Ye Shengtao pioneered the road of Chinese education innovation in China, which can be said to start from the innovation of teaching materials in practice.
Since the beginning of this century, China has established new schools and implemented teaching in different subjects. In the early years, other disciplines used the experience of some countries in Europe, America and Japan for reference to compile new textbooks for undergraduate courses, but the Chinese discipline still followed the traditional old practice, copying the old books first, and then partially adopting the new system to select books. Whether old or new, it just chooses some ancient and modern articles for students to read. As for why you choose to read these articles, the editor is very confused, and the teacher is certainly confused. Ye Shengtao's exploration of Chinese education innovation began with the analysis of the nature and function of Chinese teaching materials, and then tried to compile various teaching materials. According to the available information, in the more than 20 years before 1949, the Chinese textbooks for primary and secondary schools compiled by Ye Xianming mainly include:
Putonghua textbook for elementary schools (compiled by Ye Shengtao, 8 volumes, published by 1932)
"Senior Primary School Enlightenment Mandarin Textbook" (compiled by Ye Shengtao, four volumes, published in 1934)
New academic system "Chinese Textbook for Junior High School" (edited by Ye Shengtao and Gu Jiegang, six volumes, commercial press 1924)
Enlightenment Language Lecture (edited by Xia Mianzun, Ye Shengtao, Song Yunbin and Chen Wangdao, 3 volumes, published by Enlightenment Correspondence School, 1934).
108 junior middle school Chinese (edited by Xia Mianzun and Ye Shengtao, 6 volumes, published in Ming Kai, 1935).
Early China Culture and Education Edition (edited by Xia Mianzun and Ye Shengtao, 6 volumes, Ming Kai Publishing House 1937).
Selected works of intensive reading in middle schools (edited by Ye Shengtao and Hu Hanxian, published by Guilin Cultural Supply Society 1942)
A new Chinese reader A (edited by Ye Shengtao,,, Qin, 6 volumes, published, 1946).
New Chinese Reader B (edited by Ye Shengtao, Xu Tiaofu, Qin, 3 volumes, published, 1947).
New Advanced Chinese Reader (edited by Zhu Ziqing, Lv Shuxiang, Li Guangtian and Ye Shengtao, 6 volumes, published by Ming Kai 1948).
Classical Chinese Reader (edited by Zhu Ziqing, Lv Shuxiang and Ye Shengtao, 3 volumes, published by Ming Kai 1948).
Ye Shengtao's theory of Chinese teaching materials is gradually formed in the long-term teaching practice and teaching material compilation practice; The development and evolution of these viewpoints are also clearly reflected in his series of practical achievements.
The first is the "dependence" theory. Ye believes that Chinese textbooks are a kind of "support" for students to acquire Chinese knowledge, train Chinese ability and develop good Chinese usage habits. He said: "knowledge can't be acquired out of thin air, and habits can't be cultivated out of thin air. You must rely on it. That is teaching according to the national language. " (Talking about Chinese Learning) This paper explains at least two points: First, Chinese teaching is the basis for students to acquire Chinese knowledge. Chinese knowledge includes characters, words, sentences, paragraphs, chapters, sounds, languages, right and wrong, logic and texts. In Chinese discipline, teaching students this knowledge mainly depends not on systematic handouts (not excluding writing a small number of informative essays in textbooks), but on the selection of ancient and modern articles. Ye said: "There are arranged articles in China cultural and educational books for students to try to understand. If they don't understand, the teacher will help them (the teacher won't teach the students to try to understand first, but just tell them one by one that this is not the most appropriate help); From here, students gain the knowledge of reading. Also let students try to figure out how their ideas should be structured and expressed correctly and accurately. If they are not clear, the teacher will help them. From here, students gain the knowledge of writing. " (Talking about learning Chinese) Taking Chinese textbooks as the "support" for acquiring reading and writing knowledge is different from simply reading and writing handouts. It enables students not only to understand theoretically, but also to gain concrete and real feelings by reading a large number of famous books. The knowledge gained in this way is flesh and blood, and it is easier to take root. Second, Chinese textbooks are the basis for cultivating students' Chinese ability and habits. For example, the cultivation of the ability and habit of reading books and articles is inseparable from the specific practice of reading books and articles. A textbook is placed in front of you, and the teacher instructs students how to read aloud, how to read silently and how to read quickly; Students read aloud, silently or quickly according to the teacher's instructions. Train one essay in this way and ten essays in this way, so that students can gradually develop their ability and habit of reading articles. The same is true of writing. Ye said: "For example, an article must have a central idea. After listening to this, the student knew that the article should have a central idea, but he said, "I just can't grasp the central idea in my composition." If the reading class is well taught and students are guided to experience it step by step, how the author uses his brain and how to express the central idea in an orderly way, it seems that they have thought with the author, and it is easier to grasp the central idea when writing their own compositions. "("Reading is the basis of writing ") In this sense, Chinese textbooks have become the" reliance "of writing experience. As for listening and speaking, of course, we must also rely on the usual exercise and pay attention to it at any time after class; However, there is a Chinese textbook every semester, and teachers and students should study and discuss it together. This kind of oral expression and communication in class is undoubtedly the best listening and speaking experience.
In short, Ye believes that whether reading and writing, or listening and speaking, to truly cultivate ability, "one must learn the Tao" means to know the rules and know the tricks; "Second, we should practice often", so we should practice once or twice instead of just dabbling. And "you can't just talk and don't practice" depends on it. "With it, experience will fall to the ground", and so will Chinese teaching books (Preface to College Chinese [Modern Chinese Department]).
The second is the "model" theory. What is a Chinese textbook? Ye's other answer is that Chinese textbooks are nothing more than "examples". He said in the article "Talking about Chinese Textbooks": "Chinese textbooks are just some examples, which are examples of similar books that young people need to read now or in the future; It means that if you can understand these chapters in the Chinese textbook, you will probably be able to read similar books without being confused. " 1949 when drafting the Chinese curriculum standards for middle schools, he said: "The nature of the teaching materials and the nature of the samples are the same. Familiar with the samples, you can understand similar products. "
It is said that Chinese teaching is "dependent" from its transmission function and training function, knowledge is transmitted by teaching materials, and ability is cultivated by teaching materials; To say that a Chinese textbook is an example is based on its exemplary role, that is to say, the articles selected in the Chinese textbook are samples of various articles and a corner of "taking a corner". These examples can be extended to other similar articles. Therefore, the theory of "relying on" and the theory of "example" complement each other. Ye's theory of "examples" shows that: first, examples are samples and must be representative. The so-called representativeness involves at least the following aspects: from the perspective of meeting the needs of life, the selected articles in the textbook should be both "literary" and "non-literary", and all ordinary articles that are often used in daily life, work and study should be used as samples for students to learn; Judging from the style of articles, the choice of articles in textbooks should take into account various genres and factions, with the aim of enabling students to get in touch with articles of various genres and factions and gain extensive knowledge without being narrow-minded; From the perspective of writing skills, the articles selected in the textbook should also have some skills for students to observe and learn from. Second, role models are not only samples, but also exemplary, that is, both content and form can be used as models for students to learn. In other words, from the point of view of students' actual benefit, it is required that "example" should not only be "example"; And they can all be "appropriate examples", neither deep nor shallow, just right.
The third is the "goal" theory. In 1930s, Ye pointed out: "We believe that it is a big problem in liberal arts teaching in China to choose articles for students to read at will, regardless of the purpose. I can't read the article. Instead of reading casually, it is better to set a target to read. " The aimlessness of Chinese teaching is ultimately due to the aimlessness of Chinese textbooks. At that time, Ye Shi and Xia Mianzun co-edited "Chinese 108 Class", and its editorial guiding ideology was "setting goals", selecting articles according to "goals" and compiling articles according to "goals".
Ye's "goal" theory contains two important contents: first, starting from the nature and task of Chinese subject, the goal of Chinese textbook should focus on the exploration of Chinese form. Ye said: "We believe that the nature of China art is different from other disciplines. Except for grammar and rhetoric, it is impossible to produce independent and fixed materials. Anything written in black on white paper is regarded as an article that can be read and played, otherwise it is not. An article "Biography of Xiang Yu" is historical material. Only when we try to understand it as an article and learn the laws between chapters can we count it as China's literary works. ..... Therefore, we advocate that the goal of learning Chinese should focus on form. " (About 108 Chinese course) Second, starting from the characteristics that Chinese must emphasize the cultivation of ability, the goal of Chinese teaching should pay attention to scientific sequence. As far as understanding is concerned, understanding this first and then understanding that is relevant and regular; As far as application is concerned, I will use this first and then that, and there are also connections and rules. According to Ye's point of view, through investigation and teaching experiments, the training items and steps are defined. Then, according to these items or steps, Chinese textbooks are compiled, so that textbooks with clear "goals" and reasonable "order" are compiled.
Ye's theory of "purpose" laid a solid scientific foundation for the theory of "dependence" and "example".
The fourth is the theory of "expansion". Chinese textbooks should not be too big, so that students can study within the prescribed class hours; In order to let students enjoy the articles of various schools in a limited space, the selected articles should not be too long. However, limited capacity and complicated short chapters are not conducive to the real development of proficiency in using Chinese tools. In view of this contradiction, Ye put forward the viewpoints of "skimming", "leading" and "participating in reading" to expand the scope of Chinese textbooks. Ye said: "To form a habit, you must go through repeated experiences. A textbook of cultural education in China alone is not enough to talk about repeated experience. Therefore, in addition to ethnic cultural and educational books, you must read other books, and the more the better. " ("On Chinese Learning") added: "Intensive reading of an article can only be regarded as an example and a starting point; Now that you are familiar with the examples and have a starting point, you have to promote them, read skimmed books and read related articles. " (Introduction to Intensive Reading Guidance)
Because in a broad sense, anything written in black on white paper can be regarded as a Chinese textbook when it is used to explore its Chinese form; The books used in class are only written materials as samples in Chinese textbooks, which can be called Chinese textbooks or Chinese textbooks. Therefore, Ye said: "Reading is practical only if it becomes a habit, so the encouragement and guidance of extracurricular reading must be carried out with the teaching materials at any time. In other words, extracurricular books should also be regarded as a teaching material. " (Draft Chinese Curriculum Standard for Middle Schools) Only when extracurricular books and articles are regarded as Chinese teaching materials can we consciously extend from in-class to out-of-class, combine intensive reading with skimming, reading with reading and extracurricular participation, and provide a broad world for students to develop their ability and habit of using Chinese tools.
The theory of "expansion" not only refers to the expansion from in-class teaching materials to extracurricular reading materials, but also refers to the expansion from a single short chapter to the whole book. As early as the early 1940s, Ye pointed out in "On the Revision of Chinese Curriculum in Middle Schools": "Now it seems that Chinese textbooks should use the whole book instead of a single short chapter. ..... To say the least, the whole book should be the main body, supplemented by a single short chapter. " At 1949, he revised and developed the above viewpoint into a sentence written in "Chinese Curriculum Standard for Middle Schools (Draft)": "In addition to a single text, Chinese textbooks for middle schools use a chapter and a section of a book, and a whole book with modern languages for high schools." In Ye's view, using the whole book as a teaching material is conducive to cultivating students' good reading habits. Because a single short chapter is easy to study carefully, there are not many cases that need such careful study in real life. It is more important to read a large number of related books according to professional characteristics, and it is important to get as much information as possible in as little time as possible. Because of the small scale of a single short chapter, students only read these short chapters, and their horizons are often limited. When they come across a long and large-scale book, it is not easy for them to master it and get the essence. What's more, in general, compared with a single short chapter, the whole book always has more knowledge capacity and more complicated ideas, which is very beneficial to expand students' knowledge field and train students' thinking ability. Therefore, the expansion from a single chapter in the classroom to the reading of the whole book is completely in line with the overall goal of Chinese teaching to effectively cultivate students' ability and habit of using Chinese tools, and it is a very valuable part of Ye's view of Chinese teaching materials.