A Study and Practice of Spoken English Teaching for NonEnglish Majors大学英语口语教学的初步研究.docx
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AStudyandPracticeofSpokenEnglishTeachingforNonEnglishMajors大学英语口语教学的初步研究
AStudyandPracticeofSpokenEnglishTeachingforNon-EnglishMajors
Abstract:
Currently,thereappearsthephenomenonthatmanyinstitutionsofhigherlearningareblindlygoingafterthepassingratesofBand4andBand6CollegeEnglishtests,thusresultingintheoutcomethatmostnon-EnglishmajorswithtenyearsormoreofEnglisheducationfailtospeakandcomprehendspokenEnglish.Fromtheanglesofphysiologyandpsychology,theauthorhasconductedananalysisofandaresearchonspokenEnglish.OnthebasisofwhichaspokenEnglishteachingpracticehasbeenperformed.Thepaperaimsathowonecanadopteffectiveteachingtechniquestoimprovestudents’verbalcommunicativecompetenceinlimitedtime.Thispracticeisabeneficialattempttotrainstudents’verbalcommunicativecompetence,whichisagoodbeginningandhaslaidafoundationfortheauthor’sfurtherexplorationsinFLI.
KeyWords:
collegeEnglishteaching,foundational-notionalapproach,verbalcommunicativecompetence,spokenEnglishteachingpractice
大学英语口语教学的初步研究
摘要:
目前,在中国许多高等院校,存在着盲目追求英语四、六级考试通过率的现象,大多数非英语专业大学生忙于应付四、六级考试,从而使得大多数学过十年左右英语的非英语专业的大学生们虽能熟练地做各种英语书面练习题,却很难用英语口语表达自己的思想或听懂别人讲的英语。
本文作者从生理、心理的角度对英语口语的特点进行了分析和研究,并在此基础上进行了口语教学实践,旨在研究如何采取有效教学方法在有限的时间内提高学生的口头交际能力。
这次教学实践是培养学生口头交际能力的一次有益尝试,是一个良好的开端,并为作者今后在英语教学中进行进一步的探索打下了基础。
关键词:
大学英语教学;口头交际能力;功能意念法;口语教学实践
1.Introduction:
AccordingtoCollegeEnglishSyllabusinChina,collegeEnglishteachingaimsatTrainingstudentstoacquireskillfulreadingabilityandacertainlistening,speaking,writingandtranslatingabilitytoenablethemtocommunicateinformationinEnglish.CollegeEnglishteachingshouldhelpstudentsmastergoodlanguagelearningmethods,laysolidlanguagefoundationsandheightentheirresponsivenesstocivicdutiessoastoadaptthemselvestotheneedsofsocialdevelopmentandeconomicconstruction.
Atpresent,mostcollegesanduniversitiessetfourtofiveperiodsweeklyofanintegratedEnglishcoursefornon-Englishmajors,whosecontentcontainslistening,speaking,readingandwriting.Neverthelessteachersstilltendtoattachimportancetoreadingandwritingratherthanlisteningandspeakingonaccountofthecontradictionbetweenmuchteachingcontentandlimitedtime.TakingXi’anSeienceandTechnologyInstituteasanexample,therearefourperiodsweeklyoftheintensiveEnglishcourseandmerelyoneperiodoflisteningcourse,butthereisnooralcourse.Furthermore,importanceisattachedtogramma,vocabulary,reading,writingandlisteninginfinalexaminations.
Ofthetextbooksgenerallyusedbynon-Englishmajors,materialsforreading,writing,grammarandlisteningareavailable,whilethoseforspeakingaresurprisinglyfew.
TheBand4andBand6CollegeEnglishTests(CET)arealarge-scalenationalstandardizedexamination,whoseobjectistoexamineifstudentsatthejuniorlevelhaveattainedtherequirementsstipulatedinthesyllabuscurrentlyineffect.Itmainlyverifiesthisfromtheaspectsofreading,writing,listening,translation,voeabularyandgrammar.Ithasbeenrevisedandperfectedsince1987,whichgivesanenormousimpetustothedevelopmentofcollegeEnglisheducationinChina.Butsofar,italsohasitsdrawbacks.ManyacademicleadersblindlygoafterthepassingratesoftheCET,decidingtolinkthetestresultwiththeirstudents’academicdegreeanddiplomaandwiththeEnglishteachers’academictitlepromotion.SuchaphenomenoncausesfreshmentoconfronttheCETwithapprehensionsandcompelsEnglishteacherstobebusywithselectingexereises,solvingproblemsandstudyingtechniquesforcopingwiththeCETwiththeneglectoftrainingstudents’communicativecompetence.TheresultleadstothefactthattheobjectiveofcollegeEnglishteachinghasswitchedtothetargetofpassingtheCET,whichcontradictstherequirementsofthesyllabus.
InordertoexplorethecapacitiesofstudentstocomprehendandspeakEnslish,theauthorconductedarandomquestionnaireamong70studentsfromtwoclassesinXi’anScienceandTechnologyInstitute.Throughstatisticanalysis,theauthorhasfoundmanyproblemsthatdeserveattentionanddemandimprovementinourdailyteachingactivities.
Theresultofthequestionnaireindicatesthatstudentsaregenerallyweakinlisteningandspeaking.Thoughtheresultwasobtainedfromtwoparticularclasses,itreflectsacommonphenomenoninclassroomsinChina.Thisresultsfromtheirrationalcoursearrangementsandalong-termblindpursuitofthepassingratesofBand4andBand6tests.Itmoreorlessmirrorsthetendencytoemphasizereadingandwritingbutneglectthetrainingoflisteningandspeaking,andtoemphasizelanguageknowledgebutneglectthetrainingofcompetence.
Currently,manyinstitutionsofhigherlearninghaveactivelystudiedthefeaturesofcollegeEnglishteachingwithemphasisontheimprovementofstudents’competenceinEnglish.Considerableachievementsininnovativeexplorationhavebeenmadeandbeneficialexperiencehasbeenaccumulatedintheaspectsofcoursearrangement,teachingobjective,examinationstandard,teachingmethodology,teachingmaterialsand“secondclassroom”.
Withthecombinationofstudents’physiologicalandpsychologicalcharacteristicsoflearningaforeignlanguage,howonecanadopteffectiveteachingtechniquestoimprovestudents’verbalcommunicativecompetenceinlimitedtimeisworthfurtherresearch.
2.AStudyofSpokenEnglish
2.1Thepsychologicalprocessofspeechactivity
Theprocessthatlanguageisusedforcommunicationisspeeeh.Thestudyoftheapplicationoflanguagefocusesmainlyonthestudyofspeechactivity,whichincludeslistening,speaking,readingandwriting.Listeningandreadingarereceptiveskills,whilespeakingandwritingareproductive.Theyarethetwomainaspectsofspeechactivity:
thecomprehensionofspeechandtheproductionofspeech.
2.1.1Thecomprehensionofspeech
Thecomprehensionofspeechisadecodingprocessbywhichitssurfacestructureisconvertedintodeepstructureandagainintothedeepestsemanticideaoftheinitialspeechthinking.
2.1.2Theproductionofspeech
Theproductionofspeech,tooutwardseeming,isnomorethanthereverseprocessofthecomprehensionofspeech:
Thecomprehensionistheconversionofsoundintomeaning,whiletheproductionisthatofmeaningintosound.Actually,thetwoprocessesareparallel,buttheybeargreatdifferences.Fromtheangleofvoice,speechrequiresthemuselemovementofspeechorgans,whereaslisteninginvolvestheauditoryanalysisoflanguagespeechsignals.Theyaredifferentfromorganstopsychologicalfunctions.Fromtheangleofmeaning,thereasonwhyspeakersspeakisthattheyfirsthaveanideatoinfluencelistenersandaplantochangetheideaintospeech,andthenlistenersdistinguishtheplanofspeechanddeducetheideaofspeakers.Thetwoactivitiesarequitedifferent.Althoughbothspeakingandlisteningareaidedbythesamemedium-languagestructure,theirprocessesofusinglanguagestructurearedifferentafterall.
Speakersworkouttheplanofwhattheyintendtosayonthebasisofneedstochangethepsychologyoflisteners,whichisthefirststep,andthentheyusevarioussyllables,words,phrasesandsentencestoexecutetheformulatedplans.Thetwolinksarenotoftencompletelyseparated.Whenspeaking,peopletendtohaveplans,andthenexecuteplanswhileformulatingthem.
2.2Spokenlanguageandwrittenlanguage
Thousandsofyearsago,languagewascreatedbyourancestorsintheformofverbalexpression,whichmeanspeoplecouldrelyonmouthandearstocommunicatewitheachother.Later,characterswereinvented,withwhichspokenlanguagecouldbeputdowninwriting,thusformingwrittenlanguage.Brieflyspeaking,writtenlanguageisaformoflanguageputdowninwritingfor“reading”,whichhasbeenformedonthebasisofspokenlanguageandhastransformedthelanguagesymbolicsystemof1isteningandspeakingintothatofreading,andisconsistentwithspokenlanguageonthewhole.Spokenlanguageinvolvestwolanguageskills,listeningandspeaking,whereaswrittenlanguageinvolvestheothertwoskills,readingandwriting.
Spokenlanguageisforlistening,whilewrittenlanguageisforreading.Because1isteningislinkedtospeaking,speakersmayspeakwhilethinking,andtheycanevenblurtoutwithoutthinking.Readingislinkedtowriting,writerscanleisurelyweighandcarefullypolishtheirwords.Therefore,spokenlanguagecan’tbecompletelyconsistentwithwrittenlanguage.Whenspeaking,apartfromlanguageknowledge,speakerscanalsodependonfavorableconditionssuchaspronunciationandintonation,paralinguisticfeaturesandsituationatthetime.Sinceverbalcommunicationstrivesforefficieney,wordingislimitedinseope,andsentencesaregenerallyshortandbriefwithrepetition,division,reversal,supplementandsuperfluouswordslike“hem”,“Imean.”and“Youknow.”Thecaseofwritingisdifferent,becausethevariousfeaturesplayingrolesinspokenlanguagecan’twork.Onlypunctuationcanperformalimitedfunction.Asaresult,meansthatwrittenlanguagecanonlydependonare:
enlargingwordingseope,usingcomplicatedsyntacticstructures,removingsuperfluouswordsandstrivingforstructure,coherenceandorganizationofanarticle.Thedifferencesbetweenspokenlanguageandwrittenlanguagearedecidedbytheconditionsinwhichtheyareused.Theyaredifferentstylevariationsofthesamelanguage.
2.3Characteristicsofspokenlanguage
Spokenlanguagedoesn’tonlyindicate“speaking”.Ifonefailstounderstandtheopposite,whatcanhe“say”?
Spokenlanguagecontains