Development of College English Curricula in China—An Analysis Based on Cooper’s “Accounting Scheme”

This paper studies the features and trends of evolution of College English curricula based on Cooper’s accounting scheme. By examining the formulation processes and implementation effects of altogether six College English curricula from historical and comparative perspectives, it is found that the actors was the MOE and academic research institutions; the means was the authority of the government; the behaviors developed from English foundation to English application ability; the people changed from science and engineering students to all non-English majors; the ends evolved from discrete language skills training to comprehensive English ability; the process developed from “top-down” to a combination of “top-down” and “bottom-up”. This paper also attempts to analyze the reasons for these features and trends, in order to provide valuable insights for College English teaching reform.