Curriculum and Instruction
The Curriculum and Instruction Program aims at the research on theories of curriculum, innovative teaching and evaluation, teachers’ professional development and students’ learning with the guideline of providing counselling, helping government’s policy making and being engaged in practice. It serves the curriculum reform of the theories and practice across the whole country.
The main content embodies learning, teaching, evaluation and the teachers which include the basic theories of curriculum and teaching, subject courses and pedagogy, curriculum reform and teachers professional development, emphasizing the integration of curriculum with teaching and practice. It is aimed at providing innovative guiding principles and vital strategies for practice and is committed to cultivating graduates with “high-quality, multiple skills, international vision, spirit of innovation, and capacity of practice”.
The three-year program of Curriculum and Instruction (CI) at the graduate level, facilitated by a long history of language teaching of the University, offers master’s degree with emphases in three areas,
1. Theories and Principles of Curriculum and Didactic Studies;
2. Comparative Studies on Curriculum and Instructions;
3. Curriculum and Instruction in Foreign language and education.
Faculty
The graduate program has a well-organized team of teachers with outstanding academic, teaching and research achievements, all with a Ph. D. degree, and 100% with experiences of overseas studying or research. Many professors and teachers are prestigious in national English academic circles in respect of instructional design, foreign language teaching technology, online foreign language teaching, curriculum development, teaching material and evaluation, etc. At present, it has 3 full professors and 8 associate professors, some lecturers and some part-time teachers from the university.
The major courses include:
Course 1: Research Methodology of Education
Description: The course is designed to present a comprehensive overview of the concepts, methods and procedures of research in education. Topics include an introduction to qualitative and quantitative research, the review of literature, developing research questions, research design, instrumentation, data collection, and writing a research proposal.
Course 2: Quantitative Research Method and Thesis Writing in Education
Description: This course introduces students to a quantitatively oriented approach to research design, methodology, statistical analysis and relevant aspects of academic writing in education, with emphasis on the construction of appropriate research designs for language education, language acquisition and bilingualism. A variety of research methods are covered in detail.
Course 3: Intercultural Education and Training
Description: The course is to examine the field of intercultural education and training according to the theories that inform this field, as well as the practical applications of doing this work. It lays out the theoretical foundations of intercultural education and training. The principal goals of The course are the development of each individual’s knowledge of the theories and tools available in the field and the development of each individual’s skills as an intercultural educator and trainer.
Course 4: Fundamental Principles of Education
Description: This course is designed to provide a thorough understanding of the teaching profession and a balanced discussion of controversial educational issues as well as the various foundations of education that helps graduate students prepare for the realities of the classroom and develop a broad understanding of the complex world of education. The course focuses on the five main aspects of education:
a. Understanding the teaching profession;
b. Historical and philosophical foundations;
c. Political, economic and legal foundations;
d. Curricular foundations;
e. Effective Education: International and Chinese Perspective.
Course 5: Advanced Educational Psychology
Description: This educational psychology (EP) course consists of a series of class discussions, presentations, readings, demonstrations, videos, small-group work, as well as computer and Internet-based work examining educational psychology. The course is designed to acquaint you with the terminology, concepts, and issues central to development and educational psychology. Major theories and contemporary research will be surveyed and related to instructional practices and learning at different developmental levels and in various educational settings.
Course 6: Introduction to Curriculum Studies
Description: This course is compulsory for postgraduate students. The purpose of this course is to help students understand the developmental history of curriculum studies, and its major theoretical foundations. Through studying the new trend in curriculum studies, students may find their own research interest in this field. The course seeks to achieve the following:
a. Acquisition of the language for conceptualizing educational questions;
b. Review of the major schools of theories in the literature;
c. Understanding the changes in curriculum studies and the latest trend;
d. Examining the processes of curriculum development and implementation;
e. Reflecting on the students’ understanding of curriculum, and applying the newly acquired knowledge to practice.
Course 7: Teaching Pedagogy and Classroom Practice
Description: Theories combined with practice: This is a course of lectures, seminars and practice. It consists of three parts: theories, implementation and evaluation, especially the teaching pedagogy --the practical skills and strategy in classroom teaching. It is subject relevant-- the mainstream of English teaching methods, the specific language teaching techniques and characteristics will be discussed in details. Finally the students will give micro teaching to demonstrate their teacher potential.
Course 8: Foreign Language Teachers’ Education and Professional Development
Description: Foreign language teacher education and professional development is a course for master of English teaching. It covers the following aspects: foreign language teacher training, teacher education, professional development, teacher cognition, teacher knowledge, teacher leadership, teacher reflection, teacher classroom discourse, and teacher career development, etc. It intends to introduce the theories, approaches, and research methodologies concerning foreign language teachers’ professional development. It emphasizes the application of theory to practice and the theorization of practice, so as to raise the awareness of teachers’ professional development.
Course 9: Educational Linguistics
Description: This course introduces students theories and practices in language and education, with a focus on language acquisition, bilingual education, language policy, and ecology of language. This course will cover language issues involved not only in language courses, but also in different programs of various subjects, and the broader context of the society. These language issues will be discussed from interdisciplinary and international perspectives. Some countries with distinctive features will be chosen to illustrate the language issues in international and regional areas. This course aims to deepen students’ understanding of the role and situation of language in education and cultivate their critical thinking.
Course 10: Digital Learning and Science of Study
Description: The rapid development of information technology promotes people to step into a digital learning era, in which the strategies and ways of human beings spreading knowledge and skills have changed greatly, endowing learners, teachers and teaching activities and so on with new meanings. Thus, the postgraduates of education department should study learning theories and practical skills of information and technology in educational applications in this era for grasping frontier academic issues. This course is a deep curriculum on digitized learning, which combines the multi-discipline theories to teach the principles of digitized learning, organizing various practical activities in order to improve the application competence of information and technology instructions for the learners.
Course 11: Educational Testing and Evaluation
Description: Education as an all-embracing process involves all forms of tests and measurements that are used in passing judgment on the personnel, program, institution curriculum, methodology, instructional materials and students. As a core course in the field of educational studies, “Educational Testing and Evaluation” aims to provide the fundamental knowledge and skills on tests and evaluation in education. The course develops participants' understanding of key principles of test and evaluation and to apply these principles in order to develop effective tools and strategies to measure and evaluate students' performance. The course deals with the nature of test and evaluation in education along with reliability and validity of a test, norm-referenced test and criteria-referenced test, classical test theory, generalizability theory, item response theory, and computerized test. Moreover, the course aims to enable the students in designing tests and evaluations.
Course 12: Instructional System Design
Description: The systematic design of instruction is the process of designing and developing instructional courses or materials that bring greater efficiency and effectiveness to acquiring knowledge or skills for learners. The course reviews important aspects such as learning theories and learning objectives and how they influence the design process. It also reviews the role of memory, needs analysis, and design models such as ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation).
Course 13: Study on Hot Issues of Education
Description: What does globalization mean for us as educational technologists, corporate trainers, instructional designers, higher-educational instructors, or K-12 teachers? In this course, you will have an opportunity to explore some of emerging issues in global teaching and training. This course attends specifically to the cultural differences we need to consider as we extend the global reach of an institution or organization. You'll examine theories, strategies, and models for adapting e-learning to other cultures, discuss best practices in global employee training, and explore cross-cultural design research.
This course provides an overview of the theoretical perspectives on international education, examines issues such as global learning, international assessments, internationalization of higher education, and an emerging international knowledge system. This course will help students develop a broad understanding of the complex world of international education, with an emphasis on basic information and alternative perspectives on some common issues.
Course 14: Qualitative Research Method and Thesis Writing
Description: This course is designed to help graduate students of Curriculum and Instruction understand the basic theory and knowledge of qualitative research, master the general steps and application skills of common qualitative research methods, cultivate and improve their scientific methods and awareness so as to equip them with the primary ability of carrying out a research project. Meanwhile, this course hopes to enhance students’ logical thinking ability, teaching reflection ability, academic reading ability and paper writing ability, thus laying a solid foundation for their future research on Curriculum and Instruction.