Students’ Perceptions on Communicative Pattern in College English Class

DOI: 10.5176/2251-3566_L316.64

Authors: Hanying Wang and Weiwei Fan

Abstract: Generally speaking, Chinese students enter into university after the national college entrance examination each year with an experience of learning English more than 9 years. They will be required to take English language class for another 2 years with 4 class hours each week. This study focuses on the investigation of first-year college students’ perception on the communicative pattern in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) class. Data have been collected through questionnaires done by 280 first-year students in a key university in China. Analysis by the researchers identified students’ commonly held perceptions on the communicative pattern in EFL class through statistics. The results suggest that students’ fixed perception on the class communicative pattern leads to their inadaptability to college English class, thus affecting their study efficiency. By analyzing factors influencing the effectiveness of college English class from students’ perception, the researchers recommend that college English teachers design the class communicative pattern by taking into consideration of students’ fixed perception drawn from past experience, thus making students’ transition from middle school to college smoother.

Keywords: EFL, Class Communicative Pattern, Perception