A Study The Application Of Situational Teaching Method To English Language Teaching In A Primary School

With the globalization of the world economy,it is increasingly important to have a good command of English.The fundamental education in our country needs high requirements of the English language learning.It sets higher demands for the basic education especially in primary school.According to the English Standard Curriculum published in 2011,the fundamental aim is to develop students' comprehensive language competence.This aim includes five objectives.These objectives are then divided into nine ability levels.The five general objectives are: language skills,language knowledge,attitudes to learning,learning strategies and cultural awareness.This design allows students to progress systematically through each level whilst meeting the full range of the curriculum's demands.But from the current teaching situations,the efficiency is not satisfactory in the primary schools because most teachers adopt the single teaching method in English classes.This thesis mainly focuses on Situational Teaching Method in primary English language teaching.The Situational Teaching Method focuses on setting the real learning situations for the students and developing the four basic abilities.To be more specific,Situational Teaching Method relies on the learning text to present learning aims and demands.For example,teachers could use the real objects,simple line-drawing,wall chart to show the learning materials.Sometimes the teachers can tell interesting stories or play games to arouse the interest of the students.The teachers may play music using the multimedia to help teaching at the same time.The students are also encouraged to cooperate within groups.Situational Teaching Method encourages the teachers to create rich language learning atmosphere in considering the characteristics of the texts,the learners' background information and their living environment.The students will can experience real situations of the languages and speak the target language while they are immersed in real English situations.Situational Teaching Method can improve the teaching efficiency and effect.Thisthesis aims to invest the application of Situational Teaching Method in primary English language teaching.The research design includes the research questions,instruments,subjects,procedures and the analysis of the collected data.Two research questions of this study are addressed below:(1)Are the students' English academic achievements improved when the Situational Teaching Method is adopted in teaching? If yes,to what extent?(2)What are the students' and teachers' respective attitudes towards the Situational Teaching Method?The findings of the study are summarized in the following:Firstly,the Situational Teaching Method can greatly improve the students' English academic achievements and the abilities of the students.Before the experiments,the data show that no significant difference of the students' academic achievements between the two classes.Then,the experimental class adopts the Situational Teaching Method while the control class still uses the traditional teaching method.In the final examination,the differences between the two classes are significant.Secondly,the students and the teachers prefer the Situational Teaching Method in learning and teaching.The students in class can participant in English activities actively while the teachers can finish the teaching tasks efficiently by creating the familiar situations to students.The students are easily immersed in the situations they are familiar with and they are willing to join in class activities.The teachers present the text content vividly which makes students understand the meaning more easily.The students are eager to learn and they can use the English language freely and correctly which can both improve the academic achievements and make them learn new knowledge naturally and interestingly.