Constructivist Teaching Approach and Literature Teaching Reform

Abstract. Constructivism is not only a philosophical concept, but also a paradigm or teaching ideas; it differs from traditional teaching concepts which relate to various aspects of educational theory. Constructivist Teaching Approach has impressive enlightenments on Teaching Reform and creative personnel training of university. Chinese modern and contemporary literature teaching reform on teaching content and teaching methods, but the constraints of modern literature teaching reform can not be ignored. Modern and contemporary literature teaching should reflect the intellectual, literary, cultural and academic sides. Reforms of teaching methods include increasing class discussion, allow students to participate in the process of teaching, extracurricular activities and the use of multimedia. Now the constraints of the reform of the modern and contemporary literature mainly are assessment methods, evaluation system for teachers and the teaching environment, which are also very important.

Keywords: Constructivist Teaching Approach, university teaching, modern and contemporary literature, teaching reform

0. Introduction

With the advent of the new century, it is increasingly clear in understanding of the importance of training creative talents, I believe that constructivist teaching approach, as the latest theories in educational psychology, has certain references for the university teaching reform and training of creative talents. Meanwhile, the analysis of the current situation of contemporary literature teaching situation, and describes the problems: teaching content, teaching mode, teaching methods is seriously lagging behind, unable to adapt to the needs of social development and prevent the talents’ development, and it must be reformed. Currently universities across the country are conducting modern and contemporary literature teaching reform, and are trying to discover how to meet the needs of contemporary literature teaching with the rapid development of the world, the needs of society for talent, and talents’ own developments.

1. The concept of constructivism

Constructivist teaching approach is developed from traditional teaching concept or objectivist teaching approach through critique and development. In the formation and development of educational psychology theory, the traditional teaching concept has played a leading role until the early 1960s. The Swiss child psychologist Jean Piaget’s cognitive development theory and the historical cultural psychology of Vygotsky widespread, psychological theory of history and culture in the heart of the education initiative, learning is not only affected by external conditions, but also affected by the learner’s own cognitive style, motivation emotions and values ??, and these factors are often neglected by traditional teaching concept. In the meantime, Bruner's discovery learning ( 1970 ) and Ausubel 's meaningful learning ( 1969) theory laid the base for the construction of basic constructivism. It summarizes and critically inherited constructivist theory of teaching from different schools of cognition, which put forward their own theories frame work.

1.1 Piaget and Vygotsky, who constructivist theory for impact

Constructivist teaching approach formation is profoundly impressed by Piaget's theory of cognitive development, historical and cultural development of the theory of Vygotsky, Bruner and Ausubel’s discovery learning and meaning Learning. As early as 1968, Ausubel and his collaborators put forward the most important factor affecting the minds of learners is the existing knowledge, so we should determine this, teach them base on students’ prior knowledge. But how to determine the learners ‘ prior knowledge in mind, how do you know the structure of the learner’s knowledge, Ausubel but did not clarify it, but Piaget provide clues for us from the perspective of children’s cognitive development. As a child development psychologist, after years of clinical research, Jean Piaget found that the development of children’s cognitive structure is neither a priori decision, nor is it acquired experience, but the result of the interaction between subject and object. Child psychology, thinking process and the development of intelligence is constant assimilation and accommodation to the objective world. In the interpretation of the adaptation of children’s mental and intellectual thinking to the objective world, Piaget thought that children would develop into mature person in the first ten years of life on the maturing process. As to the formation of children ‘s cognitive structure and explain the cognitive structure, Piaget used the schema, he thinks the children’s cognitive structure is composed of many different schemata, in the cognitive process, children will use existing schema to assimilate new information in the assimilation process, existing mental schemata get fleshed out and reach the highest level. when the existing schema can not assimilate new information, to get the balance of the body and the environment, children will use existing cognitive structure to adapt to the new environment and the existing cognitive structure would modify or create new cognitive structures in order to achieve a new level of balance. The child’s thinking is developed and become mature in the process of assimilation, adaptation, balance.

1.2 Constructivism is not just a philosophical concept, but also a paradigm or teaching concept

On the epistemological level, construction, by definition it refers to the already existing messy, disorderly things, build up regularly. In psychology construct it refers to people’s regard of their understanding of things as a mental structure, people regroup understanding or concept is often referred to conform to changes or change in people’s concept. People change their concept not only based on the information he receives, but also distribution and understanding of information. Knowledge construction of people is the process of constructing a connective object. In the connective object, the human understanding of the kind of knowledge is built upon the results of the previous behavior of construction. That is in the process of constructing knowledge, the previous knowledge are contents of the latter construction. The constructed “construction” is the first rule in the constructivist theory.

2. Enlightenment Constructivist Teaching Approach on Teaching Reform at the University

First, you should see the traditional concept of teaching, that is to impart enhanced memory for the teaching mode processes, which has a variety of drawbacks to personnel training today in the era of knowledge economy, due to the accelerated renewal of knowledge and market -oriented, the demand for talent is diverse, flexible and changeable. This requires education administrators and teachers to change the traditional concepts of education, to admit students have enthusiasm and initiative in learning activities, and let students to put into good use their initiative. Secondly, the constructivist view that the construction of knowledge influenced by time, space and the environment, knowledge would lose its authenticity without considering time, space and the environment, and it would bring no use to learners. It's like the same joke, saying in different time, space and different occasions would bring different effects. Therefore in teaching, in order to achieve good results, teachers can not put things in the real world of complex simplicity into simple ones, the teachers must demonstrate original problem, because anything would have its different interpretations, different perspectives, thus causing the complexity of things. Students should be allowed to own a wide range of things through observation and analysis, construct their own understanding and awareness of things. Thirdly, in the traditional instructional design, we always assume that teachers provide students with an action plan; student learning success is just related to completion of this project. Teachers as the person who impart knowledge, is responsible for arrangement of students’ learning, and provision to students with the knowledge, leader students to have learning activities and to complete homework problems. Due to different cognitive styles, interests and hobbies, students may be able to get into action plan teacher provide or may not. Furthermore, we aim to educate students but not those students who only know how to follow the teacher, but let the students they react to the new study, see the problem and take actions. The focus should be like that, teachers help students to develop their ability to respond to the learning knowledge and environment.

3. Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature reform of teaching methods

In the reform of teaching methods modern and contemporary literature, we should break the boring old teaching methods in class teaching and assume the interactive teaching methods between teachers and students and create a relaxed teaching atmosphere, enhance students’ learning autonomy and initiative. For example, let students to participate in the teaching process, authorize the basic knowledge to students, and let them speak to their classmates, thus improve students’ interest in learning and improve their teaching ability. Allow students to participate in the teaching process must be carefully deployed, and determined at the beginning of the semester, teachers should determine which part are provided to students and to teachers themselves, and then let them separately prepared, of course, teachers should prepare for all the teaching contents, the teacher should give appropriate guidance, including the contents of lectures and the ways to teach, until students can handle their own contents, and ensuring that they can conduct good teaching in the classroom when they could get good teaching result. This method is suitable for small class who are normal professional, not suitable for larger classes and non- teaching profession.

Also, to enhance students’ motivation to learn, increased seminar is practical. Seminar must also be prepared before, first teacher must arrange the works which is to be discussed, elaborately design one or several clever questions, and the students must indeed seen the works and their own thinking, the above seminar could be carried out. Seminar should be student -oriented discussion, teachers only do some timely coaching and summary.

Reform of teaching methods of modern literature should also make full use of multimedia. First, class courseware should be used, which can increase efficiency, improve students’ interest in learning. As a literature class-- Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature, its courseware should grasp the principle: courseware is used as teaching services, rather than showing courseware technology. So, courseware should be simple, elegant, beautiful, and be able to ensure the core knowledge can be presented students, the courseware is not necessarily be colorful, literature are language arts, so it is word-oriented, and teaching is not required to join unrelated content like music, animation and so on. But it is not to say that the courseware of the modern and contemporary literature is now totally get rid of images and audio-visual materials, compared to ancient Chinese literature, she is a living curriculum, modern and contemporary Chinese literature has a lot of living historical data, such as the most writers of Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature have left photographs, manuscripts and other raw materials, these writers’ photographs, manuscripts, letters and design works of the original image data can be collected through the network, so the courseware can put these together to enable students to “know” writer, work experience, so that students really feel the history of literature vividly, let them have the experience of empathy. Secondly, you can also make full use of network resources, make pointed references to guide students to visit the site, literary studies and review sites, or allow students to see some of the lectures in the program called Lecture Room. Modern and Contemporary Literature Teaching should also vigorously carry out extracurricular activities to encourage students to ask questions, to pay efforts to study, write research papers; conducting various forms ofpractice activities such as drama rehearsal related to modern literature, organized lectures after reading classic works of modern literature, conduct academic travel activities.

4. Constraints of Reform of Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature Teaching

Constraints of Chinese Contemporary Literature Teaching are assessment methods, evaluation system for teachers and the teaching environment. This tripartite reform is also very important.

Assessment methods and assessment content directly affect the process of teaching and teaching effectiveness, so the reform of assessment methods and assessment content are very important. Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature should be assessed by normal observation, assessment and final examination. This requires the teacher to observe the usual ability level of each student and hard extent, and appropriately give the usual points. Final exam should increase those questions which test students’ ability, reducing rote questions. Now many students have been accustomed to answer rote questions, and heard those questions testing their ability, they frowned, so it can say that this is a sad education.

Reform of teacher evaluation system for Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature Teaching is also very important. For a long time university focused only on teachers’ scientific research, not pay attention to teaching, research is hard targets, visible and tangible; teaching are soft targets, relatively difficult to grasp. Therefore, the actual effect of teaching is not integrated into teacher evaluation system, teaching quality and teachers’ interests in teaching reform have no institutional guarantee. Because the real teaching reform activities will increase the workload of teachers, and such work is “unpaid” and “potential”, those others could not see. So it will virtually bring resistance to Modern and Contemporary Literature Teaching, many teachers have realized the importance and necessity of education reform, but suffer in the course of a specific practice will consume a lot of time and effort, and also would met too many difficulties and obstacles, the result is that they finally give up the reform, no reform will be implemented. To change this situation, on the one hand is to promote ethics for teachers and education, perform contemporary literature teaching reform, eliminating confusion for students, and also to carry out activities to interact with the students, this has always been the responsibility of teachers, no matter how much energy are occupied, because this is teachers’ duty to do these things; on the other hand, teacher evaluation system should be changed, establish appropriate evaluation system to the professional teacher.

Whether put a teaching outline to students at the beginning, whether tutor and answers question, whether show students the writer profile picture, whether to play video to students, whether carry out interaction with students in extracurricular activities, whether lectures and academic literature should be included into the evaluation system, these hard targets and promotion of teachers, are linked with those things above. This will give Modern and Contemporary Literature Teaching an institutional guarantee. Teaching environmental reforms refers to Chinese Literature Teaching should relieve pressure on teachers, to create a good environment for reform. First, teaching reform should be formed between units, not just individual teacher.

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