中国中学生英语口语焦虑问题的教学策略.docx

1、中国中学生英语口语焦虑问题的教学策略中国中学生英语口语焦虑问题的教学策略Abstract Currently， students learning English have realized the importance of oral English and they are eager to acquire English speaking ability to cope with everyday communication. However， they frequently worry about their oral English when communicating with o

2、thers. In this article， we study some difficulties in learning oral English of middle school students by doing informal surveys on them. According to the surveys， they encounter many difficulties but the basic one is anxiety， which negatively affects the performances in their English speaking activi

3、ties. Besides， this paper explores some practical oral English teaching strategies by studying the new teaching concepts promoted by The English Course Standards in the hope that students reduce their anxieties and are encouraged to participate in oral English communication.Key Words speaking; teach

4、ing strategy; anxiety; culture sense; cooperative learning; formative assessment摘 要 现今，英语学习者已经充分认识到英语口语的重要性，因此渴望能够掌握用英语流利交流的口语技巧。但是，进行交流的时候，学生往往因为顾虑重重而没有办法自由地表达其所思所想。本文通过对一些学生做出的非正式的调查了解到学生在英语口语过程中遇到的难题。学生学习英语口语过程中遇到的难题很多，但是其中最普遍的是学习讲英语时候的焦虑感和紧张感。焦虑和紧张成了学生开口讲英语的思想障碍，对学生英语学习百害而无一利。本文还对新课程标准所提倡的一些口语教学

5、理念及口语教学评价理念做出可行性分析并对可行性较强的英语口语教学策略做出初步探讨，力图减少学生讲英语过程中的焦虑感和紧张感，使学生能够用英语自由地表达思想，真正把英语作为一种使用的交流工具。 关键词 英语口语；教学策略；焦虑感；文化意识；合作性学习；形成性评价1. IntroductionEnglish speaking is a demonstration of a persons overall ability to use English. It is the skill that is judged upon most in real-life situations. It is al

6、so an important part of everyday interaction and most often， the first impression of a person is based on his/her ability to speak fluently and comprehensibly. In many other countries， oral English is a basic skill for students to master， and therefore they paid a lot attention to English speaking a

7、t schools. On January 3rd， 2004， the Ministry of Education issued a notice concerning the distribution of Teaching Requirements for English Curriculum. In the requirements， one shift is highlighted， namely， the shift of the focus of the teaching syllabus from reading to speaking and listening. The s

8、kill of speaking has also been required in the new English Syllabus and The Senior English Course Standards published by the Education Ministry of China has regulated English Speaking as one of the compulsory course. But the current Chinese education， to a great extent， has been carried out in a sor

9、t of “fixed” system of “grammar and vocabulary only”， and oral courses are almost nowhere to be found. So， the problem of students is not having nothing to say but not knowing how to say. Just as Huchun Dong says， students say what they can say but not what they want to say. 1 This doubtlessly limit

10、ed the opportunities of students inpidual development. It is not easy to teach English and it is more difficult to teach oral English. In order to develop students oral competence so that they can use the language they have learned correctly， appropriately and expressively in real situations， the te

11、acher needs to be acquainted with as many teaching strategies as possible， and understand the underlying theories and principles， so that he/she not only knows what to teach and how to do it， but also why he/she could do it in a certain way and how to solve problems when they arise.2 2. Some difficu

12、lties in learning oral English of middle school studentsEnglish learning is a complex process， subject to the influence of social， linguistic， educational， and cognitive factors. 3 It is reasonable that students worry about their disfluency and unidiomaticity and other aspects of language use. Recen

13、t talks with a group of students learning English that I interviewed informally after oral classes prove that the following are among their difficulties: Lack of interest in learning English makes it impossible for students to speak with the instructor and peers actively in the ESL classroom; Anxiet

14、ies relating to English speaking negatively affect performance in English speaking; Inappropriate and unfair assessments making by teachers make students hesitate to speak. When teaching in Xiangan No.1 Middle School， Xiamen， as a practice teacher in March， 2006， we did an informal survey on the sit

15、uation of students learning of oral English. The questionnaire was designed to get a rough idea of the oral English learning of the students and particularly the difficulties students meet in speaking English (see appendix.)4.According to the analysis (see appendix)， 54.3% of the students find it di

16、fficult to speak well because they are afraid of criticism or losing face. Anxieties get in the students way to speak; 51.2% of the students like the section of free talk; 82.1% of the students realize that the ability to speak English fluently is very important; 94 % of them are interested in forei

17、gn culture and customs; nearly half of the students wish that their teacher can correct the mistakes they make with encouragement and smile and they wish to be assessed in various ways.Students learning English frequently worry about the small-size vocabulary， incorrect grammar and inappropriate exp

18、ressions in their spoken English when communicating with others. English teachers are very familiar with the worries that English learners feel in their language learning process， particularly in their oral communication. This worry phenomenon should be included in anxiety in SLA research.5 In revie

19、wing research examining the effects of anxiety on language learning， Macintyre and Gardner concluded that learners excessive anxiety “negatively affects performance in the second language”. Worrying too much about learning and performance is both unnecessary and harmful. It may prevent learners from

20、 practicing English-speaking skills.63. Related teaching strategies3.1 Developing students culture sense3.1.1 Analysis and strategiesIf the students motivation for learning English is zero， teaching them speaking English will be a huge problem for the teacher. So， before deciding on any other teachi

21、ng strategies， what the teacher has to do is to arouse students interest and increase their motivation in learning English. There are many techniques that a teacher can take to help motivate students interest to learn， but no one motivational technique works well for all students. Since 94% of the s

22、tudents attending the questionnaire wish that their teacher could introduce foreign culture as often as possible， one can safely conclude that developing students culture sense is a general motivation practice which can motivate their interest in English. The culture-bound aspect of teaching materia

23、l is often of great interest to students， and it can be used to provoke an interesting discussion not only about the “other” culture， but also about the “home”culture. The discussion results may facilitate the speaking tasks. Once students interest is motivated， they will realize that learning Engli

24、sh has a lot of fun and will surely enjoy learning English. Once they enjoy learning English， they may look forward to speaking English and they are less likely to be afraid of speaking. So， provoking students interest can be considered as a good way to ease students anxieties in speaking.7Another r

25、eason for developing students culture is that language is the carrier of culture and the importance of teaching culture is emphasized in the The English Course Standards. To accord with the course standards， culture teaching is supposed to be an important part in a successful teaching plan. While te

26、aching oral English， getting the students familiarized with the culture and social background relevant to the speaking task is essential. One problem in communicating with foreigners is that many words and expressions spoken by the foreigners are culture-bound and students cannot bring their knowled

27、ge of the world to help them understand the conversation. Take the word “privacy” for example. Inpiduality is regarded as a characteristic of the western culture and privacy is a common sense of the westerners. So， “privacy” has two meanings in the dictionary (Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chines

28、e Dictionar， 4thedition): one is “state of being away from others， alone and undisturbed”; the other is “secrecy， opposite to publicity”. However， in China， where people do not care about their privacy that much， “privacy” refers to “secret” only. When they talk about “privacy”， they are often refer

29、ring to egotism and secrets of love affairs. While in the western countries， people respect others privacy and “mind your own business” is an important code in the social etiquettes.8Besides， different conventions lead to different usages of language and difficulties in communication. Daily complime

30、nts， salutations， thanks， regrets， comity and taboo are culture-bound. For example， when the Chinese are not to accept their friends invitation， they use some tactful expressions “may be I will come” “I will think of it” instead of the negative word “no”. Because we do not think saying “no” to our f

31、riend is a polite way to refuse. They choose to make promises rather than refusal in order not to harm the relationships. However， for a westerner， such kind of behavior means breaking ones promise and they will be angry at the Chinese. Not knowing such kinds of culture differences， one will never m

32、ake a good communication.9So the teacher should bear an open attitude towards foreign culture， share with students what he/she knows about how foreign culture differs from his/her own， and present them in teaching. To get students familiar with Western culture， a teacher may create some situational contexts or employ role-play games for the students to experience this culture and know the differences in comparison with their own.3.1.2 Operation and practicesOne practical way to teach culture is to create an authentic classroom environment. Classroom decorations and displays of all kinds， pos