemporary world. Some of the reasons shaping these choices are introduced; the limitations of such fieldwork choices are also highlighted. The paper suggests an alternative vision for place-based learning which is associated with recognition of place and space as contested, globally connected and always being negotiated. The implications are discussed in connection with specific sites in a regional Australian city. The locations considered in this paper are selected as generic kinds of places and spaces. The pedagogical potential for learning in similar kinds of sites in other contexts is considered.
- Description: 2003006854