An Eclectic Approach To English Classroom Teaching In High Schools

There have been dozens of influential English teaching methods and approaches. According to their theoretical basis and basic tenets, they can be mainly divided into two schools, that is, school of rationalism and school of empiricism. The two schools have their own advantages and disadvantages. The grammar-translation method is the representative of the school of rationalism. It enables students to grasp grammar rapidly and improve their ability of reading comprehension, but it doesn't emphasize students' language training and communicative competence and thus more likely results in 'Silent English'. The communicative approach is the representative of the school of empiricism. It emphasizes students' language training and communicative competence, but ignores the systematic acquisition of knowledge and students' intellectuality. During its implementation, it meets with considerable resistance as it fails to improve students' grades appreciably in the entrance examination in a short run. In this situation, the writer is inclined to put forward a feasible solution to the above problems. The eclectic approach, which is pluralistic and comprehensive, is meant to improve English classroom teaching methods in high schools.The thesis expounds the meaning of eclecticism and its use, reveals the definition of eclecticism in foreign language teaching, introduces some research on the eclectic approach at home and abroad, points out the advantages and shortcomings of the eclectic approach in foreign language teaching and puts forward the principles of improving English classroom teaching methods through the eclectic approach. Through a survey of English classroom teaching patterns in some high schools and teaching experiments in a high school, the importance and effectiveness of the eclectic approach are confirmed. According to the latest teaching research, the thesis presents some recent changes of English classroom teaching methods in high schools and illustrates the reflection and use of the eclectic approach in the new curriculum innovation.After studying the theories, conducting the survey and analyzing the data of the experiments, the writer draws a conclusion: the eclectic approach in English classroom teaching does not piece together various teaching methods without principles, but integrates the effective teaching methods and techniques so as to suit different teaching stages, locations and learners. With the development of society and the practice of the new curriculum innovation, the eclectic approach will become a tendency toward English classroom teaching in modern high schools of China. The writer would venture to offer English teachers and researchers a new way to improve English classroom teaching methods in high schools.