A Study On The Cultivation Of Positive Classroom Climate In Senior High School Under The National English Curriculum

Classroom climate gained increasing attention in the last two decades with the focus changed from cognitive to affective factors in teaching and learning. There is no doubt that learning outcomes is influenced by the environment where it takes place. When the classroom climate is concordance with what the learners’ perceptions and expectations, learners will be greatly motivated to learn and get fully involved, which can ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of learning.To create a relaxed, democratic and harmonious teaching atmosphere for the student is stressed in the National English Curriculum. Only when students are interested in English and have positive emotion towards its culture can they maintain the motivation and make achievements in English learning. Negative emotions will affect not only the efficiency of English learning, but also students’ long-term development. Therefore, it is necessary for teachers to attach great importance to students’affective. Task-based teaching approach is highly advocated in order to develop students’ overall language ability. In this paper, the author is trying to figure out the impact of a positive classroom climate on students’ academic performance by studying relevant literature review and doing an empirical study in a Middle School. The author uses both the quantitative and the qualitative approach in this study. To be exact, a five-point Linker scale questionnaire is carried out in44senior one science students to find out their perceptions of the classroom climate. According to the result, some adaptations are made to create a positive classroom climate.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one provides a brief introduction of classroom climate. It talks about the current classroom climate of English teaching in China and the organization of most classes. It also examines the significance of positive classroom climate. Chapter two is the literature review. In this part, the author introduces some concepts mentioned in the National English Curriculum. It also offers some theoretical rationale:Krashen’s the Affective Filter Hypothesis, constructivist and social-constructivist theory and three current theories of language teaching and learning (communicative language teaching, task-based language teaching and cooperative learning). Finally, it’s a synthesis study of classroom climate both at home and abroad. The definition and components of a positive classroom climate are talked about. Chapter three tries to demonstrate the research methodology. The author introduces the research subjects, instruments and procedures. Chapter four is the results and discussion part, in which the author presents a detailed description of the discussions of the pre-test, pre-questionnaire and the post-test, post-questionnaire as well as some findings from the result. The interview and lesson observation analysis are also provided to support the findings. Chapter five is the conclusion part, which includes the major findings, implications as well as limitations of this study.