Activities to improve students' engagement in the language classroom

Having been teaching EAP Core for two years, I cannot help noticing that most year one students who start their study in XJTLU, an English-speaking environment, tend to find it hard to communicate in English during the EAP classes. Sometimes, although the instruction of talking to partners has been given, some students remain silent. In order to find the reasons, I did an investigation through a focus group interview with some EAP027 students. I found out that most students feel uncomfortable speaking English because of the following three concerns:
1. They fear being laughed at if they make mistakes.
2. They feel nervous when others pay attention to what they are saying.
3. They tend to follow the traditional Chinese class rule in which students are supposed to listen and never talk.

Therefore, I attempt to build an environment that can make students feel comfortable participating in speaking tasks and using English. This article will describe the activities I designed to improve students' engagement based on the students' concerns mentioned above and how they are practiced in my classes.