BECE. Newsletter 

Vol.15, No.1, 2023, BECE 1800 

 

 

 

 

Can Holistic Module Teaching Improve English Per-

formance of Junior Secondary School Students? An 

Experimental Exploration Based on the Reform of 

English Instruction in X City in Eastern China 

By He, P., Wei, H., & Huang, B. 
Correspondence to: Bin Huang, Nanjing Normal University, China. E-mail: 

huangbin@nju.edu.cn  

HE Compulsory Education Course Standards for English 2022 empha-

size that teachers must construct module teaching around specific ob-

jectives to support the development of academic competence in students. Ho-

listic module teaching is an instructional approach which uses a major con-

cept in a subject to organize relevant course materials to deliver structured 

instruction. In recent years, there has been a widespread application of mod-

ule teaching design in English classes in China. Nevertheless, little research 

has been carried out on the relations between holistic module teaching and 

student English competence. This study used the empirical data generated by 

the teaching reform and the method of difference-in-differences estimation to 

conduct a systematic evaluation of the efficacy of holistic module teaching in 

English instruction with the purpose of providing evidence for the further 

improvement of this teaching design. Research findings are as follows. 

i. Holistic module teaching could significantly improve students’ English 

test results. The average results of comprehensive English of the student 

were upgraded by a standard score of 0.264 at the school level. 

ii. The module teaching design could enhance students’ English perfor-

mance in all aspects, including comprehensive proficiency, writing, lis-

tening, and reading, with the most prominent effect being on their com-

prehensive proficiency of English. 

iii. Due to inter-region differences and the occurrence of omitted variables, 

the estimated intervention effect of the new approach was presumably 

smaller that it’s actual efficacy. 

The study suggested that in implementing holistic module teaching in 

junior secondary English classes, strategies such as real-world situation-

based learning and knowledge transfer should be incorporated into the educa-

tion of English listening, speaking, reading, and writing to assist teachers in 

identifying teaching objectives and to help students successfully improve 

their English proficiency. 
Source: Journal of China Examinations, 2023; 374(6):49-57. 

T 

mailto:huangbin@nju.edu.cn