Comparison and Analysis on the Effects of PBL Teaching Method and the Traditiona

Abstract. For a very long time, the teaching method of the foreign languages is one of the most important topics that attract the attentions from the foreign language teaching community, and a wide range of the education personnel make every effort to making researches and seeking for the proper methods of teaching in the combination with their own teaching and learning environments. The author of this paper applies the PBL (problem-based-learning) teaching method to carry out English teaching in the practice of English teaching, and conducts an analysis on the effects and feasibilities of the PBL teaching method in the process of English teaching through the questionnaire investigation and the comparison between the traditional teaching methods and the PBL teaching method.

Key words: Teaching Method; PBL Teaching Method; Traditional Teaching; Comparative Analysis

1.Applying the PBL pedagogy to Teaching

PBL (problem-based learning) is a new type of teaching and learning method, which developed along with the influence of the constructivist ideas.

It was first originated from the medical education of the western world in the 1950s, and was expanded to the education reform the professional schools including the education colleges, business colleges and the engineering colleges.

The author, as an English teacher in medical school, applies the PBL teaching method to the teaching of the reading and translation of the medical articles in the combination with the characteristics of medicine major and college English teaching.

At the same time, the author compares the traditional teaching model with the PBL teaching method and analyzes the collected information and data, and then carries out practice and analysis on the feasibility of college English teaching, and makes an observation on the effect of applying the PBL teaching method to college English teaching.

parison and Analysis on the Traditional Teaching Methods and the PBL Teaching Method

Students from two classes established by Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2010 and learning in the seven-year system are selected as the experiment objects.

Each class includes 41 students. The PBL teaching method is implemented in a class, and traditional teaching method is implemented in the other class.

Before the implementation of the PBL teaching method, an investigation is made on the learning motivation, self-learning ability, and collaborative learning of the students in the two classes.

After the end of the experiment, another investigation is made on these aspects for the students in the two classes as well; the investigation contents are the same to that before the experiment; the related data as well as the response of the students are studied and analyzed as well for the sake of improving the teaching better.

Along with the implementation of the PBL teaching method, English learning of 41 students in the experiment has changed greatly. Actual conditions reflected from questionnaires (41 students in the experimental class and 38 valid questionnaires are collected; 41 students in the contrast class and valid questionnaires were collected).

Table 1: Changes of Students in Learning Motivation (Experiment Class)

Table 2: Changes of Students in Learning Motivation (Contrast Class)

According to the data in the above tables, it can be seen that there are increasingly more students in the experiment class to feel interested in English learning after the implementation of the PBL teaching method. As for the learning methods of English lessons, the proportions for the students to love or quite love the teaching attain an increase of 18 percentage, but the change in the contrast class is not large.

As for the evaluation way for the PBL teaching method, the percentage of the students in experiment class rose from 69% to 90%, but the contrast class has almost no change.

After the implementation of the PBL teaching method, the purpose of learning of the students in the experiment class becomes more explicit.

From the item (The reason for me to learn English is I have to learn to deal with the examinations, pass CET-4 and CET-6,and get the degree certificates smoothly), it can be seen that the percentage of the students in the experiment class selecting the "totally consistent" and "basically consistent" reduces by 15, but the percentage of the students in the contrast class reduces by 8.

Table 3: Changes of Students in Self-study Ability (Experiment Class)

Table 4: Changes of Students in Self-study Ability (Contrast Class)

From the data in the above two tables, it can be seen that the self-study consciousness and ability of the students attain a great increase after the implementation of the PBL teaching method.

Table 5: Changes of Students in Collaborative Learning Ability (Experiment Class)

In the group learning, the members are mutually collaborative to discuss and resolve the problems. This is a unique leaning model of the PBL teaching model.

After the teaching experiment, the traditional teaching method is still applied in the contrast class. For this reason, the data about the students in the contrast class has almost no changes.

3. Conclusion

This is the teaching practice of the author in a whole year. Therefore, it can be seen that the role of the PBL teaching method in the teaching of English language is worth praising.

However, it is still highly necessary for the modern researchers to keep practicing and observing it and also to make a continuous improvement to it.

4. References

[1]Qiang Wang. Analysis on China's Foreign Languages Teaching Reform Development Trend and Problems [OL]. pp 1-3, 2009.