The Adoption of Student-centered English Teaching Mode in Middle School1.doc

中学英语教学中以学生为中心的教学模式the adoption of student-centered english teaching mode in middle schoolcontentsabstract1key words.1i. introduction2ii. current situation of english teaching in china3iii. student-centered.53.1 origins.53.2 definition .63.3 characteristics.63.4 advantages.7iv. theoretical application.84.1 developments.84.2 results.9v. practical teaching methods under learner-centered teaching mode115.1 communicative approach.115.1.1 definition.115.1.2 authentic materials in communicative approach.125.1.3 group work.135.1.3.1 advantages .135.1.3.2 requirements for group work .135.2 exploring learning.145.2.1 theory.145.2.2 operation15vi. teachers role under learner-centered teaching mode.156.1 works in pre-class planning procedure.166.1.1 need analysis166.1.2 grouping learners166.2 content planning166.2.1 content selection166.2.2 content gradations176.3 way of teaching17vii. conclusion18references.18the adoption of student-centered englishteaching mode in middle school摘 要： 教学活动中“以学生为主体还是以教师为主体”一直是教学界争论的热点.教学的目的在于提高学生素质。要使学生获得充分的发展，就必须在教学中以学生为主，以学为主。学生是学习的主人，教师的作用在于成为学生学习英语的组织者、引导者和合作者。建立“以学生为中心”的英语教学方式，使英语学习既有利于学生打好英语基础，又有利于学生形成健全人格，更有利于学生去探索、创新。这篇文章追溯了以学生为中心的教学模式的起源, 对以学生为中心的教学模式进行论述, 全面分析了其优势和意义, 提出了实施以学生为中心的教学模式的方法和目前中学教学模式改革的必要性及具体方法。关键词：应用； 教学模式； 以学生为中心； 以教师为中心； 起源abstract: whether learner-centered or teacher-centered in teaching and learning activities is a hot spot of argument in education all the time. the purpose of teaching is to improve the students quality. in order to make students develop fully, we must play the students and learning on the central place. students are the host of learning and the function of the teacher is becoming the organizer, guide and cooperator of the students learning. establishing the learner-centered teaching mode makes english learning good for students not only to form a solid basis of english but also to form a sound personality, and what is more, it will promote students to research and create. this article assigns the origin of learner-centered english teaching mode, and makes discourse of learner-centered and analyzes the advantage and meaning of the learner-centered fully, also raises the ways of carrying out learner-centered teaching mode and the necessity and concrete ways of reform in the present teaching in middle school.key words: adoption; teaching mode; student-centered; teacher-centered; origini. introductionalthough the reform of english teaching has been put into practice for a long time, traditional teacher-centered teaching mode is still widely adopted in english class in middle school in china. we still cannot see much in change. teacher-centered is still in dominance. why can student-centered mode not go into power successfully? maybe some even dont know what is teaching mode, let alone student-centered, and also the conversion from teacher-centered to student-centered is difficult to handle, but most importantly, what concrete teaching methods should be adopted in a student-centered class is still vague. so giving some emphasis to the research of student-centered teaching mode of english is necessary, even urgent.for centuries, traditional teacher-centered instruction has been dominating classrooms in china. the typical classroom in china is one in which the teacher talks most of the time, while the students only listen. there is not a great deal of interaction, and it is even considered impolite for students to cut in to challenge or raise questions when the teacher is teaching (huang & xu, 1999; wu, 2001) “there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things”, stated the french philosopher jacques rousseau. there is no better way to describe the difficulty of implementing non-traditional teaching methods. the present-day classroom has remained remarkably similar to that of 1900. students no longer write notes on slates, and they often sit by moveable desks, yet many teachers still use the i lecture; you listen and write method of teaching. despite the proliferation of electronic media and alternative methods of instruction, lecture is often the instructional tool of choice, forcing students to take notes and to listen carefully (ohara 1998). a more contemporary approach to teaching is to adopt classroom practices or learning activities that relate to the findings of research. one of the hardest things for administrators and teachers to accept is the idea of change, though the mandate to reform public education has become a high profile, highly politicized, widely accepted inevitability. indeed, increasing students test scores and decreasing classroom discipline problems will require new approaches.human being has stridden into the twenty- first century and the competition between nations becomes intenser. the new century is an internationalization and informatization times, the fast propagation of knowledge and information promote the exchange of culture between nations. as it was that various countries in the world are competing with changing english as the most important communicative language and english talented persons will be the focus in this competition. in order to meet the challenge, in order to win victory in this competition, in order to advance our countrys comprehensive strength, in order to bring about a great rejuvenation of the chinese nation, the department of education established the new english national syllabus which is facing forward the twenty-first century. the aim of the new national syllabus embodies the spirit of the education for all-round development. the spirit of the education for all-round development consists of many contents, while the core aims at the all students, to focus the individual difference and to provide the condition for every students full development; its people- oriented to develop students good moral character, pay attention to students affective factors, help them form healthy personality to lay a good foundation for lasting development in the future. the stress of the education for all- round development is on cultivating students creativity. during the process of learning language and dealing with language information, its necessary to bring up students creativity. therefore, english teaching should base on the learner-centered class to carry out the teaching.ii. current situation of english teaching in chinawith the current liberal policy of opening to the outside world, english language teaching is increasingly popular in china. furthermore, with the recent success of chinas accession to the world trade organization and winning for hosting the 2008 olympic games in beijing, there is an obvious consensus among the nation that english is a necessity for almost any modern chinese. despite the apparent achievements of chinas elt profession for the last couple of decades, there are still unsatisfactory aspects in teaching the english language at the tertiary level, especially when oral skills are concerned. some government officials have made their complaints about these in public. this makes it more urgent that current teaching methodology should be changed or at least modified with respect to the necessary reform in the teaching of english in china.in china, the research in english language teaching (elt) started as late as the 1980s. when discussing issues of elt, chinese language researchers tend to interchange teaching english as a foreign language (tefl) and teaching english as a second language (tesl) and borrow language-learning theories from studies of second language acquisition (sla), which are mostly conducted in english cultures (cao, 2000; sun, 2000). such ambiguity indicates that there may be confusion among researchers in understanding the nature of elt in china, which may mislead the practitioners in applying suitable learning theories to second language development (song, 2001). it is vital to clarify the difference between efl and esl. language researchers who are aware of the distinction indicate that differences do exist between efl and esl (ellis, 1997; kramsch, 2000; song, 2001; swiderski, 1993). the most obvious difference lies in the setting in which language teaching and learning occurs, with the former taking place in a non-english home culture and the latter in the target culture. teachings in those two different contexts are therefore named respectively as tefl and tesl. tefl conducted in non-english settings fails to provide language learners with sufficient opportunities for interactions in the target language and within authentic contexts. quite often the only comprehensible language efl students hear and read is within the classroom; in contrast, when esl students leave the classroom, they may enter into a number of situations in which they can use and practice the target language (gebhard, 1999). gardner and macintyre (1991) also noted the differences in learners motivation toward english learning in different contexts. the distinction of context also brings about other differences between tefl and tesl, such as different formation of student and instructor populations, different educational policies, different goals of learning and different concerns, which all play significant roles in the effectiveness of language teaching and learning.it is argued that what kind of teaching mode is the most suitable approach for english teaching, and nobody knows how many kinds of teaching modes there are. but they can mainly be divided into traditional approaches and non-traditional approaches. teacher-centered mode is a typical traditional teaching mode while learner-centered approach represents non- traditional. under teacher-centered approach the teacher decides what is to be learned, what is to be tested, and how the class is to be run. often the teacher is in the center of the classroom giving instruction with little input from students. the teacher decides the goals of the class based on some external criteria. we may say that teacher-centered is not good, but everything exists with reasons teacher-centered approach can function well under proper use. in teacher-centered class teacher can control teaching and learning process easily, so the class can go smoothly under teachers plan therefore teaching plan can be finished successfully, also in teacher-centered class the discipline is fine, and it benefits students learning very much. (wang qi, 1999) while under student-centered approach students will have a higher motivation to learn when they feel they have a real autonomy in their own learning. instead of being the sole, infallible source of information, the teacher shares control of the classroom and students are allowed to explore, experiment, and discover on their own. the students are not just memorizing information, but they are allowed to use the information alone or with peers. their diverse thoughts and perspectives are a necessary input to every class. the students are given choices and involved in the decision-making processes of the classroom. students interests of learning can be aroused naturally and their characteristics have more chances to be shown.iii. student-centered3.1 origins1) the idea of humanism education the emphasis of this view is to regard students as a whole person. language teaching is not only teaching language but also helping develop students personality and latent energy.2) subject education theorythis theory refers to making most use of students central function and developing their ability to promote their healthy integrated development in the education for all-round development. it stresses that students and teacher are equal and cooperative community. students are the subjects in the teaching activities and the teacher services for students.3) education object theory in new elementary education theoretical systemthe present education modes of thought formed at industrialization times. at that time, in order to meet the need of productive forces development, the aim of education was to train a large amount of knowledgeable and skilled industry producers. students were just like the products, which were produced from the production line. but nowadays, social development has got into a new period, the development of new technology whose core are information technology and biological technology asks for a higher demand for education. so teachers must change their position and role in class. that is to say, they should pay more attention to the students central position, subject function, the development of their latent energy and their diversity.however, the principle in english class is teacher-centered all along. teaching takes up almost or most of the time in the class, so the students dont have enough chance to practice and they become passive receivers of knowledge gradually. in fact, the main task of foreign language study is learning. corder once said that effective language teaching shouldnt disobey the natural process and we shouldnt force students to adjust themselves to teacher and book, while making teacher and book be suited to them. as english teachers, we know that english is different from other basic subjects; its a practical subject, students language skills can be trained and improved through their practice. so its effect depends on students subjective initiative and participation to a great extent.3.2 definitionstudentcentered: (also learner-centered) centering planning, our teaching, and our assessment around the needs and abilities of our students. the main idea behind the practice is that learning is most meaningful when topics are relevant to the students lives, needs, and interests and when the students themselves are actively engaged in creating, understanding, and connecting to knowledge (mccombs and whistler 1997). students will have a higher motivation to learn when they feel they have a real stake in their own learning. instead of the teacher being the sole, infallible source of information, then, the teacher shares control of the classroom and students are allowed to explore, experiment, and discover on their own. the students are not just memorizing information, but they are allowed to work with and use the information alone or with peers. their diverse thoughts and perspectives are a necessary input to every class. the students are given choices and are included in the decision-making processes of the classroom. the focus in these classrooms is on options, rather than uniformity (papilla 1996). essentially, learners are treated as co-creators in the learning process, as individuals with ideas and issues that deserve attention and consideration (mccombs and whistler 1997).3.3 characteristics1) in a student-centered class focus is often on both students and instructor.2) language use in typical situations (how students will use the language) usually was put on a central position.3) the instructor model under learner-centered teaching mode is students interact with instructor and one another4) students are required to work in pairs, in groups, or alone depending on the purpose of the activity.5) in a student-centered class students often talk without constant instructor monitoring and instructor provides feedback/correction when questions arise.6) students will answer each others questions, using instructor as an information resource, also in discussions students have some choices of topics.7) students can be the evaluators of their own learning while instructor also evaluates it.8) the classroom under learner-centered is often noisy and busy.3.4 advantages learner-centered education views language acquisition as a process of acquiring skills rather than a body of knowledge. 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. learners must learn not only to make grammatically correct sentences, but must also develop the ability to use language to get things done. an improvement in language knowledge will stimulate learners competence and performance, and vice versa. teachers may define the students needs in terms of processes of learning rather than solely in terms of end goals and purposes. meanwhile, they should remain aware of what they expect to happen in the learning situation. we may find out the nature of learner language by focusing on the kinds of errors learners make and how these errors change over time so that teachers may take measures to hinder the occurrence of errors. when mismatches between learners and teachers views of language learning cause dilemmas, we need to convince learners of the long-run benefit of it. the artificial side of the communicative approach should be avoided.learner-centered education in second language acquisition involves at least two dimensions: firstly, it provides a very convenient tool for communication, work and study; secondly, it greatly contributes to a per