A Research Into College English Teaching In The Classroom

With the rapid development of the global economy, the requirements for college graduates'English ability have changed a lot. The graduates are required to be able not only to read some written materials in English, but also to communicate with others in spoken English appropriately and fluently. However, many studies indicated that they were not good at it (Liu Ying, 2000;Shun Jiandong, 2001;Yu Chunhua, 2003;and so on). Partly because of this, the Ministry of Education issued the College English Curriculum Requirements, in which the development of college students'oral communicative competence is highlighted as the main teaching objective of college English teaching. With its guidance, some teaching materials of college English have been revised, and some have been recompiled. The teaching materials adapted are called the new teaching materials in this study. They are believed to facilitate the development of students'oral communicative competence. For example, they take students'needs and interest into consideration seriously; the topic selected into the teaching materials are closely relevant to students'college life; and they provide a variety of communicative activities. The teaching materials of college English have been improved. But how about teaching? It is the key to the development of college students'oral communicative competence. With the purpose, the author planned to do this study by a thorough investigation into college English teaching in the classroom in Guangzhou University. In order to make the data convinced, three research methods were employed in the study. They are classroom observation, interview and questionnaire.The lessons of three teachers including an old-age one, a middle-age one and a novice were observed in June of 2005. Meanwhile, about 30 college English teachers and 25 Non-English major students were interviewed. With reference to the questionnaires made by some linguists such as Liu Lunqing, Shu Dingfang and Xia Jimei, and on the basis of the data collected by classroom observation and interview,...