信息沟在词汇复习中的应用研究Information gap using in revising vocablary

1、信息沟在词汇复习中的应用研究information gap using in revising vocablary论文摘要河北省宣化县李家堡中学是一所国办中学。该校的英语课程采用的是人民教育出版社新目标的课本。课本中提供了很多的活动比如：pair work, group work等以操练语言的运用。然而由于学校对英语课的课时安排并不充分，为了完成教学任务以及考试的需求，教师们很少或者说几乎没有按照课本的要求去做这些口语活动，而仍然是以语法讲解为主，进行知识性的教育而很少有技能性的操炼。反映到单词上的结果就是很多学生能够熟记单词和单词的汉语意思却不能掌握单词的用法。我在该学校进行了为期三周的项目

2、实施的实践活动。我的项目目标正是用交流法，更确切地说是用“信息沟”（information gap）来复习单词，把学过的单词放到一定的语境中，ab两组学生分别被给予不同片段的信息，a学生和b学生通过交流、分享这些不完整的信息，以完成一个共同的任务，让他们通过动耳，动口，动手，来再现单词读音、意义和写法，更重要的是操练单词的用法。我分别于4月3号，4月11号和4月18号，对该校初二88班进行了该项目的实施，以证实我的项目假设：即用“信息沟”来复习单词既可以帮助学生掌握单词的用法，又能同时复习单词的音形义。项目实施之后，通过项目实施前后的数据对比，问卷调查的结果来看，信息沟活动确实不仅能够再现单词

3、的音形义，起到很好的复习作用，而且对单词的运用也能起到很好的促进作用。从课堂进展情况来看，虽然此类的信息沟活动对同学们来说开始会比较陌生，做起来会有一定难度，然而随着课堂的进行，学生的兴趣有越来越高，课堂气氛也有越来越活跃的迹象。由此可见，这种信息沟的活动可以用来做单词的复习，而且久而久之，这种活动也必定会在单词的复习方面起到很好的效果。关键词：信息沟 单词复习abstract the abstract should include the following information: introduction (what is this project about? why is this

4、project interesting or important?); hypothesis (what did you think you would find? why?); methods (briefly explain your procedure.); results (what did you find when you performed your project?); discussion (are your results consistent with your initial hypothesis? why or why not?); conclusion (what

5、is your interpretation of what these results mean? why should anyone become excited about or interested in your findings?).suggest length: 200 words. there are too many english learners, who can remember the spelling and the chinese translation of the english vocabularies but they cannot use it in c

6、ommunication. using information gap to practice and review the vocabularies will be a solution of this problem. this is the project all about. so the hypothesis of the project is using the information gap to practice and review the vocabularies to promote the vocabulary using in communication. the p

7、roject was implemented in class 88, grade 2, li jiabu middle school, from april 4th to april 18th, 2008, that is the students have three weeks with one lesson each to do the information gap pair work activities. from the data of pre-test paper, post-test paper and the questionnaire, we can see that

8、information gap is an useful method to do vocabulary review. this is because information gap creates needs and desire of the listening and speaking. the students have the high attention to the target words they hear. their brains are kept active to organize all their language they know to express th

9、e information related to the target words during the process. this will lead to one result, that is the target words meaning and pronunciation will be reviewed again and its usage, that is how it can be used in real communication will be practiced and enhanced. key words: information gap pair work v

10、ocabulary reviewtable of contentspages1. introduction .1.1 project background. 11.2 problem analysis.11.3 information gap using in vocabulary review class. .11.3.1 introduction of information gap activity . . 11.3.2 information gap activities using in vocabulary review lessons 2 1.4 the significance

11、 of the project 211.12. problem and problem analysis 32.1 description of project problem . 32.2 problem analysis .32.2.1 socratic dialogue32.2.2 cause analysis 43. project objective and hypothesis53.1 project objective53.2 project hypothesis5 4. project rationale 64.1 definition of information gap 6

12、4.2 necessity of information gap 64.3 types of information gap activities 65. project design75.1 teaching activity outline85.2 detailed descriptions of procedures for teaching activities and data collection 96. project findings and discussion 136.1 project implementation 136.2project findings and di

13、scussion146.2.1pre-test paper and post-test paper146.2.2work sheet and atmosphere of the class156.2.3questionnaires7. conclusionproject title1. introductioninformation gap activity is a good way to review vocabularies to promote vocabulary using in communication.1.1 project background i was an engli

14、sh teacher before. similarly to my students, the students of liu jiabu middle school have a common problem as many english learners, who can remember the spelling and the chinese translation of the english vocabularies but they cannot use it in communication. to try to solve this problem, this proje

15、ct was designed, that is using information gap to practice and review the vocabulary. the project was implemented in class 88(there are 28 students), grade 2, li jiabu middle school, from april 4th to april 18th, 2008. the main methods of the project include using pre-test paper and post-test paper

16、to compare the data before and after the project; using questionnaires and teaching notes to investigate and observe the feedback of the students.1.2 problem analysisli jiabu middle school is a state-owned middle school. they have fewer and fewer students in recent years. one of the reasons is that

17、their teaching methods are too traditional and do not fit to the new situation. take english teaching for example, they adopt the new edition of textbook, go for it (the peoples education press) but they still use traditional methods such as grammar- translation instead of communicative approach. in

18、 a traditional class, the emphases of vocabularies are their spelling, chinese meaning and pronunciation. they are remembered as a kind of knowledge rather than practiced in communication as a kind of skill. so although the students can remember the spelling and chinese meaning of vocabularies, they

19、 cannot use it in communication very well.1.3 information gap activities using in vocabulary review class1.3.1 introduction of information gap activityinformation gap is one typical example of functional communication activities. “the main purpose of the activity is that students should use the lang

20、uage they know in order to get their meaning across as effective as possible.”(gu yueguo, 1998:83). getting meaning across is generally in the process of communication. to promote the real communication take place in classroom teaching, the information gap activities between the speakers and the lis

21、teners can be set. “ information gap activities are those in which students are given different bits of information. by sharing this separate information they can complete a task”( harmer, 1983:90) information gap materials normally consist of two sets, set a and set b. students sit in pairs. one lo

22、oks at worksheet a while the other looks at worksheet b. the two sheets each carry part of the information needed to solve a problem. the students then have to transfer the information to each other by asking and answering questions. they must not look at each others worksheets.1.3.2 information gap

23、 activities using in vocabulary review lessonsinformation gap activities work well in vocabulary review lessons. not only many items such as pronunciation, spelling, meaning and so on can be reviewed but also its usage such as its collocation can be practiced in the process of the information gap ac

24、tivity.there is a variety of information gap activities can be done in vocabulary review lessons. such as information gap cross word, guessing games and information gap grid.1.4 the significance of this projectvocabulary is one the most basic and important items in english learning. the most difficu

25、lt point of the vocabulary is not its pronunciation or its chinese translation or even its spelling for many students. for some of them, they are hard-working enough. they can read the vocabulary and they know their meaning very well but they still cannot recall them at will when they want to say or

26、 write something relate to them. in another word, they cannot use them. this project , use information gap to review the vocabularies, will be expect to solve this problem so that the vocabularies can be used in language as a tool of communication. 2. problem and problem analysis 2.1 description of

27、project problemsimilarly to my students, the students of liu jiabu middle school have a common problem as many english learners, who can remember the spelling and the chinese translation of the english vocabularies but they cannot use it in communication. to solve this problem, i told my students to

28、 review the words in the text to master the usage of the vocabularies. i even suggested them to recite the text. but it still did not work.this is my problem in teaching vocabulary. absolutely i need a better way to solve this problem, so my students can use the vocabularies more freely and more eff

29、ectively in communication.2.2 problem analysisi think that it is suitable for me to use the methods of socratic dialogue and cause analysis to analyze my problem. 2.2.1 socratic dialogue: 1. what do i expect my students to do with the words they have learned? i expect most of them can recognize thes

30、e words and read them correctly and know their meaning when they see them. and more importantly, i expect them can use the vocabularies freely in communication. 2. do i achieve my goal? no.3. what do i mean i do not achieve my goal? well, i say that because only a very small part of my students can

31、use the vocabularies well in communication. but the most of them are not that good. 4. how many stages i usually do to teach vocabularies?2 stages .5. what are they?presentation stage and review stage.6. what did i do in these two stages?in presentation stage, i used to use a variety of presentation

32、 techniques such as giving translation or explanation or definition of the vocabularies, or using mime, acting or picture etc. to introduce or illustrate new words. in review stage, i help them to remember the vocabularies or let them do some test exercise.7. what are the purposes of these two stage

33、s?the focus and the purpose of presentation stage is helping the students understand the meaning and master the pronunciation of the new words. the purpose of the review stage is to remember the new words. 8. how did i do in these two stages ?i did well in presentation stage. my students learn the p

34、ronunciation and meaning of the new words very well. but the review stage is not very necessary sometimes. they can do it after class. 9. what did i do to help the students to use the vocabularies in communication?i told my students to review the words in the context to master the usage of the vocab

35、ularies. i even suggested them to recite the text.10. is my suggestion useful? not quite.11.why only a small part of them can do it very well? this small part of students adopted my suggestion and created the chance to practice these words and expression. 12. what about the others? the most of them

36、lack of enthusiasm and initiative. they had little chance of practice. 13. what should i do? use the review stage effective and give the students opportunity to practise the vocabularies in communication. 2.2.2 cause analysis: next, i think i would be better if i do cause analysis as well and i will

37、 start with a list of factors that may contribute to the causes. the teachers sidethe students sidethe activity design1. the teachers side: a. i was not enthusiastic myself.b. i designed a monotonous process of teaching and testing.c. i gave the students little chance to practice vocabulary using in

38、 communication.2. students side: students have different learning style. for example some of them are very enthusiastic. they have initiative spirit and they usually can find or create opportunity to practice the words they have learnt. but for the most of the students, they lack of enthusiasm and i

39、nitiative. they never practice the words in communication unless they were asked to do so in the class. 3. the activity designa. the activity is monotonous. b. the activity cannot promote vocabularies using in communicationthrough this analysis, i can reach the conclusion that i need a better design

40、ed vocabulary review activity to give the students opportunities to practice the vocabularies in communication. 3. project objective and hypothesis3.1 project objectiveusing information gap in vocabulary review class to practice vocabulary using in communication.3.2 project hypothesisi hypothesize t

41、hat students ability of vocabulary using in communication can be enhanced by information gap using in vocabulary review lessons. 4. project rationale4.1 definition of information gap information gap is one typical example of functional communication activities. information gap activities are those i

42、n which students are given different bits of information. by sharing this separate information they can complete a task”( harmer, 1983:90). that is to say that the students have to ask each other questions to get the information they need. 4.2 necessity of information gap in all too many english cla

43、sses, teacher pupil exchanges have little communicative value because there is no real information being exchanged. in a traditional, grammar oriented class, for example, teachers often spend a large proportion of class time asking questions for which they and the students already know the answers;

44、thus, there is no information gap to fill. typically, a teacher asks a display question (that is, a question the teacher knows the answer to), an individual student answers, the teacher evaluates or corrects the answer, and then the cycle begins again with another student and another question that e

45、veryone already knows the answer to. its an unrealistic use of language (talebinezahd 1999).for genuine communication to occur in the language classroom, teacher-student (and student-student) exchanges must go beyond display questions and should be based on the gap that occurs between interlocutors

46、when one does not know in advance what the other is going to say (prabhu 1987). information gap activities can promote real communication and facilitate language acquisition.( doughty and pica ,1986). it is “one of the most fundamental in the whole area of communicative teaching” (johnson and morrow

47、 , 1981:62).4.3 types of information gap activitiesthe information gap activity has several variations.in vocabulary class, the most common type is the information gap grid. student a and student b have the similar grid with different bits of information. they have to ask each other questions to fil

48、l their gaps. another common used type is the information gap crossword. “student a is given the across words and student b is given the down words. so for example, student a will ask student b to define 1 down. student b will have to do his best to define the word, give clues to its meaning, or giv

49、e examples of it, without using the word itself. he must keep going till student a guesses the word correctly. then student b can ask student a for 2 cross”(gu yueguo, 1998:155). guessing games is also a type of information gap variations. students can do guessing games in pairs or groups. for examp

50、le, one student chooses a famous person, and the others ask yes-no questions until the identity of the person is determined. or, one student draws a picture of a fruit or object and turns it over on the desk; the partner guesses what the item is by asking, do you have a? until the correct answer is

51、found.5. project design i designed three kinds of information activities: information gap crossword, guessing game and information gap grid. 5.1 teaching activity outline:teaching activity outline:date activity description (topic, method)objectives (must be related to hypothesis)materials (include c

52、lassroom aids)data collection methods (tables, diary entries, surveys etc.)class time (minutes)1. april 3th 2008using the information gap crossword.(pair work )review the following words: hometown, tutor, bedroom, silence, cinema, restaurant, huge, husband, murder, museum, kitchen, astronaut, adult,

53、 envelope. go for it, grade eight, book 2. (peoples education press) blackboard, crossword worksheet a&worksheet b pre-test paper, camera, worksheet a& b,teaching note502. april 11th 2008information gap grid and guessing game; (pair work & group work)topic:people survyreview the following words:repo

54、rter, scientist, dentist, engineer, businessman, smart, lazy, serious, cute, hard-working, talented, friendly, quiet, unfriendlygo for it, grade eight, book 2. (peoples education press) blackboard;information gap grid worksheet a&worksheetb camera, worksheet a& b,teaching note 503. april 18th 2008in

55、formation gap grid; pair work topic: are you free on wednesday?review the following words and expression: monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, recent, accident, influence, air pollution, out of style, interviewgo for it, grade eight, book 2. (peoples education press) blackboard;information

56、gap grid worksheet a&worksheetbpost-test paper, worksheet a& b,teaching note, questionnaire,505.2 detailed descriptions of procedures for teaching activities and data collection:week 1: information gap crossword date: april 3th, 2008time: 50 minutesmaterials:pre-test paperinformation gap crossword worksheet a & b classroom aids: blackboard, cameraobjectives: check how well the students know about the words they will review in the following three weeks and review the first group of the words. procedure: activity 1: do the p