美国大学英语系文学教育模式的一般特点——张爱平教授访谈录

Common Practice in Literary Offerings in the English Departments of American Universities

张爱平,哈佛大学文学博士,加州州立大学奇科分校英语系教授、系主任,上海大学、北京语言大学客座教授。专业领域为美国文学(特别是清教文学和美国小说)、现代主义与后现代主义、少数族裔文学,研究兴趣主要包括现代与当代小说、叙事理论、后殖民主义文学,出版专著《使人迷惑的地方:菲茨杰拉德小说中的背景运用》(1997),发表数十篇文章,参与了多部书稿的写作,对于库珀、马克·吐温、菲茨杰拉德、詹姆斯·乔伊斯、卡洛斯·布罗桑,逖坶舍·牟、杰西卡·哈格多恩、高行健颇有研究。2012年6月,本刊编辑杨建在结束了加州州立大学奇科分校汉语教师工作即将离任回国之际,采访了张爱平教授。张教授结合自己多年的教学、科研和系主任工作经验畅谈了美国大学英语系文学教育情况,从教育目的、教育体制、学科建设、师资选聘、课程设置、教材使用、教学方法以及评价体系等方面剖析了美国大学英语系文学教育模式的一般特点,特别谈到了课程设置及教学方法问题,对中美大学文学教育现状也有所比较并提出了一些建设性意见。

Aiping Zhang received his Ph. D. in English from Harvard University. He is currently a tenured professor and chair of the English Department at California State University, Chico. Al- so, he is a visiting professor of Shanghai University and Beijing Language and Culture University. His areas of specialization are American literature （ especially Puritanism and American novel） , modernism and postmodernism, and ethnic literature. His research interests include modem and contemporary fiction, narrative theory, and post-colonial anglophone literatures. He is author of Enchanted Places ： The Use of Settings in F. Scott Fitzgerald＇ s Fiction （ Greenwood Press, 1997 ） and many articles and book chapters on James Fenimore Cooper, Mark Twain, F. Scott Fitzger- ald, James Joyee, Carlos Bulosan, Timothy Mo, Jessica Hagedorn, and Gao Xingjian. In June 2012, Yang Jian, editor of Foreign Literature Studies, interviewed Professor Zhang after teaching Chinese and conducting her research at CSU, Chico for a year. Drawing on his many years＇ expe- rience in teaching, research and administrative service as the chair of English Department, Pro- fessor Zhang offered an overview about the literary offerings in the English departments of Ameri- can universities and analyzed the educational objectives, systems, discipline building, faculty hiring, curriculum scheduling, textbook adoptions, pedagogy, and program assessment, with a par- ticular emphasis on curriculum and pedagogy . He also compared the current literary offerings in Chinese and American universities and provided some constructive suggestions.