Research On The Cognitive Dimension Of College English Classroom Activities

Classroom activity plays a very important role in English teaching.It functions particularly significantly among college students,whose abstract and divergent thinking have been well developed,and who are more likely to be positively influenced when it comes to their English learning.On the one hand,it could assist them in developing their English language competence,and on the other hand,their cognitive ability could also be enhanced.In order to achieve these goals,a good teacher will have to make a highest requirement on his/her design and disposition of the classroom activities.In this research,the data are collected from 20 class periods with 20 minutes each by contestants in the 7th SFLEP National Foreign Language Teaching Final Contest.The video-recordings of these classes are firstly transcribed and then analyzed aiming at identifying class activities and categorizing them into 6 different cognitive dimensions,according to the Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives theory.The present research is made aiming to answer three questions:(1)What are the cognitive features in College English teachers' activity design?(2)What are the cognitive features of College English teachers' activity design in different class types?(3)What are the cognitive features of College English teachers' activity design in different class stages?Taking classroom observation as the research instrument,the author collects the data and makes data analysis.The research findings are:(1)the activities in College English classes are not balanced in cognitive categories,with most of the activities falling into the lower level cognitive domain(69.12%);(2)different types of classes(reading classes and listening classes)in these classes present different features in activity design;(3)different stages in these classes present different features in activity design.Based on these findings,suggestions are put forward:(1)College English teachers are suggested to raise their awareness in promoting the students' cognitive abilities,which requires them to carry higher order activities;(2)College English teachers should choose appropriate classroom activities in order to achieve various teaching objectives in different classes as well as different class stages;(3)classroom activity designs should be based on cognitive dimensions so as to make them more systematic and practical.In the future research,research samples can be expanded and other problems which are awaited to be researched can be involved,such as writing and translating.