An Empirical Study Of The Effect Of Problem-based Learning Approach On Non-english Majors' Willingness To Communicate

With the increasing emphasis on authentic communication as an essential part of EFL learning and instruction,willingness to communicate(WTC)has also been proposed as one of the key concepts in language learning and instruction.However,in China,the condition of students' WTC is not optimistic both in and outside the classroom.While Chinese students are very good at grammar-based written examination,they are poor English speakers,often designated as ‘reticent learners'.Therefore,it is urgent to find an effective teaching approach to improve students' WTC.PBL(Problem-based learning)is a teaching approach that motivates students to learn through involvement in a real problem.It helps students become active learners by placing the learning in real-world problems and making students responsible for their learning.The present study applies PBL approach into college English instruction,aiming to explore the effect of PBL approach on non-English majors' WTC.The following three specific questions are attempted to be addressed:(1)Does PBL approach have a positive effect on Non-English majors' WTC?(2)Are there any difference between the effect of PBL approach on WTC of high WTC group and low WTC group?(3)Does the application of PBL approach improve non-English majors' oral English proficiency?A 16-week teaching experiment was conducted in Shandong Youth University of Political Science.One hundred and one sophomores from two parallel natural classes majoring in economics were selected as the participants of the study.One of the classes was randomly selected as the experimental class which was taught under PBL approach,and the other was control class,employing traditional teaching approach.The WTC questionnaire designed by Guo Jidong was adopted to evaluate the WTC condition of students both in experimental class and control class before and after the experiment.Besides,Oral Tests of Public English Test System-3 were used to measure students' oral English proficiency.The data collected from the experiment was processed and analyzed through SPSS 17.0.Based on the quantitative analysis of the data obtained from questionnaires,oral tests and the qualitative analysis of the interview,following findings have been made:PBL approach has a positive effect on non-English majors' WTC;Compared with the high WTC group,PBL approach can more effectively improve the low WTC group'WTC;The application of PBL approach also significantly improves non-English majors' oral English proficiency.Therefore,PBL approach is proved to be effective in increasing non-English majors' WTC.On the basis of the research results,some pedagogical implications and suggestions for future study are put forward by the author.However,due to some subjective and objective factors,e.g.the short experimental time,the existence of the uncontrollable variables and the author's insufficient abilities,there are some inevitable limitations in the present study.