A Research On The Effectiveness Of Design And Evaluation Of English Homework In Senior School

The National English Curriculum points out that the general goal of English curriculum for senior school is to foster the students’ comprehensive abilities in language using, which is based on the overall development of five aspects, including language skills, language knowledge, emotional attitudes, learning strategies and cultural awareness. In order to meet these demands, senior school English curriculum should be designed in accordance with the characteristics of the students’cognitive development and the requirements of their academic development. English homework is not only the extension of classroom teaching, but also an indispensable part of English curriculum resources. However, the effectiveness of English homework seems to have failed to draw sufficient attention, especially in design and evaluation.This thesis is about an action research which aimed to explore the effective English homework design and evaluation in senior school. Based on relevant theories, the researcher intended to find out the approaches and strategies that can make the English homework design and evaluation effective, so as to improve the effectiveness of English homework for senior school students. There are mainly four research questions:(1) What kind of English homework is effective for senior school students?(2) What are the principles or standards to design effective English homework in senior school?(3) What are the effective strategies or methods to design English homework for senior school students?(4) How to evaluate the senior school students’ English homework?In order to address all the questions above, the researcher used several kinds of instruments to collect data, including questionnaire survey among the students and two interviews with the chosen teacher. Moreover, the researcher integrated qualitative and quantitative methods to deal with the questionnaires and interviews. And the software SPSS 19.0 was adopted to analyze the research data from pre-test and post-test for the experimental class and control class.The research results showed that effective English homework could benefit both the students and the teachers. On one hand, effective English homework design and evaluation could improve the students’ performance in English learning, which could be judged form their examination scores and their motivation to do homework. And on the other hand, effective English homework design and evaluation could enhance the teachers’ self-efficacy which could be judged by the teacher’s passion in teaching. Practical suggestions for English teachers to improve the effectiveness of English homework were also identified:(1) selecting the homework content related to the students’ real life and their interest, (2) richening the homework type to practice the students’ different skills, (3) controlling the amount and difficulty of homework so that the students could gain senses of achievement, (4) assigning different kinds of homework for students based on their levels and (5) evaluating the students’homework in flexible and various ways, such as making the students involved.