魏薇电大英语教育专业毕业论文.docVIP

激发中学生英语口语的兴趣项目设计者魏薇哈密电大提交日期2013年12月30日课程名称：英语（教育方向）Stimulating method & the junior students Interestsin oral EnglishInvestigatorWei WeiHami TV UniversitySubmitted on 30th Dec 2013In fulfillment of the coursePractical Project DesignAcknowledgmentI am mostly grateful to my supervisor Professor DuYing without whose support and patience this project would not even have got off the ground.No amount of thanks will be adequate for my students without whose willing participation in the project implementation it would have remained on paper.Last but not the least, big thanks go to my family who have shared with me my worries, frustrations, and hopefully my ultimate happiness in eventually finishing this project.摘 要本篇文章提出了一个详细的报告项目来解决这个大多数初级学生在说英语口语上的问题。假设,学习者的口头练习的兴趣将大大增加口语能力。这一假设验证的四周与特别设计的口语课堂教学的实践锻炼活动。在科学研究的方法上使用解析法原因分析、问卷调查和苏格拉底式的对话。关键词：激发；兴趣；方法； AbstractThe present study presents a detailed report of a project implemented to solve the problem that most of junior students are weak in speaking English. It is hypothesized that learners interest in oral practice will be greatly increased by better oral work design. This hypothesis is verified by a four-week practice of classroom teaching with the specially designed oral exercise activities.Among the methods of scientific investigation used are analytic method cause analysis. Questionnaire survey and Socratic dialogues.Main headings of the project reportIntroductions1. Identifying a problem2. 2.Problem analysis2.1 The analytic method2.2 Cause analysis2.2.1 Teachers side that is myself.2.2.2 The students side2.3 Socratic dialogues2.4 Questionnaire survey3. Project objective4.Project hypothesis5.Project rational5.1 Communicative approach in teaching speaking5.2 PPP model5.3 Communicative speaking activities5.4 The learners roles and responsibilities5.5 The role of the teacher5.6 The role of good lesson planning6. Project Implementation1.Identifying a problemLanguage is a communication tool. And the purpose for learning English in China has changed in recent years due to the Open Door Policy. In the past, everyday communication was not the main goal because one didnt need to listen and speak in English. but now spesking is very important. The students should not only express themselves, they can also communicate in different cases according to the culture. But in my teaching, some of my students who have high grades in English are not good at oral English. Some can not express themselves in English. Some of them are lack of interest in oral class.2.Problem analysisIn my opinion, there were four main reasons that accounted for students lack of interest in oral class. Firstly, some students were afraid of being laughed by others because of their poor pronunciation and performance. Secondly, some students wanted to say, but they didnt know how to get start and what to say. Thirdly, some students particularly those who did not do well in the traditional grammar-oriented written exam lacked self-confidence in oral work. They thought that the oral class was only the showing- time for the “top-students”. Fourthly, some students didnt think the oral practice is useful to their grammar-oriented exam, so they were not interested in it at all.The Problems had been troubling me for a long time and now I was determined to work towards the solution to the problem. I started off by making an analysis of the problems. In this period, I use the following methods:the analytic method, cause analysis, socratic dialogues and questionnaire survey.2.1 The analytic methodMy Problem is : Some of my students are not interested in “oral practice”.The phrase “some of” in my problem made me think of the other side of the issue: some of my students are not interested in “oral practice”. This, in turn made me think of these: Why some dont, while others do? Who are the some that dont? And who are the others that do? Moreover, “my students” is in contrast with “my colleagues students”. This prompted me to made a chain of reflections: What about some of my colleagues students? Is it also the case that they arent interested in oral practice? If, on the other hand, all of my colleagues students are interested, then my problem is actually caused by myself, not by my students. Probably the training I gave students was poorly designed. 2.2 Cause analysisI did the Cause Analysis on both “teachers side” and “students side”. I analysised the four main reasons of students not being interested in oral practice.2.2.1 Teachers side that is myself.About the first reason: Some students were afraid of being laughed by others becauseof their poor pronunciation.I didnt teach them the Phonetic Alphabet I had thought that, as the high school students, they have studied English for more than three years, they should have learned the Phonetic Alphabet.So I think I should add some Pronunciation Training Activities in my new Teaching Design.About the second reason: Some students wanted to say, but they didnt know how to say.When these students told me that they were often not clear about what I told them to do or how they should do as my instruction in the oral class, I came to know that there was something wrong with my Teaching-Design. Maybe the language I used was not clear? Or the level of the language was much higher than the most of my students? Or they didnt like the topic? Or they werent familiar with the topic? etc. About the third reason: Some “low students” lacked confidence, who are weak at thetraditional grammar-oriented written exam.I didnt encourage these students that speaking can make them enjoy English, can make they have enough confidence. And these were very important to every English learners.About the fourth reason: Some students didnt think the oral practice is useful to theirgrammar-oriented exam, so they were not interested in it.I didnt tell the students that the relationship between oral practice and grammar - You cant learn grammar rules well just by listening, understanding, taking notes or by remembering what the teacher teaches. If you speak and use by oral way these useful sentences which contain the key grammar after youve understood these grammars, you will master these grammars much better. And this will give you a big help on your grammar-oriented exam.2.2.2 The students sideThe purpose of some top students to do the Speaking Activities is just to improve theirspeaking ability. They would rather make speeches in front of the whole class or do theinterpretative exercises for the key sentences than care about if there is any useful grammar, because they are sure they can really do well on the exam without the oral practice. Some weak students may think the oral practice almost couldnt help them on the grammar-oriented exam.Others are accustomed to the traditional way of teaching and learning, that is, they are alwayswaiting for the teacher to tell them what to learn. As a result, they neither improve theirspeaking ability nor get high marks on the exams. Some students think oral practice is just a waste of time. They say they can use the time tomore grammar exercises to get high marks.The choice of materials:If the materials tend to be too oral, though they will be very interesting to the students, they may be far from the text; on the other hand, if they are close to the exam, they would be too boring to capture the students. So I should consider the both sides of the materials. After that, I recognized that I should add some Pronunciation Training Activities to improve students pronunciation; give the more clear instruction to let students know what to speak and how to speak; offer more encouragement to the “low students” with low marks on the “grammar exams” to grow confidence; try to design some oral activities to improve the students ability on the “grammar exam” .2.3 Socratic dialoguesI cant let my students express in English.Q: What do I mean by express? What sort of expressing do I expect of them?A: I want them to express freely.Q: Express what?A: Usually the key sentences in their textbook.Q: What purpose do they have in the expressing training?A: Purpose ? To practice speaking English.Q: Isnt it like me surfing on line sometimes? At the times, I surfing, but do not actually read anything, simply because I do not have a specific purpose. I regret wasting time and money afterwards.A: Oh, here is the point. When I ask my students to practice speaking English, the purpose is too general. I should give them some specific purposes, such as to practice the usage of a word, a sentences structure, or a tense, etc.2.4 Questionnaire survey:I designed one questionnaire and distributed to my students before conducting the research and required that they finish it within 20 minutes. All of them, 15 students, returned their questionnaires that were left anonymous. When all these data came in, I made some statistical evaluation. The result showed that 100% of the students thought the oral practice was important and that about 80.5% of the students thought oral practice was quite necessary for their future development, which indicated that the students have been fully awarded of the importance and necessity of oral practice. But they might encounter difficulties, such as the language level is higher than the students, so they lost their confidence and interest.After making the above analysis, Ive got the result that inadequate teaching design is mainly responsible for students lack of interest in oral practice. So in my future teaching, I will try to improve my oral work design through adding some items to improve the students pronunciation, giving them more encouragement and more detailed instructions for their speaking topic, etc.3. Project objectiveThe project objective is to enhance learners interest in oral practice.4.Project hypothesisIt is hypothesized that learners interest in oral practice can be enhanced by well-designed oral work, especially by good stimulating methods.5.Project rational5.1 Communicative approach in teaching speaking Since 1960s, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has developed into a comprehensive teaching and learning methodology. So in todays teaching, the goal of CLT is to use language for communicative purposes. To our English teachers English teaching focuses no longer on the mastery of grammar structures and vocabulary, but on a more comprehensive training of communicative competence.5.2 PPP model“ The PPP procedure has come in for considerable criticism over the last few years, especially as a model for teacher trainees to follow.” (Harmer, 2003) The procedure of an oral lesson aiming at teaching new language items can be idealized into three stages known as the PPP model. Follow the PPP model, the new language should first be presented to the students in meaningful contexts and make sure they understand what it means and how it used, that is the first stage Presentation; then students Practice the new language on the following stage; finally students are given the opportunity to integrate the new language items with the old through activities that give free and extensive expression aimed at developing fluency. That is the last stage Production.5.3 Communicative speaking activities Littlewood (1981) divides communicative speaking activities into two types: functional communication activities and social interaction activities. For beginning language students, Littlewood points out that it is necessary to also include what he calls pre-communicative activities, which are more structural and allow the learner to practice the forms of the language.5.4 The learners roles and responsibilitiesTricia Hedge (2002) pointed out that one of the perspective on learner- centeredness is “ encouraging learners to take on a greater degree of responsibility for their own successful learning, not only by contributing to course or activity design , but also by continuing their learning outside class, at home, or in self-access facilities.” What is language? I think that Language is the art of speaking. So when you are learning English, you are a person, who is learning by doing it; you are a person, who is working by using it and you are a person, who lives in it. Make English study a part of your daily routine, the same as eating or brushing your teeth. Mere exposure to English will not enable you to speak English. Speaking English will teach you English!5.5 The role of the teacherI will let the students know that as a teacher in speaking classroom, Im not just a teacher the person who just gives you knowledge, I have many roles in one. Jeremy Harmer says, “Within the classroom teachers role may change from one activity to another, or from one stage of an activity to another. If we are fluent at making these changes our effectiveness as teachers is greatly enhanced.” (Harmer, 2003) So teacher is playing different roles at different times. In the PPP model, I should have greater control at the presentation stage and often act as a demonstrator. At the practice stage, I am expected to be an organizer, a conductor and a monitor. At the production stage when the situation is more student-directed, I should play the role of a stimulator and a helper. In learner-centered teaching, “that is teaching which makes the learners needs and experience central to the educational process.” (Harmer, 2003) So “If (the teacher) is indeed wise, he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.” (Gibran, 1991)5.6 The role of good lesson planning“Lesson planning is an art of combining a number of different elements into a coherent whole so that a lesson has an identity which students can recognize, work within, and react to ” (Harmer, 2003) As for teachers, lesson planning is not optional, it is essential preparation for teaching. It is a matter for the teacher what to teach, and how. (Davies, 2002)A good lesson plan follows the principles of variety, flexibility, learnability, and linkage. (Wang & Cheng, 2000) That means teachers are expected to plan some different types of activities in order to keep students interest in learning with high motivation, and never monotonous; and to adopt different methods and techniques rather than to be a slave to one methodology. The lesson plan should be neither too hard nor too easy. Doing things that are beyond or below the students coping ability will diminish their motivation (Schumann, 1999). Language learning needs recycling and reinforcement, so the stages and steps should be planned to be linked with one another.Project design6. Project Implementation The objective of this research is to increase students interest by better-designed oral work.The subjects are 22 rural middle school students in Xi Wang Middle School in HaMi And the materials are based on the Go For It for Grade 6.I designed four activities to be tried out in four weeks .and these activities are reported as follows.Week Unit TopicActivity TopicObjectives Functional itemsTime 1How do you study for a test ?Talk about the ways to study for a test.To stimulate the students interest in oral English- How do you study for a test?- I study by working with friends.452I used to be afraid of the dark.Talk about the changes they haveTo develop the skills of speaking- I used to be really quiet.- I know. Now you are very outgoing. 453Teenagers should be allowed to choose their own clothes.Talk about what should they be allowed to do To develop the skills of discussing- I dont think sixteen-year-old should be allowed to drive.- I agree. They arent serious enough.454What would you do?Talk about what would they do in some subjunctive situations To develop the skills of speaking- What would you do if you had a million dollars?- Id give it to medical research.456.1 Oral practice designWeek 1,Activity 1How do you study for a test?The objective: to stimulate the students speaking by talking about the ways to study for a test. I think the topic is in close touch with our real life. So the students must want to share their ways to study for a test.Teaching process:Step 1 Lead in T:(the teacher says) ; S: (the students say)T: We have just finished our final exam in Grade 8. Some of us did quite well in the exam.( Call a good student to stand up ) how do you study for a test?S: I study by listening to tapes.Step 2 Presentation( Ask some other students the same question. They may use the following phrases: by working with friends, by making flashcards, by reading the textbook, by asking the teacher for help and so on)Step 3 PracticeHave the students work in pairs, and practice the conversation.- How do you study for a test?- I study by working with friends.Step 4 GroupworkDivide all the class into six groups, and ask them to work in groups and do a survey, they may use the following conversation.- How do you study for a test?- I study by working with friends.Students nameStudents nameWrite vocabulary listsRead English books/magazinesStudy grammarKeep an English notebookListen to tapesAsk the teacher questionsWatch English-language TVWhic