ABSTRACT
Since 1970s, the concept of humanism, as well as humanistic approach, has gained attention from people at home and abroad. Hamachek (1977: 149) believes that “humanistic education starts with the idea that students are dierent, and it strives to help students become more like themselves and less like each other.” Williams and Burden (1991: 38) summarize a number of humanistic messages for the language teacher, like creating a sense of belonging, involving the whole person, developing personal identity, encouraging creativity, developing knowledge of the process of learning, allowing for choice, etc. In China, some scholars emphasize the importance of humanistic quality in the English major. He (2004) holds that the features of English major lie in the fact that students majoring in English should not only have a higher proficiency in language than non-English major students, but also have stronger humanistic qualities than common English learners. Hu and Sun (2006) analyze the disadvantages in foreign education: just because humanistic education only makes up a lower percentage in the whole education, foreign language major students are weak in humanistic foundation and critical thinking, and have a superficial understanding of western culture and Chinese culture. Therefore, English education should revert to humanistic education, focusing on the training of talents by general humanistic quality-based education.
