A Study on the Shift in Teaching Orientations Toward Humanistic and Instrumental Approaches in the Seventh and Eleventh Editions of China’s Primary School Chinese Language Curriculum— A Case Analysis of “The Young Runtu” from the Perspectives of Sociocultural and Educational Development

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-593-5_6How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Primary education; humanism and instrumentality; “Young Runtu”; pedagogical change; sociocultural context

Abstract

This study compares the pedagogical orientations toward “Young Runtu” in the 7th (1987) and 11th (2019) editions of China’s national primary Chinese language textbooks, aiming to trace the four-decade evolution of elementary Chinese education in its shifting balance between instrumentality and humanism. Through a diachronic comparative case analysis, the research finds that instructional strategies have shifted from the 7th edition’s emphasis on linguistic structures, textual organization, and skill-based integration of reading and writing—centered on the “two basics” (fundamental knowledge and basic skills)—to the 11th edition’s focus on affective engagement, cultural identity, and using reading to scaffold writing, reflecting a broader transition from a “two basics”–oriented model to one grounded in core competencies. By linking micro-level textual practices with macro-level sociocultural transformations, this study offers a dynamic analytical framework for understanding textbook reform and provides insights relevant to ongoing curricular innovation in Chinese language education.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Yixin Jin
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/30
TI  - A Study on the Shift in Teaching Orientations Toward Humanistic and Instrumental Approaches in the Seventh and Eleventh Editions of China’s Primary School Chinese Language Curriculum— A Case Analysis of “The Young Runtu” from the Perspectives of Sociocultural and Educational Development
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 5th International Conference on Humanities, Wisdom Education and Service Management (HWESM 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 35
EP  - 40
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-593-5_6
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-593-5_6
ID  - Jin2026
ER  -