A Comparative Study On Native English Teachers' Teaching Models In Oral English Classes

Oral English teaching, as one of the indispensable basic courses for English majors in China, is paid more and more attention, with the increase in international exchanges and the growing demand for advanced personnel with good oral English skills. China has been hiring native English teachers to teach English in order to improve spoken English teaching. It has been a hot issue for a long period and many studies have been done on native English teachers'foreign language teaching abroad, while the researches at home have been focusing on the comparative research in classroom teaching strategies and methods between Chinese teachers and native English teachers, but lack of the study of native English teachers'oral English teaching models in Chinese conditions.In order to investigate the effects of native English teachers'teaching models in oral English classes and to analyze the similarities and differences in its application in classroom teaching in China, this study was conducted on two native English teachers'oral English classes of English majors at North University of China. As measuring instruments, interview with students was designed to find out the students'preference of the teaching materials and the feedback on their oral English teachers and oral English teaching while the interview with two foreign teachers was to learn about their teaching objectives, teaching materials and the evaluation on the students'work. Classroom observation was adopted to find out the differences and similarities between their teaching models, steps, time allot and teaching activities. In addition, students'oral grades of previous three semesters were collected and compared. SPSS 17.0 was used for data analysis.The results of the comparative study indicated that both foreign teachers'oral English teaching can improve the learners'speaking skill, and theme-based model employed by B was more effective than task-based model adopted by A in her oral teaching. Besides, by comparing the methods or strategies employed and time allot for each step, a conclusion can be reached that students prefer traditional activities in oral English classes though most foreign teachers rate communicative type highly. Based on the results, it is suggested that oral English teachers should attach more importance to traditional activities such as grammar exercises, memorizing, etc. in addition to pair work, group discussion and role play.