Abstract
This paper explores the application of a mixed teaching model of Task-Based Learning (TBL), Collaborative-Inquiry Model (CIM) and MOOCs to the academic English teaching for graduate students at Inner Mongolia University, China. Teaching tasks of eight units are assigned for students to learn through the online course on MOOC in advance. Graduate students are grouped to work and cooperate with one another to complete the presentations of their learning results. A five-year teaching practice indicates that 1) graduate students appear more active in class than students taught in traditional class; 2) the writing quality of abstracts is greatly improved through the cooperative learning pattern; 3) students show more satisfaction for the course than ever before regarding the teacher’s help for their academic activities. The application of the new teaching model has not only benefited the Inner Mongolia University (IMU) students, but also set up a pioneering example in teaching reform for graduate students and provided valuable experiences for other universities in ethnic areas.
Highlights
The English Syllabus for Non-English Major Postgraduates clearly points out that the teaching goal of graduate English is to enable students to master English as a tool for their own major learning, research and international exchanges
This paper explores the application of a mixed teaching model of Task-Based Learning (TBL), Collaborative-Inquiry Model (CIM) and MOOCs to the academic English teaching for graduate students at Inner Mongolia University, China
In order to understand the needs of non-English major graduate students of Inner Mongolia University for degree courses, the teacher made an investigation by employing questionnaires and interviews
Summary
The English Syllabus for Non-English Major Postgraduates clearly points out that the teaching goal of graduate English is to enable students to master English as a tool for their own major learning, research and international exchanges. Since the fall of 2015, in order to meet the immediate needs of graduate students, based on the teaching guidelines from the university and graduate college, and through the scrupulous arrangement of the Foreign Languages College of Inner Mongolia University, the teaching team for graduate students has changed the traditional English teaching that once focused solely on developing students’ basic language skills, into the general academic English teaching for cultivation of academic English abilities This shift happened partly as a result of the inspection tour surveying English teaching situations for graduate students in more than fifty “985” and “211” universities in China. A five-year reform of academic English courses for graduate students has been carried out at Inner Mongolia University, exploring effective ways to improve students’ academic English abilities in practice, and remarkable results have been achieved
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