An Empirical Study Of Communication Strategies On Oral English Teaching In Middle School

Lots of in-class observations and after-class interviews reveal the fact that students always don’t know how to keep the dialogue go on once they are blocked by a certain word in English communication. They would rather give up English talks for fear that their partners lose interest. Such a situation requires a better way that English can be taught to assist students overcome breakdowns in English communication so as to achieve their communicative goals.Communication strategies are approaches by the learners to overcome communication problems and reach communication goals when they master limited foreign language knowledge and vocabulary.According to the above fact, it is reasonable to believe that systematic instruction of communication strategies may have a positive impact on students’ oral English competence in spite of their limited English language knowledge and English learning time.This research intends to do an empirical study under the guidance of relative theories. It mainly focuses on three categories of communication strategies, namely, topic avoidance strategies, circumlocution strategies and stalling strategies. The class instruction of the three strategies aims to explore the influence of communication strategies on oral English. The arrangement of the experimental study is as follows:Two classes in Grade Seven in Dong Ting Middle School in Xiang Yin took part in the experiment. Controlled group of57students received normal English teaching activities. Experimental group of58students received extra twelve weeks’ communication strategies instruction. Questionnaires and oral English tests were carried out to collect the data of strategy employment frequency and the data of oral English proficiency. The data then were fed into computer and analyzed by SPSS.13.0.The results of research revealed that:1. After instruction, students in experimental group significantly surpassed the counterpart in oral English proficiency and communication strategies employment.2. It further proved the positive relation between communication strategies and oral English.3. It helped strengthen students’ communication confidence and ease the sense of anxiety.