外语类专业课程思政“课程链”建设:理据与路径

Constructing“Course Chains”of Curriculum-Based Political and Virtuous Awareness for Foreign Language Majors:Justifications and Paths

在"大思政"背景下,各高校的外语类专业都在积极研究和实践课程思政的新型教育理念。目前,外语类专业现有的课程思政研究主要集中在"宏观"和"微观"层面,连通课程和课程体系的"中观"研究成果尚不多见。文章提出,课程、课程链和课程体系之间是"点—线—面"的关系。在外语类专业开展课程思政"课程链"建设必要性充分、可行性强。通过灵活多样的"线"性动态建设路径,构建符合外语专业教育特点的课程思政"课程链",能够强化专业课程之间的思政衔接,抓"点"促"线",以"线"带"面",发挥多课程的协同育人效应,更好地践行"立德树人"的根本任务。

At the request of"Great Ideology and Politics",foreign language teachers in universities nationwide are actively studying and practicing the new educational concept of"Curriculum-Based Political and Virtuous Awareness".The existing researches on such education for foreign language majors are mainly focused on the"macro level"and the"micro level".The macro studies either involve defining the goal and connotation of such education for foreign language majors,or discussing its holistic implementation and pedagogy,while at the micro level,case studies of how to integrate ideological and political elements into a particular textbook or course are most common.In contrast,the research yields of the"medium level"linking individual courses and curriculum system are still rare,despite the important bonding role that the"medium"plays.Therefore,the paper proposes"course chains"as the linking device between individual courses and the overall curriculum system to jointly raise students’political and virtuous awareness.A"course chain"is defined as a group of courses which are chained up by shared topics,knowledge nodes or learning goals.The paper also argues that the relationship between individual courses,course chains and curriculum system is that of"dot-line-plane".Chaining up individual courses is like connecting dots into a line,and connecting multiple lines,or course chains,can ultimately form a plane of integrated curriculum.Currently,the curriculum framework of foreign language majors in colleges and universities are usually constructed in a modular way,i.e.the core courses module and the orientation courses module,and the lack of interconnectivity in such framework obviates the necessity of constructing course chains.By chaining up different courses,the ideological cohesion can be strengthened either within a module or even across modules.Course chains can also extend beyond the classroom into the extracurricular activities or virtual spheres to establish an interactive mechanism,in which the greater coordination between individual courses and educational activities can form a stronger joint force to improve the students’political and virtuous awareness.Though the curricula for foreign language majors are very diverse and may vary from one university to another,the shared values,similar curriculum design and common goals of talent cultivation justifies the feasibility of constructing course chains in foreign language majors.The key to constructing effective course chains is to conceive appropriate paths to connect up distinct courses and educational activities.Besides the popular routes of grouping courses by categories and levels,the paper suggests another three paths,namely chaining by ideological themes,ideological goals,and ideological outputs.Some other benefits may also be reaped in the process of constructing course chains in foreign language majors,such as enhanced communication and cooperation between faculty and staff,improved curriculum design,a faculty with greater competence and stronger team spirit;and a more comprehensive and effective range of evaluation criteria.By way of dynamic construction in accordance with the characteristics of foreign language education,building course chains can help promote the interconnection between"dots","lines"and the overall"plane"so as to maximize the collaborative effect of multiple courses and better realize the goal of building students’strong moral character.