The Application Of Backward Design In The Theme-based Chinese Language Teaching At Thai Middle School

Theme-based teaching aims to encourage students to learn through meaningful activities,which can effectively stimulate students' interest in learning and make teaching more effective,thus gaining the favor of many Chinese language teachers.However,every teaching mode has its own target audience and teaching environment.In the case of Chinese language teaching in Thai middle schools,the application of theme-based teaching has been considered as "high in consumption and low in efficiency" because of teachers,students and the teaching environment.Backward design is an outcome-oriented instructional design,which belongs to the thinking of effective curriculum instruction and provides a planning process and framework to guide curriculum,assessment and instructional design.Moreover,it is an inspiring model for exploring effective teaching and learning as well as for thinking about and finding pathways for transforming teachers' teaching behaviors.In this study,we seek to optimize the thematic approach to teaching Chinese in Thai middle schools by using backward design to improve the effectiveness of teaching Chinese.Firstly,the study investigates the theoretical similarities and dissimilarities between backward design and theme-based teaching,and identifies the feasibility of using them together.Secondly,it analyzes the current situation and problems of theme-based teaching in Thailand,and identifies the reasons behind the problems,such as teachers,students and teaching environment.Furthermore,it analyses the feasibility and teaching strategies of applying backward design to theme-based teaching in Thailand.In addition,it analyzes the feasibility and teaching strategies of the application of backward design in Thai middle school Chinese classrooms.Lastly,by means of a comparative analysis,an evaluation of the effectiveness of the teaching practice conducted by the author in Thailand is presented.According to the evaluation,after the introduction of the backward design into Thai middle school Chinese theme-based classrooms,the teachers' teaching design ability,students' willingness to speak Chinese actively and their Chinese output ability were strengthened,the effective classroom time was also increased and the teaching effect was significantly improved.As a result of the study,it was concluded as follows:(1)Backward design and theme-based teaching are theoretically feasible to use in conjunction with each other.In terms of teaching philosophies,they both emphasize student agency,meaningful learning,and the use of diverse assessment methods to measure student learning.However,backward design can effectively compensate for the lack of standards in the selection of content and the design of activities in theme-based teaching.(2)Backward design can effectively compensate for the shortcomings of theme-based teaching in Thai middle schools and optimize the design of theme-based teaching,thereby improving its effectiveness in the classroom.The major features are as follows: Focus on the core tasks can improve the effectiveness of theme-based teaching.Quantitative assessment can facilitate the effective implementation of thematic activities.Consistency between objectives,assessment and teaching is the fundamental guarantee for the achievement of theme-based teaching objectives.Clear objectives can enhance the systemic nature of theme-based teaching.(3)Interpretation of curriculum standards and the development of classroom assessment methods by teachers are the key factors which influence backward design.