A study on the exploration of ideological and political elements in English major courses and the innovation of teaching pathways

Abstract

English major courses in higher education carry a dual burden: linguistic training on one hand, and the formation of students' values, cultural awareness, and civic sensibility on the other. How ideological and political content can be identified within such courses – and woven into instruction without distorting disciplinary goals – is the question this article sets out to address. Curriculum reform has sharpened this expectation, yet classroom practice tells a different story: content integration remains fragmentary, value guidance sits uneasily alongside subject-matter objectives, and assessment strategies have not kept pace with the demands of a more educationally ambitious syllabus. The study draws on literature review, curriculum analysis, and pedagogical reflection to map the ideological and political dimensions already present in English major courses – among them cultural confidence, national identity, intercultural competence, moral cultivation, and value-oriented critical thinking. Equal attention is given to the obstacles that prevent these dimensions from being realized effectively in teaching practice. From this diagnostic work, a set of concrete instructional pathways emerges: recalibrated teaching objectives, reconstructed course content, task-based and student-centered methodologies, the strategic use of digital resources, and more diversified approaches to assessment and evaluation. Taken together, these pathways point toward a model of English major instruction in which ideological and political integration is not an external imposition but an organic feature of disciplinary teaching – one capable of raising both the educational value and the practical quality of courses, and of informing broader efforts at curriculum reform in higher education.