Analysis Of The Textbook Wonders From The Perspective Of The Learning Theory Of Constructivism

A textbook is the carrier of cultural knowledge and human experience.It connects the two aspects which contribute to the main content of teaching and learning,and it is one of the key bases for achieving educational goals.Both the teaching and learning activities are often if not always carried out in use of the teaching materials.In recent years,with the continuous advance of education reform,textbooks have received a lot of attention as a key part of the overall reform package.Therefore,the study of textbooks has important theoretical and practical significance.This study takes the California primary school textbook Wonders as the research object.This set of textbooks are jointly published by the two major educational giants,Macmillan and McGraw-Hill.It is the main textbook used by the California Educational System for classroom instruction and also the world's first core textbook which has been complied on the basis of the latest Common Core State Standards(CCSS).This thesis analyzes this set of textbooks from the perspective of the learning theory of constructivism,which not only aims to bring guide and references to educators in relevant teaching areas,but to bring some inspirations to those in the construction of English textbooks in China.In this thesis,two research questions are to be solved:(1)What characteristics and strengths does Wonders have?(2)What inspirations can Wonders bring to the compilation of domestic primary English textbooks?Based on the related research of textbooks,this thesis analyzes the structure and content of Wonders in combination with the learning theory of constructivism,and summarizes three characteristics of it:innovation,tridimensionality,and integration.The research finds the following results: first,Wonders not only pays attention to the construction of contexts and collaboration and conversation between learners,but theprocess of learners' meaning construction.Second,it represents the basic views of the learning theory of constructivism.Abundant reading contexts and inquiry activities in the textbook require students to give full play to their initiative.Third,Wonders basically meets the needs of the teacher and students in both teaching practice and learning process.The content and setting of this set of textbook is not only convenient for the teacher,but also promotes students' learning.In view of these characteristics of Wonders,this thesis proposes some suggestions on textbook compilation,teachers' use and students' use.