A Survey On The Cultivation Of English Core Competencies In Beihai City Senior High Schools’ English Reading

In recent years,the cultivation of students’ English Core Competencies has become a hot topic.The focus of education has changed from ability education to quality education.In 2017,the ministry of education promulgated the English Curriculum Standards for Ordinary Senior High Schools,which put forward the English Core Competencies.This document promotes the reform of English curriculum.In addition,English Core Competencies consist of language competencies,cultural awareness,thinking quality and learning ability,all of which are of great significance.Therefore,teachers should not ignore them in reading teaching.However,in China,there are few studies on English Core Competencies.There are fewer studies on the combination of reading and English Core Competencies.Hence,there are still many problems in the cultivation of students’ English Core Competencies.For example,what is the current situation of reading teaching? What is the current situation of English Core Competencies? What are the problems in reality? And what are the reasons for these problems? We also need to take the initiative to discover these problems and respond to these problems positively.Therefore,in senior high schools’ English reading teaching,it is of far-reaching significance to study the cultivation of English Core Competencies.Therefore,based on the Whole Person Education Theory and Schema Theory,this study summarizes the researches on English Core Competencies at home and abroad.Then,the study adopts questionnaires,interviews and classroom observations to solve the above problems.The study will interview 430 students and 6 teachers in 5senior high schools in Beihai city.This study mainly discusses two problems:1.Based on the English Core Competencies,in senior high schools’ English reading teaching in Beihai city,what are the problems in teaching methods,teaching process,teaching evaluation and students’ evaluation?2.In senior high schools’ English reading teaching in Beihai city,what are the main factors that affect the cultivation of English Core Competencies?Through investigation,the main findings of the researches are as followed.From the perspective of the English Core Competencies,in senior high schools’ English reading teaching,there are some problems in teaching methods,teaching process,teaching evaluation and students’ evaluation.Firstly,as for the teaching methods,teachers’ teaching methods are mainly based on grammar-translation method,which is traditional and is not conducive to the cultivation of students’ core competencies.Secondly,in the teaching process,teachers are the centers.Students rarely have the opportunities to speak English,which is not beneficial to stimulate students’ interest in learning.Thirdly,in the teaching evaluation,the evaluation ways of teachers are relatively simple.Moreover,the parents seldom have the opportunities to participate in the students’ evaluation.In addition,the evaluation criteria are mainly based on grades,which is not conducive to the cultivation of students’ comprehensive ability.Finally,for the evaluation of students,students think that teachers do not supplement relevant background information;students also think that teachers mainly focus on explaining knowledge points.They also ignore students’ learning experience and interest.Generally speaking,in reading class,the present situation of English Core Competencies in senior high schools is not optimistic.The core competencies’ problems of students are the unbalanced development of language ability,cultural consciousness,thinking quality and learning ability.To be specific,teachers pay more attention to language knowledge,they ignore the cultivation of cultural consciousness,thinking quality and learning ability.First of all,with regard to language knowledge,teachers pay attention to the interpretation of language knowledge,such as vocabulary,grammar,sentence patterns and so on;secondly,few teachers create a natural environment for students to use the knowledge that they have learned.Thirdly,concerning cultural awareness,teachers seldom supplement the corresponding cultural background knowledge.They rarely let students compare the similarities and differences between Chinese cultures and foreign cultures,thus,teacher ignores the cultivation of students’ communication awareness and communication ability;fourthly,in the aspect of thinking quality,teachers ignore the development of students’ logical thinking,critical thinking and creative thinking;finally,in the aspect of learning ability,teachers do not pay attention to train students’ self-study ability and cooperative learning ability.In addition,in senior high schools’ English reading teaching in Beihai city,there are many problems in cultivating students’ English Core Competencies.The main factors leading to these problems are teachers,students and evaluation mechanism.The reasons are as follows.(a)Teachers’ understanding of English Core Competencies is not deep enough;(b)Teachers’ traditional teaching concepts and methods do not meet the current teaching objectives and students’ needs;(c)Reading materials are limited to teaching materials,which is difficult to arouse students’ interest.(d)Students’ learning attitude is negative,their learning foundation is weak.(e)The college entrance examination’s evaluation system is too single,which mainly relies on the grades.Based on the research results,from the three dimensions of teachers,education departments and schools,this study puts forward some feasible suggestions.(a)The education department should formulate a scientific and reasonable English evaluation system.Then,the education management department can change the contents of curriculum,courses of the local culture and scenery can be added in the textbooks.(b)Teachers should choose appropriate English reading materials for students,so as to stimulate students’ interest in learning.Teachers should update their teaching concepts and methods in time,and teachers would better design various activities to cultivate students’ English core competencies.(c)Schools should strengthen the training of teachers.