A Survey On English Integrated Unit Instructional Design In Middle School Based On Big Ideas

The term Big Idea was first officially put forward in English Curriculum Standard of General Senior High School(2017 Edition),in which the importance of constructing the structured,thematic and contextualized curriculum content based on big ideas of respective subjects is highly emphasized in order to realize the cultivation of subject core competencies.At the same time,integrated units led by themes can be used as vehicles for implementing big ideas.Therefore,integrated unit instructional design based on big ideas has naturally become the trend and heated topic of China’s curriculum teaching reform.However,currently the research of big idea is still in its infancy.And there are few researches on exploring how to conduct overall unit instructional design in English from the perspective of big idea.Due to the lack of such practice cases and surveys,middle school English teachers’ comprehension,attitude and practice of it are still vague.Consequently,this study has important theoretical and practical significance.This study,with referring to pertinent literature,first defined key concepts,clarified theoretical basis and constructed the framework which includes comprehension,attitude and practice.Furthermore,with the help of professional advice offered by teachers and experts,the according questionnaire is formed.236 middle school English teachers were surveyed and 4 of them were selected for later interview.The conclusion drawn by this study show that:(1)Middle school English teachers can basically complete the integrated unit instructional design based on big ideas.(2)Middle school English teachers haven’t fully understood the concept and content of the integrated unit instructional design based on big ideas.(3)Middle school English teachers highly approve the value of the integrated unit instructional design based on big ideas.(4)Some problem still exists when middle school English teachers conduct the integrated unit instructional design based on big ideas.(5)School type and the lack of relevant resources have a huge impact on the situation of middle school teachers’ integrated unit instructional design based on big ideas.Therefore,the study advances the following 5 pieces of advice:(1)Middle school English teachers should strengthen their theoretical study to deepen their understanding of big idea.(2)Teachers should cultivate the holistic view and explore the connection of teaching content.(3)Lesson preparation groups should develop collective lesson preparation so as to improve the communication and collaboration between teachers.(4)Schools should improve their systems to support teachers to do more teaching practice.(5)Teaching and research groups at multiple levels need to work together to develop resources,and enrich examples of such instructional design as references.