英语阅读个性化教学困境(4)

2.2.1 Viewpoints Abroad John West-Burnham and Max Coates, who are pioneer educators in practicing personalized learning, think that personalized learning “is emerging as a dominant theme in the reco


2.2.1 Viewpoints Abroad

John West-Burnham and Max Coates, who are pioneer educators in practicing personalized learning, think that personalized learning “is emerging as a dominant theme in the reconceptualization of the way in which education is provided.” This is an integral part of the values and national spirit that rethink the foundation of public service provision. The core of the personalized debate is the concept of recognizing the services provided to inpiduals to meet their specific and inpidual needs. This represents a profound change in people’s universal orthodoxy. They must integrate as much as possible into the bureaucratic system and structure. The origin and motivation behind this change are difficult to be precise. The two educators believe that “a range of factors can be proposed: increasing dissatisfaction with the public sector; consumerism becoming the dominant factor in our culture; a genuine desire by professionals to enhance the quality of the services they provide; and the loss of a deferential and acquiescent public prepared to be pathetically grateful for any service” (2005).

Andy Hargreaves and Dennis Shirley write that while there are advantages in students being able to access information instantly on-line, one should not mistake such processes for “something deeper, more challenging, and more connected to compelling issues in their world and their lives” (2009: 84). Alfie Kohn, an American author and lecturer in the areas of education, wrote that while personalized learning may sound like a useful strategy for education, in practice it’s mostly just about selling technology products. Personalized learning promises a strategy to specifically adjust education to the unique needs and skills of inpidual children, he argued, but really it means merely “adjusting the difficulty level of prefabricated skills-based exercises based on students' test scores [and] requires the purchase of software from one of those companies that can afford full-page ads in Education Week”. While “certain forms of technology can be used to support progressive education”, Kohn wrote, “meaningful (and truly personal) learning never requires technology. Therefore, if an idea like personalization is presented from the start as entailing software or a screen, we ought to be extremely skeptical about who really benefits” (2016).

2.2.2 Viewpoints in China

In China, the report of the 19th Party Congress  declares that socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. The principal contradiction facing Chinese society, which has evolved is that “the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development.” As is known to people all, “the people’s ever-growing needs” is manifested in three aspects: material needs; social needs and psychological needs. Psychological needs include the need for respect and the need for self-fulfillment, which refers to the realization of personal ideals, ambitions, and the ability to personally perform to the maximum extent possible, and to complete everything that is commensurate with their capabilities. To constantly satisfy the “ever-growing needs for a better life”, all kinds of construction is transformed from “object-oriented” to “people-oriented”. When referring to education construction, student-centered learning and personalized learning are highly advocated, through which learners’ potentials can be fulfilled to maximum.

In the 4th China Future School Conference, some experienced headmasters gave their opinions towards personalized teaching and learning in China . The personalized teaching and learning understood by Wang Dianjun, president of Tsinghua High School, has two implications: First, students have the right to choose the content of interest. However, our country’s teaching system is relatively rigid and uniform, leaving little room for children to choose. The reforms in the college entrance examination have taken a small step in this regard, giving students a certain amount of choice in choosing the content of the study and choosing the subjects for examination. To sum up, there are two sentences: “comprehensive development, common basis”. The reform provided by the college entrance examination is a certain choice based on personality; second, although learning the same content, students can choose to learn fast or learn slowly; choose to listen in class, or choose to study online, or completely self-study. He thinks that “currently there are promising ways to choose learning styles and rhythms, but the possibility of content selection is very small. Therefore, children’s choices need platform protection, need to be recognized by ideas, and need to have system design.”