A Study Of Drama In Education Based On Production-Oriented Approach In Oral English Teaching In Junior High School

The National English Curriculum Standards clearly points out that “Foreign language teaching requires junior high school students to exchange information with their peers on familiar life topics,to participate in simple oral activities such as role playing under the guidance of teachers,and to achieve accurate pronunciation and intonation in oral activities.” It reveals the significance of oral English teaching in junior high school.In the present oral English teaching in junior middle school,however,language teachers pay too much attention to grammar and neglect the cultivation of students' oral proficiency.Besides,junior high school students tend to feel anxious in oral expression because of the limitation of their English knowledge,and unwilling to take the initiative to participate in oral practice.As a foreign language teaching theory with Chinese characteristics,production-oriented approach advocates the integration of learning and using,and encourages students to actively participate in oral activities,so as to stimulate students' interest in oral learning and improve their oral production.Moreover,drama in education has apparent advantages in helping foreign language learners to better adapt to authentic language contexts and enhance emotional experience.There are few studies at home and abroad on combination of production-oriented approach with the activity forms of drama in education in oral English teaching.Thus,this study focuses on the combination of production-oriented approach and drama in education,and explores its impact on junior high school students' oral English.In view of this,the following research questions will be discussed:(1)What is the effect of drama in education based on production-oriented approach on students' oral production including fluency,accuracy and complexity?(2)What is the impact of drama in education based on production-oriented approach on students' psychological factors including learning motivation,learning initiative and cooperative awareness?The researcher conducts an 18-week teaching experiment with 100 students from two parallel classes(Class Three and Class Four)in Huang Huadian Middle School in Anshan,Liaoning Province.Class 4 is the control class,and the traditional PPP teaching method is taught.While the drama in education based on production-oriented approach is adopted to teach in experimental class 3.The author collects and analyzes the data by pre-and-post oral tests and semi-structured interview,and reaches the following conclusions: after the teaching experiment,the oral English scores of both classes have been improved.The comparative analysis of results shows that the progress of the experimental class students is greater than that of the control class.The students in the experimental class are more natural in oral expression,more accurate in pronunciation and intonation,logical in language,fluent in sentences and able to express sentences with complex structures.Meanwhile,the interview result shows that students hold a positive attitude towards drama in education based on production-oriented approach.It provides students with an interactive platform to improve students' initiative and promote students' interaction and cooperation.Finally,based on the author's own teaching experience,this paper puts forward the deficiencies of the experimental process and relevant suggestions.It is a positive attempt of drama in education based on production-oriented approach in the oral English teaching of junior middle school,in hopes of providing reference for further teaching.