Abstract and Key Words

Abstract: Based on the linguistic theory and Krashen’s second language acquisition theory, this paper is to analyze the problems with oral English teaching for college non-English majors and propose some related strategies with a view to improving college students’ oral English. The major part of the discussion on the issue of oral English teaching is based on the findings of a questionnaire made in University. It is stated that the reasons for the problems with the current oral English teaching in colleges mainly fall into two categories: subjective and objective. Accordingly some strategies for improving non-English majors’ spoken English are proposed in the paper.

Key words: non-English majors; oral English teaching; problems; teaching strategy

摘要：基于语言学理论和可拉申的二语习得理论，本文旨在分析非英语专业大学生英语口语教学中存在的问题，并提出了相关的解决方法。根据在南京晓庄学院对非英语专业生做的问卷调查，主要讨论了口语教学的基本现象。此外还阐述了目前大学非英语专业生英语口语教学中存在的两个主要原因，即主观因素和客观因素。最后，文中提出了一些策略以提高非英语专业生英语口语的能力。

关键词：非英语专业大学生;口语教学；问题；教学策略；

1. Introduction 
Nowadays great importance has been attached to English teaching in China, especially in the college. However, most of college students can hardly read the original English books. Their listening and speaking abilities are rather weak in spite of learning English for years. They cannot communicate directly in English. For most of the non-English majors in universities, English is just the threshold of graduation, not a kind of skill or interest. So their purpose of learning English is just to pass the examination.
It is clear that learners’ communicative competence, especially the speaking proficiency, is very important. However, in general, the present level of students’ (especially the non-English majors) communicative competence is far away from being satisfactory as expected. Of the four language skills, speaking is the weakest.
English is generally regarded as a shared international language for communication, and therefore the importance of English proficiency cannot be overstated today. Many Chinese people are urgently seeking ways to improve their English competence to keep up with the development of the changing world. This paper is aimed to find more effective ways to help non-English majors improve their oral English, strengthen their confidence and enhance their autonomy and independence in English learning.