A Study On The Application Of Constructivist Theory To Listening Teaching In Vocational College EFL Classroom In The Multimedia Context

The present thesis is based on constructivism which holds that knowledge is not passivelyacquired, but constructed actively by learners through their interaction with the external worldand on the basis of their own previous experiences. In this sense, authentic languagesurroundings are of crucial significance to language learning. Through empirical studies, manyforeign language educators, experts and teachers have found that multimedia assisted Englishteaching has been regarded as an ideal way to facilitate English acquisition and improvestudents’ listening comprehension for its authentic language surroundings. Since1985, theConstructivist Theory has been widely applied in language phenomenon, though fewer inexplaining the process of listening comprehension and English listening teaching in vocationalcolleges in multimedia context under its instruction. Such being the case, on the basis of theresearches of previous scholars, this thesis has focused on the positive effects ofmultimedia-assisted college English listening teaching method on the development of students’listening ability from the perspective of constructivist theory. In addition to theoretic analysis, anempirical study is made.The author conducts the trial experiment of the constructivist-based listening teachingmethod in multimedia context in Wuhan Engineering Institute. The subjects were chosen fromexperiment group and control group of non-English majors randomly by the same Englishteacher to avoid influencing the effectiveness of the experiment. Based on the results of pre-testand post-test, questionnaires and interview, the author concludes that (1). Compared withtraditional listening teaching method, the new teaching model based on the Constructivist Theoryin listening teaching can improve the students’ competence in listening largely.(2). Students’listening competence have been proved to be enhanced largely by adopting the new listeningteaching method, and so does the three different levels of students in the experimental class.(3).Compared with the traditional teaching method in listening, the new teaching method based onthe Constructivist Theory can motivate students’ learning positivity and stimulate their interest inlearning listening.