A Case Study On English Homework Design In The Junior Middle School Based On Core Competencies

In 2021,the Ministry of Education issued the policy of “double reduction”,proposing to reduce the overweight of students’ homework,incorporate homework design into the teaching and research system,and design high-quality homework in combination with the students’ physical and mental development regulation.In addition,English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022 Edition)emphasizes the core competencies to be cultivated in English curriculum,including linguistic ability,cultural awareness,thinking competence and learning ability,and it advocates that the cultivation of core competencies should be infiltrated into English teaching to further cultivate students’ overall language use abilities.Homework,as an indispensable component of English teaching,plays a crucial role in cultivating students’ core competencies,which can effectively help students consolidate language knowledge and skills,improve linguistic and thinking ability,adapt English learning methods and processes,cultivate good language learning habits,and establish confidence in English learning.Therefore,exploring the junior middle school English teachers’ understanding and practice of homework design is conducive to enriching the research level of homework design,understanding the current situation of homework design by teachers,improving the teaching practice of homework design,and further implementing the core competencies requirements.This thesis is based on multiple intelligence theory and constructivism theory aiming to implement the requirements of core competencies.Three research questions of this study are proposed as follows: First,what is the junior middle school English teachers’ understanding about homework design based on core competencies? Second,how do the junior middle school English teachers implement the requirements of core competencies in homework design? Third,what are the factors influencing the teachers’ application of their beliefs about homework design into their teaching practice? In order to solve the research questions,the author selected four English teachers in C school as the survey participants.Through interview and text analysis,the author investigated the current situation of teachers’ homework design.Through analysis and discussion,the research findings are presented as follows.Firstly,the junior middle school English teachers can realize the importance of implementing the requirements of core competencies in homework design and can explain it in combination with teaching practice,but they have not fully understood the requirements of core competencies and homework design in ECS(2022).Secondly,the junior middle school English teachers can,to a certain extent,implement the requirements of core competencies into homework design.They are guided by core competencies,combining the teaching objectives,teaching content and the actual situation of students to set homework objectives;they combine textbooks and extracurricular resources to present the content of homework in the form of questions and tasks;they design different types and difficulties of homework based on students’ current situation to meet the development level of core competencies of different students;they appropriately use multiple evaluation methods and subjects to give targeted feedback and adjust the teaching and learning process.However,teachers also encounter some difficulties in teaching practice.For example,it is easy to ignore the implementation of cultural awareness requirements,and it is difficult to take into account the development level of all students all the time.Finally,from the four aspects of assessment criterion,teachers,students and external guidance,the factors influencing teachers’ application of their beliefs about homework design in teaching practice are analyzed.In order to better implement the requirements of core competencies and improve the quality of homework design,the author proposed some suggestions.Firstly,teachers need to further study the new curriculum standards and the research about homework design to deepen their understanding about homework design and core competencies.Secondly,teachers can set homework objectives of the whole unit based on the theme and the cultural background of each unit.In addition,teachers can use information technology to arrange homework,such as learning Pad,to understand students’ learning dynamics timely.Finally,teachers need more guidance on relevant theories and homework design practices,such as listening to lectures or participating in studio training.Therefore,in order to design high-quality homework and enable all students to achieve the development of core competencies through English learning,teachers should improve their theoretical knowledge of homework design and constantly reflect on their teaching practice.