A study on the Application of Middle School English Teachers’ Class Teaching Strategies in the Context of New Curriculum.doc

基于新课程环境的中学英语教师课堂教学策略的应用研究a study on the application of middle school english teachers class teaching strategies in the context of new curriculumabstract: with the development of english teaching reform in chinas education system，there is a great and explicit inclination in improving the learning efficiency. in class teaching context, teachers together with learners, teaching medium are one of the most significant and influential internal elements. hence, improving the quality of some english teachers in middle schools and training them to be qualified for their profession is proving to be a great task indeed. this paper is to take an empirical approach to study the middle school english teachers teaching strategies in the context of new curriculum. through the empirical research, its found that: 1.) most middle school english teachers class teaching strategies are adjusting strategies, cognitive strategies, source strategies and communicative strategies. 2.) the comparative research on experiencednovice teachers class teaching strategies shows that experienced teachers and novice teachers are showing no significant differences.key words: new curriculum context; middle school english teachers; class teaching strategies摘要: 随着中国教育体系中英语教学改革的发展，在学习效率上显现出较好而又明确的趋势。在课堂教学背景下，教学媒介是教师和学生之间最有意义和影响力的永久性元素之一。因此，当前最重要的任务是提高中学英语教师的专业素质，培训他们使之成为职业生涯中合格的人才。这篇论文采取以经验为根据的方法来研究新课程背景下，中学英语教师的课堂教学策略。通过以经验为根据的方法的研究，研究结果如下: 1.)大多数中学英语教师课堂教学策略是：调控策略、认知策略、资源策略和交际策略。2.)专家型教师和新手教师课堂教学策略的对比研究表明：专家教师和新手教师无明显差异。关键词: 新课程背景; 中学英语教师; 课堂教学策略contents1. introduction.21.1 research background.21.2 research purposes . . 31.3 research significance.32. literature review.32.1 research about middle school english teachers.32.2 research about english class teaching strategies.73. research.93.1 research questions.93.2 research methodss.93.3 research subjects.93.4 research instrument 103.5 research proedures.114. data analysis.124.1 question one.124.2 question two.185. conclusion.205.1 summary.215.2 limitations and expectation22works cited.22a study on the application of middle school english teachers class teaching strategies in the context of new curriculum1. introduction1.1 research background in 2001，new curriculum was initialized as one important reform. in accordance with ncs (new curriculum standards) for english，the teaching objectives on a micro-level are including five domains, i.e. 1anguage knowledge, language skill, learning strategies, affections & attitudes and cultural awareness (教育部, 2001). naturally, the problems coming next are how to help the learners develop such systematic and integrative competence. therefore, the successful implementation of it should attribute to the teaching practitioners-teachers. their quotients of knowledge, competence, strategies, etc. new curriculum reform has put forward more rigid requirements to english teachers, which advocates quality-oriented education instead of examination-oriented education, develops teachers good teaching strategies and awareness of students affection, and changes students as receptive container of knowledge into active learnerssince the success of class teaching is greatly dependents upon the teachers teaching strategies, the explanation into teachers teaching strategies will be beneficial in practice. in literature, the linguists or experts in education have been paying more attention to the empirical studies about teachers strategies. green and oxford (261) investigate the difference in strategy use across three proficiency levels in middle school english teachers (a total of 374 teachers)-prebasic, basic, and intermediate (actually low level, intermediate level, and high level)in middle school of perto rico mayaguez. they discover higher proficiency levels use adjusting, cognitive, source, communicative strategy more often than lower levels. at the individual item level, 22 of the 50 strategy items show significant differences across the three levels, with higher levels using strategies more frequently. comparatively, there are fewer explorations in china about the features of teachers strategies, which has been the practical basic for the present study.1.2 research purposes according to oxford (76), the rapid change in the highly technological societies requires the educators should help learners develop the attitude that learning is a lifelong process and that learners should acquire the skills of self-directed learning. therefore，as english teachers，it is important to keep it in mind that many factors affect the choice of strategies: stage of learning, task requirements, age, sex, nationality, general learning style, personality traits, motivation level, and purpose for learning the language. faced these situations occurring in class; teachers should give a careful consideration when they choose their class teaching strategies.this paper is to take an empirical approach to study on (mset) middle school english teachers class teaching strategies in the context of new curriculum. the initial challenge for english teachers will be to understand the new curriculum, especially the new standards. english teachers need to think about the good teaching strategies to be developed, the aims to be achieved, materials to be covered, activities to be organized, techniques and resources to be used in order to achieve the aims of the lessons. so, english teachers teaching competence is very important, especially for improving the reform on new curriculum. they have to enhance their own professional competence in language proficiency, crosscultural competence, pedagogical competence，and the adoption of new teaching strategies.1.3 research significance since the present study is to explore into the problems about application of english class teaching strategies. specially, the problems include: 1.) what are the applicational features of mset class teaching strategies? 2.) what are the between-group differences of mset class teaching strategies? therefore, the present research will play a role in teachers education and training. the focus of the study is on teaching in classroom，aiming at finding out what strategies the middle school english teachers employ to encourage students to learn at class. hence, the present research is to be a window through which the teachers qualities can be understood, and the weaknesses or the strategies in teacher education will be identified. ultimately, the present research will be beneficial for teachers professional development.2. literature review2.1 research about middle school english teachers2.1.1teachers knowledgealthough the researchers of the teachers knowledge all agree that whether teachers have the knowledge or not will decide the efficiency of the teachers teaching. one of the earliest researchers on knowledge base of teaching is l.s. shulman. he describes that teaching needs seven types of teachers knowledge. it involves content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, curriculum knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of learners, knowledge of educational context，knowledge of educational ends ls. shulman (1). besides the above research, olson as the representive of situational knowledge studies has promoted that teachers situational knowledge needs three aspects to understand. the first aspect: teachers knowledge is teaching circumstance. the second aspect: teachers knowledge is limited by teaching circumstance. the third aspect: research shows teachers knowledge is changing with the development of science and technology (olson 167).actually, it takes a longterm practice in teaching for teachers to develop their practical knowledge. berlin points out that teachers must have ten years teaching practice at least. such a stage will go through five phases: novice level, advanced beginner level, competent level, proficient level, expert level. he also states that once a teacher experiences these five steps, he or she can finish the teaching task easily and smoothly (berlin 46). according to the researches above, yang cuirong has a review of studies on teachers knowledge; she divided teachers knowledge into three orientations: 1.) knowledge base for teaching; 2.) teachers practical knowledge; 3.) teachers situational knowledge. these different oriented researches on teachers knowledge have implications for teachers professional development (yang 1167).for english teachers, they have to update their views on language and language education and adopt new approaches to language teaching, including the task-based teaching approach and its practice. so novice english teachers have to change the teachers role from that of knowledge distributor to facilitator, organizer, participant and advisor.2.1.2teacherscompetence if we say knowledge is the basis of teachers quotient then competence in teaching is more important. evidently, it is a long period to develop and form teachers competence. the most important and most difficult part of the making of a good language teacher in middle school is the development of professional competence, which is the state or quality of being adequately qualified for the profession. wu yian shows that the professional quality of an excellent teacher consists of four sides. it can be classified into foreign language teaching ability, foreign language teachers views about profession & morality, foreign language teaching views, and the study and development views of foreign language teachers (wu 66). solomon proposes skill and knowledge needed for teacher development, for experienced teacher include: a. a sound theoretical background knowledge b. familiarity with a range of material and their application to a range of learner types c. specific time allocations for working with new teachers d. opportunities to talk to other teachers when planning and implementing supporting strategies e. the ability to create a non-threatening relationship with the new teacher f. the ability to assess the extent of the new teachers esl awareness g. the ability to draw conclusions about the most immediate areas of need and how to tackle them h. the ability to perceive opportunities where “intervention” is appropriate i. the ability to provide constructive feedback to the newly-appointed teacher j. the ability to reflect on the overall course with the newly-appointed teacher (solomon78).generally, different teachers have different levels of competence. its believed that teachers are multi-functional in the language classroom. this is especially true in the implementation of the new english curriculum. from the above headings of the competence of excellent teachers, it is not hard to notice that the standard of teaching strategies becomes higher. 2.1.3. teachers beliefs there have been a number of definitions for teacher beliefs. for example, kagan defines teachers beliefs as the highly personal ways in which a teacher understands classrooms, students, the nature of learning, the teachers role in the classroom and the goals of education (kagan 419). research on general education and language teaching has tried to distinguish between teacher knowledge and teacher beliefs. richardson distinguishes beliefs from knowledge by relying on the standard true condition: beliefs do not have to satisfy a truth condition while knowledge does (richardson 102). in the review of the research on the beliefs and practices of teachers in mainstream education kane et al, they point out that unlike the primary and secondary teacher education literature where ample discussions have been made on the relationship between teachers beliefs, i.e. what teachers say they wish to achieve and teachers practices, i.e. what they do in the classroom, much of the research on teachers beliefs has only examined what the teachers say about their practice and does not directly observe what they do. such research has typically asked the participating teachers questions like:a: what is your view of teaching?b: what are your aims in teaching?c: what do your mean by teaching in this subject ?d: what does a good teacher teaching in this course do?e: what would you describe as your main role as a lecturer?kane et a1 argue that when asked about their behavior in a certain situation, most people respond with their espoused theory of action for that situation, which is the theory that encompasses their aims and intentions. however, it is the theories-in-use that actually determine their actions (kane et al 177). although there are different ways to defines teachers beliefs, it all explores that teacher beliefs have focused on learners and learning, teaching, and the teaching role. from the researchers based on borg, 2003; johnson, 1994; kane et a1, 2002; mullock, 2006; pajares, 1992; richards, 1996, there seems to have been some consensus reached in the research on teacher beliefs across general education and language teaching: 1.) teachers beliefs are a powerful influence on their practices. 2.) teachers beliefs are strongly affected by their prior learning experience. 3.) teachers beliefs exist in a tacit or implicit form and are difficult to articulate.2.2 research about english class teaching strategies2.2.1definitions there are two kinds of understanding on the definition of teaching strategies. a. zhou (17) defines teaching strategies as the strategies of teaching and learning. both are identical, there are no differences when we use their definitions. b. wu (49) defines teaching strategies as the strategies of teaching. although teaching strategies and learning strategies have the same objective, we should tell the differences between them, because of both laying particular emphasis on application.2.2.2 categories the scholars from overseas provided plenty of content on teaching strategies. according to the composed factors of teaching strategies, it can be classified into content strategies, form strategies, method strategies, assignment strategies, synthetic strategies (liu 37). in the light of the above researches, especially in accordance with the constitution of teaching strategies, native scholars classified teaching strategies into teaching sequence, teaching method, and managing strategies. additionally, due to the different criterion used, some scholars also divided teaching strategies into general teaching strategies (such as: presenting strategies of teaching material, managing class strategies, teaching assessment strategies, managing strategies of teaching resources) and special teaching strategies (such as: teaching strategies of the type of questioning and incidents, teaching strategies of teachers style).2.2.3 previous studies about application of english class teaching strategies through literature review, its found that there are many studies aboutapplication of english class teaching strategies. fan xuerong in her thesis studied teachers classroom strategies in four aspects as follows: a. managing strategies although everything happening in a classroom depends on the cooperation between the teacher and learners. it is usually considered normal for the teachers to “run the show”-to make many of the managerial decisions, about who should talk, to whom, on what talk, in what language and so on. according to allwright and bailey, successful interaction in a classroom involves everybody managing at least five different things: 1. who gets to speak? (participants turn distribution)2. what do they talk about? (topic)3. what does each participant do with the various opportunities to speak? (task)4. what sort of atmosphere is created? (tone)5. what accent, dialect, or language is used? (code)(allwright and bailey 198). the use of managing strategies helps to create more opportunities for the students to speak at class. the teacher should design more problem-solving tasks. for these tasks encourage more speaking turns，oral output and negotiation of meaning. b. questioning strategies questioning strategies are categorized into two groups: question-planning strategies and controlling strategies. “questions typically serve as devices for initiating discourse centered on medium-orientated goals” (ellis 587). efficient questioning can stimulate student to participate in classroom activities. some students feel their relationship with the teacher would be more intimate when the teacher moves closer, while others feel it will add to their stress. and cause them to speak in lower voice. interview shows that some students hope the teacher would step back after they invite them to answer a question. c. feedback strategies feedback is an inevitable constituent of classroom interaction. it is a very complex phenomenon. lots of research shows that positive feedback is more helpful to improve learners behaviors than negative feedback. experts questionnaire showed that the means of positive strategies are very high. although questionnaire showed most of the students strongly agree or agree with teachers praise, simple and mechanic positive feedback such as “good”, “very good” did not lead to good results (fan 89).