The Application Of Participatory Approach In English Reading Teaching For Students Of Vocational Schools

The publication of The Law of Vocational Education of People's Republic of China has emphasized that vocational education plays a more and more important role in the social economic development.Far-ranging attention has been paid to vocational education.Learning English for students of vocational schools can prepare more advantages for their future jobs.But due to many factors,English teaching in vocational schools is a difficult point,teachers and the teaching ways they adopt appear to be particularly important under the circumstances.More and more educational experts start to analyze and research the teaching modes and ways which are the most suitable and favorable for students in English teaching.Among many teaching ways,Participatory Approach becomes more preferred because of its advanced ideas,interactive and cooperative learning ways and various activities which encourage students to learn actively.This study attempts to apply Participatory Approach in English reaching teaching in vocational schools,in order to explore whether the application of Participatory Approach can improve students'interest of vocational schools in English reading to make them participate in the classes positively;whether the application of Participatory Approach in English reading teaching can effectively improve students'reading achievements,the following two research questions were put forward:1.Can the application of Participatory Approach improve students' interest of vocational schools in English reading?2.Can the application of Participatory Approach improve students' reading achievements?An experimental research based on abundant theoretical researches was conducted and in the research 103 students of pre-school education majors in Children Education Department at Ningxia Vocational and Technical College for Minorities were chosen to be participants to receive the experiment of 22 weeks.The most important procedure is that 52 students in the experimental class were taught with Participatory Approach,while 51 students in the controlled class were given the lessons with the traditional teaching method.In the first period the pre-test was given to the two classes to test whether there is any difference about students' reading achievements in both two classes before applying Participatory Approach;In the second period the first questionnaire was given to the students in the two classes to test the difference of their interest and attitudes towards English reading before applying Participatory Approach;The application of Participatory Approach was carried on in the experimental class just based on the teaching model,activities and teaching steps in Participatory Approach in the third period,which is the most important period of the experiment;The mid-term test was done by students both in the two classes to show the changes of their reading achievements after 2 months' implementation of Participatory Approach in English reading in the fourth period;In the fifth period the second questionnaire was handed out to all students in the two classes to test the changes of their interest and attitudes towards English reading after the application of Participatory Approach;At last the final exam of the semester acted as the post-test to provide the data to show the changes of students'reading achievements after the whole semester's application of Participatory Approach.After the experiment all the statistical data of the results of the tests and questionnaires finally collected and analyzed with the help of SPSS 17.0.Through the experimental research of the application of Participatory Approach in English reading teaching in vocational schools,the following conclusions could be drawn:1.Participatory Approach can improve students' learning interests in English reading classes according to the data analysis of the questionnaires;2.Participatory Approach can effectively improve students' achievements in English reading classes according to the data analysis of the tests.