A Case Study of Oral English Learning Strategies Employed by a Winner of “CCTV” Cup English Speaking Contest.docVIP

Chapter One Introduction This chapter begins with a general description of the study, followed by the motivations for the study and the significance of it. The structure of the thesis is given at last. General description of the study This study was undertaken to find out what strategies a winner of the “CCTV” Cup English Speaking Contest employed to improve oral English in daily life and what strategies she employed to prepare for the different items of the contest. The subject in this study was X, a junior majoring in English in Yangzhou University, who had won the championship in the “CCTV” Cup English Speaking Contest (Jiangsu area). The instrument of the study was the researcher who did everything possible to be qualified for the interviews. Data collection involved 4 interviews covering the 4 aspects of how to improve accuracy, how to improve fluency, how to improve complexity and how to prepare for the contest. With X’s permission, the four interviews were recorded. The interviews were held in Chinese in a daily conversational style to make both of them express ideas freely. Data analysis involved transcription, translation, coding, categorization, and summarization to see what different types of strategies X employed. Motivations for the study The researcher was motivated to do the study by three factors: the personal desire to know about X’s successful experience in the “CCTV” Cup English Speaking Contest, personal interest in oral English, and little research on strategies for accuracy, fluency and complexity improvement and on strategies for English speaking contests in the literature Firstly, X achieved great success in the “CCTV” Cup English Speaking Contest. She won the championship of the contest in Jiangsu Area and as a representative of Jiangsu Province, she attended the final contest held in Beijing. The huge success she achieved makes us all proud of her. With this study, the researcher hopes to learn from the successful experiences and make m