The-s-to-Stimulate-Students’-Interest-in-English-Learning.docx

山东农业大学学士学位论文The Methods to Stimulate Students Interest in English LearningAuthor: CAO ZhouyanSupervisor: ZHANG Ping, Lecturer (College of Economic Management, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian 271018)Abstract: Interest plays an important role in the process of English learning, is an important part of non intelligence factors, plays a coordinating role of dynamic intelligence factors. Only students interested enough to have the desire to learn English hard in English, learning English can be regarded as a kind of fun. Only with interest, will actively participate in the process of English learning, rather than passive acceptance. Interest is the best teacher, the interest is the premise to actively take the initiative to learn English, interest can well stimulate students inner potential, help students to grasp more knowledge, it can be said is the key successful factors of learning English. Therefore, it is very important to cultivate students interest. In this thesis, on the basis of previous research, emphasizing the importance of interest in learning English, from the point of view of both teachers and students looking for methods of stimulating their interest in learning English, so as to improve the students English learning achievement and efficiency, improve the status of English learning, especially suitable for high school students and college students. Key words: interest; English; students; teachers激发英语学习兴趣的重要性摘要：兴趣在英语学习过程中起着重要的作用，是非智力因素的重要组成部分，对智力因素起着动力协调作用。学生只有对英语产生足够的兴趣才能会有努力学习英语的欲望，才能将学习英语视为一种乐趣。只有有了兴趣，才会积极主动的参与到英语学习过程中，而不是一直被动的接受。兴趣是最好的老师，兴趣是积极主动学习英语的前提，兴趣可以很好的激发学生学习的内在潜力，帮助学生掌握更多的知识，可以说是英语学习的关键性成功因素。因此，培养学生的兴趣很重要。本篇论文在前人研究的基础上，强调了英语学习兴趣的重要性，从老师和学生两个角度寻找激发英语学习兴趣的方法，从而提高学生的英语学习成果和效率，改善英语学习的现状，尤其适用于高中生和大学生。关键词：兴趣；英语；学生；老师1. IntroductionWith the progress of science and technology, the development of the times, Chinas economic and cultural integration with the world, as the worlds common language of English, but also gradually by many companies, enterprises as one of the necessary conditions for recruitment. But many of them are due to limited English people rejected. English is very important for people, especially for students. Economic globalization is becoming more and more popular. At present， the promulgation and implementation of the basic education English curriculum standards, to speed up the comprehensive and harmonious development of students. Teachers must stimulate and cultivate students interest in learning English. Students emotional development will also be an important position in the teaching practice. Obviously, the importance of English is constantly improving, college students learning English is the trend of the times. However, contemporary college students in learning English but there are a lot of problems, students lack of appropriate language learning environment for the students led to the lack of interest in learning English, the word memory let them to lose interest in English learning, learning way is single, autonomous learning ability is poor. Aiming at these problems, it should take active and effective measures. Albert Einstein said, the best teacher is interest. The meaning of interest is not said to go out. Traditional teaching methods have been widely used in teaching in the past years. Although the teacher needs to write English is a basic teaching standard and they rarely develop students abilities of their own. Has experienced a lot of exam oriented education, has proved that the traditional teaching methods can not adapt to the development of students. Forms of education, should fully reflect the overall development of students. Therefore, the interest can initiate a new way of learning, so that students interest in learning. The method of inquiry learning and cooperative learning is the interest of students. Used to change the learning method, is one of the most heated-debated themes. Therefore, it is important for the students to learn and their own state because of the function of stimulating students learning. At the same time, interest is the best policy to improve the efficiency of teaching.In this paper, the main use of classification to express the theme. First of all, I will from two aspects of teachers and students in my mind. Then, I choose different angles in different disciplines to illustrate my point of view. In addition, it is worth noting that these methods, which are suitable for English learners, have some basic knowledge of English, especially high school students and college students.2. Literature ReviewThere are a lot of researches or studies about interest in English teaching and learning including both domestic studies and foreign studies which build a cornerstone for the research in this paper. This chapter includes two sections: firstly, domestic researches, secondly, foreign researches.2.1 Domestic researchesAccording to a study by Huang, X. F. (2006), students showed an increased interest in learning after receiving mathematics instruction intervened with creative games. In the result-retaining stage, all the students surveyed were able to keep their test scores at the level achieved in intervening stages.Yang, J. W. (2009) argued that, when student placement is based on the normal distribution, there is a positive relation between academic achievements and interest in learning.Xu, Q. Y. (2010) said in one study that after instruction was provided using cooperative learning strategies, students in the experimental group showed more interest in learning English than those in the control group. In other words, the implementation of such a cooperation-based instructional method enhanced the students interest in learning English.2.2 Foreign researches To western researchers, “interest” was so versatile that it can be widely used to refer to “any form of subjective intention or tendency”. In 1990, Suzanne Hidi found a way to divide interest into individual interest and situational interest. In recent years, a large number of researchers and teachers published their books and articles to illustrate their ideas on students learning interest in English. Edwards mentioned in Classroom Discipline and Management, “One way to maintain students attention is to use the introduction to a lesson to stimulate their interest and get them involved. Start the lesson with a highly motivating activity”. It is believed that this kind of warming-up exercise will arouse students learning interest and enthusiasm of learning. In this circumstance, students pay close attention to their study, thus learning effect will be more efficient. Secondly, question asking is also an efficient way to maintain students learning interest. It would be better if students were being selected at random to answer questions in a question-and-answer session. Thirdly, asking students to respond to their classmates answers is another way to maintain their attention. In the first place, students do not know when they will be asked by the teacher. On the other hand, they can master the knowledge better by this way. The fourth, “When students felt challenged, they felt that what they had done was important and meaningful. A challenging activity produced a greater sense of accomplishment than a routine and simple activity” (Edwards, 1991, 233).2.3 The different views on interest between Chinese and foreignersChinese parents strongly emphasize to their children that if one works hard, one will slowly build up ones interest and study skills. The learning of study skills and the cultivation of interest will subsequently lead to an improvement in ability. In contrast, the Western philosophy which stressed individualism and states that interest should come naturally. Some western authors further noted that “Chinese students are encouraged to learn by drill because it is believed that their interest in study, which initially may be totally lacking, will be cultivated later through their repetitive work” (Hau et al. 1996, p. 134-135). It appears that in the Chinese context there is a possible lack of interest in English for one reason or another and learners try to obtain competency with English by conducting drills in which interest is supposed to appear in their learning. Seemingly, Chinese learners do not possess much interest in English, given their learning styles or strategies.In brief, interest is very important for students to learn English well. In China, the status of teachers is much higher than that of students. Moreover, most of researches aim at teachers to find solutions to foster students interest in English. There is little research from the students perspective to cultivate interest in English by themselves. In my opinion, the students interest in English not only depend on teachers but also depend on their own efforts. Both teachers and students need to work together to foster learning interest.3. Theoretical FrameworkTo study cultivate interest in learning English, we should understand the specific meaning interest. In this section, I will illustrate theoretical about interest lies in:3.1 The definition of interestOxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary defines the word of “interest” as the feeling that you have when you want to know or learn more about somebody or something. Obviously, only when students find that English is interesting, they would learn it voluntarily. Interest is that someone wants to learn or know about somebody or something unconsciously. Interest causes oneself to give his attention to something or to be concerned about something. It means that people like to do something. Interest is a kind of trend that a person chooses an object consciously and tries to know it. Only when this trend to an object is relatively long and stable, can it be called “interest”.To western researchers, “interest” was so versatile that it can be widely used to refer to “any form of subjective intention or tendency”. Interest means wanting to know more.Interest is the internal causes of an individuals behavior. So that it is the primary condition for students to learn English since there is no corresponding language environment in China. The students are curious and eager to learn new knowledge. But at the same time, it is probably true to say that their span of attention or concentration is also considerably less than that of an adult. It is said that interest is a skill that cannot come from outside itself. There are certainly helpful ways to foster students interest. Once the students are interested in English, they will show the great of enthusiasm and self-consciousness, so their body and mind will be very joyful. They will become active learners from passive recipients.3.2 The related theories of interest According to Gardner, interest proper subsumes three components: 1.Motivational intensity 2.Desire to learn the language 3. Attitudes towards learning the language. Gardner argues that these three components belong to a whole, because the truly motivated individual display all three. Dickinsons theory on autonomy and motivation. Dickinson argue it has been shown that there is substantial evidence from cognitive motivational studies that learning success and enhanced motivation is conditional on learning taking responsibility for their own learning, being able to control their own learning and perceiving that learning success and failures outside their control., Clements concept of Linguistic Self-confidence:Self-confidence in general refers to the belief that a person has the ability to produce results, accomplish goals or perform tasks competently. It appears to be akin to self-efficacy, used in a more general sense: self-efficacy is always specific to a concrete task whereas self-confidence is usually used to refer to a generalized perception of ones coping potentials, relevant to range of tasks and subject domains. Linguistic self-confidence in Clements view is primarily a socially-defined construct, although self-confidence also has a cognitive component, the perceived L2 proficiency. Recently, Clement have extend the applicability of the self-confidence construct by showing that it is also a significant motivational subsystem in foreign language learning situations, in which there is little direct contact with members of the L2 community but considerable indirect contact with the L2 culture through the media, for example, as is the case with world languages such as English,4. The ways of Cultivating Students InterestThis part from two aspects to study the methods to encourage students interest. On the one hand, from the teachers point of view, in the classroom, the use of teaching tools and learning materials, the use of interesting teaching methods, to establish a good relationship between teachers and students. On the other hand, from the students point of view, the methods of stimulating students learning interest are discussed, and the measures are taken to cultivate interest in English in class and after class.4.1 From the perspective of teachers This part from the teachers point of view of the three methods: First, Using interesting teaching aids and materials in the classroom. Then, Using interesting forms of teaching. Finally, Building a good teacher-student rapport.4.1.1 Using interesting teaching aids and materials in the classroomDifferent kinds of teaching aids and teaching materials can attach students curiosity and attention as well as their interest in English. Meanwhile, they can enrich the content of teaching and provide more useful knowledge. The new curriculum criterion added some new things that are closed to students life. It makes teaching materials original and tasteful, but it limits for cultivating students learning interest and passing their entrance examination. The writer argues that we can add some interesting and useful materials. For example: humor stories. beautiful English songs, classical dialogues of films, video materials about English speech competition, cartoons of English films, and Every Day News. But pay more attention that you should use these materials according to suitable time and situation, so as to control the class, make them interest in it and learn English knowledge in your class. Denise .Jordan(2004)thinks that following five studying types are effective and happy: Firstly, raising our interest of learning. Secondly, improving our spirit characters. Thirdly, cultivating our perfect personalities. Fourthly, making us pleasant. Fifthly, learning must be useful.If students studying is effective and happy, their marks will be easily raised. Their learning become better and better. They will get willing to study. And that is what the teacher expects to see. Besides that Foster(2004,P.19)argues that happiness releases the creativity. Interest is seed that you sow in order to get ideas. So, suitable teaching materials are the basic conditions for cultivating the students, learning interest.4.1.2 Using interesting forms of teachingThere arent any regular methods during teaching. But good teaching methods could be expressed like this:Firstly, games and interesting activities may be useful in the form of cultivating interest. Some researches aims to investigate the attitudes of learners and teachers about the effectiveness of using games and fun activities regarding learning English. The results show that both learners and teachers attitudes are positive for language games and they considered games as learning assistant. In addition, games and fun activities can help learners to be interested in learning as well.As Aydan Ersoz explains “Well-chosen games are invaluable as they give students a break and at the same time allow students to practice language skill”. Games are highly motivating since they are amusing and at the same time challenging. Furthermore, they employ meaningful and useful language in the context of reality. They also encourage and expand cooperation.Secondly, simulation of the scene as the research interest. It is well-known that children are born actors. Generally speaking, students are willing to show themselves. In the course of English teaching, it is necessary to make some lively scenes. The scene can follow the old lessons or by their way must use the textbooks. The scene can follow the old lessons or by their way must use the textbooks This is done in order to review the old lesson review is not a simple repetition, but an understanding of language to create new content, and ultimately to achieve the purpose of application. For instance, when the students are learning the text birthday party, teacher may ask one of the students to act as a host. In details, the first scene: today is Lilys birthday, her parents will a party for her tonight. Now, she is calling her friends to come to her party. The second scene: at night, all her friends have arrived. And all of them have prepared a special present for Lily. What will they do next? Sing s song for her and give her some blessings. Last, they will gather together to cut the birthday cake. What a happy day! T This method can make students active in learning state and creative thinking ability, let the students to review and consolidate the knowledge of the old laughter. This is worth a try.In the end, cooperative learning is a kind of teaching system used by many educators in many parts of the world. Researchers of cooperative learning have carried out the study in this field and proved that cooperative learning can create a more interesting and relaxed learning atmosphere. It is generally acknowledged that cooperative learning can reduce learners anxiety, promote teacher-students and students-students relationships, stimulate learners motivation and increase their self-confidence. In the cooperative learning environment,