A Study Of English Classroom Silence In Higher Vocational College From The Perspective Of Constructivism

The Basic Requirements for Higher Vocational and Technical Education(2006)claims the basic and ultimate goal of English Courseis to develop the students' communicative competence including the ability of speaking,listening,reading,writing and translation,it lays special emphasis on applying English in workplace.However,having been influenced by traditional English teaching for many years,it is common for higher vocational college students to keep silent in English class.Bruneau(1973)defined silence as pausal interruptions in dialogue,conversation,discussion,debate and etc.from angle of interaction,these pausal interruptions are related to affective,interpersonal relationships between people and the exchange of information or problem solving.The study on students' silence abroad began in 1959 with the publication of Hall's book The Silent Language while relevant studies home are relatively late and focus on its causes.This study aims to make a thorough inquiry for the causes of students' English classroom silence in higher vocational college,92 non-English majors and 5 teachers serve as subjects in this study,and the study instruments include questionnaires,interviews and classroom observation.The study lasts 16 weeks with aims to answer three questions as following:1)What is the current situation of English classroom silence in higher vocational college? 2)What are the causes of Englishclassroom silence in higher vocational college? 3)What countermeasures can teachers take to reduceEnglish classroom silence in higher vocational college from the perspective of constructivism? Detailed statistics reveal that students' silence in higher vocational college English class is serious and widespread.Students' silence in English class are mainly attributed to three aspects—students' factors,teachers' factors and learning environment factors.Students' English proficiency,attitude towards English learning,motivation,personality and anxiety lead to silence or passive participation of English teaching;teaching concept,teaching methods,teaching design and teachers' questioning strategies and feedback are closely correlated to students' English class silence.Aside from that,large-class size teaching,students' conformity and fear of losing face all contribute to English class silence.Countermeasures of reducing English class silence are also proposed on the basis of causes which have been found,such as adopting Interactive Teaching Method,Task-based Language Teaching and Problem-based Learning Method,in addition,English teachers in higher vocational colleges are supposed to integrate teaching materials and improving strategies of questioning and giving feedback.Much effort are needed to fully stimulate students' motivation and interest for English learning,and the reduce of students' anxiety and small-size class teaching help students behave more actively in English class.Finally,it is necessary for the students to cast off conformity and face concept.All these can reducestudents' silence in English class and enhance the efficiency of English teaching in higher vocational college.