The Study Of English Extracurricular Activities Based On Situated Cognition

The traditional English teaching tends to neglect the connections between English and the real world so it has hindered the students' English ability. The thesis discussed the teaching models based on situated cognition and leaning theory to help students learn English in the real world. This kind of knowledge is active and can be transferred into other situations.The situated cognition and learning theory emphasizes the reciprocal character of the interaction in which individuals, as well as cognition and meaning are considered socially and culturally constructed. It mainly consists of four elements: content, context, community of practice and participation. And in the thesis, the author selected two relevant models aboard: cognitive apprenticeship and anchored instruction.Although the English extracurricular activities, namely "the second classroom", have already been the requirement of university English teaching, the present majority of extracurricular activities hardly archive the desired results for lacking of systematic guidance. So in the thesis the author attempted to organize English extracurricular activities based on the situated cognition theory. The thesis proposed the following five principles: having definite aims and plans, choosing practical content, constructing corresponding situations, organizing community of English practice and having timely evaluation and objective. The author took job interview and English oral exam as examples to introduce the operating process and finally analyzed the results.