CHALLENGESANDSTRATEGIESINRURALMIDDLESCHOOLENGLISHTEACHING.doc

本科毕业论文challenges and strategies in rural middle school english teachingthesis statement: in order to meet the requirements of the latest national english curriculum, teachers in rural middle schools are facing a lot of new challenges and must come up with effective strategies to deal with them.outline:1. introduction2. main challenges of english teaching in rural middle schools2.1 teachers low proficiency in english teaching2.2 students lack of interest in learning english3. strategies for improving english teaching in rural middle schools3.1 improving teachers qualification in english teaching3.2 adopting task-based language teaching (tblt)3.2.1 the definition of task3.2.2 features of tblt3.2.3 principles of tblt3.2.4 reasons for adopting tblt3.2.5 applications of tblt3.2.5.1 tblt in english listening3.2.5.2 tblt in english speaking 3.2.5.3 tblt in english reading3.2.5.4 tblt in english writing4. conclusion1. introductionas the reform in china goes further, communication among people becomes more frequent. english is consequently used on more and more occasions. the purpose of teaching therefore is to cultivate students ability to communicate in english in our daily life and in work. since 2007, a new national english curriculum has been implemented around our country. with the latest national english curriculum, english teachers encounter a lot of new challenges. according to the new national english curriculum (the ministry of education, china, 2007), the goal of english teaching in middle schools is to cultivate students comprehensive abilities in using the language, help them learn english through doing things such as thinking, discussing, communicating and cooperating, master the language rules by means of observation, discovery and induction, form effective learning strategies, cultivate their autonomous learning abilities by experiencing, practicing, participating and cooperating, master basic english language knowledge and skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing, increase their awareness of the culture differences between the east and the west, and enlarge their vision.in order to meet the requirements of the new national english curriculum, english teachers are faced with many challenges, especially the teachers in rural middle schools. compared with city middle schools, rural middle schools encounter more difficulties in english teaching, such as insufficient government funding, insufficient teaching facilities, teachers low proficiency in english teaching and students lack of interest in learning english. it requires joint efforts to overcome all the difficulties. for example, the government should increase educational funding to improve the school conditions; school principals should help create a better language environment by providing more teaching facilities, such as school libraries and multi-media room; teachers must enhance their teaching competence to stimulate students interest in learning english. the implementation of the new national english curriculum is influenced by many factors. although english teachers can not deal with all of the challenges, they can help students by improving their proficiency in english and their teaching methods.2. main challenges of english teaching in rural middle schoolsthe main challenges teachers in rural middle schools have are teachers low proficiency in english teaching and students lack of interest in learning english. teachers low proficiency in english teachingfor any educational change, teachers are the crucial factors as they are the agents for implementing the new ideas (white, 1988). lack of qualified english teachers is one of the most serious problems in rural middle schools. most of the english teachers seldom receive professional education of foreign language, so they have low professional quality. english teachers in rural areas encounter two specific problems. the first problem is their lack of proficiency in english, especially in spoken english. for example, their pronunciation and intonation is not good enough and they have weak oral expression abilities. chinese teachers are non-native speakers of english. most of them have never been to english-speaking countries, so many of them do not have native or close to native language competence and a good knowledge of the culture and society in english-speaking countries. the second problem is their traditional teaching methods. the traditional teaching is characterized by teacher-centered teaching, structure-based instruction and drill repetition (sun, 2002). in the classroom, the teacher seldom asks students any questions or communicates with them. he or she tries to seize every minute to impart the students with knowledge and students receive knowledge passively. as a result, the traditional teaching method results in students poor abilities and skills of communication.2.2 students lack of interest in learning englishin the country, a lot of students lack motivation of learning english. the majority of them study english just because english is a compulsory subject and their purpose of learning english is to pass exams. the students in rural middle schools have less interest in learning english than those in urban middle schools because of the following reasons.the first reason is that the traditional teaching method is still used in rural middle schools. the teacher takes up almost all the time in class and students passively receive the knowledge. this traditional teaching method not only makes students feel bored in class, but also can not satisfy their needs of learning so that students are not willing to learn english. the second reason is that students lack of a good language environment to learn english in rural middle schools. students use english only in the english classes. moreover, the chances of using english to communicate are rare in rural areas. the third reason is that students seldom get support from their family to learn english. the parents in rural areas do not recognize the importance of learning english. in addition, many of them receive little education in english and even know nothing about english. as a result, parents can not provide a good atmosphere of learning english for their children at home.3. strategies for improving english teaching in rural middle schoolsto solve the above mentioned challenges, english teachers in rural middle schools must come up with effective strategies. they should take part in teacher training programs to improve their qualification in english teaching. in addition, they can adopt effective language teaching approaches to motivate students to learn english. in this way, english teachers in rural middle schools can try their best to solve the main challenges.3.1 improving teachers qualification in english teachingit is vital for teachers to improve their teaching competence, hence teacher training should be enhanced. since the english teachers in rural middle schools lack a high level of proficiency in english teaching, they should attend in-service training. during the training, they can be organized to learn the language and the teaching methodology. the training provides a chance for the teachers to improve their proficiency in english. moreover, some experienced teachers can help them with teaching skills which enable them to motivate students in class. teacher training strengthens the teachers qualification and improves their technical skills of english teaching. there are many ways to organize teacher training. for example, teachers study in english-speaking countries; teachers in urban schools and rural schools exchange their teaching experience; student teachers substitute for teachers in rural schools. last semester, there was an exchange training program between our university and some rural middle schools in taishan. we went to those schools as student teachers to substitute for their teachers and they came to our university for improving their teaching. through the exchange training program, we experienced how to be teachers and the teachers in those rural middle schools had a chance to learn teaching skills.3.2 adopting task-based language teaching (tblt)in order to achieve the goal of the new national english curriculum and stimulate students interest in learning english, teachers can adopt good language teaching approaches, such as the natural approach, total physical response and communicative language teaching.task-based language teaching (tblt) is widely promoted in english language teaching nowadays. in fact, it is a further development of communicative language teaching approach (wang, 2006). it shares the same beliefs as the communicative language teaching, as language should be learned as close as possible to how it is used in real life. 3.2.1 the definition of taskthere are different discussions about what a task is. here are some definitions:prabhu (1987) considers that a task is an activity which requires learners to arrive at an outcome from given information through some process of thought, and which allows teachers to control and regulate that process.willis (1996) thinks that tasks are activities where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome.in my opinion, a task is an activity in which learners work with a particular objective, have a specific working procedure and finally achieve a product.in english teaching, a task is a classroom activity which requires students to use english to work for a communicative purpose and achieve an outcome.3.2.2 features of tblttblt can meet students need of learning, for it has the following features:1. it stresses learner-centered (cheng, 2004). the emphasis of teaching activity is placed on students interaction. students are expected to participate in the activities and take responsibility for their learning (nunan, 1988). tblt is learner-centered, but it does not mean the roles of a teacher can be absolutely ignored. because of the influence of traditional teaching, students are not used to play the center roles, so it is important for the teacher to play good roles in helping them. based on the functions that the teacher performs in different activities, harmer (1983) defines the teacher roles as controller, assessor, organizer, prompter, participant and resource-provider.2. it emphasizes the authentic language input (sun, 2002). this means that authentic teaching materials, teachers native or near-native language competence and a true language setting are necessary for communication in the classroom (munby, 1978).3. it advocates integration of four skills (wang, 2006). tblt aims to help learners gain comprehensive abilities in using the language, including listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.4. it stresses the importance to combine form-focused teaching with communication-focused teaching (wang, 2006). linguistic competence is a part of communicative competence. it refers to ones knowledge of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. this means that grammatical teaching should not be neglected. wang (2006) points out that if the students do not have the knowledge of the grammar system, they can not really gain the ability to communicate. but the emphasis of grammatical teaching should be on applying the rules rather than just knowing them. using the language to communicate is much more important than remembering grammar. a good teaching approach should combine grammar with the communicative purpose.3.2.3 principles of tbltwhile designing tasks, the principles below should be followed:1. the authentic principle (sun, 2002). the tasks should be authentic so that students are able to learn and master language use in a natural, true or authentic-like circumstance (cheng, 2004). many activities in the old textbooks are not tasks because they lack of authenticity. for example, students are required to answer some questions after listening to a passage. in real life, people seldom do that. in fact, when people read, they note down, cut and paste or mark the useful information instead of specially answering some questions. 2. the objective principle (cheng, 2004). the tasks should include the specific objectives which guide the students to achieve the tasks. both the teacher and students should know the specific goal of the task. students know what they need to do in order to finish the task according to the goal of the task, and the teacher should know the goal of the task clearly for guiding and helping students to achieve the task and reach the goal.3. the communicative principle (wang, 2006). the ultimate objective of language teaching is to develop language communicative competence. therefore, all the tasks in the classroom should be centered on the communicative purpose and serve the purpose. ellis (1990) points out some criteria for evaluating communicative classroom tasks: (1) the tasks must involve the students in performing for a real communicative purpose rather than practicing the language form. (2) the tasks must create a desire to communicate among students. (3) the tasks must involve the students in using a variety of language, not just one specific language form. (5) the tasks should not involve the teachers intervention. 4. the outcome principle (cheng, 2004). the task should have an outcome after it is finished. the outcome is a component of the task, referring to students products, such as their notes, lists, drawings and forms. based on the result of the task, the teacher can check and evaluate students work.3.2.4 reasons for adopting tbltin order to implement the new national english curriculum effectively, teachers need to adopt an appropriate teaching approach. tblt has more advantages than the traditional way of teaching because of the following reasons.first of all, the authentic use of language and the internal motivation of learners form conditions for tblt. according to the requirements of the new national english curriculum, students should be provided authentic materials and activities for learning the language. the authentic materials and activities must include the real communicative desire for students.second, this kind of teaching and learning can optimally stimulate the motivation of learners. tblt emphasizes the authenticity of the language materials. the authentic materials not only arouse students interest in learning, but also enable students to learn and master the authentic language.third, the variety of tasks provides chances for learners to make use of what they have learned previously for the purpose of communication, in which learners pay great attention to the meaning rather than the form so that they have lower psychological pressure. fourth, tblt can cause change in learning styles and the learning environment. tblt concentrates on both the language and the process of language learning. emphasizing the process of language learning helps the students form autonomous learning abilities. moreover, tblt meets the requirements of the new national english curriculum, so this teaching approach enables students to change their old learning style in which they receive knowledge passively from the teachers. finally, tblt can develop students comprehensive abilities. the cultivation of language competence and the development of students other abilities are combined in tblt. during the process of tblt, students need to discuss, communicate, collaborate, practice and explore and so on. tblt involves all kinds of activities, knowledge, skills and learning styles, hence this teaching approach can develop students comprehensive abilities.3.2.5 applications of tbltaccording to my teaching experience in a taishan rural middle school, tblt can be applied in rural middle school english teaching.last semester, i went to a taishan rural middle school as a student teacher of english. before i presented my first lesson, i had observed the local english teachers teaching. i found that the english teaching there was dominated by the teacher-centered mode. in the class, the teacher spoke most of the time and seldom communicated with students. what students had to do was to pay attention to the teacher, keep silent, take notes and do exercises. obviously, this kind of teaching method made students feel bored because of its lack of students participation. i noticed that some students fell asleep during the class. worse still, some english skills like listening and speaking were ignored. however, english is a language and students should learn it for communication. therefore, teachers should help students develop their basic language skills for communication.the observation gave me an opportunity to learn about the present situation of english teaching in rural areas. since i would be a student teacher there, i needed to avoid the disadvantages mentioned above and make improvements to achieve the best teaching effects. after teaching several lessons, i found that most of the students lacked motivation of learning. some students even slept at the beginning of the class or chatted with their deskmates. after class, they did not want to do their homework. in order to know what caused the lack of their interest in learning english, i tried to talk to them. the reason was that they learned english for passing exams rather than as their interest. besides, they were bored with the traditional teaching method. therefore, it was necessary for me to help the students and prompt them to learn english. i decided to adopt tblt. the following are some suggestions on motivating students in class:create a relaxing and pleasant classroom atmosphere,prepare warm-up activities,use pair work or group work,