Classroom Interaction

CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) has been widely adopted in China for many years. And the classroom practice proves that this approach does improve the teaching of English. But since the teacher-centered approach and grammar-translation method have long been affecting both the teacher and students so deeply in FLT (foreign language teaching), the development of students' communicative competence, the main purpose of language teaching, is still staying in the theory. Little attention has been paid to the training of the students' communicative competence. Thus, students have few chances to interact with the teacher and other students in the classroom. As a result, their communicative competence is generally poor.Teaching is a two-way operation. Without students' participation, language teaching cannot be effective. Students themselves must go through the learning process actively. Various researches and studies in the current field of language teaching testify that the ultimate goal of English teaching is to cultivate student' ability to interact in communication. An effective way to realize this goal is through "interaction" which is the key to success in English teaching. The application of the interaction-based patterns to English teaching lies in classroom practice. However, the study of the approach is still mainly concerned with the theory, while its application is largely neglected.The purpose of this thesis is to explore the problems of the current situation of English teaching and learning and to propose possible solutions to the problems. The study is intended to answer the following two research questions: 1. How to create interaction-based patterns and apply these patterns in College English teaching? 2. How to enhance the students' interest and motivation in learning English and as well as improving the students' communicative competence and overall language abilities by using the interaction mode of teaching?This thesis explores the concept of "interaction", its theoretical basis and the principles of designing "interaction" activities. The principles are conducted on the basis of the theories of Brown. H Douglas and other linguists. There are some basic principles we should follow in EFL teaching and learning. Firstly, the teacher should create meaningful practical activities aiming at strengthening students' communicative competence. Then the teacher should develop the students' creative thinking and practical abilities of using language. Finally in the teaching processes,the teacher should combine teaching contents with students' previous knowledge so that their enthusiasm for participation in using the English language can be enhanced. This thesis explains three principal interaction-based patterns. They are teacher-student interaction, student-student interaction and human-computer interaction. In the course of interaction, both the teacher and students are in an active state. Students are the real masters of learning. The interaction-based patterns can contribute to motivating students' independence and stimulate their initiatives and creativity. On the other hand, the teacher should consider more about how students themselves are able to master basic linguistic knowledge and skills when he is preparing for the lessons. Besides, the teacher may arouse students' curiosity about English learning and stimulate their interest in English learning by means of multimedia software and Internet.A two-month experiment has been carried out on 125 students in Chongqing Normal University. The experiment was conducted for the purpose of assessing the effects of the application of the interaction mode to college English teaching. Evaluation of students' achievement was conducted by the questionnaire and by special achievement tests administrated before and after the experiment. The findings support the strong link between the interaction-based patterns and foreign language teaching.Based on the results and analysis of the experiment, this thesis concludes that the interaction mode of teaching is beneficial to students' English learning. It can greatly motivate students' learning interest, which in turn will encourage students to learn more actively and effectively. In this way students' actual communicative competence and overall abilities can be enhanced.