Re-development Of Appreciating Literature In Module 8, Advance With English

This thesis is concerned with the re-development of the reading text Appreciating Literature in Unit 1, Module 8, Advance with English, published by Yilin Press. The theoretical foundations of the study are the input hypothesis and constructivism. The study is significant in three aspects: helping teachers improve their teaching effectiveness; helping teachers narrow the gap between the teaching theories and practice; and helping teachers promote their professional development.Before the implementation of the re-development of Appreciating Literature, its major elements are analyzed, which includes the learners, the New English Curriculum Standard, the text Appreciating Literature, and the objectives of re-developing Appreciating Literature. The learners in this study are arts students in Grade Two at High School Affiliated to Yangzhou University. As students in a top high school in Yangzhou, they have a more solid foundation of English than the students from ordinary high schools. Moreover, most of the learners in the study are better at English and more interested in English than the science students. Studying in a top high school in Yangzhou, the learners in this study all hope to succeed in the coming College Entrance Examination and enter a good university.According to The New English Curriculum Standard, in language skills, the students in Grade Two should be able to understand the theme of the text as well as the aim(s) of the author and accumulate 250,000words of extracurricular reading. In language knowledge, the students are required to make their pronunciation and intonation natural, and fluent, and it is required that the students be ale to use about 2200 words and 300-400 phrases. Moreover, the students should be capable of using appropriate language to describe and express opinions, attitudes and emotions. The students should also be able to use proper and decent language in daily interpersonal communication. In affection and attitude, the students should keep the wish and interest in learning English and participate actively in the activities that are helpful for improve English abilities.The text Appreciating Literature is analyzed in terms of language, content, and language skill development. Based on the text analysis, the author identifies some shortcomings of the text and makes clear the objectives of re-developing Appreciating Literature:to make its language more concise, to make its content more abundant, and to make the text more helpful in developing their integrated language skills.The re-development of Appreciating Literature is made up of five steps. Step 1:deletion of part of the introduction to classic literature; Step 2:deletion of part of the introduction to Charles Dickens; Step 3:modification of the introduction part of Appreciating Literature; Step 4: addition of two extracts from the book Great Expectations to the text; and Step 5:addition of the movie clips from Great Expectations to the text. The first two steps are meant to make the language of the text more concise and the focus of "appreciating literature" clearer. Step 3 is taken to make the introduction to the topic of classic literature and the introduction to Charles Dickens more natural and coherent. Step 4 is intended to make students appreciate Great Expectations a little more, like the description of the environment at the beginning of the story and the dialogue between the two main characters Pip and Estella at the end of the story. Step 5 aims to arouse their interest and improve their pronunciation and intonation by dubbing the movie clips in groups.There are three limitations in the study. Firstly, the re-development of Appreciating Literature is text-specific, which cannot be generalized to other cases. Secondly, the techniques and resources utilized in the re-development of Appreciating Literature are not diverse enough. Thirdly, as a pre-service teacher, the author does not have enough English teaching experience, which cannot guarantee that the textbook re-development is 100% reasonable. In order to know more clearly about the advantages and disadvantages of the study, the author puts the redevelopment process of Appreciating Literature into practice in Class Five, Grade Two at High School Affiliated to Yangzhou University and conducts some interviews with an English teacher and three students at High School Affiliated to Yangzhou University, as well as my supervisor Professor Zhou. Some recommendations for teachers’re-development of textbooks are made based on the limitations in the study. First, establishing an updated view of English curriculum and textbooks; second, developing an accurate understanding of the New English Curriculum Standard; third, analyzing and understanding students’characteristics and needs; fourth, using the techniques of re-developing textbooks flexibly; fourth, using the techniques of redeveloping textbooks flexibly; fifth, utilizing various teaching resources to help develop the students’comprehensive language ability. In addition, the author also makes some recommendations for future researchers of the redevelopment of textbooks. First, including more cases in the studies on the re-development of textbooks; second, using more diverse techniques and curriculum resources in their studies on the re-development of textbooks according to the content of their studies and the teaching needs; third, accumulating more English teaching experience.