Chapter One Introduction
1.1Research Background
The 21st century is the era of knowledge-based economy, the competition ofnational comprehensive ability has been transformed into the competition of talents. Thecultivation of students' innovative consciousness and independent ability has directimpact on the level of education and the talent training. In order to conform to therequirements of this new era, student-centered, quality-oriented education has becomethe keynote of curriculum reform. On the one hand, this reform requires the full play ofinpidual's subjectivity and initiative, emphasizes the students' consciousness ofsubjectivity in study, practice and development. On the other hand, this reform requiresa strong emphasis on the requirement of lifelong learning, and the transformation of thestudents' learning process from passive acceptance to active learning.The students' transformation of learning styles demands the teachers' managementability in the relationship between knowledge-transmission and ability improvement.The teachers should pay attention to the cultivation of students' learning ability, instructstudents to complete their study proactively, independently and self-directly. This meanswe need to cultivate English autonomous learning of middle school students.The present situation of English teaching in Chinese middle schools is far fromsatisfactory due to its exam-oriented focus. The chief aim of English teaching is toimpart knowledge, so the students' creativity and subjectivity have been ignored to someextent. So it is especially important to establish a kind of teaching model which cancultivate English autonomous learning of middle school students and problem-solvingability.
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1.2Objectives of the Study
This study aims to focus on cultivating the autonomous learning ability of middleschool students in English study via problem-based learning. On the basis of EnglishTeaching System, and relevant research on PBL and Learner Autonomy, a new teachingmodel based on PBL will be proposed and carried out in experimental class. The purposeis to prove that PBL teaching has positive impact on learners' autonomy and it canpromote learners' academic achievements as well.According to the research background, there are three main research objectives. Thefirst one is to grasp the present research situation, comprehend the present situation ofstudents' English autonomous learning ability and the existing problems in middleschool via questionnaire and interview.The second one is that a new teaching model based on English Teaching System, andrelevant research on PBL and Learner Autonomy is put forward.The last one is to apply the new teaching model into English teaching practice, toaddress the failings of the traditional teaching style and improve the students'independent learning ability, innovation ability and creative thinking.
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Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Definition of PBL
Problem-based learning (PBL) is a kind of students-centered, problem-orientedteaching mode in which students learn about both knowledge and strategies during theprocess of problem solving. Problem-based learning was pioneered and usedextensively at McMaster University School of Medicine in the 1960s and then waswidely used in other research disciplines across the globe. PBL is aiming to help thestudents improve their independent learning ability, flexible use of knowledge,innovation ability, creative thinking, self-direct learning and effective problem-solvingability. In brief, PBL is a kind of active learning. However, the definition about PBL isstill far from perfection. Barrows defines it as follows: The learning that results from the process ofworking towards the understanding of a resolution of a problem. The problem isencountered first in the learning process (1980:1). This kind of teaching process, fromthe development, exploration, investigation and data collection of the problem to thesolution of the problem, is conducive to stimulating learning motivation, consolidatingsubject knowledge, fostering critical thinking and problem-solving ability as well asdeveloping the habit of active learning, cooperative learning and lifelong learning.Schmidt observes problem-based learning as an active process of accessing priorknowledge, making connections between old and new concepts and using theelaboration of relationships to engage in theory construction (2004:132).Some scholars believe that PBL is both a curriculum and a process. The curriculumconsists of carefully selected and designed problems that demand from the learneracquisition of critical knowledge, problem-solving proficiency, self-directed learningstrategies and team participation skills. The process replicates the commonly usedsystematic approach to resolving problems or meeting challenges that are encounteredin life and career ( Barrows & Kelson 1995). This definition points out the keys of PBLand can be taken as the most integrated definition.
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2.2 Characteristics of PBL
PBL is greatly different in learning objectives, knowledge sources, teachingmethods, communication channel, learning initiative and teaching efficiency from thetraditional teaching method. It has several characteristics such as learner-oriented,problems-centered, cooperative learning and teacher's guidance. According to the presentation of the characteristics of problem-based learningmodel, we can see that the construction of PBL teaching model is very different fromtraditional classroom teaching, so four basic characteristics can be concluded: The yardstick of student-centered teaching activities is “who is the controller andmanager during the learning activities”. If the learner is in charge of controlling andmanaging the learning activities by himself, this teaching activity process isstudent-centered, on the contrary, it is teacher-centered.During the PBL, students must be responsible for their study by themselves, learnactively, understand what should to learn and with which kind of method, rely onexperience and flexible knowledge to solve the difficulties they encounter and toadvance challenges actively. It can promote the combination of existing knowledge andexperience with new one, thus, it is a personalized, unified and dynamic kind ofrecognition system which can be formed during the problem-solving process. In otherwords, during the problem-based learning activities, the learner is the problem-solverand active constructors, and the teachers are responsible for providing study material,guiding the students to learn and monitor the learning process. Thus it can be seen thatthe PBL is a kind of student-centered teaching model.
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Chapter Three Research Methodology.... 18
3.1 Research Questions ........... 18
3.2 Research Subjects...... 18
3.3 Research Instruments......... 19
3.4 Research Procedures.......... 20
3.5 Design of PBL Teaching Model ........ 22
Chapter Four Data Collection and Result Discussion ........ 27
4.1 Data Collection and Analysis of the Questionnaire........... 27
4.2 Teaching Practice of PBL Teaching Model ....... 34
4.3 Results and Discussion ...... 41
Chapter Five Conclusion........... 47
5.1 Major Findings .......... 47
5.2 Limitations......... 48
5.3 Suggestions for Further Study ........... 49
Chapter Four Data Collection and Result Discussion of the Teaching Practice
4.1 Data Collection and Analysis of the Questionnaire
In order to get first-hand and objective information of the middle school students'autonomous learning ability, “Middle School Students' Autonomous Learning AbilitySurvey Questionnaire” (Appendix One) is designed before the experiment andconducted among the students in the Haiyangsuo Junior Middle School. During theresearch, A total of 113 questionnaires were sent out and the response rate was 100 %.All the 113 questionnaires were effective. From the questionnaires, the author got a lotof valuable dataThere are four basic criteria to evaluate middle school students' autonomouslearning ability: task analysis ability(task value analysis ability and task difficultyanalysis ability); goal setting ability; planning ability(learning progress planning ability,content selection ability, learning strategy selection ability(preview strategy,comprehension strategy, organizational strategy, review strategy, elaborative strategyand general method), learning time planing ability, learning place selection ability andlearning partner selection ability); self-monitoring learning ability (maintain ability andregulation ability); learning evaluation ability(detection ability, outcomes predictionability, inductive learning ability and evaluation criterion ability).The questionnaire contains 20 questions, and every specific evaluation criterionhas one relative question.
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Conclusion
Through the investigation and the practice of PBL teaching model, some findingshave been made. Teacher plays multiple roles in the PBL class: the teacher is the onewho conceives the questions, the one who designs the activities; the teacher is themonitor who oversees the whole class and takes records on the students' learning statealong with evaluating the classroom learning effect. The teachers should pay attention tothe cultivation of the students' learning ability, instruct the students to complete theirstudy proactively, independently and self-directly. Students are the center of the class,and they are also the dominant participants and performers of the learning activities,they are the important generator of teaching materials. The teaching should ensure thatwhether the students can take part in the activities enthusiastically and whether theseactivities can make immediate influence on teaching efficiency. From the analysis of theresearch data, we can see that the PBL teaching model does have good effect on thestudents' academic achievements, learning motivation, learning style andself-assessment.This study on autonomous learning ability has significant impact on theimprovement and change of English teaching. With the problems at the core, withanswering the question as the driving force, with grouping explanation, demonstration,discussion and interaction as the means, and with inspiring the students to actively learn,and cultivating students' creative thinking as the main target, the PBL teaching modelbrings some fresh ideas about teaching and theory references to the English teachingpractice, enrich our educational teaching theory about PBL and autonomous learning.
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References (omitted)