Experiment Research On Multi-level English Teaching In Senior High Schools

Most classes in senior high schools in China consist of a large number of students ranging from more than 40 to even nearly 100 students. Yet, in such big English classes, teachers only design same tasks for all the students. Teachers ask students to reach same learning goals and fulfill same tasks at the same time. In fact, in high schools, after at least three or more years' learning of English, the students of the same class are at different levels of English proficiency. In the class where the teacher assigns same tasks to all the students, the top students often find it so easy to finish the tasks that they think the teacher's teaching is not helpful and therefore lose their interest in English learning. On the other hand, the weaker learners feel frustrated facing the tasks and get less confident. Both of the top and weaker learners lose their motivation in English learning, and become inactive in English learning. So the researcher assumed that students would be more successful if the teachers designed the tasks with different level of difficulty to fit the students at different English proficiency levels.Many educationalists have paid great attention to the students' difference in the current learning proficiency, which provides the related theories for the researcher.The researcher got approval from these students in advance and guided the students to divide themselves into three groups (The groups were called level A, B, and C respectively) according to students' current levels of English proficiency. The results were not announced in public and were adjusted with the students' changing levels of their English proficiency. Both in and after English class, the teacher tried to design different tasks to fit the three level groups respectively.The researcher found that when the tasks of different level of difficulty fit the students at different English proficiency levels, it worked well in stimulating the students to learn more in promoting them to participate more actively in their English Learning. Especially the previously top and weaker students have benefited more from the study.