An Empirical Analysis Of Chinese College Students' Silence In Oral English Classes

In recent years, it has been a common phenomenon for Chinese college ESL/EFL students to keep silent in oral English classes, which would definitely bring a negative effect to the development of Chinese students'ability of spoken English. Many researchers home and abroad have devoted comprehensive studies to the reasons causing students'silence and passivity in foreign language classes especially in general English classes, but few attempts have been made to specifically explore the factors causing Chinese college students'silence in oral English classes.What factors lead to students'silence in oral English classes? What techniques or methods can be adopted by college oral English teachers to enhance students'class participation? The present thesis, focusing its attention on these two questions, strives to explore the factors resulting in Chinese college students'silence in oral English classes and to examine the importance of the factors by employing the theories of sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, psychology and pedagogy and scientific research methods.Based on the previous theories and empirical studies, structured interviews with 18 college students are carried out in order to examine their subjective explanations for the factors influencing students'class participation. A 30-item questionnaire is designed and distributed to 96 students, in order to find out the most influential factors causing students'silence in oral English classes. Class observations and class recordings are also used in the process of data collection in order to make sure the credibility of the research results.It is discovered that a complex mix of Chinese traditions and cultures, students'characters, language proficiency, classroom environment and teachers' way of questioning in class play significant roles in determining the level of students'class participation, or rather, they are the causes resulting in students'silence in oral English classes. In light of these findings, some implications and suggestions in terms of oral English enhancement are proposed for college oral English teachers. These suggestions include establishing a harmonious classroom atmosphere, building a sound rapport with students, enriching the contents and activities, and improving the teaching techniques.