An Experimental Study On Leveled English Homework In Junior High Schools

Homework, an indispensable link in English teaching, is an extension ofclassroom teaching and plays an important part in teaching. Students consolidate whatthey have learnt and improve their abilities to analyze and solve problems by doinghomework. Meanwhile, it is a good means to understand students’ learning states soas to improve their teaching.The traditional homework can be summed up in three major forms: copying,reciting and exercises, which have high operability and let students pass the writtenexaminations easily. However, the shortcomings of these forms of the homeworkcannot be neglected: the contents of the homework are the same for students of alllevels, which neglect students’ individual differences, quick students are not satisfiedwith the knowledge and poor students feel overwhelmed. Besides, the forms of thehomework are single, which ignore fostering students’ capacity for Englishapplication. By doing so, it is certain that students would lose their interests in doinghomework and their passion for learning English.Leveled English homework does not arouse due attention relatively. Aftersummarizing the domestic and overseas relevant literatures of recent years, the authorconducted an experiment in Shijiazhuang Foreign Studies School. The subjects of thisexperiment were randomly chosen in Class Nine, Grade One and the controlled classwas Class Ten and the experiment lasted for three months. The results of thisexperiment were analyzed based on the theory of education in accordance withindividual differences, leveled teaching, Zone of Proximal Development and theTheory of Multiple Intelligences. The thesis mainly talked about three questions:Firstly, it talked about whether leveled English homework have effects on every levelstudents’ English performances in examinations. Secondly, it focused on theinfluences of the different degrees of leveled English homework on different levels ofstudents’ performances in examinations. Thirdly, it emphasized on whether leveledEnglish homework can change students’ negative attitudes towards English homework and English learning.The research takes such instruments as questionnaires, a pre-test and a post-test.Before and after the experiment, both controlled class and experimental class have anexamination as the data of the pre-test and the post-test. Besides, questionnaires weredistributed before the experiment to both of these two classes and after the experimentexperimental class did the same questionnaire again. The results from thequestionnaire and the examination scores are analyzed with SPSS13.0. The resultsshow that leveled English homework has a positive effect on improving students’performances in examinations, especially for high-level students and low-levelstudents. Meanwhile, leveled English homework plays a vital role in changingstudents’ negative attitudes and enhancing their interests in learning English.