Teachers' Influence On Oral Classroom Participation

Three levels of oral classrooms in the Liaoning Institute of Technology (LIT) were observed and surveyed. Two major results were obtained, (a) The participation ratio was unexpectedly low. (b) The motivation of these students in oral classrooms was high and they seemed to assess their general oral ability quite well. Such inconsistency directs the attention of this paper to such a concern: What are the variables that might shade over the motivation the participants bring into their encouragement in oral class? The nature of the oral class especially the two parties was analyzed. Finally the paper comes up with an educational assumption that the teacher does take a part in the ups and downs of the oral classroom activities and through his questioning roles in attributing to the efforts the students exert in classroom interactions. Based on this assumption, suggestions follow on how to enhance oral class participation. In the end some further considerations are put forward in this field for English teaching in Chinese classrooms.