PBL教学法在初中英语教学中的应用分析

ContentsChinese Abstract2English Abstract31. Introduction41.1 Background of the Study41.2 Purpose of the Study41.3 Significance of the Study52. Studies at Home and Abroad52.1 Studies at Home52.2 Studies Abroad63. Theoretical Framework of Problem-Based Learning ( PBL).73.1 Definition of PBL73.2 Characteristics of PBL83.3 Role Transitions of Teachers and Students84. The Practice of Problem-Based Learning ( PBL ) in Junior Middle School English Teaching104.1 Pre-Class114.2 In-Class114.3 Post-Class124.4 The Process of PBL Application124.5 Existing Problems of the Study in China125. Conclusion13References14PBL教学法在初中英语教学中的应用分析摘 要随着信息化和全球化时代趋势的不断发展，人们的生活和学习方式发生了深刻的变化，培养具有创新精神、实践能力和具备终身学习能力的新型人才已成为高校人才培养模式的重新定位。其中，教育信息化的发展促进了高等教育教学课程改革,问题式教学法应运而生。问题式教学法是以学生为中心、教师为引导的新型教学模式。它不仅有利于提高学生的英语语言能力和学生的自主学习能力，同时还有利于培养学习者的团队协作能力，还有助于提高教师综合素质。但当前PBL教学模式在中学面临着师生自身经验能力不足、经费和硬件不足等诸多问题。而中学作为高中的铺路石、未来的奠基石，是培养学生良好的学习能力的至关重要的时段。对PBL在中学英语课堂的可行性和可能性进行探究，有助于提升教学质量、提高学生学习兴趣。关键词：PBL教学；可行性；新型教学模式；初中英语pThe Analysis of the Application of PBL in Junior Middle School English Teaching AbstractWith the continuous development of information and globalization, the way people live and learn has undergone profound changes. Cultivating new talents with innovative spirit and practical abilities as well as lifelong learning skills has become the re-positioning of the talent cultivation method in colleges and universities. The development of educational informationization promotes the reform of higher education teaching curriculum, and the project-based teaching method comes into being. Project-based Learning(PBL), a student-centered new teaching mode with teacher-guided principle, can not only improve the language ability，the autonomous learning ability and teamwork ability of students, but also the overall quality of teachers. However, the new measure is facing an avalanche of problems like ability limit, experience shortage as well as the lack of money and equipment. As a paving stone of senior high school and a pillar stone of future, the junior middle school period is the top priority time to cultivate good learning ability. Hence, investigating the feasibility and possibility of PBL in English class of junior middle school contributes to improving teaching quality and arousing the interest of students.Key words: Project-based Learning(PBL); feasibility; new teaching mode; junior middle school English 1. Introduction 1.1 Background of the StudyThanks to the development of the digital age, great changes have taken place in the world. Anyone or any part of our society is bound to be left out of this development trend if no corresponding actions are taken, especially junior middle school, which is the source of our talent pool. The 21 century is information-based age. English, as the widest spoken language all over the world, can be treated as a bridge of connecting the international trade, technological exchange, and educational resource. And learners employments and further educations are also subject to the mastery of English (凌静, 2015). Nowadays, productive and educated citizens are required to acquire stronger literacy abilities in increasing amounts of societal surroundings. Similarly, the high-tech era also puts forward higher requirement on peoples study abilities. Many people in multilingual settings need to acquire a second language with a high degree of proficiency in order to achieve personal, occupational and professional goals. As it turned out, in most junior middle school English teaching, many teachers still naturally go on using the traditional teaching method, which still have many deficiencies. For example, the atmosphere is dull in the class; The conclusion drawn from the teacher-centered class is that learners are passive to receive the knowledge so they are not interested in learning English; the teaching method which is mostly used is traditional grammar translation method; too much attention is paid to language points and grammar teaching; learners are lack of cultural background information, and so on and so forth. Learners individuality and individual consciousness are suppressed by this kind of teaching method in the learning process. In addition, it will also affect learners ability of using language, cooperative learning and social practical ability (吴海燕, 2015). At least two things can be summarized from this: “using English in an overall manner” and “ability to study independently”. This means that cultivation of learners comprehensive ability to use English in daily life and to learn independently is something that we cannot afford to ignore. 1.2 Purpose of the Study In the new round of junior middle school English teaching reform, many teachers teaching concept has changed, and they try to find an effective way to change the current teaching and learning of English reading. PBL teaching method can reflect the new teaching concepts which are pursued by junior middle school English teaching and learning and Requirements. This thesis aims to apply PBL theory to junior middle school English teaching, to explore possible theoretical and practical innovations on English education as well as to provide a new perspective for the all-round English teaching. This is an attempt to study and discuss the relationship between learners positive interdependence and autonomous learning ability under the PBL teaching mode. The specific objectives of the current study are presented as follows: Firstly, it will implement the definition of PBL. Secondly, the characteristics of the PBL in the current teaching field are investigated. Finally, it will explore the practice through teaching achievements where PBL has been implemented (张建伟, 2000(3):55). 1.3 Significance of the Study The present study is considered to have both theoretical and practical significance. Practically, firstly, the effective application of PBL in junior middle school English reading teaching will out-date some old and inefficient teaching strategies and method and open a new window. Secondly, teachers can draw inspirations from the study when teaching. Thirdly, this study acts as a fuel to pertinent researches. Taken altogether, instead of task-based teaching, which has been prevailing in China, PBL shall come to the educators attentions. “Project driven” refers to that after discussing teachers and students find out the method for a certain project, which, ultimately, focuses on the active participation of participants; while “task-driven” depends on the passive acceptance of students. Thirdly, in teaching activities, “task” focuses on simple, mechanical and step-by-step methods, while “problem” focuses on students thinking and solving, which is more conducive to the development of students' intelligence. Finally, “problem-driven” is a better guider to direct students to participate in the evaluation stage of classroom activities, directly affecting their emotions, attitudes and values, and promoting the realization of three-dimensional goals. To sum up, English teaching in compulsory education should gradually change from “task-based” to “problem-driven”.2. Studies at Home and Abroad2.1 Studies AbroadFrom the historical perspective of the development of western teaching, the concept of Project-based Learning (PBL) went back to the Socratic Method by Socrates, which was studied by Rousseau and Dewey afterwards. There was a relatively long period of its early development (Albanese, M. & Mitchell, S., 1993). In the early stage, it was mostly theoretical discussion and exploration of the application in medical courses. By the 1990s, the relevant research topics increased significantly in line with the application range of various subjects and the scope of countries. After more than 50 years of evolution, its teaching mode and teaching strategy are more mature with formidable vitality, but there are still deficiencies which are to be tuned and improved through teaching practice. Under the guidance of constructivism, PBL courses adhere to transform gradually the traditional “knowledge-centered” education into “ability-centered” one, focusing on cultivating students application abilities and practical ones. Here is some information about PBL overseas. To start with, they have conducted a bountiful study of PBL basic theory, including its history, concepts, and characteristics; second, many scholars have investigated the cases about PBL method practice, which, to a great extent, teach important lessons for working teachers to use PBL, and also help others to understand PBL; thirdly, the evaluation of the effectiveness of PBL teaching, how to evaluate, how to effectively evaluate, and the study of factors that affect the effectiveness of PBL; fourth, under the network environment, with the help of utilization of superior multimedia resources, PBL study has established “information technology + issue-based learning”- the new learning model to enrich PBL research (杜进,王燕, 2015(19):1821-1824);2.2 Studies at HomeIn the 1980s, PBL started to be used in the field of medicine in China, which, as time passes, have been applied to other fields. The research proceeded with the foreign researches and then introduced foreign ones into specific teaching practices gradually. Have absorbed the advanced research results from abroad, Chinese researchers investigated many aspects of PBL in detail, like the theory, implementation conditions, teaching methods and evaluation criteria. Meanwhile, researchers have explored the application of PBL in teaching practice in China and published many academic papers.For example, ZHI Yongbi, an associate professor of Nanjing Normal University, issued an essay-Application of PBL in Foreign Language Education in China: Significance, Difficulties and Solutions, which combined the key point of PBL and probe the encountered difficulties and measures about using PBL teaching mode in Chinese English education. Another associate professor, DING Houyin, issued an essay, an integration of PBL and action research, pointing out that “problem-based learning” teaching mode is the new direction of English classroom teaching in China. There are still some deficiencies in domestic research as follows: First, some studies are out of line with Chinas education status. Most dissertations fail to adjust with curriculum reform of basic education situation with curt introduction of foreign PBL teaching mode. Secondly, the research lacks comprehensiveness. Some detail information like specific methods in process, teaching strategy is weak. The last one, the major emphasis of most researches is theory and literature review while practical trials are unnoticed. In short, PBL now mainly tend to cater to higher education (杨伟平,陈万光, 2010(130):264-265).3. Theoretical Framework of Project-Based Learning (PBL)3.1 Definition of PBLProject-based language learning originated from the idea of “learning by doing” which John Dewey initially promoted in 1915 in the book Schools of Tomorrow. Educational research has made this idea of teaching and learning into a methodology known as “project-based learning”.Researchers have not reached an agreement on the definition of “problem-based learning”. They have put forward different opinions instead of providing a unified definition. Howard Barrows, who see PBL as a general approach to education, defined problem-based learning as learning that begins with the effort to understand and solve a problem. Problem-based learning is both a course and a process. As a course, it involves the following aspects: problem selection, problem solving proficiency, group participation skills, etc. As a process, it usually uses systematic methods to solve problems or challenges in life. They described the learning process as the following seven parts: Firstly, offer learners a complex, real problem situation, rather than a specific problem; second, learners discuss in groups and ask questions. thirdly, the hypothesis of solving the problem is given; fourth, make full use of various resources to verify the hypothesis; fifth, integrate all kinds of information and resources, put forward new hypothesis; sixth, verify the hypothesis again; seventh, show the results of solving problems. Later, Howard burrows definition of problem-based learning was no longer limited to the above analysis, but believed that problem-based learning not only refers to a particular learning method, but also has many different connotations (Peter Schwartz & Stewart Mennin, 2001).As a whole, PBL aims to put learning in a real situation, where learners acquire new knowledge and master new skills by solving problems. PBL focuses on the active participation of students so that students become the center of the class. Teachers give students help and suggestions instead of blindly imparting knowledge into students and giving orders to students. With the advent of the knowledge age and the information society, schools cannot provide students with all the knowledge and skills they need in their lifetime, in which independent learning ability which PBL attaches great importance to has become an important prerequisite for students to achieve lifelong development. PBL demands students to think more and put in more effort than traditional learning and improves their communication and cooperation ability in this process. Ultimately, the real learning goal of PBL is not to get the only right answer to a problem, but rather to focus on learning as students solve the problem. In addition, some teaching methods and strategies adopted in PBL courses such as task-oriented group learning, the combination of self-evaluation and peer evaluation are also applied to other courses, . However, what makes it special is that it can apply these methods to teach comprehensively, and encourage learners to solve problems voluntarily and come up with “problems-centered” opinion actively. (Dorothy h. Evensen & Cindy e. Hmelo, 2000).3.2 Characteristics of PBLMany scholars have probed into PBL from different angles and more attention is paid to the most important component of PBL, namely projects in the process of language learning. And the key points are summed up as follows according to the researches. First, start with the project.Projects fuels PBL teaching to carry out teaching activities. The learning content is implicit in the project while students gain knowledge around the project. The questions need to be real and specific; Also, the questions can be discovered and raised by the students themselves, or they can be carefully designed by the teachers according to the teaching content; Such a question is indeed beneficial to the improvement of students thinking ability. Amid the process of addressing problems, students can learn new knowledge as well as cultivate a variety of application abilities, such as the ability to solve problems, the ability to learn cooperatively, the ability to think comprehensively and so on.Second, be student-centered. During PBL teaching, students no longer absorb knowledge passively. Instead, when teachers raise or individuals find problems, they form learning groups, analyze problems, collect information, put forward hypotheses, verify hypotheses then finally solve problems. During this process, students are the masters of the course of solving problems. Teachers should encourage learners to learn independently in complex and real situations, and provide guidance and help properly only when students need it (支永碧, 2009(7): 34) . Thus, students can give full play to their subjectivity and initiative in the process of solving problems. Third, study in groups. During PBL teaching, due to the complexity and openness of problems, students need to work together to solve them. Especially, team-work is beneficial for junior middle school students to build cooperative awareness, which is undervalued by most of junior middle school in China. Students separate into groups of five or seven, and the members of the group work together, communicate with each other and solve problems together. Individual active learning is closely related to group cooperative learning. Clear division is the source of triumph, which, in an orderly way, makes each member to take the individual initiative and enthusiasm, to complete their own tasks, and then together, to communicate and solve problems. At the same time, the communication and discussion among the team members enable everyone to have a deeper understanding of the problem, analyze the problem more comprehensively and solve the problem better.3.3 Role Transitions of Teachers and StudentsSince PBL adheres to the teacher-led teaching mode with students as the main body, where students can solve problems through communication and cooperation to acquire knowledge. The roles of teachers and students have undergone transformation. It is vital for the role orientation of teachers and students, which is also the key to the smooth development of PBL English teaching.As for teachers:In the traditional teaching, teachers are regarded as the authority of knowledge. While in PBL teaching, the role of teachers has undergone a brand-new transformation. They are no longer only the conferrers of knowledge, but the promoters of student development, the guides of active learning, and the effective collaborators.Teachers have changed from knowledge conferrers to promoters of students development. We live in a fast moving technically advancing world where teachers are no longer the only way for students to acquire knowledge. Teachers major task of teaching has shifted from merely imparting knowledge to inspiring students to learn independently. Students play the leading role in the learning process, where teachers should use their own knowledge and teaching experience to direct students to carry out learning activities. In essence, PBL is a method that inspires learners to become a body of making movements in constructing a knowledge system, and this process requires students to explore independently instead of a third-party transmission. Therefore, teachers should guide students to discover knowledge and gradually construct the knowledge system.The teacher function transforms from knowledge exporter to the instructor of students autonomic learning. Student-centered situation in the learning process itself does not signify that teachers are mutually exclusive about students independent study, but the role of teachers has changed, that is, from knowledge exporter to guide and helper of students' learning activities. Teachers should create an environment which engages students in lively interaction and exchange of information and should guide students to solve problems and learn independently. Teachers should do a forward-looking prediction for difficulties students may encounter to avoid detours. For the confusion that the student encounters, the teacher should implement the appropriate guidance and point out timely. In particular, teachers should pay attention to guide students problem-solving creativity in the right direction and keep them moving forward in the right direction. For the confusion that the student encounters, teachers should carry on the appropriate guidance in time and point out. Teachers should focus on activating the students creativity in the right direction and keep them moving forward in the right direction (Robert Delisle, 2004).Therefore, during PBL teaching, teachers should try their best to establish reasonable problem situations, to guide students to find problems actively as well as to guide students to activate knowledge and experience related to the problem, and use these knowledge and exper