A Study On Junior High School English Individualized Homework: Design And Application

Chinese students of junior high schools are burdened with quite a load of English homework, which unfortunately fails to bring desired learning effects. With the development of economy and society, the number of students keeps decreasing and the student-teacher ratio falling, leading the situation in favor of individualized education. The current standard of English curriculum has been advocating individualized education concepts, the practice of which involves individualized English homework design. The study is based on the theory of multi-intelligence, zone of proximal development and "post-method" language teaching. The research methods applied include data studies, the classroom observational method, the comparative research method, case studies and questionnaire surveys. This paper probes into the design and application of individualized English homework in order to change the current situation of English homework, to improve students’ English learning, and to promote students’ personality development.English homework has been in disarray long before, and the individualized education concepts seems reluctant to come into practice. The research on individualized English homework is to some extent divorced from teaching practice. Research samples are mainly based on experienced teachers or experts. This makes the research significant in theory guidance instead of in practice. As a result, inexperienced working teachers can’t expect to use it for reference. Under large-scale class teaching circumstances, these teachers are faced with common problems and difficulties when designing or carrying out individualized English homework.This research makes a comparison and contrast between individualized English homework and traditional one-size-fits-all English homework so as to expose the prominence of individualized English homework. By means of questionnaire surveys and interviews, the major problems with individualized English homework design and carry-out come to light and the solutions then follow a careful sort-out and analysis of these problems. Individualized homework proves practicable in reality, and the problem with how to put it into practice comes next. The first step is to do an individualized diagnosis. Three aspects should be taken into consideration---what to be diagnosed, how to diagnose it and how to deal with the result of diagnosis. The second step is to probe into the design principles and a new design perspective. In view of practicability, autonomy and openness is the principle to stick to. In view of effectiveness, pursuing of truth and tracing of origin is the principle to stick to. After that, a new perspective for the design of individualized English homework is explored—creating opportunities. The third step is to cope with practical difficulty—working out the principle and procedures on carrying out individualized homework under the circumstances of large-scale class teaching. Some homework design cases are established to explain the above-mentioned design principles, perspective, and procedures. There is also an experiment carried out to test the validity of individualized English homework design in practice. This research aims to provide practical references of individualized English homework design and application for teachers who have realized the importance and significance of individualized homework, but get reluctant to put it into teaching practice in view of various factors.