A Study On Presentation In Senior High School English Teaching

Under the pressure of the College Entrance Examination, most English teaching in senior high school is constrained by the exam-oriented education. The teacher-centered model of teaching results in superficial consciousness of English autonomous learning and lack of collaborative learning spirit. Even those who can get high scores in English examinations are weak in their oral abilities and lack self-confidence in speaking. To solve the problem, English classroom teaching in high school gradually pays more attention to having students learn English in the process of using it, setting authentic English environment for students as much as possible and creating more opportunities for English speaking. As a classroom activity, presentation has been applied early to English teaching. Previous studies abroad and at home mostly focus on the English class in universities and higher vocational colleges, but studies of presentations in high school English classes are scant.Therefore, a 12-week teaching experiment was conducted with the aim to explore practical strategies of conducting presentations in high school English teaching. The thesis attempts to investigate the benefits of doing presentations as well as the teacher and students’ attitudes towards doing presentations in high school. Fifty-four freshmen from a high school in Wuhan are participants in this research. This study is divided into three stages. First, the questionnaire was delivered to get students’ general understanding of presentation. Then the author recorded guiding dairy and students wrote activity reflections in the process of the teaching experiment of presentation. When the experiment was finished, a students questionnaire survey and a teacher interview were conducted, and the author’s guiding dairy and students’ reflections were collected. The findings of this study are summarized as follows:First, both students and the teacher in high school take positive attitudes towards doing presentations in English class. Students are willing to take part in doing presentations and do not think it will burden their daily learning. The teacher thinks doing presentations has positive influence on English classroom teaching and does not conflict with daily teaching work. Both students and the teacher hope to conduct presentation activity in the long term.Second, effective strategies for organizing a presentation activity in English class in high school are summarized as "SPHES", with each letter standing for one strategy: sharing resources with students, providing students with necessary guidance, highlighting teachers’ assessment, encouraging peer assessment, and sequencing presentations properly.Last, the effects of doing presentations in high school include:1) Students get improvement in their language abilities; 2) Students’ affects of English learning are enhanced; 3) Their autonomous learning habits are cultivated, especially that of reflections. In addition, students improve their technology skills and team spirit too.