According to reports, on September 23, the official website of the Ministry of Education announced the reply to the "Suggestions on Enhancing Cultural Confidence, Increasing Chinese Cultural Content Teaching Reform and Reducing the Proportion of English Teaching" put forward by the National People's Congress.
The Ministry of Education stated in its reply that the proportion of foreign language class hours in primary and secondary schools is lower than that of Chinese and other subjects.
Specifically, the "Compulsory Education Curriculum Plan (2022 Edition)" stipulates that the proportion of class hours for each subject is: Chinese 20%-22%, mathematics 13%-15%, physical education and health 10%-11%, foreign language 6%-8 %.
Foreign language class hours are significantly lower than Chinese, mathematics, physical education and other subjects.
"Cancel the status of English as a compulsory course", "reduce the proportion of English teaching", "reduce the score of English in the senior high school entrance examination", "use English as an elective subject for the senior high school entrance examination", etc. In recent years, the teaching reform of English subjects has been linked with the suggestions for the reform of the senior high school entrance examination. continuously.
These reform proposals all point to a problem, that is, Chinese students spend too much time on English learning, but there are not many places where they actually use English.
These reform proposals have attracted the attention of public opinion. To solve these problems in English subjects, it is necessary to promote the reform of the enrollment and admission system, guide basic education to get rid of the tendency to take exams, and give students sufficient choice of subject study.
There is a tendency of examination-oriented teaching in basic education in my country, which is directly due to the admission of students in the middle and college entrance examinations according to the total score of the examination subjects.
It is manifested in English teaching, that is, many schools conduct English teaching around the entrance examination. Exam-oriented English causes many students to spend a long time learning English, but it is still "deaf English" and "dumb English".
However, not all universities, majors and occupations have high requirements on English. A considerable proportion of students learn English only to meet the requirements of the entrance examination, and not many use English in practical work.
In this context, the suggestions of "reducing the proportion of English teaching" and "cancelling the status of English compulsory courses" have also received a lot of public support.
However, if the admissions system based on total scores remains unchanged, and English is no longer a compulsory subject, a possible problem will be that English is marginalized and schools no longer pay attention to English teaching. Regional and rural schools will be more serious.
In many professional and technical fields, if you want to learn from the advanced concepts and technologies of developed countries, you must understand English. Most of the current scientific and technological literature and top academic journals are mainly in English. In the case of generally not paying attention to English, international talents Cultivation must be affected.
From the perspective of talent training, the gap between students in underdeveloped areas, rural areas and urban students may further widen rather than narrow.
Therefore, the fundamental problem lies in the examination, enrollment and teaching system of "integration of teaching and recruiting".
To solve the problem of "100% of students learn English (foreign language), only 10% of them can be used", the reform of the admission system should be promoted, and colleges should be given greater autonomy in admissions, and colleges and universities should independently cultivate talents according to different disciplines and majors. Goals, put forward college entrance examination subjects and grade requirements.
Some majors have high requirements for English proficiency of talents, so they put forward high English score requirements, not only depends on written test scores, but also interviews; some majors do not have high English requirements, and put forward lower English score requirements, even Do not ask.
Students can choose to learn more or less English according to the school, major, and future career development they apply for.
This not only solves the problem of "exam-oriented English" in primary and secondary schools, but also provides students with greater autonomy in learning. Students can choose learning subjects and content according to their own interests and abilities.
The Outline of the National Medium- and Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010-2020) pointed out that the reform of the examination and enrollment system should be used as a breakthrough to overcome the drawbacks of one examination for life, and to promote the implementation of quality education and the training of innovative talents.
In accordance with the principles of scientifically selecting talents, promoting the healthy development of students, and maintaining social fairness, we will explore the relative separation of admissions and examinations, macro-management by the government, organization and implementation by professional institutions, independent admissions by schools in accordance with the law, and multiple choices by students, gradually forming classified examinations , comprehensive evaluation, multi-admission examination and admissions system.
Therefore, it is necessary to vigorously promote the reform of the admission system, guide basic education to focus on the cultivation of students' interests and comprehensive quality, and give students room for independent choice.
(Bing Kai)