Constructivist English Classrom

Conventional foreign language instruction overvalues language knowledge and skills and is always oriented around the teacher, the textbook. As a result, the students accept knowledge passively and rote memory becomes their leading way of learning. On the other side, constructivist English teaching and learning focuses not only on students' development of language ability but on their holistic and life-long learning. Constructivist teaching supports students active and cooperative learning, which is related to their prior constructed knowledge. The goal is to develop the students' ability of thinking and problem-solving. However, constructivist teaching and learning places greater demands on students as well as teachers. Do the students perceive various elements of constructivist teaching and learning as designed by the author? To what extent they accept such kind of teaching and learning? The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the students' perceptions of the constructivist teaching and learning practices.In chapter one, the author reviews the history of foreign language teaching and learning, the basic elements of constructivism and constructivist instruction, and establishes the framework of constructivist teaching and learning adopted in this study. In chapter two the author introduces the research methodology and describes the actual application of constructivist teaching in classroom, where the students are encouraged to construct their own knowledge on the basis of their past experience, autonomy, cooperation, reflection, and other constructivist elements. In chapter three, the author reports the findings of the study, which include: 1) The students perceived cognitive growth, which was anticipated and occurred; 2)The students perceived increasing interest and confidence; 3) The students perceived changing in their way of English learning. Therefore, the author concludes the positive role of putting constructivist teaching and learning into practice. As a teacher researcher, the author approves of constructivist teaching and learning applied in practice, which has been perceived by the students as promoting the cognitive and affective growth, improving their way of learning. At the same time, the author admits and reflects on the problems which baffled him in the application.