The Enlightenment of Oral English Skill Competition to English Teaching Reform at Vocational Colleges

杨静宇

【Abstract】As the output base of applied talents， vocational colleges bear the burden of cultivating high technical and skilled talents. The rapid development of social economy requires more to the output of talents； it puts forward more and newer demand to the education at vocational colleges， which can be seen from the vocational students skill competition in recent years. Base on the following three aspects： to enhance the practicalness of teaching content， to change the traditional teaching methods and to diversify the evaluation mode， this paper tries to present the direction of English teaching reform at vocational colleges and aims to provide suggestions to the development of English teaching.

【Key words】Oral English； skill competition； teaching reform

Foreword

From 2004 on， English Course Guiding Committee decided to hold vocational students oral English competition every year； in 2011， the Ministry of Education brought the competition into national vocational students skills competition， which not only improves students interest to learn English， but also brings enlightenment to English teaching reform.

To enhance the practicalness of the teaching content

Its common to find students are weak in communicating in English. In the future， it will be an inevitable trend at vocational colleges to enhance the practicalness of the teaching content and to improve students ability to use English thereby. In order to achieve this， it is necessary to design all teaching procedures well. More practical training should be arranged for students to express their thoughts and to avoid the output of dumb English. Secondly， the textbooks should be reformed； traditional textbooks are formalized in form and emphasis on knowledge transfer. In order to enhance practicalness， teachers can divide the textbooks into individual chapters according to the different topics according to students actual conditions， each chapter connects， and students can expand their language ability accordingly. Throughout the whole teaching process， teachers should advance with the times， be ready to accept new knowledge and update teaching content to meet students long-term development needs， so as to promote students practical ability.

To change the traditional teaching methods

The unsatisfactory performance in students oral English skill competition is relevant to the teaching methods teachers adopted. It is necessary to change the teaching methods when reforming English teaching， which can be done in two aspects：First， to change the cramming method and focus on students participation， thus to change from “want me to learn” to “I want to learn”. Cooperative teaching method and task-based approach are good choices. Let students be the master of the class， oral English competition can be done anytime and anywhere during teaching process. Second， to control the teaching material； students wont be provided with English materials directly but will be asked to explore the rules by themselves， which helps them to improve their language ability.endprint

To diversify the evaluation mode

A lot of students have difficulty expressing themselves， this is because each phase of English learning is measured by a single way and students are evaluated by writing rather than speaking. When implementing oral English teaching reform， it is necessary to evaluate students English proficiency comprehensively， like combining periodic examination and daily inspection， including students usual performance into the inspection process and dividing final exams into oral and written ones. The examination method above is comprehensive， specific， it helps to evaluate students learning ability scientifically from multiple perspectives and also helps to improve students learning initiative and ability.

Conclusion

In recent years， there has been a shortage of English talents， so do other professional talents with good English skills. To analyze the boost of oral English skill competition to English teaching reform at vocational colleges， search for proper ways to reform， find out the problems， point out the reform orientation， provide ideas and references to the steady development of English teaching and promote the perfection of talent cultivation mode.

References：

[1]Ellis，Rod.（1999）.Learning a Second Language Through Interaction.Philadelphia：John Benjamin.

[2]Richards，J.C.（2006）.Communicative Language Teaching Today.New York：Cambridge University Press.endprint