Talents-Oriented Action on Chinese College English Educational Reform

With the publication of “College English Teaching Guide” by Chinese Ministry of Education, College English Educational Reform becomes imminent. Before the introduction of the “Guide”, college English teaching General English as the mainstream has been going on for more than 30 years. With the deepening of China’s reform and opening up, the importance of foreign languages (especially English) has been recognized by the common Chinese people. Nowadays, the English level of college freshmen has improved significantly at the time of their enrollment. Therefore, how to change the previous College English Curriculum system so as to properly meet the new educational situation becomes an urgent and tough issue for the common Colleges of Science and Technology. This paper puts forward the curricu lum of compulsory courses with modular teaching of General English, Cross-cultural Courses, and English for Specific Purposes, together with various individualized optional courses. Taking into account the double role of instrumentality and humanity of English, the compulsory courses not only help students to learn general English in order to master basic knowledge and win some necessary certificates, but also help improve students’ communicat ive competence and specialized English proficiency. Meanwhile, optional courses should fully reflect the educational idea of teaching according to students’ individual aptitude, personal interests and development. With the on-going nation-wide d iscussion about the setting up of standard or individualized English curriculum, hopefully, this paper makes an acceptable and feasible suggestion to help Colleges of Science and Technology to cope with this hot issue.