Endless Inquiry-an Experimental Study On Inquiry-Based Approach In College Oral English Teaching

The Bureau of Education had published the new "Teaching Requirements of College English" in2004, which clearly focused its attention on developing students’ ability to use English in an all-round way, especially in listening and speaking. Oral English achievement is an important indicator of college English teaching. However, for various reasons as non-native environment and inappropriate teaching pedagogies, Chinese students are always weak in speaking. Through reviewing the current status of college oral English teaching, it can be found that there are four main problems in oral English teaching and learning:lack of creativity in teaching, low degrees of student-involvement in class, lack of motivation in study, and extreme disparity of students’oral English proficiency. Inquiry-based method which has the traits of positivity, initiative and constructivism, is a practical and feasible method in oral English teaching and learning. This thesis is intended to apply the inquiry-based teaching model to college oral English class, to provide an alternative method of improving college oral English teaching.Ever since it has been proposed, inquiry-based approach (using IBA for short in the following) has gained more and more attention from educators and researchers. Inquiry-based approach advocates that students actively find out and master scientific concepts, principles, and conclusions by means of exploring and problem-solving. It is a students-centered method of education, focusing on exploring problems. Students are encouraged to raise meaning questions; teachers are supposed to avoid giving direct answers but guide students to explore and find out the answer by themselves. Inquiry-based approach provides a students-centered environment in which students initiatively acquire and construct knowledge during the inquiry process.This thesis is an experimental study of the application of inquiry-based approach to college oral English teaching, which lasts for fifteen weeks. The study is conducted in Zhengzhou University Florida College and the research subjects are74non-English sophomores.38of them from class one are treated as the control group, and the other36from class two as the experimental group. The two classes have a same oral English instructor, and the same class periods. At the beginning of the semester, both classes are given a same pre-test to learn about their oral English competence. The analysis of the data shows that there is no significant difference between the two classes’ oral English competence at the beginning of the semester. During the semester, the control group is instructed with traditional teaching approach on oral English classes, while the experimental group with inquiry-based approach. At the end of the semester, both classes are given a post-experimental oral English test. Through data analysis, it can be concluded that inquiry-based teaching approach is effective in oral English teaching.