A Case Study On Junior High School English Teachers’ Perceptions And Practice About The Cultivation Of Students’ International Understanding Literacy

In 2010,the Chinese government released the Outline of the National Mediumand Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan(2010-2020),stating that education for international understanding should be deepened to promote intercultural communication and improve students’ knowledge and understanding of different countries and cultures.And Core Literacy for Chinese Students’ Development(2016)emphasized that international understanding was included in the core literacy of students.In 2022,the English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022Edition)clarified the importance of cultivating students’ international understanding awareness and international visions.In this sense,it is of vital importance to promote the cultivation of students’ international understanding literacy in English teaching,which puts forward new requirements for junior high school English teachers.At present,the research on international understanding literacy home and abroad is not enough,and there are still problems in English teachers’ perceptions about international understanding literacy and their cultivation of students’ international understanding literacy in classroom,and the relationship between English teachers’ perceptions and practice with the influencing factors remain unclear.Based on this,this study aims to answer the three questions: First,what are the perceptions of junior high school English teachers about the cultivation of students’ international understanding literacy in English teaching? Second,what is the relationship between junior high school English teachers’ perceptions about the cultivation of students’ international understanding literacy in English teaching and their teaching practice? Third,what are the factors that influence the relationship between junior high school English teachers’ perceptions and their teaching practice? Therefore,based on the intercultural communication theory and triadic reciprocal determinism,with the three aspects of knowledge,attitude and behavior,this thesis conducts a case study on five junior high school English teachers through interview,classroom observation and stimulated recall interview.This study analyzes English teachers’ perceptions about the cultivation of students’ international understanding literacy,the relationship between English teachers’ perceptions and teaching practice,as well as the influencing factors to the relationship,and puts forward relevant suggestions.The research indicates that: Firstly,English teachers’ perceptions about international understanding literacy are relatively positive.In addition,they are in favor of transmitting international understanding knowledge to students,guiding students’ patriotism,the open and inclusive minds to cultural differences,and the awareness of world peace and global responsibility.Moreover,they agree to develop students’ ability of intercultural communication and the ability to adapt to different cultural environments.Finally,with the awareness of strategies about the cultivation of students’ international understanding literacy,they realize the importance of multimedia application,context construction and the way of comparison and association in teaching.Through interview and classroom observation,the relationship between teachers’ perceptions and teaching practice includes consistency and inconsistency.In terms of consistency,teachers’ accumulation of cultural knowledge home and abroad,their own experiences and interests,personal patriotic feelings,proficiency of multimedia and the preference for comparison and association affect their teaching practice.In terms of inconsistency,teachers are inconsistent from the aspects of knowledge,attitude and behavior respectively.According to the stimulated recall interview and the dimensions from the triadic reciprocal determinism,the author finds that the factors leading to the inconsistency between teachers’ perceptions and practice are factors inside and outside the classroom.As to the factors outside the classroom,heavy teaching tasks and the lack of standards and systems of international understanding literacy are included.As to the factors inside the classroom,teachers’ unsystematic understanding of international understanding literacy and restricting factors during teaching are involved.To promote teachers’ international understanding literacy teaching in English classroom,the author gives the following suggestions: Firstly,English teachers need to improve their professional international understanding literacy with systematic learning,aiming at the cultivation of students’ international understanding literacy.Secondly,English teachers and school teaching teams can develop school-based courses related to international understanding literacy or interpret international understanding contents in textbooks.Finally,the implementation and evaluation systems of international understanding literacy should be developed providing specific modes and cases for English teachers to carry out international understanding teaching.