建构主义理论在初中英语口语教学中的应用.doc

【标题】建构主义理论在初中英语口语教学中的应用 【作者】赵小霞 【关键词】口语教学；建构主义；抛锚式教学法；随机进入式教学法；支架式教学 【指导老师】董曼霞 【专业】英语 【正文】. IntroductionEnglish is regarded as a tool of communication. It has been generally agreed that to learn English entails at least four aspects: listening, speaking, reading, as well as writing. Speaking, as one of the main language skills plays a very important role in language and peoples life, especially in oral communication.“With a rapid development of world information, more people consider speech as an important communicative means and basis of learning a language”. Therefore, mastering English has become a basic quality to the people of the 2lst century. China is in great need of talents who have the ability of using English to communicate with the world in various fields, so the aim of English learning and teaching is to meet the social needs. In China, while the English syllabus explicitly requires that teachers should manage to develop students four skills balanced as they should be the actual teaching is still going along the opposite way. Compared with other skills, speaking is the worst of all for students. Passive and unmotivated traditional teaching method still flourishes, as a result, high- score students are often seen, but good-speaking one rarely found. Large amount of students become horribly“dumb” or“deaf” because they can hardly say anything in English, nor can they understand what people say in English.In the recent years, as the result of the innovation of language teaching, the ability of communicating becomes one of the main aims in English language teaching in middle schools. While speaking has so great roles to the learning, it has been still ignored in English teaching for years. The students in junior middle school face the entrance examination, so the most urgent task for them is to pass the examination. Because the present examination system still has some drawbacks, for example, pay too much attention to the mastery of knowledge and make light of the ability of application, students spend much more time in learning English knowledge than using it in practice. If we observe what goes on in many oral English classes, we can see phenomenon like this: The teacher usually leads students to read aloud the words and phrases first, if fortunately, they will read the whole text for students twice or three times then, at the rest long period of class，the class will focus on the syntax or meaning of separate phrases, the teacher usually copies out the language points on the blackboard, the so-called excellent students copy these on notebooks busily, then, painfully repeats the language points. The picture above is the vivid portrait, teachers choose learning materials, teachers plan the lessons, teachers organize and direct activities, and they assess and correct learners work. In this way, students can only receive the knowledge passively and their initiative is limited. Moreover, because of the lack of opportunities for meaning practice, it is difficult to create an active and lively atmosphere for classroom teaching. As a result, after several years of English learning, the students are only clear with some grammar rules and the use of some words. They can get good marks in examinations but very weak in using English to communicate with others. In one word, speaking ability has a very important place in English instruction, although teachers have devoted considerable effort in it, there are many problems in oral teaching in Junior Middle Schools in China today. Oral English is ignored chronically, students just become the passive listeners of classroom, as a result, English learning gives a boring impression to many learners. The purpose of teaching English in Junior Middle Schools is not essentially to teach English for examinations. To enable them to communicate effectively in the English language, its urgent and necessary to improve the students oral abilities through a good and practical way. The purpose of the study is to combine constructivism theory with teaching practice to explore a new teaching method to increase the junior middle school students interest in oral English learning. Theoretic Concerns on ConstructivismA. Definition of ConstructivismAs a kind of philosophy about learning，constructivism has been developing over the years and has become particularly influential in the latter half of the twentieth century. The source of the label of constructivism is the idea that we build or construct our meanings. The constructivism theory believes that learning is a process in which the learner constructs meaning based on his/her own experiences and what he/she already knows. Although the constructivism theory was not developed for the understanding of language learning, it is widely applicable to learning in general. It is believed that education is used to develop the mind, not just to rote recall what is learned. John Dewey provided a foundation for constructivism. He believed that teaching should be built based on what learners already knew and engage learners to foster inventive, creative, critical learners. Therefore, teachers must balance an understanding of the means of arousing learners interests and curiosity for learning.B. Principles of Constructivism Monitoring Oral English Teaching1. Active Construction of KnowledgeConstructivists claim that knowledge is constructed by the learner himself rather than taught by others. Learners construct their own meaning and learning about issues, problems, and topics. They use their unique prior knowledge and experiences to manipulate the given information. Each individual determines how the information should be associated what prior knowledge and experiences are relevant, and how information relates to the specific situation. Their prior experiences and knowledge affect how they interpret and experience new events. Their interpretations, in turn, affect construction of their knowledge structures and define their new learning. The process of construction and reconstruction of knowledge in relation to the environment can create cognitive growth. Page says that students learn more when they are actively engaged in their own learning. Students build their own knowledge structures by investigating and discovering for themselves, by creating and re-creating, and by interacting with the environment. Learning actively leads to an ability to think critically and to solve problems.Since learning is an active process, a learner-directed interactive learning environment is more appropriate than a teacher-dominated learning environment for students to construct knowledge. In learner-directed environment, learners are encouraged to construct knowledge by exploring information and by moving at their own pace and bases on their own needs, which lead to the development of critical and independent thinking skills, deeper understanding of concepts and long-lasting learning.2. Real World ContextsContext related to knowledge and learning plays an important part. That is, knowing and the process of learning are effected by the learning environment, and are referred to as“situated cognition”(Brown, Collins.& Duguid, 1989). In addition, Lebow describes“authentic activity” as experiences of personal relevance“that permit learners to practice skills in environments similar to those in which the skills are used”. So constructivists believe learning should occur in situations meaningful to students and relevant to the context in which the new information will be used. Constructivists provide learning environment, such as real-world settings or case-based learning instead of predetermined sequences of instruction. Knowledge is situated in a particular context, that is, it is inextricably linked to the situations in which it has been acquired and used.3. Social NegotiationVygotsky(1978) claims that knowledge has its social origins: knowledge is constructed through communication with others. An individuals cognitive system is a result of communication in social groups and cannot be separated from social life.Constructivist learning environments emphasize collaborative construction of knowledge through social negotiation; cooperative learning has become popular in todays classroom to encourage social interaction among students. Cooperative group work in problem solving is a valued ingredient of the constructivism of learning. The research of Sharan, S. and Sharan, Y.(1992) supports the theory that students create their own meaning as they cooperate in interpreting the meaning for information. Collaborative teaming encourages individuals to take responsibility for their own learning through structured dialogues，role and task assignments, and sharing information. It can be used with activities ranging from drill and practice to learning facts and concepts, discussion and problem solving.According to the review of the three fundamental tenets of constructivism, learning is not passive reception of information, but a learners active continuous process of constructing and reconstructing his or her conceptions of phenomena. Multiple realistic and relevant contexts are important for learning, and learners should be provided opportunities to negotiate meaning and understanding socially. Thus constructivist pedagogy does not direct teachers in what and how to teach, but urges instructors to facilitate learning by providing an environment which facilitates students active learning.C. Advantages of Constructivist Theory in Contrast with other Theories1. Constructivism Based on the Criticism of BehaviorismThe behaviorist theory of language learning was initiated by behavioral psychologist Skinner, who applied Watson and Raynors theory of conditioning to the way humans acquire language(Harmer, 1983). Based on their experiments, Watson and Raynor formulated a stimulus-response theory of psychology. In this theory all complex forms of behaviormotions, habits, and suchare seen as composed of simple muscular and glandular elements that can be observed and measured. They claimed that emotional reactions are learned in much the same way as other skills. The key point of the theory of conditioning is thatyou can train an animal to do anything(within reason) if you follow a certain procedure which has three major stages, stimulus, response, and reinforcement(Harmer, 1983).A behaviorists view does have some positive points that should not be dismissed lightly. It emphasized the important part played by parents and teachers in setting appropriate learning conditions and ensuring particular kinds of behavioral consequences. But it can be seen that behaviorism has a number of limitations. First，the role of the learners is fairly passive. There is little active engage in analyzing the language, or developing their own strategies to learn more effectively or initiating discussions or negotiating meanings. Secondly, there is little concern for what goes on inside the learners heads, or the cognitive process involved in learning. Thirdly, behaviorism pays little attention to the meaning that the language conveys. Fourthly, there is no room for the actual process of interaction and negotiation of meaning which is an important feature of communicating in a language. Fifthly, the making of mistakes is an important part of learning. Behaviorist views of learning do not allow for learning from mistakes.Contrary to behaviorism, constructivism holds that the behaviorists made the mistake of thinking that classical conditioning, operant conditioning and imitation could explain all learning. Since it relies almost exclusively on observable behavior and does not account for individual thought processes, so behaviorism in learning which can be easily observed such as factual recall, rather than less clearly defined learning which involves internal conceptual change with in the learner. In this tradition, knowledge is to be considered as representing a real world that exists separate and independent of the learner. Constructivism rejects the notion that students minds are blank slates awaiting something to be imprinted. Instead, constructivism suggests that students help create their own knowledge through the basic mental activities of assimilation and accommodation.2. Constructivism Based on the Development of Cognitive TheoryIt is clear that today cognitive psychology is one of the most dynamic and interesting areas of psychology. The beginning of cognitive psychology as a science is in l879, with the establishment of the first psychology laboratory by Wilhelm Wundt in Leipzig, Germany. In contrast to behaviorism, cognitive psychology is concerned with the way in which the human mind thinks and learns. It is the science of mental life. The task of the cognitive psychologist is a highly inferential one. It looks at the human brain and cognitive processes in the way of information processing. It assumes that the brain and thus the mind are like an information processor. We take in input from the environment and process this information.Cognitive psychology has important implications for language teaching methodology. The cognitive theory of language teaching based on cognitive psychology and transformational grammar emphasizes the conscious acquisition of language as a meaningful system. Learners are active participants of the learning process, using a variety of cognitive strategies to acquire the language.Constructivism has grown out of the outcomes of the cognitive psychology but is different from it. Cognitivists must have the learners objectively demonstrate their knowledge. They see learning strictly as knowledge acquisition. This view is based on the idea that learning occurs when learners place new information in long-term memory. Helpful though information approaches can be, they place little or no emphasis upon the ways in which learners seek to sense of personal meaning to their worlds. The roles of learner then are to passively acquire information as the teacher transmits that knowledge. Constructivism goes beyond the study of how the brain stares and retrieves information to examine the ways in which learners make meaning from experience. Learners do not transfer knowledge from the external world into their memories; rather, they create interpretations of the world based up on their past experiences and their interactions in the world. How someone constructs the world, their existing metaphors, is at least as powerful a factor influencing what is learned as any characteristic of that world.In the previous sections, we highlighted some of the most important features of different learning theories that we consider to be of particular value to language teachers. While behaviorism and cognitive approaches both have their own strengths, we also noted that they have some problems, which have hindered language teaching for quite a long time. Constructivism is now a publicly received theory used in education. It is opposite to behaviorism and improved from cognitivism.In the constructivist conception, humans, either as individuals or as collectives, are portrayed as constructive agents and their meanings and knowledge are portrayed as constructive products. The mind is considered a“real or imposing its categories on what it encounters”(Bruner, 1986). An emphasis is put on the generative, organizational and selective nature of human perception, understanding and memory. Since the students are not the passive recipients of knowledge, the teacher cannot pass on the knowledge, so teaching should be a process of facilitating the students construction of knowledge.Application of Constructivism in Oral English TeachingA. Anchored InstructionAnchored instruction is a major paradigm for technology-based learning that has been developed by the Cognition& Technology Group at Vanderbilt(CTGV) under the leadership of John Bransford. The initial focus of the work is on the development of interactive videodisc tools that encouraged students and teachers to pose and solve complex, realistic problems. The video materials serve as“anchors”(macro-contexts) for all subsequent learning and instruction1. On the basis of the research, john Bransford defines anchored instruction as an approach for instruction and exploration that occurs in a shared environment. The major goal of this approach is to overcome the inert knowledge problem by creating shared and real problematic environments that sustain exploration by students and teachers. All activities in an anchored learn in environment are designed around a realistic situation or anchor in which there is a problem to be solved by the group. Derived from this definition, six principles for anchored instruction can be summarized as:? Learning and teaching activities should be designed around an“anchor”(or situation) which should be some sort of case study or problem situation.? Curriculum materials should allow exploration by the learner.? Learners should be take ownership.? Complex contents are involved and multiple scenarios are presented.? Problems are presented in a narrative format, a story with embedded data. Learning context is generative(students identify with problem and become actively involved in generating solution) 2.?Anchored instruction is closely related to the situated learning framework. Lave argues that learning as it normally occurs is a function of the activity, context and culture in which it occurs(i.e. it is situated). This contrasts with most classroom learning activities which involve knowledge which is abstract and out of context. Social interaction is a critical component of situated learning-learners become involved in a“community of practice” which embodies certain beliefs and behaviors to be acquired. As the beginner or newcomer moves from the periphery