如何学好英语英文版Word文档格式.docx

如何学好英语英文版Word文档格式.docx

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HowtoimproveyourEnglishskills

Actually,theessaycomesfromGoogleInEnglish,ifyoulikeit,thenenjoyit.

Thosearegoodsuggestions.

AgoodEnglishclassisavaluablemeansforacquiringandpracticingEnglish,butstilltherealityisthatmuchofyourprogresswillarisefromyourownself-studystrategies.Asateacherforcloseto10yearsnow,Iamoftenaskedforadviceonhowbesttoself-studyEnglishforfastresults.Isuspectsometimesmystudentsarelookingforthatmagicshortcutorpanacea1whichcandeliverthemfromallthe"

blood,sweat,andtears"

thatoftensurroundstheprocessoflearningasecondlanguage.

Thereis,ofcourse,nomagic,butontheotherhand,theremayalsobenoneedtoengageinself-torturous2activitiesthatdrain3yourenergy.Partoftheself-torturethatstudentsinflictuponthemselvesresultsfrommisconceptionsformedalongtheway.Iwouldlikeinthisarticletodiscussafewofthesemisconceptionsandoffersomealternativeadviceforself-studyingEnglish.A.H.Whiteheadoncesaid,notignorancebuttheignoranceofignoranceisthedeathofknowledge.Inotherwords,itisimportanttounderstandmisconceptionsbeforetheyinhibityourself-study.

MisconceptionⅠ

IfIcommunicatewithaChinesepartner,myEnglishwillgetworse.

ThereisacommonperspectivehereinBeijingthattheonlywaytoimproveyourEnglishisbyspeakingwithanativespeaker.Itstemsfromtheperceptionthatspeakingtoanothersecondlanguagelearnerhasanegativeeffect,sincethepartnerspeaksChinglish.

Consequently,manydesperatelylookfornative-speakingpartners,somepayingasmallfortunefortheluxuryofspeakingwithinexperiencedexpatriates4whodolittlemorethanchat.Worseyet,opportunitiestospeakregularlywithaChinesepartneratlittleornocostareignoredoutoffear.Inshort,the"

nativespeaker'

sEnglish"

crazeissomewhatsynonymouswiththe"

chinglish"

phobia5.

TheviewthatcommunicatingwithanotherstudentsomehowdamagesyourEnglishrestsontheage-old,erroneous6assumptionthatlanguageacquisitionisalinearprogression,withthenativespeakeratthetopofthehierarchy7.Perhapsnativespeakerteachersareguiltyoffeedingthisperceptionbylabelingcourses,students,textbookssequentiallyintermsoflevels（i.e.beginner,pre-intermediate,intermediateetc）;

inthearrangementofgrammarstructuresfromsimpletocomplex;

andinreadingandlisteningpassagesselectedbythenumberofwordstheycontain（i.e.easy,moderate,difficult）。

Linguistswhohavestudiedtheactualprocessoflearningasecondlanguageknowthatdevelopingasecondlanguageis*anythingbut8alinearprocess.Itcanfollowpatternsandstepsbutthesestepsandpatternsfrequentlybreakdown.Languagelearningoftenprogressesrandomlyandchaotically9.Wesometimesprogressrapidly,atothertimeswelearnslowly,thereareareasweseemtomastereasily,andareasinwhichweneverseemto*makeanyheadway10.Sometimesthewordsandsentencescomeeasily;

sometimestheydonot.

Moreover,whenwetalkaboutthequalityofEnglishwemustbepreparedtoacknowledgethatitisverymuchasubjectiveandcontextualevaluation.WeknowthatformalstandardprofessormayfindherEnglishveryeffectiveinfrontofherpeers,but*nextto11uselesswithinnercityteenagersinNewYork.Therefore,canwestillsaythatherEnglishisbetterthantheteenagers?

Obviously,itwoulddependonwhowasjudging.WithEnglish,qualityisoftenanissueofappropriatenessaswellasgrammaticality.

ResearcherswhohavestudiedEnglishlanguagelearninghavefoundthatpeopleprogressastheypractice,andultimatelytheyself-correctwhattheysay.ItisunnecessarytohavesomeonecorrectyourEnglishconstantly,becausemistakesmostoftenderivefromalackofEnglishinstinctsratherthanalackofawarenessorknowledgeofthecorrectgrammarstructure.Thesamestudentwhonevermakesamistakedoinggrammarexercisesonpaperwillmakethemwhilespeakingbutultimatelyhewilladjusthisstructuresashecontinuestousethem.

Moreover,researcherswhohaveconductedstudiesofvariousgroupsoflearnershavefoundthatlearnerswhocommunicatewithpartnersofasimilarleveltendtoprogressfasterthanlearnerswhosepartners'

levelsaremuchhigherorlower.Onecanunderstandwhythisissowhenalearnercommunicateswithsomeoneatalowerlevel,butwhyisitalsotrueofthosewhocommunicatewithsomeoneatahigherlevel?

Thereasonsaremostlypsychological.HavingapartnerwhoseEnglishismuchmoredevelopeddiscouragesthespeakerandthefearofmakingmistakestendstostiflesmoothconversation.However,theresearchersfoundthatthosewhocommunicatedwithpartnerswhowereneartheirownlevelprogressedfaster.Thus,infactyourclassmatewhoisatthesamelevelofEnglishasyoumayindeedbeyourfinestteacher.

MisconceptionⅡ

IfIwanttolearnAmericanEnglish,IshouldlearnformanAmericanteacherormyEnglishwillnotbeunderstoodwhenIgototheU.S.A.

IhaveseenmanygoodteachershereinChina,bothexpatriatesandChinese,runintoproblemsbecauseofthewaymanystudentsjudgetheiraccents.Studentsbelievethatthebestchanceofspeakinglikeanativespeakerisbyhavingthatidealaccent.Iftheteacherhasanaccentthatisnotformthetargetcountrythatcertainstudentswanttogoto,theyareeitherrebuffed12orrejected.

Partofthemisconceptionstemsfromignoranceofthedistinctionbetweenpronunciationandaccent.Pronunciationinvolvesthestress,rhythm,intonation,andphoneticsoundsthatfacilitatecommunication.Anaccentisthedistinguishablesetofsoundsthatderivesfromculturalorregionalphoneticpatterns.Accentsareessentiallyhabitsformedataveryearlyageandverydifficulttochangeaftertheageofsix.Thishasbeenverified13byresearcherswhostudiedthetongueandmouthpositionsofIsraelichildrenatanearlyageof5-6,andfindthatevenafterheavyimmersion14inAmericanEnglishforabout10years,theirmouthandtonguepositionschangeverylittlewhenspeaking,andthustheiraccentschangeonlyslightly.Inotherwords,forgetabouttryingtochangeyouraccentinayearortwo,itisjustnotgoingtohappen.Pronunciationcanbechangedandimproved.Accentsareentrenched15andneednotbechanged.

ThereisnoshortageofsuperbEnglishspeakersandwritersinmynativecountry,Canada,whohaveexcellentpronunciation,butheavyaccentsfromtheircountriesoforigin.Infact,twogreatIndo-CanadianwritersMichaelOndaatjeandRohintonMistybothhaveslightnon-CanadianaccentsinEnglish,butare*BookerPrize16winners.DowesaythattheirEnglishissubstandard,becausetheyhaveaccents?

No,itwouldbeabsurdtomakesuchasuggestionsincetheirpronunciationisexcellentandnoonehasanytroubleunderstandingthem.AsImentionedearlier,pronunciationisnotthesamethingasanaccent.

ItellmystudentstogiveuptheirhopeofdevelopinganAmericanaccent,sinceitisveryunlikelytohappenunlesstheystayinAmericaoveraverylongperiod,andeventhen,thearestilllikelytoretainsomepartoftheirChineseaccent.Anaccentisparofyourcharacterandheritage.

Thatisnottosaythatthestudentshouldn'

tdevotetimetoimprovinghisorherpronunciation.Astudentshouldfocusonthosepronunciationaspectsthatmaketheircommunicationmoreeffective,nottryingtomoldtheiraccentintoanother.Developingpronunciationskillsthatareuniversallylearntisamuchmoreworthypursuitofyoureffortsthantryingtocopyanaccentthatisunnaturalforyourtongueandmouth.

MisconceptionⅢ

Ineedarichvocabularybeforebeginningtospeak.

OftenIhearstudentscomplainthattheybecometonguetied,meaningthattheycan'

tfindtherightwords.Studentswillattributeittoalackofvocabularyandmemorizemorewordstocompensate.ThentheyfindafterafewmorethousandwordsthattheirEnglishimprovesonlyslightly.Why?

Yourmemoryisakeyelementtolearningalanguageandnooneshouldminimizeitsimportance.Withoutamemory,youwouldn'

tbeabletospeak.However,itisalsotruethatalackofvocabularyisnottheculprit17ofcommunicationproblemsinmanyinstances.Itisimportanttolookatotherissues,beforeblamingitasthesourceofthesecommunicationdifficulties.IhaveobservedagreatmanyCET-6graduateswhostillhaveagreatdealoftroubleevenutteringsimplesentences,whileotherCET-4studentscanspeakwithmuchgreaterease.Howcanthatbe,youmightask?

TheEnglishlanguageiscomposedofahierarchyofvocabularyintermsofusefulness.Somewordshavebroadandsweepingusessuchas"

thing"

"

get"

place"

or"

do"

whileothersareusefulonlyforaveryspecificcontextsuchas"

export"

endanger"

identify"

or"

interrupt"

.Researchhasshownthatwithapproximately800（somehaveevensuggested500）keywordspeoplecancommunicateveryeffectivelyinEnglish,withfewinstancesofgettingstuck.Inthetimeswhentheywerestuck,theycouldeasilyaskforassistance.Nowweknowthat800wordsisfarbelowthelevelmostbeginnerstudentshaveevenbeforetheybegintheirGET-4bandlevel.Whycan'

tallCET-4studentscommunicatewithease?

Wedonotneedacomplicatedlinguisticanswertothisquestion.Whenwethinkaboutittheanswerissimple.Thequantityofvocabularyhasonlyanindirectrelationshiptothequantityandqualityofspeech.Toillustrate,childrenlearningtheirfirstlanguagestartoutwithalimitedvocabulary,theydonotknowhalfofthewordsthataChineseCET-6studentknows,butstillthe