A Brief Analysis of english teaching in senio

时间:2022-08-23 04:26:00

Abstract:ClassroomteachingisthemainwayforstudentstolearnEnglish.Butinseniorhighschool,alotsofprobelmsstillexsitintheEnglishteachingespeciallyintheteachingofreadingandwriting.Inthispaper,theimportanceandmethodsofreadingandwritingwillbefurtherdiscussed.Keywords:readingwritingtechniques

Introduction:Classesshouldbelearner-centered,withmeaningful,functionalactivities,often,classesbeginbyfindingoutwhatthestudentsdon’tknow.Theseclassesoperateontheassumptionthatthereisagreatdealofinformationthatstudentslackandthattheteacherandtextbookswillimpactthatinformationtothestudents.Teacherswhoholdthisassumptionviewstudentsasplantswaitingpassivelytobefedandwatered.ButIthinkthestudentsshouldberegardedasexplorers,activelearnerswhobringagreatdealtothelearningprocessandatthesametime,drawfromtheirenvironmentastheydevelopnewunderstandings.Thebasicprinciplewillbeusedintheteachingofreadingandwriting.

SectionOne------Howtoteachreading

I.Whyteachreading

TherearemanyreasonswhygettingstudentstoreadEnglishtextsisanimportantpartoftheteacher’sjob.Inthefirstplace,manyofthemwanttobeabletoreadtextsinEnglisheitherfortheircareers,forstudypurposesorsimplyforpleasure.Anythingwecandotomakereadingeasierforthemmustbeagoodidea.

ReadingtextsprovidegoodmodelsforEnglishwriting,provideopportunitiestostudylanguagevocabulary,grammar,punctuation,andthewaytoconstructsentences,paragraphsandtexts.Lastly,goodreadingtextscanintroduceinterestingtopics,stimulatediscussion,exciteimaginativeresponsesandbethespringboardforwell-rounded,fascinatinglessons.

Thelastbutnottheleast,studentsmustreadwidelybecauseonlyafractionofknowledgeabouttheworldcancomefromotherexperiencesintheirshortlives.

II.Whatkindofreadingshouldstudentsdo?

Whentheteachersgivereadingclasstostudents,theyshouldnoticeabalance----abalancetobestruckbetweenrealEnglishontheonehandandthestudents’capabilitiesandinterestsontheother.Thereissomeauthenticwrittenmaterialwhichbeginnerstudentscanunderstandtosomedegree:menus,timetables,signsandbasicinstructions,forexample,and,whereappropriate,teacherscanusethese.Butforlongerprose,teacherscanoffertheirstudentstexts,which,whilebeinglikeEnglish,areneverthelesswrittenoradaptedespeciallyfortheirlevel.Anyway,thematerialstobereadshouldbeinterestingandmeaningful.Teachersshouldbecomebetteracquaintedwithbookswrittenspeciallyforteenagersanddealingwiththeirproblems.

III.Whataretheprinciplesbehindtheteachingofreading?

i)PermitStudentsToRead

Noonehaslearnedtoswimbypracticingtheskillsofbackstrokes,flutterkicksortreadingwaterwhilestayingontheedgeoftheswimmingpool.Yet,intheteachingofreadingteachersoftendojustthat.Ratherthanletthestudentsinto“thewater”,teacherskeeptheminskillsbookslearningrulesaboutletters,syllablesordefinitionsofwordsratherthanlettingthemintothebookitself,permittingthemtobeimmersedinthelanguagewhichcomesfromtheauthorsasthereaderstrytoreconstructthewrittenmessage.ii)Encouragestudentstorespondtothecontentofareadingtext,notjusttothelanguage

Ofcourse,itisimportanttostudyreadingtextsforthewaytheyuselanguage,howmanyparagraphstheycontainandhowmanytimestheyuserelativeclauses.Butthemeaning,themessageofthetext,ismuchmoreimportant.Teachersshouldhelpstudentsunderstandthatthemainreasontoreadisforthem.Theyhavetohavetheirownpurposetoreadandreadingmustmakesense,theyhavetofindwaysofdoingsomethingaboutit.Theyshouldbeencouragedeithertorereadortocontinuereadingtogainmeaning.Buttheymustrealizethatthemeaningisnotintheteacher,butintheinteractionbetweenthereaderandauthor.Studentsshouldbeencouragedtoaskthemselvesrepeatedly,“Doesthismakesensetome?”Studentsshouldbeencouragedtorejectandtobeintolerantofreadingmaterialsthatdonotmakesense.

iii)Encouragestudentstoguessorpredict

Readers’guessesorpredictionsarebasedonthecumulativeinformationandsyntacticstructuretheyhavebeenlearningastheyhavebeenreading.Therefore,theirguessesaremoreoftenthannotappropriatetothematerials.Studentshavetorealizethatrisktakinginreadingisappropriate;thatusingcontexttodecidewhatwordsmeanisaproficientreadingstrategyandthattheyhavethelanguagesensetomakeappropriateguesseswhichcanfitboththegrammaticalandsemanticsenseofwhattheyarereading.

iv)Matchthetasktothetopic

Onceadecisionhasbeentakenaboutwhatkindofreadingtextthestudentsaregoingtoread,teachersneedtochoosegoodreadingtasks—therightkindofquestionsandusefulpuzzles,etc.Askingboringandinappropriatequestionscanunderminethemostinterestingtext;themostcommonplacepassagecanbemadereallyexcitingwithimaginativeandchallengingtasks.Workingingroups,theEnglishteacherandstudentstaketurnsaskingeachotherquestionsfollowingthereading.Theteachermayask,“Whatisthesignificanceofthecharacter’sage?”Thesequestionsrequireinferencesbasedondetailsfromthereadingtext.

SectionTwo------Howtoteachwriting(Developingcorrectnessinstudents’writing)

“Studentslearntowritebywriting,andtheylearntowritecorrectlybywriting,revising,andproofreadingtheirownwork”---withsomehelpordirectionfromtheteacherwhenitisnecessary.Theydonotlearntowritecorrectlybystudyingaboutwritingordoingisolatedworkbookexercisesunrelatedtotheirownwriting.So,themostimportanttechniqueateachercanusetoguidestudentstowardgrammaticallycorrectwritingistoletthemwrite,letthemwritethingsrelatedtotheirownexperiences.Thereisnolimittothekindsoftexttheteachercanaskstudentstowrite.Teachers’decisions,though,shouldbasedonhowmuchlanguagethestudentsknow,whattheirinterestsare.

“DoIreadapaperandignoreallpunctuation,whatgoodisthatforstudents?

Wespendhoursatnightwithpapers---I’mnotsurethestudentsgetasmuchfromitasthetimeIspendonit.”

ThesecommentsbyseniorhighschoolEnglishteachersdiscussingtheprocessofmarkingstudentpapersreflectthedissatisfactionandfrustrationofmanyteachersovertheproblemofdealingwiththeerrorsinstudentwriting-----theobviousmistakesinspelling,punctuation----Traditionally,teachershaveworkedtocorrecterrorsintwoways:byteachinggrammaticallycorrectnessthroughexerciseingrammartexts;bypointingoutallerrorswhenmakingstudentpapers.

Moststudentsfinditverydispiritingiftheygetapieceofwrittenworkbackanditiscoveredinredink,underlingsandcrossing-out.ItisapowerfulvisualstatementofthefactthattheirwrittenEnglishisterrible.Ofcourse,somepiecesofwrittenworkarecompletelyfullofmistakes,buteveninthesecases,theteacherhastoachieveabalancebetweenbeingaccurateandtruthfulontheonehandandtreatingstudentssensitivelyandsympatheticallyontheother.

Sometechniquescanbeusedindealingwiththeerrorsinstudentpapers:

i)Selectivity

Ratherthanengageinintensiveerror-correctionwhenrespondingtostudentwriting,teachersareencouragedtoadoptamoremoderateapproachtoerror.Iftheteacherover-correctsthestudents’mistakes,thestudentswouldbelikelytofocusonerrorsinsteadofideas.Studentsaremorelikelytogrowaswriterswhentheteacher’sprimarypurposeinreadingstudentpapersistorespondtocontent.However,ifattentiontocontentandcorrectnessarecombinedwhenmakingpapers,itismorehelpfultoselectoneortwokindsoferrorstheindividualstudentismakingthantopointouteveryerrorinthepaper.Theteachercanidentifyaselectederror,showanexampleortwoonthestudentpaper,andeitherexplainthecorrectformordirectthestudenttoahandbookforfurtherexplanation.Itisalwaysworthwritingacommentattheendofapieceofwrittenwork-----anythingfrom“Welldone”to“Thisisagoodstory,butyoumustlookagainatyouruseofpasttenses---seeXgrammarbookpagexx.”

ii)Error-analysis

Anothermethodforworkingwithstudenterror,onethatcanbeespeciallyfruitfulforteachers,istoapproachitfromananalyticperspective.Teachers,aserror-analyst,lookforpatternsintheerrorsofanindividualstudent,triestodiscoverhowthemistakearrivedatthemistakesbyanalyzingtheerror(Lackofknowledgeaboutacertaingrammaticalpoint;Acarelessoneoramis-learnedrule?),andplansstrategiesaccordingly.

iii)PublishStudentWriting

Thefinalbasicstrategyispublishing.Studentsneedareasonforlaboringoveradraftuntilitisperfect;theurgetoseeoneselfinprintcanbeapowerfuldrivetowardrevisionandproofreading.

Conclusion:Asteacherstothestudentswhoareinseniorhighschool,theyshouldlearntoturnstudents’hardworktowardsupportingthelanguagestrengthsstudentsalreadyhave,provingstudentswithafeelingofsuccess,findingmaterialsandplanningclassroomexperienceswillturnstudentsontoreadingandwriting,thereadingandwritingwilldevelopwithmuchgreatereasethanitdoesatthepresenttime.

Reference:

GuXueliang,TheBasicTechnicalTraininginEnglishTeaching,HangzhouUniversityPress,1998.

WilgaM.Rivers&MaryS.Temperley,ApracticalguidetotheteachingofEnglishasasecondorforeignLanguage,NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,1978

SmithF.UnderstandingReading(2ded),NewYork:Holt,RinehartandWinston,1978

DavidFreeman&YvomeS.Freeman,ARoadtoSuccessforLanguage,NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress

龚雅芳&张连忠&李静军(编辑),英语教学基本讲座,北京师范学院出版社,1991