（英语语言文学专业论文）翻译法在高职高专英语教学中的作用.pdf

vii 中 文 摘 要 翻译法，也叫语法翻译法，在外语教学中的作用历来是外语教学界争论的话 题。语法翻译法是以翻译和语法学习为主要教学活动的一种教授外语和第二语言的 教学法。其历史悠久，曾统治外语教学达数个世纪。随着现代社会里国际交往的需 要，由于它对口语的忽视，受到了强烈的攻击。代之而起的是直接法和其他教学法。 在人们经历了各种新教学法的尝试之后，逐渐认识到：不存在一种所谓的万能的、 最好的教学法。因此近年来，人们又开始重新审视语法翻译法在外语教学中的作用， 就连原来对语法翻译法持反对态度的人也开始重新认识语法翻译法。语法翻译法在 外语教学中的作用得到了重新评价和重视。 在我国，自从有外语教学以来，一直是语法翻译法主导天下。如今，虽然各 个学院和学校采用的教学法象百花盛开一样不一而同，但语法翻译教学法仍不失为 一种行之有效的外语教学法。众所周知，高职高专教育是我国高等教育的重要组成 部分，而其中英语教学对培养出全面的适应现代社会要求的人才又起着至关重要的 作用。本文就是以高职高专的英语教学为例，从高职高专学生英语学习的现状、英 语学习的环境和英语教学的师资以及语法翻译法的特点等实际情况考虑，并通过两 学期的教学实验得出，语法翻译法在我国高职高专的英语教学中不仅仍然可行而且 起着重要的作用。 本文除了引言和简短的结论以外，主要分为三个部分，首先回顾了语法翻译 法的历史，然后论述了语法翻译法在外语教学中的作用并通过一个为期两学期的教 学实验证明了其在高职高专英语教学中的可行性和的重要性。试验选取了两组学生 作为被试对象，实验组采用语法翻译法教学而控制组则用常规方法教学，然后对两 组试验数据进行了分析，t 检验值（p0.05）表明两学期后实验组学生英语成绩明显 高于控制组，并且与学期初相比有明显进步，但控制组学生的英语水平却没有显著 提高。本研究结合问卷调查、课堂实录和采访等形式，经过讨论最后得出如下结论： 语法翻译法在高职高专英语教学中仍然可行并起着重要作用，同时能够提高高职高 专学生学习英语的兴趣和信心，并有利于学生的课堂交流互动和协作。最后，作者 还就语法翻译法的改进提出了自己的观点和建议。 关键词:关键词: 语法翻译法；高职高专；英语教学 v abstract the translation method is also called the grammar-translation method, whose role in foreign language teaching is hotly debated about. the grammar-translation method is a method of foreign or second language teaching which uses translation and grammar study as the main teaching and learning activities. the grammar-translation method has a long history and is used to teach foreign languages in the classroom for centuries. the modern society increases a demand for oral proficiency in foreign languages, so the grammar-translation method came under attack because it was not very effective in preparing students to use the target language communicatively. opposition to the use of the grammar-translation method has led to its replacement by the direct method and other teaching methods. having experienced all kinds of attempt, people gradually realized that there was not the so-called best teaching method. so recent years have seen the beginnings of a re-appraisal of the role of the grammar-translation in language learning. even the extremism of its earlier rejection is being recognized, and the use of the grammar-translation method is revalued. the re-appraisal of the grammar-translation method as the oldest teaching method shows that the grammar-translation method remains a useful teaching method. in china, since the beginning of foreign language teaching, the grammar-translation method has played an important role. today the teaching methods applied in different colleges and schools are like a hundred flowers in bloom. the grammar-translation method as a teaching method has still been one of the most efficient ways that the foreign language teachers use in their language teaching. as is known to us, higher vocational technical education (hvte) is an important component of higher education in our country， and english teaching plays a vital role in cultivating all-round talented people to meet the requirements of the modern society. this thesis takes english teaching in higher vocational technical colleges (hvtc) for example, and concludes that the grammar-translation method is not only an effective teaching approach but also plays an important role in higher vi vocational technical english teaching through a two-semester teaching experiment after the current situation of the students and the teachers is taken into account. in addition to a general introduction and a short conclusion, the other three chapters review the history of the grammar-translation method, then present the role of the grammar-translation method in foreign language teaching and prove the effectiveness and importance of the grammar-translation method in higher vocational technical english teaching through a two-semester teaching experiment. the experiment was conducted in two groups, one of which served as the experimental group where the grammar-translation method was put into practice in english classroom teaching, and another of which served as the control group that was instructed with the conventional teaching method. the results of t-test value (p0.05 p=0.0050.05 p=0.0051.645 and p value is 0.0050.01 according to the scores in pretco. in addition, the pass rate of pretco in the experimental group is 79.2% while the pass rate in the control group is 47.9%, we can see the difference value between these two classes is 31.3% and the pass rate in the experimental group is much higher than that in the control group. meanwhile, the average score in the experimental group is 65.385, higher than 60.344 in the control group. therefore, we can conclude that there are significant differences in the scores in pretco and it can prove that the grammar- translation method is still not only an effective approach but also plays an important role in hvtc english teaching. 4.2.5.2 findings from two questionnaires as shown in table 4, there are no significant differences on terms of classroom teaching and their perspectives on it between the two groups at the very beginning. after the experiment, the questionnaire demonstrates the following changes. as shown in table 5, more than 66% of the students in the experimental group are active in english study. most of them have strong desire and wish to study english. this lays good foundation for further english studying, especially studying by themselves. they would like to receive new knowledge and would like to finish new tasks. that is, the students subjective consciousness in the experimental group is greatly enhanced, learning initiative and enthusiasm is also improved, then confidence has been ascended. and most of the students become interested in learning english, compared with the students in the control group. in addition, through classroom observation and interviews on some students, we find that there are some obvious changes in the students learning attitude. most students believe that self-effort is very crucial in english study. it is the students themselves who the role of translation method in hvtc english teaching 40 decide their success or failure. only when they realize the importance of themselves could they try their best to find their problems in english study, and think over the reasons of making great or little progress. and then they can manage and control or monitor their learning behavior. in short, it can draw a conclusion that using the grammar-translation method can not only promote hvtc college students interest and confidence in learning english but also facilitate hvtc college students real participation, including self-exploration, communicative interaction and collaboration. 4.2.5.3 discussion a discussion is made based on the outcome of experiment and the possible reasons may be as follows: first of all, it appears that in this teaching method，the students play a more active role than teachers because they have to finish a lot of translation tasks. at the same time, teachers need to have a clear terminal objective when carrying out a contrastive study between two languages. for example, if they aim to teach grammar and syntactic structures, they should make a contrastive analysis of the surface structure of the sentence, and translation exercises should be done from the first language to the second language. if they concentrates on meaning，they cannot just look at the lexical items or the surface structure of the sentences. they have to do a contrastive analysis of the semantic aspects of the two languages. translation exercises in this case can be done either from the first language to the second language or vice versa. the grammar-translation method used to achieve each separate purpose is also different. for instance, literal translation should be used in teaching grammar and syntactic structures while free translation should be used in teaching vocabulary and expressions. if a language is taught by using translation, both the teachers and the students are required to work equally hard. the success of language teaching through translation depends on both partners. next, another good point of the grammar-translation method in language teaching needs to be mentioned. that is, this teaching method enhances interaction both between the teacher and the students and among the students themselves. this is caused by the very nature of translation. we know there is rarely a right answer when doing translation. the students usually search for what they think are the most accurate and suitable words to chapter 4 the role of the grammar-translation method in hvtc english teaching 41 express the message in the text. this allows the students to contribute their own thoughts to a discussion. whats more， the students will be trained to justify their own translation or why they have selected certain words and syntactic structures. anyone with a different opinion should be able to give some explanation. moreover, it is not necessary for all translation exercises in class to be done individually. the students can work in groups or take part in oral discussions so as to get the best translation. activities like these make translation interesting and not boring at all since the students are learning the language in an active and inquiring way. at the same time, the teachers work load is also reduced since there are fewer students papers to correct. the last but not the least benefit of using translation is that it helps to develop the students competence and to improve their performance. according to chomsky(1965), there is a clear distinction between competence (the knowledge of a language) and performance (the actual use of language in a concrete situation). in chomskys opinion, the learners ability to perform is based on his/her competence, which is wholly linguistic. hymes(1972), by contraries, proposes a broader notion of competence, that of communicative competence. he claims that the learners performance reflects both knowledge of grammatical rules and knowledge of how these rules are used to communicate meaning, knowledge of when, where, and with whom to use the rules. in addition, hymes also stresses that the learners ability to perform needs to be understood in terms of communicative competence rather than linguistic competence. in sum, the grammar-translation method is often believed to offer a lot of benefits to language learners. firstly, it provides the students with natural, authentic and varied language input, which helps increase their power and range of expression. secondly, it promotes interactive learning by pair work or group discussion. whats more，this method can help the students develop competence and improve their performance. it can be used effectively to teach vocabulary, phrases and expressions, grammar and syntactic structures，while it also centers on the communicative function of the language. consequently, apart from understanding and knowing how to use linguistic rules correctly, the students can apply these rules to express themselves appropriately in different communicative situations. the role of translation method in hvtc english teaching 42 4.2.2.4 suggestions anyway, the author has had some new ideas about improving the grammar-translation method. as is known to us, the final purpose of english teaching is to let students be able to use the language. if a student is good at english, he should be able to use the language, both in speaking and writing. now most of the students do better in reading and writing english than in listening and speaking. that is to say, they can read and write, but they can hardly communicate in english. they can hardly express themselves with their own words. this is partially because of our examination system, and partially of the teaching methods. as the teachers, we are not able to change the examination system, but we can improve our teaching methods. the teachers often speak of the four skillslistening, speaking, reading and writing. that means each of them is important. in linguistics, giving the students a lot of listening activities is a good way of enlarging their vocabulary. on the other hand, it also helps the students improve their listening comprehension. similarly, speaking cant be taught separately. it is often connected with listening. therefore, we often speak of listening and speaking together. the traditional way of listening and speaking is aural-oral method. now, the new method of two-way communication is very popular. in addition, writing is one way of providing variety in classroom procedures. it provides a student with physical evidence of his achievements and becomes a course whereby he can measure his improvement. it helps consolidate the students grasp of vocabulary and syntactic structure. sentence is the base of an article. so we should begin our writing from sentences. first, students should be required to express with sentencesentence making, then ask them to write short articles. in brief, we should focus on students full development and keep a balance between the general requirements for students at a certain level and their own needs according to the basic requirements, which the ministry of education issued for hvte english course in 2000 in order to standardize the hvtc english teaching all over china. hvte english course aims to develop the students practical ability to use english as the basic requirements state, “language is a communication tool, and the ultimate goal of language education is to enhance the students abilities to communicate in both written and oral form and to develop gradually the ability to communicate on the level of discourse.” chapter 4 the role of the grammar-translation method in hvtc english teaching 43 it goes without saying, the improvement of grammar-translation method has already been very pressing nowadays. the task of front-line teachers should be to search for the teaching method that is appropriate to the situation of china under the guide of communicative approaches. the role of translation method in hvtc english teaching 44 chapter 5 conclusion 5.1 major findings of the research this thesis, based on the literature review provided in chapter 2, the characteristics and advantages of the grammar-translation method presented in chapter 3, the rationality on the grammar-translation method used in hvtc english teaching and a teaching experiment in chapter 4, which was followed by a comparatively detailed discussion, draws a conclusion in chapter 5, in an attempt to answer the research questions proposed in chapter 1. in chapter 4, the teaching experiment was conducted in two groups in hvtc to test the effectiveness and importance of the grammar-translation method used in the classroom teaching. different approaches of classroom teaching were employed in the two groups for two semesters: the grammar-translation method used in the experimental group and a conventional way in the control group. the t-tests were employed for the quantitative data of the tests collected from the quasi experiment. the qualitative data from questionnaires about their learning behavior and their perspectives of the classroom teaching and classroom observation give further evidence for the quantitative findings and the following discussions. through the analysis of the collected data, the illuminating findings were derived. they are summarized below: firstly, it can prove that the grammar-translation method is still not only an effective approach but also plays an important role in higher vocational technical english teaching. from table 6, we can see that there are some differences in the students average scores in the first semester although the differences are not significant, but there are significant differences in the second semester, which indicates that the advantage of the grammar-translation method is shown up. after two years, table 5 shows that the pass rate and the average score in the experimental group are much higher than that in the control group, that is to say, there are significant differences in the scores in pretco, which proves that the grammar-translation method is not only an effective approach but also plays an important role in hvtc english teaching. secondly, it is found that the grammar-translation method used in classroom teaching promotes hvtc students interest and confidence in learning english. the chapter 5 conclusion 45 collected data, especially the questionnaire (table 7) demonstrates that most of the participants in the experimental group show great interest and enough confidence in learning english. comparing table 7 with table 2, we can draw a conclusion that the elevation of hvtc students interest and confidence in learning english are the fruits of using the grammar-translation method in classroom teaching. thirdly, the research reveals that using the grammar-translation method in english classroom teaching facilitates college students real classroom participation including self-exploration, communicative interaction, and collaboration. the classroom observation and the questionnaires all prove that the students in the experimental group highly