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In:Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching: Historical perspectives
Edited by Richard Smith and Tim Giesler
[AILA Applied Linguistics Series 20] 2023
► pp. 180–198

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Chapter 10
Curriculum innovation
through concept borrowing

The case of “learner autonomy” in English language education in Chinese universities (1978–2007)

 | Beijing Foreign Studies University
Published online: 27 June 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.20.10pu
Abstract
This chapter analyses how the concept of learner autonomy was incorporated into the national college English curricula in China between 1978 and 2007. Adopting Quentin Skinner’s intentionalist approach, it examines this concept in relation to linguistic convention and practical context in China, discussing its meaning in the Chinese context and the intentionality of promoting this concept for curriculum innovation. The findings reveal that learner autonomy was taken to refer mainly to students’ ability to learn on their own outside the classroom. The importation of this concept has pushed teachers and policy makers to attend to students’ individual needs, but it has also manipulated dominant academic and pedagogical discourse in China in a way that steered curriculum innovation away from its original aim.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Learner autonomy: A borrowed concept
  • Analysing concept borrowing: An intentionalist approach
  • Defining key terms
  • Analytical procedure
  • The concept of learner autonomy in the Chinese context: Meaning and intentionality
    • Recovery from the Cultural Revolution (1978–1986)
    • Stable development (1987–2001)
    • Educational reform (2002–2007)
    • From 2007 onwards …
  • Conclusion and implications
  • Acknowledgement
  • Note
  • References
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