Research On Unit Integrated Instruction In Junior Middle School English Teaching From The Perspective Of Big Ideas

In order to develop students’ key competencies to achieve the goal of cultivating moral education,the English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022 edition)proposes that the English curriculum should construct a holistic and integrated education system from multiple perspectives,including teaching philosophy,objectives,contents,assessment and suggestions,etc.While there are some problems existing in current English teaching,for example,the lack of correlation and cohesion among discourses makes it difficult for students to develop an overall understanding and in-depth cognition of the units;what’s more,a single discourse usually cannot achieve the goal of moral education,and students are often confined to one learning situation,thus unable to activate and transfer what they have learned effectively.Therefore,the implementation of unit integrated instruction is proposed in the English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022 edition),i.e.to implement English teaching according to unit educational goals,re-organize the unit contents,plan a series of activities,implement continuous assessment of the unit.In the teaching process,it is of paramount importance for teachers to guide students to gradually construct deep cognition,attitude and value judgment of the unit theme,namely,Big Ideas.As is known,Big Ideas are central to the curriculum which can serve as the pivotal to organize the unit contents,so that students can learn the unit more effectively.This study is an endeavor to apply unit integrated instruction in junior middle school English teaching from the perspective of Big Ideas,and the three research questions are listed as follows:1.What are the effects of unit integrated instruction based on Big Ideas on improving students’ English autonomous learning ability?2.To what extent can unit integrated instruction based on Big Ideas achieve English discipline moral education goals?3.How to design English teaching activities under the guidance of unit integrated instruction based on Big Ideas?The author conducted a semester-long experimental study on two paralleled classes of Grade Nine at a junior middle school in Zhoushan City,using unit integrated instruction based on Big Ideas in the experimental class and a conventional teaching method in the control class.The research instruments for this study were questionnaires,pre-and post-tests,SPSS26.0 and Excel were utilized to analyze the gathered data.The findings of the research are as follows:1.Unit integrated instruction from the perspective of Big Ideas in junior middle school has a positive impact on students’ autonomous learning abilities.The mean score of the post-test questionnaire of the students in the experimental class is significantly higher than that of the pre-test questionnaire.Specifically,after a semester’s teaching,students are more aware of the teacher’s teaching objectives and requirements;more capable of setting their own learning goals and making learning plans;can effectively use learning strategies and monitor their use of learning strategies;and monitor and assess the English learning process better.In terms of achievements,compared with the traditional teaching process,unit integrated instruction from the perspective of Big Ideas is conducive to improving students’ performance.The experimental class’ s average post-test scores are 14 points higher than the pre-test scores and 10 points higher than the control class’ s,the difference between the two classes is significant.2.Unit integrated instruction from the perspective of Big Ideas is conducive to promoting the educational goal of English curriculum.During a semester of teaching,students can actively participate in various learning activities and complete learning tasks such as mind mapping,writing,product design and role-playing with high quality.Thus,students can develop their language competence,learning ability,thinking quality and cultural awareness in the process and achieve English discipline moral education goals.3.Under the guidance of unit integrated instruction based on Big Ideas,the design of English teaching activities should include the following steps: firstly,analyzing unit materials.Secondly,analyzing students’ learning.Thirdly,based on the above two steps,clarifying Big Ideas including content-related Big Ideas and language-related Big Ideas.Fourthly,designing unit teaching objectives according to unit Big Ideas.Fifth,defining assessment evidence and designing lesson schedules.Finally,determining lesson objectives and designing integrated teaching,learning,assessment activities.