-Review Mr. Ye Shengtao's exposition on the meaning of "Chinese"
Yangzhou University College of Literature Xu Linxiang
From 65438 to 0949, Mr. Ye Shengtao presided over the textbook editorial committee of the People's Government of North China, and suggested that the old "Mandarin" and "Chinese" should be renamed as "Chinese", thus beginning a new era in which the word "Chinese" was widely used.
As the name of a course, "Chinese" includes the training of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Ye Shengtao said: "1949, when the textbook editorial Committee of the People's Government of North China selected textbooks for primary and secondary schools, it used the name" Chinese "for the first time. In the past, this middle school was called "China" and the primary school was called "Mandarin", which was even unified. At that time, the same person thought that spoken language was' language', written language was' writing', and writing in language could not be biased, so it became one. I also see that this subject should pay equal attention to listening, speaking, reading and writing. Reciting textbooks and practicing writing are solid things to read and write. If you ignore listening and speaking and pay no attention to training, the effect of reading and writing will also be damaged. " [ 1]
"Chinese" is not only the name of the course, but also the name of the teaching material. 1in June, 950, the editorial department of the General Administration of Publishing of the Central People's Government edited and published a national unified textbook named "Chinese". The editorial gist of this textbook points out: "What is spoken is language, what is written is article, and the article depends on language, and' language' and' text' are inseparable. Chinese teaching should include listening, speaking, reading and writing. Therefore, this set of textbooks no longer uses the old name of' Chinese' or' Putonghua' and is renamed' Chinese textbook'. " [2]
Whether we take "Chinese" as the course name or "Chinese" as the textbook name, its basic ideas seem to be clearly expressed as "Chinese" or "language", including "spoken language" and "written language". Ye Shengtao explained: "What is a language? Chinese is a language, which is commonly called. What is spoken in the mouth is spoken, and what is written on paper is written. English is spoken and Chinese is written. Combining spoken and written language is called language. " [3]
Mr. Ye Shengtao's naming and explanation of "Chinese" has been widely recognized by Chinese education circles. Mr. Lv Shuxiang said in his speech entitled "Chinese Teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools" on April 22, 1978/KLOC-0: "In the early days of liberation, there was the General Administration of Publishing with an editorial board, which was the predecessor of People's Education Publishing House. Its main task is to write textbooks. This leads to a question, that is, is it better to praise primary school Chinese and middle school Chinese in the old way or to unify their thinking? At that time, a comrade who worked in it suggested, can you just call him China? Language is among them, and words are among them. Later, I decided to use the name China. " [4] In the article "Speak Chinese" written by Mr. Zhang Zhigong in May 1979, he also said: "In June 1949, Chinese mainland was liberated on a large scale, and the Textbook Editorial Committee of the Ministry of Education of the People's Government of North China began to study various textbooks used throughout the country. As for the original "national language" and "Chinese language", through research, it is believed that both primary schools and middle schools should focus on learning vernacular Chinese, and middle schools should gradually learn a little classical Chinese; As for the compositions, they are all written in vernacular Chinese. In short, in the stage of general education, this course should teach students to master the language ability that is close to the reality of life and suitable for daily oral and written applications. According to this view, according to Mr. Ye Shengtao's suggestion, names such as "Chinese" and "Mandarin" will no longer be used, and all primary and secondary schools will be called "Chinese". This is why this course is called "Chinese". This' language' is' language', including spoken and written language. In spoken and written language, it is collectively referred to as' language'. " [5]
In the process of using "Chinese" as the name of the course textbook, besides "Chinese is language", there are several different explanations such as "Chinese article", "Chinese writing" and "Chinese literature".
In response to these explanations, Mr. Ye Shengtao pointed out many times: "The name' Chinese' first appeared in Chinese textbooks for primary and secondary schools in 1949. The idea at that time was' language' and' writing'. When this word is combined, it is called "language". From this point of view,' language articles' are more appropriate. " "Wen" means "writing", which seems to refer to one word after another, which is not appropriate. "Wen" means "literature", but it cannot contain articles other than literature. "[6]" Later, some people interpreted it as' language and writing' and others as' language and literature', which was not the original intention of this name. The second explanation is close to the original meaning, but the meaning of the word' Wen' is wider than that of' literature', and the written word' Wen' does not belong to literature. There are literary works and non-literary articles in the textbook, which can prove it. The' words' of the first explanation, if understood as written language, are also in line with the original intention. " [7]
The Modern Chinese Dictionary (Revised Edition) compiled by the Dictionary Editorial Office of the Institute of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has two interpretations of the word "Chinese", one is "language and writing" and the other is "language and literature". Explaining the word "language", the dictionary says: "Language generally includes its written form, but when combined with" writing ",it only refers to spoken language". [8] In other words, "spoken and written language" refers to spoken and written language. Lv Shuxiang thinks: "When two words of a language are linked together, there can be two statements. One can be understood as language, that is, spoken and written language; The other can also be understood as language and literature, which is different. The name of this course in primary and secondary schools is Chinese. The original intention may be language, but many people understand it as language and literature. " [9] Although Mr. Lv Shuxiang also understands "language" as "written language" here, it still refers to "spoken and written language".
It can be seen that the "language is language" (including spoken and written language) mentioned by Mr. Ye Shengtao actually includes the meanings of "language articles" (articles are written language), "language writing" (words are symbols of written language) and "language literature" (literature is the art of language, with written language as the carrier).
Since "Chinese" in Chinese education should be understood as "language", why is this course called "Chinese" instead of "language"? This is mainly because "language" sometimes only refers to spoken language, and it is called "Chinese" to emphasize that this course includes not only spoken language but also written language. In July 1980, Ye Shengtao explained at the inaugural meeting of the primary school Chinese teaching research association: "1949 changed the name" Chinese "because this course is to learn the ability to use language. Since it is the ability to use language, why not call it' language'? What is spoken is' language' and written is' words'. The two methods are different, but they are actually the same thing. The course is not called' language', but' Chinese', which means that this course should learn both spoken and written language. The name' Chinese' does not combine the past' Mandarin' and' Chinese', and' Chinese' does not refer to language, but' Chinese' refers to literature (although there are many literary works in the textbook). " [ 10]
We understand that "Chinese", as a course of school education, refers to the education of the mother tongue, that is, the education of taking Chinese as the common language of the Chinese nation. Including oral learning and written language learning; It includes both the mastery of language form and the understanding of language content; It includes not only the study of a nation's language system and rules (narrow language), but also the training of speech acts (reading, writing, listening and speaking) and the study of speech works formed according to this language system and rules. [1 1] As Mr. Zhong Qiquan pointed out, "Chinese is a comprehensive basic subject to develop students' language ability from both form and content, with both' formal training' and' substantive training'." [12] Mr. Wang Ning pointed out from the perspective of Chinese teachers: "Chinese teachers should cultivate students' sensitivity, interests and habits of discovering language phenomena from corpus and summarizing language laws through Chinese teaching; Teach them correct and effective ways to store language materials, and urge them to gradually enrich their language through self-study accumulation; Let them train themselves to express their mature thoughts in the most appropriate and beautiful language in the practice of acquiring new knowledge; Finally, we should use language as a bridge to cultivate their interpersonal awareness, creative thinking and cultural literacy. " [ 13]
In recent years, in the discussion about the meaning of "language", three new explanations have appeared: speech, literature and culture.
Some scholars think: "Chinese refers to Chinese, and Chinese education is the language education of our mother tongue Chinese." [14] The author thinks that this view narrows the extension of Chinese. Chinese learning includes both language learning and narrow language learning. Although language systems and rules are the contents of mother tongue courses, people can get some through spontaneous experience and cognition in the language environment of daily life, but these are fragmentary after all and cannot be compared with systematic learning through higher-level thinking activities under the background of school education. It is necessary for schools to offer Chinese courses, that is, it can change the learning and mastery of mother tongue from spontaneous, perceptual experience-based and slow exploration to conscious, scientific, reasonable, rapid and economical discussion, including the study of language systems and rules.
Some scholars believe that Chinese is literature and Chinese education is literature education. The author thinks that this view also narrows the meaning of Chinese. Literature is the art of language. On the one hand, as an art, compared with practical articles such as political papers and popular science books, literary works have their unique advantages in emotional education and aesthetic education, and Chinese education should undoubtedly make full use of this advantage. On the other hand, literary works in Chinese textbooks are the same as practical articles such as political papers and popular science books. Since Chinese learning includes the study of language form and content, it already includes the study of the form and content of practical articles such as literary works, political papers, popular science books and so on, and literary education has become the proper meaning of Chinese education. However, it is obviously inappropriate to use literature to explain Chinese and exclude the reading and writing of practical articles such as political papers and popular science books from Chinese.
Some scholars believe: "From the perspective of language ontology, language is the existence of culture, culture is the' foundation' of language, language and culture are flesh and blood isomorphic, and language is culture." The author thinks that this view once again summarizes Chinese. What is culture? "Broadly speaking, it refers to the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth created by human society in historical practice. In a narrow sense, it refers to social ideology and institutions and organizations that adapt to it. " [16] Obviously, Chinese can only be regarded as a part of human culture. In fact, all courses offered by the school, including Chinese, are the embodiment of human culture, and learning all courses is learning culture. "Chinese is culture" is true, but it can't reveal the personality characteristics of Chinese subject.
The ancients said: "If the name is not regular, it will be all right." Mr. Ye Shengtao's exposition on the meaning of "Chinese" is still of practical significance for us to correctly grasp the nature of Chinese subject and the goal of Chinese education and promote the reform and development of Chinese teaching today.
About the author: Xu Linxiang, male, born in 1956, is a doctor, professor and tutor of master students in the College of Arts of Yangzhou University, mainly engaged in the study of Chinese curriculum and teaching theory, Chinese education history, aesthetic history and aesthetic education history.
Precautions:
[1] Ye Shengtao: A Teng 1964 February 1, Collected Works of Ye Shengtao, Volume 25, Jiangsu Education Press, 1994, pp. 33-34.
[2] Editorial Board of the General Administration of Publication of the Central People's Government: "Editing Effect", "Chinese Textbook for Junior High School" Volume I, People's Education Press, 1950 edition.
[3] Ye Shengtao: "Learning Chinese Seriously", see "Lecture Series on Chinese Learning" compiled by China Correspondence School (1), Commercial Press, 1980, p. 3-4.
[4] Lv Shuxiang: "Chinese Teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools", "Lv Shuxiang on Chinese Education", Henan Education Press, 1995, p. 37.
[5] Zhang Zhigong: Speaking of Chinese, Zhang Zhigong's Theory of Chinese Education, People's Education Press, 1994, p. 69.
[6] Ye Shengtao: Answering Sun 1960 1, Collected Works of Ye Shengtao, Volume 25, Jiangsu Education Press 1994, p. 7.
[7] Ye Shengtao: Answer Teng 1964 February 1, Collected Works of Ye Shengtao, Volume 25, Jiangsu Education Press 1994, p. 34.
[8] Dictionary Editorial Room, Institute of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: Modern Chinese Dictionary (Revised Edition), Commercial Press, 1996, p. 1 1539.
[9] Lv Shuxiang: "Chinese Teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools", "Lv Shuxiang on Chinese Education", Henan Education Press, 1995, p. 37.
[10] Ye Shengtao: What is Chinese homework? Collected Works of Ye Shengtao, Volume 13, Jiangsu Education Press, 1992, p. 247.
[1 1] See Xu Linxiang and Tu Jinhong: Chinese: Three Dimensions in One Body, Middle School Chinese,No. 10, 2005.
[12] Zhong Qiquan: Comparative Study Series of Chinese and Foreign Mother Tongue Textbooks? Foreword, Comparative Study Series of Chinese and Foreign Mother Tongue Textbooks, Jiangsu Education Press, 2000.
[13] Wang Ning: Chinese Linguistics and Chinese Teaching, China Social Sciences, No.3, 2000.
[14] Yu Yingyuan: What is the surname of China people? Chinese teaching in middle schools 200 1 issue 3.
[15] Cao Minghai: Chinese: the composition of culture, Chinese teaching communication? Journal of Senior High School, No.7-8, 2004.
[16] Edited by the Editorial Board of Cihai: Cihai, Volume II, Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, 1989, p. 4022.