英语AContrastingReviewofAdvancedEnglishTextbooksWord文档下载推荐.docx
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Keywords:
inputoutputAdvancedEnglishIntegratedSkillsofEnglish
高级英语教材对比分析
摘要:
阅读材料在语言学习中起着举足轻重的作用,因为外语学习者主要靠它们获得输入信息,创造语言环境。
本文研究分析了外语教学与研究出版社1995年出版的张汉熙先生主编的《高级英语》和高等教育出版社2002年出版的邹为诚先生主编的《综合英语教程》这两套教材,目的在于评价出哪一套教材更适合21世纪的英语学习者。
通过讨论优秀的输入输出的评价标准,以及以此标准对两套教材进行的对比分析,作者得出以下结论:
尽管《高级英语》包含了很多典范的文章,但是其内容过于陈旧、语言不够实用。
相对而言,《综合英语教程》目标语针对性强、难度适宜、语言地道、文化学术信息丰富,在输入信息的提供上表现得更为出色。
在练习题方面,《高级英语》侧重于文章内容和语言的训练,大部分为学生独立完成的题目。
反观《综合英语教程》,它的练习通常为交际型、探索型任务和实用型语言的训练。
通过讨论分析,本文认为《综合英语教程》更加适应现代学生英语学习的需求。
关键词:
输入输出《高级英语》《综合英语教程》
1.Introduction
TextbooksplayacrucialroleinEnglishteachingasaforeignlanguage,becauseitisthemajorsourceforstudentstoreceiveinput.However,qualitytextbooksarescarceinChina.EventhoughtheNationalstandardshavebeensetupwithregardtotheeducationalgoals,butnotenoughgoodtextbookshavebeenproducedtomeetthegoals,whichputsagreatdealofemphasisonstudents’communicativecompetence.
Itcertainlybringsproblems:
afewoutdatedpopulartextbookswerealwayspublishedmorethantenyearsago.Althoughtheywererevisedwhenreprinted,theydidnotchangealot.Undoubtedly,thesetextbookswereoncepopularandhadplayedasignificantrole,butwithtimeadvancedtoanewage,theydonotmeetlearners’needsanymore.Textbooksmustchangewithtime.Mosttextbooksofcertaindaysonlyrepresenttheconceptandmethodofteachinginthatcertainperiod.Therefore,modernstudentsneedthekindoftextbooksthatcanreflectandmatchthechangingworld,soastomeettheneedsofourage.NowwithChina’smodernizationonfullswing,andwithglobalizationmakingtheworldsmaller,weneedbooksthatcanbestinformandpreparestudentsforthechange.Studentswillneedtheskillsofthelanguagefortheirfuturejob,whichshouldbetakencareofwhenprofessionalsdesigntextbooks.Newtextbooksthatappearmorerecentlyusuallyusecommunicativeprinciplesandtasksthattraintheirlanguagecompetenceandthereforepreparestudentsbetterfortheirlanguageandcommunicativeskillsfortheirfuturejob.
AmongthefewadvancedEnglishtextbooksusedinChina,twostandout:
AdvancedEnglishandIntegratedSkillsofEnglish.AdvancedEnglish(AE)wascompiledbyZhangHanxi,firstpublishedinApril,1980,byForeignLanguageTeachingandResearchPressinBeijing.Itisauthoritativeandclassical,onceusedbythousandsofEnglishmajorsinChinaandhaddominatedthetextbookmarketofthisfieldforabout12years.Itcontainsmanyclassicalarticles.TheIntegratedSkillsofEnglish(ISE)appearedmuchlater.ItwaspublishedinJulyof2002,byHigherEducationPressinBeijing,andcompiledbyZouWeicheng.Thearticlesinitarethemebased,withcommunicativeandinquirybasedprinciples,andthebookhasbeenwidelyusedinChinainthepastfiveorsixyears.Thisthesisistoexaminethetwotextbooksbyacontrastiveanalysisandtodiscusswhatkindsoftextbooksaremorehelpfultolearnersofthe21-century.
2.Literaturereview
Generallyspeaking,agoodEnglishtextbookisembodiedinthreeaspects:
goodinput,goodsoutputandflexibility.Inthischapter,Iwillfirstreviewtheimportanceofreading,andreadingmaterials;
thenIwilllookintothecriteriaofagoodtextbookconcerningthesethreeaspectsrespectively.
2.1Theimportanceofreadingandthereadingmaterials
Readingisdefinedasaprocessduringwhichareaderdrawsinformationfromatext,andcombinesitwiththeinformationandknowledgethathe/shealreadypossessestoformanunderstandingofthetext(Grabe&
Stoller,2001).Readingisveryimportantforafewreasons.Firstofall,beingabletoreadthewrittenformofalanguageisthesignofliteracy,whichisimportantforalmostallEFLlearnerswhostudyEnglishforacademicpurpose.Secondly,readingistheprinciplemeansforindependentstudy,withwhichonedoesnothavetodependonotherpeopleorothermeansinachievinghis/heracademicgoals.ItisespeciallytruetoEFLlearnerswhoareseriouslylackoftargetlanguageinputinaL1environment.WhileESLlearnerscangetabundantinputoutsideofclassroomfromvariousmedia,thewaymoreaccessibletoEFLlearnersisthroughreadingmaterialsaboutthetargetlanguage.(Wang,2004).Therefore,readingcourseisconsideredasthemostimportantoneinaforeignlanguagecurriculum.
Readingmaterialsarecrucialforlearningtotakeplacebecausetheyprovidelearnerswithtargetlanguageinput.Avarietyofsourceshavebeenusedastextintoday’sclassrooms.Textisdefinedas“wordsofsomethingwrittenorprinted;
asinglesentence,aparagraph,apassageofseveralparagraphs,achapterorabook…thatrepresentsetsofpotentialmeanings(Vacca&
Vacca,2002,p.34).”Themajortypesofreadingtextincludetextbooks,tradebooks,pamphlets,articlesfromnewspapers,journalsandmagazines,aswellaselectronictexts.Textbooksaccountformostofthetextsusedintheclassrooms,especiallyinEFL(Englishasaforeignlanguage)programs.Tradebooks,whicharepublishedbooks,suchasfictions,nonfictionsandpicturebooks,distributedtogeneralpublicthroughpublishers,arealsowidelyusedandrecommendedforthereasonsthattheyofferavarietyofchoicesthatcanmatchlearners’abilityandinterestlevels;
thattheyhaveinformingandentertainingcontentswithengagingformatsandwritingstyles;
thattheyarerelevanttolearners’experienceandpriorknowledge,andthattheycanbetterhelplearnerstomakesenseanddevelopconcepts(McGowan&
Guzzetti,1991).Electronictextisanotherverypromisingsourceforreadingmaterials.Similartotradebooks,thisnewmediumrendersreadingvariety,interest,relevanceandcomprehensibility.Butbetterthantradebooks,itprovidesinadditionamultimediaenvironment,inwhichstudentsextendtheircomprehensionswiththeassistanceofimages,andsound.
2.2Criteriaforgoodinput
Thenouninputhasbeenusedasatechnicaltermforaboutacenturyinfieldssuchasphysicsandelectricalengineering,butitsrecentpopularitygrowsoutofitsuseincomputerscience,whereitreferstodataorsignalsenteredintoasystemforprocessingortransmission.(/input)Ingeneraldiscourseinputisnowwidelyusedtorefertothetransmissionofinformationandopinion.InTESOL(TeachingEnglishtoSpeakersofOtherLanguages),itisdefinedasthesourcesoftargetlanguage.Itisself-evidentthatthequalityandquantityoftheinputareextremelyimportanttotheacquisitionofthetargetlanguage.Thecriteriaofthegoodinputarecitedasfollow:
(Wang,2004,p.199)
1)Itprovidesintendedtargetlanguageinput,whetheritisstructureorvocabulary.
2)Itfitslearners’levelofdifficultyinthesensethatitisneithertoomuchabovenortoomuchbelowtheirintellectuallevels.Theinputitprovidesshouldbecomprehensive,just“slightlymoreadvancedthanthelearners’currentlevelofgrammaticalknowledge(Gass&
Selinker,2001,p.452)”
3)Itisauthentic,thereallanguageusedbynativespeakerssothatlearnershavetheopportunitytouseandcopewiththereallanguage.Itmaynotalwaysbepossibleforbeginnerstoreadtheoriginal.Forthem,simplifiedtextstunedtotheirlevelandneedshouldworkbetter,butitcanserveasagoalsincetheultimatepurposeoflearningthelanguageistoreadtheoriginaltext.
4)Itisinformativeaboutculture,societyand/orscience.
5)Itisinteresting.
2.3Factorsthatpromotegoodoutput
Justliketheinput,thewordoutputnowiswidelyusedinmanyfields,especiallytheComputerScience,inwhichitmeansthatinformationinaformsuitablefortransmissionfrominternaltoexternalunitsofacomputer,ortoanoutsidemedium.(/output)InTESOL,outputsarethethingsthatlearnersproducethroughspeakingandwriting.Itiswidelyagreedthatthefollowingfactors,intheexerciseofatextbook,canincitegoodoutputfromthelearners,namelyitscommunicativeness;
whetheritisinquiryandtaskbased,andwhetherithastheconsolidationpractice.
Firstofall,theoutputtasksthatatextbookprovidesshouldbecommunicative.Specifiedasgrammaticalcompetence,discoursecompetence,socioculturalcompetenceandstrategiccompetence,communicativecompetencerequirealearnernotonlybeingabletouse(notnecessarilyconsciouslyknow)thelinguisticaspectsofalanguag