Study on Three Positions Framing Kindergarten Play-Based Curriculum in China: Through Analyses of the Attitudes of Teachers to Early Linguistic Education

Abstract

Since 2001, there is a hot debate on Curriculum Reform of Elementary Education (CRED) in China which is called a debate between Child-centered and Rationalism. The policies of CRED adovates play-based model and since 2017 focuses on Chinese traditional culture learning. However, some people believe play is opposed to linguistic education and the moon in the west is more round than in China. Operating in the paradoxes, Chinese kindergarten teachers always are faced with dilemmas: should the teacher obey the government’s guidance, or satisfy parents’ English learning preference and literacy readiness oriented requirements? Few studies have examined how Chinese kindergarten teachers struggled for early literacy and linguistic education. In this article we examined twenty teachers’ understandings on play-based curriculum and play-literacy relationships. Comparing with the two popular positions toward Chinese play-based linguistic curriculum reforms, Chinese kindergarten teachers tend to hold a golden means. With the professional development of the kindergarten teacher, education approaches in Chinese kindergarten education based on play and local cultures will be used more often and more extensively. Under such circumstances, the English teaching and learning at the kindergarten level is also believed very important to cultivate global citizens and Chinese national citizens.