A Study Of The Design And Implementation Of Stratified Homework In English Writing Teaching For Junior Middle School Students

Writing is an important skill of language competence and accounts for a large proportion in the Senior High School Entrance Examination.According to the research,junior middle school students in the the traditional teaching mode have relatively weak writing ability and passive writing attitude.They do not effectively use writing strategies,and product unqualified writing assignments.In order to improve the current situation of junior middle school students’ English writing homework,the author carries out the action research of the design and implementation of stratified homework in practical teaching,so as to explore more effective forms of English writing homework.Stratified homework is an extension of stratified teaching.The prototype of stratified teaching was the “Activity System” put forward in 1868 by the American educator Harris,W.T.in St.Louis.In China,the origin of the thought can be traced back to the educational proposition of Confucius on “teaching students according to their aptitude” in the Spring and Autumn Period(Ye Lin,2003).At present,based on the “Zone of Proximal Development”,Constructivism and “Mastery of Learning” theory,stratified teaching adapts to and satisfies the needs of students with different learning abilities through the stratification of students,teaching objectives,teaching activities,homework and evaluation,which also reflects the idea ofCompulsory Education English Curriculum Standards(2011)in China which advocates that English curriculum should be oriented to all students and reflects student-centeredness.The whole students should also be considered into the teaching design.Scholars and educators have done a lot of research on stratified teaching.Stratified homework is a part of stratified teaching.But by contrasted,the research of homework is less.Through interviews with teachers in a middle school,the author finds that teachers often have little diversity in the forms of writing homework,a large dependence on existing supplementary materials,and no stratification of homework.Almost all students indicate that they are not satisfied with the current writing homework according to the results of the conducted questionnaires.Therefore,this thesis starts with the current situation of students’ writing homework,selects 50 junior students in Chengdu as the research participants,and adopts two rounds of action research to explore the stratified homework in the second semester of seventh grade,to investigate effects of stratified homework on the writing ability of junior middle school students.Based on the research results,the author concludes that the implementation of stratified homework in English writing for junior middle school students is beneficial to improving students’ writing ability,attitudes and strategies.The research has shown that stratified homework help students at different levels to obtain practical opportunities that are appropriate to their current situation,which provides space and possibility for them to make progress.Through the design and implementation of stratified homework,students at different levels can complete the writing homework consistent with their abilities,so consequently their writing abilities have been relatively improved.At the same time,the stratified homework is adapted to the students’ ability level,which makes students’ writing attitudes significantly change,and students’ motivation,self-confidence,and interest of writing increase.The research has also shown that the implementation of stratified homework helps students apply their writing strategies scientifically,and further improves their writing skills.These show that the action research of stratified homework in English writing for junior middle students on the 50 The author hopes that this research have certain reference significance for teachers to design and implement stratified homework in English teaching.Meanwhile,the author finds the phenomenon of grade differentiation is more serious than before.Therefore,how to make adjustments in it is the key issue that teachers should study and solve in the further research.