A Study On The Improvement Of Students' Abilities To Learn English Through Extracurricular Worksheets

With the further reform of English teaching in China's primary schools, we are frequently challenged by a lot of innovative ideas and practices in the process of classroom teaching. However, in primary schools, there still exists a sharp contrast between classroom teaching and extracurricular learning. In the class, there are plenty of tasks for students to complete, various activities for students to participate in, and rich materials for students to use, but the extracurricular homework is relatively simple and limited. The situation may be even worse in such families where students lack enough time to complete their homework or they can get little help from their parents. Students may learn well in the class, but the homework they do after class cannot match what they have learned in the class. Based on the relevant studies of primary school English teaching in Qingpu District, this paper seeks to explore the problems in the design and completion of extracurricular homework. Through classroom observations, questionnaires and interviews with teachers, students, and parents, the author suggests that we should make better use of extracurricular worksheets. In the worksheets, students should get exposed to more language input, integrate new knowledge with old information, and have more opportunities to practise the language. Therefore such worksheets play a key role in improving students'learning efficiency and learning competence.This paper begins with the analysis of the National and Shanghai English Curriculum Standards and the importance of cultivating students'learning competence. Learning does not only take place in the classroom. It also entails extracurricular learning outside the classroom. In extracurricular worksheets, students will get exposed to more language input to help them develop their language awareness and language competence. The worksheets will also activate students'existing knowledge, consolidate the newly learnt knowledge, and cultivate positive learning attitudes. In designing such worksheets, teachers'ideas and understanding of English teaching will be greatly challenged, such as how to focus on students'learning process, how to offer students hierarchical guidance, how to better use the textbooks, how to make the worksheets more explicit, etc. In our research, we have noticed the sharp contrast between the expected teaching objectives and the actual effect of homework. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that extracurricular worksheets should be used to bridge the gap between them. This paper has also highlighted the procedures of how to design pre-class and after-class worksheets according to expected teaching objectives, including the expected teaching effects, the principles and procedures of implementation, and the feedback, etc. Furthermore, analyses are also given with detailed explanations and case studies on how to design and apply extracurricular worksheets in terms of students of different levels and characteristics.Finally, this paper comes to the conclusion that the use of extracurricular worksheets will have great impacts on teachers, students and the parents. By using extracurricular worksheets, teachers will have a better understanding of primary English teaching and learning, such as the student-centered teaching principle and the idea to promote teaching by learning, etc. Students will get more exposure to English and more opportunities to practise and use English. Meanwhile, the parents will get to know more about their children's learning; so that they may offer better supervision and more directed help..