In order to help you better use the "New Standard English" junior high school textbooks, we follow the foreign language education theory, foreign language learning theory, psychological theory, etc., combined with the rich practical experience of the majority of middle school English teachers in our country, and briefly compile An explanation of teaching methods and techniques is provided for your reference in teaching. If you are just starting to teach English, we hope to provide you with some teaching methods and techniques that you can learn to use; if you are a teacher with teaching experience, we hope to provide you with some teaching methods and techniques that you can refer to.
We first introduce the basic teaching method of task-based teaching, and then briefly introduce various aspects of the cultivation of basic skills and the teaching of basic knowledge.
I. Basic teaching method: task-based teaching
The national "English Curriculum Standards" clearly states that "this course advocates a task-based teaching model" and requires that "teachers should avoid teaching methods that simply impart language knowledge and try to use 'task-based teaching methods' 'type' teaching approach" (Ministry of Education, 2001), because task-based teaching is considered to be "the most effective means currently available (P.Skehan, 1998)" in cultivating students' application abilities.
Task-based approach is the latest development of Western English education since the 1980s and the latest development of "communicative approaches".
There are different definitions of tasks. Generally speaking, a task is a teaching activity. “It is a meaning-centered activity that enables learners to use the target language to participate in understanding, processing, "In output and/or interaction." (D.Nunan, 1989)
Based on reading the works of D.Nunan, J.Yalden, P.Shekan and others and the "English Curriculum Standards" and other documents. Analysis, combined with the analysis of the primary school textbook "New Standard English" and the junior high school textbook "New Target English" written according to the idea of ??task-based teaching, we can see that task-based teaching has the following basic characteristics:
1. Task-based teaching is a new form of Communicative Approaches, a development of Communicative Approaches, rather than a substitute for Communicative Approaches. (J.Yalden)
2. Task-based teaching emphasizes the teaching process and strives to allow students to participate in the learning process by completing real-life tasks, so that students can develop the ability to use English. Therefore, task-based teaching overcomes the shortcomings of the function-based communicative teaching method that does not pay attention to the process. (D.Nunan,P.Skehan)
3. Task-based teaching still emphasizes cultivating students' ability to use English for communication, but it also emphasizes cultivating students' comprehensive language use ability from a broader perspective. (P.Skehan)
4. Task-based teaching emphasizes taking real-life tasks as the central teaching activities, correcting the problem of insufficient authenticity in function-based teaching activities. (D.Nunan)
5. Task-based teaching requires that teaching activities should be conducive to students learning language knowledge and developing language skills, thereby improving their actual language use ability. In other words, task-based teaching does not oppose the teaching of language knowledge, but advocates language for the purpose of language use ability. Knowledge teaching. Therefore, the tasks are both real-life tasks and learning tasks. (D.Nunan, J.Richards, S.Gass)
"New Standard English" is a brand-new junior high school English textbook compiled in accordance with the national "English Curriculum Standards". Therefore, it has been based on the task-based teaching idea. Corresponding tasks are designed in the textbook for teachers to use in teaching. We provide you with the following suggestions on the procedures for task-based classroom teaching.
Nunan (1989) and Willis
(1996) have both discussed task teaching procedures. Generally speaking, these discussions have a three-stage structure of task presentation, teaching, and task completion. Program, which is the embodiment of the basic concept of task-driven teaching, and also has a clear teaching purpose. Therefore, the classroom teaching procedure of task-based teaching is:
1. Task presentation
This is a unique teaching link of task-based classroom teaching. Task-based classroom teaching begins with Present tasks so that students can clearly understand the tasks to be completed from the beginning of classroom teaching, and then learn language knowledge and skill training driven by the tasks. This learning process is a task-driven process and is conducive to strengthening Interest and motivation in learning, while also helping to reflect the authenticity of the task. You can also not present tasks at the beginning of classroom teaching, but only present tasks after knowledge learning and skill training, and complete the tasks. However, this is not a task-driven teaching process, and students' learning motivation is not as strong as a task-driven process.
2. Task preparation: knowledge and skills teaching
The task preparation process is actually our classroom teaching process, and classroom teaching is the process of preparing knowledge and abilities to complete tasks.
After we present the application tasks to students at the beginning of classroom teaching, students can feel that they do not have enough knowledge, abilities, skills, information and cultural understanding, and the requirements of the tasks are inconsistent with their current knowledge and abilities. There are obvious knowledge gaps, ability gaps, skills gaps, information gaps and cultural gaps. Therefore, students are driven by the task and acquire the knowledge, abilities, skills, information and cultural understanding necessary to complete the task by learning the teaching content, and then they can complete the task.
This process of learning teaching content is the usual process of knowledge teaching and skill training.
A. Knowledge learning
This is our usual language knowledge (phonics, vocabulary, sentences, grammar, etc.) and cultural knowledge teaching, but task teaching emphasizes that knowledge teaching is related to the task, that is: knowledge itself should be completed to complete the task What is necessary and what students lacked before (that is, it belongs to the knowledge gap), we must constantly pay attention to the task itself in the process of knowledge teaching.
B． Skill training
This includes the teaching of what we usually call language skills (listening, listening, reading and writing), as well as the teaching of learning skills (learning strategies). Of course, task-based teaching emphasizes that skills teaching is related to the task, that is: the skill itself should be necessary to complete the task but what the students lacked before (that is, it belongs to the skill gap). At the same time, the task itself should be constantly taken care of during the skill process.
This is not essentially different from the regular classroom teaching procedures, but the teaching process must be conducted around the completion of the task, that is, the knowledge and skills learned are necessary to complete the task, and at the same time During the teaching process, the knowledge and skills being learned should be constantly reflected on the tasks to be completed, that is, a direct connection should be established between the newly learned knowledge, skills and application tasks, so that students can not only master the knowledge and skills, but also form The ability to apply this knowledge and skills.
3. Task completion
The completion of the task is the final step of the task-based teaching program. By completing tasks, students transform the knowledge and skills they learned in the previous session into the ability to use English in real life.
This link can be completed in the classroom under the guidance of the teacher during the teaching process. For example, it can be arranged after the completion of the teaching content, or at the last stage of classroom teaching, or it can be arranged after class. Generally, short-term tasks are completed directly in the teaching of this unit, while long-term tasks can be completed within a specified time (preferably no more than one semester).
Students may be required to complete tasks with higher ability requirements in groups, and students may be required to complete tasks with average ability requirements individually.
II． Specific teaching methods and techniques
As mentioned above, task-based teaching includes learning tasks, that is, tasks of training skills and learning knowledge. To this end, we provide you with the following reference teaching methods and techniques on the relevant aspects of knowledge teaching and skill teaching.
Four. Grammar teaching methods
It is impossible for our Chinese primary and secondary school students to learn English without learning grammar. Grammar teaching can give students a clear and systematic understanding of English language rules and help students establish language norms. However, we must pay special attention to grammar teaching. We teach students English grammar not to cultivate their ability to analyze English language grammatically, nor to train them into English grammarians. Grammar teaching is to cultivate students' ability to use English. Ability-serving, grammar teaching is subordinate to the cultivation of the ability to use English. Nowadays, some English teachers and English education researchers overemphasize grammatical analysis and always want to cultivate students' ability to perform grammatical analysis. This is actually a grammar teaching method that puts the cart before the horse. The following grammar teaching methods can be used as a reference by teachers in grammar teaching.
1. Inductive grammar teaching
Induction is a learning method from perceptual knowledge to rational knowledge. Induction requires us to first give students some language materials that contain grammar teaching content, let students be exposed to these grammatical phenomena in learning language materials, and then guide students to summarize grammatical rules from these language materials
The induction method can Allowing students to obtain language materials first and gain rational knowledge from perceptual knowledge is helpful for students to understand and master grammatical rules, but it requires a certain amount of teaching time and requires teachers to make more teaching rules for language materials, and needs to be included in the teaching of language materials. Teaching from context and pragmatics rather than directly from grammatical concepts and grammatical rules.
2. Deductive grammar teaching
Deduction starts from the concepts that have been formed, teaches the concepts directly to students, and then uses examples and language materials to illustrate the concepts.
The deductive method allows students to first come into contact with grammatical rules, which can avoid rule errors. However, the deductive method is too rational and requires students to have relatively strong abstract thinking ability, strong learning interest and a certain degree of learning perseverance. ?
Compared with the deductive method, the inductive method is more conducive to reducing students' learning burden, reducing students' learning difficulties, and weakening students' learning anxiety. The deductive method is more conducive to shortening students' learning time and reducing students' learning errors. The inductive method is more conducive to students' learning, and the deductive method is more conducive to teachers' teaching.
The author believes that the inductive method is more suitable for initial teaching and the teaching of new knowledge, and the deductive method is more suitable for developmental teaching and the reinforcement of old knowledge.
However, teachers should still choose teaching methods based on the dynamic and real educational and teaching factors of the classes they teach.
3. Comparative grammar teaching
The so-called comparison here includes two aspects: First, it compares similar but different English language phenomena in English grammar itself, such as simple present tense Comparison with the present continuous tense, comparison between the simple past tense and the present perfect tense, comparison between adjective possessive pronouns and noun possessive pronouns, etc.; second, the relevant grammatical phenomena and structures in English and Chinese Comparison of rules.
Comparative grammar teaching can be done after learning a comparable grammatical phenomenon and then comparing two grammatical phenomena when learning another grammatical phenomenon. For example, after learning adjective possessive pronouns, When learning noun possessive pronouns, compare the already learned adjective possessive pronouns with the noun possessive pronouns to help students learn to master noun possessive pronouns.
Comparative grammar teaching can also be used in grammar summary review. For example, after learning the five basic verb tenses, compare the differences in usage, semantics, pragmatics, etc. between the five tenses. , to help students consolidate their mastery. During review, comparative grammar teaching should use language comparison in a sufficiently real language environment, rather than a simple comparison of grammatical concepts and terminology.
4. Concentrated grammar teaching
Similar to the concentrated vocabulary teaching method, concentrated grammar teaching focuses on the English grammar knowledge that students should learn in one semester or throughout primary and secondary school. Teaching is conducted within one week or two or three weeks, using a deductive method, and strives to enable students to quickly master basic English grammar knowledge in a short period of time through the teaching of grammatical concepts and the explanation of example sentences.
This grammar teaching method requires students to have a relatively strong interest in grammar learning and relatively tenacious grammar learning perseverance, and at the same time, it requires students to have a relatively strong ability to concentrate. This grammar teaching method should be helpful to students during final review and graduation review, but using it at the beginning of students' learning may increase students' anxiety about learning English, and in severe cases may cause students to form psychological barriers to English learning.
This method separates the learning of grammar knowledge from the study of text for a long time. If the grammar knowledge of a semester is taught intensively at the beginning of the semester, then the grammar knowledge learned in the last unit of the semester may be The separation of grammar knowledge learning and text learning appears for one semester, which may affect students' accurate application of grammar knowledge. This method simultaneously separates grammatical knowledge and the application of grammatical knowledge for a long time, which is not conducive to students learning and mastering the real context in which grammatical knowledge is used and its real pragmatic functions.
Grammar-focused teaching can effectively help students learn grammar knowledge more systematically, and can also help students compare easily confused grammar knowledge. If used reasonably, it can help us improve teaching quality and efficiency. , but if used improperly, it can increase the difficulty of teaching, affect the quality and efficiency of teaching, and affect students' ability to use English. At the same time, when using the centralized method, how to concentrate, what grammatical knowledge to concentrate, and how to organically and reasonably combine the concentrated teaching of grammatical knowledge with the cultivation of the ability to use grammatical knowledge are all issues that should be considered. Blind concentration may be detrimental to the improvement of teaching quality and teaching efficiency in the classes taught by teachers.
5. Grammar teaching through pictures
Many teachers use pictures to teach English grammar knowledge. Because the pictures are intuitive, students can easily grasp the teaching content and often achieve better results. teaching effect.
However, pictures can only be used to teach some English grammar knowledge, such as the teaching of locative prepositions, adverbs, tenses, etc.
6. Grammar teaching in the form of tables
Tables can clearly compare and classify grammatical knowledge, so they often appear in the teaching of grammatical knowledge, and even some grammar books It is written in tabular form.
Because the table emphasizes the consistency of content, the table can only list the basic content of English grammar knowledge. It is often difficult to list the more special and inconsistent content. At the same time, it is difficult to list the application of grammar knowledge.
7. Grammar teaching using computer animation
Computer animation is not commonly used in English grammar teaching. Computer animation is often used in some computer-assisted teaching software for grammar teaching. Computer animation has a strong sense of movement, and the animation itself is also very popular among students. At the same time, animation can express actions clearly and is accompanied by explanations, so this form is very vital.
With the widespread development of computer-assisted English teaching, grammar teaching in the form of computer animation will also be widely used.
Since most of the current computer teaching software is not network-based, it is difficult to compare the grammar teaching of computer animation among students, which affects the teaching effect of computer animation to a certain extent.
8. Grammar teaching methods in communicative teaching
No matter what teaching principles are adopted, grammar knowledge must be taught to students, but the teaching methods are different.
Today's new textbooks emphasize cultivating students' ability to communicate in English and adopt a hidden teaching method for grammar. This is relatively difficult for Chinese students who can only enter the English environment in a few English classes per week. . In fact, necessary explanation of grammar knowledge is inevitable. The key is how to implement the principle of ability education in grammar teaching.
We can adopt the following methods in grammar teaching:
A. When explaining grammatical knowledge, should we talk about the pragmatic purpose and contextual requirements of grammatical knowledge?
< p>In fact, English grammar is not rigid knowledge, but has its own pragmatic purpose and contextual requirements. When we explain grammar, as long as we grasp the pragmatic purpose and contextual requirements, students can get rid of rigid knowledge and be inspired by their abilities. For example, when we use the past continuous tense of verbs, we need to teach students that this tense is used to describe and explain the actions that were taking place at a certain time in the past, such as spying on last night. The policeman who committed the robbery told you what you were doing at six o'clock last night, apologized to your friend because you were not at home when he came to your house the day before yesterday and you were playing football on the field, etc. Tell the students that in this context, for such language For purposes, we mustuse the past continuous tense. This method not only enables students to master the formation method of past continuous tense, but more importantly, teaches students under what pragmatic purpose and context to use past continuous tense. This is the real purpose of learning grammar.
B. When giving examples, should we give examples that are semantically true, contextually true, and pragmatically true?
When explaining grammatical knowledge, we must give some examples. Explain these grammatical knowledge. At this time, our example sentences must have a clear and reasonable pragmatic purpose. The contextual semantics of the example sentences must be as complete and reasonable as possible. The English language of the example sentences must be as standard and authentic as possible. We must try to avoid creating some untrue example sentences. We must try our best to avoid creating untrue example sentences. Examples may be selected from original English works. At the same time, it should be noted that English-Chinese dictionaries, idiomatic dictionaries, grammar books written by Chinese, and English and American original dictionaries, reference books, and grammar books written before the 1970s cannot be fully trusted and can only be referred to. Teachers can refer to several original English dictionaries, reference books, and grammar books imported from the United Kingdom and the United States in recent years, especially the 1995 edition of Longman Dictionary, the "Encyclopedia of English Grammar" written by R. Quirk, and some original English textbooks. wait.
C. In grammar exercises, mechanical training should be reduced and pragmatic training should be strengthened. The English in exercises should be as standard and authentic as possible. After teaching grammar knowledge, in order to help students consolidate the knowledge they have learned, of course we must Provide students with necessary training opportunities. At this time, we must resolutely abandon the traditional mechanical training methods and provide students with clear pragmatic purposes and contextual semantic requirements. Not only must students master the correct grammatical expression methods, but also what kind of context and what purpose. When pragmatically expressing what kind of semantics, you use the grammatical knowledge you have learned.
The grammar exercises that students do after they have just mastered the grammatical knowledge are very critical for students to truly master and understand these grammatical knowledge. Therefore, we must use standard and authentic English to guide students to practice, so as to truly master how to Use this knowledge of grammar. If the English practiced is not standard and authentic enough, it is very likely that students will form irregular or even wrong ways of using grammar.
9． Some main problems that should be avoided in grammar teaching
A. Too many concepts, emphasis on analysis, and neglect of pragmatics?
Some teachers are used to teaching grammar knowledge from grammatical concepts, as if they would be lost without concepts. Grammar teaching cannot be carried out, and a large number of grammatical concepts are introduced into the classroom during grammar teaching, making students feel that grammar is all concepts, and grammar learning is concept learning. The result is often that students have mastered a lot of grammatical concepts, but still have not mastered the grammatical knowledge, or as soon as they see a sentence, they have to use grammatical concepts to check.
Some teachers place too much emphasis on grammatical analysis in grammar teaching, requiring students to learn a comprehensive grammatical analysis of the English language and divide each sentence into sentence components. Moreover, this approach is often associated with too many grammatical concepts, requiring students to use various grammatical concepts to analyze the English language.
These teachers ignore pragmatic teaching in grammar teaching, do not explain grammar knowledge from the use of language, and do not require and train students from the use of ability. As a result, students often learn many concepts and learn grammar. Analysis, but just haven't learned how to use grammatical knowledge. The author believes that this kind of grammar teaching is a failure and does not meet the purpose of grammar teaching.
B. Example sentences lack necessary context
The sentences used by some teachers in grammar teaching often lack necessary context, making these sentences unable to truly express a certain semantic meaning. In order to explain grammatical knowledge, teachers often assign a certain semantic meaning to it. As a result, students think that this example sentence has a certain semantic meaning, but when reading in a real context, they cannot combine the semantic meaning they have obtained in grammar learning with The real context establishes an organic connection, or the sentence is used to express the semantics acquired in grammar learning in real expressions, but the recipient of the expression cannot understand or cannot accurately understand its real semantics, because this sentence at this time The semantics that students want to express cannot be expressed in the real context.
Some teachers use some examples in grammar teaching that can fully explain a certain grammatical concept or can be used for a certain grammatical analysis, but these examples are often specially written for this kind of grammar teaching. Example sentences usually cannot be used in real contexts to express real pragmatic functions.
Grammar teaching is knowledge-based teaching. Once we separate knowledge from ability, it will affect the quality and efficiency of teaching.
C. Segmentation is too detailed and the semantic whole is ignored
In grammar teaching, in order to teach grammatical knowledge, some teachers often segment the semantic whole according to grammar instead of looking at the semantic whole. Teaching results in students missing the forest for the trees and understanding the grammatical structure but not the semantics.
12. Teaching methods of written expression
1. Extended writing teaching
Extended writing teaching starts from words and sentences that students have already mastered , teach students to gradually expand sentences, and gradually develop students' ability to write into chapters. The extended method is a commonly used method in writing teaching, and it is also a generally effective method. Expansion can be divided into two types: controlled expansion and uncontrolled expansion. Controlled expansion requires students to expand according to the given vocabulary, sentences, content, or prescribed form, purpose, etc., to form a controlled chapter. Non-controlled expansion allows students to expand according to their own English abilities and writing wishes.
Extended writing instruction can begin in the starting grades.
2. Classified writing teaching
Categorized writing teaching usually divides writing into picture writing, writing based on given materials, letter writing, diary writing, etc. categories, and then teach writing according to different categories.
Classified writing teaching usually requires different categories of chapter forms.
Categorized writing teaching and extended writing teaching can be used interchangeably.
Categorized writing training is also an important achievement of genre teaching method.
3. Teaching from oral composition to written composition
This teaching method usually starts with the students collectively doing a preliminary key oral composition, and then requires the students to follow the oral composition. Composition involves written writing, and written writing is usually the improvement and supplement of oral composition.
This method is conducive to giving full play to the demonstration and leading role of students with better foundation in the whole class, and is widely used in the teaching of Chinese composition in the beginning grades of primary schools.
13. Cultural teaching methods
Intercultural education is one of the essential provisions of English courses. "New Standard English" relatively comprehensively embodies the idea of ??cross-cultural education. For the teaching of cultural content, we can adopt the following methods:
1. Explicit cultural teaching
For explicit cultural teaching content, we should teach it very explicitly, let students observe and analyze, and encourage students to discuss after they have certain English language ability.
In explicit cultural teaching, we need to pay attention to students’ cultural emotional experience in observation and analysis, encourage students to understand the completely different aspects of foreign culture and Chinese culture, and be tolerant of those who in the eyes of Chinese culture The phenomenon of foreign culture can be unreasonable, but we must avoid forming the concept of cultural discrimination.
At the same time, the most important thing is to encourage students to form an open cultural mentality and not to form a cultural mentality of belittling oneself or being arrogant, which are two completely opposite but unreasonable cultural mentality.
2. Implicit cultural teaching
Taking texts about the culture of English-speaking countries as texts for English teaching, only language teaching is carried out in the teaching, and no direct explicit cultural teaching is carried out. This is implicit culture. Teaching, because students have actually understood the culture by understanding the text.
In implicit cultural teaching, teachers should closely observe the cultural feelings gained by students. If cross-cultural misunderstandings, discrimination and other cultural mentality occur, explicit cultural teaching should be carried out in a timely manner.
3. Thematic cultural teaching
Thematic practice activities (Thematic Project) are an effective integration mechanism for cultural teaching. They can effectively integrate English teaching, history, geography, science, and even Chinese subjects to carry out thematic teaching. Teaching activities using English as the working language.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has always advocated the organization of international special practice activities, and schools with conditions can also organize them. For example, for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, you can organize Olympics: From Athens to Beijing, etc., which involve knowledge from many disciplines. More importantly, such activities can integrate students' abilities and cultivate students' comprehensive practical abilities.