The Impact Of Strategies-Based Instruction On Improving Chinese EFL Learners' Speaking Proficiency In Oral English Class

With the development of research in the field of second language acquisition, more and more attention is focused on language learners ---- learner differences, learner errors, among which the study of learning strategies has seen an 'explosion of activity' in recent years (Skehan 1991:285). The present thesis intends to specifically investigate the influence of speaking strategies on Second Language (L2) oral production. Furthermore, it argues that the strategy-based instruction (SBI) results in improved linguistic output in terms of four interlanguage (IL) traits for assessing learner performance in oral English, namely fluency, accuracy, syntactic complexity and lexical range. In Introduction, the justification of the research, the procedures as well as the framework of the thesis are introduced. Chapter Two offers a brief literature review on learning strategies and speaking strategies. The following chapters specify the study concerning speaking strategies applied by Chinese second language learners in college. Findings and limitations are included in the following chapter. Finally, the thesis concludes that appropriate application of SBI in oral class is one of the important factors in improving ESL learners' oral English performance. It is the author's hope that the present thesis will contribute to research in language learning strategies in China, and benefit learners in class and arouse the attention of both language instructors and learners on strategy-based instruction in their teaching and learning practice.