The Teaching of Reading to English Majors in China (1950-2020): Historical Development, Current Predicament and Potential Solutions

Abstract

This paper examines the historical development, current predicament, and potential solutions pertaining to the teaching of reading to English majors in China, with a specific focus on the course commonly known as "Intensive Reading" or "Comprehensive English". It investigates its evolution over a span of more than seventy years. It reveals that the educational objective for English majors has increasingly emphasized the development of language proficiency and humanistic literacy. The positioning of the course, however, has largely remained as a comprehensive language-skills training course, lacking clear objectives and effective operational norms. To better align with current educational goals, this paper proposes the course positioning as an enlightening and inspiring course that promotes language proficiency, enhances humanistic literacy, and establishes connections with disciplinary knowledge. It also sets the objectives as providing perspectives from literature, linguistics and related disciplines, and guidance on learning methods, aiming to guide students in exploring and studying texts to achieve a profound understanding in both language and ideas. Based on an analysis of the challenges associated with the traditional practice, content-based instruction and production-oriented approaches, this paper proposes potential solutions that involve integrating autonomous learning with in-class instruction and incorporating disciplinary knowledge into language learning.