The Application Of Integrated Teaching Method (ITM) In Chinese Higher Vocational College Calsses

Higher Vocational Technical Education has developed rapidly and played an important role in Chinese education. HVTE English teaching, while aiming at students'overall proficiency, stresses the importance of communicative competence. However, the current situation in most vocational colleges does not meet the requirements of HVTE English learning. There has been bitter contradiction between the objective and the present teaching methods, which are teacher-centered, examination-oriented and grammar-vocabulary-focused.The need for vocational college students calls for the improvement of HVTE English teaching. Many English teachers have been engaged in or trying the practice and research of more appropriate teaching methods. The integrated teaching method (ITM) is supposed to meet the requirements of HVTE English teaching to construct students'integrated language competence. However, it has not been practiced widely and has its limitations.With its rationale based on Gestalt Theory and Holism, which means things are much greater than the sum of their parts, ITM prefers to combine the advantages of current popular teaching methods, but it is not merely a simple combination of different methods. ITM emphasizes on training learners'integrated learning skills. Its principles mainly are: 1) Teacher-Learner Integration; 2) Integrated factors of language (phonetics, vocabulary and grammar); 3) Integrated effects in material-generating; 4) Integrated learning and using in and out of class; 5) Integrated language skills in class instruction.In order to certify her viewpoint, the writer makes an experimental study. On the basis of the result, she finds out that ITM does have its advantages over those traditional teaching methods. ITM overcomes the shortcomings in traditional teaching models, reinforces students'language skills, facilitates interactions between students or between students and the teacher, and provides students more opportunities to use the language, reduces their anxiety, and increase their motivation toward language learning. However, there will be some possible limitation and obstacles which need more teachers and specialists in this field to make further researches.