The Design And Practice Of English Extracurricular Activities In Junior High School Based On "Community Of Practice"

English Curricular Standards in the Phase of Compulsory Education(2011)advocates students' learning by experiencing,practising,participating,communicating and cooperating,and highlights that language be learned both in and outside the classroom.As Huang says,the main focus of English learning is to supposed to be placed outside of class.Classroom activities are “caged”,and extracurricular activities are “grazing”,which cultivate students' sense of autonomy and cooperation as well as their competence of language use.Besides,extracurricular activities can be utilized to consolidate students' knowledge and improve their proficiency in language skills practised in the classroom.However,due to the pressure of college entrance examinations,many English teachers neglect the importance of extracurricular activities so that some of them have hardly organized any English extracurricular activities.“Community of practice”,which is rooted in Situational Learning Theory,provides an applicable model of social activity design.In the model,the community refers to a group of people who participate in the same social doing and share in the same repertoire of resource.The model emphasizes the process of sharing information and experiences with the members in the same community,in which they can teach and learn from each other.Seeing this,this study is in attempt to investigate the problem of applying“community of practice” to instructing English extracurricular activities.It adopts the method of action research with the instruments of questionnaire and interview involved.The research is centered around the following questions:(1)What is the state of the art of English extracurricular activities in Tianshui Yi-fu Junior High School?(2)How can English extracurricular activities in Junior high school be designed effectively and practised in light of community of practice?(3)What are the effects on students of English extracurricular activities whichare designed based on community of practice?To seek answers to above questions,the researcher carried out an investigation which was composed of two parts: interviewing teachers and conducting questionnaire inquiring among students.It was to probe into the situation of English extracurricular activities in Tianshui Yi-fu Junior High School.It was noted that there were five problems with the current design and practice of English extracurricular activities:(1)Students lack in opportunities of autonomous language practice;(2)The purpose of the activities designed are not clear and the organization is not coherent;(3)The activity design is of little interest,and the result is not satisfying;(4)The contents of the activities are monotonous,which is out of touch with students' real life;(5)There is a lack of teacher's guidance in English extracurricular activities.This study is mainly reflective action research,which is implemented in two rounds of teaching actions,the first round is the stage of exploring and trying,the second round is the stage of adjusting and improving.Based on the action research,it proposes the strategies and procedures of organizing English extracurricular activities.The research shows that English extracurricular activities designed in light of“community of practice” can motivate students' initiative in learning English,especially they can develop students' awareness of social belonging and willingness to immerse themselves into other English learning activities.The activities are useful in enhancing their foreign language learning creativity and autonomy,and they are conducive to the cooperative learning among students.Given on this,a “community of practice” based mode of organizing extracurricular activities is constructed:“preparation stage—theme identification—plan establishing—community cooperation—resources sharing—conclusion—discussion—evaluation.” The research,as it is,aimed at encouraging English teachers to carry out efficient English extracurricular activities and providing them with practical guidance.