The Effects Lesson Study Has On Students' Learning Outcomes In The Fourth-grade Primary English Teaching

The effects lesson study has on teachers'professional development have been widely accepted all around the world ever since it caused universal concern for the first time in 1999. However, does it influence students'learning outcomes through teacher conducting lesson study? Are the effects positive or negative, and to what extent? In order to answer the questions above, this research took a lesson study conducted by three primary forth-grade English teachers in Huangyuan XX Primary School in Xining Qinghai Province as a case. The questions include the followings: This case study examined the effects lesson study had on the learning outcomes of fourth grade primary school students. The research questions were: (1) What effects does lesson study have on students'verbal information in the fourth-grade primary English teaching and to what extent? (2) What effects does lesson study have on students'intellectual skills in the fourth-grade primary English teaching and to what extent? (3) What effects does lesson study have on students'cognitive strategies in the fourth-grade primary English teaching and to what extent? (4) What effects does lesson study have on students'attitudes in the fourth-grade primary English teaching and to what extent? (5) What effects does lesson study have on students'motor skills in the fourth-grade primary English teaching and to what extent?This thesis can be divided into six parts which are introduction, literature review, research methodology, research procedures, data analysis, and summary and discussion. The introduction discusses the background of the research and the construction of the basic research frame based on Gagne's Learning Outcomes, Piaget's theory of cognitive development stages, and primary school students'memory development disciplines and strategies. The literature review summarizes the inherent features of lesson study, its historical development and current status at home and abroad. The last four parts mainly show the procedures of the research, and explore the effects of lesson study on learning outcomes of the fourth grade primary school students. This research used four measures to gather data which consisted of the following: observation, interview, pretest-posttest design with nonequivalent groups and time series analysis. Analysis of the data revealed that:(1) Lesson study has significant positive effects on students'listening, speaking, writing and reading of intellectual skills, vocabulary of verbal information and cognitive strategies in learning outcomes in the fourth-grade primary English teaching.(2) Lesson study has no significant effects on students'pronunciation, grammar, function, and topics of verbal information, attitudes, and motor skills in learning outcomes in the fourth-grade primary English teaching.