On Oral English Teaching For English Majors From A Constructivist Perspective

With the economic and social development, the exchanges between China and other countries are on the rise. As a result, the demand of foreign languages especially English increases in China. Oral English becomes a top priority in qualifying for many jobs. So it is of vital importance for English learners especially English majors to improve their oral abilities. Great importance is attached to the teaching of oral English. As such, many researchers made investigations in this area. Yet, the result of oral English teaching is still not satisfactory up to now. Inspired by this, the present researcher carried out the study aiming to find out what makes the teaching quality unsatisfying. It is hoped to work out ways of improving oral English teaching from a constructivist perspective.Generally speaking, the exploratory nature of the research requires the dominance of the qualitative inquiry approaches. In order to strengthen the reliability and validity of the study, questionnaire, observation, and interview were used for data collection. In addition, test results comparison was utilized to get a general idea about learners' oral abilities. By making comparison between different years' results of National Band-4 Examination and Spoken English Test for English majors, we can make it clear the current situation of teaching oral English. Compared with other language skills, learners' oral abilities are a little behind. The entire level of their oral English proficiency is rather low. Therefore, oral English teaching needs improvement. And what's more, with the help of questionnaire survey, class observations, and interviews, some problems existing in the teaching and learning of oral English were clearly revealed.The exploration results indicate that although most learners have positive motivations for learning, some of them cannot sustain the motivation and make great efforts in learning. Moreover, many learners don't have the correct perceptions of their active and central role in the teaching and leaning of oralEnglish. At the practical level, few learners are capable of managing their own learning. This results from the traditional formal teacher-centered teaching model where learners seldom utilize the self-management skills. With regard to teachers' roles, the investigation results reflect that actually many teachers don't give up the dominant place. Lastly, according to the investigation results, the classroom learning environment doesn't meet learners' needs. It is necessary for teachers to create appropriate constructivist environment with the aim of promoting oral English learning.Oral English teaching is a complex, multidimensional activity. Teachers and learners are two crucial factors in the activity. To improve teaching and learning effectively, teachers and learners are required to make efforts together. The same as teachers, learners need to take the responsibility and play active roles in making progress. On the basis of the results of the investigation, the study presents suggestions for teachers and learners as well within the constructivism. Teachers, first of all, are required to give up the "authority" that they possess in the traditional teaching model so as to make their teaching learner-centered in practice. Secondly, teachers should construct appropriate classroom learning environment where learners can practice oral English in authentic contexts. And more personal learning space may enable learners to develop their individual language system efficiently and to speed up the pace of acquiring oral English proficiency. Lastly, it is of vital importance to promote interaction in the teaching process and to motivate learners to speak English. As the crucial factor of the oral English teaching and learning, learners need to be aware of their active and central role. And what's more, learners are required to take the responsibility for learning and try to manage their own learning. It is expected that these will shed some light on how to accomplish the change of teachers' roles, how to improve classroom learning environment, and how to motivate learners.This study was carried out at a macro-level. It pays more attention to the theoretical construction rather than the practical application. The constructive...