Manifestations, Harm And Causes Of Ineffective Chinese Homework In Primary Schools & Strategies For Effective Homework

Homework serves as an effective means of strengthening and digesting what is learned. In the meantime, it forms the best medium to develop skills in a pupil and to enhance accomplishments. With the surge of great enthusiasm for curriculum reform, teachers in general are making unprecedented innovations in classroom teaching. As a result, fresh and new instructional formats are emerging one after another. But on the other hand, homework design, one of the elements in teaching, is ignored more often than not. The following problems are perceived quite frequently in a teacher's assigning homework:a. stress is especially laid on doing of exercises while application of knowledge is not paid due attention to; b. Emphasis is mostly put on the results of the exercises but the process of thinking is left behind; c. Focus is greatly set on a unified practice, yet practices of various levels are put aside. As a famous saying states that there exists a confine for the effectives of teaching while no limit for that of practice, effective homework acts as an active method for pupil-teacher communication and an essential approach for a pupil to have a sound command of knowledge, to develop skills and to cultivate capacity. In order to promote curriculum reform and to enforce quality-oriented teaching of the Chinese language, it is necessary to reform traditional Chinese homework so that homework would serve to raise the development, creativity and practical ability of a pupil. With homework, pupils are led to family, society and life; then homework would be a guide to enrich a pupil's life, which could strongly demonstrate the validity and value of Chinese homework. The functions of homework shall fall into the following three aspects:a. reinforcing and examining; b. deepening and promoting; c. experiencing and developing. Homework reform in the new curriculum has been the process of creating a curriculum culture, the life process of pupils' self-building of knowledge and personal life and the process of pupil's deepening of a teacher's teaching. The Chinese language permeates throughout society and life as well. And Chinese is the subject which can be most pleasantly in some relation to social life. Therefore, in design, homework is required to be closed relevant to practice of the Chinese language and actual application, with which the pupils are learning and using Chinese under multiple practices to forge both the character and talent.