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【摘 要】随着时代的发展和进步,英语作为一种国际通用语在贸易往来和文化交流过程中发挥着不可替代的作用。掌握好英语这种交际工具,对学生将来的发展有着深远的影响。现代语言教育理论高度重视“听”在语言学习和语言使用中的作用。听力教学既是一种语言教学,也是一种技能的培养。在听,说,读,写四项技能中,听是最基础的,最重要的技能。它不仅是获取语言信息的主要途径,还是提高其他技能的基础。许多中国学生认为听力能力的测试是所有测试中最难的部分。在本篇论文中,开篇介绍了现在中学听力教学的情况,指出当中存在的一些问题,针对课前的一些较短的时间设计了一些教学活动。然后集中介绍了听力教学活动的设计,强调听力教学活动应将目光集中在听力的过程上,而非其结果上。如何提高学生英语听力水平,使他们能取得好的成绩,成为广大初中教师所共同关注的问题。在英语教学中,教师如何进行听力教学,精心设计教学活动,如何掌握听力教学的各种技巧显得十分重要。
【关键词】听力;初中;英语教学;障碍;设计教学活动
1. Introduction
It is true that listening, speaking, reading, and writing are four basic skills in language teaching and learning. Developmentally, these skills are acquired in a certain sequence. Listening is essential for developing other skills and provides a basis for language learning. But it is also the most difficult of all the learning skills for learners to master. When listening, listeners follow the speaker, thinking about what the speaker is saying and what is going on in the mind of the speaker, guessing the speaker’s opinions and attitudes and catching the true meaning of the speaker’s words. Listening itself accounts for almost half of the commutative activities in one’s daily life. In addition, learners should have the knowledge of phonetics, vocabulary and grammar. Many learners are afraid of listening, looking on it as more difficult than any other skills and pay much attention to training their ability to speak, read and write. Improving listening ability is not in a short time, it is a long time work.
2. Background study
Listening is important in junior students’ English learning. A child first listens for a long time before he is able to speak, so listening plays the first and the most important role in learning a foreign language. Listening is an important means of language. “It is one of the important ways in English language communication. According to Rivers study indications, listening occupies 45% of the whole social interactions. From this, we can see that a good listening can help to improve students’ ability of language understanding. And some statistics show that nearly 50% students regard listening comprehension as the most difficult part among all kinds of examinations.” [1] ( p1-2) . We must admit that there is no short cut in our life, so as the English learning. It finds that the original initiative to learn listening is very important, which can lead the way to success.
Now have a look at our junior schools. What most teachers do in class is merely to play the recorder and check answers to listening exercises. So most students can hardly learn anything in class, and listening comprehension gives much headache. Hence, in teaching listening comprehension, it is very important for teachers to find the problems students have and suitable ways to solve the problems. English teaching and learning asks for quite some challenges. The challenges are the lack of adequate linguistic environment, the strong interference from their mother tongue, the overcrowded classrooms and the lack of sufficient time for English study on the students' side. And students are having quite a few subjects on hand and shouldering the great task of all-respect full development in schools. And, in many junior school, it is true that Chinese students are not so influent as those in Western countries mainly because they lack self-confidence and they are afraid of making mistakes .In addition, teachers are quite used to the old teaching method, which lays more emphasis on grammar. In order to make themselves understood by all the students, some teachers would explain the grammar rulers or even the texts in Chinese rather than in English in class. Thus, students get fewer opportunities to improve their listening skills.
3. What are the factors influencing the listening comprehension in Chinese middle school classrooms?
Listening is an important mean of language learning. It is one of the significant ways in English language communication. But so many students regard listening comprehension as the most difficult one among all kinds of examinations. Where are their barriers? How to train some tactics for them? That’s what I am going to talk about here.
3.1 The analysis of the reasons for students’ poor listening ability
3.1.1.About the teacher aspect
There is a shortage of English teachers in China. It is usually difficult for English teachers in China to go to English-speaking countries to study or work. Most of them don’t have the experience of going abroad. They have learned their English only in China. So we may say they have certain shortage.
3.1.2.The English environment
The English environment in China is different from other countries e.g. Canada. In China, English is a foreign language (EFL), not a second language (ESL). Both students and teachers are doing their jobs under this condition which is quite different from that such as in the US. For example, Chinese immigrant students in Canada can learn English more quickly than those in China. Why? Because in Canada, English is regarded as their second language. They enjoy a much better English environment as well as have English high motivations. This is what is needed in China. What those students in China need is this authentic language environment which isn’t easy to be created in China.
3.1.3. The learning aspect
Listening comprehension is the summation of hearing and understanding. If you have a better level about English knowledge, you may be capable of understanding very well in listening to the materials, and may have an excellent response to any questions asked by the speakers on the tapes.
(ⅰ)Barriers on Phonetics and Phonology
It is clear that “Phonetics is defined as the study of the phonetic medium of language, and Phonology studies how speech sounds system in a language form pattern.” [2] (p22) English, as a new language for Chinese students, usually appears some problems exactly on Phonetics and Phonology, such as the mistakes on pronunciation, intonation, and all kinds of skills like word stress, sentence stress, motion of sound, assimilation, sound---linking and incomplete explosion, etc. Therefore some basic knowledge about English Phonetics and Phonology will directly influence students’ listening comprehension. So designing activities must be aimed at point. So designing some interesting game is to let students discriminate the different pronunciation. The key point is guiding students to find the difference themselves. For example, most Chinese students find the discrimination of some sounds is a problem in listening comprehension, especially, some vowels. E.g., they can hardly distinguish the words like “sit—sea” and “bed--bad”. In a sentence like “He saw a thief steal into the palace”, steal /sti:l/ is very important in understanding the sentence, but some students just recognize it as still/stil/.
(ⅱ) Barriers on tempo
Tempo means the speed of speaking. It can be controlled by an actor who is good at tongue twisters. Some people enjoy more variation in tempo than others, but everyone has a norm which in characteristic of his usual conversational style. One who tends to use a rapid tempo in everyday speech in English, but Chinese students usually don’t have such a tempo in listening. Although sometimes they can speak very fast, they may not catch up with the materials on normal tempo while they’re listening to a tape, especially to a longer conversation or a passage, that’s their problems. Because they only used to listen to teachers who always read under the average speed in daily life, or used to slow conversations with their partners while practicing oral English, that’s why Chinese students can not suit the need of normal speed listening materials or native speakers. Teachers can help students to form a good sensation. Students can train the tempo through reading, because there are many skills on it. English teachers should take efforts to teach students how to learn some knowledge about sentence stress, rhythm, sound and intonation, etc. So, during in the class, or at the beginning of the class, teacher can design a game or completion about reading. The student who is the winner can give him/her a present. Through insisting on doing so, students’s sensation can be improved.
(ⅲ) Barriers on lexicology and grammar
During the process of listening comprehension, listeners should not only do the exercises of sound recognition, but also learn more vocabulary. If a new word appeared while they’re listening, they’ll find it difficult for them to understand the whole meaning, even some students stop to listen and think about over and over the new word they met before while the material are going on. So does the grammar. Grammar can help us to catch the implication of the vocal sounds, and understand them well, and it is also the essential condition of a whole passage comprehension. It gives us a basis for judging when the action happens, who is the operator or supporter? What is the factual evidence? Whether it is the subjunctive mood? Etc. If you don’t have a solid foundation on grammar it’ll directly influence your achieving good results while you are listening.
(ⅳ) Barriers on listening habits
The main purpose of listening is to understand the general idea of the materials. During the listening process, they should try to catch the major content, which’s the key point. But many Chinese students have some bad habits while listening. For example, they always try their best to get the meaning of each words, each sentences. Once they meet a new word or a difficulty sentence, they will stop to think. It is doubtless they can’t catch up with the speed any more. Still some students can’t directly understand materials in English, but with the help of Chinese, experienced the process of a heart translation. These bad habits are the main factors influencing their listening comprehension. In fact, it is unnecessary to know every word, every sentence, only should catch the main idea and grasp the major point, that’s enough. If you concentrate to think, you can’t catch up with the materials, and also that’s why you have no time to attend to the main content, let alone seize the implication of it.
Therefore, it is necessary for the teacher to point out the bad habits and then help the students form good habits. Here are some bad listening habits on Listening, which are paraphrased below.
“(1) A poor listener will/ turnoff his or her ears as soon as he or she decides a listening task is going to be dull.
(2). A poor listener listens to only facts and ignores the ideas, the general picture.
(3). A poor listener will fix his or her eyes on the teacher or blackboard, then relax, or Do some thing else, expecting to get the information out of the tape scripts later.
(4).A poor listener will use very little distraction --footsteps, a door opening or closing, a cough, a dropped book—as an excuse to stop listening to the recording or the teacher.”[3] ( p1-2)
(ⅴ) Barriers on cultural background
Language is a kind of cultural expression. It is necessary for students to know some background about the English-speaking countries, such as the history, culture, customs and habits, even life styles. Many students lack of these kinds of knowledge, no wonder they are always making mistakes about them. For example, if teachers give two pieces of passage for them to understand the former, because Spring Festival is the traditional festival in China, everybody knows it very well, that’s helpful for their understanding, however the latter about the Thanksgiving day, students know little about it, it is not easy for them to understand, even very difficult for them to answer some questions about it. Listeners should base on their background knowledge about the topic and their experience of how talks on such themes are structured (as in the case of listening to news or weather reports) besides their understanding of language forms related to the subject area.
(ⅵ) Barriers on psychological factors
It is very important of students to have a good state while listening. Students should get clear that listening is the first step of any language learning, they should pay attention to learn it well at the very beginning.
The process of listening comprehension is a very complicated psychological one. Linguists tell us that it is easy for one to produce frightens when he is at his nervousness. If students meet some words or sentences they don’t understand by chance, they’ll have the fidgets, even some students are afraid of listening at the very beginning. It have placed all sorts of obstacles on the important information invisibly and make them less effective, this lowered the degrees of listening comprehension. On the other hand, eternal links, such as the noise made by inside or outside factors, the quality of the recorders, the loudness and the articulation of the sounds, etc, may all become obstructions influencing the students’ listening well. “Psychological linguistics regards listening is involved with the perception of a language: Perception is to turn the voice into meanings,and it is an analysis of the language signal perception. The process of the language perception is an activity of the short--time memorization .”[4] (p1)
Training and improving students’ ability in listening comprehension should combine daily teaching with following points. First of all, in English class, teachers should try to organize their classes in English, which’s the most effective way, students can concentrate their attention while listening to English. Teachers can also know from the expressions in students’ eyes if they understand. Second, using the first five minutes efficiently before the class, or the revision time, ask students to listen to the radios, television programmers in English. Never be afraid of it. Psychological quality is quite important to do everything, so does listening comprehension.
转贴于 4.How to improve students’ listening ability---designing effective classroom activities
Among the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing), foreign language learners often complain that listening is the most difficult one to acquire. Teaching listening should focus on process.
There are three stages in listening activities for language learners: pre—listening, while—listening, post—listening, which will discuss in detail as follow:
4.1 Pre—listening activities
“Research points out that listening activity in general should consist of a pre—listening phase, which should make the context for listening explicit, clarify the purposes for listening, and establish goals, procedures and roles for listening. So a pre—listening activity can involve listeners in the following ways:
(1).By posing the tasks before the students listen to the topic, they are given a purpose for listening, which forces them to focus on selected information.
(2).The listener brings an orientation to a listening event. By opening up the topic, it arouses certain expectations and mentally prepares the students for the topic, it may also activate latest knowledge of vocabulary associated with the topic.
(3).Activating learner’s scripts and tuning in their prior knowledge about the topic helps to relate their background knowledge to the topic to be heard, thus enhancing the comprehension and interpretation of the received message.
(4).By brainstorming what they know about the topic before listening, learners will be able to compare what they know with what they are going to hear, and listen selectively.” [5] (p10)
4.1.1 Purpose
No less than in speaking, the listening process means that the learner must be motivated by a communicative purpose .This purpose determines to a large extent what meanings they must listen for and which parts of the text are most important to them. For example, there may be parts where he does not need to understand every detail, but only to listen for the general gist. There may be other parts where a topic of special significant arises, requiring them to listen for more detailed information—for example, so that they can report about the topic to other members of a group. At other times, a task may require them to listen for specific pieces of information distributed throughout the text.
“The activities will be grouped according to the kind of response that the learner must produce:
(1)Performing physical tasks (e.g. selecting pictures)
(2)Transferring information (e.g. into tabular form)
(3)Reformulating and evaluating information” [6] (p67-68)
4.1.2Choose the appropriate materials
Before having the class, teachers must choose and analysis the materials. “Teacher need to listen the tape all the way through .That way, they will be prepared for any problems, noises, accents etc. That way they can judge whether students will be able to cope with the tape and the tasks that go with it.” [7] ( p100) By doing so, the teacher will know the length of the materials, the difficult points and the focus of the materials, so the teacher can decide in advance how to go on with the teaching in class. Of course, it is a demand for teachers if all other courses. But some teachers do believe that they can teach listening course without any preparation so long as they have the tapes and reference books. So some researchers would like to emphasize the importance of preparations for a class: it is the basic need and also a basic insurance of an effective listening teaching. And the role of analyst, which means that teachers should analyze the functional patterns of the language used in the listening materials that students are to hear. The functions of a language can be simply pided into two patterns: the communication of emotion and the conveying of information. Communication of emotion means that the purpose of using a language is mainly for the establishment of harmonious relationship among the participants of social interaction.
4.1.3 Skills
(ⅰ)Prediction.
Research on speech processing and interpretation suggests that the listener’s ability to make intelligent guesses about what will come next plays a crucial role in their understanding of speech, and prediction is regarded by many researchers as on of the most powerful factors in comprehension. Therefore, a good listener is a good predictor. “By helping our students become better predictors, we are helping them become better listeners.”[8] ( p86)
Prediction also involves asking questions and answering them. According to Fisher and Terry active comprehension is process of generating questions while reading and searching for answers to them. Questioning helps to establish the purpose and causes the listener to interact with the speech, confirming or rejecting expectations.
“Penny Ur summarizes five types of cues that listeners depend on for making predictions about continuation of an utterance:
(1) The stock formula of the language, such as clichés, idioms, quotations and proverbs.
(2). Stress on a particular word in the first part of an utterance is often explained or clarified by a comment in the second.
(3). The logical relationship between the first part of an utterance and the second is often signaled by a conjunction.
(4.) There is construction where the speaker proclaims in advance the kind of thing he is going to say.
(5). Rhetorical questions or bold, brief statements, particularly in the negative, are often followed by answers or amplification in the form of reasons, examples or explanations.” [9] (p11)
(ⅱ)Setting the scene
Another type of pre-listening activity is to set the scene for the students, for example: picture, video, TV etc. Listening to passages in the classroom can be more difficult than listening in real life, because of the lack of context .So the teacher can help provide the background information to activate learners’ schema or illustrate the picture to help students to understand the main idea, so they will be better prepared to understand what they hear.
(ⅲ)Listening for the gist
This type of the pre-listening activity is listening for the gist. It is very important to give students practice in this area, because in real life, they can not listen to the materials several times. Therefore, it will be impossible for them to catch all the information, so they need to be fit with some ambiguity in listening and realize that they can still learn even when they do not understand every word. Listening for the gist is familiar with skimming a passage in reading. The key point lays in let students some questions that focus on the main idea or the tone or the mood of the passage. Find whether students can answer the questions even though they can not understand each word or phrase in the passage.
(ⅳ)Listening for specific information
There are situations in real life where they listen only for some specific details and ignore the rest of the entire message. For example, when they listen to the weather report on TV, they are only interested in the temperature in the city where they live or where we plan to go on the holiday, or when they are sitting in a train station or an air port, they do not listen to the details of all the announcements. It is important to expose our students to a variety of type of listening texts for a variety of purpose so that they will develop a variety of listening strategies to use for different situations.
4.2 While - listening activity
This stage is the most difficult for the teacher to control, because this is where a student should pay attention and get the information actively. However, if the teacher can provide a reason, goal, or task for the learner, this should encourage and help students to focus their attention.
In daily class, students must use all aspects of personal listening ability. At the beginning of this article, we have discussed the problems on students’ listening ability.
According to these problems, we must train the comprehensive listening ability in daily time.
Following are some special training
4.2.1 Listen and tick
A large part of what makes a listening task easy or difficult is what the teacher asks the students to do with the materials. If what students all need to do just is tick as they hear them, the task will be much easier. What you need to tick, you can hear them clearly. Because it is quite easy, ticking is very fit for the students who are in grade 7. It can encourage them to listen to the dialogue or passage carefully.
4.2.2 Listen and act
These activities relate to a method of teaching called Total Physical Response, which concentrates on learning language by listening and responding physical to commands or directions. Here is an example:
“Beginning TPR
Procedure:
(1.) Have two students positioned to two chairs.
Commands supporting vocabulary
Stand up fast
slowly
Sit down table chair
Walk
head stomach
Stop
door blackboard
Turn around
Touch
(2)pick two other students and add more vocabulary that are in the classroom--- such as book, pencil, paper, desk, floor, teacher—and add to the commands put, place, scratch..
(3)use the following type of commands repeatedly in random order, rotating pairs of students from time to time, until you can see that all the students clearly understand what these commands and actions mean.
For example:
Put the pencil on the book.
Scratch your head.
Scratch your stomach.
Put the paper in the box.
Put your hand on your head.
Place the box on the teacher’s head.
Scratch your head and stomach. ” [10] (p11)
4.2.3 Listen and draw
This is similar to acting out physically, but in this type, the students are drawing picture, diagrams on paper. “This type of activity works very well as an information gap activity between pairs of students.” [11] (p90) One example: one student draws a simple picture and then tells his/her partner how to draw it in English .Neither partner can look at each other’s drawing during the task. After they have completed the task, they can compare their pictures to see how similar they are.
Other way: according to last example.
“Introduce the word draw. This opens up a rich network of things you can ask your students to do. Start very simply with the familiar items that the students have already internalized through TPR.
For example:
Draw a table
Draw a chair
Draw a hand
Draw a box
Draw a hand on a door
Draw a window and a hand and book. ”[12] (p11) 4.3 post --- listening activity
Post--- listening, teachers can determine how well the students have understood what they listened to, but it is important to design the tasks well. “One important point to keep in mind is whether we are testing the students’ listening comprehension or their memory. In fact, in real life, listener can remember the gist of the conversation, but cannot remember exactly what words were said. It is more natural to select and interpret what we hear rather than repeat everything we have heard.” [13] ( p187) .Here are some types of post—listening activity: multiple choice questions, answering questions, note-taking, gap—filling and dictogloss.
“It is important to remember when designing activities not to demand that students remember more details the native-speaker would in a real life, because we do not want our students to get into the habit of thinking that they need to understand and remember.” [14] ( p117)
5. Conclusion
As teachers change their practice activity they gain new insights about the learning potentials of their students. “These successes have encouraged teachers to persevere in their efforts to design learning experiences that provide multiple entry and exit points for their students.” [15] ( p290-297)
During the exercitation in middle school, in fact, teachers did not teach the phonetics and phonology. Main practice on listening is just about the textbook. For example, GO FOR IT, the book has a small part for training listening. but the listening teaching is limited. It must add some activities. In the listening activities, according to the certain purpose, it can choose different skills: listen and act, listen and draw, and so on. These types of activities can be designed into games, which are popular for students.
Bibliography
1. Ren Xiaoping . Listening Barriers Among Chinese Students And Training Tactics [J].延安教育学院学报,2001 . p1-2
2. 戴炜冻 A New Concise Course on Linguistics for Students of English [Z].上海: 上海外语教育出版社 p22
3. Liu Yangchun . How to increase students’ listening comprehension [J].开封教育学院学报,1996.10. p1-2
4. Zhang Qi . Psychological analysis in listening teaching and radio programs teaching [J]. 云南教育学院学报,1996.10. p1
5. Zhao Jianqun . Introducing an interactive component into listening instruction [J].曲靖师专学报,1993.3. p10
6. William Littlewood .Communicative Language Teaching. [M].北京:外语教学与研究出版社,2000.6. p67-68
7. Jeremy Harmer. How to teach English [M].北京:外语教学与研究出版社,2000.8. p100
8. 王蔷 A course in English language teaching [Z].上海:高等教育出版社,2002.5. p86
9. 同2. p11
10. 同 1. p11
11. 同8. p90
12. 同 1 p11
常有同学问我:“学英语是不是很要求天赋?”
我那时竟顿住了,两种相反却都可自圆其说的答案,配着各自相关的剪影在脑中闪过。我也许该顺着他的眼神和流行的成功哲学以及可以预见的自我满足感,给他描绘自己少时遭天命不公乃至口齿不清,而后奋发图强而勤终补拙的似水流年。但我居然走了另外一条路线,我缓缓说:“不仅要具天赋,而且要求从幼时学起进一步开发天赋,但这些只是你的起点,你现在要做的是在起点与目标之间划一条尽可能精彩的弧线。”
还在大学的时候, 经济学基础课虽牵强人意,自己却深受其思维方法的影响:过去的投入是已经沉落的成本,你需要的是利用现在争取未来。也许这种理性也会同样折射在其他学科上面,正如基辛格博士所持的论调那样:对过去的肯定是一种现实态度,而政治的任务是要塑造它。刚才给予那位同学的回答或许正是这样一种理性的鼓励。学习英语认识到天赋的力量是现实的,而在这基础上的捷径只能是一种理性的捷径:
在体验中思考,在观察中总结,设定合理的目标和方略
语料库语言学的研究表明,英语中存在着一种成串的语言结构。对于这样的语言结构,学者们采用了不同的术语对这种语言现象加以界定,比较被大家广泛接受的说法是:语块是一种兼具有词汇和语法特征的语言结构,一般为多词单位,具有特定的话语功能。
听力教学侧重的是学生对英语声音材料理解能力的培养,而三本院校的学生入学时英语基础不是很好,特别是普遍存在着英语听力薄弱的现象,究其原因,一方面是传统的英语教学过于注重语法规则,而忽略了语言作为交际手段这一根本目的,于是形成了“聋子英语”,另一重要原因是学生对地道的预制语块积累不够。他们注重的一般是单词的记忆,而不是语块的记忆和积累,因此造成他们在听力理解上存在一定的困难。语块理论,从一个崭新的角度阐述了语言教学的理论和实践,从根本上提出了对如何提高学生的英语听力理解能力的应对办法,为三本院校英语听力教学提供了新的思路与视角。
1英语语块理论
1.1语料库语言学基础
语料库语言学家经过电脑数据统计分析发现。在自然语言中存在着数量庞大、出现频率高、不同程度词汇化的词串,即语块,它们构成了英语中基本的语言单位。Altenb的研究发现,大约70%的日常口语都是由预制语块组成的。Bo~nger也有相同的认识,他说语言已为我们提供了大量的预制语块,因此我们说话时不必从“木材、钉子和蓝图”起开始构建。
1.2认知心理语言学基础
1950年,美国心理学家GeorgeMiUer提出了组块理论(chunking),他指出短时记忆的容量大概是7+/-2个“块”。而“块”(chunks)最早是由心理学家Miller和Self-ridge提出,记忆对于信息的加工过程的结果就是块。人们可以凭借自己已有知识和经历对接触到的信息进行组块和储存,以便于日后整体检索和提取。
认知心理学家Sinclair则认为,人类的语言习得可以分为两大体系:其一是以语法规则为基础的分析性体系;其二是以记忆为基础的套语体系。在分析性体系中,记忆所占的空间虽然小但强度却相当大,因此即时交际难以较好地实现。套语体系包括数量可观的语块,在进行交际时,说话人易于从记忆中提取,便于准确、流利表达。虽然语法规则给我们提供了构成无数个句子的可能,但实际交际中,可能性中的绝大多数被忽视掉了。值得注意的是,某些特定的词汇组合却不断地被重复使用。因而Sinclair进一步归纳出语言加工过程通常遵循的两条原则,即习语原则和自由选择原则。前者是指使用大量现成的预制语块来组装语句:而后者则是选择合适的语法和词汇一点点逐步“搭建”语句。Sinclair主张,习语原则在这两个原则中地位优先。
1.3语言习得研究基础
大量关于儿童母语习得,即一语习得的研究发现,儿童是通过习得语块而后习得整个语言的,特别是早期阶段的语块学习和记忆。比如,当儿童使用“I’dlike…”时,这3个词语可能被他们当作一个不可拆分的单位来记忆和使用的。或者可以说,在儿童的心理词典中,这3个词是一个词条。在反复练习和成功使用了某些相同的模式之后,儿童就自然而然地从中概括出一些语块的构造规则,并将他们习得的语块作为整体存储在心理词库中。语言学家在二语习得的研究中也得出相近的结果,实践证实大量语块存在于二语学习者的口头交际中。
在一语和二语习得研究的基础上,Natfinger和DeCarrico指出,一种语言的正确使用过程不外乎是“对这些预制语块进行选择,然后将这些语块串联起来的过程”。因为预制语块其实被使用者按不同的语用功能分类存储在一起,使用者根据交际语境的需要,对其整体提取使用,这样便达到了语言表达正确性和流利性的统一。
2语块在三本学生英语听力提高中的作用
Lewis(1997)等学者提倡在课堂上直接进行语块的教授,而近年来,国内越来越多的学者也意识到了预制语块对二语习得的作用,认为语块不仅能提高中国学生口语交际的流利性,更重要的是能提高学生的语用能力。笔者认为,除了口语表达,语块教学对三本学生英语听力习得是非常有效的,具体表现在:
2.1有利于提高预测信息的能力
预制语块往往带有情境性,具有非常重要的语篇信息组织功能,它的使用并不是随意的。对大量语料的研究显示,预制语块在自然语篇中起着诸如组织语篇结构、连接信息和预示下文的重要作用。许多形式和功能属于固定或半固定性质的语块在语篇中不可或缺的衔接手段,读者把握住这些语块,也就掌握了文章的宏观结构以及段落问的关系,达到理解文章的效果。同样,在听英语材料时,学生可以充分利用那些组篇功能语块,结合自己已掌握的相关图式和背景知识,积极主动地获取信息、预测信息,从而为其进一步赢得处理信息和反应的时间。例如,当学生听到“Mypointsareasfollows,Firstly…scondly…finally…”,就会预先知道说话者谈话的内容。
2.2有利于提高对听力材料的理解效率
“语言不是由传统语法和词汇构成的,而常常是由多词的、预制的语块构成的”(Lewis1997)。正因为预制语块是语言使用者所熟悉的语言形式,因而听者对听到的信息不陌生,从而缩短了正常语言交际时大脑压缩处理语言信息所需的时间,大大缓解了由于即时分析和处理听到的信息的压力。学生的注意力和思维要受说话者语速的控制,因为听力材料包含的语音信息稍纵即逝,所以平时要多加练习听力,特别是要有意识地积累语音形式的语块量。如果听力基础薄弱的学生以语音形式储存的语块量不足,便无法便捷地对话语中占有很大比例的固定和半固定短语进行整体认知,并直接提取语义,其结果是把它们当作按语法规则组合起来的一个个单词,只能通过单词识别,词义匹配的方式提取语义,获得信息。
2.3有利于克服听力材料中噪音及音变的影响
在多数情况下,英语录音资料往往伴有其他声音,这种干扰声会降低话语的清晰度,阻碍英语学习者获取信息。另一方面,音变现象,如弱读、连读、吞音等语音现象会造成某些单词听不清楚或听不到。令人欣慰的是,语块由于在语言中被高频使用,具备着语境依附特征和语境效应优势,因此语块可以提供重要的语境信息,这样能大大弥补噪音干扰或音变导致的听觉信息的缺失,比如Thetruthis,I’vebroken(up)withhim…中的up听不清楚时,熟悉这个语块的听者能根据语境判断出该单词。此外,预制语块还具有可以帮助听者根据上下文,辨识说话者身份的作用。
3语块理论对三本学生英语听力教学的启示
针对三本学生英语学习中一些不恰当的认识与学习方法,以及听力基础薄弱的特点,语块研究为我们提出以下教学启示:
3.1提供相关语块
向学生提供语块来练习听力的好处主要有两方面:首先是课堂时间有限,向学生提供并讲解语块,可以节省时间,给学生提供更多的练习机会,加速语块的习得过程;其次是讲解听力材料中的相关语块,可使讲授的聚焦范围变小,却不失语块要求的微型语境从而大大提高了英语学习和记忆的效果。
针对语块集形式和意义于一身,可作为整体语言单位存储和提取的特点,在英语教学中,教师可首先列出并且讲解那些结构容易出错、语义难懂却地道的语块,备课要做到向学生提供语言生动、内容丰富的例句,便于学生记忆,并在课堂上开展以语块为单位的形式多样的练习。
3.2培养语块意识
既然语块是理想的教学单位,教师在平时授课时就不能孤立的去讲某个单词,而要在英语教学中引导学生注意单词的具体使用语境,从目标词与其周围其他单词或短语的搭配关系去关注和识记语块,增强语块意识,最终达到使语块在学生语言能力培养中发挥出最大作用的目的。因此,教师可以在讲课文时组织学生分小组就自己认定的语块进行讨论,或在日常的教学中提醒学生对听力资料以及阅读材料中出现的固定和半固定的语言结构进行归纳总结和记录。
3.3加强语块输出训练
听力理解是语言输入的主要渠道之一,而语言输入的同时是—个理解和产出的过程,因此要求教师采用适当的教学方法段计灵活多样的练习,反复练习,以尽可能地缩短外语学习者语言理解所需的时间,并进而过度到扩大产出的练习中。
二、展示听力原文的背景知识
学生要想充分地了解英语听力材料,对材料内容有准确、客观的评价,就要对听力材料的文化背景、生活方式、人物场景、价值观念等背景知识有充分的了解。对听力材料的背景知识有充分的把握后,将会为理解、判断提供有力的依据。在高中英语听力的教学中,教师应该注重对要联系英语听力的背景知识的介绍,以充分调动学生的学习积极性和主动性,帮助他们对听力材料有更深入的理解和判断。例如,在高中英语课本中有一个Listening是讲ChenBin和Joy在讨论人们如何过复活节以及复活节的由来。如果学生在练习此篇听力前,不能对有关复活节的相关知识有初步的了解,听起来就比较困难。因此,教师可以利用多媒体将有关复活节的theEsterBunny,Estereggs等内容展示各学生,这样既能充分激发学生练习听力的积极性和好奇心,又能促进学生对听力材料的理解。
三、提高听力内容的多样性
1.听英文歌曲。在高中英语听力的多媒体教学过程中,教师可以通过多媒体,利用英文歌曲来提高学生的听力能力。教师可以在课堂上,用多媒体的声音播放器来组织学生集体听一些和学生水平相当的英文歌曲,也可以布置学生课后听,也可以把课前准备好的歌词通过屏幕展示给学生,然学生边听边填写空缺的歌词。比如说,笔者曾经在一次英语听力训练时,就把Troubleisafriend这首英文歌曲的部分歌词删除,然后在课堂上给学生播放这首歌曲,并引导学生第一遍和第二遍听写出空缺的词汇,第三遍注重听重读、连读、略读等现象,最后再鼓励学生跟着录音一起唱。事实证明,通过听英文歌曲来训练学生的英语听力,更能取得事半功倍的效果。
2.看英文影视剧。练习英语听力的最终目的就是能够在现实生活中,自如地应用英语这门语言。而英文影视剧就是在现实生活中对英语这门语言最好的应用。教师可以在多媒体上播放一些学生能接受的影视剧,让他们通过情节推理的方式,培养良好的英语语感,激发其学习英语的积极性和主动性。例如,《老友记》这部英文剧,其语速是能被高中生所接受的,教师在课堂上选择合适的机会给学生播放《老友记》,既能提高学生听说英语的能力,又能促进学生对西方知识的了解和学习。
3.课前听力训练。听力能力的培养和训练并不是一蹴而就的,需要长期的、不间断的训练和坚持。教师可以在每节英语课前都抽出5分钟的时间来引导学生进行短期的英语听力训练。教师可以把一段奥巴马的演讲或VOA的内容播放给学生,一方面锻炼了学生的听力能力,另一方面又帮助学生拓展了眼界和知识面。
(二)多媒体教学的弊端由于上述的问题,学生在一段时间的学习和训练之后,看不到明显的效果,容易产生焦虑情绪。心理学家的研究表明,在焦虑水平过高的情况下,心理语言活动过程会处于抑制状态,思维变得迟钝,学生越是听不懂,焦虑程度就越高。如果在课堂上学生一直受挫、失败,就会产生严重的焦虑,会破坏学习情绪,甚至丧失学习听力的信心。而多媒体授课形式,教师处于操作台上,学生面对屏幕,教师与学生之间缺乏面对面的沟通与交流,教师不能及时了解学生的心理状态,进行疏导和帮助。
二、建构主义理论对听力教学的启示
建构主义教学思想强调以学生为中心来进行教学。学习的过程是个体建构知识的过程,在这一过程中学生是学习、认知和信息加工的主体。其次,主张在实际情境中进行教与学。认为在真情实景的体验中,借助于必要的学习资源,才能积极有效地建构知识,重组认知结构。再次,教与学的整个过程离不开师生、生生之间的协作交流。最后,教师要为学习者设计教学环境,提供各种资源,鼓励学习者主动探索并完善知识体系的建构。
在上述教学思想的启示下,教师应遵循“以学生为主体、教师为主导”的教学理念,在教学中发挥导向作用、组织作用,课堂上开展以学习者为中心的、形式多样的教学活动,调动学生的积极性,最大限度地让学生参与学习过程,帮助他们发现问题,解决问题。努力营造真情实景,让学生运用已掌握的语言能力进行交际,突出语言的实用性,从而提高教学效果,最终实现教育目标。
建构主义的学习理论和教学观对听力教学的启示体现在下面两个方面:
(一)关于教师首先,转变教学理念,以学生为中心,发挥教师的导向作用,串联起语言知识、语言技能以及自主学习能力三大板块。其次,选择合适的素材,灵活运用教学方法和手段。教学中做好三个阶段的工作:准备阶段、实践阶段和反思阶段。准备阶段:课程准备阶段,教师应先阐明听力学习的特点、难点和方法,让学生认识到听力学习的艰巨性和渐进性,帮助其构建正确的学习观和学习策略;材料准备阶段,教师须做好引导工作,让学生了解一些相关背景知识,或通过图片来激发学习兴趣,消除紧张情绪,为新信息的输入做好准备。实践阶段:要有针对性地、也要有创意地选择符合教学目标的材料。合理设计教学任务,引导学生把重点放在寻找答案的过程上,而非答案本身。在求证的过程中,帮助学生学会利用已有的知识和经验,通过分析、思考、判断进而理解所输入的新信息。同时辅以听读、听说、听写练习,帮助学生完善知识体系,提高语言输入转化为语言所得的效率。反思阶段:通过对课堂教学实践的深入思考和总结,有助于更好地把握教师的“教”与学生的“学”以及教材、媒介之间的关系,进一步优化教学理念、方法和策略。
(二)关于学生首先,转变学习理念,成为学习的主动参与者和探究者。其次,由孤立的学习者转为合作学习者。师生之间、生生之间共同探讨、充分交流和合作。在入学之初,学生首先要了解听力课的实质和目标,听力是通过“量”的积累才能达到“质”的飞跃,也就是让学习者做好打持久战的准备。第二步,明确教学大纲,了解学习任务。了解了课程的目标、进度、教师对学生的要求、测验及考试等方面的信息才能做到心中有数。第三步,积极主动参与课堂活动,完成听前、听中和听后所布置的任务,并在课外练习中发挥合作的优势,强化技能,积累知识。第四步,要将听、说、读、写结合起来。听提供说和写的语言输入和质量保证,训练读的速度和感觉,说和读为听力技能的发展提供支撑,通过写来整理和培养英语语言思维,从而全面提高语言运用能力。第五步,要学会反思。在反思中提高自我认识、自我评价以及自我发展的能力。
就近年高考语文而言,听说能力的考查有明显的加强的趋势。一是直接命题考查考生的语音、停顿、重音、歧义、语言的简明、连贯、得体等方面的能力;二是结合作文试题,考查考生实际的口头表达的能力,比如广播稿、演讲稿、讨论稿、节目主持人发言稿、通知等应用文体和谈话语体的写作及修改。
再就未来社会对人才的要求而言,21世纪的人才必须是思维敏捷,富于创新精神的人才,必须是娴于辞令、口齿伶俐、善于社会交际的人才,必须是耳聪目明,“听人说话,能够了解对方要旨”(叶圣陶语)的人才。
然而,中学(尤其是农村中学)语文教学的现状却是:由于语文教学的影响,仍然是只重视书面表达能力训练而忽视口头语言训练;有的甚至将教材中有限的听说专项训练改为学生课外自学;现行中学教材(尤其是高中部分)虽然有听说能力的专项训练,但指导性不强,使教师在教学中难以实施,而且没有科学的系统,更没有专门的教材;不少教师认识到口语训练的重要,在教学的实践中想方设法给学生锻炼口才和听力的机会,但毕竟无序;农村中学教学设备的有限又使得有识之士的“教改”实验只是“空中楼阁”;结果,学生读了十几年书,学了十几年语文(且不说在生活中的学习),大多数听说能力却较差,发音不准,吐字不清,语调平淡,语速不当,话不成句,表情难看……成了十足的“书呆子”。
由此可见,中学语文听说教学必须改革,而改革的关键问题就是:如何在中学语文教学之中迅速地大面积地培养学生的听说能力。
二、中学语文听说教学改革的出路何在
陷入困境之后,必须走出困境。近十年来,笔者一直在农村中学任教,而且一直与同仁一道努力探讨听说教学改革之路。于此且作一总结以就教于大家。
(一)改进教学的组织形式
语文教学必须改革,必须更新教育观念,改进教学方法,改进组织形式,这是社会历史发展的必然要求,也是语文教育自身发展的必然趋势。为了提高教学效率,我在研读大量文献和各种语文教改资料的基础上,结合本校(省属重点农村中学)实际,学生实际个人(自身)素质的实际,大胆改革教学的组织形式,实行“以小组教学为主,以班级教学和个别辅导为辅”的教学组织形式。具体地说,这种组织方式包括以下三个方面:
1.成立语文学习中心小组。每班4-5人,由有语文特长和语文兴趣较浓的同学组成,语文学科代表兼组长。中心小组的主要职能是:①参加教师备课,研究讨论教学的难点,分析落实教学重点,具体讨论确定教学要点,分析安排训练的知识能力点和训练方式;②负责组织指导、督促和考核本班学习小组(见第2点)的语文学习;③编选拟定语文课文练习和单元练习,组织进行单元检测;④帮助老师批阅修改评析部分作业;⑤在老师的具体指导之下负责讲析(或安排组织其他同学讲析)部分课文。——总而言之,让中心小组成为老师的帮手,成为小老师,负责组织、管理具体的语文学习和语文活动。
2.成立了语文学习小组,每组4个成员,各小组同学的语文素质大致相当,座位临近(前后左右同桌,如不是同桌,在语文课和语文活动课时自行调节)。其主要任务是在教师和中心小组的组织引导下完成各项语文学习任务(其中包括课内外的各种形式的语文活动)。
3.组建了语文中心小组和学习小组之后,教师主要的职责是:①具体指导语文中心小组的工作,在各种语文学习和语文活动中做好示范(比如示范朗读,示范备课讲课,下水作文等等);②组织中心小组讨论制订单元教学要求和课文学习重点;列出课文和单元教学的知识能力点;③重点指导学生学好最重要的基本篇目;④补充语文中心小组讲析课文时遗漏的知识点和未处理好的重点难点,补充与课文或单元有关的重要的基础知识和基本理论;⑤编制单元练习,组织单元考试;⑥科学评价语文中心小组和学习小组的学习情况并提示补正方法;⑦负责课文或单元或语文活动的重要的关键问题的小结或撰写相应的专题论文;⑧编印优秀作文集,组织优秀作文稿;⑨指导各种重要的语文活动(如朗诵、征文、创作课本剧,等等);⑩精选印发课外练习并指导课外阅读。
(二)优化听说能力训练的方法
在具体的语文教学中,我采用的听说训练的主要方式有如下4种:
1.朗读。这里所说的朗读主要包括:①早自声朗读课文,精彩片断和要求背诵的篇目;另外每学期补充10篇古诗文,要求背诵。每周三节早自习,每节40分钟,一学期下来,诵读时间达40小时,三年初中或高中,诵读时间达120小时,课文背诵达60多篇;②名篇赏读,间周一节课(课外活动),主要从《中国青年报》、《杂文报》、《散文》、《全国中学生优秀作文选》等报纸杂志选择精短时文;③新闻会,间周一次,要求全体同学写稿投稿(也可从报纸上荐稿,大量采用根据中央电视台新闻联播编拟的新闻稿,每天晚上7:00至7:30是全校学生收看电视新闻的时间);中心小组选稿改稿定稿,再安排学生(以学习小组为单位)用普通话脱稿播送。
2.读书报告。主要有三种形式:①故事会,每学期2次,在期中考试后进行(因为本校每年春秋两期分别有音乐之春和艺术节,在中期考试后第3周左右进行,故事会就安排在此间的课外活动之中),主要讲成语故事、历史故事、寓言故事、生活故事、名人故事、民间传说等等;②读书报告会,每期开学第一周进行,主要讲所读的书籍(以文学名著为主)的基本内容、故事梗概、人物形象;朗诵其中的一两个精彩片断;宣读自己的“文学评论”(实际上是读书心得,往往既省“评”,又省“感”);③假期见闻报告会,每期开学第一周进行,主要是概述自己假期所见所闻所感,在此基础上重点叙述二三事。
3.讨论论辩。①讨论,主要是指课堂教学中的讨论。其具体方式包括个人钻研、小组讨论、班级讨论、教师(或中心小组)总结发言。②论辩,即组织论辩会,不定期举行,从课本、影视、生活中去选择与语文学习相关的重要的思想问题和学术问题进行论辩。要求各学习小组在认真准备材料,充分讨论酝酿的基础上写出书面发言材料(或提纲),然后采用双方论争的形式进行辩论;同时组织好“评委会”进行裁判和评定。
4.讲课比赛。
我这里所说的“讲课比赛”主要有两种方式:
①讲析课文。每期一周,一般在期中考试之后的第一周进行(因为本校每期期中考试之后有一次运动会,停课2至3天,学生相对较轻松,有比较充分的时间去备课),但必须在开学之初公布教学计划时就要安排各学习小组具体的授课任务(我的教学计划和总结往往是先由中心小组讨论草稿,然后我定稿打印,学生人手一份)。作为教师一是在平时的教学中做好“讲课”示范,二是具体指导如何备课、如何确定难点、如何设计练习、如何讲课,教给学生“教学”的方法。
②评讲试卷。这里所说的“评讲试卷”主要是指在语文教学其是语文复习中,让学习小组在分头准备认真讨论的基础上对语文试卷进行评讲。要求学生必须讲清:“试题考的是什么(知识点)——怎样考的(角度、题型)——怎样解答(答题技巧)”;必须评准:“试题好不好(难度、信度)——好在何处(科学性)——有何启示(相对于学生而言)”。如果学生评讲时出现不足,教师要认真分析,予以补正。
(三)寻找检测听说能力的科学方法
我在实际教学中采用的具体的“检测”方法主要有以下几种:
1.听写:从内容上说,包括听写词语、句子、句群、语段;从文体上说,主要是古诗文;从方式上说,可以老师朗读学生听写,也可以是学生互相听写。
2.听话答问:通过同学老师诵读或播放录音,要求学生答问。问题不宜设置太多,问题的内容可以是记忆性的,可以是筛选性的,也可以是理解性的。
一、引言
Krashen曾指出:“语言学习中头等重要的是听力理解,听力训练应放在首位。”二语习得理论指出,学习者的情感因素是影响外语学习的重要原因。情感因素包括焦虑、抑制和动机等。其中,焦虑被认为是阻碍外语学习的最大障碍之一。焦虑是一种紧张不安,带有恐惧感的情绪状态,是一种经历紧张、担忧、烦乱和恐慌等感受的不良状态和极力摆脱这种负面情绪的紧张反应(Burger.1997)。而听力焦虑是外语学习过程中所特有的一种复杂心理现象,是学习者因外语学习过程的独特性而产生的一种与课堂语言学习相关的自我意识、信仰、感情以及行为的明显焦虑情绪(Horwitz.1986)。有研究证实,合理的应对策略在调节、干预学习情绪方面具有重要作用(DeAnda.2000)。
二、相关理论研究
1.有关焦虑的研究
对焦虑的研究是学习者情感因素研究的重要内容。一般认为焦虑感是有害的。然而也有人持不同看法,认为并不是所有的焦虑感都对学习有害。只有适当的焦虑感对学习有利,过高和过低都会妨碍学习(Maelntyre,1999)。Brown.认为焦虑分为两种:抑制性焦虑和促进性焦虑。前者包括一些妨碍学习的不良情绪,如紧张、担忧、畏惧等;而后者对学习则有一定的积极促进作用。本文主要讨论前者,即抑制性焦虑对听力学习所产生的影响。
2.有关应对策略的研究
应对(coping)过程指人们对超出自己认知范围极限的认知要求所进行的认知或行为调控过程,可分三个阶段:(1)初始评价阶段,(2)继续评价阶段,(3)执行应对策略阶段。应对策略包括着眼于问题解决的策略和着眼于情绪的应对策略。着眼于问题解决的策略指为消除或减少给自己带来压力或负面影响的事件发生而采取的行动、策略及持有的意念、想法等,比如积极考虑、规划下一步的学习行为。而着眼于情绪的应对策略指为调整和减轻某事所带来的消极或压抑情绪而采取的行动、策略及持有的意念、想法等,如发泄情绪、放弃学习。应对策略在调节挫折所带来的负面情绪的同时必然对学习效果造成影响。
目前应对策略研究主要从一般性和特定性两个角度入手。然而,学生不大可能会按照一贯方式来应对特定情境下的压力和困难,而是根据实际需要制定合适的策略,所以两者有区别。本文研究英语听力学习过程中的应对策略,属特定性研究。
三、非英语专业学生听力焦虑现象分析
为了更客观直接地了解学生听力焦虑现象,笔者采用自行设计的问卷调查法和深度访谈对济宁学院2009级计算机科技和体育教育专业四个班的144名学生的听力焦虑状况进行了分析。该问卷由12个题目组成,其中9个选择题和3个开放性问题,该问卷涉及大学英语课堂的各个方面,包括课堂气氛、听力材料难易程度、学生的心理承受能力和教师指导与评价等。共回收139份有效问卷。问卷由笔者自行设计,参考了关于情感、焦虑的一般心理学量表,并在进行试测的基础上进行了加工。为了尽可能真实客观地反映学生听力焦虑的情况,笔者在问卷调查基础上对部分学生进行了访谈,要求他们描述听力课堂上所表现的焦虑症状、原因以及减缓焦虑的方法。
调查结果显示:听力材料的难度的越大学生越容易产生不自信的心理,由此引发对听力材料的担忧和恐惧,进而形成焦虑心理,这部分学生占到61.9%,另有25.7%学生认为听力材料难度太大,听不懂,进而产生抵触心理,甚至放弃听力学习。从学生英语学习的基础能力和心理素质差异来看,学生各自的英语基础,英语能力,理解能力以及词汇量的差异也会使学生在听力课堂中的焦虑程度不同。由于这些基础能力的欠缺而在听力课堂中产生焦虑情绪的学生占77.6%。其次由于不自信导致焦虑的学生占19.2%,由于教师的负面评价而引起焦虑感的学生占到10.6%。第三个方面就是教师和课堂气氛在学生焦虑心理的形成中起到很大的影响,大约38.1%的学生害怕被提问,提问到自己时会感到慌乱、焦躁;也有26.1%的学生赞成老师的提问,认为老师的提问可以促使自己保持高度紧张的状态从而更加专注地学习。有大约57.2%的学生认为老师正面的合理中肯的评价、鼓励和微笑会减轻他们的焦虑感。
以上统计数据显示英语听力课堂上可能导致学生产生焦虑情绪的原因有很多,主要是听力材料的难易程度、学生英语基础的好坏、学生自信心的强弱以及包括老师的指导与评价在内的课堂气氛等,其中最主要的还是听力材料的难易程度和英语基础的好坏。因为在听力课堂上,学生得主要任务是听,处于一种相对被动的状态。听的过程稍纵即逝,极其短暂,学生必须在短时间内对所听到的语言材料进行识别、理解、加工、连接、记忆等一系列的处理,同时还要不断唤醒头脑中积累的知识以配合所听的材料。因此学生在听力课堂上承受着较大的心理压力,在听的过程中需要良好的心理素质以及基础知识,否则使听力效果大打折扣。至于上面提到的其他因素都是在听前或是听后产生作用,间接地影响到学生的心理,使他们产生焦虑情绪。
四、针对听力焦虑的应对策略
1.选择合适的教材和教学模式
在教材和教学模式的选择中,教师应该根据学生的实际情况选择合理有效的教材和授课方法。课堂上可以采取由浅入深的方法,先准备一些清楚易懂的材料活跃学生思维,放松他们的心境,慢慢引导他们接受新的知识。同时教师还应该讲解听力材料涉及的文化背景知识,促进学生对听力材料通篇的理解。
2.加强学生的英语基本功的训练
要加强学生英语基本功的训练,不断扩充词汇量提高理解能力。在进行听力练习的时候,要遵循听单词-短语-句子这一由简到难的原则,突出听辨训练,不仅要听辨音素、单词、短语和句子,还要听辨重读、弱读、连读、同化等。当学生具备一定的词汇量、语法知识和较强的听辨能力时,自然就减少了听力理解的障碍,听的时候就会有收获感、成功感,焦虑心理就自然会缓解。
3.正确评价学生的课堂表现,帮助学生树立自信心
首先,教师应该让学生知道听力焦虑是一种普遍的现象,从听力课的自身的特点和性质向学生解释,听力焦虑是一种正常现象。其次,教师要知道自己的负面评价可以导致学生焦虑的产生或加剧,过多或不当的纠错会打断思路、阻碍交流,导致强烈的焦虑感。因此,应该为学生提供一个比较放松的环境和氛围,以积极真诚的态度对待学生。要适当地允许学生犯错,而非每错必纠。如果对纠错的时机、次数和方式处理得当,势必会收到良好的效果。
五、结语
听力焦虑情绪在大学英语课堂普遍存在,过度的焦虑对听力效果会产生负面影响。因此必须缓解听力教学中学生的焦虑心理,要有的放矢地设计最轻松有效的应对策略,尽力将焦虑控制在理想范围内。
参考文献:
[1]Burger,J.M.Personality[M].Brooks:ColePublishingCompany.1997.
[2]Horwitz,E.K.,Horwitz,M.B.,andCope,J.ForeignLanguageClassroomAnxiety[J].ModernLanguageJournal.1986,
[3]DeAnda,D.SBaroniL.Boskin,L.Buchwald,J.Morgan,J.Ow,J.S.Gold,&R.Weiss.Stress,stressorsandcopingamonghighschoolstudents[J].ChildrenandYouthServicesReview,2000.
二、不利于培养学生的创新能力
社会发展所需要的是创新型人才,而当前教育培养的却是一些中规中矩和生搬硬套的“听话人才”。传统“听话式教育”模式就是让学生听话、遵从的模式,并没有考虑到学生的差异化特点和个性化发展需求,不利于学生创新能力的培养,容易使其产生思维定势,当其走出学校后,更无法参与和适应激烈的社会竞争。
三、传统“听话式教育”模式的创新
当代大学生以90后为主,突出“新”的特点,这部分群体绝不是简单的又一代人的成长,这是真正一代与互联网全面接触的群体。这也是对社会进行全面“接管”的一代,其思想观念、思维方式及价值观念均发生了极大的变化。基于这一特点,必须对传统的“听话式教育”模式进行创新。
1.当代大学生的特点
当代大学生受“快餐”文化的影响,乐于接受新事物,知识面较广,但是掌握的信息多停留在表面,缺乏深度,需要对其加以正确的引导。90后大学生的自我意识开始觉醒,他们思想独立,多从自我角度出发,以个人价值作为对事物的主要衡量标准。大学生有创新意识,但自控能力不强,合作意识单淡薄,需对其创新能力进行培养。当前社会竞争日趋激烈,就业难也给大学生带来了很大的心理压力,易受到功利思想的影响,加之其内心脆弱敏感,更需要采取新的管理对其进行正确的引导。
1.2学习焦虑心理学习自控力是学生在中学阶段需要不断发展的一项重要的能力.相对小学阶段而言,中学阶段在学习上的管制、监督相对比较自由,老师不会再像小学阶段对学生的学习行为进行密切的关注和管理,学生在学习上更多的靠自己的自我管理.再加上青春期是中学生的第二个叛逆期,成人感意识再次增强,心理上会出现剧烈的矛盾状态,这两方面的因素共同作用下,会影响学生在学习自控力的发展水平,部分学生能够在经受身心的剧烈波动的同时,有效的规划自己的学习,合理的安排各门学科的学习时间,自觉调整学习和娱乐的比例,具有较为理性、合理的时间管理观念.与此同时,也有一部分学生因缺乏学习的自控能力而出现学习问题.学习自控力的缺失主要表现为两方面,一方面表现为在各门学科的时间和精力的投入上,个体无法合理的进行规划.有些学生会有偏科现象,喜欢某几门课而讨厌其它的课程,这种偏科的心理状态导致学生在做作业和复习方面,会不自觉的将重心放在自己喜欢上的学科,最后才考虑自己的所不喜欢的科目.这种失调的时间管理行为会影响学生的复习质量,导致学生在临近考试时对弱科的复习不到位,出现焦虑情绪,担心考试发挥不好.另一方面表现为禁不住外界的诱惑.当前社会上的娱乐活动的数量在不断的增加,各种网络游戏、影视节目琳琅满目,面对如此充满诱惑的社会环境,有些中学生抵挡不住诱惑,迷上了电子产品或网络游戏等,而不能合理的安排时间投入到学习中去.这种失调的时间管理习惯导致学生在面临即将到来的考试出现手足无措的现象,不知从何处开始着手复习,再加上有的学生受外界的期望值较高,在这种外界压力下,焦虑情绪会更加的突出.这种由学习焦虑导致的学习成绩下降问题在学校中不在少数,是学生群体中一直存在的主要学习问题之一.
1.3学习挫败感体验强烈中学阶段与小学阶段之间无论在学习的内容上还是在学习的难度上都有很大的不同.中学阶段的学习内容明显增多,且知识比较冗杂,学习难度上也不断增大,尤其在理科科目上体现的更为明显.学习适应成为考量学生学习水平的重要内容,而学习策略上的适应是其重要的一项.在小学阶段,需要掌握的学习策略较为单一,且大多数情况都是由老师手把手的教导下进行的;到了中学阶段,学习空间变得自由,而学业难度不断加大,学生面临着学习策略的自我调整.部分学生尚未转变学习观念,在学习方法上仍沿用之前一些基本的学习策略,不能适时适地的调整学习策略,进行合理的规划,导致成绩的不理想,觉得入不敷出,出现明显的挫败心理.该类学生觉得自己的付出没有得到回报,对学业逐渐丧失信心,如果受挫的次数增多,就有可能演变为对学习的无能感,默认了自己的学习处境,不再继续努力.
2影响学生不良学习心理的家庭教育因素
2.1家庭的教育观念家庭教育观念是指家庭中父母所秉持的教育思想和理念,它是指导、教育孩子如何对待学习、如何处理学习与其它活动关系的重要思想支撑.当前我国很多家长都秉持着传统意义上的学习教育观念,具体表现为:(1)“学习是唯一的出路”.很多家长,尤其是出身农村的父母,对孩子的学习尤为看重,将读书、学习视为孩子出人头地的重要渠道,对孩子的学习成绩尤为重视.这种过于激进的教育观念不断的渗透到孩子的思想观念中,在孩子的思想中建立起了偏激的学习观念,孩子希望通过学习来满足父母的要求,在这种观念的趋势下,无形中给孩子带来了极大的心理负担,孩子在学习时没有发展出对学习本身的兴趣,更多的是一种工具,体验不到学习过程所带来的快乐,一心只想取得优异的成绩,导致心理异常的敏感,害怕考试失利,这种对考试的担心在临近考试时尤为的强烈,尤其是随着课业压力的增大,孩子无力应付时,会体验到更为强烈的焦虑情绪,一方面影响了正常的发挥,同时也影响了孩子的身心健康(2)“学习不好,就不是好孩子”.当前很多父母用学习成绩的优劣作为评价孩子的重要标准,认为学习成绩优秀的孩子,就是好孩子,学习差的孩子,就是坏孩子.有些父母甚至教育孩子不要跟学习差的孩子一起玩,担心被带坏.这种用成绩优劣来评价学生的观念导致部分差生产生自卑心理,觉得自己低人一等,并因此自暴自弃,丧失了学习的动力,有的甚至因此而产生了错误的、不利于身心健康的自我观念,影响了其它方面的发展(3)“不打不成器”.从古至今,我国传统文化在教育方面始终沿袭了一个观念,即“严师出高徒”,认为对学生要严格要求,才能培养出优秀的人才,这种教学育人的严谨态度确实有利于学生培养起良好的学习习惯,取得优异的成绩.然而这种观念渗透在一些家庭中,就演变成了父母对孩子的各种过高的要求,父母为了将孩子培养成才,会通过说教、惩罚、甚至体罚等方式让孩子吸取教训.孩子在这种过于激烈的说教、责罚下,逼迫自己努力学习,来迎合父母的期望.这种教育方式下培养起来的学生并不会体验到学习所带来的快乐,带来的更多的是负担.此外并不是每个学生都能在学业上成绩优秀,受先天智力因素的影响,有些学生在学习上的领悟能力比较低,其成绩可能始终维持在一般水平上,学生在这种理想和现实的落差下,内心会产生很大的失落感和压迫感.由于这部分学生所持有的学习动机皆为满足父母的要求,对学习没有培养起应有的兴趣,使得学生在应对学业上的困难较为被动,这种低水平的学习能力与父母的高要求共同作用下,使得学生对学习出现矛盾心理,开始对学习表现出阻抗,不断发展下去,就演变为我们常见到的厌学问题.
2.2家庭的教养方式常见的家庭教养方式共有三种:溺爱型、专制型、民主型.溺爱型的父母基本包办了孩子日常的衣食住行活动,忽视了孩子的自主行动能力,过分保护下,孩子没有培养起应该具有的自主性,无力应付生活中出现的困难和挑战;专制型的父母最突出的特点是为孩子做决定,并强制孩子服从,这种父母将自己的意见凌驾在孩子之上,忽视了孩子个人的想法.由于过分忽视孩子的感受,导致孩子无法顺从自己内心的想法,不能发展出自己的个人兴趣,生活状态较为被动.民主型的父母是最为合格的一类,他们能够与孩子建立安全、自由、充满人性关爱的关系,既能在生活中发展出作为父母应该有的权威的一面,同时也能设身处地的去理解、尊重孩子,并鼓励其自主活动.这类父母抚养下的孩子能够自主的依照自己的兴趣活动,在学业上能够自由的进行探索、研究,能够合理的分配、管理自己的学习,并能在学习中不断获取经验,不断取得进步.
2.3家长文化程度水平文化程度基本能反映一个人知识素养,文化程度高者,无论在知识的积累上还是在抽象的认知、情感的发展上,都达到了一定的层次;而文化程度较低的人看待事物的眼光往往较为局限,其观念、想法更新的也比较慢,相对而言,在基本知识素养上要低一些.作为家庭的第一任老师,父母在文化程度上的不同,对孩子的教育理念、教育方式等方面都会存在很多的差异.有研究显示,父母均为大学文化程度,其优秀学生在所有优秀学生中占的比例高于50%,而差生占的比例低于10%.这些研究表明,文化程度越高的父母,在教育孩子的方式上要优于文化程度较低的父母.
3对策与建议
3.1及时更新、调整家庭教育理念教育理念是指导父母如何教育子女的一个方向标,是否具有合情、合理、又有效的教育理念,关系着孩子在初期的发展方向及发展特点,这种影响甚至会迁延到成人.在众多教育理念中,我觉得需要重点考虑以下几点:(1)要重视以德育人.以德育人要求父母要学会以充满关爱的态度去理解孩子的需要,从人性的角度去认识孩子的各个方面,包括优点和缺点;以德育人要求父母要学会通过充满人性关怀的方式来指导、教育孩子,一方面做到以理服人,同时也能得到孩子的友善接纳.总体上德育要求父母要摆正自己在整个家庭中的角色,不能高高在上,无视孩子,也不能委曲求全,过分迁就孩子,需要父母掌握好“度”的问题(2)要尊重孩子心理发展的个体差异.受先天因素的影响,每个孩子的心理发展的速度和水平都存在一定的差异,心智化程度各有不同.家长要及时发现并理解、接纳这种差异,不能以高于孩子心理发展水平的要求去教导孩子,要尊重“慢热”孩子的心理特点,给予孩子一定的发展缓冲时间,以其自身的发展速度去成长.成绩优异固然是每个家长对孩子的一个惯有的期望,但切勿无视个体差异,而强求孩子不断给自己超负荷的心理压力,去追求难度系数超出正常接受水平的奋斗目标.父母要保持足够的耐心去陪伴孩子成长、发展(3)要允许孩子有犯错的机会.犯错,几乎是每个人在日常生活中不可避免的.对于中学生,这种犯错的几率可能相对会比较高一点,父母在孩子犯错时,不能以责备的态度去训斥孩子,而要有耐心的去倾听孩子在犯错时的感受,陪伴孩子一起去面对错误,给予孩子强大的心理支持.孩子在犯错时内心会有很大的愧疚和不安,家长的支持显得尤为重要,在父母支持而不是责备的态度下,孩子能有勇气去正视自己所犯的错误,而不是逃避或悔恨.
受高考模式的影响,高中的英语教育主要是应试教育,传统英语教学重视语法,而忽视听说能力。而进入大学尤其接触到社会的大学生,却猛然发现企业更加注重的是语言的实际表达能力和与人交流的能力,尤其交流能力的高低直接决定自己能否胜任该项工作。而在与人交流的过程中,其首要问题就是能否听明白对方在讲什么。只有明确理解对方的态度、意见,才能有针对性地提出自己的观点和应答策略。于是,他们发现纵然英语语法逻辑再严谨、英语表达再准确,若听不懂对方的话那也于事无补。鉴于传统英语教学的缺点,教师要阐明英语听力课的重要性,可以从理论关系和就业实践两个方面进行剖析。目前,我国大部分大学都会组织英语四六级考试,其中重要的一环也是英语听力,四六级证书也影响着学生的就业情况。作为大学英语教师,要深刻思考如何改变传统的英语教学弊端,改变英语听力课的从属地位,充分调动学生的学习热情和主动性,让学生在大学英语听力课上投入更多的学习精力。
(二)学生过分依赖教材
大学英语听力课的主要目的就是提高学生的听力能力,主要就是通过刺激学生的“耳朵”,让他们适应英语的语速、音调,听懂里面的内容,理解听力材料要表达的主旨。然而,由于学生手里有教科书或文字材料,这就导致学生不是在用“耳朵”听,而是在用“眼睛”看,这种“边看边听”的方式就严重减弱了听力材料对“耳朵”的刺激,降低了听力课的教学效果,甚至把“听力课”变成了“发音课”。
(三)听力学习习惯的缺失
整体来讲,目前大学生缺乏课下自主学习的习惯,这是目前大学生普遍存在的问题。当今,电脑、手机、QQ、微信、微博、网购等现代化通讯及购物手段既丰富了学生的业余生活也促进了同学间的交流。但同时这些也严重占用了学生的业余学习时间,甚至个别同学在课上也从事这些与学习无关的事情。这就使得学生没有养成自主学习的习惯。即使课下进行学多是针对理论课的学习,尤其是针对期末考试的学习。部分学生能够课下背诵单词、学习句型,但是短时间内效果不能明显。
二、关于听力课训练方法的建议
在听力课上,教师起到的是主导作用,但教师并非课堂的主角,学生才是主角。课上如何监督学生学习是教师的一个重要职责。笔者认为,听力课上除了让学生通过训练听懂资料内容外,还应该让学生学会听的技巧。根据训练的重点不同,笔者把听力材料分为以下几类进行训练。
(一)泛听训练
泛听训练是指将一段听力材料从头到尾不间断地给学生播放,根据内容的难易程度可以反复播送,然后要求学生总结出材料的中心思想。这种训练的主要目的是提高学生快速掌握听力材料内容的能力。在实际的语言交流中,语言是不间断的、连续的“听力材料”,听者是在极短时间内被动地接受大量的信息。因此,这种锻炼最接近实际,对学生的训练也最有效。同时,也要求学生在做这项训练时必须集中精力,调动全身细胞来努力听取材料内容。同时,为了提高听力效果,可在播放材料之前先将个别较难单词列给学生,同时给学生提出几个相关问题,让学生带着问题去听材料。这样,学生就会有针对性,可以根据问题在所听到的材料中寻找相关信息。
(二)听写训练
听写训练就是教师朗读单词、句子甚至是短文,要求学生把所听到的写下来。这样做的目的是练习学生听力和用笔捕捉信息的反应能力。在英语四六级考试中,听力考试材料较难。学生作为一个非母语的学习者,几乎不可能把所有信息都记录下来。这就要求学生具有迅速抓住要点记录的能力,所以需要教师在日常教学中加强这方面的训练,也可将英语四六级的考试题作为听力材料来训练。
(三)专项训练
专项训练就是针对学生在听的过程中遇到的某一处或者某几处难点进行专门的训练。目的是帮助学生解决听力过程中遇到的某个有针对性的问题。例如英语中的数字的特殊读法很难掌握、英语复数的规律较为复杂,学生在平时的练习甚至是考试的时候往往很惧怕这种听力题的出现,一听到相关内容就会紧张甚至产生放弃的消极心理。针对这种情况,为了克服学生的消极心理,笔者就有针对性地做一个专题,把相关内容先做一系统总结,然后把这类听力题目集中起来统一进行听力训练。必要时可以把相关听力材料发给学生,让其在课下反复练习,这样做效果更佳。以上这些只是笔者在日常教学中的一些经验和听力材料分类方法,除此之外我们还应该积极探索提高学生英语听力能力的各种教学方法,把握英语听力课的教学改革方向。
三、英语听力课教学改革的方向
(一)活用多媒体教学手段激发学生学习兴趣
多媒体技术的出现促进了我们的教学手段改革,在英语听力教学实践中,教师利用多媒体技术编制的教学计算机辅助教学课件,能充分创造出一个图文并茂、有声有色、生动逼真的教学环境,既能激发学生的学习兴趣,也能改变传统教学的单调模式。