Experiential Learning In English Classrooms

Traditional language teaching is problematic in that it is focused only on language form and neglects its function of communication. It relies on teacher's transmission of knowledge, but not the learners' self-construction. And it is product-oriented rather than process-oriented. The current curriculum reform drive is aimed to change such situations and to encourage the development of the students' language skills and overall cognitive and affective qualities through their active engagement of task or project-based learning activities."Experiential Learning", a new approach to teaching and learning which is in accordance with the above spirit has been practiced in the last two decades. It emphasized learning from direct experience, that is, learning through sense experiences. The present research intends to apply "Experiential Learning" to my own teaching practice. In this research, "Experiential Learning" is featured as the following. 1) Learners are fully exposed to and use the language through sensual experiences by means of visual, audio, other media and various classroom activities; 2) It is learner-centered rather than teacher-centered; 3) The role of the teacher is not only a lecturer, but also an instructor, a facilitator, a mediator and an evaluator.During the process, data collection is based on the following. 1) Observations of the learners' oral performance; 2) Their autonomous and inquiry-oriented learning behaviors; 3) Their reflection journals and essays. The purpose is to encourage them to express themselves, to think independently and creatively.The result shows that "Experiential Learning" is feasible and effective in English teaching in middle schools. It not only makesEnglish learning enjoyable, but also improve the learners' oral and written English ability, and their learning autonomy and cooperative awareness are also improved. This action research bears some implications for future teaching and research.