The Application of Constructivism: Activities for Enlivening Comprehensive English Class

The Comprehensive English Course (CEC) plays a vital role in English language learning for college students in China. However, students ’ motivation for this course is low due to the fact that they are bored with the instructivist-based teaching environment. This paper first reviews the theories of Constructivism, and then demonstrates how to apply constructivist-based pedagogy in an instructivist-based environment by illustrating the constructivist-based activities: free writing, formative assessment, data-driven learning and sentence auction. This pedagogic proposal is not just suitable for the CEC in China, but also useful for the course where the four skills of the English language are practiced while constructivist-based teaching methods are not in use. Hopefully this proposal can contribute significantly to the undeniable need to educate students to be more informed, curious, and critical in English language teaching and learning