A Study On The Junior Middle School English Homework Design Based On The English Key Competencies

The English key competencies,covering four aspects: language competence,cultural character,thinking quality and learning ability,aim for enhancing students' awareness of lifelong learning and improving the overall qualities of individuals so that they can better adapt to social development.In recent years,with the implementation of the English key competencies,the cultivation and development of students' overall competencies have been emphasized.The innovation of teaching concepts not only plays a significant role in the development of English teaching practice,but also affects all parts of teaching activities.Homework,as an important part of the teaching activities,is the essential way to internalize students' fundamental knowledge and consolidate their basic skills.Besides,it is an important tool for teachers to know well of the students,find problems and solve them timely.Moreover,homework is a bridge to connect parents with children,parents with the school.Therefore,it is essential to attach importance to the junior middle school English homework design based on the English key competencies.Based on the study of theory and practice of English homework design,the author explores how to improve and perfect homework design in the context of the English key competences.The study takes 103 students and 7 teachers as research participants in Linyi City,Shandong Province,analyzes the current junior middle school homework design through literature analysis,questionnaires and interviews.The main research questions are:(1)What is the current status of junior middle school English homework design? And what are the problems in the junior middle school English homework design?(2)To solve the problems,how should teachers design junior middle schoolEnglish homework that meets the needs of the English key competencies?Through the analysis of the questionnaires and interviews,the results show that there are still many problems in the current junior middle school English homeworkdesign.Firstly,in terms of homework type,it is too simple and lacks flexibility,in the meanwhile,homework is still based on supplementary materials.Secondly,in terms of content,it is not rich and creative enough to relate to students' real life.Thirdly,the overburdening amount of homework should arouse people's attention,because it is not conducive to the students' development.In view of the above problems,the author proposes that teachers should comprehensively consider all kinds of factors.Under the guidance of the English key competencies,the Multiple Intelligence theory and Constructive theory,different types of homework can meet the needs of students' different abilities.It is of necessity to design two types of homework — accumulation homework and skill training homework to cultivate students' language competence.Based on the students' learning ability,the author presents two types of homework design — self-designed homework and layered homework to foster students' ability of self-motivated studying.From the perspective of the cultivation of creative thinking quality,much importance should be attached to these two types of homework design: think-training homework and knowledge-exploring homework.As for the cultivation of students' cultural character,the significance of mutual cooperation homework and practical application homework should be highlighted in order to give students a more full-fledged development.At the same time,for the homework design,the author also gives pertinent suggestions,hoping to have certain reference value for the future English teaching and its follow-up research.