A Study Of Thematic Meaning-Based Unit Teaching Design In Junior High School English Class

Thematic meaning-based unit teaching design is a holistic design of teaching objectives,teaching activities,and teaching assessment directed by the unit thematic meaning to solve the current problems of fragmentation and superficiality of English teaching.The English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022Edition)points out that the teaching content should be guided by thematic meaning and the teaching content is organized in the form of units.Scholars at home and abroad have conducted a variety of theoretical studies on thematic meaning-based unit teaching,lacking studies on the current situation of the design and implementation of English unit teaching.Therefore,based on the Constructivism,Theory of multiple intelligence,Gestalt psychology,and Big ideas,this study aims to investigate the following questions: 1)What is the current situation of English teachers’ perception and implementation of thematic meaning-based unit teaching in junior high schools? 2)How do junior high school English teachers implement thematic meaning-based unit teaching? 3)What problems are there in designing,implementing,and assessing thematic meaning-based unit teaching?Based on 308 valid questionnaires and the analysis of classroom observations and interviews with four English teachers in a junior high school in Weifang,the results of the study are as follows: 1)The results from the questionnaire survey show that junior high school English teachers’ perception of thematic meaning-based unit teaching is much better than the current state of the implementation of unit teaching.To be specific,teachers’ perception and implementation level is significantly different in the school location,i.e.,those who teach in urban areas are significantly higher than those in rural and joint areas.2)Through classroom observations and interviews,it was found that teachers’ implementation of the unit teaching consisted of four key steps,such as refining the meaning of the unit theme,determining the unit teaching objectives,implementing the unit learning activities,and implementing the unit assessment.3)·Some problems existing in thematic meaning-based unit teaching are superficial thematic meaning exploration,confusion between unit and lesson objectives,fragmented and unconnected learning activities,and simplistic unit assessment.In response to the existing problems above,the following suggestions are presented: 1)Refining and decomposing the unit thematic meaning through exploring connections;2)Determining hierarchical unit objectives and lesson objectives based on the theme;3)Designing integrated and connected learning activities that point to the teaching objectives;4)Evaluating the unit learning effectiveness in relation to the objectives.This study has limitations such as its short duration and small sample,but it is instructive for junior high school English teachers’ design and practice of thematic meaning-based unit teaching.