英语语篇格式图式

五、英语语篇格式图式

格式是语篇文本的另一重要的文本特征定位要素。正如前面所讨论的，我们可以从任何一篇英语文本实体找出它的相应的格式结构，同时，一定类型的文本又具有它们相对一致的格式结构，如书信、演讲稿、简历、一般应试议论文。英语文本的格式结构主要是指文本的相对于内容而言的外在书面视觉形式，包括宏观的文本版式结构、段落分配，微观的英语字母的字体、字号大小、换行、对齐、标点符号等等。

下面是一首莎士比亚十四行诗格式：

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hatn all too short a day:

Sometime too hot the aye of heaven shines

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometimes declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade.

Not lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;

Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

So long as men can breathe,or eyes can see,

So long lives this,and this gives life to thee.

一篇呈交给学术刊物的学术论文的一般格式：

College Curricula Design and Management

(author’s name)

Abstracts:Curricula design and management are of great importance in college education. However,in our country’s higher education system,the importance is often neglected theoretically and practically. This article aims to study how to improve and optimize college curricula design and management to enhance teaching efficiency through discussing the main factors and their relations involved.

Keywords:curricula design; management; improvement

1. Introduction

Colleges bear the unloadable responsibility to bring out the eligible,high-qualitative talents. Under the given social,historic and cultural circumstances and teaching hardware conditions such as lecture building and campus construction,financial investment,and so on,teaching or schooling management is undoubtedly the most important among the key factors that act on the education quality. And,in teaching or schooling management,curricula design and management are of special importance. They play an important role in determining the education and teaching quality.

However,in our country’s higher education field,curricula design and management have been overlooked theoretically and practically. In theory,even some authoritative education-andeaching-pecialized books have no chapters focused on dealing with curricula design and management. In education research academic journals,few articles take curricula design and management as their proper or particular concerns. It shows that people don’t pay enough attention or awareness to the importance in curricula design. In the practical teaching management,college teaching-affairs workers seldom make their written or literal systematic documents concerning curricula design and management.And there are often quite similar curricula structures in the same deciplines of different colleges.

As a result,college curricula are often found failed to timely up-dated. It shows arbitrariness in curricula design and management. Curricula often fail to effectively target at the education and teaching goals.

This thesis attempts to discuss the main factors affecting curricula,and their relations so as to find some effective approaches to improve college English curricula design.

2. Curricula and College Education

College curricula design and management are different from teaching and teaching management. The former involves dealing with scientific design of curricula,for instance,how to make a reasonable or appropriate curricula,what should be considered in designing curricula,and also involves the management or supervision of curricula in the whole process the curricula is being executed,for example,how to make proper changes on curricula when factors affecting curricula have changed. And the latter,teaching and teaching management is concerned with practical execution of curricula and management of all aspects of teaching behaviors. Although both curricula management and teaching management are related to or have something to do with curricula,their emphases are different. The former stresses on the curricula itself,the latter on the execution of curricula,the practical teaching behavior. If we take teaching for its broader sense,in which anything related to teaching can be categorized in teaching,then curricula design and management is subordinate to teaching and teaching management. It’s a division or branch of teaching and teaching management. However,if teaching taken for its narrow sense,only for classroom teaching,curricula design and management should be parallel or appositive to teaching and teaching management. They are different sessions of steps of the whole teaching course,both belonging to the broader-sensed teaching.

Curricula design is a relatively independent teaching behavior and teaching behavior management system. It has its coral task and special internal relations system. The coral task or target is curricula design. Its intrinsic relation system includes inter-relations between subjects,between curricula and teaching goals,between curricula and curricula designers,between curricula and teacher,and so on. The relations are the necessary factors that must be taken into account if a good curricula design is to be reached. The reason lies in that,it is through these relations that curricula design impacts on or determines a college’s education and teaching qualities.

Curricula functions connecting college and student,which respectively represent education provider and education receiver or educatees The importance or significance of curricula in terms of affecting education and teaching quality lies in both that curricula is the embodiment of a college’s education and teaching thoughts or ideas,and curricula at the same time represents what kind of education and teaching a college is able to prepare and offer to students. Therefore,curricula,the media or bridge between college and their educates,in its deeper sense and its essential sense,is the symbol of a college’s education and teaching level and capacity of education provision. So the importance of curricula design should be in no way neglected.

Colleges implant their characteristic education thoughts or notions into their curricula through their curricula designers,then make the curricula executed or carried out and accomplish education and teaching information transmission between college side and students through teachers. The whole education process is finished by the students’ graduation from colleges. However,curricula don’t always remain available without change modification. Curricula should be changed and modified with the development of the society and knowledge in science and technology for it objectively imposes new demands on education. So,the feedback information from society,students and teachers and other channels urges college to change or modify the already-existed education thoughts and change their curricula design through curricula designers so as to make their education and teaching better meet the needs of the society. Factually,English teaching curricula need to be modified and innovated. The rapid-developing society calls for higher requirements on English language education and English language develops more rapidly with the rapid-developing world.

From the discussion above,we find,curricula design plays an important role in education and teaching quality,and this makes it possible for us to improve education and teaching quality by improving or optimizing curricula.

In our further study,before we get at what we should do for curricula design and management,we will focus on discussion and analysis on the main relations concerning curricula and its related factors.

3. Curricula Design,Improvement and Management

3.1 Curricula design and education-and-teaching goals

Education and teaching serve for the society. That is,to produce various kinds of eligible talents for the social needs,and to produce possibly high-quality eligible talents. To reach this,colleges have first to form or set up their goals. Education and teaching goals are the fore-set standards or criteria that guide and conduct all college behaviors,among which the execution of the curricula is no doubt the main course to reach the goals. In this point,curricula design and management and education and teaching goals are closely related. Without well-designed curricula,college education and teaching and their quality are completely groundless and rootless. In their relations,the most essential is,curricula must be coherent with the education and teaching goals. Curricula must be set as possibly to effectively hit the goals. And in reality,curricula can be made incoherent with or unfit for the presumed goals,just as a doctor’s prescription can be invalid for his patients disease,even the worse,to exterminate his patients’ disease. So there objectively exists something we can find and follow between curricula and education and teaching goals.

Let’s first have a look at education and teaching goals. Education and teaching goals are determined by no other than the following three factors. First,certain society or certain country has some basic requirements on its younger generation or its massive population in their physical and mental health,in their social and behavioral formals and so on. Here we group such goals as basic or common education and teaching goals. Second,the society needs college graduates having some specialized knowledge and skills for specialized social job assignments. In fact these goals are determined be present social market. We group such goals as nuclear or coral goals. And lastly,the development of the society and other unpredictable factors require college graduates with flexibility in their job engagement and challenge for future development. Now the professional borders are fading off. More and more compound-typed intelligences are needed. So colleges are also goaled to prepare their students for their job-taking flexibility and future challenge. We group this goal as medium goals,for it lies between nuclear and basic goals in terms of professionalism.

So our first step to make curricula design is to set goals. Goals give curricula making a general direction. Education and teaching goals serves as a coordinate to curricula design. Since education and teaching are determined by the three factors,and each of them plays its special role,education and teaching goals should be composed of three parts accordingly:general goals,medium goals and nuclear goals.

Curricula design is the inevitable step that all colleges take to reach the goals. So,to aim at the goals curricula design have three sorts accordingly,unclear,medium and general curricula. Practically,more medium and general curricula are designed as selective courses.

3.2 Intrinsic relations within curricula

In a college,different majors have their different curricula designs,and even the same major in different colleges should have some difference in their curricula designs due to college’s own traits or emphasis. However,there is still something in common we can find to improve curricula so as to make them more efficiently match or hit education and teaching goals.

1)In making curricula,all three components or parts of education and teaching goals should be taken into count,then find and fix a proper proportion among nuclear,medium and basic curricula in the whole curricula construction.

2)From the point of systematology,unclear,medium and basic curricula would better be designed in reciprocally benefiting principle. One side,if medium curricula is more closely related in the internal knowledge or skill connection with nuclear curricula,for instance,designed to be the nuclear curricula’s natural practical extension or the bordering subject of nuclear curricula,it’s of course easier for students to transit from the major to medium curricula subjects in their study. On the other side,because of their relatively close knowledge relation,the study of medium curricula subjects serves back to support the learning of the nuclear curricula.

3)Nuclear curricula represents the professionalism in college. Curricula designers should lay enough importance on it. To make high-validity nuclear curricula,the following steps are needed.(1)List all the related subjects included in a profession or a major.(2)Find out the fundamental and substantial constitution of subjects underlying the presumed education and teaching goal through analysis. Then you can determine what subjects are valid and necessary to fulfill the knowledge and skill constitution and what a proportion of the different subjects is proper to form nuclear curricula. Otherwise a curriculum is aimless,in valid or inefficient.(3)Analyze student’s knowledge and skill background to determine the starting point of curricula so that students can accept,and to determine the difficulty degree of curricula and as well as the proceeding speed to reach the presumable goal.(4)Analyze the subjects’ logic order to determine the sequence of subjects as to what should be taught to students first and what later.(5)Consider the major or profession development to set the curricula within acceptable advance.(6)Make a sketch nuclear curriculum.(7)To analyze students’ future psychological goal knowledge and skill constitution under educational goals to further improve curricula design.

Here it is necessary to advance three constitutions which are closely related to curricula design:profession’s subjects constitution,professional goal knowledge and skill quality constitution and goal knowledge and skill psychological constitution.

Professional subjects constitution means all the subjects included in a profession or a major; professional goal knowledge and skill constitution means the predictable future profession knowledge and skill constitution,which involves what subjects’ knowledge and skills are necessary and most valid in a certain profession,and therefore helps curricula designers decide what subjects should be chosen from the professional subjects constitution and their general proportion; and goal knowledge and skill psychological constitution means the necessary and basic psychological quality components in a certain profession. Goal knowledge and skill psychological constitution can only be achieved by the study of a certain profession’s practical psychology or to some extent by the study of a major’s learning psychology. It helps curricula designers to more effectively decide the subjects choices and the proportion. And in fact there is always some distance between actual knowledge and skill quality constitution and the psychological constitution. The latter means what psychological qualities might most probably needed in future relevant professional job engagement,so analysis of the psychological constitution is more helpful for curricula improvement. However,what we can do is to minimize the distance as to make a best curricula design.

In short,students’ professional psychological constitution is an important factor to be considered to optimize curricula,and other two sorts of curricula,the medium and basic curricula design can be made and optimized in a similar way as discussed above.

Curricula should be designed on base of clear awareness of education and teaching goals and analysis of the above-discussed three constitutions. In this way,subjective and blind curricula can be avoided. In blind curricula design,people randomly schedule and set curricula and subjectively presume that what kind of talents or graduates can be achieved through the performance of the arbitrarily set curricula. As a result,teaching resources are wasted. It’s something like that,you install a lot of programs in your computer without careful consideration about the computer itself,the goal purpose of your computer and the relations or compatibility of the programs. Your computer can’t be made full or proper use of,even the worse,be of no use.

Therefore,in curricula design,all work should be focused on seeking for and constructing economic and high-valid education and teaching information channels between colleges and their students. In large,there are two main steps:(1)Analyze the three constitutions that lie under education and teaching goals.(2)According to the constitutions,make the relevant and corresponding curricula design and improve them.

3.3 Curricula design and curricula hours assignment

The proportion of different of different subjects is reflected in curricula hours assignment. In dealing with their relations,there are three points necessary for consideration.

1)The time assignment within the subjects in curricula. Different time assignment may mean different curricula design,may lead to different education and teaching results. Curricula subjects teaching hour assignment should abide by economic principle and should be on base of aiming at students’ goal knowledge and skill constitution and their relevant psychological constitution. Too much time assignment in one subject or in certain subjects beyond the necessary leads to waste of teaching and learning time resources,and too little is in sufficient to assure the necessary education and teaching information transmission.

2)The time ratio between the total curricula time and the students’ total time. The proportion of total curricula hours and students’ school hours should be based on consideration of both curricula teaching need and students’ self-development and rest. Students’ self-development involves students’ self-study,their individual learning and career interests,and their entertainment.

3)Curricula subjects time assignment should be on consideration of students’ acceptability and challenge. That is,students can and should finish the assigned curricula in the given time to ensure their necessary skill training and knowledge acquisition,and on the other hand,the curricula hours assignment requires students to pay some learning efforts and mobilizes students’learning activeness.

3.4 Curricula and curricula designers

So far as our discussion has gone,it is quite clear that curricula is very important and there is much that people can do to improve a college’s education and teaching quality by improving its curricula design. To reach the goal,curricula designers plays the key roles. It requires curricula designers to be prepared with certain expertise knowledge,ability and qualities.

First,college curricula designers must have enough knowledge in their special professional field. In English curricula design,designers must of course abundant English language knowledge and knowledge in English subjects. In fact,this is the basic requirement for curricula designers,for only so can they design the basic curricula and choose the fittest textbooks. Second,curricula designers should have knowledge in pedagogy and psychology,especially the practical psychology or teaching and learning psychology in the relevant major or profession field. This is required in curricula subjects proportion assignment,subjects’ teaching sequence(what to taught first,what to be later and what to together with what others,and so on),and the difficulty degree that is related to students’ learning acceptability and challenge. Third,curricula designers should have awareness and ability in studying teacher resources. Good curricula are produced on consideration of both best use of available teacher resources and best development of teacher resources. That is,to reach the best match between teachers and their teaching subjects and even that between teachers team curricula combination. Curricula have both acceptability and challenge for teachers. Curricula-teacher match should consider teachers’ advantages and their shorts. In this way teachers can feel achievement and confidence and that of being specially cared and laid importance to. On the other hand,certain challenge and consideration of enough self-development time for teachers allow teachers to develop themselves. Good curricula design makes the beneficial development for both colleges and teachers.

In some way,curricula design can be compared to a banquet design. To make the banquet as perfect as possible,designers need to study the guests and schedule the best course structure,consider the best dishes raw materials and the best cooks.

3.5 Curricula design principles and management

Now we conclude curricula design principles:

1)Economic and high-validity principle

To seek for the minimum time and teaching and learning resources cost and ensure the best accomplishment of education and teaching goals. Curricula are configured and optimized on the best curricula structure,the best textbooks choice and the best match between teachers and curricula.

2)Development principle

Curricula fit for the development of students,teachers and colleges.

3)Dynamic management principle

Curricula can’t always remain available and high-valid. We live in a time of rapid social development. Many variants make it necessary for curricula’s redesign and modification.

Following procedures are needed for general curricula design and management:

1)Basic curricula design

In this step,it is necessary to be well-clear of the education and teaching goals of the given college,then analyze students’ knowledge and skill constitution of a certain major or profession under the goals and sketch the highly goal-aiming nuclear,medium and basic curricula design.

2)Curricula improvement

In this step,it is necessary to analyze the relevant psychological constitution and take into account factors such as teaching resources(teachers,hardware teaching conditions),student conditions to optimize perfect curricula design,such as the matches between textbooks and curricula and those between teachers and curricula,and teaching assignment.

3)Dynamic management of curricula

Dynamic curricula management requires constant feedback information collection from various aspects and intended assessment of the curricula in operation,the related written documents management and of course redesign or modification of curricula.

4. Conclusion

Curricula design and management are of great importance in college education. They reflect the education and teaching goals of a college or a certain profession are high or low,and to some extent,the education and teaching transmission channels established between colleges and their educates economic and high-valid or not. And good curricula design serves as a pre-implanted accurately-drawn teaching and learning map in students’ and teachers’ mind and helps them better guide or conduct their teaching and learning behaviors aiming at their goals. Thus,education and teaching and learning potentials of the three sides,college(education offerer),teachers(the practical curricula operators),and students are conformed effectively made use of. Good curricula design and management are economic,high-valid and are helpful for sustainable development of college,teachers and students. Through improvement of curricula design,the education and teaching can be let full play of.

Bibliography

[1]Zhang Furong.(2000). Modern Curriculum Theory[M]. Chongqing:South-West Normal University Press.

[2]Zhang Furong.(2000). Teaching Psychology[M]. Chongqing:South-west Normal University Press.

[3]Keith Johnson.(2001). An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching[M]. Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

[4]M.Williams and Robert L. Burden.(2000). English Teachers and Psychology[M].Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

在格式上，每篇具体文本固然有其特定的格式模式，显然，一篇文本的特定的文本格式模式只能是在一篇已经生成的文本中找出。然而，在具体的文本写作中，写作者在一篇文本尚未生成之前，究竟是靠什么来定位文本的格式呢？答案是同类型文本的一般格式结构。在文本的生成中，同类型文本遵循同类型文本的惯常的格式结构模式，然后，再根据文本的读者对象、功用目的以及写作者的个人倾向等因素进行一些较为微观的调整定位，就形成了一篇具体文本特定的格式结构模式。

下面拟就英语书信格式（英语公函、英语私人信件、英语便条）、英语履历/简历格式对英语语篇文本的格式结构进行探讨。

英语正式书信格式。英语书信有四种常见的格式：齐头式（Block Format），变体齐头式(Modified Block Format），折中式(Semi-Block Format)，锯齿式(Indented Format)。它们的格式结构如下：

1.Block Format

2.Modified Block Format

3.Semi-Block Format

4. Indented Format

英语履历格式主要有三种：顶格式、居中式和混合式。

顶格式，也称左边顶格式，各个小标题居左边对齐：

Resume

…………（最基本个人信息，如姓名、地址、电话等）

…………

…………

Objective

………　……………………………………………

………　……………………………………………

………　……………………………………………

Education

………　……………………………………………

………　……………………………………………

………　……………………………………………

Experience

………　……………………………………………

………　……………………………………………

………　…………………………………………..

Specialization and achievements

………　……………………………………………

………　……………………………………………

………　…………………………………………..

References

………　……………………………………………

………　……………………………………………

居中式：

Resume

………………..（姓名）

Personal details

………　……………………………………………

………　……………………………………………

………　………………………………………….

Education

………　……………………………………………

………　……………………………………………

………　…………………………………………….

Experience

………　……………………………………………

………　……………………………………………

………　………………………………………….

Specialization and achievements

………　……………………………………………

………　……………………………………………

………　………………………………………….

References

………　……………………………………………

………　……………………………………………

混合式，混合式中采用前两种格式的综合形式，即主要标题居中，同时主标题下的次标题又采用左边对齐的形式。

Resume

………………（姓名）

Personal details

Address　………………………………………………

E-mail　　………………………………………………

Nationality　…………………………………………………

Education

University1　………………………………………………

University2　………………………………………………

XXXschool　………………………………………………

Experience

Experience1　………………………………………………

Experience2　………………………………………………

Experience3　………………………………………………

Specialization and achievements

Achievement1　……………………………………………

Achievement2　……………………………………………

Achievement3　……………………………………………

References

Reference1　………………………………………………

Reference2　…………………………………………………

Reference3　…………………………………………………

可见，文本的格式定位是整个文本的一个相当重要的部分。对于不少文本而言，只要其格式定位后，也就是说只要写作者明确该文本的格式后，该篇文本的基本结构也就自然清晰了。更有突出的情况是，在有些英语文本的生成上，文本的格式结构起到了决定性的作用，甚至可以这么说，文本的生成纯粹就是生成一个文本的格式结构，这类文本可以被称为格式文本，如英语书信信封、某些证书证件、正式请柬、某些体裁的英语诗歌等等。相反，如果一个英语写作者弄不清楚一篇特定英语文本的格式，他是没法恰当完成相应的英语文本的写作的。不知道或不熟悉英语文本格式的英语写作者始终是一个英语写作的门外汉。正因为如此，并得益于当今的方便电脑文字处理和印刷技术，我们不少的实用文本都有了现成的文本格式，如有些工作报告、演讲稿、商务信件、合同等。

下面是几篇英语实用文本的格式结构：

毕业证明：

Degree Certificate

No.88885

July 12,2008

Let it be known that …(name),…(sex),native of …(birth place),born on March 3,1986,having specialized in applied translation/English teaching in the Department of English,from September 2003 to July 2007 and having completed the four-year undergraduate program with qualified standing,is hereby awarded this Certificate of Graduation.

President/Chancellor …(seal)

University(seal)

毕业证书：

…Middle School

…city,… Province

July 12,2007

Let it be known that Zhou Yin,aged 17,having completed the Senior Middle School course of study and satisfied all requirements,is hereby given this certificate of graduation.

Principal(seal)

结婚请柬：

Mr and Mrs …

request the honor or your presence

at the marriage of their daughter

…

to

Mr …

on ...(day),………………(date)

at …(time)

…………(hotel/restaurant)

正式请柬：

Mr Wang Dewei

Dean,School of Foreign Language Studies

Requests the pleasure of the company of

Bryan Parker

For an Alumni party

At 2^nd Floor,6 East Building,School of Foreign Language Studies

21 Zheda Road,Hangzhou

At 7 pm on Friday,28 May 2004

RSVP:Yang Xiaolin

Tel:XXXXXXXXXXX

Fax:XXXXXXX

Please confirm by 22 May 2004

在上述几则文本实例中，文本的格式毫无疑问在整个文本的构成中起到了至关重要的作用。