A Study On The Teaching Mode Of Audio-Visual English To English Majors On Constructivism Theory

With the economic and social development, the exchanges between China and other countries are on the rise. As a result, the demand of foreign languages especially English increases in China. English listening, as a top priority in communication and a necessary way to learn language, is of vital importance. Great importance is attached to the teaching of English listening. As such, many researchers made investigation in this area. However, the present situation of the listening instruction in China is not very encouraging. We have tried many theories to guide our teaching but with little effectiveness. Inspired by this, the present research will employ constructivism to probe into audio-visual English teaching, which is based on the former research.Rooted in the cognitive developmental theory of Piaget and in the sociocultural theory of Vygotsky, constructivism has emerged in recent years as a dominant paradigm in education and has a major intellectual impact on the development of pedagogy. Constructivist approaches to learning are gaining momentum in the field of second and foreign language learning.The major's audio-visual English course teaching in ordinary colleges has its own distinctive features. This thesis, based on constructivism, studies its practice in one of those colleges, Gannan Normal University, through a questionnaire survey, interviews and classroom observations. Last semester, the author taught audio-visual English to 2 classes of English majors (Class One and Class Two) at Gannan Normal University. Therefore, the author put the theory of constructivism into practice and adopted constructive teaching in class One and still traditional teaching in class Two. Under the same conditions, the author analyzed the two tests at the beginning and the end of the semester to test the effect of constructive teaching. At the same time, at the end of the semester, the author interviewed the students in the experimental class on their feelings about the constructive class, and how this teaching affect their ideas on English study and listening, and the questions involve aspects of autonomy in study, self-reflection and problems,etc..The results of the research showed us that constructive teaching proves to be more effective than traditional teaching. Most students in the experiment class enjoy constructive listening class, and they come to have the correct perceptions of their active and central role in the teaching and learning of English listening; they are more actively involved in listening learning; they build their own learning strategies and could reflect on his own study. The author expects the study can be of some positve function on enlightening and stimulating English teaching and learning in the future through exploring audio-visual English course from a new angle.