An Action Research On Promoting English Teaching Of Non-English Major In Vocational College Through Project-based English Assignment

Compared with university students, the entrance score of the vocational college students’ National Matriculation English Test (NMET) is lower. Most of their English scores are lower than90. Due to their poor English foundation, the students in vocational college are weak in learning motivation and learning autonomy. What is more, the loose connection between English and their daily life results in their insufficient English learning interests, practical English competence and awareness of cross-cultural communication.The present paper reports an action research (AR) on whether the Project-based English Assignment (PEA) basing on Project-based learning (PBL) can solve the problems of English teaching in vocational college, meet the requirements of New Higher Vocational Education English Curriculum Criterion (NHVEECC) and promote English teaching of non-English major in vocational college. It attempts to find out1) What are the effects of PEA on the following four aspects required by NHVEECC:students’ learning motivation, learning autonomy, English practical competence, especially comprehensive abilities to use English in vocational environment, and awareness of cross-cultural communication?2) What should be paid attention to the design of PEA in vocational college English teaching?The research subjects were116students from four biology major classes of Guangxi Agriculture Vocational and Technical College (GAVTC). The four classes had the close mean score in National Matriculation English Test (NMET). Two classes were selected to be the experimental classes (EC), and the other two were the control classes (CC). Four times of PEA were assigned to EC once a month for the whole semester; meanwhile the assignments for CC were the normal ones after learning one unit of the text book including text reading, words reciting, composition writing and so on. Both quantitative research and qualitative research were adopted in the study. The quantitative research consists of exams and a questionnaire. The exam scores of these two types of classes on English listening, vocabulary&grammar, reading, translating, writing and speaking were compared and analyzed to see the effects of PEA on students’English practical competence. The data of the questionnaires were analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)17.0. The qualitative research includes interview and reflection. In the process of interview, students’answers were recorded by letters, which were later categorized and transcribed to triangulate the findings of other quantitative research. During the action research, efforts were made to continuously improve and refine the PEA design basing on PBL in order to find out the effective PEA design mode through reflection.The results indicated that PEA can promote English teaching of non-English major in vocational college. It promotes the students’learning motivation, learning autonomy, enhances students’English practical competence, especially the vocational English competence and cultivates the students’ awareness of cross-cultural communication. Greater improvement has been made in speaking, translating and writing in comparison of improvement in listening, vocabulary, and reading. Through the experience of project design and its implementation for a number of times and repeated reflections, four suggestions are proposed on project assignment design for vocational college English teaching among students of poor English foundation and varied English proficiency level. First, the projects can be distributed to students as assignments. Second, the teacher should play an active role of supervisor. Third, the different levels of projects enable students of different English levels to make corresponding achievements. Fourth, it is better to arrange no more than three times of project assignments for a semester in order to ensure the quality of the project assignment.