（英语语言文学专业论文）试评估英语专业用《新编英语教程》中的练习.pdf

- 1 - acknowledgments i would like to thank all those who have helped and encouraged me to fulfill this dissertation. the person to whom i owe the greatest debt of gratitude is my supervisor, professor deng mingde. he has helped me enormously by constantly giving me much valuable advice, carefully reading all my drafts and making very helpful comments. without his supervision, help and guidance, the present thesis would not have come to fruition. appreciation should also given to all my teachers and authors of the books listed in the bibliography for the insight i got from them. - 2 - abstract this paper is an endeavor to evaluate the exercises in a new english course and its influence on developing english majors communicative competence. course design and evaluation is an important part in second language teaching, while the design of exercises is essential in developing students skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing. having studied the functional-structural syllabus of a new english course and the principles for practice material evaluation, the writer attempts to put forward some suggestions for adaptation and innovation. its the writers purpose to make this course-book more effectively used. key words: syllabus, syllabus design, communicative competence, teaching strategy, communicative activity - 3 - 内容提要 本文试图分析新编英语教程练习并评估其对英语专业学生 交际能力的影响课程的设置和评估是外语教学的一个重要组成部 分而练习的设计在培养学生听说读写能力中是基本的通过对新 编英语教程 功能结构大纲和练习材料评估原理的探究 作者试图提 出一些建议 意在更有效地运用这套教材 使英语专业教学更上一层 楼 关键词大纲 课程设置 交际能力 教学策略 交际活动 - 5 - introdution this century has seen rapid advances in communication technology, which has brought along the so-called “information explosion”. with the policy of “opening the door to the outside world” being carried out in depth here, comes the ever-increasing need for considerable knowledge of english and ability to use it. this in turn serves as a great impetus for english teaching. also with the countrys future strengthening of its steps to join the world family, english language teaching is facing a period of development and change. reforms have been encouraged in order to gear english teaching toward the needs of economic and social development in china. new approaches and techniques are being experimented with. however, the main task of english majors during their first two or so years in foreign language institutes, colleges and universities is to lay a solid foundation in english. a solid foundation comprises both linguistic competence and communicative competence. it is over ten years since a new english course made its first appearance in 1986. it attaches great importance to both the training of the learners basic language skills and the development of their preliminary communicative competence. most of the topics in this course-book are related to the everyday life and interests of students whilst the language taught is generally useful and practical. on completing a new english course, and on being given adequate single-skill training courses, the students are expected to fulfil the requirements set in the national foundation stage english syllabus - 6 - for english majors in institutions of higher learning. however, it is rare that a piece of published material is wholly and completely suited to an individual teaching situation there inevitably remains much room for some adaptation and supplementation. the major aims of writing this dissertation are to look at the organizational framework of the exercises and provide some suggestions for adaptation and innovation. its the writers hope that the process of evaluation will make the book most profitably used in language classroom. the paper is divided into six chapters. chapter 1 looks at the principles of course design for language teaching. three dimensions, the language content, the process and the product are considered in designing a course-book. chapter 2 looks at the organizational framework and syllabus of a new english course. levels 1 and 2 of a new english course are structure-based, with essential grammatical structures cycled regularly. level 3 and 4 are text-based. reading and writing skills are given emphasis. students gradually advance from controlled practice to spontaneous communication. functional-structural syllabus is defined in chapter 3. the designers of the course-book have taken an overall consideration and rational estimation of the traditional and current english language teaching methodology. chapter 4 is concerned with the theoretical background of the communicative approach as well as its implications for flt. chapter 5 deals with the analysis of the exercises in the course-book. some practical suggestions are made in chapter 6. - 7 - its the writers hope that the results of this research into the effects of a new english course will encourage the teacher to move away from his or her dependence on the material towards a more creative and independent approach and they will serve as hints for further study concerning how to improve the present versions and how to use them as effectively as possible. - 8 - chapter 1 syllabus design 1.1 types of syllabuses and current orientation in the past decade, a great deal of attention has been paid to the particular elements that are included in a syllabus and to the organizational system according to which they are presented. discussions have typically considered the advantages and disadvantages of three or four major syllabus types: the structural-grammatical syllabus, the semantico-notional syllabus, the functional syllabus, and the situational syllabus. the familiar structural syllabus is centered around items such as tenses, articles, adverbial forms, etc. the notional syllabus places the semantic unit in the center of syllabus organization. it is organized around themes relating a broad areas of meaning such as space, time, obligation, etc. the functional syllabus attempts to combine the two and focuses on the social functions of language as the central unit of organization. it is concerned with elements such as invitations, suggestions, apologies, etc. the situational one has probably been known in language learning with the tourist phrase book as a notable example. recently, however, within the communicative approach to syllabus design, the idea of presenting an organizational concept on process of communication and negotiation has gained popularity. in this approach, - 9 - the communicative needs of the learners are the basis on which various linguistic, thematic or functional elements are selected. the first central question of concern to the syllabus designer is: “for what purpose or purposes is the learner learning the language?” the next question is: “what are the subordinate skills and knowledge required by the learner in order to carry out the real-world communicative tasks?” the role of the teacher is to facilitate the learners participation in these communicative exchanges. the central question of this view was, “what does the learner want/need to do with the target language?” rather than “what are the linguistic elements which the learner needs to master?” syllabus began to appear in which content was specified, not only in terms of the grammatical elements which the learners were expected to master, but also in terms of the functional skills they would need to master in order to communicate successfully. here, syllabus designers focused, not only on language functions, but also on experimental content. 1.2 three dimensions in syllabus designing 1.2.1 the language content dimension language courses have included thematic and situational content as well. thematic content refers to the topics of interest and areas of subject knowledge selected as themes to talk or read about in order to learn and use the target language. in selecting appropriate themes, one would draw - 10 - on consideration of learners age and other social criteria. situational content refers to the context within which the theme and the linguistic topics are presented; for example, the place, time, type of interaction, and participants that are presented in the learning situation. in a syllabus which emphasizes the importance of situation selection, there would be a list of useful situations which learners would encounter during the course; the other elements such as structures and vocabulary would be selected to fit this list of useful, functional situations. so, what we are looking for in a general course is material which presents different aspects of language as systematically as possible, with regard to the need to present new language items to the learner in small assimilable units, each unit related to what has gone before. the course should be as comprehensive as possible, it should include the teaching of pronunciation as well as the teaching of grammar and vocabulary. some attention should also be given to linking sentences to form discourse and the learner should be prepared for real-life language use, such as taking part in conversations and other interactions. it is better for a course-book to be overly comprehensive than too insubstantial. 1.2.2 the process dimension process refers to how instruction is carried out and learning is achieved. to describe process within the learning context is to describe the learners behavior and the activities in which they are involved while learning is going on. process results from three major areas: - 11 - 1. the organization of the language content which brings about certain activities. 2. the roles that teachers and learners take on during the learning process. 3. the types of activities and tasks in which learners are engaged. organization relates to an overall program and the presentation of new topics. the need for efficiency dictates the need for organization of content. within a program, content can be organized in a variety of ways. the most familiar shape or system of organization is sequential ordering of elements, aptly called “a linear table of contents”, since the items to be taught or the areas covered are set out as a line. for an example, most textbooks of the structural type start with “be” sentences. there is no sound theoretical reason why a syllabus should begin with the be type rather than some other sentence type. organization also relates to the presentation of new learning items. some adhere to an inductive approach, where examples are given first , leading forward to generalization; others hold out for a deductive one, where the rules are given first and then applied to various examples and still others combine the two. in fact, some students may learn more successfully through inductive modes while others will be more suited to deductive modesor, there is no single right way. the second area in process is the teachers role and learners role in the language class. in the grammar-translation tradition, teachers were thought of as people who knew the target language well, but didnt necessarily speak fluently. students read, wrote, translated, and - 12 - memorized texts. then, following audiolingualism teachers had to be a near-native speaker of the target language and serve as a model for learners. students were robot-like and expected to carry out mechanical manipulations in order to form fluency in the target language. within cognitive-code theories, teachers are expected to guide learners to suitable language activities. learners are given choices regarding types of activities, amount of practice, and the language skill or medium in which the activity is carried out. since communicative aspects of interaction in the target language are emphasized, students must learn to function effectively in pairs and small groups, sometimes teaching each other, at other times discovering answers to problems together. the teacher is regarded as a resource person who provides students with materials beyond the textbook and as an evaluator, matching learners needs with those set out in the program in order to bring the two closer together. thirdly, the types of activities and tasks in which learners are engaged are also important in syllabus designing. the type of activities or tasks students carry out is a natural outcome of the degree of control maintained by both teacher and textbook, as well as the level of students, involvement. from a learning perspective, the key question is: “what activities will stimulate or promote language acquisition?” approaches which favor considerable control on the part of the teacher and the textbook result in an abundance of mechanical and predictable tasks. approaches which favor a communicative-humanistic view usually - 13 - present learners with ample opportunities for unpredictable and negotiable outcomes of activities. 1.2.3 the product dimension. product in syllabus design refers to the specification of the expected outcomes of a course of study. specification of course outcomes ideally should be linked to a careful evaluation of the learner needs for the target language. publishers often initiate the process of material development with a survey of the field and form their findings and thenceforth define the goals of a new course. course outcomes can be divided into knowledge-oriented and skill-oriented types. when course planners choose to focus on the knowledge aspect of the course product, they must answer the question: what are the learners expected to know by the end of the course? content can be specified as actual reading selections to be covered during the course, as linguistic structures or functions, or as vocabulary-defined both quantitatively and qualitatively. when course designers choose to focus on skills rather than on knowledge or content, the definition of product is much more closely related to the actual use learners are expected to make of the new language. skill specification must be based on a careful survey and evaluation of the needs of a particular student population in terms of present and future expectations. if the students plan to use the target language for academic and technical purpose, the product should reflect the specific reading skills: skimming, - 14 - scanning, reading with comprehension at a certain rate of speed etc. if the immediate needs of the students are to communicate orally with native speakers, then the course should focus on oral communication skills: the ablity to communicate in an oral job interview, in a patient/doctor interview, etc. therefore, a given syllabus will specify all or some of the following: grammatical structures, functions, notions, topics, themes, situations, activities, and tasks. each of these elements is either product or process oriented, and the inclusion of each will be justified according to beliefs about the nature of language, the needs of the learner, or the nature of learning. process is a series of actions directed toward some end. the product is the end itself. some elements could be assigned to more than one orientation. - 15 - chapter 2 an overview of the course-books organizational framework and syllabus the writers state that the course-book aims to lead the students toward communicative competence in english by (1) presenting the target language in interesting contexts; (2) providing manipulative practice of the language; (3) extending the language into real communicative classroom situations; (4) encouraging creative application of the newly-acquired language. in selecting and grading the language to be taught, the writers have taken into account of complexity, frequency, general usefulness and immediate usefulness. each unit in book 1 and book 2 consists of seven sections as the following: (1) language structures. basic english grammatical structures are given in sentences in this section. short incomplete example dialogues are given so that the students can get rigorous training in listening as well as in speaking. then they can make use of the cues and carry on the practice. students are asked to attain spontaneity, flexibility and correctness at the end of this section. (2) dialogue . it focuses on language structures. various language structures are exemplified in various situations. a role-play - 16 - practice is devised, so that students are given a chance to use the language more freely and flexibly. (3) dialogue . this section focuses on language functions. phrases, sentences and expressions are grouped by the communicative functions of the language. cues or suggestions of various situations are given to help solve the problems students may meet with in actual communication. (4) reading. two texts focus more or less on the language structures. questions or precis writing can be a way to check students comprehension. (5) guided writing. group discussion is encouraged in the classroom in order that the students may learn to do independent work and develop logical thinking. (6) interaction activities. students are required to make free use of the language materials they have learned to tell about their own experiences and to express their personal views. (7) notes. notes on the grammatical structures, on the usage and use of the language, and on cultural background are written in english. they help the students do some further reading. each unit in book 3 and book 4 consists of five sections: text, text , oral work, guided writing and notes. to sum up, the presentation of the structures and functions is effected through different types of dialogues. then, vari