An Investigation Into Stratified Activity Design In Mixed English Classes Of Junior High School

Mixed class of junior high school refers to a class where students from different groups study together. It comes into being because of local policy. Computer allocation, which means choosing school for pupils by computer,is an effective way to solve a problem of education equity. However, because of the spread of class-based teaching system,the gap of ability and background between students that is brought by computer allocation becomes nonnegligible in English class and also makes the mixed class appear. Traditional teaching system aims at the development of medium level's students. Thus, underachievers face a problem that is unable to understand the contents while top students don't get enough training. There is serious polarization in a class as time goes by. According to theoretical research and basis done by frontline teachers and scholars,stratified teaching is proposed as a teaching model to replace traditional teaching model. It has developed for over one hundred year and takes its place in the field of education. Meanwhile, stratified activities that are based on it are widely used. However,we still need practical results to prove that it has a good influence on mixed English classes of junior high school.By an experiment that lasts for a year, systemic stratified activity designs are taken in this thesis. Focusing on specific conditions of Quanzhou No.1 High School,teaching objectives, contents of courses, the way of asking questions, giving feedback as well as assigning homework in English classes are prepared and carried out in a way of stratified teaching. Experiment subjects in the thesis are two classes in Grade Eight. One is experimental class while the other is conditional control class. Before the experiment, students in experimental class are divided into three groups according to certain standard. Then teacher uses different contents and methods to teach different groups of students. Traditional teaching methods are still taken in conditional control class. Questionnaire survey, examination performance as well as interview are used to reflect the results in order to know if stratified teaching activities can get better results than traditional teaching do. The results embody in promotion of language skills,language knowledge,attitudes to learning,learning strategies and cultural awareness of most students and reduction of polarization.