A Study Of Extracurricular English Learning Of EFL Students In Senior High Schools

Enhancement of efficiency in English extracurricular learning is significant to the globalachievement in teaching and learning English in senior middle school English instruction. Thenew national English subject standard points out that importance should be attached toextracurricular learning. Since there are few reports on studies on the status quo of the Englishextracurricular learning on the part of the senior middle school students, this study will striveto give some insights in this regard. Theoretically, the study will enrich our understanding ofthe research object and our knowledge of their extracurricular learning in English, andpractically, it will push forward the senior middle school students’ extracurricular learning inEnglish, contributing to development of their English communicative competence.The main research question of the study is what the status quo of senior middle schoolstudents’ extracurricular learning in English is like. The object of study is the selectedstudents and teachers of English in Weihai City No.2Middle School. In method, the studywill adopt literature research and empirical research by means of interviews andquestionnaires. For the latter part, the interviews and questionnaires will be designed on thebasis of some relevant theories and the aspects relevant with extracurricular learning inEnglish, which will be conducted to investigate the present situation of senior middle schoolstudents in extracurricular English learning.The main findings of the study include: There is a wide lack among the interviewedteachers in the relevant theories for conducting senior middle school students’ extracurricularlearning in English, and inadequate guidance over the choice of materials and methods, andperformance assessment of the students’ extracurricular learning. In the backgrounds oflearning for testing, the teachers find it hard to create adequate extracurricular learningconditions to help students with development of autonomous learning abilities. The time spentby most students on extracurricular English learning is on the insufficient side. The number ofstudents interested in extracurricular learning is small, and for those conductingextracurricular learning, they tend to spend much time in learning English. The learningmaterials are largely the textbooks and relevant supporting books of exercises. The goal formost students of such kind in making such choices is to do well in examinations, though thereare also some of them who learn out of their hobby interest. There is inadequate knowledgeamong the students on the learning strategies, for which they tend to depend on their teachers as the main source of information. As for the forms of extracurricular English learning, themore often taken ones are combinations of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Theirdifficulties in learning are mainly concerning oral and writing aspects. Most students, whenmeeting difficulties, choose to give up and do not try to solve them in time. The students showmuch difference in making autonomous learning efforts, many of them failing to give fullplay to their subjectivity and train themselves in this regard. The parents of students holddifferent opinions on their extracurricular English learning, the main of which is neutralattitude in favor of the students’ own choice. There are many students who watch TV Englishprograms, attend special English classes, or summer camps designed for learning English. Ofthose who conduct extracurricular English learning, most show initiative in participation inthe learning activities. With regard to the influence of extracurricular English learning on theresults of English examinations, the students tend to think that the extracurricular Englishlearning is contributive to upgrading achievements. Those students who are weak in Englishtend to lack self-confidence in performing extracurricular English learning.On the basis of the investigating results and some relevant theories, the author makes thefollowing as suggestions mainly on the teaching side for enhancing performance ofextracurricular English learning. Both teachers and students should attach importance toextracurricular English learning. The teachers should give more play to their role as the guideover students’ extracurricular learning activities, and help them change their attitudes andencourage them to perform well in their individualized ways, thus forming more productiveinteractive relationship between students and teachers in this regard. More efforts should bemade to instruct the students to grasp proper strategies in learning and self-monitoring, andcreate adequate conditions for students to carry out their extracurricular English learningplans. Meanwhile, different modes of assessing the students’ leaning achievements should beadopted to facilitate their leaning efforts. The extracurricular English learning should beconducted according to the principle of interest and diversity and that of giving priority tostudents as the learning subjects, with emphasis on developing their abilities to learn inautonomous ways.