（英语语言文学专业论文）The+Application+Of+The+Eclectic+Approach+To+The+Teaching+Of+Oral+English.pdf

- 3 - acknowledgements i would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, prof. deng mingde, for his considerable and persistent support, encouragement and patience in guiding this project. without his timely guidance, insightful advice, the completion of the present thesis would have been impossible. meanwhile, i greatly appreciate mr. shen youhua who advises me to take this topic and also grateful to mr. song naikang for making available to me the relevant books and materials. finally, i must express my thanks to all my colleagues for their unselfish assistance. - 4 - abstract with the status-quo of english language teaching (elt) in china as its backdrop, this thesis looks at the origins and general principles of the eclectic approach and with the view of the problems that have so far surfaced in chinas present-day elt, the thesis explores the feasibility of the application of the eclectic approach to the teaching of oral english in chinese classrooms. key word: eclectic approach, origins, principles, teaching of oral english - 5 - 折衷法在英语口语教学中的应用 中文摘要 本文拟从国内英语教学现状出发分析折衷法的历史来源及实 践中的指导原则揭示一些英语教学中所存在的问题并通过口语 教学来探索折衷法在实际教学中的可行性 关键词折衷法折衷法原则口语教学 - 7 - the application of the eclectic approach to the teaching of oral english chapter 1 introduction for much of its history, language teaching has been obsessed with a search for the right method. it was thought that somewhere there was a method, which could cater to learners of every description. therefore, new approaches and methods to and for foreign or second language teaching like the audio-lingual method, the communicative approach, the natural approach, the cognitive method, suggestopedia and so on have been brought into existence, each claiming to be the best suited to the students learning process. some of them have become very influential in modern language teaching. however, this thought is proven to be false in reality and it seems that this brings more confusion than comfort to language educators, for these methods have been founded on the bases of different views of theories of language and language learning. some views are even contradictory and exclusive to those of others. even if such methods have been found, the language teaching problems can not be solved once and for all; on the contrary, the problems are still puzzling language teaching theorists and practitioners. there are actually numerous researches on foreign or - 8 - second language teaching, whether they are qualitative or quantitative, but up to now they have not provided language teachers with a best and universally accepted method. language educators are still wondering about which approach or method would be the most effective in fostering learners communicative competence in foreign or second language education. though english language teaching elt in china, has undergone considerable development, it has experienced the same dilemma as that in other countries so far. it still remains mainly based on the traditional method. however, since the early 1980s, communicative language teaching clt which seems to be an irreversible trend in most parts of the world, has been introduced into chinese classrooms by foreign language experts. it has virtually brought about great progress in efl teaching in some places, but the general situation remains unchanged, for, though clt might be used as a makeshift, it is far from being systematic especially big cities, as the activities are selected often at random rather than based on any rigorous pedagogical research. owing to the weaknesses of clt as such and its limitations, many english teachers have to return to the traditional grammar translation method, which nevertheless fails to train competent language learners. such a vicious circle calls for an urgent reform in english language teaching to fulfill chinas modernization program. - 9 - since no single method can suit the various teaching aims, tasks and situations, some language practitioners have put forward an eclectic approach in western countries, in which they wish to get the greatest benefit from all the methods and techniques at their disposal according to the special needs and resources of the students at any given time (bell 1981; brumfit, 1984; long, 1980; schmidt, 1989; stern, 1992; yalden, 1987). many attempts have also been made in china to pursue reconciliation between the traditional methods and communicative language teaching (malay, 1984; li guanyi, 1989; don xiaohong, 1994; etc.) the purpose of this research paper is to put forward an eclectic approach to teaching english in china so as to meet the demands of the newly-designed english language teaching syllabus for english majors in the universities. the syllabus makes it clear that the goal of english language teaching in china is to foster learners communicative competence as well as their linguistic competence. as it has been proved that no monolithic way can satisfy this demand, the eclectic approach seems to be a desirable solution to the strong challenge of the current efl teaching task in china. however, this does not mean that english teachers should now abandon their own ways of teaching in order to follow the one suggested above. they may keep their teaching methods if these are effective, and then borrow from a variety of - 10 - approaches, methods and techniques the elements most fit to the needs of his/her students in a proper situation at a proper time so as to cultivate the students communicative competence. this is because some approaches have been proved to be complementary to each other. the first part of the research paper describes the development of english language teaching methodology in chinese schools. together with this, the strengths and weaknesses of some oft-adopted methods in chinese english language teaching classrooms are briefly discussed. and after examining the status-quo in chinas efl teaching, the writer puts forward a makeshift alternative, i.e. the eclectic approach with its origins traced and its general principles introduced. following this, several models of the eclectic approach proposed by marton (1988) et al, are presented. the whole thesis is wrapped up and highlighted with a rather tentative consideration of the appropriateness of the application of these models to elt in china in general and to the teaching of oral english in particular. - 11 - chapter 2 the development of english teaching methodology in chinese schools though china is a country with thousands of years of civilization, the history of english language teaching is not more than two centuries old. as a matter of fact, the teaching of english can be traced back to the establishment of a government-run modern language teaching institution in qing dynasty called jing shi tong wen guan in china in 1862(fu, 1986.15). not until then did the systematic foreign language teaching in china begin. at that time, english teaching was conducted through the grammar-translation method, which was prevalent in western language teaching methodology. this method well suited the chinese reality because most chinese officials learned foreign languages for the sole purpose of transferring science and technology from the foreign countries to china through written materials. to speak a foreign language was considered vulgar or of little value to the chinese officials. therefore, the focus of language teaching was on the written word. translation was the primary technique. most attention was paid to memorization of vocabulary, rote learning and adherence to the grammar rules. at that time, many efficient language translators were cultivated through the grammar-translation method (he, - 12 - 1996:37). in the early 1900s, the direct method was introduced into chinese classrooms in mission schools by missionaries who were native speakers of english because there was a great demand for oral proficiency in communication in foreign languages in a new world of industry and international trade and travel. at that time, a lot of europeans set up mission schools in china to train proficient foreign language speakers, they did not use chinese in the teaching process and seldom taught grammar rules, which were left to students to learn them inductively. in addition, the teaching materials were written by native speakers rather than by chinese teachers. the result of this method was much better than the grammar-translation method. students so trained by were stronger in listening and speaking, but weaker in reading and writing than those trained by grammar- translation method. nevertheless, chinese teachers were not competent enough in listening and speaking and lacked adequate methodology training. thus, they found it difficult to apply the method in classrooms. in addition, the teaching materials and situations were not quite adequate for the direct method in chinese classrooms. due to these factors, the direct method did not find much popularity and did not go far in china. on the contrary, many teachers and students rejected it because of its total ignorance of the use of the mother tongue. at last, - 13 - some chinese teachers had to revert to the grammar-translation method. some endeavored to pursue new methods for language teaching in china. soon after her liberation in 1949, under the influence of the former soviet union, china imported the comparative method into classrooms. by using this method, english teachers could use chinese at the very beginning to give students a better understanding of the english language and make them aware of the kind of mistakes chinese students usually make. in order to speed up the learning process, students had to grasp necessary grammar rules. the focus of the course was mainly on language structure through translation and memorization which was typified by attention to fine details line-by-line and word-by-word analysis. as for teaching materials, it was prescribed that for beginners the textbooks must be written by chinese teachers with the help of native speakers, and these materials should begin with things about china, which where familiar to the students (li bingquan, 1992). as the method emphasized very much the comparison between the native language and target language, and the translation from each other, it coincided with the grammar-translation method popularly used in china. therefore, chinas foreign language teachers accepted this method widely and quickly. during the period of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the - 14 - grammar-translation method was severely criticized for its overemphasis on grammar analysis and translation and for the ignorance of listening and speaking skills. under such circumstances, the audio-lingual method came into being and, accordingly, introduced into chinese classrooms. this method has paid much attention to pattern drills, memorization of set phrases and over-learning. it also stresses a great deal that listening and speaking must be given priority and precede reading and writing in the teaching sequence (stern, 1983:464) .it has been very successful in the teaching of listening and speaking skills and thus has been employed in chinas english language classrooms for some time. but this method excludes the use of the mother tongue. though frequently used in chinas classrooms, the audio-lingual method has not replaced the grammar-translation method as the primary method in china because of the shortage of qualified english teachers and the theoretical drawbacks of the audio-lingual method. since the beginning of chinas reform and opening to the outside world, a growing number of foreign experts and teachers have been in china to teach english and many language educators have begun to realize that traditional english teaching could not satisfy the demand of the learners and there is an urgent need for elt innovations. in response to this great demand, chinese efl teachers have been - 15 - experimenting with various teaching methods which have flown in from western countries such as the natural approach, total physical response. suggestopedia and so on . among these, communicative language teaching became most influential one. in 1979, li xiao ju and her two canadian colleagues in guangzhou started a teaching project known as communicative english for chinese learners (cecl) and published english textbooks entitled cecl (li, 1984). then many innovations were carried out in other places of china. new syllabi based on clt came into existence. clt has been very successful in places where budget and other conditions are available for it. (ironically, these also happen to be clts limitations). consequently, many improvements begun to have been made in the reform of english teaching in china, of which two are most obvious: one is the shift from a teacher-based classroom to a students-centered one. teachers and students often organize and perform classroom activities interactively and students have the more participation. this shift has contributed a great deal to the improvement in students motivation and language proficiency. the other one is the shift of the goal of language teaching from training students to acquire the linguistic competence to training them to acquire communicative competence. the focus of all classroom activities is on language use. these endeavors and others are aimed at providing chinese students with opportunities to interact with each - 16 - other and with the teacher and, therefore, to develop their english communicative competence. the above is a diachronic overview of the different stages the teaching of english in china has undergone and it is fairly clear that each stage is beset with problems. so it seems that the search for a rather ideal method (for, a panacea would never be possible) has still to be going on. however, meantime, special mention should be made of the status-quo of elt in china, the concomitant problems it has met with and the major factors which are believed to have been contributory to these problems. - 17 - chapter 3 the current situation of elt in china, problems and problem-producing factors despite the trial and error in the adoption of many new approaches and methods such as communicative language teaching and suggestopaedia, chinese efl teaching is still centered on the traditional method. paul harvey (1985) has summarized the features of classes of elt in china very precisely: “a concentration on intensive reading as a basis for language study: a preoccupation with the careful, often painstaking examination of grammatical structure and a corresponding lack of attention to more communicative skills; the use of memorization and rote learning as a basic acquisition technique; a strong emphasis on the correction of mistakes, both written and oral; a view of literature and a reverence for the printed word which tends to lead to the teaching of non-extensive skills; the use of translation both as a teaching and a learning strategy.” harveys remarks have survived my own empirical experienced in this regard, which has enabled me to make the following observations. generally, intensive reading is integrated in efl teaching here at all stages of learning. teachers may spend hours explaining, analyzing and paraphrasing and practicing etc. until every student learns every word by heart. students learn words and phrases through memorization many, - 18 - many times without knowing their appropriate use in appropriate contexts. they usually have a low proficiency of communicative skills because of too much attention to linguistic competence. in the chinese classrooms of english, the teacher is the center of classroom activities. he is the talker for the most time and students are just obedient listeners. in this case, chinese students are incapable of using english as an effective communicative tool; they are reluctant to put on their own thinking cap and content to be passive receivers of knowledge. however, they turn out to be quite active and ready to prepare for the grammar-based monolithic examinations in the end of each semester. these problems have become serious obstacles to the cultivation of competent english learners. there are many particular factors, apart from the methodological one, which have affected the efl teaching and necessitated elt reform in china. the first three below belong to non-learner factors: the last is the learner factor. these two kinds of factors are interrelated and largely inseparable. they are simultaneously at work on language learners including the chinese learners of english. they are listed as follows: 1) linguistic environment factor this factor mainly influences the amount of the comprehensible input, which should be exposed to english learners. the chinese learners of english live, work and study in an absolutely chinese - 19 - environment. chinese is the language for all official purposes, such as for business, education, correspondence, publication and television programs. there are no such second language communities in china as an english-speaking community. though there are foreign teachers, experts and even diplomats living temporarily in the city hotels or guesthouses in china, local people have little or no necessity of communicating with them. such an unfavorable linguistic environment makes it impossible for chinese learners of english to be totally immersed in english language and culture in a natural setting; therefore, formal language study in chinese classrooms plays an important role in the english learne