英语泛读教材分析.doc

英语泛读教材分析 赵凌 （天水师范学院，甘肃天水741001） 【摘要】英语泛读课程在英语语言教学过程中处于一个非常重要的位置。作为英语语言知识的输入媒介直接影响着英语学习者的知识获取和语言素质培养。笔者分析了国内高校英语专业学生普遍使用的英语泛读教程来说明该课程对英语专业学生英语学习的影响。 关键词英语学习；英语专业；泛读教材；分析 EvaluationofEnglishExtensiveReadingTextbook ZHAOLing （TianshuiNormalUniversity,TianshuiGansu741001,China） 【Abstract】EnglishExtensiveReadingtextbookplaysacrucialroleinChineseEnglishmajorsEnglishlanguageacquisition.ItdirectlyinfluencesEnglishlanguagelearnersknowledgeinput.Inthispaper,theauthoranalyzedtheExtensiveReadingtextbookinordertoillustratehowitwilleffectChineseEnglishmajorslearning. 【Keywords】English；Englishmajors；Entensivereading；Analyze 0Introduction ThetextbookevaluatedinthisassignmentisExtensiveReading(book1byLiuNaiyin,xx,secondedition).ThistextbookissponsoredbyEducationDepartmentofChina,andiswidelyusedasacoursebookofextensivereadingforEnglishmajors(usuallyfirstandsecondyearstudents). Aordingtotheauthor,thistextbookhasthefollowingfeatures: （1）Thematerialsofreadingtouchesuponsociety,politics,economicsandcultureofEnglish-speakingcountries;thecontentisuptodateandincludesnewsocialdevelopmentsandscientificandtechnologicaldevelopments,anditfocusoninterestsandvariablegenres. （2）Thereadingmaterialvariesfrom1200wordsto2400words,whichisabreakthroughoftraditionalextensivereadingbooks.Thisincreasingofwordscanhelpstudentsenlargetheirvocabularythroughreading,upgradetheirreadingspeedandprehendingability. （3）Thereadingmaterialhighlightstheaimoftrainingstudentsabilitiestoacquireinformationandtextthesisstatementquickly,auratelyandeffectively. Thistextbookconsistsof15units,eachunitfallsinto4parts: （1）Text.Inthispartthereisatextabout1200-2000words,studentsarerequiredtoreadthetextanddothefollowingexercises.Theexercisesaremultiple-choicequestionssetfortestingstudentsabilitiesofgettingthemainideaofthetext,prehendingthetext,discussinginclassandvocabularyexercises. （2）Readingskills.Inthispart,variousreadingskillsareintroduced,and,aordingly,speciallydesignedexercisesarefollowed.(Thispartisnotprovidedinunit3,6,9,12and15) （3）Testing.Inthispart,threeshortpassagesofabout100-300wordsareprovided.Studentsaretoreadthepassagesquicklyandnotedownthetimeofreadingeachpassage.Eachpassageisfollowedby5multiple-choicequestionstoexaminestudentsprehending. （4）Homereading.Inthispart,apassageofsimilarlengthofthetextinpartoneisprovidedforstudentstoreadafterclass.Exercisesofmultiple-choicequestionsareprovidedtoexaminestudentsprehending. Itisuniversallyacknowledgedthatextensivereading,unlikeintensivereadingwhichfocusesongrammarandpleteprehensionofreadingmaterials,aimsatlettingstudentsreadatleisure,attheirownspaceandmostimportantlyreadforfun,inthisprocess,studentscancultivatethemselvesanative-likelanguageenvironment,thus,promotingtheirreadingability.Butinmyteachingexperienceinmyuniversity,itisanotherstory.Inmycurriculum,Ihavetoteachextensivereadingforaclasstwiceaweek.Andtheestablishedpracticeinteachingextensivereadinginmydepartment,thefirstpart-texthastobetaughtjustliketheoneofanintensivereadingclass.ThatmeansIhavetoexplaineverydifficultpointsofthetext:newwords,difficultsentencestructureandgrammarandsoforth.Usually,thereisnotimetodothefollowingpartsoftheunitwhicharenormallyassignedtostudentsashomework.Andtherearenocontributivesuggestionsavailableintheaordingteachersbook.Still,thereisnowayIcanalterthecourseeitherintimetableortheteachingprocedure,becausethesyllabusofouruniversityrequiresmetodoso.Thatishowtheextensivereadingclassistaughtinmyteachingpractice. 1Evaluation AordingtoMckeachie(xx):themajorpredictorofwhatstudentslearnisnottheteachingmethodbutthetextbook.Textbooksareofgreatimportanceforbothteacherstocarryouttheirteachingactivitiesandstudentstogetagreataesstoinformation.WhenitestoEFLlearning,itisneedlesstosayhowimportanttextbooksare.InChina,ExtensivereadingisthetextbookforEnglishmajorsoffirstandsecondyearacrossnearlyallChineseuniversitiesandcolleges,ifImaysay,thisbookhasagreatinfluenceonstudentscultivationofreadingability.Iwillevaluatethisextensivereadingbookaordingtothetextbooks5parts:text,readingskills,testingandhomereadingandtheaordingexercises. （A）Text. Inthispartstudentsaregivenapassageabout1200-2000words.Inmostcases,itisanexcerptfromanativewriterandthethemeofthetexttouchesonvariousaspects,likesociety,culture,literature,scienceandtechnologytonamejustafew.Byallmeans,itisahardnuttocrack.Forteachers,thistextisevenmoredifficultandplicatedthananintensivereadingtext,andtheydonotknowhowtoconveysuessfullytheknowledgetostudents.Forstudents,theyhavetolookeverynewwordupindictionarytogetabasicunderstandingforguessingwordfromcontextisnotusefulatall,becausetherearetoomanynewwordsforajustenrolledstudentsomanysothatthewordssurroundingtheunknownonesareunknown,too.So,Icansaythistextisnotsuitabletobeconductedinclassforfirst-firstyearstudentsasextensivereadingmaterial.Thenwhatisextensivereading?Andwhatanextensivereadingmaterialshouldbe?AordingtoDavis(1995:329)(CitedfromRenandya.xx): Anextensivereadingprogrammeisasupplementaryclasslibraryscheme,attachedtoanEnglishcourse,inwhichpupilsaregiventhetime,encouragement,andmaterialstoreadpleasurably,attheirownlevel,asmanybooksastheycan,withoutthepressuresoftestingormarks.Thus,pupilsarepetingonlyagainstthemselves,anditisuptotheteachertoprovidethemotivationandmonitoringtoensurethatthemaximumnumberofbooksisbeingreadinthetimeavailable.Thewatchwordsarequantityandvariety,ratherthanquality,sothatbooksareselectedfortheirattractivenessandrelevancetothepupilslives,ratherthanforliterarymerit. Similarly,Wilhelm(xx)arguesthattextdifficultyshouldbewithinstudentszoneofproximaldevelopment;thatis,theycanreadthetextwithassistance.ButifthetextsarewithinstudentszoneofactualdevelopmentorbeyondtheirZPD,readersmaynotreadefficientlyandcriticallysincetheformerbelongstoanindependentreadinglevelthatisnotchallengingandthoughtprovokingforreadersandthelatterisatstudentsfrustrationreadinglevel.(CitedfromRezaZabihi.xx) FromtheabovewecanseethetextinthispartofExtensiveReadinggoestofarforfirst-yearstudentstoengageinrealextensiveactivities.Extensivereadingshouldbeamethodtoputstudentsinanative-likeenvironment,toletstudentsdipintomultiplelanguageexposures.Duringextensivereading,studentsshouldreadattheirownspacewiththeaimtodevelopasenseoflanguageinsteadoffocusingonnewwords,difficultsentencestructuresandgrammar.Thenwhatshouldanextensivereadingtextbe?UsingKrashensinputtheory,Icaninferthatwhileintensivereadingadoptsi+1mode,theninextensivestudentsshouldbereadingtextatani+1,i,ori-1level,withibeingtheircurrentproficiencylevel,and1referringtolanguagefeaturesthatareslightlyabovestudentspetence.(Renandya.xx).So,first,studentscurrentEnglishproficiencyshouldbetakenintoconsideration.Studentsoffirstyearofcollege,theyjustgraduatedfromhighschool,andtheEnglisheducationtheyreceivedisprimarilyonelementaryone.Theyknowlessaboutacademicreading,professionalwords.Suddenencounteringwithmanybigwordswilldismaythem.ThebestwayIthinktoalterthispartistousegradedreadingmaterials.ThegradingcanbedoneaordingtoTEM-4(TestforEnglishMajorsBand4).ThisisaChinesenationalEnglishproficiencytestheldinthesecondyearofEnglishmajors.Asmentionedabove,thisseriesofExtensiveReadingtextbooksaredesignedforthefirstandsecondyearstudents.Sowemayjustgradethetextsofbook1ofTEM-1,book2ofTEM-2,book3ofTEM-3andbook4ofTEM-4.Bydoingso,studentscanfirsteasilyadaptthemselvestocollegelevelEnglishstudy,andsecondpreparethemfortheirprofessionalexamination.Andmostimportantlytheycanhavemucheasierprehensibleaesstowardsextensivereading. （B）ReadingSkills. Thispartprovidesvariousreadingskillsforstudentslikepreviewing,guessingwordsformcontext,skimmingandscanningandsoon.Thereisnodenyingthatreadingskillsareimportant.ButasabookforEnglishmajors,onlyfocusingonskillscannotcontributemuchforstudentstoimprovetheirreadingability.Still,thiswayofteachingreadingskillsarenotfruitful.Topletethispartinordertohelpstudentsdevelopthemselvesintopetentreaders,Ithink,itisamusttoaddreadingstrategiesandcultivationmetacognitionawareness. Letusfirstlookatthedefinitionsofskill,strategyandmetacognition:skillstendtobesimpler,smaller,morespecific,morediscrete;strategiestendtobelarger,moreplex,multi-stepandinvolvetheuseofanumberofskills;metacognitionconsistsofknowledgeofcognitionandregulationandcontrolofcognitiveacts.Metacognitiveknowledge(Flavel,1982)consistsofpersons(interest,skills,knowledge),tasks(understandingnatureanddemandoftask)andstrategies(knowingthestrategiesformonitoring,repairing,andregulatingreadingprocess);metacognitivecontrol(Flavel,1982)consistsofplanning(settingpurpose,selectingparticularactions),monitoring(regulatingandredirectingreadingeffortstoachievegoals)andevaluating(appraisingeffectivenessofstrategiesused).So,wecanhaveahierarchicalrelationshipamongskill,strategyandmetacognition:metacognitioncanhelpstudentsunderstandandacquirereadingstrategieswhichleadstoabetteruseofskills.Therefore,theweaknessofthispartisobvious:onlyteachingstudentsreadingskillswillnotsufficientlyenablethemtousethemcorrectlyandeffectively. Thenhowdowemakeitabetterpartofthisextensivereadingtextbook?Mysuggestionisthatwecouldteachstudentsusefulreadingstrategieswhichconsistofmanydifferentreadingskillsinsteadofreadingskillsonly,atthesametime,paygreatattentiontoraisestudentsmetacognitiveawareness.Forexample,wecaninthispartfirstintroduceaglobalreadingstrategylikepredicating,andthentellstudentsthecorrectskillstobeusedlikeguessingnewwordsmeaningfromcontext,inferringrelativeinformationfrombackgroundknowledgeetc.Inthisway,studentswillacquirenotonlylearnandacquiretheskillsbutalsostrategies,andgraduallyformasenseofhowtheselearnedstrategiesshouldbeusedindifferentsituation,inotherwords,haveametacognitionknowledgeofstrategiesusing. （C）Testing. Inthispart,studentsaregiven3shortpassagestoread.Eachpassageisvariesfrom100-300words.Theaimofthistestingistoexaminethespeedofstudentreadingandhowmuchstudentscanunderstandthepassages.Comparedwiththetextofthefirstpartofthistextbook,thepassagesareeasy-understandingonesbecausetherearenotmanynewwords,difficultsentencestructuresandgrammar.Inmyteachingexperience,Ioftenaskstudentstodothispartinclass.Moststudentscanfinishreadingthepassagesaroundnomorethan15minutesandgetmostcorrectanswerstothefollowingmultiple-choicequestions.Thisisareallysimpletest,butforwhat?Recordingthereadingtimeofeachpassageofcourseisnottheanswer.Itmaybeusefultohaveanoverviewofthetimeusedinthispartafterthesemestertoseewhetherstudentswillimproveinreadingspeedornot.Itsappearanceseemsabruptandirrelevantwiththeotherpartsofaunit.Thewholeorganizationofaunitisdiscrete.OneplausibleexplanationispossiblythatitisapreparationforstudentsfortheirTEM-4examination.Because,inTEM-4,thereisasimilarpartcalledfastreadingwhichrequiresstudentstoreadfastandgetthemostprehension.Thistest-wisedesign,inmyopinion,isnotpatiblewiththenatureofextensivereading.Becauseonepointthatextensivereadingstressesistoletstudentsreadwithoutpressure.Myalteringsuggestionistochangethispartintoonewithbackgroundknowledgeconnectedtothemaintextofthefirstpart.Itcouldbeananecdote,ajoke,acrosstalkoranythingthatisinterestingandpertainingtothetext.Inthisway,studentscannotonlyreadforfun,butalsohaveadeeperunderstandingofthetext,andthisculturalaumulationisveryhelpfulfortheirEnglishacquisition. （D）Homereading Thetextinthispart,aordingtotheauthor,isrelatedwiththefirstparttext.Undermostcircumstances,thispartisoftenthecontinuingpartofthefirstpart.Thatmeans,studentsisgiventwolongdifficulttextstoread.AsIhavestatedabove,studentsgetnotonlyafewproblemsinreadingandprehendingthefirstpart,itisjustanotherboringtextwhichtheyaresoreluctanttodoit.Asoftenasnot,Iaskstudentstoreaditafterclassandchecktheanswersinnextclass.Evenso,studentsrarelytriedtodoit.Theyjustnoteddowntheanswers. Byhomereading,wemeanitiskindofreadingactivityyoucanenjoyonalovelyday,oroveracupofcoffee.Infact,studentshavetoflippagesofadictionarytogetnewwordsmeaning,tolookbackatthefirsttexttobetterhisprehension.Itismoretorturethanenjoyment.Although,itisagoodideatostretchreadingfromonlyclasstostudentslife,itishardtobeputinpractice.Myideaofchangingthispartiseithersimplyomititormakeitapracticalone.Ifwedothelatter,Ithinkwecandoitintwoways.First,wecanchangethispartintoaparativelysimpleone.Thetextcanbetheonescloselyrelatedtostudentslifeortheonestheyareinterestedin.Therewouldbenoquestions.Studentsareonlyrequiredtogiveasharingpresentationonwhattheyhavethoughtaboutthetext,orwhattheyhavefoundinterestingofthetext,thingslikethat.Bydoingthis,studentsarenotpressedanymorewiththequestions,theyjustreadforsharing,aslongastheyindeedread,theaimisaomplished.Secondly,wecanassignstudentsnospecificreadingtextfortheirhomereading.Wecanaskthemtoreadanythingthatisavailableathand,andreportwhattheyreadtotheclass.Nowadays,studentsareimmersedintoadigitalerawithabundantinformation.Anythingtheyreadfromtheirputers,laptops,andsmartphonescanbeconsideredasahomereadingexercise.Similarly,thereshouldbenoquestions,andpossiblyasharingpresentation.Inthiswaystudentscanreadfreely,widelyandpassionately.Itisofgreathelpforstudentstolearnbackgroundinformation,up-to-datewordsandsteepintovariousEnglishreadingenvironments,andthatiswhatIthinkahomereadingshouldbe. （E）Exercises. Exercisesareanessentialpartofanextensivereadingtextbook.Theyareeffectivewaysofexaminingwhatstudentshaveunderstoodthetextofthetextbook.Exercisesarealsoadirectindicatorhowthoseinputgetacrosstostudents. Exerciseshererefertoalltheexercisesincludedinthefirstpart(text),thesecondpart(readingskills),thethirdpart(testing)andthefourthpart(homereading)ofthetextbook.Theexerciseofthefirstpartofthistextbookare:A.Determiningthemainidea;B.Comprehendingthetext;C.discussingthefollowingtopicsandD.Understandingvocabulary.Theyareallmultiple-choicequestionsexcepttheonesofC.Theexercisesofthesecondpartofthistextbookarevariousinforms;theycouldbemultiple-choicequestions,blank-fillingsandquestion-answerings,etc.Theexercisesofthethirdpartofthistextbookareallmultiple-choicequestions.Theexercisesofthefourthpartofthistextbookare:A.Comprehendingthetext.B.Disscussingthefollowingtopics.Everyunitisofthesamearrangement.FromthisstructureIthinkitisfarfrombeingenoughforanextensivereadingtextbooktoevaluatewhatstudentswilllearninthistextbook.First,multiple-questionsareusedinnearlyeverypartofthetextbook.Thoughitisconvenienttoconduct,itismonotonousinformanditcannotteststudentsgainoftheclassprehensibly.Becausestudentswillsimplylocatethepartofthetextthatispertainingtothequestioninordertogetacorrectanswerinsteadofactualreadingthetext.Thatisnotanextensivereadingclassfor.Second,theseexercisesareallaimedtoexaminehowstudentsreacttothegiveninputs,itignorestheoutput.Aordingtotheoutputhypothesis(MerrillSwain.1983),outputismoreimportantthaninputtolearnandacquirelanguageknowledge.Third,Ithink,readingskillscannotbetaughtthroughexercises.Itisanaumulatingprocessofmetacognitiveawarenessthroughreading.So,fromtheperspectiveofmyview,Ithink,theexercisesofthisextensivereadingtextbookshouldbe:firsttheonescanreallyserveextensivereadingbetter;second,theyshouldbebinationoftheinputandtheoutput;third,theyshouldbehelpfulforstudentsgradualdevelopmentofmetacognitiveawarenessofreadingstrategiesandskills.Forexample,wecouldusepresentation,text-retelling,role-playtoaddtothesimplestructureofthetextbooksexercises. 2Conclusion ExtensivereadingplaysanimportantroleinEFLstudywhichhaslongbeenrealizedinChineseEnglishlanguageteachingpractice.Manyresearchersandinstitutionshaveconductedvariousstudiestomakeitbetter.Theprevailingusageofthistextbookisoneoftheirstudiesresult.Andtheystillhavealongwaytogo.First,itisapreoupiedconceptandtraditioninChineseeducationthatatextbookshouldbeacademicanddifficult.Studentsarenotsupposedtoreadinclasswithleisureandlaughers.Theyshouldsituprightwiththeireyeswideopenintheclassroomandtheyshouldbebusywiththeirhomeworkafterclass.Second