语言文化论文-A Brief Analysis of english teaching in senior high school.doc

语言文化论文-ABriefAnalysisofenglishteachinginseniorhighschoolAbstract:ClassroomteachingisthemainwayforstudentstolearnEnglish.Butinseniorhighschool,alotsofprobelmsstillexsitintheEnglishteachingespeciallyintheteachingofreadingandwriting.Inthispaper,theimportanceandmethodsofreadingandwritingwillbefurtherdiscussed.Keywords:readingwritingtechniquesIntroduction:Classesshouldbelearner-centered,withmeaningful,functionalactivities,often,classesbeginbyfindingoutwhatthestudentsdontknow.Theseclassesoperateontheassumptionthatthereisagreatdealofinformationthatstudentslackandthattheteacherandtextbookswillimpactthatinformationtothestudents.Teacherswhoholdthisassumptionviewstudentsasplantswaitingpassivelytobefedandwatered.ButIthinkthestudentsshouldberegardedasexplorers,activelearnerswhobringagreatdealtothelearningprocessandatthesametime,drawfromtheirenvironmentastheydevelopnewunderstandings.Thebasicprinciplewillbeusedintheteachingofreadingandwriting.SectionOne-HowtoteachreadingI.WhyteachreadingTherearemanyreasonswhygettingstudentstoreadEnglishtextsisanimportantpartoftheteachersjob.Inthefirstplace,manyofthemwanttobeabletoreadtextsinEnglisheitherfortheircareers,forstudypurposesorsimplyforpleasure.Anythingwecandotomakereadingeasierforthemmustbeagoodidea.ReadingtextsprovidegoodmodelsforEnglishwriting,provideopportunitiestostudylanguagevocabulary,grammar,punctuation,andthewaytoconstructsentences,paragraphsandtexts.Lastly,goodreadingtextscanintroduceinterestingtopics,stimulatediscussion,exciteimaginativeresponsesandbethespringboardforwell-rounded,fascinatinglessons.Thelastbutnottheleast,studentsmustreadwidelybecauseonlyafractionofknowledgeabouttheworldcancomefromotherexperiencesintheirshortlives.II.Whatkindofreadingshouldstudentsdo?Whentheteachersgivereadingclasstostudents,theyshouldnoticeabalance-abalancetobestruckbetweenrealEnglishontheonehandandthestudentscapabilitiesandinterestsontheother.Thereissomeauthenticwrittenmaterialwhichbeginnerstudentscanunderstandtosomedegree:menus,timetables,signsandbasicinstructions,forexample,and,whereappropriate,teacherscanusethese.Butforlongerprose,teacherscanoffertheirstudentstexts,which,whilebeinglikeEnglish,areneverthelesswrittenoradaptedespeciallyfortheirlevel.Anyway,thematerialstobereadshouldbeinterestingandmeaningful.Teachersshouldbecomebetteracquaintedwithbookswrittenspeciallyforteenagersanddealingwiththeirproblems.III.Whataretheprinciplesbehindtheteachingofreading?i)PermitStudentsToReadNoonehaslearnedtoswimbypracticingtheskillsofbackstrokes,flutterkicksortreadingwaterwhilestayingontheedgeoftheswimmingpool.Yet,intheteachingofreadingteachersoftendojustthat.Ratherthanletthestudentsinto“thewater”,teacherskeeptheminskillsbookslearningrulesaboutletters,syllablesordefinitionsofwordsratherthanlettingthemintothebookitself,permittingthemtobeimmersedinthelanguagewhichcomesfromtheauthorsasthereaderstrytoreconstructthewrittenmessage.ii)Encouragestudentstorespondtothecontentofareadingtext,notjusttothelanguageOfcourse,itisimportanttostudyreadingtextsforthewaytheyuselanguage,howmanyparagraphstheycontainandhowmanytimestheyuserelativeclauses.Butthemeaning,themessageofthetext,ismuchmoreimportant.Teachersshouldhelpstudentsunderstandthatthemainreasontoreadisforthem.Theyhavetohavetheirownpurposetoreadandreadingmustmakesense,theyhavetofindwaysofdoingsomethingaboutit.Theyshouldbeencouragedeithertorereadortocontinuereadingtogainmeaning.Buttheymustrealizethatthemeaningisnotintheteacher,butintheinteractionbetweenthereaderandauthor.Studentsshouldbeencouragedtoaskthemselvesrepeatedly,“Doesthismakesensetome?”Studentsshouldbeencouragedtorejectandtobeintolerantofreadingmaterialsthatdonotmakesense.iii)EncouragestudentstoguessorpredictReadersguessesorpredictionsarebasedonthecumulativeinformationandsyntacticstructuretheyhavebeenlearningastheyhavebeenreading.Therefore,theirguessesaremoreoftenthannotappropriatetothematerials.Studentshavetorealizethatrisktakinginreadingisappropriate；thatusingcontexttodecidewhatwordsmeanisaproficientreadingstrategyandthattheyhavethelanguagesensetomakeappropriateguesseswhichcanfitboththegrammaticalandsemanticsenseofwhattheyarereading.iv)MatchthetasktothetopicOnceadecisionhasbeentakenaboutwhatkindofreadingtextthestudentsaregoingtoread,teachersneedtochoosegoodreadingtaskstherightkindofquestionsandusefulpuzzles,etc.Askingboringandinappropriatequestionscanunderminethemostinterestingtext；themostcommonplacepassagecanbemadereallyexcitingwithimaginativeandchallengingtasks.Workingingroups,theEnglishteacherandstudentstaketurnsaskingeachotherquestionsfollowingthereading.Theteachermayask,“Whatisthesignificanceofthecharactersage?”Thesequestionsrequireinferencesbasedondetailsfromthereadingtext.SectionTwo-Howtoteachwriting(Developingcorrectnessinstudentswriting)“Studentslearntowritebywriting,andtheylearntowritecorrectlybywriting,revising,andproofreadingtheirownwork”-withsomehelpordirectionfromtheteacherwhenitisnecessary.Theydonotlearntowritecorrectlybystudyingaboutwritingordoingisolatedworkbookexercisesunrelatedtotheirownwriting.So,themostimportanttechniqueateachercanusetoguidestudentstowardgrammaticallycorrectwritingistoletthemwrite,letthemwritethingsrelatedtotheirownexperiences.Thereisnolimittothekindsoftexttheteachercanaskstudentstowrite.Teachersdecisions,though,shouldbasedonhowmuchlanguagethestudentsknow,whattheirinterestsare.“DoIreadapaperandignoreallpunctuation,whatgoodisthatforstudents?Wespendhoursatnightwithpapers-ImnotsurethestudentsgetasmuchfromitasthetimeIspendonit.”ThesecommentsbyseniorhighschoolEnglishteachersdiscussingtheprocessofmarkingstudentpapersreflectthedissatisfactionandfrustrationofmanyteachersovertheproblemofdealingwiththeerrorsinstudentwriting-theobviousmistakesinspelling,punctuation-Traditionally,teachershaveworkedtocorrecterrorsintwoways:byteachinggrammaticallycorrectnessthroughexerciseingrammartexts；bypointingoutallerrorswhenmakingstudentpapers.Moststudentsfinditverydispiritingiftheygetapieceofwrittenworkbackanditiscoveredinredink,underlingsandcrossing-out.ItisapowerfulvisualstatementofthefactthattheirwrittenEnglishisterrible.Ofcourse,somepiecesofwrittenworkarecompletelyfullofmistakes,buteveninthesecases,theteacherhastoachieveabalancebetweenbeingaccurateandtruthfulontheonehandandtreatingstudentssensitivelyandsympatheticallyontheother.Sometechniquescanbeusedindealingwiththeerrorsinstudentpapers:i)SelectivityRatherthanengageinintensiveerror-correctionwhenrespondingtostudentwriting,teachersareencouragedtoadoptamoremoderateapproachtoerror.Iftheteacherover-correctsthestudentsmistakes,thestudentswouldbelikelytofocusonerrorsinsteadofideas.Studentsaremorelikelytogrowaswriterswhentheteachersprimarypurposeinreadingstudentpapersistorespondtocontent.However,ifattentiontocontentandcorrectnessarecombinedwhenmakingpapers,itismorehelpfultoselectoneortwokindsoferrorstheindividualstudentismakingthantopointouteveryerrorinthepaper.Theteachercanidentifyaselectederror,showanexampleortwoonthestudentpaper,andeitherexplainthecorrectformordirectthestudenttoahandbookforfurtherexplanation.Itisalwaysworthwritingacommentattheendofapieceofwrittenwork-anythingfrom“Welldone”to“Thisisagoodstory,butyoumustlookagainatyouruseofpasttenses-seeXgrammarbookpagexx.”ii)Error-analysisAnothermethodforworkingwithstudenterror,onethatcanbeespeciallyfruitfulforteachers,istoapproachitfromananalyticperspective.Teachers,aserror-analyst,lookforpatternsintheerrorsofanindividualstudent,triestodiscoverhowthemistakearrivedatthemistakesbyanalyzingtheerror(Lackofknowledgeaboutacertaingrammaticalpoint；Acarelessoneoramis-learnedrule?),andplansstrategiesaccordingly.iii)PublishStudentWritingThefinalbasicstrategyispublishing.Studentsneedareasonforlaboringoveradraftunti