A Comparative Study On English Listening And Speaking Class In Multimedia Language Lab By Native English-speaking Teachers And Non-native English-speaking Teachers

Native speaker teachers(NSTs)are regarded as authorities of that language.They are usually seen as the most ideal language teachers because of their fluent speaking and rich cultural knowledge,especially in the field of teaching speaking(Cook,2005).Since 1970s,NSTs have been introduced into China to achieve a better English-teaching effect,which brought about many studies about comparing NSTs with non-native speaker teachers(NNSTs).Moreover,modern educational technology started to boom after 2000.Due to the convenience of educational software and hardware in Multimedia Language Lab(MLL),studies on teaching in MLL attract more and more attention.The current study aims at exploring the differences between native English-speaking teachers(NESTs)and non-native English-speaking teachers(NNESTs)in English Listening and Speaking Teaching(ELST)in MLL,and tries to analyze the reasons behind the differences.This study involves 200 freshmen majored in English and 3 NNESTs and NESTs who teach English Listening and Speaking Class in MLL.Both students and teachers participated in the questionnaire survey and interviews.The quantitative data is analyzed through SPSS17.0.There are four research findings:1)in terms of teaching content,NESTs and NNESTs show differences in the aspects of dealing the proportion of listening and speaking,the treatment of errors in the textbooks and PPTs,and the providing of extra materials.Meanwhile,students'perceptions on those aspects are also various.)In terms of teaching methods,they are different in responses to students'mistakes in speaking,ways of dealing with listening materials,and organization of classroom activities.Most of the students are positive to receive teachers'feedback,and hope teachers play the listening materials piece by piece and explain the language points as detailed as possible.3)In terms of use of software and hardware in MLL,NESTs mainly use the broadcast function.They seldom use the demonstration,group talk,record and monitor function.NNESTs often employ above functions of the software in MLL.They operate the instructional software more skillfully than NESTs.(4)From teachers'perspective,NESTs'and NNESTs'attitudes on ELST in MLL are roughly corresponding to results from students'point of view.According to the findings of the study,implications for ELST in MLL are as follows:first of all,in the aspect of teaching content,NESTs and NNESTs should cooperate to make a selection of the listening materials in textbook,to examine the textbook and PPTs together to find out mistakes of different types.Besides,they should share extra materials with each other.Secondly,in the aspect of teaching methods,NESTs and NNESTs should often communicate with each other so as to learn others' strengths.Thirdly,in the aspect of use of software and hardware in MLL,it is necessary to improve the teachers' application of educational software in MLL.Especially an English instruction of the software should be given to NESTs.The relevant training is also needed.