摘要

本文旨在探讨我国高中英语教学大纲三十年的演变及其对高中英语课程改革发展的影响。www.hhlww.net/文章首先讨论了课程和大纲的定义，并简要回顾了课程大纲理论在外语教学大纲设计中的应用。以外语教学大纲的相关理论为基础，本文接着分三个历史阶段着重论述了三十年以来六个高中英语教学大纲的演变，即从高中英语课程的恢复性发展阶段（1978－1990）， 经英语课程的基础性提高阶段（1990－2000），到英语教学对人的全面发展的提升阶段（2000－至今）。
通过对三十年来高中英语教学大纲的阐释和比较分析，作者归纳了高中英语课程改革呈现的发展特点：1. 高中英语教学目标由教授学生语言分析技能转变为培养学生语言应用能力；2. 现代外语教育理论被运用于高中英语课程研究和编定；3. 教学以及管理的自主意识逐渐增强；4. 课程编定逐渐重视社会文化意识。
2003年，《高中英语课程标准》的颁布掀起了第三轮课程改革的序幕。《高中英语课程标准》以全新的面貌呈现在高中英语教师的面前，它带来了一系列的新理念新看法，反映了当前英语教学的主流思想。为了进一步探讨新一轮课程改革中高中英语课程实施的现状，本研究还就新课标在北京市高中英语教师中展开了问卷调查和研究。结果表明，英语课程改革取得了一定的成绩，英语教学的现状相比以前有了很大的改善，但是同时也存在一些问题。比如，新课标是否符合中国教学实际，考试制度与课程大纲相配套的问题值得课程大纲制定者们进一步思考。

关键词：课程改革；高中；英语教学大纲；新课程标准

Abstract
This thesis attempts to conduct a study of senior high school English curriculum reforms in China in the past 30 years and their significance on senior high English curriculum development. This study begins with a discussion about the definition of curriculum and that of syllabus and then a brief review of the implementation of curriculum theories in EFL. Based on EFL curriculum theories, the thesis tries to provide a detailed study of senior high school English syllabuses/curriculum standards of three phases in China in the past decades, that is from the restoring development of senior high school English curriculum (1978-1990), the fundamental development of English curriculum (1990-2000), to the comprehensive development of English curriculum (2000 until present).
     Based on retrospective analyses, the following trends of senior high school English curriculum are obvious: 1. teaching objectives have developed from the teaching of learners’ language analysis ability to the improvement of comprehensive language competence; 2. modern foreign language educational theories have continuously been applied in research and curriculum compilation; 3. autonomy in administration, teaching and learning has been enhanced; 4. sociocultural competence has gradually been improved.
     In 2003, the English Curriculum Standards for Senior High School was issued, which brought a new round of curriculum reform. The English Curriculum Standards for Senior High School was presented with a series of new concepts and ideas which reflect the dominate trend in English teaching field. In order to investigate the current situation of senior high school teaching under the influence of new curriculum standards, the author has done research and survey among the English teachers of high schools in Beijing district. The results show that the English teaching situation has been greatly improved compared with years ago, but still some problems remain. The problems proposed by the teachers such as “whether the standards is suitable for Chinese realities”, “the examination system should go together with the standards” together with some suggestions should be paid special attention to by the curriculum designers.

Key words: curriculum reform; senior high school; English teaching syllabus; new English curriculum standards

Chapter One Introduction

English is a very important subject in the basic education in China, and the status of English becomes higher and higher in the primary and secondary schools. China has been in the process of educational reforms for a long time, each progress made on the road of English curriculum development has been accompanied by constant adjustments and reforms.
1.1 Study Background
Entering the 21st century, the times of economic globalization, information socialization, scientific industrialization, poses challenges for worldwide education in an all-around way. In order to meet the increasing demands of the internationalization, foreign language education turns to be a hot topic, many countries like the US, Briton, Germany, France, Australia, etc. conduct profound reforms on the foreign language curriculum concepts, contents, application and evaluation, aiming to improve students’ comprehensive language competence to adept to the new international climate.
English language teaching has a long and fascinating history in China, whose beginning could be traced back to as far as over a century ago. Although the past has witnessed the gradual development of English as foreign language teaching in China, it took a very long time for English subject to establish its position firmly in the educational system. Particularly after 1978, the senior high school education has undergone unprecedented development, in which senior high school curriculum reform has always been a very important part.
In the new century, China’s secondary English education is facing three serious difficulties: a. with frequent exchanges with international world, the Chinese society calls for the talents with both professional knowledge and English application skills, who can participate actively in international competitions; b. Chinese senior high schools have students on a larger scale and their limited teaching facilities become an imperative problem in the development of secondary English education; c. “Dumb and deaf English” and time-consuming and low efficiency are still common phenomena, which call for greater efforts to solve.
In the past 30 years since the end of Cultural Revolution, senior high school English curriculum has experienced great progress, which is developing into a more scientific and rational system.
According to David Nunan (1988), curriculum includes syllabus (selecting, sequencing and justifying content), methodology (selecting and sequencing tasks and activities i.e. processes) and evaluation (determining how well learners have done and how well the curriculum has served learners). a curriculum is often reflective of national and political trends as well. Therefore, the reform of teaching content, models, processes, methods, evaluations are all included in a curriculum. In China, the implementation of senior high school English curriculum is just the process of deepening senior high school English teaching reform. With its revisions, curriculum is certainly a guideline for teaching reform.
1.2 Significance of the Study
     Until recently, there has been a comparative neglect of curriculum theorizing in relation to EFL (Nunan, 1988). This neglect might be caused by the dominance of theoretical linguistics over language learning. Language learning has been regarded as a linguistic, rather than an educational issue and there has been a tendency to ignore researches and planning processes of general educational principles. In order to change this situation, more attention should be focused on the selection and grading of input on the basis of what is actually learnable at various levels. There are the tasks of curriculum making and reform.
     In developing a language curriculum, there are issues concerning diagnosis of needs, formulation of objectives, selection and organization of contents, accumulation and organization of learning experiences and finally the determination of what to evaluate, and the means to evaluate (Taba, 1962). Therefore, curriculum design and implementation is a very complex process. In addition, the fortunes of foreign language curricula, argues Ross (1992) are a “barometer of modernization”, in that they register changes in pressure exerted by the prevailing socio-political climate. English, being particularly controversial, makes it a sensitive barometer (Adamson, 2004).
     The thesis attempts to research and analyze the six senior high school syllabuses/curriculum standards implemented in China in the past 30 years, in order to present the gradual development of English curriculum. This study not only tries to explore our views towards the reforms on English syllabuses, but also hopes to shed light on our future English curriculum development. The questionnaire among forefront English teachers may also bring practical implications regarding English curriculum design and the overall development of senior high school English education.
1.3 Structure of the Thesis
     The thesis consists of six chapters
     Chapter one is a general introduction, covering the statement of the problem, the choice of the research topic and the objective of the study, which gives a general idea about the importance of English curriculum study.
     Chapter two is a review of the definition of curriculum and that of syllabus, the theory of curriculum processes and the related components in EFL curriculum design, which sketch out the theoretical basis for the study.
     Chapter three is a historical presentation of the reforms on China’s senior high school English syllabuses in the past 30 years. The design backgrounds and features of each version are introduced for comprehensive understanding on the English curriculum development.
     Chapter four surveys the development clues of senior high school English curriculum in China, obtained from comparative studies of all versions of senior high school English syllabuses/curriculum standards.
     Chapter five is a questionnaire about senior high school English teachers’ attitudes towards new curriculum standards, whose results and findings are analyzed.
     Chapter six concludes the thesis with findings of the senior high school English curriculum as well as their practical implications. Of course, it admits the limitations in this study and proposes some suggestions for further research.
CHAPTER TWO   Literature Review

     To explore the subject matter, it is important to start with the differences between curriculum and syllabus and the understanding of curriculum process, on which many researches (see for example Stern 1983; Richard 1984; Dubin & Olshtain 1986; Nunan 1988) have been done. And also a great deal of literature on individual revisions of China’s Secondary English Curriculum is available now (see Adamson & Morris, 1997; 高永亭，2003；王文燕，2004).
2.1Curriculum versus Syllabus
     For most time, the “syllabus” we call might have the title of “curriculum”, “plan”, “course outline”, or any other relevant names. Although both curriculum and syllabus fall into the scope of course design, actually, “curriculum” and “syllabus” are not exactly the same thing. Linguistic scholars have illustrated their differences.
     The differences between curriculum and syllabus given by Dubin & Olshtain are: a curriculum contains a broad description of general goals by indicating an overall educational-cultural philosophy. A curriculum is often reflective of national and political trends as well; a syllabus is a more detailed and operational statement of teaching and learning elements which translates the philosophy of the curriculum into a series of planned steps leading towards more narrowly defined objectives at each level( Dubin & Olshtain, 1986).
     According to David Nunan, “curriculum planning can be seen as the systematic attempt by educationalists and teachers to specify and study planned intervention into the educational enterprises” (Nunan, 1988), while syllabus is a subset of curriculum. Curriculum includes syllabus (selecting, sequencing and justifying content), methodology (selecting and sequencing tasks and activities, i.e. processes) and evaluation (determining how well learners have done and how well the curriculum has served learners).
     Gorge Posner concluded a more detailed study in curriculum. He proposed six common concepts of curriculum: scope and sequence (the depiction of curriculum as a matrix of objectives assigned to successive grade levels and grouped according to a common theme); syllabus (a plan for an entire course, typically including rationales, topics, resources, and evaluations); content outline (a list of covered topics organized in outline forms); textbook (instructional materials used as the guide for classroom instruction); course of study (a series of courses that the student must complete) and planned experience (all experiences students have that are planned by the school, whether academic, athletic, emotional, or social) (Posner, 1995).
     Though the definitions of curriculum and those of syllabus from Dubin & Olshtain, Nunan and Posner are not completely the same, they all take syllabus just as one part of curriculum. In this thesis, the term “syllabus” is used to denote that part of curriculum activity concerned with the specification and ordering of course content or input. And the term “curriculum” in this thesis incorporates those elements designated by the term “syllabus” along with consideration of methodology and evaluation. Senior High School English Teaching Syllabus, published in 1956, was the first genuine state guideline for English education at secondary level after the founding of PRC. The state guideline was then called “syllabus” rather than “curriculum” till 2001 when a new round of reform on the basic education in 21st century began. Either in the following series of syllabuses or the new curriculum standards, the state guidelines for secondary education not only embody the state EFL policies and objectives but also stipulate the specifications and arrangements of language course as well. However, the transition from “syllabus” to “curriculum” has reflected the changing views towards the role that state guideline plays in EFL.
2.2 EFL Curriculum Process
     All curriculum models have planning, implementation and evaluation stage (夏纪梅，2003). David Nunan (1988i) proposed a more detailed curriculum process, in which the key elements were: initial planning procedure; content selection and gradation; methodology; and ongoing monitoring, assessment and evaluation. The first step in the curriculum process is the collection of information about the learners in order to diagnose what Richterich (1972) refers to as their objective needs, or needs external to the learner. Once the information is collected, a decision has to be made as to which will be given to meet the different kinds of needs. Content selection is an important component in curriculum design, which gives guidance to the selection of materials and learning activities and assists the assessment and evaluation. Methodology includes learning activities and materials. Evaluation is the final component in curriculum model. The purpose of assessment is to determine whether or not the objectives of a course of instruction have been achieved. In the case of a failure to achieve objectives, it is the purpose of evaluation to decide why this might have been so. In any curriculum design, certain ends will have to be reached through the specifications of contents and methodologies. This curriculum process, from planning to implementation to evaluation, moves in a cycle.
     The course designers’ full responsibility is not only to set broad, general goals but also to specify objectives accessible to all those involved in the program. The task is carried out through written documents, i.e. curriculum and syllabus. As mentioned before, a curriculum contains a broad description of general goals while a syllabus is more detailed and operational statement of teaching elements which translates the philosophy of the curriculum into a series of planned steps towards more narrowly defined objectives at each level. A single curriculum can be the basis for developing a variety of specific syllabus for locally defined audiences, particular needs and intermediate objectives.
     EFL curriculum shares the common ground with all other curriculum design models. However, besides the general field of educational research and theory for assistance in developing curriculums, decisions related to the organization of EFL course should involve the consideration of many other elements. Diagram 1 shows a relatively comprehensive EFL curriculum process and its relationship with syllabuses. EFL curriculum has to indicate an overall pedagogical and sociocultural philosophy together with a theoretical orientation to English language and English language learning. An EFL curriculum is often reflective of national and political trends and “barometer of modernization” as well.
Diagram 1: EFL curriculum process
(self-designed on the reference of Dubin & Olshtain’s Diagram of the Relationship of a Curriculum to the Syllabuses Which Draw from It, 1986)

     The pedagogical approach underpinning a curriculum is informative as it shows the orientation of the curriculum towards particular goals (White, 1988). In the case of English language, the goals might be fostering students’ competence in oral and written English in order to produce people capable of communicating with English-speaking foreigners, or transmitting grammatical knowledge about language to develop students’ reading skills for them to gain access to scientific or technical information. Over decades of the secondary English teaching in China, curriculum designers have interpreted developments of applied linguistics in order to customize the curriculum to the needs of language learners. The features of some pedagogical approaches like “Grammar-Translation Method”, “Direct Method”, “Audio-Lingual Method”, “Structural Approach”, “Functional/ Notional Approach ” and “Task-based Learning” have been identified in China, with each responding to different social needs. With the development of sociolinguistics, more and more scholars adopt sociocultural perspectives on language teaching. English language itself refers to such linguistic components as grammatical items, vocabulary and functional/notional items. The selection and organization of these components are indicative of the views of language learning and pedagogy. Language learning view (e.g. the second language learning view or foreign language learning view) is also taken into consideration in curriculum process.
     As indicated in diagram 1, three orientations, concerning English language view, language learning view, and pedagogical and sociocultural views respectively can be reflected partially or fully in a wide variety of EFL curriculums.
2.3 Concurrent curriculum
     George Posner (1995) pointed out that actually we have not one but five concurrent curriculums to consider: the official, the operational, the hidden, the null, and the extra curriculums.
(1) The official curriculum , or written curriculum, is documented in scope and sequence charts, syllabuses, curriculum guides, course outlines, and objective lists. Its purpose is to give teachers a basis for planning lessons and evaluating teaching, and administers a criterion for supervising teachers and holding them accountable for their practices and results.
(2) The operational curriculum consists of what is actually taught by the teacher and how its importance is communicated to the students. The operational curriculum may differ sharply from the official one because teachers tend to interpret it in the light of their own knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes.
(3) The hidden curriculum is not generally acknowledged by school officials but may have a deeper and more durable impact on students than either the official or the operational curriculum. The entrance examination for colleges in China is called by many scholars as hidden curriculums.
(4)The null curriculum consists of those subject matters consciously omitted from the official and operational curriculum.
(5)The extra curriculum comprises all those planned experiences outside school subjects. It contrasts with the official curriculum by virtue of its voluntary nature and its responsiveness to students’ interest.
All five curriculums contribute significantly to the education of students. When we do the curriculum analysis, Posner advised that we need to continually ask ourselves how the five curriculums affect one another.
2.4 Types of syllabuses
Syllabuses as parts of curriculum are ways to organize the course and material. In the past decade, a deal of attention has been paid to the particular language elements that are included in a syllabus and to the organizational system of language elements. There are structural syllabuses, situational syllabuses, functional syllabuses and notional syllabuses.
(1)In structural syllabuses, grammatical and phonological structures are the organizing principles—sequenced from the easy to the difficult or from the frequent to the less frequent;
(2)In situational syllabuses, situations (such as at a bank, at a supermarket, at a restaurant, and so forth) form the organizing principles—sequenced by the likelihood that students will encounter them;
(3)In functional syllabuses, functions (such as identification, report, correction, description, and so forth) are the organizing principles—sequenced by some sense of chronology or the usefulness of each function;
(4)In notional syllabuses, conceptual categories called notions (such as duration, quantity, location, and so forth) are the bases of organization—sequenced by some sense of chronology or the usefulness of each notion.
Recently, however, with the communicative approach applied to curriculum and syllabus design, the idea of presenting an organizational concept which is not based on separate units but rather on continuous process of communication in the target language has gained popularity;
(5)In skill syllabuses, skill (such as listening for gist, listening for main ideas, listening for inferences, scanning for specific information, and so forth) serve as the basis for organization—sequenced by some sense of chronology or the usefulness of each skill;
(6)In topical syllabuses, topics or themes (such as health, food, clothing, and so forth) form the organization—sequenced by the likelihood that students will encounter them.
(7)In task syllabuses, task- or activity-based categories (such as drawing maps, following directions, following instructions) serve as the basis for organization—sequenced by some sense of chronology or the usefulness of each task.
And course designers who carefully consider the various approaches to syllabus design may arrive at eclectic syllabuses.
(8)In eclectic syllabuses, different syllabuses listed above are needed and best combined in an eclectic manner in order to bring about positive results.
According to 束定芳 （1996），different syllabuses listed above lay particular emphasis on different things. He divided all syllabuses into two kinds, “product syllabus” and “process syllabus”. The former concentrates exclusively on the products rather than the process of learning, and assumes that specifying the end point of learning is all that curriculum designer needs to do. The once popular “functional-notional syllabus” is “product syllabus”, which focuses on the results of learning, whose contents are just the lists of grammar summarization and examples of functional-notional items.
However, there is a growing recognition within the profession that specification of the end products (the syllabus design component of the curriculum) must also be accompanied by specifications of methodologies (indication on how to reach that end point). Consequently, “process syllabus” comes into being. “Process syllabus” is less concerned with specified contents or outputs than with the sorts of learning activities. It, therefore, aligns itself more with methodology than with syllabus design. In such a syllabus, specification is more in terms of tasks and problems for the learner to grapple with than in terms of linguistic terms. The most frequently discussed “task syllabus” and “topic syllabus” fall into the scope of “process syllabus”.
In practice, neither a syllabus without taking process into account nor a syllabus without taking product into account can be an ideal one. A good syllabus must combine the specifications of the end products and specifications of methodologies.
2.5 Related Studies
     Ever since the application of College English teaching curriculum in China, relevant studies, either theoretical, practical, systematic or in other forms, have been conducted.
     Adamson & Morris (1997) interpreted the English curriculum reforms of junior high schools from the perspective of national political priority, showing that curriculum policy making has evolved since 1949 from a centralized and state-controlled process into a more complex and pluralistic procedure. 高永亭 (2003) made a comparison between English teaching syllabuses and English curriculum standards since 1978 to provide theoretical support for further implementation of new curriculum reform. 王文燕（2004）made a study on the connections between new English curriculum standards and senior high school teaching.
     The studies above mentioned the features of the New Curriculum Standards and its demand on English teaching. Based on previous studies, this thesis tries to provide a comprehensive study on senior high school curriculum development from the perspective of the reforms in syllabuses in the past 30 years, together with a questionnaire and interviews among senior high school English teachers about their attitudes and suggestions towards the new round of curriculum reform, aiming to shed light on the further curriculum reform.

CHAPTER THREE Historical Review of the Senior High School English Curriculum Reforms in China
—the comparison between the post-1976 syllabuses/curriculum standards

     The beginning of English curriculum in China could be traced back to as far as over a hundred years ago. For some years after the founding of the PRC, English was rarely found in the school curriculum. As the close political alliance between the CCP and the Soviet Union combined with the failure of the United States to recognize the PRC led to the recommendation that Russian be studied in schools. Although schools teaching English would be allowed to continue, Russian was the main foreign language. Between 1954 and 1957, however, all foreign language instruction ceased in secondary schools because authorities wanted to reduce the curricular demands on students, and priority was to be given to Chinese and other subjects. It was the industrial expansion of the mid-1950s, carried out with Soviet aid that rekindled official interest in English as a valuable language of science and technology. Changes took place in 1956 when the Ministry of education announced that, from the following year on, secondary schools would teach either English or Russian, and the ratio of schools offering Russian to those offering English would be 1:1 (Adamson, 1997). English, until then, gradually gained popularity in secondary education again. But the development of English learning and teaching still kept a slow pace till 1970s when it embraced economic reforms.
Since 1978, the senior high school English curriculum has undergone tremendous development at all levels. With the deepening of the reform and opening-up, especially after China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, the holding of the Olympic Games to Beijing in 2008 and the awarding of the World Exposition to Shanghai in 2010, English became a “must” for all.
It takes a very long time for English subject to establish its position firmly in the educational system. It is the task of those who are responsible for an educational policy to see to it that English as foreign language is given the place that allows for the present and the future needs for English to be met as much as possible.
In this chapter, the development of the senior high school English curriculum will be divided into three rounds: the restoring development of English curriculum (1978-1990); the fundamental development of English curriculum (1993-2000); the comprehensive development of English curriculum (2003 until present). And the design processes and products of all reforms in each individual phase will be discussed and compared from the aspects of “background”, “teaching targets”, “teaching principles”, and “teaching methods”. Meanwhile the applications of some curriculum theories will also be outlined.
3.1 Phase 1: The Restoring development of English Curriculum (1978-1990)
3.1.1 Syllabus 1978
3.1.1.1 Background
The end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976 and the national program of “Four Modernizations” brought in a new era of political, economic, and social development, as well as a rapid growth of commercial, cultural, and scientific exchange with the west. These developments exerted profound influences on education in general and ELT in particular (Ross, 1993). Syllabus 1978 was issued for secondary school nationwide as education was regarded by the government to be a crucial part in the “Four Modernizations”. However, English teaching was a particular problem after the Cultural Revolution. In the early 1970s, English was a subject that was too politically sensitive to teach. Therefore, few qualified English teachers after the Cultural Revolution were available at the end of 1976. To recover the English teaching situation of that time as soon as possible, a new curriculum which would act as an overall guide to the nation-wide secondary schools appeared. In 1977, the People’s Education Press (PEP) mobilized a group of professors, experienced teachers and textbook writers to produce a new syllabus for English.
3.1.1.2 Teaching targets
     According to Syllabus 1978, there were two starting points for students learning English. One course should start from primary third year and last for eight years to the second year of senior high school. But this would be restricted to some major cities that possessed qualified teachers and sufficient teaching resources in the primary schools. For the many other cities, the course would start from the year of junior high school, and lasted for five years.
     Although by then China had embarked on the “Four Modernizations” program, there were still obvious political vestiges of the previous era in the new syllabus, as stated in Syllabus 1978’s teaching targets, “English is a very widely used language throughout the world. In certain aspects, English is a very important tool; for international class struggle; for economic and trade relationships; for cultural, scientific and technological exchange; and for the development of international friendship” (Adamson, B, 2003). And learning English was “to enable students to lay a sound foundation for the further study in the three great revolutions or in the tertiary institution” (PEP, 1978).
     Besides the obvious political orientation of Syllabus 1978, it also attached emphasis on the task of English teaching as “the great efforts should be made to cultivate the students’ abilities to read and self study; meanwhile, should enable them to listen, speak, write and translate”(PEP, 1978).
3.1.1.3 Teaching Principles
      Four teaching principles were proposed in Syllabus 1978:
1) To correctly handle the relationship between political, moral education and language education.
2) To correctly handle the relationship between theories and practice in English teaching. The goals of English teaching in primary and secondary schools are to train students’ abilities of listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation. Teachers can not merely explain the language points to the students while neglecting the abilities to use English. A new language item should be taught by oral practice first and induced after certain amount of practice when students percept it.
3) To correctly handle the relationship between listening and speaking, reading and writing. Training of listening and speaking should come first. Initial focus should be on listening and oral skills, then the reading and writing skills.
4) To correctly handle the relationship between teaching and learning. The teachers play a leading and an exemplary role in the English teaching activities.
The teaching principles listed above reveal: a. The syllabus design was influenced by the uncertain social-political climate. The 10-year Cultural Revolution left people the shadow in mind, therefore, people were still very cautious in the statement. Teaching English was a means to express moral and political messages and to train a large number of “red and expert” people proficient in a foreign language. b. the syllabus design was affected by the structural-audiolingualism approach, as stated in principle 2, “A new language item should be taught by oral practice first, and the training of listening and speaking were put great emphasis on the initial stage of learning.” c. Students’ roles in the whole teaching process were neglected, while teachers played central roles in the classroom. The syllabus concerned about how to teach instead of how to learn.
3.1.1.4 Teaching Methods
The syllabus proposed teaching methods on teaching individual language areas.
As for phonetics, “training of pronunciation is, to a large extent, a process of habit formation”, therefore students should form good habits at the very beginning. This kind of teaching method reflected the theory pattern—behavioral-audiolingualism, popular at that times in the west.
As for vocabulary, it advised that the best ways of teaching were through drills and memorization, but teachers could provide some guidance on spelling and word formation rules.
As for grammar, the efficient grammar teaching was to provide a particular structure with pattern drills. “Practice-theory-practice” were the steps of teaching a certain grammatical item. Teachers were asked to introduce the particular structure with pattern drills, and after the students percept this linguistic item, teachers explained the rules and then came back to pattern drills for practice.
As for text teaching, passages “provide material for comprehensive training in listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation and teacher should explain points of interest concerning linguistic items.” However, “what is more important is to conduct exercise in reading aloud and reciting the passage, questioning and answering, retelling both orally and in writing, and translating the passage into Chinese” (PEP, 1978), which are features of the grammar-translation method.
Tapes, radios etc. were encouraged to use so as to create an environment for students learning a foreign language.
3.1.2 Syllabus 1986
3.1.2.1 Background
 Syllabus 1978 did not last long, for by 1982, China had embarked upon a further series of wide-ranging economic reforms which required the curriculum to further go towards economic development and national modernizations. The Open Door Policy stimulated the interest among a lot of people in learning English. “The Syllabus 1986 (the written form of Syllabus 1982) had two specific aims: to correct the orientation of the previous curriculum which was viewed as problematic; and to prepare educated elites to play a pioneering role in economic modernization in the context of the Open Door Policy” (Adamson, B, 2003). The PEP staffs, responsible for the policy making and the textbook compilation were much stronger than that of 1977. Some of the staff were sent abroad to receive special training in English language teaching, which brought to China some new ideas and concepts of pedagogy in the west.
3.1.2.2 Teaching Targets
     Similar to the Syllabus 1978, “the English course was to train students’ skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing; the reading competence was paid special attention in order to lay a sound foundation for further study and use of the English” (PEP, 1986). However, Syllabus 1986 removed the political part in the statement of teaching targets.
3.1.2.3 Teaching Principles
The Syllabus1982 stated and explained the teaching principles in considerable depth with 84 pages. They were generally as following:
1) To obey the rule of language teaching and provide the students with a good moral education and language education.
Compared with the previous syllabus, this one removed the political dimension in the statement of teaching targets, meanwhile stress that developing competence in English was the priority. Besides, it remained the part that language education should be the carrier of moral education.
2) To impart basic language knowledge elaborately and stress on the cultivation of the students’ ability to communicate with English.
The syllabus paid attentions on the basic language knowledge, and explained that was because “the basic language skills were necessary in the language practice.” “Communicative competence” was an innovation in Syllabus 1986, which was closely related with the application of the new pedagogical theories from the west.
3) To train the skills comprehensively, but focus on different aspects in different learning stages.
The oral language was treated as the basis for competence in listening, speaking, reading and writing, while reading competence was the focus of the later stage of the course.
4) To increase the English use while decline the use of mother tongue.
Unlike the previous syllabus which allowed for more use of Chinese in English class, Syllabus 1986 recommended the appropriate and gradual decline of Chinese in English class, which was another reflection of communicative teaching approach.
5) Teachers should play leading roles and try to arouse students’ enthusiasm.
6) To improve the quality of classroom teaching while set up extracurricular activities for students after class.
Extracurricular activities benefit a lot in intellectual development and competence cultivation, which could be good supplement for classroom teaching.
3.1.2.4 Teaching Methods
     The teaching methods listed in 1986 curriculum are basically alike to the previous one, except some slight differences. Teaching individual language areas is advised. Those individual language areas are listening and speaking, reading, writing, texts, phonetics, vocabulary and grammar. Most of the methods for teaching them are the same as in the 1978 curriculum, for example, for phonetics, imitation is the main means; for grammar teaching, it should follow the “practice-theory-practice” steps, with pattern drills providing an appropriate means for focusing on a particular structure. But there are still some innovations. For example, for reading passages, it says that it is important to let the students grasp the main idea of the whole passage before examining the details, and even then, the details should be examined within the whole context. (PEP, 1986) Also, for grammar teaching, it says that the dull mechanical pattern drills should be minimized, and the pattern drills should be meaningful and be in some situations. Those innovations all show that besides the stress on the basic language areas such as pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar, it also stresses on the communicative principles.
3.1.3 Summary about syllabuses in the first phase
     In reviewing and comparing the Syllabuses 1978/1986, we may find several points worth mentioning. First of all, the teaching goals shifted from politics-oriented to economics-oriented. With the decline of the intense political atmosphere after the Cultural Revolution, the attention was paid to language teaching and learning itself. Since then, as a basic subject in secondary schools, English education aroused nationwide interest. Secondly, some linguistic and pedagogical theories and approaches abroad had been applied in curriculum design. For example, it is not hard to find the influence of the structural approach, audiolingualism and grammar-translation method in syllabuses. Thirdly, the importance of communicative competence was gradually realized. The importance of basic language knowledge had always been stressed, until the late 1980s, the English language practice was gradually paid attention to, as Syllabus 1986 first proposed the concept of “communication competence”. Besides, it was required to arouse students’ interest in English learning.

3.2 Phase 2: The Fundamental Development of English Curriculum (1993-2000)
3.2.1 Syllabus 1993
3.2.1.1 Background
     As the PRC future opened up, English was accorded ever-increasing importance because of its perceived role in the modernization scheme. There were a great number of public and individual investments in English teaching and learning. Meanwhile, however, there was also growing dissatisfaction with the quality of ELT. This dissatisfaction was sharpened by a growing awareness of new language teaching and learning theories and methods. Criticisms of the prevailing ELT practice intensified when a survey study conducted under the auspices of the State Education Commission supported the widespread complaint that the general level of English proficiency of secondary school students was deplorably low. The survey, involving 139 secondary schools in 15 provinces, found that a great majority of the students had only some fragmentary knowledge of English grammar, could only recognize about 1800 words, and were very weak in the four language skills (Wei, 2001). The recognition of these problems, together with the impetus of a nationwide reform in education started by the central government in 1986, initiated a top-down effort to reform ELT. Seven years later, a new syllabus for senior high schools was issued.
3.2.1.2 Teaching Targets
The Syllabus 1993, as the former curriculums, focused on the training in the four linguistic skills, and paid special attention to the reading ability. But this time, the teaching aimed “to develop the students’ communicative competence in both written and oral English” (PEP, 1993). Besides the goals mentioned above, the syllabus should “develop students’ self teaching ability so as to lay a sound foundation for the further study as well as the use of English; foster moral education, patriotism and socialism; help student acquire more knowledge of foreign culture; develop students’ ability of thinking, memorizing, imagining, and so on”. (PEP, 1993)
     Compared with the previous syllabuses, the Syllabus 1993 stated the teaching contents in a more detailed way. Another revision is the additional appendix of “Functional and Notional Items”.
3.2.1.3 Teaching Principles
     The teaching principles of Syllabus 1993 are revised on the basis of Syllabus1986. The innovations are:
1) The Syllabus 1993 paid special attention to the students’ communicative competence.
It was the first time that the English course syllabus pointed out the task of English teaching was to train students’ communicative competence.
2) The ambit of English study was expanded to include foreign culture.
3) Teacher’s role was required to change from “leading” to “guiding”.
The curriculum suggested that the time which was devoted to the students in language practice and language using should exceed that used for teacher’s instruction. What teachers should do was to arouse students’ interest to learn English and give them guidance in the learning process.
4) Teachers were encouraged to use a variety of teaching strategies and teaching equipments to create an English environment for communicative activities.
3.2.1.4 Teaching Methods
     At this phase, “The Five Steps” teaching method is recommended which included “revision”, “presentation”, “drill”, “practice” and “consolidation”. It could be said as an eclectic approach since there is a general focus on language structure and form as in the structural approach, but the communicative competence also receives attention.
3.2.2 Syllabuses 1996 and 2000
     The Syllabus 1993 is revised in 1996. Most of the expressions of both curricula’s requirements are the same, except that Syllabus 1996 sets two levels of the learning goals for the students. The first level requires students to read supplementary text for about 100,000 words during the senior high school period, and the second level requires 200, 000 words. The first level should be achieved after the first two years of English learning. The second level is designed for the students who take English as the elective course in the third year. This two levels system design is different from all the previous design, aiming to cater for different students’ need.
Syllabus 2000 set higher standards than Syllabus 1996 in both learning targets and requirements. In Syllabus 2000, teachers were asked to help students form effective learning strategies to lay a sound foundation for their sustainable development. It could be seen that the role of students is paid attention to, and the curriculum designers’ concern begin to shift from “how to teach” to “how to learn”. The two levels system is the same as in 1996 syllabus, but adds the requirements in listening. The first level requires students to listen to English for about 40 hours, and the second level more than 40 hours. Those requirements show the designers’ determinations to change the situation of “deaf-and-dumb English” in China, and develop the senior high school students’ communicative competence.
3.2.3 Summary Syllabuses in the Second Phase
     Compared with Syllabuses 1978/1986, syllabuses of this phase had experienced a long-time scientific process of compilation and application, which included implementation, experiment, evaluation, examination, probation, re-evaluation and so on. As a research and experimental project, great efforts had been paid to the study of historical review, theoretical materials home and abroad, and the qualitative and quantitative analysis of surveys and experimental data. Besides, syllabuses of this phase covered more contents and inclined to be much more complete and detailed, which stipulated in detail senior high school English teaching targets, objectives, requirements, arrangements and testing. Besides these detailed stipulations, four appendices were listed: “Vocabulary”, “Phonetic Items”, “Functional and Notional Items”, and “Grammatical Items”.
     The following features can be summarized from syllabuses of phase 2:
1) Reading ability and basic training were stressed, while the communicative competence was paid special attention to. As the former syllabuses, syllabuses of phase 2 focused on the training in the four linguistic skills, and paid special attention to the reading ability. But this time, “communicative competence” was added to the teaching targets, “to develop the students’ communicative competence in both written and oral English.” in classroom teaching, the learner-centered message-orientated activities, like pair work, group work and free talk, were highly recommended in order to improve students’ English communication. What is more, teachers are encouraged to use a variety of teaching strategies and teaching equipments to create an English environment for communicative activities.
2) Innovation of four appendices. Four appendices of “Vocabulary”, “Phonetic Items”, “Grammatical Items”, and “Functional and Notional Items” were attached. The four appendices, which could be marked as an innovation in the syllabus/curriculum standards design, had far-reaching influence on senior high school English teaching in the following years. The design of the four appendices took into account many works about applied linguistics, curriculum design and EFL teaching approaches. “Grammatical Items” was the result of grammar-based EFL teaching approach, it aimed at giving a more detailed and clearer description of all grammatical structures in senior high school English teaching. With an extensive influence of Functional Linguistics and Sociology Linguistics on EFL teaching in 1970s and 1980s, especially after Wilkins (1976) categorized the ideas of functions and notions, “Functional and Notional Category” began to be used in EFL. The four appendices were in fact interrelated with each other, for example, the expression of function and notion had to rely on vocabulary and grammatical structures, a specific grammatical structure expressed several functional and notional meanings.
3) Demand for students’ cultural awareness. It was the first time in history that senior high school English teaching syllabuses put forward the idea that “English teaching should help students lay a sound foundation for the further study; help students acquire more knowledge of foreign culture” (PEP, 1993).
4) Change of teacher’s role from “leading” to “guiding”. Syllabus 1993 suggested that students’ language practice and language use in class should occupy the majority of time allocation. What teachers should do was to arouse students’ interest to learn English give them guidance in the learning process. The Syllabus 2000 reiterated the change, stated “teachers are asked to help students form effective learning strategies to lay a sound foundation for their sustainable development.” It could be seen that the role of students was paid attention to, and the curriculum designers’ concern began to shift from “how to teach” to “how to learn”.
5) The addition of “Testing and Checking” part. “Testing and Checking” became a part of curriculum design since phase 2 syllabuses, which pointed out “testing and checking are effective means of collecting data from students’ performance and teachers’ teaching as feedback, providing basis of improving teaching and learning. The testing and checking, composed of paper and oral ones, examine both English basic knowledge and communicative ability”, and suggested “based on the requirements set by syllabuses, the regional achievement tests should be conducted by the end of second year senior high school; the entrance examination for universities should be conducted in the end of three year senior high school study” (PEP, 1993). Since then, the national university entrance examination exerted great influence on the whole nation. It was always called by scholars as hidden curriculums. They were hidden, because they had a deeper and more durable impact on students than either official of the operational curriculum (see 2.3 Concurrent Curriculums).
     In conclusion, syllabuses of phase 2, taking into account pedagogies, linguistic components and contents, already functioned as genuine curriculums. All curriculum models have planning, implementation and evaluation stages (refer to Diagram 1). And many ideas in the syllabuses had far-reaching influences on senior high school English education in China. The teaching concepts, teaching methods and teaching models have in different degree changed. The students’ abilities in using English especially listening and speaking have been improved. However, with the deepening of the opening and reform and continual evaluations and analysis of the existing needs, the shortcomings of Phase 2 syllabuses reflected in English teaching began to arise. For example, the emphasis was still on the explanations of the knowledge instead of the language use; students’ roles were not paid enough attention, and they were still treated as the “receptacle” of what the teachers had infused; most students learn English just for the national university entrance examination, and the examination was the only means to evaluate the students’ performances. There was a strong call for a new and unified curriculum designed neither to remedy the deficiencies in the existing ones or expand and improve them. It was imperative, therefore, to conduct a thorough survey and start a new round of curriculum design.

3.3 Phase 3: The Comprehensive Development of English Curriculum (2003 until present)
3.3.1 Curriculum Standards 2003
3.3.1.1 Background
     21st century is characterized with economic globalization, IT-driven social development and technology-based industrial upgrade. Technological development and innovation have become an important mark of evaluating the comprehensive national strength, which depends more on the quality of laborers, therefore, in order to realize the magnificent goal of invigorating the country through science and education, we should try to improve quality-oriented education, and make education a strategic priority. Both the Third National Education Working Conference and “Action Plan for the 21st Century Education Development” (面向21世纪教育振兴行动计划) approved by the State Council, proposed a reform on the existing basic education curriculum system and the system task of research and compilation of textbooks for the new century. The National Education Working Conference in 2001 and Basic Education Reform and Development Decision issued by the State Council （《国务院关于基础教育改革和发展的决定》), further clarified the guidelines of a new round curriculum reform, meanwhile proposed that the construction of basic education curriculum system should be accelerated. Some papers issued by the United Nations, pointed out that in the 21st century, basic skills for survival and development include mother tongue, a foreign language and operating skills of computer. The coming of the information age and increasingly frequent international communication, bring English language a vital position. Therefore, English study is required by social demand for high-quality citizens at the information age. Under this background, an expert team, organized by the Ministry of Education for the research of English curriculum standards, collected large amount of suggestions nationwide, conducted scientific researches, made the foreign language curriculum reforms abroad as references, and finally made the National English Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools (experimental draft, 2003).
     The third round of English curriculum reform took place with the purpose to provide each student with opportunities to create the future, so the English curriculum should not only help students lay a good foundation of language competence, but also help them make decisions for their own life according to the individual ability, strength, intelligence, interest and long-term career plan. Therefore, learning English should be a process combines extended study, individual study and self-study, offering students sufficient chances to develop and perform. This time, the standard designers expect to have these aspects changed: a. the teaching focus should shift from “how to teach” to “how to learn”, and the center of the whole teaching activities should be the students rather than the teachers; b. as for the teaching content, the stress should move from the language items to both the language skills and the language knowledge; c. in terms of the teaching methods, the traditional teaching methods as the mechanical drills and grammar-translation should be replaced by the communication-oriented teaching methods; d. the concept of “whole-person education” should be integrated into the general teaching targets, and learning English should not be for the examinations’ sake, but for the life-long education. Thus, the learning strategy should be paid attention in the new curriculum standards. In a word, this time the curriculum designers want to initiate a large-scale English language curriculum reform through the new curriculum standards.
3.3.1.2 Teaching Targets
As listed in table 1, we may find the most outstanding feature of English Curriculum Standards is that its targets are based on the requirements of quality of the future citizens. The overall goal of ECS is to develop students’ comprehensive English language competence.
The comprehensive English language competence comprises language skills, language knowledge, affection & attitude, learning strategy, and cultural awareness. Language skills and language knowledge are the basis of comprehensive ability; cultural awareness, the guarantee of using language in appropriate way; affection and attitude, the essential elements of affecting students’ learning and development; learning strategy, the insurance of promoting learning efficiency, as well as self-study ability. ECS, the integrity of knowledge and skills, process and methods, affection and values, embodies the concept of quality education.
The ECS targets are presented with outcome objectives and experimental objectives. The former describes the domain of knowledge and skills, while the latter reflects the demands of process and methods, affection and values. No matter the outcome objectives or experiencing ones, the ECS tries best to explain with simple verbs in a way easy to understand and operate. For example, as described in outcome objectives, (1) knowledge: be aware—speak out, recite, recognize, enumerate, rehearse, recall, identify, etc.; understand—explain, elaborate, induce, generalize, deduce, differentiate, predict, search, organize, etc.; apply—design, defend, question, compose, solve, examine, plan, conclude, extend, prove, etc. (2) skills: imitate—simulate, repeat, represent, exemplify, copy, analogize, extend, etc.; operate independently—finish, set down, solve, draw, install, experiment, etc.; transfer—relate, transform, maneuver, etc. As stated in experimental objectives, experience—participate, search, communicate, share, visit, inspect, etc.; reflect—agree, accept, appreciate, pay attention to, refuse, abandon, etc.; comprehend—form, own, set up, love, assist, pursue, etc. The establishment of experimental objectives in ECS makes it distinguished from the former teaching syllabuses, which encourages students to actively participate, experience by themselves, think independently, research with teamwork spirit, and helps to develop the ability of communication and cooperation, form positive attitude and values. Meanwhile, ECS also proposes the developmental objectives, which provide students with development space.
Thus it can be seen that ECS objectives present the people-oriented concept, making comprehensive quality development the premise of developing the comprehensive language ability, so as to realize the students’ all-round development. Compared with the previous syllabuses, more attention is paid to the cultivation of English communicative and thinking ability,

Table 1 Comparative analysis on the English curriculum targets
National Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools (2003) Five aspects including: language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing); language knowledge (phonology, lexicology, grammar, topic); cultural awareness (cultural knowledge, cultural understanding, intercultural communication, awareness and competence); affection and attitude (international vision, national awareness, cooperative spirit, confidence and will, motivation and interest); learning strategy (cognitive strategy, regulative and controlling strategy, communicative strategy, resource strategy). The above aspects together are called comprehensive language competence. As for the senior high school English education, the language skill objectives part pointed out that the special emphasis should be attached on the appropriateness of language use and capability of using English in analysis, problem-solving and developing critical thought.
English Teaching Syllabus for Senior High Schools (2000) Based on the Junior High School education, the English teaching objectives of Senior High schools include: to strengthen & increase basic language knowledge; to develop basic language skills—listening, speaking, reading, writing, in order to improve reading ability especially, together with communicative ability both in oral and written English; to form correct methods and good habits of study so that an initial foundation can be laid for their further study as well as future work; to provide education in morals, patriotism, socialism; to help students acquire more knowledge of foreign culture; to arouse their interest; to improve their intelligence, the ability of observation, attention, memory, thinking, imagination, etc. 

3.3.1.3 Curriculum Features
Table 2 shows a clear picture about the English curriculum character: ECS composed in a predominant position that foreign language education is an integral component of the national quality education, and English curriculum is vital to improve the English language ability and people’s cultural quality. For the first time, from the standpoint of students’ development, ECS, guided by the principles of the quality education, explicitly states the value of foreign language curricula in cultivating the cultural quality, integrating English education and quality education. Compared with the traditional English teaching syllabuses, led by the knowledge-oriented teaching concept, put “the mastery of basic language knowledge and skills” in the first place of curricula tasks or teaching objectives, ECS attaches great emphasis on the people-oriented educational concept, which conforms to the development of the society and our times. 21ST century, which is characterized with economic globalization, social pluralism and rapid development of science and technology, demands that individual’s growth should keep up with the social change. Therefore, people are required to possess the ability of life-time study, for “how to learn” outweighs “what to learn & how much to learn”.

Table 2 Comparative analysis on English curriculum features

National Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools (2003) Foreign language is compulsory of basic education, and English is major subject of foreign language curricula.
The study of English, be means of English language study and practical activities, enables students to gradually master English knowledge and English ability, meanwhile, it helps students to hone the mental toughness, foster noble spirits, expand horizons, enrich life experiences, improve thinking and cultural ability, develop healthy personality.
English is major subject in senior high school education. English study helps to cultivate students’ will, affection, attitudes and values, and comprehensive humanities quality on one hand, on the other hand, as a universally used language, English provides opportunities to study abroad and communicate with the outside world.
English Teaching Syllabus for Senior High Schools (2000) Based on the 1993 version, it pays less attention to the instrumental nature of foreign language education, but proposes its value in developing the students’ personality.

3.3.1.4 Teaching Principles
According to table 4, we can find that English Curriculum Standard, for the first time put forward the ideology of curriculum principles—“provide all the students with solid foundation for their all-round development and life-time progress”. “To all the students” means overall English competence of all the students; “all-round development of students” means English education should help to form healthy and whole personality and fine qualities; “provide students with solid foundation” means English education should help students possess skills and ability for life-time English learning and personal development. The ideology fully reflects the application of all-round education in English teaching.
For the aspect of teaching method, “task-oriented” method is advocated to develop students’ integrated language competence. It is a human-oriented teaching mode, which is more advanced and effective than the traditional way. Another ideology—“reinforce the guidance of learning strategy to students, laying basis for life-time learning”, which is also newly proposed, attaches great importance on learning, learning effectiveness and students’ life-time development, and clarifies the student-centered teaching mode. It can be seen that English curriculum standard embodies the demand of all-round education from the aspect of application ideology, application strategy and application method and the people-oriented educational thought.
Table 3 Comparative analysis on the curriculum principles
National Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools (2003) (1)Provide all the students with solid foundation for their all-round development and life-time progress; (2)pay attention to the students’ affection, creating a relaxed, democratic, harmonious atmosphere for learning and teaching; (3)advocate task-based pedagogical method, cultivating students’ integrated language competence; (4)reinforce the guidance of learning strategy to students, laying basis for life-time learning; (5)expand students’ cultural vision, raising their intercultural communicative awareness and ability; (6)make use of modern educational technology to provide more channels of learning and using English; (7)organize lively and vivid extracurricular activities to promote English study; (8)update knowledge structure to adopt to the social development; (9)follow the high-frequency principle of curriculum time allocation to ensure the teaching quality and effectiveness; (10)strengthen the guidance of selective curricula to encourage the study on them.
English Teaching Syllabus for Senior High Schools (2000) (1)Abide by the English educational rules, integrating moral education with language education; (2)handle well the relations between language knowledge and English competence to cultivate students’ communicative ability; (3)apply integrated training of English listening, speaking, reading and writing, emphasizing the development of reading ability; (4)try best to use English, while use Chinese in a proper way; (5)manage well the relations between language education and culture; (6)exert teachers’ role of guidance to stimulate the students’ initiative and enthusiasm; (7)improve the in-class teaching quality, while develop actively the extra curricula; (8)make full use of audio-visual teaching material and modern pedagogical methods to create an English learning environment.

3.3.1.5 Curriculum Content
According to table 4, the content of English curriculum standard is much richer and advanced than the previous syllabus, which includes five aspects--language skills, language knowledge, affection &attitude, learning strategy and cultural awareness. Except for the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, the content of language skills in English curriculum standard attaches more emphasis on the comprehensive ability of using language--the ability to acquire and access information by English; the ability to analyze and solve problem by English; the critical thinking ability. Compared with the previous six English teaching syllabuses, English curriculum standard raised higher requirement in the mastery of English language and actual application ability, which is in accordance with the demand of high-quality talents in the modern internationalized world. As for the language knowledge, besides the traditional knowledge—pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, English curriculum standard added topic and function part, which better represents the communicative function of language and the its practicality in daily life. English curriculum standard also proposed the learning strategy, which includes cognitive strategy, control strategy, communicative strategy and resource strategy. Proper and effective learning strategy can greatly improve language learning while reduce students’ burdens; it is also the basis of self-study and life-time study. English curriculum standard concerned the affection &attitude and cultural awareness in curriculum content. Positive attitude is the key to achieve success in English study. It means that secondary English education should not only develop students’ language knowledge and skills, but also cultivate the active attitude towards learning, and the overall development of the students. Culture covers a nation’s history, geography, tradition and custom, lifestyles, literature and art, behavioral norms, values and thoughts, etc. language, the carrier of culture, is also a part of culture. The culture study of the English-speaking countries will benefit the understanding and the use of English, deepen the interpretation of our own culture, cultivate the world awareness, and develop the international communicative ability. It can be seen that the previous six English teaching syllabuses gradually raised its requirement on English teaching content—pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, while English curriculum standard shakes off from the original scope, proposing demand for people’s all-round life-time development.
Table 4 Comparative analysis on English curriculum content
National Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools (2003) Based on the general grading requirement during basic education phase, the Standards proposes corresponding detailed demands for language skills, language knowledge, affection &attitude, learning strategy and cultural awareness. As for the language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing), the Standards further works out elaborate objective requirements respectively for nine levels, among which the latter four levels for senior high schools.
English Teaching Syllabus for Senior High Schools (2000) In order to meet the requirements of the teaching objectives, senior high school education should include: (1) Daily Expressions in Communication (see appendix 1); (2) Phonetic Items (see appendix 2); (3) Vocabulary (see appendix 3); (4) Grammar (see appendix 4).

3.3.1.4 Curriculum Evaluation
According to table 5, traditional evaluation stresses too much on the subject knowledge system, the tests of language knowledge structure, so that large number of test-centered teaching activities took place, making English learning process the numerous mechanic trainings for tests, while new curriculum evaluation concerns more about the all-round development of students and their growth. Curriculum Standards combines the development of students, the development of teachers, and the development of curriculum. It weakens the function of summative evaluation and elimination evaluation, while reinforces the function of formative evaluation and the educational developmental function of evaluation. A number of creative, practical modes and methods of formative evaluation and self-evaluation have arisen, which makes evaluation attach more importance on the learning process and experience.
Table 5 Comparative analysis on the English curriculum assessment
National Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools (2003) English curriculum assessment system should be learner-centered, presenting various evaluation methods according to different students; formative and summative assessments should be integrated, emphasizing on the development process of students’ comprehensive language competence and the learning effectiveness, the learning process and the outcomes; based on the curriculum objectives of each grade, assessments should be applied in an appropriate way, meanwhile, attention should be paid to their feedback effect for the teaching.
English Teaching Syllabus for Senior High Schools (2000) Testing and checking are effective means of collecting data from students’ performance and teachers’ teaching as feedback, providing basis of improving teaching and learning. The testing and checking, composed of paper and oral ones, examine both English basic knowledge and communicative ability.

3.3.2 Summary about English Curriculum Standards

CHAPTER FOUR Development Trend of Senior High School English Teaching
     All English teaching curriculum revisions in senior high schools help us to understand the development trend of English education and the reform on English teaching. The development and the reform include teaching objectives, teaching contents and pedagogical approaches. As indicated in Diagram 1 in Chapter 2, view of English language education, view of language learning and view of pedagogical approaches all to certain extent influence EFL curriculums, and vice versa. Based on the comparison of all the senior high school English teaching syllabuses/ curriculum standards and the research into English teaching, we attempt to make a conclusion of the development trend of senior high school English teaching in China.

4.1 Development from Language Analysis Teaching to Language Application Cultivation
     Within any setting, when curriculum designers try to set objectives they are influenced by the trends of the time in the language teaching profession. Actually, through the long history of language teaching, orientations have fluctuated as language educational outlooks and aims have shifted. In cyclic fashion, goals have alternated between periods when teaching languages as vehicles for analysis or providing access to literary and philosophical pursuits prevailed and times when teaching languages for purposes of social use or performance was favored (Kelly 1969, Celce-Murcia 1989). When a language analysis approach was selected, much emphasis was attached on grammatical analysis, while language application was preferred, the attention was placed on application of the target language for actual communication. In the past 30 years, the objectives of senior high school English teaching syllabuses/curriculum standards have experienced changes from emphasizing on language analysis to language application.
     Although Syllabuses (Draft) 1978/1982 proposed requirements for different language skills, they focused on grammatical analysis and language acquisition. Syllabus 1993 paid special attention to the students’ communicative competence for the first time, then the syllabuses of this phase set language teaching objectives as laying good foundation of language skills to enable students to communicate in English, only reading was given priority in students’ language development while listening, writing and speaking were placed in the second or even the third level. None of them proposed clearly that teaching objective should move to cultivating students’ language communicative competence. Therefore, in practice, language teaching was just limited in “language use” (the function of linguistic items as elements of the linguistic system). Curriculum Standards 2002 brought out a revolutionized change in setting the objective of senior high school English teaching, which was to develop students’ comprehensive English competence, emphasizing the ability to use language in an appropriate way and the ability to analyze and solve problems, the ability of critical thinking, so as to promote the all-round development of students through English curriculum in order to meet the needs of China’s social development and international exchanges.
     The reasons of shifting the objectives of senior high school English teaching from language analysis to language application are mainly two: first, it is the result of social development. A country’s language policy is to meet social needs. With the deepening of opening and reform in China, especially after China’s entry into the WTO, exchanges with foreign countries greatly increased which put forward new requirements for talents’ language communicative competence; second, the development of teaching ideology also contributes to the objective development. The changed views of language teaching and learning have great influence on teaching practice and are embodied through the whole teaching process. The English language education which had been popular for decades in China regarded language as semiotic and structural systems where emphasis was placed on grammatical analysis. With the deepening of teaching reform and the widespread of communicative language teaching pedagogical approach, more and more teachers began to adopt a sociocultural view on the nature of language. They realized that the nature of language was not only language itself but its connection with society or culture.
4.2 Development of Foreign Language Theories on Teaching
     Being the guidance for language teacher, language teaching curriculum is related to language teaching process, which is a very complex matter. Brown (1995) divided various teaching activities into four categories, i.e. pedagogical approaches, syllabuses, techniques and exercises. Curriculum designers and revisers have to take into consideration all these elements, especially approaches and syllabuses.
Categories of language teaching activities Sub-categories and explanations
Pedagogical Approaches
(ways of defining what and how students need to learn) Grammar-translation method: students need to learn language first through detailed analysis of its grammar rules, followed by application of this knowledge to the task of translation.
 Direct method: students need to learn communication so they should use only foreign language in class.
 Audio-lingual method: it involves extensive oral instruction. There is little provision for grammatical explanation or talking about language.
 Communicative language teaching: students must be able to express their intentions, that is, they must learn the meanings that are important to them.
 Whole language approach: four language skills are unified and integrated.
Syllabuses
(ways of organizing the course and materials) Structure: grammatical and phonological structures are the organizing principles, sequenced from easy to difficult or frequent to less frequent.
 Situation: situations form the organizing principles, sequenced by the likelihood students will encounter them.
 Topic: topics or themes sequenced by the likelihood that students will encounter them.
 Function: functions are the organizing principles, sequenced by some sense of chronology or the usefulness of each function.
 Notion: conceptual categories called notions are the basis of organization, sequenced by some sense of chronology or the usefulness of each notion.
 Skill: skills serve as the basis for organization, sequenced by some sense of chronology or the usefulness for each skill.
 Task: tasks or activity-based categories serve as the basis for organization, sequenced by some sense of chronology or the usefulness of notions.
 Eclecticism: a number of different syllabuses is needed and best combined in an eclectic manner in order to bring about positive results.

First of all, let us look at how pedagogical approaches have been adopted in EFL curriculum designers and revisions in China. All approaches listed above by development sequence have reflected recognition of changes in the kind of proficiency that learners expected, that is a move towards communication proficiency rather than reading comprehension as the goal of language study. The approaches have also reflected changes in theories of the nature of language and those of language learning. Language field has been undergoing a process of “paradigm shift”, which is from “structuralism-behaviorism” to “functionalism-constructivism” paradigm. The reform of English curricula for senior high school is in great degree influenced by the “paradigm shifts” in Second Language Teaching field. From 1970s to 1990s, senior high school English teaching was under the influence of structuralism-behaviorism paradigm, which paid too much attention to the language structures and designing too many mechanical and meaningless drills. Syllabuses of the first phase were greatly influenced by Grammar-translation method. Grammar-translation method characterizes the goal of foreign language study as reading and writing, approaching the language first through detailed analysis of its grammar rules, or teaching grammar deductively and emphasizing accuracy followed by application of this knowledge to the task of translating sentences into and out of the target language. All those features just coincide with the objectives and the requirements of the syllabuses of the first phase. Communicative language teaching grew up during the 1970s and developed with the sociolinguistics, viewing any language as inseparable from its sociocultural context. Therefore, communicative language teaching makes use of real-life situations that necessitate communication, featured by using a functional-notional syllabus. Teachers set up situations that students are likely to encounter in real life. Syllabus 1993 began to intake some ideas in communicative language teaching and stressed on the students’ competence in using English. In Syllabuses 1993, “functional and notional syllabus” was set up, and it continued in the following syllabuses, which is another reflection of communicative language teaching. Curriculum Standards 2002 advocated learner-centered and individual-oriented teaching models, which was a further development of the ideas in the communicative language teaching.
Second, the requirements for various ways of organizing the course and material (syllabuses) have also been adopted in curriculum designs. Although the grammar content in Syllabus 1982 was still kept in Syllabuses 1993/1996/2000, in the Syllabuses 1993/1996/2000 there was “Functional and Notional Category”, which was a kind of functional syllabus and notional syllabus. The adaptation of “Functional and Notional Category” illustrated the realization of an organizational approach based on language elements. Then, with the communicative language teaching adopted into curriculum and syllabus design, the idea gained popularity to present an organizational concept not based on separate units but on a continuous process of communication in the target language, which consequently brought about task-based syllabus. Curriculum Standards 2002 set up 4-level goals for organizing the course and material, allowing teachers to adopt different ways to organize the course and material. And in teaching practice, task-based syllabus is now advocated among teachers. Furthermore, eclecticism has become a trend in EFL teaching i.e. selecting materials and techniques from various sources since one teaching methodology will not be the most appropriate for all students.
What worth mentioning lastly is the requirement of application of modern teaching technology in the latest curriculum. Curriculum Standards 2002 proposed to apply modern educational technology, which increases the channels of learning English and using English language.

4.3 Increased Autonomy in Administration，Teaching and Learning
     Teaching syllabuses/curriculum standards in China are usually produced by a government department as a unified teaching guide. For a centralized curriculum, the relative inflexibility is the shortcoming.
     Syllabuses of the first two phases had comparatively specific requirements of teaching objectives, methodologies, evaluations. Curriculum development allowed more autonomy and freedom for senior high schools. Curriculum Standards 2000 began to move away from a centralized, structural approach. Increased autonomy of teaching administration can be found in the comparison between Curriculum Standards 2000 and the previous syllabuses. Curriculum Standards 2000 only stipulated the general requirements, encouraging senior high schools to take into consideration the school circumstances while following the guidelines of the Curriculum Standards 2000. Schools are flexible in working out their English course systems, combinations of required and selective courses, with an aim to ensure students at various levels to receive adequate training and make improvement in their ability to use English.
     Accompanied with the increased autonomy of administration, individual teachers’ initiatives were also increased. Traditional teaching approaches tend to restrict curriculum to the stipulation of objective, specification, content selection, assessing and evaluation. For instant, input of course teaching was specified in functional-notional terms through an audio-lingual method. With the development of communicative language teaching and the whole language approach, all the elements stipulated in the curriculum are in interaction and each may influence the other. Objectives may be modified, altered or added during the teaching-learning process. Decisions about what is going on in the classroom will be influenced by both pre-specified objectives, materials and activities and the needs, constraints, and the evaluation feedbacks. Therefore, Curriculum Standards 2000 encouraged an individualized syllabus in which classroom teachers were responsible for syllabus design.
     What is more, the students’ autonomy is also emphasized gradually. The increased autonomy of language instructors didn’t mean that language education should be a teacher-centered model. Rather, learner-centered education was the curriculum development trend. Learner-centered model placed more responsibility in the hands of the students, and required the teachers to serve as the “facilitators of knowledge”, rather than the traditional “master of all knowledge”. For example, Curriculum Standards 2000 stipulated that the “task-based” teaching mode should be advocated in the new curriculum to cultivate students’ comprehensive language competence, which can combine the knowledge and interest, the principle of practicality, stimulate the initiative of students, and attach importance to the central role of students in the teaching and learning process. Since the senior high school were flexible in working out their senior high school course system, combination of required and selective courses, in foreign culture, practical English and so on, students were encouraged to choose in order to meet the needs for their own development.
 
4.4 Introduction and Enhancement of Sociocultural Competence
     With the development of sociolinguistics, more and more scholars adopt sociocultural perspectives on language. Sociocultural perspectives regard languages as tools and resources for social actions that have great impact on language teaching. From the perspective of sociocultural view, language learning is a process of being socialized into the communicative and other social activities of sociocultural importance to the groups or communities one aspires to be a member of (Hall, J.K. 2005). And language learners’ competence entails knowing not only the language code or the form of language, but also what to say, to whom and how to say it appropriately in any given situation. EFL teaching deals with the social and cultural knowledge that speakers are presumed to have, which enables them to use and interpret linguistic forms. With the development of sociolinguistics, some scholars such as McNeil (1977) incorporated humanistic psychology into EFL teaching programs. EFL teaching should also stress thinking, feeling and action; it should attempt to relate subject matter to learners’ basic needs and lives; and it should advance the self as a legitimate object matter of learning. The deepest goal or purpose of EFL teaching is to develop the whole person within a human society. In concrete terms, the EFL teaching from humanistic view puts high value on people accepting responsibility for their own learning, making decisions for themselves, choosing and initiating activities, expressing feelings and opinions about needs, abilities and preferences. Therefore, EFL teaching is not only the language teaching, but also sociocultural and humanistic cultivation.
     As EFL teaching is not only the language teaching, but also sociocultural and humanistic cultivation, sociocultural competence is one of the major concerns in EFL curriculum design, which should comprise non-linguistic, contextual knowledge that communicators rely on to understand and contribute to a given communicative activity.
     The sociocultural perspectives in language teaching began to show in Syllabus 1993 which pointed out “language is an important carrier of culture, therefore they are closely related. English teaching should lead students to understand the cultures and customs of English-speaking countries, which not only help them improve English language learning, broaden their horizon, but also help them understand the culture of our nation.” This idea got further emphasized in Curriculum Standards 2002, which reiterated “English teaching should cultivate cultural awareness, which include cultural knowledge, cultural understanding, intercultural communication awareness and ability. The contact and recognition of the cultures of English-speaking countries will benefit the understanding and usage of English language, the further understanding of native culture, the cultivation of the awareness of the world and the intercommunicative competence among cultures. To design senior high school English course, therefore, it is necessary to take into full consideration the development of students’ cultural ability and the teaching of knowledge about different cultures in the world.” The intake of cultural content is the reflection of the development of EFL teaching in China. The increasing exchanges with international world require learners to be equipped with the knowledge and ability to use language in ways that are socially appropriate, culturally feasible and contextually proper.
     What is more, Curriculum Standards 2002 advocated “exploring and developing the students’ intercultural awareness and communication”. Intercultural communication involves not only the learning of target language, but also native speakers’ language. Many people have attempted to find better ways to improve the teaching of foreign languages by studying the acquisition and use of mother tongue. A native speaker’s language proficiency implies the ability to act as a speaker, listener, reader and even a writer. The intuitive mastery that the native speaker possesses to use and comprehend language appropriately in the process of interaction and in relation to social context has been called by Hymes (1972) “communicative competence”, which has been widely accepted in language instruction. And the concern of native speaker’s language culture can also boost language learners’ patriotism so as to build a harmonious society. The introduction and enhancement of intercultural awareness and intercultural communication reflected another progress that curriculum designer made to improve language learners’ sociocultural competence. The increasing attention paid to sociocultural competence cultivation in curriculum design and teaching practice will benefit to broaden the students’ communicative experiences, their worldviews and their understandings of the active and creative roles they play in the construction of the world.

CHAPTER FIVE Questionnaire about English Teachers’ Attitudes towards the New Standard
5.1 Purposes
     There is growing evidence to show that teachers are greatly affected by their teaching and educational beliefs. They turned out to be quite influential in deciding how to organize the tasks and define the problems, and in determining teachers’ actual doings in the classroom environment. After more than five years’ issuance of the new curriculum standards, it is necessary for us to explore teachers’ beliefs towards the standards. The new curriculum standards, with its many fresh concepts, is to lead the change on teachers’ behaviors, however, teachers who hold the stereotyped beliefs, may continue some outdated and inappropriate teaching which may negatively influence the development of students. The questionnaire is designed to investigate the teachers’ attitudes towards the new curriculum standards in new times; the concepts contained in the standards; and the consistency between teachers’ actual doings in classroom and the standards’ requirements.

5.2 Subjects
     120 English teachers of senior high schools in Beijing are selected to fill in the questionnaires, among which 40 teachers are from key schools of the municipal level, 40 from key schools of district’s level, and 40 from ordinary schools.

5.3 Contents
     This questionnaire contains three parts: 1) the attitudes towards the new curriculum standards and its concepts; 2) the teachers’ actual doings in the classroom environment; 3) the opinions about the standards’ product—the new textbooks.

5.4 Results
5.4.1 The attitudes towards the new curriculum standards and its concepts
1) Question: Are you familiar with the new curriculum standards?
  a. I know the document very well and use it as guidance in my teaching. (49%)
  b. I know the document clearly, but I do not use it as guidance in my teaching. (32%)
  c. I heard of it, but I do not know it well. (19%)

2) Question: what do you think about the “nine-level goals”?
  a. the system is good, and I am now using those goals to guide my teaching activities. (17%)
  b. the goals are too demanding to be effective. (35%)
  c. the goals are irrelevant to the national university entrance examination, so as I do not consult and follow these goals. (33%)
  d. I am not familiar with the “nine-level goals” at all. (15%)

3) Question: How do you evaluate your students?
  a. I only evaluate my students by examination results. (76%)
  b. I use other way besides examinations. (24%)
     When asked about the evaluation methods, 76% of the teachers say they only evaluate their students by the examination results; only 24% use other means, for example, oral English practice, homework, etc.

5.4.2 About the teachers’ actual doings in the classroom environment
4) Question: How often do you use English in your class?
  a. I use English all the time in class. (10%)
  b. I use English for most of the time and use Chinese when students can not understand. (47%)
  c. I use both Chinese and English at my convenience. (38%)
  d. I use Chinese for most of time. (5%)

5) Question: Are you familiar with the “task-based” teaching method?
  a. I am now using this method in my class. (51%)
  b. I know the method, but I do not adopt it as my method. (38%)
  c. I do not know it clearly. (12%)

6) Why don’t you use the task-based method?
  a. the task-based teaching means letting students play games, from which the students cannot acquire any knowledge. (25%)
  b. when the students are doing the tasks, the teachers could not keep the discipline, so the teaching activities could not proceed on. (43%)
  c. I do not know what task means and how to design tasks. (13%)
  d. other reasons. (19%)
     For other reasons, many teachers explain that “what the tasks bring is irreverent to the university entrance examination, so I do not use this teaching method.”

7) Question: Which is the most frequent activity in your class?
     According to the questionnaire’s results, the most frequent activities in the classroom is “explaining the new words and text”, and the second and third go into the “students’ pair work” and “discussion”.

8) Question: How do you explain the text?
     When asked about how to explain the text, the top two answers are “explaining the text by asking questions on the difficulties” and “only explain the difficulties”.

9) Question: How do you teach grammar?
  a. deductive way. (24%)
  b. inductive way. (23%)
  c. both the deductive and inductive way. (53%)
     As for the grammar teaching, 24% of total chose deductive way, and 23% chose inductive way. 53% of the teachers use both, among whom 33% of the teachers say more time is devoted to their explanation of the rules, while 20% of them say students play dominate roles in summarizing the rules.

10) Question: How do you deal with your students’ mistakes?
  a. I ignore the mistakes. (2%)
  b. I correct every mistake. (11%)
  c. I point out the mistakes directly and correct it if it has negative influence on communication. (58%)
  d. I do not point out the mistake directly, but I provide the correct forms to the students. (29%)

11) Question: What teaching method do you use most frequently in your class?
  a. I use various teaching methods in my class. (75%)
  b. I use communicative teaching method. (11%)
  c. I use Audio-lingual method. (11%)
  d. I use grammar-translation method. (3%)

5.4.3 The opinions about the standards’ product—the new textbooks
12) Question: What do you think about the vocabulary in the textbooks?
  a. the vocabulary in the textbooks is acceptable and closely linked to the real life. (38%)
  b. the vocabulary in the textbooks is acceptable but not practical, because it does not reflect the real life. (32%)
  c. the vocabulary is too large to be acceptable for the students’ proficiency. (28%)
  d. the vocabulary is small. (2%)

13) Question: What do you think about the grammar system?
  When it comes to the grammar system of the textbooks, the top three answers are: a. “the grammar is not the stress of the curriculum but is still the focus of the examinations, so we have to pay special emphasis on it in the class.” b. “the grammar is not systematically organized, and is very difficult to teach.” c. “the grammar is in a degree neglected in the textbooks.”

14) Question: What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of the textbooks?
     Over half of the teachers think the textbooks introduce the western culture which will help students know the world better; and the topics chosen in the textbooks are fun and meaningful which can arouse students’ interest. But as for the shortcomings of the textbooks, a great number of teachers say “the basic linguistic knowledge is neglected” and “the textbooks are not systematic arranged and they are not related to the national entrance examination.”

15) Question: In what extent are you satisfied with the textbooks?
     As for the NSEC, 55% of the total are basically satisfied with it, while there are 42% of the teachers who are not satisfied with it.

16) Questions: Why don’t you feel satisfied with the textbooks?
     Most teachers believe that the NSEC are not related to the examination, and it is  not practical to be taught in real English classroom.

17) Question: How do you think of the entrance examination for universities?
     The questionnaire indicates that 70% of the teachers believe that the power of the entrance examination for universities is still tremendous, and the schools are still judged by their results in that examination. 30% of the teachers claim that the entrance examination for universities is the main cause that creates many students who are good at examinations but with low competence.

5.5 Summaries about the Questionnaire and the suggestions
     The questionnaire shows that a lot of teachers have acquaintance with the new curriculum standards, and their classroom activities do show some changes from the traditional ones: the degree of students’ participation gets higher and the interactive activities are increased; students are encouraged to find out the rules of the language when grammar is taught; as for the text, teachers tend to teach it as a whole; the errors made by the students are in a greater degree tolerated nowadays, which reflects the communicative-orientation of the classroom activities.
     But there are still many problems reflected by the questionnaire results. There are still some teachers who have no idea about the new curriculum standards, not mention to use it to be guidance in their teaching activities; the nine-year goal which are proposed by the new curriculum standards are totally foreign to some teachers; it is not rare that the grammar-translation method and mechanical drills dominate the classroom; a lot of teachers confess that they have to attach absolute importance on the grammar and vocabularies because of the requirements of the national entrance examination for universities.
     Those teachers do not adept quite well to the new curriculum standards and hold different opinions towards it in the interviews as following: a. they think the English teaching in China belongs to the field of “foreign language teaching” instead of “second language teaching”, so we lack the English environment. Students have few opportunities to use English after class. Therefore, it is pretty hard to cultivate their communicative competence. b. they think the task-based method do not suit for the English teaching in China because the senior high school classes have large number of students where the tasks cannot be well developed. This method stimulates exciting atmosphere but cannot bring so-called real knowledge to the students. c. for both senior high schools and their English teachers, would like to see the development of students’ competence, however, it is not realistic in face of the system of the national entrance examination for universities. What’s more, the “nine-level goals” proposed in the new curriculum standards do not go well with the exam’s system may hardly guide the teaching activities. d. the new textbook NSEC seems to be more difficult for the students, compared with the previous textbooks. Some teachers in ordinary schools complain that this textbook is designed for the students of key schools, who have solid foundations in English. For those who lack good foundation in the early stage of learning tend to fail to keep up with the textbooks. There are also a lot of teachers claiming that the basic linguistic knowledge is neglected in the NSEC. Some teachers explain, “if the grammar items, vocabulary items are not taught, how can the students output the language? Besides, the linguistic items are still emphasized in the examinations, so there is no way but to focus on them in teaching.”
     There is obvious evidence that the new curriculum standards in teachers’ minds conflict with what the standards prescribed. The curriculum reforms follow the time’s demand and the rules of changing theories in the second language teaching field, but in reality, the English teaching is not consistent with it. The reasons may be the tradition of English teaching and the present educational system in China. The new curriculum standards consults and follows the prevailing theories of second language teaching, intending to change the reality that the grammar and vocabulary items are overly stressed in China, and foster students’ competence. More than five years’ implementation of the new curriculum standards in the secondary schools arouses different discussions about it. Many teachers at the forefront and the experts on the basic education claim that we should consider more about Chinese reality than introducing the western theories blindly. Bao (2007) comments that the status of “skill” and “knowledge” is upside down in the new curriculum standards and the linguistic knowledge is put after the skills, but how can you expect students to develop language skills while neglecting the linguistic knowledge? Cui (2007) questions the “evaluation models”of the new curriculum standards and asks about how to measure the emotional education which is advocated by the new curriculum standards. He supports the emotional education but he is uncertain about the specific way of measuring. Peng (2007) thinks the task-based teaching method does not go well with the Chinese reality. In China, only a small number of students who have good English foundations may finish the tasks successfully. Besides, the tasks which require students to do spend much time and energy to do interviews, surf the internet, write essays and do reports, which are too idealistic to be accomplished by those senior high school students who have heavy burden of school work. Peng also claims that the NSEC designs different tasks while put the basic linguistic knowledge into the secondary status. The new words and difficult sentences may appear in the text at any time even when the process of introducing the tasks and doing the tasks. It seems that the Chinese students may automatically know the meaning of those new vocabulary and difficult sentences. Those all disobey the rules of language learning.
     Under the influence of time’s demand and prevailing theories in the second language teaching field of the western world, the new standards present a fresh look. The teaching activities in the real classroom cannot be what the curriculum designers expected. For some teachers, the curriculum is too idealistic to be implemented in China. The new curriculum standards does bring some new and good theories and concepts, which meet the needs of the times, but we had better consider more about the reality of China’s education and collect more opinions and suggestions. What we need is to inherit the tradition and absorb the advanced theories, and meanwhile develop our own theories basic for Chinese English education realities.

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CHAPTER SIX Conclusion

6.1 Conclusion
6.2 Implication for Teaching
6.3 Limitation
6.4 Suggestions for Further Study