Language Context and the English Teaching.docx

Language Context and the English Teaching.docx

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LanguageContextandtheEnglishTeaching

LanguageContextandtheEnglishTeaching

　　Improvisationortransferisthecoreofacourse，basedonthecommunicativeapproach．Thatis，thestudentsarerequiredtotransferwhattheylearnedinthetextbooktoreal-lifesituationasfaraspossible．Andinthepresent-daytextbookofMiddleSchool，thecoursesareorganizedinauthenticeverydaysituationsinwhichstudentscaneasilyidentify．SointheprocessofEnglishteaching，itisveryimportantfortheteacherstosetthelanguagecontextscorrectlyandflexibly．

Ⅰ．Themeaningsofthelanguagecontext

Generallyspeaking，thelanguagecontextcanbedividedintotwomajortypes：

situationalcontextandsocioculturalcontext．

Riverssuggeststhatitemsoflanguageintotalisolationhavenofunction;theyneedasystemandasettingtogivethembothfunctionandmeaning．Childrenoftenaskforthemeaningofawordinisolation，withoutseeingtheneedtoprovideanythingforit;tooquickandtoocasualareplycanoftenhaveunexpectedconsequences．eg．Whenthechildaskswhatcricketisandyousayitisagame，andthendiscoverthatitwasa“cricket”inthecontextofinsects．Evenifweknowthestrictlinguistics，westillneedtocheckfurtherintothesituationandevenintothesocietyandculturetobesureofwhatitemofthelanguageisappropriateoracceptable．

Inanarrowsense，thelanguagecontextmeansthesituationalcontext．InHalliday’sopinion，thesituationalcontextsincludethesetting，thewayoftalking，andparticipants．ButHymesdividesitintoeightelements：

setting，role，function，notion，style，stressandintonation，grammar，vocabularyandlanguageaids．Thosefactorsaffecteachotheranddecidewhichlanguageformisappropriate．

Thesituationalcontextandsocioculturalcontextcan’tbeisolatedfromeachother．Incertainsocioculturalcontext，peoplemustobeytheparticularcommunicativeruleswhentheyuseacertainlanguage．Andinacertainsituationalcontext，peopleshouldnotonlypayattentiontothesocialcommunicationrulesbutalsoadjustthemselvesaccordingtothefactorsofthesituationalcontext．Thatis，thesituationalcontextandsocioculturalcontextaffecteachotherandarecomplementarytoeachother．

Ⅱ．Thelanguagecontextandthecommunicativecompetence

“Competence”isacentralissueinlinguistics，whetherintermsofabstractsyntactictheoryorintermsofsocialinteraction．AndHymesthinksthecommunicativecompetenceshouldincludefourtypes：

languagecompetence，sociolinguisticcompetence，strategiccompetence，andcontextcompetence．Ifweconsiderthelanguagecompetenceisthecoreofthelanguageteaching，thentheotherthreeabilitiesmustalsobetakenintoconsideration．

Wallworksuggeststhat“sociolinguisticcompetenceisnecessarytolanguagestudyandtoattempttostudylanguagewithoutsocietyislikestudyinganatomywithoutabody．”Aknowledgeofoursocietywillenableustopredictwithsomedegreeofaccuracytheprobabilityofcertainkindoflanguagebeingusedinanyparticularsituation，andconverselygiveasketchoflanguagewecanpredictwithsomereliability．eg．Gotoacountrywhereyouunderstandnotawordofthelanguagearoundyou．Butbyobservingthesocialcontextandlisteningtothenoises，youlearnthemeaning．Soonecan’tbesaidtoknowfullythemeaningofanylanguagewithoutknowingthesocialcontextinwhichitmayordoesoccur．WiddowsonalsopointsoutthattheEnglishteachingalsoinvolvesanunderstandingofthecommunicativevalueoflinguisticelementsincontextandthisisbasedonaknowledgeofhowtheseelementsmayserveasclueswhichcanbeinterpretedbyreferencetoshareconventionsofcommunication．SointheEnglishteaching，theteachersshouldtrainthestudents’sensitivitytojudgewhichlanguageformisrightincertainlanguagecontext．

Thecontextcompetenceandstrategiccompetencecanberealizedincertainlanguagecontextandhavetheireffectsoncommunication．Inanormallanguagecontext，weoftencommunicateindiscourse，notinasinglephraseorsentence．Alearnerwhocancommunicatewiththecorrectlanguageformshasastrongcontextcompetenceandknowshowtousethesignalstoconveytheinformationandconformittothemeaning．Andaccordingtothesesignals，theycanunderstandeachotherbetter．Indifferentlanguagecontexts，wecanalsomakeuseofthestrategiccompetencetostart，end，maintainorextendaconversation．Andthecommunicationstrategiesweoftenusedaresuchasavoidance，tolerance，suspenseandaccommodation．

Ⅲ．Howtosetthelanguagecontext

A．Useallkindsofteachingaids

Intheclassroom，studentsshouldbeprovidedwithachancetoexperiencethelanguageinmeaningfulwaysandtryouttheirskills，sotheteachersshouldtrytouseallkindsofteachingaidstosetthelanguagecontextforthestudents．Andweshouldnotonlybeacquaintedwiththeuseofflashcardsandwallpictures，butalsoweneedtolearntocollectandmakevisualaids，suchaspicturesfrommagazines，usedobjectslikecanandboxes，flannelboard，andstick-figures．Sowithapieceofchalk，objects，people，animals，settingsarecreatedontheblackboardandthestudents’interestandattentionarearoused．Arelaxedatmosphereiscreated．Anothertechniqueistouselaternslides，nottotellastorybuttocreatsituationswhenthestudentsareaskedtoactouttheirdialogueorplaytheirrolesagainstthebackgroundofarestaurant，street，playground．Wecanuseanover-headproject，thenthestudentscantalklikereal“nativespeakers”．Andwhenweusethepictures，weshouldknowthepicturewithaccompanyingvoicewillimpressthestudentsgreaterthanaprintedtextorthevoicealone．

B．Designallkindsofactivities

Theroleoftheteacherinacommunicativeclassroomisnotaninformerorasupervisorbutamanagerorhelper．Theteachersshouldtrytodesignallkindsofactivitiestohelpthestudentsperformorinteractamongthemselvesasmuchaspossible．Butdesigningacoursewhichpreparesstudentstointeractinspecificrolesinreal-lifesituationsrequiresthatthecoursedesignerfirstdiscoversthatwhatpartisplayedintheseactivitiesbythelanguageofdifferentkinds．Hemustfindoutwhat

　　topicscomeupoftenenoughtobeworthdiscussinginclass，andwemustalsobearinmindthekindofpeoplethepupilwilleventuallyhavetodealwith．Soweshouldletthestudentshavetheopportunitytolearn，andbecomeproficientinthegamesanddiversionsofEnglish-speakingpeople．Theyshouldbeabletoparticipateinverbalcompetitions，wheretherearespecialactivitiestobeassociatedwithfestivalsornationalholidays，studentsshouldbeabletoengagethemattheappropriatetime，decoratingtheChristmastreeandsingingChristmascarols，celebratingGuyFawkesDay，rollingeggsatEaster，dressingupfortrick-or-treat，preparingaThanks-givingdinneretc．Ontheotherhand，muchautonomousinteractioncantakeplaceattheEnglishlanguagestudents‘cluboratclassexcursionsandonpicnics．SowecanarrangesomevisitstoseeexhibitionsofAmericanorBritishpaintings，toeatatrestaurantswhichserveEnglishorAmericanspecialities，toseefilmsinEnglish，ortoattendperformancesbyvisitingtheatricalcompanies．Groupswithinclassmaytaketurnspreparingtypicalmealsandinvitingtheothers．Wealsoinvitesomeforeignguestsandstudentstohaveatalkwithus．AndstudentsshouldtrytoshowtheirtownsorschoolstoEnglish-speakingvisitorsortourists．Forthesecourses，activitiessuchasthosedescribedabovewillplungethestudentsintonormaluseoflanguage．

C．Useparalinguisticfeatures

Sometimeswhenwesetthelanguagecontext，usingparalinguisticfeaturessuchasgestures，facialexpressionsandsomeactionswillbemoreconvenientandvividthanusingteachingaidssuchaspicturesorslides．eg．InUnit5ofSB1A，whenweexplainhowtogrowcabbages，ifweusetheteachingaidssuchaspictures，orslides，itwilltakeusalotoftimetopreparetheteachingmaterialsbeforeclass．Butifweactouttheprocessofgrowingcabbagesinclasswithafewactions，thestudentswillunderstandtheprocessmorevividlyinashortwhile．Sonomatterwhenteacherspresent，demonstrate，drill，practisetheteachingmaterialweshouldpayattentiontousingparalinguisticfeaturesflexiblyandappropriately．AndparalinguisticfeaturesarecomplementarytotheteachingaidesintheEnglishteaching．

Ⅳ．Therulesofsettinglanguagecontext

Howtosetthelanguagecontextcorrectlyandflexiblybecomesaproblemwhichteachersareconcernedabout．

A．Thelanguagecontextmustbereal

Situationalteachingandmeaningteachingbothmeanthattheteachingmaterialsshouldbethosenormalutterancemadeinreal-lifesituationsandbepractisedinauthenticeverydaysituations．

B．Thelanguagecontextmustberelevant

Situationssetforpracticeshouldbethosewhichthestudentsarelikelytoencounterintheirpresentandfuturecommunication．Itisawasteoftimetoaskthemtodiscussproblemsbeyondtheirlevelofmaturityandknowledgeoftheworld．

C．Thelanguagecontextmustbedefinite

Whenwesetalanguagecontext，weshouldtakeallthefactorsoflanguagecontextintoaccount．Forexample，inashop，wecanstartaconversationbetweenshopkeepersandcustomers，andwecanalsostarttheconversationbetweenthecustomers．Thenwhatistheobjectiveoftheconversation？

Whatkindoflanguageformcanbeusedinthelanguagecontext？

Itrequiresthattheteachersmustgivesomeclearordefiniteexplanationtothestudents．Onlywhenthestudentsknowwhatkindofrolestheywillplayandwhattheobjectiveofthetalkingis，theycanavoidmechanicalmemorizationandbeabletostartafreeconversationinthelanguagecontext．