On learner-centered English language teaching—On Multi-media English Language Teaching.doc

以学生为中心的英语语言教学on learner-centered english language teachingon multi-media english language teachingcontentsabstract1key words1i an introduction of english language teaching situation2ii an analysis of classroom english language teaching31a comparison between teacher-centered and learner-centered english teaching31) teachers roles32) application of teaching and learning resources53) organization of teaching and learning activities64) teachers supervision of learning process85) learners needs and psychology92. some examples of foreign trends9iii some suggestions for the two teaching patterns16 1. create an environment of autonomous studying classroom instruction 172. encourage “learner-centered” structure of classroom instruction173.cultivate creative consciousness and practice studying ability174. organize the teaching contents approached and appropriated to our life175. introduction of strategies- based instruction186.online education is a new form of learn-centered english language teaching.18vi conclusion19references22on learner-centered english language teachingon multi-media english language teaching摘 要：在大多数中国学校，我们总是强调去寻求一种教英语的最好的方法。 本文描述了典型的英语教学法，即传统的中国式英语教法结合与当今以学生为中心的英语教学法。一些教师认为以学生为中心的英语教学法比较适合当代的课堂教学，而另一些教师则比较青睐传统教法，这都是由于教师与学习者所处角色的不同而不同。以学生为中心的英语教学理念为目前流行的交际教学法所支持，并被语言学习者的天性所验证。这两种方法都建立在不同的理论基础上，以学生为中心的英语教学法由于摒弃了传统教学中的许多缺点被认为是一种先进的英语教学法。我们在大力提倡这种新教法的同时，也看到它的一些不足之处，这里我个人提出了一些仅供参考的建议来克服它们。总之，我希望通过本文的浅探，这种新的教学法会更有效、更实用地提高英语学习者的语言能力和交际能力。关键词：以学生为中心的英语教学，传统英语教学，多媒体英语教学，在线英语教学，建议abstract: in most chinese schools, the pursuit of the best way to teach english has been always stressed. this paper describes the typical approaches adopted for english teaching, i.e. the traditional chinese teaching approaches and the contemporary learner-centered approaches. for some time, some teachers have felt that the learner-centered approaches are appropriate while others prefer the traditional chinese approaches. the notion is strongly supported by communicative language teaching and examined by finding out the nature of learner language. and conflicts between teachers views and learners views seem inevitable. how can one have their respective advantages and disadvantages? it is known that these approaches are based on the different theories. the new learner-centered english language teaching is considered advanced because it deals with the shortcomings inherent in traditional teacher-centered english language teaching. however, everything has two sides, it also has some deficiencies, and there are some personal suggestions designed to overcome them. in a word, this new teaching approach is expected to be more efficient and practical in improving students language competence and communicative competence.key words: learner-centered english language teaching, traditional classroom english language teaching, multi-media english language teaching, online english language teaching, suggestionson learner-centered english language teachingon multi-media english language teachingi. an introduction of english language teaching situation classroom practice in teaching english as a foreign language (tefl) has changed dramatically in the past twenty years in china. instead of following the conventional practice of language teaching, many instructors are experimenting with different and reformatory ideas and methodologies in the efl classroom. we have carried out many reforms for years, how many of them are to be changing teaching systematic structure? or how many of them are in change role and the position of these 4 essential factors? we cannot say they have no effect, but we can say they are rarity of rarities. implement it(internet technology) and curricular reformation is just for efficient improvement of the traditional teaching structure, that is to say, change teaching system thoroughly in role and the position of 4 essential factors. revolve around tightly new teaching structure to found this center to carry out course suit, require our teacher to carry out course suit teaching design in work, and to close notice teaching system 4 essential factors (teacher, student, teaching material and teaching media) position and role: see through course suit which will go on suit, whether can we make the position of every essential factor changed ?(compared with the position of the traditional teaching process) which essential factor will change? which still have not? what is the reason? only to analyze tightly around these problems, make corresponding adjustment, make through last teaching designed teaching pattern to embody the requirement of new teaching structure better, then suit is just meaningful. one offshoot of this has been the experiment of role-shifting between learners and teachers in the language classroom, which is evidenced by the increasing number of books and papers published in language teaching journals and by authoritative publishing houses. from the teacher-dominated classroom eloquence to learner-centered interactive learning activities, english language teaching has truly got into its stride in china.however, one can easily come up with the question that how we shall assess this reformed pattern of classroom roles with its avowed purpose of empowering classroom teaching. is it convincing that a re-dividing of classroom allocated time, with teacher on the more silent side, has best evidenced the shift? the answer is by no means in the affirmative. the essence of learner-centeredness, seen in a fresh perspective, lies in the greatest possible extent to which the instructors have been attending to the learners learning needs, which in a broader sense, requires such learning supports as changing the curriculum, diversifying the instructional approaches and adapting the schedules of classes on the part of both the instructors and educational administration in accord with the learners needs. and a learners learning style, which refers to his/her natural, habitual and preferred ways of absorbing, processing and retaining new information and skills, displays considerable difference from each other. to address the difference in individual learning styles in efl classroom is an important part of the endeavor to meet the learners needs and the very access to moving beyond the mere rhetoric of a learner-centered classroom. in this light, i conducted a study on efl classroom learning and teaching with special focus on the investigation of the compatibility between students learning style preferences and instructional approaches in an attempt to produce constructive findings.in this paper, ill first present an analysis of classroom english language teaching which includes making a comparison between teacher-centered english teaching and learner-centered english teaching and some examples of foreign trend, then, venture some tentative suggestions for possible improvement of classroom language teaching, and finally venture a personal conclusion of the thesis.ii. an analysis of classroom english language teaching 1. a comparison between teacher-centered english teaching and learner-centered english teachingthe teacher, students, and learning materials are the three main factors in the whole process of english language teaching. teacher-centered english language teaching and learner-centered english language teaching greatly differ from each other in these five aspects.1）teachers roles harmer (1991) says, “the teacher plays multiple roles in communicative activities-as controller, as assessor, as organizer, as prompter, as participant and as resource.” a teacher is a decisive factor in second language acquisition because the purpose of language teaching is not to pass on special knowledge to students but to train students to apply knowledge of language in communication. only through a great number of practical activities both in and out of classroom can this kind of abilities be developed among students. so one of the most important embodiments of a teachers competence should be whether he can bring students interest and initiative into play in the class and moreover, train them to learn by themselves. unfortunately, some english teachers havent realized and understood this educational concept. in present schools in china, english language teaching pattern can be generalized as textbook-centered and classroom-based. the textbook is the only resource for both teachers and students. in a most common english class a teacher usually starts with explaining the new words and phrases of a new text, and then the content in the text. while explaining each paragraph, he may add new language points or point out some important grammatical knowledge. to make students acquaint with the language points and grammatical knowledge, he may organize them to do some relative practice or drills and check answers. after explaining the text, the teacher may give some assignments (usually from the exercise part following the text) to students and finally correct their homework. thats how teachers organize the class using a textbook in a classroom. what students need to do is to listen to the teachers explanation and take notes and review the old text and preview a new one. in this teaching pattern, the classroom is the basic place for students to learn knowledge from the teacher and the textbook. students previewing and reviewing and some extracurricular learning activities are supplementary to classroom learning, not compulsory. if a student makes good preparation before a class, he may have some questions and general ideas about the text in mind. while he listens to his teachers explanation he can get more than those who have no ideas at all. if he reviews what he learns in the class regularly and repeatedly, he will surely obtain a good result from this helpful learning process. on the contrary, if a student doesnt form such a learning habit and greatly relies on teachers instructions, he may possibly get less from the classroom teaching. so it is a common phenomenon that students sitting in the same classroom have quite different results in learning. the key to the problem doesnt lie in the teachers work but lies in the students initiation and learning habits. students dont bother to set up their own goals or make up their study plan or arrange their own daily learning activities, or may be weekly activities or monthly activities, for what they should learn and how to learn are absolutely under their teachers control. in the classroom-teaching pattern, there is no way to distinguish teaching from learning in the sense of time because students learning activities are involved in teachers teaching activities. in a broader sense, that is, if the forty-five minutes in a class can be extended to the preparation stage, teachers teaching activities are ahead of students learning activities. a great problem arising from this kind of english language teaching pattern is that students are used to waiting passively at the receivers end instead of actively producing new things.the chinese foreign language teaching and research center made an interview to more than 900 middle school english teachers in 48 schools in early 2002. the result showed that more than 60% of the interviewed english teachers chose pair work or group work as the rarest activities in their classroom teaching but they chose explaining the text and doing exercises in the textbook as the most frequent ones. 84.5% of the interviewed teachers thought it was a waste of time letting students participate in oral activities in class and only 3% of them asked students to practice oral english after class. students homework usually includes previewing the new text and doing exercises. the result indicates that most english teachers still follow the traditional classroom-teaching patternteacher-centered class. the teacher is a controller and unquestionable authority that instructs and guides students in learning the text and dominates the class from the beginning to the end. because of little time on exercises and practice and almost no time on communication in english, the teaching is centered on linguistic competence rather than communicative competence. under the influence of this teaching pattern, the evaluation of a teacher has depended on the amount of knowledge he or she can put into students mind in the class and teachers themselves also adopt this standard to measure their work. most teachers think the success of their teaching lies in their good command of english language. . the multiple roles of a teacher cant be fully performed by those following the traditional classroom-teaching pattern. in fact, they should not only be competent english teachers, but also be capable classroom designer. they should also be enthusiastic teachers, willing to face the endless problems and enormous amount of letter management work. in addition, they must be good cooperators. teachers should exert their effort to become “a resource of information” rather than “the source of information” (linder, 2000). so the teacher should design class activities and set tasks for students as an organizer, give instructions as a director and controller, offer useful information and transmit knowledge as a resource when students feel confused and need assistance, and finally, evaluate students work and give some advice and encouragement as an assessor and prompt them to improve their communicative ability and gain competence. it is said that in the online-class of peking foreign university, tutors have performed most part of the multiple roles so that the learners can have a lot of chances to engage in meaningful and motivated communicative activity using english.the activity of group work and pair work in english teaching of peking foreign university offers a helpful attempt in which students are quite willing to exchange their ideas in english and cooperate with each other to work out the same task. in the traditional classroom, students compete against each other, which often lead to silence in class. on the contrary, students often feel secure and at ease when they work in small groups. “learners can offer each other genuine communicative practice, including negotiating meaning that may aid second language acquisition.” (porter, 1986) two-way tasks like group work “produce more topic and language recycling, more feedback, more feedback incorporation, more rephrasing and more precision” than students would otherwise obtain. (long, 1989) ellis has studied group work and concludes that group work increases language practice opportunities,“it improves the quality of student talk; it helps to individualize instruction; it promotes a positive affective climate and it motivates learners to learn.” the tasks for group work are closely related to learners real life family, holidays, sports, pastimes and so on. this approach not only persuades learners of the relevance of his language learning, but also provides them with immediate motivation. “given motivation, anyone can learn a language”. (skehan,1989). when a foreign language can be used to deal with topics from elsewhere, then learners are likely to be aware of its practical usefulness and relevance as a means of communication and will exert effort to it.2) application of teaching and learning resources the biggest disadvantage for chinese learners in studying english is lack of native environment. to make up for it, linguists and educators have tried their best to improve textbooks because textbooks have almost been the only resources for both teachers and students for quite a long time. textbooks usually have teachers book and students book. teachers book has some part of information, which students cant share in their books, for example, the answer key to the exercise part and summary of the text. in the past it was almost impossible for students to get teachers book because the publishing houses were not allowed to sell teachers book in public. that was a way to protect the limited teaching resources. another way to prevent students from obtaining the same resources as their teachers in school libraries was to open certain reference books only to teachers. resulting from this kind of protectionism students greatly depended on teachers in classroom. whatever teachers said was beyond their reach. to rely on the traditional textbook, as the sole resource cannot satisfy learners need because they can not find the useful learning resources freely even though they are the main part of learning activities. today things have changed a lot in consequence of the impact of internet. the www, the largest database in the world can provide plenty of target-language materials to teachers and students. “an estimated 85% of the electronically stored information in the world is in the english language.”(crystal 1997, cited by shetzer & warschauer). e-mail makes it possible for students to communicate with their far-off native-speaking friends within minutes. this easy and fast one-to-one or one-to-many communication conveniently brings to the language learners meaningful and motivated communication, and therefore, may provide a beneficial environment to improve the students competence. warschaue