Chinese College Students' Dynamic perceptions of communicative and non-communicative activities in english-as-a-foreign-language class

Abstract

This study investigates Chinese non-English majors' dynamic views on the appropriateness and effectiveness of communicative and non-communicative activities in English class. A questionnaire was carried out on 60 non-English majors from one university at two different times two years apart. The result demonstrated that quite surprisingly, the overall positive attitude toward both communicative and non-communicative activities was maintained over the two-year period among subjects. Nevertheless, the Paired-sample t-test indicated that with the CLT-conducted English class continued, students' perceptions of three communicative activities and three non-communicative activities changed significantly. The result speaks of the necessity to integrate communicative and non-communicative activities in English class. What is more, it behooves English teachers to track the trajectory of students' perceptions of class activities so as to adjust them accordingly such that students' motivation in class participation could be intensified and learning opportunities thus derived could be expanded. © 2012 Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg.