Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Research Background
1.1.1 The Requirements of the New Curriculum Standard
In the 2017 edition of The Compulsory Education English Curriculum Standard formulated by the Ministry of Education, the nature of the course is described as follows: “The English curriculum in the compulsory education stage has the dual nature of instrumentality and humanism. As far as instrumentality is concerned, English curriculum undertakes the task of cultivating students’ basic English literacy and developing students’ thinking ability, that is, students need to master basic English language knowledge and develop basic English listening, speaking, reading and writing skills through English courses. Students should initially form the ability to communicate with others in English and the development of thinking ability should be further promoted, which can lay the foundation for the future to continue to learn English and learn other relevant scientific and cultural knowledge in English”. And the goal for junior high school students is that students should be educated to be able to cooperate with others, solve problems, report results, complete the learning task together, evaluate their own learning, summarize the learning methods and use a variety of educational resources for learning. Thus it can be seen that paying attention to the cultivation of students’ thinking quality and learning ability should be the important goal of current education. Otherwise, quality education can only be an empty talk, and the inefficient practices which mainly rely on too much mechanical repeated training in English evaluation lessons can never train the talents needed by the society.
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1.2 Significance of the Research
A lot of research has shown that the important function of thinking visualization technology is to turn implicit, fuzzy and scattered “knowledge points” into explicit, clear and systematic “knowledge network”. So theoretically speaking, if a feasible way to apply thinking visualization to English exercises evaluation lessons in junior high schools can be found out, it is bound to be helpful to develop students’ thinking ability and improve students’ problem-solving ability. And this is in agreement with the 2017 edition of The Compulsory Education English Curriculum Standard formulated by the Ministry of Education. And it is clearly mentioned that the goal for junior high school students is “to be able to cooperate with others, solve problems and report results, complete the learning task together, evaluate their own learning, summarize the learning methods and use a variety of educational resources for learning”. Thus it can be seen that paying attention to the cultivation of students’ thinking quality and learning ability should be of great importance to current education. Otherwise, quality education or developing students’ English core competencies can only be an empty talk.
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Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Major Concepts
2.1.1 Thinking Visualization
Firstly, thinking visualization refers to the process of presenting the original invisible thinking structure, thinking path and method in the way of diagram or graphic combination, so that it can be clearly seen. Popularly speaking, it is the process of “drawing” the thinking in the brain(Z.Y. Liu 5). Because the brain is very sensitive to drawings or maps, visualized thinking is easier to understand and remember. Thinking visualization makes use of this nature of the brain to realize the transmission of thinking information and the improvement of processing efficiency.
The graphic technology of thinking visualization mainly includes two types: one is the graphic method of thinking map, model diagram, flow chart, concept diagram, fishbone diagram, problem tree and so on, and the other is the software that generates the diagram. The main ones are Mindmanager, Mindmapper, Xmind, Inmindmap, FreeMind, Dropmind and so on.
In this thesis, taking the specific situation of junior high school students into consideration, the author first used software to make a simple model and then let the students imitate in the form of manual drawing. Besides, students can also create some other visual ways to show how they think with the help of their imagination on condition that it is reasonable and visible.
Secondly, thinking visualization teaching strategy refers to a teaching strategy which takes the development of students’ thinking ability as the teaching focus, and makes use of thinking visualization as a means of systematic thinking training and effective teaching practice. Grabe,W.,? Kaplan, R. B. pointed out that teachers can be taught to shift focus from “knowledge” to “thinking” by using thinking visualization tools, thus leading students to learn to think, so as to continuously improve students’ thinking ability and achieve teaching effectiveness(qtd.in Ding Weilan2).
The main purpose of this study is to try applying thinking visualization to English exercises evaluation lessons in junior high schools, and to explore whether there is a feasible way in practice and whether the application can have a positive effect on students’ English learning.
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2.2 Studies on Thinking Visualization at Home and Abroad
2.2.1 Studies on Thinking Visualization Abroad
The research on thinking visualization in foreign countries began with mind map. Mind map was a graphic and textual note-taking form based on radioactive thinking invented by Tony Bozan, an Englishman in the 1970s. At first, it was used to help “students with learning disabilities” overcome learning disabilities, but later it was mainly used by the industrial and commercial sector especially in the field of corporate training, to enhance the learning efficiency and innovative thinking ability of individuals and organizations(Z.Y. Liu 5). The number of relevant articles searched on the foreign language journal website Elsevier with the term “visual thinking” in titles, abstracts or keywords in the past five years has been increasing on the whole. There are 42 articles in 2015, 36 in 2016, 38 in 2017 and 52 in 2018 respectively. There have been seven so far in 2019. Thus it can be seen obviously that the related research on thinking visualization in foreign countries is on the rise on the whole. Zhao Huichen and Wang Yue argue that their research mainly focuses on the “tools” and “methods” of thinking visualization. In terms of tools: psychologist Novak put forward the concept of map technology; Budd.J.W once used mind maps as a tool for classroom exercises. Japanese management master Ishikawa invented causality map and so on. In terms of methods: Dr. Edward de Bono of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom developed the “de Bono thinking training system”; Dr. Qitian of Japan carried out right brain education based on the development of image memory function, and the right brain education based on the development of image memory function was carried out by Dr. Swiss scholars Ralph Lengler and Martin Eppler constructed the “Visualization method Periodic Table” in 2005 and analyzed two forms of thinking in visual learning “convergent thinking” and “divergent thinking”(Z?W 10-11).
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Chapter Three Theoretical Foundation ..................................... 11
3.1 Theory of Brain Science ................................. 11
3.2 Theory of Deep Learning .............................. 11
Chapter Four Research Methodology ...................................... 13
4.1 Research Questions ............................ 13
4.2 Research Methods ................................... 13
Chapter Five Results and Discussions .......................... 21
5.1 Analysis of the Results of Teachers’ Interviews....................... 21
5.2 Exploration of Thinking Visualization in English Exercises evaluation lessons ................ 24
Chapter Five Results and Discussions
5.1 Analysis of the Results of Teachers’ Interviews
The interview with the teachers was scheduled to be conducted in September, 2018 and the purpose was to learn about the current teaching situation and existing problems of English exercises evaluation lessons in different junior high schools. A total of 9 teachers were interviewed, including 3 from the author’s school and 6 from other schools.
Group interview was made with the three teachers from Nanjing Normal University Suzhou Experimental School at the beginning of the study on Tuesday afternoon, when English teaching and researching activities are arranged by the school. The three teachers were from different places in Jiangsu Province before coming to Suzhou last year, among whom one is from Hubei Province, one is from Nantong and the third one is from Xuzhou, which is a city in the northern part of Jiangsu Province. And the topic of the group interview mainly focuses on the comparison between the amount of students’ homework and the ways in which English exercises are evaluated before and after they come to Suzhou. Their views are almost identical. They think on the whole, the students in Suzhou seem to have a relatively small amount of homework, but the vast majority of parents make their children attend extracurricular tutoring classes at weekends or during vacation. In this case, students often have more exercises to finish in addition to the school exercise books, so the pressure on students is not small. As for the way exercises are evaluated, none of them have ever used thinking visualization as a tool in English exercises evaluation lessons. The main way they use is question-and-answer form to explain the questions raised by the students in class. The overall English level of students in the present school in Suzhou is higher than that of the students they taught before, so the students do not have many problems and the progress of English exercises evaluation lessons is a little faster and smoother than before.
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Chapter Six Conclusion
6.1 Major findings of the Study
Through nearly a year’s study, the answers to the three questions which the study intends to deal with at the beginning have been found. Based on the study results and discussions, the major findings can be explained in details from three aspects as follows.
6.1.1 Current Teaching Status of English Exercises Evaluation Lessons
The current teaching status of English exercises evaluation lessons in junior high schools is unsatisfying, which can be seen from analysis of the interview and the first questionnaire results in chapter five together with the author’s rich teaching experiences.
On one hand, although English exercises evaluation lesson is an important means for teachers to know about students’ mastery of knowledge and reflect on their own teaching behavior, many teachers don’t have proper realization of it. It is considered both the easiest and the most difficult lesson to give in the view of many teachers. The reason why they think it easiest is that in their opinion giving lessons of this kind is a piece of cake as long as they are able to work out the exercises without difficulty before class. In particular, exercises in junior high school, whether for novice teachers who have just graduated or experienced old teachers, those exercises are so easy. The reason why it is thought the least easy is that it is difficult to see a teacher choose the class type of exercises evaluation in an open class. The reasons for their not choosing are as follows: First, it is difficult to innovate in the course of exercises evaluation; Second, in the process of evaluation, it is not easy to organize teaching in English through the whole class, especially the explanation of some grammar knowledge points. Even the teacher can manage it, most students have difficulty understanding the teacher; Third, the classroom atmosphere of exercises evaluation is often more dull than that of other types of classes.
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