Abstract:

This paper presents a study which examined the teaching effect of the "PAD + microlectures" model in Chinese non-English major undergraduate English for Academic Purpose (EAP) classes. In order to improve students' learning performance, the PAD (presentation, assimilation and discussion) strategy was introduced to EAP teaching. Its key idea is to allocate half of the class time for teacher’s presentation and the other half for students’ interactive learning in the form of discussion. The presentation and discussion stages are separated in time so that students can have time for individualized internal assimilation in between. The "PAD + microlectures" model is to insert microlectures into the after-class assimilation step of the PAD strategy. 164 non-English major undergraduates voluntarily participated in this study. The data was collected by class observation forms and student questionnaires. The research findings show that allocating half of the class time for teacher’s presentations on academic English essentials and the other half for students’ discussions could guarantee enough time for undergraduates to practice and reflect these essentials fully and effectively. In the process of students’ after-class independent learning, they watched the microlectures of academic English skills uploaded by the teacher through electronic devices. Such terse and forceful audio-visual courses could improve undergraduates’ internalization of these skills and the ways of using English in their academic and professional exchanges. Therefore, it is argued that such a model has some unique strength and should be further experimented in EAP classes.

Keywords:

Microlecture, English teaching, Academic English.