Senior High School English Instruction Under Research-Oriented Learning

Most the curriculum reforms over the world attach great importance to the change of learning methodology since the 1990s, and the so-called Research-Oriented Learning, though named with different names in different countries and regions, turns out to be a global focus in the educational concern, with the expectation to lay crucial stress on the autonomy, inquisitiveness and practicality of the students, with the ultimate goal to enhance students' lifelong ability to learn and to create in order to meet with the challenge from the new era of information technology.Since its first introduction to China in 1998, a process has evolved from brief introduction through research work to depth exploration among the Chinese educational circle with some achievements. The application of Research-Oriented Learning to such high school subjects as Chinese, math, politics, physics, chemistry and biology has turned out to be one of the most principal concerns and much research efforts has been made. By contrast, English (including senior high school English) was comparatively seldom studied in terms of Research-Oriented Learning, especially research in practice. The thesis is an empirical study in nature about how Research-Oriented Learning is being made use of in senior high school English instruction. And our study aims at understanding Research-Oriented Learning better and providing some reference for senior high school English teachers. Tianjin has been making an attempt at doing Research-Oriented Learning for years, too. Since September 2006, all the general senior high schools (senior one) in Tianjin have adopted the latest English textbooks in order to further implement English Research-Oriented Learning. This new textbook supplied students with various learning methods as by doing exploration and research, doing discovery and doing project. Compared with the old textbooks used before, it is a finer illustration of Research-Oriented Learning. The teachers in general believe that it serves as a fine carrier for the application of Research-Oriented Learning.The research went on from September to November 2006 in Tianjin. The research questions are the status quo of high school English Research-Oriented Learning, problems in the implementation and the reasons accounting for them.In the process of sampling, three high schools were chosen as subjects among more than 100 high schools (a key one, a common one, and a privately owned one). Of each of the three, a class of senior one (with average academic performance) was chosen as a sample, and then by total sampling, all the teachers and students of the three chosen classes were observed while having their actual English classroom instruction with a total number of 153. Besides, by sampling, 24 English teachers of senior one (including three teachers in charge of the first grade English instruction) were chosen at the three schools. Of all the three chosen classes, 3 students ranking good, so-so, poor were chosen respectively. And 10 parents of different educational levels were chosen. So, altogether 43 subjects were chosen for interviews.Two major research instruments exploited here are: observation and interviews. Before the real observation, the research started with pilot observation. During the three months, the classroom observation was done in a direct and unstructured manner with the observer being an onlooker in the very classroom where English was instructed. The recording was confined to the spot mainly by giving an account of teaching activities. After the classrooms observation, teachers, students and parents were interviewed in a half-open fashion at the end of the first term of the school year 2006 to 2007 while the key points were taken down on the spot. The author finished an interview report. Finally it concluded with an analysis of the collected data from the observation and interviews.The observation and interview results can justify each other. The biggest obstacle comes from the present rules and regulations concerning student enrollment, evaluation and selection and there is no systematic paralleling reform as preconditions on the national level. Together with the deficiencies from teachers' comprehensive quality, language environment, parents expectation, social awareness, traditional culture and limitation of Research-Oriented Learning itself, the application of Research-Oriented Learning to English learning is very much confined. The traditional teaching method is still prevailing. While students cannot escape from mechanical exercises and memorization, what teachers, students and parents are mostly concerned about is marks in taking examinations. Such important teaching methods as conducting learning by students autonomy, cooperation, exploration and research, "project" work and oral English communication advocated by Research-Oriented Learning don't get enough attention they deserve.The study is still rather confined in subjects being observed and interviewed and questions being explored. Secondly, it is limited in time span and it has only gone through 3 months, a study short of time extension. The research findings presented in this study need to be tested in future studies. And with limited sources of information and supporting materials, the survey failed to make good use of statistical analysis in a quantitative way, so it tended to be more empirical in essence. Like any study conducted, many questions asked couldn't avoid offering suggestive clues in the interviews. So, in reality, with its advantages and disadvantages how to apply Research-Oriented Learning to high school English learning is still worthy of more researching efforts.