A Study On The EFL Teaching Microstrategies Of The Middle Schools In The Perspective Of Postmethod

In1991, the British applied linguist, Dick Allwright gave a plenary talk entitled "The Death of theMethod" in a conference at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. On the basis of theoretical,experimental, and experiential knowledge, teachers and researchers have expressed theirdissatisfactions with method in their own ways. Postmethod pedagogy proposed by Kumaravadiveluallows us to go beyond, and overcome the limitations of method-based pedagogy. Kumaravadivelu'spostmethod framework mainly consists of three parameters and ten macrostrategies. Each macrostrategymay include numerous microstrategies with many various types, which to a large extent depends on thelocal teaching and learning contexts.English language teaching plays a vital role in the teaching activities of the junior middle school. Thepresent research is concerned with a study on the status quo of junior middle school English teaching. Theaim of this study is to investigate both teachers' and students' beliefs about methods and postmethod. Inparticular, it is to investigate whether the current teaching activities are in accordance with themicrostrategy of postmethod in terms of teaching interaction, teaching technique, teaching objective andteaching content. The researcher also attempted to identify the problems in the current teaching activities inthe perspective of postmethod pedagogy.The research subjects are the teachers and students of Grade Eight from the Affiliated Middle Schoolof Henan Normal University. Questionnaire, semi-structured interview and classroom observation wereadopted as instruments for data collection. Then, the research results and discussion on microstrategies inpostmethod perspectives are presented from four major aspects, each with macrostrategies andmicrostrategies respectively. Furthermore, discussions on Learner Autonomy Instruction advocated by theAffiliated Middle School of Henan Normal University are also presented.Through a detailed and thorough study, the major findings can be summarized as follows:Firstly, for microstrategies in terms of teaching interaction, the results indicate that about half of thestudents would like to do outclass reading and participate in English training school in the society to learnEnglish and some students use the Internet and a few students would like to take part in the school activity. More than half of students would like to answer the questions until the teacher ask them to do. More thanhalf of learners state that their teacher would answer and discuss the question they proposed. Most studentswill discuss the point that they don't understand with classmates in or after class. More than half studentsstate that their teachers often tell teaching plans and objectives to them. These teaching activities stillshould be improved to keep with the postmethod microstrategies in terms of teaching interaction.Secondly, for microstrategies in terms of teaching technique, the findings confirm that most studentscould receive enlightenment and encouragement from their teachers. This is in accordance with themicrostrategies for activating intuitive heuristics. More than half of students state that their teachers oftencreate situational context. The status quo of students' best and worst skill in English learning is not good.Only a few students are good at speaking and writing. It isn't in accordance with the microstrategies forintegrating language skills.Thirdly, for microstrategies in terms of teaching objective, the results indicate that most studentssometimes review what they have learned in English class and half of students sometimes readextracurricular English books and make learning schedule. Microstrategies of promoting learner autonomyshould be improved. Furthermore, most of students state that language awareness plays a vital place in theprocess of learning English. It is in accordance with the microstrategies for fostering language awareness.Fourthly, for microstrategies in terms of teaching content, according to the findings, learners state thattheir teachers would teach them some culture about English speaking countries. Next, some students claimthat they want to go abroad and learn the global culture. There are still a certain number of students whostate that they want to get a high score in the high school entrance examination and a certain number ofstudents who state that they are following the development of society. Only a few students state that theyare interested in English. The data indicate that language teaching and learning are closely linked tosocial-cultural factors and the government's language policies.Finally, on the basis of the above research findings, some pedagogical implications which are of greatsignificance for junior middle school English teaching and learning are also presented.