A Case Study On The Implementation Of English Optional Courses In Senior High School

In order to promote students’all-round development through the English education, the Ministry of Education of China issued the National English Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools in 2003. The Standards makes it clear that the setting model of English courses is the combination of compulsory courses and optional courses. In the recent year’s English curriculum reform, the core has been the reform of English optional courses. In order to better implement the Standards and carry out the English curriculum reform, in the autumn of 2012, the Education Department of Zhejiang Province issued the Program for Deepening the Curriculum Reform in Senior High School. The categories and credits of the optional courses are elaborated in great detail.Against the background of the requirements of the Standards and the Program, the research is done in a top senior high school in Hangzhou to explore the following three questions:1. What are the beneficial experience and problems in the implementation of English optional courses?2. What can we learn from the beneficial experience in the implementation of English optional courses?3. What measures should be taken to solve the problems in the implementation of English optional courses?This thesis is divided into five parts:Chapter One mainly introduces the background of the study, the significance and questions of the research as well as the whole structure of this thesis.Chapter Two is an overview of some relevant literature. It consists of the structure of English courses and curriculum reform in Zhejiang Province. This chapter also defines some relevant concepts in optional courses, English optional courses and curriculum implementation. In the end, the theoretical basis of English optional courses and the research on the optional courses’implementation abroad and at home are also presented.Chapter Three covers the research design, including the purpose of research, the methods, the subjects and the instruments of research. Moreover, how the data are collected and processed is also presented here.Chapter Four is the data analysis and findings of the study. Some beneficial experience and problems in the implementation of English optional courses are to be discussed and corresponding suggestion are to be put forward in the end.Chapter Five is the whole summary of the thesis. It includes the major findings from this study and some limitations of this study. Also, some tentative suggestions for further study will be put forward.The author studies the implementation of English optional courses in senior high school and finds that it has achieved some good results. The good results are as follows:students have great time and enough freedom to choose the English optional courses; English optional courses are very popular with senior high school students; most students choose the English optional courses according to their interest and needs; the teaching effects are better than the English compulsory courses. But there are still some problems in the implementation of English optional courses. The problems are as follows:some students and teachers pay inadequate attention to the English optional courses compared with the English compulsory courses; the teaching material and teaching method still need to be improved; the assessment method and management of the English optional courses are not desirable. The author puts forward some specific and operational suggestions in the end.