Investigating On 5-E Inquiry-based Teaching Of Senior Two English Reading From The Perspective Of English Key Competencies

In order to adapt to the new challenges of the 21 st century,the “Opinions of the Ministry of Education on Comprehensively Deepening the Curriculum Reform and Implementing the Fundamental Tasks of Morality Education” put forward “key competencies” and point out that key competencies should be combined with specific disciplines and be implemented in the classroom,which is an important part of promoting the deepening development of curriculum reform.The revised Senior High School English Curriculum Standards(to be promulgated)divides English key competencies into four aspects: “language competence”,“cultural character”,“thinking quality” and “learning ability”.Reading class is an essential part of senior high school English teaching and is also a fundamental course for cultivating English key competencies.At present,there are many problems in English reading teaching,which affects the cultivation of key competencies to a certain extent.Through literature review,the author finds that the5-E(Engagement,Exploration,Explanation,Elaboration,Evaluation)inquiry-based teaching mode may offer some help on the cultivation of key competencies.Therefore,from the perspective of the new curriculum standards and English key competencies,based on the theory of constructivism,humanism,and multiple intelligences,this research adopts interview and questionnaire survey to investigate the influence of 5-E inquiry-based teaching on key competencies in senior two English reading classes.Firstly,by reviewing the literature of previous researchers,the author discusses inquiry-based teaching's concept,the current development status in China and in other countries,and application modes including 5-E inquiry-based teaching.At the same time,the author also explains the concepts of competency,key competencies,English key competencies,and its current development in China and in other countries.Then the author aims at answering the following two research questions through interviews and questionnaires:(1)What is the current situation of senior two students' English key competencies? What is the current state of the application of inquiry-based teaching in senior two English classes?(2)Does 5-E inquiry-based teaching have animpact on English key competencies in senior two English reading classes? If yes,in what way does 5-E inquiry-based teaching influence the four dimensions of English key competencies?During the research,the author first conducts a sampling survey among several senior high schools in Kunming to find out the current situation of English key competencies of senior two students in general.The study shows that the current situation is not ideal,especially in terms of “cultural character”,“thinking quality”and “learning ability”.Through the interviews with nine senior two English teachers,it is found that they don't have a deep understanding of inquiry-based teaching,so the general situation of its application is not optimistic.After a semester of teaching experiments,the author analyzes the pre-test,post-test and the interview results of senior two students from two intact classes.The results are as follows:(1)Five-E inquiry-based teaching has significant improvement in the cultivation of “language competence”.The phases of exploration,explanation and evaluation in 5-E have greater impact on language competence improvement.(2)Five-E inquiry-based teaching has significant improvement in the cultivation of “cultural character”.The phases of explanation and elaboration in 5-E have greater impact on cultural character improvement.(3)Five-E inquiry-based teaching has no obvious improvement in the cultivation of “thinking quality”,but the phases of exploration,explanation and evaluation in 5-E have greater impact on “thinking quality”.(4)Five-E inquiry-based teaching has significant improvement in the cultivation of “learning ability”.The phases of engagement,exploration,explanation and evaluation in 5-E have greater impact on learning ability improvement.Finally,based on the research findings,the author proposes some pedagogical suggestions.For example,for the administrators,they should broaden the channels for teachers to learn new ideas.For the teachers,they should pay more attention to the new curriculum standards,update the educational concepts,find multiple ways to understand the inquiry-based teaching mode and adopt a variety of ways to cultivate students' English key competencies.The author also appeals that future research mayinvolve other course types or other inquiry-based teaching modes to study its impact on English key competencies.