1、Improve the Students Oral English I. Introduction I work in No.3 Middle School. In my teaching, Ive found some problems, especially the problem that some of my students are not interested in speaking English. Ive told them time and again the importance of oral English and urged them to take an activ
2、e part in oral work. However, their interest in speaking English does not seem to be enhanced. I hope I can find solutions to the problem that has troubled me for some time through action research so that I can apply what I have learned into practice. Hopefully, the present situation in teaching ora
3、l English can be improved and my students can also benefit from the project.II. Problem analysis2.1 Summary of the problemsIn my teaching, the problem identified was really a serious one. My preliminary research confirmed that there were three main reasons that accounted for students lack of interes
4、t in oral class. Firstly, some students were afraid of being laughed by others because of their poor pronunciation and performance. Secondly, some students wanted to say, but they didnt know how to get start and what to say. Thirdly, some students particularly those who did not do well in the tradit
5、ional grammar-oriented written exam lacked Self-confidence in oral work. They thought that the oral class was only the showing- time for the “top-students”. Fourthly, some students didnt think the oral practice is useful to their grammar-oriented exam, so they were not interested in it at all.The Pr
6、oblems had been troubling me for a long time and now I was determined to work towards the solution to the problem. I started off by making an analysis of the problems.2.2.Methods of analysis (see Appendix A)2.2.1 The analytic method My problem is: Some of my students are not interested in oral pract
7、ice. Through the analytic method analysis, I made a chain of reflections about “others” and “my colleagues students” compared with “some of” and “my students”. The result showed that they are not as the same. So I noticed the poor oral work design was the main reason the problem. 2.2.2 Socratic dial
8、ogues The Socratic dialogues was used to analyze one of my big trouble-makers : I hardly help my students to express in English. As the result, “ the purpose of speaking I gave my students was not much clear” was the main reason. 2.2.3 Cause analysis: (see Appendix A)I did the Cause Analysis on both
9、 “teachers side” and “students side”. I analysis the four main reasons of students not being interested in oral practice. I recognized that I should add some Pronunciation Training Activities to improve students pronunciation; give the more clear instruction to let students know what to speak and ho
10、w to speak; offer more encouragement to the “low students” with low marks on the “grammar exams” to grow confidence; try to design some oral activities to improve the students ability on the “grammar exam” .2.2.4 Questionnaire survey:I designed one questionnaire and distributed to my students before
11、 conducting the research and required that they finish it within 20 minutes. All of them, 22 students, returned their questionnaires that were left anonymous. When all these data came in, I made some statistical evaluation. The result showed that 100% of the students thought the oral practice was im
12、portant and that about 80.5% of the students thought oral practice was quite necessary for their future development, which indicated that the students have been fully awarded of the importance and necessity of oral practice. But they might encounter difficulties, such as the language level is higher
13、 than the students, so they lost their confidence and interest.1. Results of problem analysis: After making the above analysis, Ive got the result that inadequate teaching design is mainly responsible for students lack of interest in oral practice. So in my future teaching, I will try to improve my
14、oral work design through adding some items to improve the students pronunciation, giving them more encouragement and more detailed instructions for their speaking topic, etc.III. Project objective and hypothesis1. Project objectiveThe project objective is to enhance learners interest in oral practic
15、e.2. Project hypothesisIt is hypothesized that learners interest in oral practice can be enhanced by well-designed oral work.IV. Project rational1. The purpose and importance of teaching speaking in English course“Speaking is the skill that the students will be judged upon most in real-life situatio
16、ns. It is an important part of everyday interaction and most often the first impression of a person is based on his/her ability to speak fluently and comprehensibly.”(Wang then students Practice the new language on the following stage; finally students are given the opportunity to integrate the new
17、language items with the old through activities that give free and extensive expression aimed at developing fluency. That is the last stage Production.2.2 Communicative speaking activities Little wood (1981) divides communicative speaking activities into two types: functional communication activities
18、 and social interaction activities. For beginning language students, Little wood points out that it is necessary to also include what he calls pre-communicative activities, which are more structural and allow the learner to practice the forms of the language.2.3 The learners roles and responsibiliti
19、esTricia Hedge (2002) pointed out that one of the perspective on learner- centeredness is “ encouraging learners to take on a greater degree of responsibility for their own successful learning, not only by contributing to course or activity design , but also by continuing their learning outside clas
20、s, at home, or in self-access facilities.” What is language? I think that Language is the art of speaking. So when you are learning English, you are a person, who is learning by doing it; you are a person, who is working by using it and you are a person, who lives in it. Make English study a part of
21、 your daily routine, the same as eating or brushing your teeth. Mere exposure to English will not enable you to speak English. Speaking English will teach you English!2.4The role of the teacherI will let the students know that as a teacher in speaking classroom, Im not just a teacher the person who
22、just gives you knowledge, I have many roles in one. Jeremy Harmer says, “Within the classroom teachers role may change from one activity to another, or from one stage of an activity to another. If we are fluent at making these changes our effectiveness as teachers is greatly enhanced.” (Harmer, 2003
23、) So teacher is playing different roles at different times. In the PPP model, I should have greater control at the presentation stage and often act as a demonstrator. At the practice stage, I am expected to be an organizer, a conductor and a monitor. At the production stage when the situation is mor
24、e student-directed, I should play the role of a stimulator and a helper. In learner-centered teaching, “that is teaching which makes the learners needs and experience central to the educational process.” (Harmer, 2003) So “If (the teacher) is indeed wise, he does not bid you enter the house of his w
25、isdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.” (Gibran, 1991)3. Successful elements of speaking classA successful speaking class shows the following characteristics:1) Your students talk a lot in English. “In successful speaking tasks, the students talk a lot in the foreign language
26、.”(Ur, 1996)2) The students participation is even. “Whether the task takes place among the whole class or in a small groups, a successful task should encourage speaking from as many different students as possible.” (Ur, 1996) 3）The students motivation is high. “Research has shown that motivation is
27、one of the most important variables in successful language learning. Teachers can do a lot to increase and maintain the motivation of students by the types of tasks that they organize in class.”(Ur, 1996)4）The language use should be an acceptable level. “In a successful speaking task, the language i
28、s at the right level. The task must be designed so that students can complete the task successfully with the language that they have. (Ur, 1996)4. The role of good lesson planning“Lesson planning is an art of combining a number of different elements into a coherent whole so that a lesson has an iden
29、tity which students can recognize, work within, and react to ” (Harmer, 2003) As for teachers, lesson planning is not optional, it is essential preparation for teaching. It is a matter for the teacher what to teach, and how. (Davies, 2002)A good lesson plan follows the principles of variety, flexibi
30、lity, learn ability, and linkage. (Wang and to adopt different methods and techniques rather than to be a slave to one methodology. The lesson plan should be neither too hard nor too easy. Doing things that are beyond or below the students coping ability will diminish their motivation (Schumann, 199
31、9). Language learning needs recycling and reinforcement, so the stages and steps should be planned to be linked with one another.V. Project research1. Research design 1.1 ObjectivesThe objective of this research is to increase students interest by better-designed oral work.1.2 Subjects The subjects
32、are 22 high-school students in No. 2 Middle School in Tuoketuo County, who are in their early 20s and with under-moderated English level.1.3 Materials The materials are based on the Senior English For China Book 1 A.1.4 Researching tools Five data collection instruments were used in the research: qu
33、estionnaires (see Appendix F), Teaching notes: (see Appendix B), Students handouts (see Appendix C), audio-recording, diary-keeping, speech-writing exercises and oral tests- prepared talks. 1.4.1 QuestionnaireThe two questionnaires designed before and after the project were essentially comparable in
34、1) Identifying the problems2) Showing the result of the project1.4.2 Audio-recordingOne pronunciation training article was assigned once a week to check, correct and improve students pronunciation. 1.4.3 Diary-keepingDiaries help to record the students responses and my own observation. They are writ
35、ten in full detail, because “ detail is everything.”(Liu & Hu, 1999)1.4.4 Prepared talks (Speech-writing exercise)Prepared talks were planned to give students the opportunities to show off, which can help them feel more comfortable and successful about themselves. “ If properly organized, prepared t
36、alks can be extremely interesting for both speaker and listeners.” (Harmer 2003) So four speech-writing exercises were assigned to prepare students for giving a talk in class.1.5 Researching methodsExperimental Method was used and data were collected over a span of roughly one month from the beginni
37、ng of October，2004 to the end of it. The comparison was made between the results of the two questionnaires in percentage. 2. Researching procedure 2.1 Problem identified with the first questionnaire During my teaching, I noticed that some students are interested in the oral practice, but some are no
38、t. To find out the reason I designed a questionnaire. I made a draft questionnaire and put it into trial use and then revised it. The questions cover a range from the importance and the purpose of the oral practice to the roles of the teachers and students. 22 questionnaires were distributed and col
39、lected. After processing the results with computer, it is found that 12.8% of my students were not interested in oral practice, and 37.8% of them just felt so so, which formed the base of the project research. 2.2 Implementation of the research (see Appendix D, E) Four oral activities were designed
40、based on the Senior English For China Book 1 A. It took four weeks to carry out the implementation by using different teaching means-2.2.1 Week 1 In the first week, we did a Game-activity to practice talking about likes and dislikes based on Unit 1 in Senior English Book 1 A. Students acted with the
41、 Students Cards (see Appendix C) in groups: One group asked questions about likes and dislikes, another groups answered them. Then they talked and decided who could be friends.After the class, students made a short speech about their likes and dislikes as the homework. 2.2.2 Week 2 In the second wee
42、k, we did a Role-play Activity to practice direct & In direct Speech based on Unit 2 in Senior English for China Book 1 A . Students worked in groups. Each group formed by Student A, B, and C. Student A and B requested each other to do something. Student C was not clear about what they say, so stude
43、nt C asked A and B to retell what their partners said in indirect way.After the class, they made a short speech about one of their favorite stars.2.2.3 Week 3 In the third week, we did a Research-Activity to practice talking about traveling based on Unit 3 in Senior English for China Book 1 A(1) Stu
44、dents worked in groups, which formed with a monitor, a secretary, a speaker and some researched members. (2) The monitor asked these researched members some questions, the members answered them according to their imagination.(3) The secretary wrote down the key information from the answers.(4) The s
45、peaker reported the result of their research in the whole class.After the class, students made a short speech about one of their traveling as the homework.2.2.4 Week 4 In the last week, we did a Information-gap Activity to practice talking about personal experiences based on Unit 5 in Senior English
46、 Book 1 A .Students worked in pairs. The teacher gave Student A and student B different worksheets. They both had a biography of Mery1 Streep, but they had different pieces of information gapped. They had to ask each other questions to find out the information that had been gapped and written it in
47、the text. The teacher checked that if they know how to ask appropriate questions before the task starts. Then she or he walked around and monitor the students while they are doing the task.After the class, students made a short speech about one of their experiences they remembered deeply as the home
48、work.3. Data collection and analysisAt the end of the research, the second questionnaire survey was done to collect the information about the results of the new Teaching-plan. After making an analysis and made the comparison between the results of the two questionnaires I have learned that my students interest in oral work has been increased by well-designed oral work.
