1. Introduction

The importance of the curriculum system in education was introduced, emphasizing its role as a key to achieving educational goals and ensuring teaching quality. According to the National Standard, the curriculum system for foreign language majors consists of five parts: general education courses, core courses, training direction courses, practical teaching activities, and graduation thesis. The general education curriculum aims to build a basic knowledge system and enhance comprehensive qualities; The professional core courses aim to master the core knowledge system and professional abilities; The training direction courses provide disciplinary context and undertake characteristic and personalized training tasks; Practical teaching activities promote students' comprehensive development; The graduation thesis tests students' ability to apply knowledge comprehensively to solve problems. These parts together form a complete system to achieve talent development goals.

The significance of setting training direction courses

The training direction courses are crucial in foreign language and literature majors. They not only comprehensively cover the subject knowledge foundation, such as foreign linguistics, literature, and national and regional studies, but also meet the quality, knowledge, and ability requirements of the National Standards for talent cultivation. This curriculum emphasizes the systematic construction of language skills and professional knowledge, promotes ability development, breaks through the limitations of traditional foreign language teaching, and emphasizes the cultivation of critical thinking, innovation, and cross-cultural communication skills. Although the National Standards and Guidelines provide course schedules, they do not provide specific guidance on curriculum design. Therefore, exploring the principles of curriculum design is of practical significance for the development of foreign language majors in various universities.

3. Principles for Setting Training Direction Courses

In depth exploration was conducted on the principles of curriculum design for undergraduate programs in foreign language and literature, emphasizing the multidimensional consideration and comprehensive integration of curriculum design. The article first cites Thornbury's viewpoint, pointing out that curriculum design should consider decision-making at four levels: course objectives, content, teaching methods, and evaluation. Subsequently, Dong Manxia's four principles of curriculum design from an ecological perspective - integrity, sustainable development, openness, and dynamic balance - were used to guide the healthy development of English curriculum. The article also integrates the viewpoints of other scholars, such as principles of goal consistency, classicization of content selection, unity of instrumentality and humanity, and dynamic openness of structure.

4. Case studies on curriculum design for training direction

The "2021 Edition of the English Major Training Program" of the School of English at Beijing Foreign Studies University showcases curriculum offerings in four directions: English literature, linguistics and applied linguistics, social and cultural studies, and national and regional studies. Students are required to take 7 compulsory courses and 7 elective courses, all taught in English. Students choose compulsory courses in two directions starting from the second semester of first grade, and choose one direction for in-depth learning in second grade. Compared to the 2016 version, the 2021 version has reduced the number of required courses, added elective courses, and adjusted course directions to meet national strategic needs. The curriculum maintains the characteristics of interdisciplinary, deep integration, and classic teaching content, aiming to cultivate compound talents with patriotism, global vision, and professional abilities.

5. Conclusion

Four basic principles are proposed to optimize the curriculum setting of the undergraduate training direction of foreign language and literature majors, including the consistency of the curriculum objectives, the integration of the curriculum structure, the systematic classic dynamic openness of content selection, and the coordinated development of the language ability, cross-cultural thinking ability and discipline awareness of the teaching model, aiming to promote the high-quality development of talent training and promote the local innovation of the curriculum knowledge system.