Application Of The ARCS Model Of Motivational Design In Oral Enlish Teachinin Rural Junior Middle Schools

As an important medium of international communication, English, especiallyspoken English, is of great significance. And the latest curriculum reform of the basiceducation puts more emphasis on oral English teaching, aiming at developingstudents’ ability to communicate in English fluently. However, there exist manyproblems in oral English teaching and learning in junior middle schools, especially inrural areas. One of the main reasons is that most teachers have ignored stimulatingstudents’ learning motivation.It is well-known that strong motivation is the driving force for oral Englishlearning. Therefore, based on the factors of the ARCS model of motivational designwhich are attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction, this thesis takes No.1junior middle school in Xi County, Henan province as an example and finds out thefollowing problems through questionnaires, interviews and classroom observation:students don’t pay enough attention to teaching in class and think that teachingcontent does not closely relate to their experiences or interest; they don’t take anactive part in oral activities for lack of confidence in speaking; teachers’ feedbackoften fails to bring them a sense of satisfaction.As the organizers of classroom activities, teachers play an important role instimulating and maintaining students’ motivation for oral English learning. Therefore,they should apply the ARCS model of motivational design to oral English teachingprocess creatively. In the preparing stage, teachers should make full use of modernteaching equipment and change teaching methods to promote classroom interaction.In the presentation stage, teachers should design the content according to thestudents’ needs and help students realize the importance of oral English learning.While in the stage of students’ participation, teachers should build students’confidence by creating more chances of success, having great expectations ofstudents and helping them make positive attribution. When it comes to theevaluation stage, teachers should:(1) make full use of positive feedback;(2) dealwith errors correctly; and (3) use oral tests as well as formative assessment, making students experience the satisfaction from success.From the theoretical and practical perspectives, the author not only exploresthe problems existing in rural junior middle schools’ oral English teaching, but alsocomes up with some strategies according to the ARCS model of motivational design.And the author also hopes that this thesis can help improve oral English teaching andenhance students’ motivation for oral English learning in rural middle schools.