Research on Course Assessment Mode Reform of “Chinese Culture” in Applied TCSL Major for Undergraduate Colleges and Universities

Wenhua Zhang

Abstract：The "Chinese Culture" courses of TCSL major in applied undergraduate universities are the professional core courses. Currently， there are some problems in course assessment， such as single form and focusing on memory examination， which result in poor effect of talent training， and make it difficult to cultivate students with solid cultural foundation， cultural literacy and cultural dialectical thinking. The paper aims to explore course assessment mode reform and combine in-class learning with after-class expansion through diversified assessment methods， so as to stimulate students' interest， improve students' participation in class and promote the classroom efficiency; motivate the accumulation of students' cultural knowledge to the utmost; eventually， students can develop a solid cultural foundation in a variety of activities.

Keywords： Course Assessment; Chinese Culture; Mode Reform.

I Course Nature and Objective Description

"Chinese Culture" courses are the core compulsory courses for TCSL major. The purpose of this course is to enable students to understand the general principles of culture， and have a macro grasp of Chinese geography， history， surname， academy， religion， education， imperial examination， classics， book collection， science and technology， architecture， art， utensils， customs， and cultural exchanges among China and foreign countries; in terms of ability goal， it is required to be familiar with the main line of the Chinese culture development， grasp the development of the history of the evolution from two aspects of diachrony and logicality， deeply understand the Chinese traditional culture and profound with endless charm， dialectically treat traditional culture， and consciously apply what they have learned to serve China， make the Chinese traditional culture shine on the world and influence the world in the new historical period; in respect of quality objectives， it is hoped that the study of this course will help to enhance students' national self-esteem， self-confidence and sense of pride， help to establish students' state of mind， spirit of unity and patriotism， and cultivate students' humanistic spirit， aesthetic quality and personality.

II Necessity of Reform in Course Assessment Mode

1. Current situation and problems of course assessment

There are 32 class hours for "Chinese Culture" courses of TCSL majors ， including 32 class hours for theory and 0 class hours for practice. Due to the limited class hours and the huge contents of the courses， the major also enrolls a large number of science students. But it is difficult to cultivate students with solid cultural foundation， cultural literacy and cultural dialectical thinking by only 32 class hours of classroom teaching. The closed-book examination method is adopted for this course. The proportion of usual score to final score is 3：7. The examination method is relatively simple， mainly focusing on the examination of students' memory.

2. Purpose of course assessment reform

It is hoped that the course assessment mode reform can solve the problem of uneven knowledge accumulation caused by the different liberal art & science backgrounds of senior high school. Through diversified curriculum reforms， students can adopt a combination mode of "learning in class + expanding after class" to reduce the limitations caused by the few of class hours and the complexity of the content， so as to maximize the accumulation of students' cultural knowledge; it is also hoped that through the diversified assessment methods， students can develop a solid cultural foundation in a variety of activities， and apply it to the link of classroom discussion and demonstration.

III Implementation Plan of Course Assessment Reform

Course assessment mode reform and adjustment ideas of "Chinese Culture" in TCSL major are： increasing the diversification of the assessment of general score， including： cultural documentary review， handwritten newspaper production， group report of special topic， Chinese culture knowledge contest， cultural reading notes thesis. The reform of course assessment is combined with the reform of classroom teaching to stimulate students' interest， improve students' participation in class， enhance the classroom efficiency， and combine learning in class with expanding after class. The total score consists of ： 35% of General Assessed Score + 15% of Mid-term Assessed Score + 50% of Final Score.

（1） General Assessment mode reform

1.Attendance

The strict attendance system shall be carried out for students， deducting 2 marks for one late or early leave; deducting 5 marks for asking for leave once; deducting 10 marks for each absence. The proportion of attendance is adjusted from 20% in the application form to 10%. "Xuexitong"， "Yuketang" and other information-based learning interactive management APP software are used to quickly and accurately record attendance.

2.Classroom performance

Group activity ： Classroom group activities can be planned， such as research on Chinese surnames and Chinese festival customs. Teachers give marks for the pre-class preparation materials， class performance， and after-class improvement of the group in the class. Based on the comprehensive performance of the group， each group activity is divided into three levels， 10 marks for Level 1， 8 marks for Level 2， and 6 marks for Level 3. Teachers grade students according to the materials collected and sorted out before class and classroom performance， which gives full play to students' classroom initiative.

Teacher-student interaction：During the teaching implementation process， based on the teacher-student interaction， 5 marks （excellent， unique insights and opinions）， 3 marks （accurate knowledge， correct）， 2 marks （knowledge content is basically accurate， logic and comprehensiveness still need to be improved） will be respectively graded accordingly when students express opinions or answer questions.

3.School assignment

The diversity and inspiration of school assignment shall be increased， such as the source of Chinese province name， the hand copied newspaper of Chinese dynasty history， the research report of students' surname， etc. The percentage system is used for each assignment， which is scored according to the student's school assignment completion， namely， 20 marks for serious attitude， 30 marks for accurate content knowledge， 20 marks for novel content and unique insights， 20 marks for rich reference materials and substantial content， and 10 marks for writing neatly; but 50 marks will be deducted if there are plagiarists.

（2） Reform of Mid-term Assessment Mode

In order to inspire students' learning motivation and interest to the greatest extent， teachers can carry out periodical achievement report， thesis writing， reading notes， knowledge contest and other activities in the 9th， 12th and 16th week.

For example， students can write a thesis according to the topic given by the teacher. By conducting data search， analysis and research on the content of Chapter 7 "Chinese Religion" of "General Theory of Chinese Culture"， carrying out research on the phenomenon of "polytheism" in Chinese society， especially the cultural traditions of mountain worship， ancestor worship， and monarch worship， the students can choose the thesis on the theme of "Chinese Religion" to write a thesis. The teacher grades students according to their thesis level， namely， 20 marks for serious attitude， 30 marks for accurate content knowledge， 20 marks for novel content and unique insights， 20 marks for rich reference materials and substantial content， and 10 marks for writing neatly; but 50 marks will be deducted if there are plagiarists.

During the term， the reading notes of students' Chinese culture content can be checked and scored. The percentage system is adopted for reading notes， namely， 20 marks for serious attitude， 20 marks for accurate content knowledge， 10 marks for clear logic， 20 marks for novel content and unique insights， 20 marks for rich reference materials and substantial content， and 10 marks for writing neatly.

The knowledge contest on the classical literature， various arts， exquisite artifacts， customs， and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries in the "General Theory of Chinese Culture" can be also conducted ， which greatly promotes students' learning enthusiasm.

（3） Final Assessment

"Chinese Culture" courses are examination courses according to the curriculum standards， so a closed book examination is adopted based on the requirements of the curriculum standards to test the contents， such as filling in the blanks， multiple-choice questions， noun explanation questions， matching questions， short answer questions， discussion questions， discrimination questions， material analysis questions， etc.， striving for comprehensive knowledge coverage， moderate difficulty， prominent key and difficult marks， reasonable distribution of the number of questions and marks， and better testing the students' learning effect of this course as as to achieve the purpose of assessment.

VI Implementation Effect Forecast of Course Assessment Reform

The procedural assessment of "Chinese Culture" courses adopts diversified methods， including： class group activity， periodic testing， and written school assignment. In terms of form， there are hand copied newspaper production， group reports of special topics， Chinese culture knowledge contest， Chinese culture reading notes， etc.， which fully combine the reform of course assessment with the reform of classroom teaching， stimulate students' interest， improve students' participation in class， enhance classroom efficiency， and combine in-class learning with after-class expansion

There are limited class hours but huge contents of curriculum， therefore， it is extremely difficult for students to have a solid cultural foundation， cultural literacy， and cultural dialectical thinking within only 32 class hours of classroom teaching. To a large extent， the reform of course assessment solves the problem of uneven knowledge accumulation caused by the different liberal art & science backgrounds of senior high school. Meanwhile， through the combination mode of "in-class + after-class" to reduce the limitation caused by less class hours， stimulate the accumulation of students' cultural knowledge to the maximum， enrich the teaching and learning methods， enable students to obtain more abundant teaching resources， and have a good role in promoting the improvement of education and teaching level. Diversified assessment methods of general score enable students to cultivate more solid cultural foundation in a variety of activities. At the same time， it is also in line with the concepts of "student-centered"， "result-oriented education" and "continuous improvement" advocated by colleges and universities to promote teaching innovation and improve the quality of talent training. In addition， it builds a learning space for subjects， gives full play to the mutual learning and integration inside and outside the classroom， respects and pays attention to individual differences and individual needs， and creates a highly participatory and rewarding learning experience for learners.

作者簡介

张文华（1987.09—），女，山西临汾，陕西国际商贸学院，硕士研究生，汉语国际教育。