The Intrinsic Relationship between the English Learning Activity View and the 5E Instructional Model and Its Implications for Junior High School English Reading Teaching

Abstract

The Compulsory Education English Curriculum Standards (2022 Edition) explicitly advocate the implementation of the "English Learning Activity View,”which encourages students, guided by thematic meaning, to engage in a series of comprehensive,and practical English learning activities—namely, learning and understanding, applying and practicing, and transferring and innovating—to achieve the deep integration of language, culture, and thinking. Meanwhile, the 5E Instructional Model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate), originating from science education, has gradually gained attention from English education researchers for its emphasis on students’ active construction, inquiry cycles, and conceptual change. This study employs theoretical analysis to explore the intrinsic relationship between the two theories. The findings reveal that both theories share a common foundation in constructivism, converge on a student-centered teaching philosophy, and follow the cognitive logic of "experience—inquiry—internalization—creation” in their practical pathways. Furthermore, the five phases of the 5E model are deeply isomorphic with the three categories of activities in the English Learning Activity View. Based on this relationship, the study proposes implications for junior high school English reading instruction: teaching objectives should shift from "knowledge acquisition” to "meaning construction”; activity design should move from "stacking discrete steps” to "creating a continuum of activities” ; the teacher’s role should transform from "knowledge transmitter”to "learning activity designer”; and evaluation should shift from "result-oriented”to "process-embedded.”