《英语教学法》课程电子教案 ELT ology Course ,.doc

英语教学法重点课程电子教案 （陇东学院英语系英语教学法重点建设课程组） 2009年3月ELT Methodology Course AIMS: To provide Ss with some current but basic theories related to language, language learning and teaching To help Ss develop practical skills and techniques in teaching the language To raise Ss awareness and prepare them for dealing with practical issues in teaching practice To develop reflective and cooperative learning strategies for future professional development To help Ss develop their own ideas in their teaching in the future.METHODS:The course will be conducted in a variety of forms through lectures, discussions, presentations, micro-teaching etc. Although some basic theories are going to be introduced, the course remains rather a practical one. Therefore, Ss are expected to participate and contribute actively on your own experiences and understanding in learning. There will be weekly assignments, including some readings and group projects or tasks.ASSESSMENT:Final paper 60%Weekly assignments 20%Peer Teaching 10%Attendance and Classroom Participation 10%MAIN TOPICS: Communicative teaching and Task-based learning English teaching in China Language and language learning Teachers and Students Teaching Pronunciation Presenting Vocabulary Teaching Structure Teaching Listening Teaching Speaking Teaching Reading Teaching Writing Teaching a Revision Lesson Error Correction Testing Lesson Planning Using the Blackboard Classroom Management Classroom English COURSE BOOK:Wang Qing (2000) A Course in English Language Teaching Higher Education Press1. IntroductionTeaching Aims:This part gives a general introduction to the changes in English language teaching in China today, and explains the consequences for Chinese middle schools. The points covered include the following: Why is change needed? What are the principles behind a communicative approach? Communicative approaches to teaching of English as a foreign languageTeaching Procedures: Why is change needed? Traditionally, Chinese teaching methods for English have been very teacher-centered, with a great deal of time spent on teaching grammar and memorizing vocabulary, although no one would deny that these are important if mastery of a foreign language were to be achieved. Under such a teaching, the best students could acquire an impressive knowledge of the language and an extensive vocabulary.However, with the development of China and establishment of ties with many nations, the ability to USE English is becoming increasingly important. This is where the traditional methods have struggled to meet the new requirements. Chinese students often find that they can do very little other than read English. So change is needed to move the emphasis from knowledge of the English language to the ability to apply that knowledge in real communication.This change in emphasis, using a more communicative approach, is starting at middle school level, so that the next generation of learners of English will hopefully be more competent at using English in communication. This booklet tries to explain what a communicative approach is, and how it can be applied to the situation in Chinese schools. What are the principles behind a communicative approach? PINCIPLE ONE: Know the purpose of what you are doing.This part discusses in general some of the important ideas behind the communicative approach to teaching instead of techniques for teachers to use, which covers five major principles briefly.This implies that the aim of every lesson should be the learning of how to do something. The “something” should be an activity that students might want to do in real life. In reading, this might be understanding of some instructions; in writing, this could be sending a postcard to a friend; in listening, it might be a weather forecast; and in speaking, it could be asking for directions in a strange city.Both the teacher and the student must know why they are doing what they are doing. The question - What are they learning to do? - should be kept in mind at all times. Learning the question form of the third person singular of the present tense is one thing, learning it so that it can be used when asking questions at the railway station (Does this train go to Beijing?) is quite another.Every lesson should end with the learner being able to see clearly that he can do something which he couldnt do at the beginning and that “something” should be communicatively useful.PINCIPLE TWO: The whole is more than the sum of the parts.One of the features of communication is that it is alive and dynamic, so any analysis of it into its individual elements will destroy this quality. Of course identifying these features is possible and they can be studied individually, but the ability to be able to handle these elements in isolation is no indication of being able to communicate. What is needed is the ability to deal with strings of sentences and ideas that can be processed in “real “ time.In terms of language learning, new structures taught should be seen as additions to the language system that they have already learned, and it should be practiced as such, not in isolation, which would create an unreal, artificial language environment.PINCIPLE THREE: The processes are as important as the forms.A method that aims at developing communicative ability of the students will try to reproduce as far as possible the situations in which communication takes place in real life. Thus, the processes used to practice the forms are as important as the forms themselves. Some general aspects of communicative activities as follows which help recreate a real communicative environment should be considered first. Later on in this book, there will be actual examples of related exercises.1. The communicative NEEDIn real life, communication usually takes place between two (or more) people, one of whom knows something that the other doesnt there is therefore a need to communicate in order to bridge the information gap.Such a principle should be adopted for the classroom. If two students are looking at a street scene and one says to the other: “Where is the dog?” when he can see as clearly as his fellow student that the dog is sitting in front of the post office, then this is not communicative there is no need to communicate. The information gap is one of the most fundamental aspects in communicative methodology which will be dealt with in other parts of the booklet.2. ChoiceA crucial characteristic of communication is that the participants have choices in what they say, and how they say. So when speaking, a student must choose not only the ideas that he wants to express, but also the linguistic forms that he is going to use. Deciding all this in the time available is a problem for foreign users, but it is a characteristic of communication and therefore should be a part of classroom activities. But very often, in such situations, the student (listener) is controlled in their language by the teacher, and fails to practice this aspect of communication.3. FeedbackThis idea follows from the two above. When two people speak, they usually have an aim in mind they have a reason for communicating, e.g., inviting somebody to a party. What the speaker says will be designed to achieve this aim and what the other person says will be evaluated in terms of this aim. In other words, what you say to someone depends not only on what he has just said to you, but also on what you want to achieve in the conversation. The skills needed to use language in this way are again left out in a method that fails to give practice in language for real purposes.PINCIPLE FOUR: To learn it, do it!The three notions above are central to the development of communicative activities in the classroom for practice of new language forms learned.Education is not simply about teaching, but also learning. This has impact on the classroom. Firstly, the learner must be involved; and secondly, learning becomes to a larger extent the learners responsibility. The teacher can help, advice, and teach, but only the learner can learn.These principles have involved an environment where doing “something” thing is possible. If the students sit in their rows and simply listen and answer the teacher, then all hope of communication is lost.However, this does not mean that the teacher can sit back and relax. The framework in which the students learn is very important and this is the responsibility of the teacher. Only by practicing communication can students learn to communicate. This simply means that the teacher should not be the center of attention throughout the entire lesson (see the later section on the stages of a lesson)PINCIPLE FIVE: Mistakes are not always mistakes!One of the most frequent criticisms of a communicative approach is that it encourages students to make mistakes, especially errors of grammar. This is true in a sense and probably due to two reasons. Firstly, fluency is viewed as very important in such teaching techniques, so that some teachers believe that the “trivial” mistakes in grammar and pronunciation do not matter, as long as the student gets his message across. Secondly, the free nature of “real” communicative situations often forces students to express things that they havent been prepared for, so mistakes obviously arise.The question of what is a mistake is not easy to define as many might thought. Traditional methods aim to get rid of errors by strictly controlling what the students are allowed to say. In a communicative approach, these controls are removed and learners are encouraged to use language a lot more freely. If so many mistakes arise that communication is made impossible, then these mistakes are obviously not trivial. The communicative approach requires teachers to deal with mistakes in a far more flexible way than before. If students are making similar mistakes, but communication is taking place, there is no need to step in and stop the activity. Instead the teacher should note the errors made and concentrate on them after the activity ends. (See the section on Correction + Testing)2. English Teaching in Chinese Middle SchoolsTeaching Aims:In this chapter we will look at English teaching in Chinese middle schools and will concentrate on the following points: The main features of todays English textbooks Classroom organization Stages of a lessonTeaching Procedures:1. Discussion Read any students English textbook, and discuss your ideas in group of three or four.What are the distinguishing features of the textbook?How is a unit organized?2. Theories and Explanation2.1 Features of the textbooksThe main aim of English teaching in junior schools is perhaps to introduce students to the use of everyday English in both speech and writing through interesting activities. The many kinds of textbooks available today have all in common the following features:1) Promoting the ability to use English for communication, rather than just knowledge of the language. Therefore, the emphasis is on using grammatical structures in increasing communicative ability, not on knowledge of grammar.2) The four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are all covered.3) The books follow the principle of learning by doing. The students should actively involve in the learning process. Lecturing alone by the teacher will not improve the students ability to communicate.4) Language is presented in a visual way. The book contains interesting, colorful characters; pictures; and real life context based dialogues. There are many English songs and games as well.5) The teaching and learning of the course should be a communicative activity. The teacher should consider the communicative value of the exercises and techniques of the teaching and learning process. The information gap exercises are necessary for the students.2.2 Class organizationsThere are several ways to organize the class which help to make the lesson more student-centered.1) Rows: Teacher gives each row a number, and when he is drilling, he can say the number. The students speak in rows so that the teacher can hear them clearly. In rows, the teacher can organize the students in the following way as shown in the figure below.Teacher row 1 row 2 row 3 row 4 If students are organized as shown above, the teacher can hear students clearly when they repeat after him. This arrangement can also help students to concentrate their attention on the lesson. Drilling then can be done in rows, e.g. Teacher: Asking what the time - Row 3 isRow 3: Whats the time?Teacher: Row 6?Row 6: Its half past nine.2) Pairs. In pair work, the teacher divides the whole class into pairs. Every student works with his or her partner and all the pairs do exercises at the same time, or with pairs of students speaking in turn in front of the class. It is good for practicing dialogues. When doing pair work, the teacher usually follows the procedure below:introducing the new materials (e.g. dialogues) and demonstrations;asking two faster students to read aloud or perform the dialogue while the rest of the class watch and listen;the whole class practicing at the same time while the teacher goes round the class, checking that everyone is talking, and giving students help when necessary;asking some pairs to speak in front of the class or asking a few students to tell what their partner has said;Changing the roles of the students, i.e. from A to B or B to A and asking students to do the practice again.3) Groups. The teacher divides the class into small groups to work together (usually four or five students in each group). As for pair work, all the groups work at the same time. The group work is good for drilling or practice activities, free or controlled. In group work, the teacher:divides the students into groups of four or five;gives a clear instruction and makes sure each group understands what to do and sometimes, a group performance in front of the class is necessary;while the activity is going on, moves from group to group, checking and giving advice, without interrupting the activity;when most groups have finished the work, stops the activity and asks one person from each group to report on what they did (or decided);4) Teams. Arranged in rows, it is a better idea for practicing drills, doing games and competition. The students sit and work in the following pattern.Teacher T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T62.3 Stages of a lessonThe course is built around a five-step model. The model is flexible so that not every lesson needs contain all the five stages, or necessarily have them in a fixed order given. Each stage has a different aim.Review. The beginning of the lesson usually involves a review of the previous lessons language items so that this may be used alongside the new language of the new lesson.This stage is generally very quick and can be visual, using flashcards or real objects that were used when presenting the language in the previous lesson. It is always oral. The purpose of it is to check that the students can remember the language taught in the previous lesson and helps the teacher know if anything needs more work.Presentation. This involves presenting the new language for the lesson before the books are opened. The teacher should concentrate on giving the students a clear model of pronunciation and making the meaning clear. Various techniques can be used for explaining the meaning of new language points. The more visual, the easier it is for students to understand and remember. A visual presentation also keeps the teacher talking too much to explain things both in English and in Chinese.Drilling. This is a mechanical practice. The purpose of it is to get students to remember the new language presented and help students with the correct pronunciation. There are many kinds of drilling, e.g. choral, rows, groups, teams, or individual drilling. Drilling should begin with larger groups (whole class) to smaller ones. Finally, individual students should be drilled in order to help the teacher hear the student clearly and find out who have problems. Drilling should not be overused. Time-wise drilling should only last a few minutes and involve the new language presented. If the students did preview work very well, the drilling may be unnecessary.Practice. This stage is vital because the students now have the opportunity to use the language themselves. There are two types of practice.(1) Meaningful practice: Students concentrate on meaning rather than form.(2) Communicative practice: The teacher lets go of the class to allow the students practice freely themselves. He moves around the class, guiding, listening, but not interrupting. Errors can be dealt with as the class level at the end of the practice. It should be made clear that communicative practice is not real communication, but practice carried on in a communicative situation. There is still some control over the responses, but the students are guided by the teacher to produce responses which are not only correct in form but also true in content and appropriate to the context. Pair work and group work are main forms in the practice.Consolidation. This stage provides further practice of language, but usually involves exercises from the students workbooks. The majority of these activities are written.3. Language and Language LearningTeaching Aims:This part focuses on the nature of language how learning happens in the classroom.Teaching