Abstract

Since the reform of English curriculum, developing students’ communicative ability has become one of the most important goals of English teaching. Different from traditional class, many teachers will use different teaching activities to draw students’ attention and make the class more active. However, are those intriguing activities really effective? What is an effective teaching activity?

The author did an investigation in Xue Jun Primary School. Questionnaire, interview and classroom observation were used to collect authentic data. Based on the result of questionnaire and interview, the author talked about the current situation of English teaching activities in primary school. And through analyzing some common activities, the author found that there are many problems in activity design and teachers’ implement. It is very hard to find a balance between form and content. Some commonly used activities also have the problem of high cost with low efficiency.

On the foundation of the findings, the author also put forward some suggestions to make English teaching activities more effective.

Keyword: English classroom teaching activity; form and content; effectiveness; problems; suggestions

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Background of the study-1

1.2 Purpose of the study-2

2. Literature review-3

2.1 Effective teaching-3

2.2 TPR and Activity approach-3

2.3 Categorization of activities-4

2.4 Principles of designing teaching activities-4

3. Method-5

3.1 Participants-6

3.2 Instrument-6

3.2.1 Questionnaire.6

3.2.2 Interview..6

3.3.3 Classroom observation.6

4. Result and discussion-6

4.1 Data description-7

4.2 Cases of some activities-8

4.2.1 Telling stories..8

4.2.2 The using of Word cards.9

4.2.3 Simon says10

4.3 The relationship between form and content-11

4.4 Suggestions for English teaching activities-12

5. Conclusion-13

References-14

Appendix-15