A literature review of production-oriented approach in English teaching: Retrospect and prospect

Abstract

Production-oriented Approach (POA) is an indigenous pedagogy with Chinese characteristics proposed by Chinese linguistic professor Wen Qiufang. It is one of the most popular research hotspots in English teaching in China, aiming to solve the problems of the “input-output separation” and “instrumentality over humanity” in Chinese higher education. This study aims to shed light on limitations and future development based on POA-related research achievements, deepening and improving the POA theoretical system and promoting the theory application in a wider range. First, it gives an overall introduction to the formation process of POA, including its budding stage, the embryonic stage, the formative stage, the revised stage, and the further revised stage. Then, utilizing the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database as the data source, it retrieves papers with the theme of Output-driven Hypothesis, Output-driven, input-enabled Hypothesis and Production-oriented Approach from 2007 to 2022 to analyses the research status. The non-empirical and empirical research achievements are sorted out and summarized on this basis. The non-empirical research concentrates on theoretical elaboration from four parts: theoretical system construction, dialectical research, teaching materials use and adaptation and theoretical comparison, helping practitioners understand the theory and improve the theoretical development. The empirical research is analyzed by three aspects, namely, teaching practice, teaching materials and teacher professional development. The research demonstrates that: the quantity of POA-related research literature is on the rise, empirical research is mainly carried out through teaching experiments, action research, case studies and narrative research, the research content is diversified, which is embodied in four research themes: the teaching effectiveness, teaching procedure in terms of motivating, enabling, and assessing, teaching materials and teacher development. Finally, some limitations on POA are outlined, and some suggestions and prospects for POA are proposed.