The Application Of Small Group Discussion In Integrated English Teaching In University Classroom

The study is conducted with questionnaire with a purpose to investigate the characteristics of group discussion and classroom interaction in EFL classrooms in Chinese university, and to explore the role group discussion plays in pushing the active part in improving the communicative competence of Chinese English-majored students. And at the same time, this research attempts to discuss whether this teaching method has any effect on the teaching styles. It would certainly give some advice on how group discussion facilitate the learning process of Chinese students in EFL classroom. Still, the author has investigated all the factors concerning group discussion: 1) find out to what degree students regard their group discussion experiences as satisfying and 2) examine the factors that affect small group discussion (SGD), and finally provide information for ESL teachers to improve their SGD in the classroom. Questionnaires were administered to first year students on Foreign Languages Department of Putian University in 2006 .Research findings indicate that: 1) most students like SGD; 2) those most highly ranked causes of SGD failures are: poor preparation, others' inactiveness, and low proficiency of English 3) those most highly ranked facilitating factors are: a) respect, self confidence, sense of achievement and patience of students, b) morale boosting, appropriate body language, praise, and good personalities of teachers, c) interesting and relevant topics, appropriate time allocation and variety in discussion content for the activity itself. Finally, the author gave some advice to English teachers on how to carry on SGD in class, eg, playing a second role indiscussion; rewarding but do not grade student participation; help students prepare for discussion; summarizing the students' reports and give sensible comments and soon.