如何学好英语英文版.docx
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如何学好英语英文版
Jeremy2009年12月22日12:
53阅读(359)评论(14)分类:
English
Englishstudy
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