A Study On Application Of Project-Based Learning In English Teaching Of Non-English Major In Higher Vocational Colleges

Higher vocational English, as a required basic course for vocational students, which aims to develop students’basic knowledge and develop practical competence of English. With the further development of English teaching reform, more and more attentions have been focused on how to shift the traditional way of teacher-centered teaching and develop students’practical ability in higher vocational English teaching.Project-based learning is a systematic teaching model which is based on student-centered and teacher-directed instructional approach, and emphasizes that students acquire knowledge, abilities or some language skills through completing projects designed by teachers or learners. Therefore, it is significant to introduce project-based learning into vocational English teaching, which can improve students’ English proficiency and develop students’autonomous learning ability, thereby meeting the basic requirements in Higher Vocational English Teaching.The study explores the application of project-based leaning in vocational English teaching based on the theories of constructivism, humanism and autonomous learning. The experiment was carried out for14weeks, aiming at the comparative study on the application of these two different teaching models in vocational college English teaching. By employing the methods of quantitative research and qualitative research, the author deals with the data collected from test scores, questionnaires, interview, and journal, investigating first-year non-English majored vocational college students in Guangdong University of Science and Technology. The study attempts to answer the following questions:(1) Can project-based learning effectively improve students’ language proficiency?(2) Can project-based learning develop students’ autonomous learning?Data statistics and analysis of the experiment show that, to some extent, the autonomous learning ability of students in EC has been improved compared with CC, especially in these three aspects:understanding teacher’s teaching objectives and requirements, deciding learning objective and making learning plan, evaluating and reflecting English learning process, the students of the EC can make a significant improvement than those of the CC. Meanwhile, the students make a steadier and greater improvement in English learning. A conclusion can be drawn, that is, project-based learning is a more effective and feasible teaching model in vocational English teaching. However, due to lack of learning strategy instructions from the teacher in the experiment, the students only make a slight improvement in applying learning strategy and monitoring learning strategy. Therefore, the author advises that teachers should provide students with instructions about learning strategy or learning strategy training to develop students’ English learning strategies in the process of project implementation, so that the autonomous learning ability of students can have a further improvement. In addition, in the process of experiment and investigation, some enlightenments as well as some shortages can be acquired, also, some suggestions on the follow-up teaching and researches are also proposed.