An Action Research On Junior Middle School English Review Course From The Perspective Of Big Ideas

Teaching on thematic group text reading from the perspective of the Big Ideas refers to the process where teachers guide students to analyze multiple texts and answer questions in order to have a cohesive understanding of the central theme and language concepts.Project English,a currently used English textbook published by Educational Science Publishing House,includes one thematic reading text in Section C and another in Section D.This particular feature,as a complement to the main text,helps to enhance students’ understanding of the theme and develop their reading ability and sentence writing skills.However,these texts are few in number and inadequate in relevance.Furthermore,the texts for each theme are outdated in content and lack logical coherence.They fail to fully demonstrate the integration of language and culture,leaving students unable to effectively construct their own language systems and expand their thinking capabilities.It could then be concluded that there are problems regarding the middle school English thematic reading review class,such as monotonous teaching approaches,incoherent teaching processes,and fragmented teaching content.From the perspective of the Big Ideas,this study adopts the constructivism theory,the concept of English learning activity,and the thematic group text reading model as its framework.To conduct a comprehensive study on the English thematic group text reading review class in middle schools,a thorough approach was employed.This includes three rounds of action research,analysis of pre-and post-test data from advanced and control classes,and in-depth interviews with students and teachers by using the methods of questionnaire surveys,action research,and interviewing.The aim of the study is to address three key questions,namely(1)What factors influence the effectiveness of teaching English thematic group text reading review lessons in middle schools?(2)How can a middle school English thematic group text reading review lesson be designed based on the Big Ideas?(3)What impact does such a design have on students’ core competencies?The findings of the study indicate that several key factors have an influence on the optimization of teaching effectiveness regarding the middle school English thematic group text reading review class.These factors are the selection of thematic group texts for reading,the design and creation of teaching sessions and activities for the review class,the cultivation of teachers’ professionalism,and the exercise of students’ initiative.From the perspective of the Big Ideas,such class enables students to enhance their ability to construct and connect information and structures across texts.It encourages students to utilize and apply reading skills in a more rational and efficient way,while also advancing the development of students’ thinking from lower-order to higher-order levels.This study provides suggestions for teaching thematic group text reading.For educators in the classroom,it is recommended to follow the curriculum standard,make informed choices regarding teaching materials,and thoroughly explore group texts aligned with the curriculum standard;they are also advised to be competency-oriented and adopt a holistic approach when designing the reading session,and to advance interdisciplinary integration by integrating learning and practical applications.For researchers studying English group text reading tests,it is recommended to consider students’ reality and clarify the goal of each test;they are also advised to take individual differences into account and diversify test designs.Moreover,they should follow both domestic and international topics and focus on the development of core competency.As for English learners,it is important to build a solid vocabulary foundation and develop a discerning approach to vocabulary quality.Supported by reading skills,they should cultivate an awareness of lifetime reading.Furthermore,learners should engage in collaborative learning and evaluation and establish a view of self-evaluation.The limitation of this study is that it focuses solely on the thematic group text reading review class model for action research and paradigm development,without conducting a comparative study involving multiple models.Moving forward,the teaching steps for the thematic group text reading review lesson type may be adjusted to foster the development of students’ multiple intelligences.Furthermore,explorations will be made on other review lesson types to conduct research on designing and creating thematic contexts and the concept of English learning activity from the perspective of the Big Ideas.