英语专业毕业论文The Application of the Situational Language Teaching.pdf

毕业论文（设计） 1 the application of the situational language teaching in junior middle school english teaching 1. introduction.1 2. the cognition of the situational language teaching.3 2.1 theory of language. 3 2.2 theory of learning.4 3. teachers roles and learners roles in the situational language teaching.5 3.1 the teachers roles. 5 3.2 the learners roles.6 4. the necessity of application of the situational language teaching in junior middle school english teaching.7 5. the application of the situational language teaching in junior middle school english teaching8 5.1 the design of situational activities. 8 5.1.1 songs.8 5.2.2 games.9 5.2.3 speeches.10 5.1.4 videos and movies.10 5.2 four kinds of situation. 11 5.2.1 happy situation.11 5.2.2 question situation.15 5.2.3 language situation.18 5.2.4 activity situation.22 6. conclusion.25 references.26 1. introduction the teaching of foreign languages has evolved for many centuries. different teaching approaches have been developed by linguists and language teachers, especially in the twentieth century. chinese foreign language teachers and linguists have also introduced and developed some teaching approaches to the teaching of english in china. among the teaching approaches practiced in china, the situational language teaching has been advocated and has made great achievements. 毕业论文（设计） 2 the situational language teaching was initiated by a group of british language teaching specialists, such as harold palmer and a.s hornby, in the 1930s and 1960s. it was called oral approach in early days, but situational language teaching after the 1950s. the main characteristics of the situational language teaching are as follows: a. language teaching begins with the spoken language. material is taught orally before it is presented in written form; b. the target language is the language of the classroom; c. new language points are introduced and practiced situationally; d. vocabulary selection procedures are followed to ensure that an essential general service vocabulary is covered; e. items of grammar are graded following the principle that simple forms should be taught before complex ones; f. reading and writing are introduced once a sufficient lexical and grammatical basis is established. the key feature of the situational language teaching is that new language points are introduced and practiced situationally. the term “situation”, therefore, is used to replaced the term “oral approach”. this thesis tried to discuss the application of the situational language teaching in junior middle school english teaching. 毕业论文（设计） 3 2.thecognitionofthesituational language teaching 2.1 theory of language the theory of language underlying situational language teaching can be characterized as a type of british “structuralism.” speech was regarded as the basis of language, and structure was viewed as being at the heart of speaking ability. palmer, hornby, and other british applied linguists had prepared pedagogical descriptions of the basic grammatical structures of english, and these were to be followed in developing methodology. “word order, structural words, the few inflexions of english, and content words, will form the material of our teaching.” (frisby.1957: 134).thebritishtheoreticianshadadifferentfocustotheirversionof structuralism-the notion of “situation.” “our principle classroom activity in the teaching of english structure will be the oral practice of structures. this oral practice of controlled sentence patterns should be given in situations designed to give the greatest amount of practice in english speech to the pupil.” (pittman 1963: 179) the theory that knowledge of structures must be linked to situations in which they could be used gave situational language teaching one of its distinctive features. this may have reflected the functional trend in british linguistics since the thirties. many british linguists had emphasized the close relationship between the structure of language and the context and situations in which language is used. british linguists, such as j.r.firth and m.a.k.halliday, developed powerful views of language in 毕业论文（设计） 4 which meaning, context, and situation were given a prominent place: “the emphasis now is on the description of language activity as part of the whole complex of events which, together with the participants and relevant objects, make up actual situations” (holliday, mcintosh, and stevens 1964: 38). 2.2 theory of learning the theory of learning underlying situational language teaching is a type of behaviorist habit-learning theory. it addresses primarily the processes rather than the conditions of learning. like the direct method, situational language teaching adopts an inductive approach to the teaching of grammar. the meaning of words or structures is not to be given through explanation in either the native tongue or the target language but is to be induced from the way the form is used in a situation. “if we give the meaning of a new word, either by translation into the home language or by an equivalent in the same language, as soon as we introduce it, we weaken the impression which the word makes on the mind.” (billows 1961: 28) so explanation is not recommended, and the learner is expected to deduce the meaning of particular structure or vocabulary item from the situation in which it is presented. extending structures and vocabulary to new situations takes place by generalization. the learner is expected to apply the language learned in a classroom to situations outside the classroom. this is how child language learning is believed to take place, and the same processes are thought to occur in second and foreign language learning, according to practitioners of 毕业论文（设计） 5 situational language teaching. 3. teachers roles and learners roles in the situational language teaching 3.1 the teachers roles the teachers function is threefold in the situational language teaching. in the presentation stage of the lesson, the teacher serves as a model, setting up situations in which the need for the target structure is created and then modeling the new structure for students to repeat. then the teacher “becomes more like the skillful conductor of an orchestra, drawing the music out of the performers” (byrne 1976: 2). the teacher is required to be a skillful manipulator, using questions, commands, and other cues to elicit correct sentences from the learners. so, teacher just likes the director of the textbook. during the practice phase of the lesson, students are given more of an opportunity to use the language in less controlled situations, but the teacher is ever on the lookout for grammatical and structural errors that can form the basis of subsequent lessons. organizing review is a primary task for the teacher according to pittman (1963), who summarizes the teachers responsibilities as dealing with a. timing; b. oral practice, to support the textbook structures; 毕业论文（设计） 6 c. revision i.e., review; d.adjustment to special needs of individuals; e. testing; f. developing language activities other than those arising from the textbook. the teacher is essential to the success of the method, since the textbook is able only to describe activities for the teacher to carry out in class. 3.2 the learners roles in the initial stages of learning, the learner is required simply to listen and repeat what the teacher says and to respond to questions and commands. the learner has no control over the content of learning and is often regarded as likely to succumb to undesirable behaviors unless skillfully manipulated by the teacher. for example, the learner might lapse into faulty grammar or pronunciation, forget what has been taught, or fail to respond quickly enough; incorrect habits are to be avoided at all costs. later, more active participation is encouraged. this includes learner initiating responses and asking each other questions, although teacher-controlled introduction and practice of new language is stressed throughout. 毕业论文（设计） 7 4.thenecessityofapplicationofthe situational language teaching in junior middle school english teaching english teaching activity is a process in which the teacher and students exchange their thoughts and knowledge in classes. it is related to listening, speaking, reading and writing. if the teacher designs the teaching which suits students best so as to stimulate their interests, they will like learning, be willing to study, and in turn get good results in study. the situation language teaching can help achieve the goal. firstly, the situational language teaching accords with junior students psychological characteristics and age characteristics. as a rule, junior students have strong curiosity, great ability of imitation, and active natural disposition. but language learning is comparatively dull. if the teacher only uses the simple teaching better in which the teacher speak and the student listen, students will lose their interests of english study. however, if the teacher adopts the situation language teaching, students will feel active and excited in classes. this is helpful to teaching. secondly, the situational language teaching can strengthen students memory. the forms of new words and sentence patterns are demonstrated with examples instead of grammatical explanation or description. the meaning of new words and sentence patterns is not conveyed through translation. it is made clear visually. wherever possible model sentences are related and taken from a single situation. so students can learn them easily and have a deep impression. 毕业论文（设计） 8 thirdly, the situational language teaching is of advantages to develop students ability of thinking. school education should focus on the cultivation of students ability of thinking. so the teacher should put emphasis on training students ability of thinking and bring out their enthusiasm. situation language teaching can do well in this aspect. in classes, the teacher creates situations with concrete objects, pictures, or actions to give stimulation to students sense organ. this is beneficial to cultivating studentsability of thinking. fourthly, the situational language teaching is to help cultivate students team spirit, because many activities require students to cooperate with each other. 5.theapplicationofthesituational language teaching in junior middle school english teaching 5.1 the design of situational activities 5.1.1 songs it is believed that songs are invaluable in english classroom. songs can make the classroom atmosphere relaxed and serve as an incentive for speaking english in class. when using songs to teach english, the first thing for the student to do is to choose the song. the teacher must choose carefully the song before presentation. the lyrics of the song should be easily to understand, each word must be clearly 毕业论文（设计） 9 pronounced, and the vocabulary must be rich and varied (but not include too many new words). the teacher should avoid the songs with extremely fast-paced or loud music, which will result in covering the singers voice. after selecting the song, the teacher may begin to teach student the song. first, the lyrics are presented to students, followed by going through the grammar, syntax, and new vocabulary and finally explaining the underlying meaning of the lyrics and arousing their curiosity to speak. after the students have thoroughly understood the lyrics, the teacher plays the song and has them sing aloud in order to make the students pay attention to his or her. 5.2.2 games as jack c. richards stated, games in language teaching is an organized activity that usually has the following properties: a) a particular task objective; b) a set of rules; c) competition between players; d) practice between players by spoken or written language. so, games are not just to play for enjoyment but have a great value education, especially in the situational classroom. games combined with the vividly situations, it would have a great effect on english learning for student. by the means of the above activities, student has great motivation to learn. with the games, it could consolidate the desire in the classroom for english learning. when choosing language games, teachers should take advantages of students impetus in playing games. for example, the students want to have a turn, they want to say in the game, they want to be the first to guess correctly and they want to gain points. language games are more interesting and motivational than mechanical drills in helping student to develop their 毕业论文（设计） 10 interest. there are some examples of language games, such as structure games, vocabulary games, and story guessing games. hence, dont look upon these games; it is a very useful tool in situational classroom activity. 5.2.3 speeches another common activity in the situational classroom is the prepared speech. topics for speeches will vary depending on the level of the students and the focus of the class, but in any case, students should be given some leeway in determining the content of their talks. the teacher can ask the student to “tell us about an unforgettable experience you had.” allow them to talk about something that is personally meaningful while at the same time encourage narration and description. speeches can be frightening for the speaker and, after a while, boring for the listeners, so it is a good idea to assign the listeners some situations during the speeches. this is an excellent time to require peer evaluation of a classmates speech. in the speech, different topics can be regarded as various situations. choosing the right and proper situation or topic would make the students take part in it actively. therefore, speech is also a good way for the situational classroom. 5.1.4 videos and movies the features of videos and movies are that they can present the situation. that is, the students can see the pictures and hear the dialogue. it is popular among the students and the teachers. the student likes it because video or movie presentation is 毕业论文（设计） 11 interesting. teachers like it because videos or movies help promote comprehension. the following are the brief introduction on how to complement the videos or movies in the classroom. it contains three parts: pre-viewing, while-viewing and post-viewing. in the process of pre-viewing, the teacher is required to be familiar with the video or movie before it is shown. he or she should make a plan for each video part. in the process of while-viewing, the teacher should not play the video or movie for the students to watch from the beginning to end at one time. it is necessary for him or her to divide the video or movie into several parts if the video or movie is too long. to encourage student to take an active part in watching video or movie presentation, the teacher may take the measures as controlled repetition, reproduction activity and silent viewing activity. in the process of post-viewing, it would be conduct a discussion of what is presented in a video part is good way to practice speaking. it is necessary to prepare the main vocabulary that students need to share their ideas and opinions presented in the video or movie. 5.2 four kinds of situation 5.2.1 happy situation einstein has such a famous saying, “interest is the best teacher, which far exceeds the sense of duty.” when students are interested in studying, they will involve themselves in it positively and happily, enjoy it, and not want to stop. so, the teacher should pay close attention to creat a loose, harmonious, and happy teaching situation 毕业论文（设计） 12 to promote students curiosity to become thirst of knowledge, and turn the teachers subjective hope of “teaching” into their own eager hope of “study”. in accordance with curiosity of students, the teacher should adopt relaxed and lively teaching forms as much as possible. for example, guiding students with the beautiful music and broadcasting “i can sing the abc song” place students in the world of foreign languag