Article Preview
TopIntroduction
China, there are about 1,270 undergraduate colleges and nearly 900 of them offer English courses, about 400 of which are application-oriented universities (Ministry of Education, 2018). For English majors as EFL learners, English literature teaching came to occupy central stage in English teaching in China, and this tradition continues into the present day (Li, 1998), which is often taken as a very important compulsory course designed to broaden students’ knowledge of language, culture, and history while cultivating a humanistic spirit and critical thinking, which is challenging for both teachers and students.
However, as an advanced course, with texts rich in nuance and subtlety, literature demands a great deal from both teachers’ and students’ comprehensive qualities, and the two parties frequently express difficulties and feel stressed. English literature teaching in China faces such issues as limited class hours and outdated textbooks that focus on older literature; lack of student interest and engagement, resulting in disengagement from the course; and a teacher-centered approach that hinders students’ ability to develop independent analysis and critical thinking skills (Hou & Lei, 2019). In the humanities, literature is a discipline that is centered on the human being. Classroom teaching should be based on the “learner-centered” teaching methodology. Thus, teachers should be “controller, assessor, organizer, promoter, participant, and resources” (Annisa et al., 2021). Lori Varlotta, president of Hiram College, first proposed the conception of “New Liberal Art,” which stresses digital technology should come into humanities study (Varlotta, 2018). In this context, the introduction of smart education, represented by artificial intelligence in classroom instruction and describes “learning in digital age” (Zhu et al., 2016), has brought new opportunities for English literature teaching in China.
Smart education entitles applications of latest or smart technologies in collaboration with advanced pedagogical practices, tools, and techniques (Kiryakova et al., 2018; Dmitrenko et al., 2023) for the effective delivery of education services (Singh & Miah, 2020). As a new trend, smart education isn’t just about building and applying technology to education, but also about promoting and developing educational concepts which involves both a new understanding of teaching and the extensive and intensive use of information technology. In Education Informatization 2.0 Action Plan issued in 2018, the Chinese Ministry of Education simply proposed to promote the practice of smart education and integrate artificial intelligence into teaching and to drive the creation of new educational concepts, models, teaching content, and methods (Ministry of Education, 2018). In response, educators across the country have adopted interactive technologies and intelligent systems as a means to enhance students’ learning experience. By use of these technologies, teachers can improve learning outcomes by personalizing instruction and providing targeted support to individual students.
In this context, the teaching of English literature in China is undergoing an innovative transformation. In face of the mismatch between traditional teaching methods and the evolving needs of students, this study aims to explore new teaching models of English literature under the framework of smart education by use of technological innovation to provide a deeper, interactive, and personalized learning experience to enhance students’ engagement and understanding of the course. Through empirical research, the effectiveness of this new teaching model will be evaluated, in hopes of providing both theoretical and practical guidance for the future development of English literature education.