An effective way to improve Chinese language ability
——A brief discussion on the training and testing of speaking ability
Speaking is a main form for people to communicate their thoughts. Ability is an important component of language proficiency. The "Middle School Chinese Language Teaching Syllabus" clearly states that at the junior high school stage, it is necessary to "continue to cultivate good habits of listening, speaking, reading and writing" and "to be able to speak and converse in Mandarin"; at the high school stage, it is necessary to "further improve the reading, writing and speaking abilities of modern Chinese" ". The "Chinese Teaching Syllabus for Nine-Year Compulsory Education Full-time Junior High Schools" also points out that "listening and listening skills are increasingly needed in modern life, and training should be strengthened." Both sets of syllabuses have clear requirements for speaking ability. Today, when we are breaking through the shackles of traditional exam-oriented education and vigorously promoting quality education, how to improve and test speaking ability is a new topic before us. This article attempts to discuss some issues related to speaking training, in order to contribute to the development of speaking ability training in middle schools.
1. The purpose and tasks of speaking training
Speaking training can promote the development of thinking and improve Chinese ability. From the perspective of the modern language ability structure, the four abilities of listening, speaking, reading and writing are interrelated and mutually reinforcing. They should be developed simultaneously and cannot be neglected. Mr. Ye Shengtao said: "Both oral language and written language have two skills to learn. On the one hand, it is the ability to accept, listen to what others say, and read what others write; on the other hand, it is the ability to express, to speak to others, and Write for others to read.”
The Chinese language proficiency system is composed of four elements: listening, speaking, reading and writing. These four elements are not randomly stacked or put together like toy building blocks. They can be "synthesized" because there is a key factor - thinking. Thinking ability occupies a basic position in the ability training of listening, speaking, reading and writing. If listening, reading, and watching are input information, and speaking and writing are output information, then thinking is the central hub that controls their access. Psychological experiments show that "speaking" has the highest thinking efficiency. Linguistics tells us: "The difference between the language spoken by the actor and the language that has only pronunciation and movements without speaking. The former language is called external speech, and the latter language is called internal speech... From internal speech to external speech There is still a long way to go. The process of converting internal speech into external speech is also a process of organizing thoughts. "In this process, not only the thoughts are more organized and clearer than before, but also the language is expressed. Expression skills must be enhanced. Therefore, speaking training is a kind of thinking training and language training of great intellectual value. It is very beneficial to improving thinking and language skills. In Chinese teaching, through speaking training, students can learn good thinking patterns and develop good language habits. The development of the four abilities of "listening, listening, reading and writing" is an organic whole that restricts and promotes each other. Strengthening speaking training can not only develop students' thinking ability and language ability, but also promote listening, reading and writing skills and improve students' Chinese ability.
Speaking and speaking training is an important task for Chinese language education in the 21st century. "Speaking", as the most basic and important quality of human beings, is particularly important in modern society. Communication between social members mainly relies on "speaking". Therefore, paying attention to and strengthening speaking training is not only a need for quality education, but also a need for cultivating cross-century talents. Mr. Zhang Zhigong said: "In Chinese teaching, reading and writing are important, and listening and speaking are also important. We cannot only focus on reading and writing, but ignore listening and speaking. Oral communication is unprecedentedly important in modern society." For Chinese quality education in the 21st century, students must vigorously develop Speech ability, because the development of sound transmission technology will advance by leaps and bounds in the 21st century, intelligent computer engineering for language input and automatic text output will have greater development, and audio languages ??will use high-tech voice control technology to transmit information, service production, and command work. The demands of the times on people's ability to speak are obvious. Therefore, students are trained to use standardized, logically standardized spoken language - Mandarin, learn to express themselves appropriately in different language environments, and use clear pronunciation, appropriate volume, concise words and sentences, and complete meanings to conduct human-machine communication. Dialogue brings the transmission of oral information into a non-artificial, intelligent and practical stage. This will be an important task for Chinese quality education in the 21st century.
2. The main problems existing in current speaking teaching
For a long time, the college entrance examination and the high school entrance examination have only paid attention to reading and writing but despised listening and speaking. The selection of talents is basically determined by a test paper. Points and points are the lifeblood of students. It is also the lifeblood of teachers and schools. Scores are not only the only criterion for measuring students, but also the only criterion for measuring teachers and schools. Therefore, although the syllabus clearly states that oral expression and written expression are equally important in modern life, attention should be paid to cultivating students' speaking ability. The textbook also specifically introduces the content and requirements of listening and speaking training as a knowledge point, but in practice, In teaching, due to the habit of emphasizing test-oriented education and neglecting quality education, it is often "what is tested, what is taught; what is tested, what is learned." Since the middle school entrance examination and the college entrance examination do not test listening and speaking ability, teachers and students will consciously or unconsciously Neglect of teaching and training in speaking.
Even if some teachers realize the importance of speaking training and practice it, they end up talking about it because it is not effective. Speaking ability training in middle school Chinese education is currently in a state of being aimless, unsteady and arbitrary. in a disordered state.
Of course, in this year’s high school entrance examination and college entrance examination questions, the test of listening and speaking ability has also been reflected in some aspects, such as testing the stress of certain words in sentences, the choice of synonyms, the pauses of sentences, and the coherence of tone. , appropriate pronunciation, and expressiveness, etc. However, oral language ability is still greatly limited by the written expression-based test form in the middle school and college entrance examinations, so that in teaching and training, schools still emphasize reading and writing and neglect Heard. However, this kind of teaching and training is lame. It does not meet the overall goals and requirements of Chinese teaching and deviates from the comprehensive principle of Chinese quality education.
With the rapid improvement of social informatization, the frequency of people receiving information, listening, is significantly higher than reading, and the frequency of outputting information, speaking, is significantly higher than writing. Times have pushed the emphasis on oral expression into people's social lives, but most people are still indifferent to it. Influenced by traditional thinking, many people disdain being eloquent and fickle. On the contrary, they believe that being silent is a sign of modesty, prudentness, and prudentness. Being brave enough to state one's opinions and "showing off" are often confused. Under the influence of these traditional consciousnesses, it is difficult for speaking ability training to receive the attention it deserves.
At present, in middle school Chinese education, especially in rural middle schools, speaking training lags behind seriously. As a result, many students have extremely low speaking skills, poor vocabulary, stiff intonation, and are repetitive or disjointed when speaking. , also mixed with meaningless mantras, no distinction between high and low pronunciation, confusing topics, disconnected language context, neglect of speaking etiquette and posture, and lack of language cultivation.
The times call for Chinese quality education to strengthen speaking training, but the reality of exam-oriented education seriously hinders the full development of speaking training, which constitutes a sharp contradiction in today's Chinese education. To resolve this contradiction. In addition to vigorously promoting the further reform of the Chinese examination system, what is more important is to start from each of our Chinese teachers and strengthen the training and testing of speaking in Chinese education.
3. Training on speaking ability
1. Training goals
Regarding the goal of speaking ability, the syllabus is for the six grades from the first grade to the third grade. Made clear provisions. According to the characteristics of each grade, it can be broken down into goals at different levels and implemented step by step.
The first level is basic speaking skill training. This is the starting point of speaking ability and is a training level focusing on cultivating speech recognition and application abilities. It mainly includes (1) using Mandarin correctly; (2) mastering recitation skills and developing speaking habits that pay attention to tone, speaking speed, intonation, etc.; (3) mastering speaking etiquette, not being pretentious, and accurately using posture and other auxiliary means; (4) ) Develop the courage to practice oral expression and develop the habit of active expression. For example, for first-year students who have just entered school, the "self-introduction" practice method is suitable. Seize the students' strong curiosity and ask each student to come up to the stage to introduce themselves or some situations closely related to themselves, including name, age, the name of the primary school, family situation, hobbies, personality, and even the future. Plan to wait. Before letting students practice, teachers can give demonstrations and explain the essentials clearly. The requirements for this training should not be too high. As long as the speakers can speak loudly and clearly, they should be given full affirmation and encouragement to cultivate their courage to speak and the habit of active expression.
The second level is retelling and speaking training. It focuses on language thinking and organizational skills, emphasizing the externalization of internal speech. Mainly include: (1) Pay attention to existing language materials (introducing things, retelling texts, telling stories, etc.); (2) Speaking in an orderly and coherent context; (3) Changing language forms according to the purpose, object and occasion; (4) ) The retelling is both detailed and brief, with clear priorities. According to the teaching requirements of the syllabus and the characteristics of the teaching materials, the training of "Introduction to Things" is suitable for the second grade of junior high school. For example, using the title "The front and back of my house" to introduce the environmental characteristics of your home to everyone, you are required to state the specific directions when introducing. You must use directional words such as "front and back", "left and right" to describe, and be able to use the most common Use methods such as listing numbers and making comparisons to make accurate and vivid introductions. With the topic "How to play the ╳╳ game", introduce to your classmates how to play a certain game you like. Finally, various rules and methods for conducting game activities are introduced, requiring coherent tone and orderly speaking. As for junior high school students, training methods such as "situational dialogue" and "one issue, one discussion" are applicable. For example, "Call ╳╳," requires the user to choose appropriate and appropriate language to design the dialogue based on the purpose, object, and occasion: "After being criticized by the teacher," requires a brief description of what happened and his clear views. It is necessary to have a natural and generous manner, coherent and organized speaking, and changes in tone and tone, so as to develop good habits of expressing one's thoughts correctly.
The third level is creative speaking training. It is the ultimate goal of speaking training, focusing on cultivating judgment and evaluation, directional expression and adaptability. Mainly include: (1) speak on the right topic and have clear views; (2) be able to make impromptu speeches under specific circumstances; (3) conduct conversations according to different occasions, objects, and purposes; (4) have certain speech and debate skills. This level of speaking training requires students to be able to discuss, research, exchange opinions, and express opinions on certain issues.
For example, commenting on a certain work can start a tit-for-tat debate on a certain issue; cultivate the ability to speak in different situations and situations. Through commentaries, debates, and speech training, we cultivate students' courage to speak boldly and state their opinions, improve students' cognitive abilities, adaptability, and oral expression skills, and develop students' creative thinking.
The goals of these three levels are determined based on the principles of "from easy to difficult, from low to high," and "order", combined with the teaching syllabus' requirements for speaking ability at each grade. . The three levels have both complementary and synchronous effects, providing scientific basis and practical guarantee for strengthening speaking training.
2. Training methods
① Set up speaking classes, include speaking in the teaching plan, and set one class per week. It mainly provides students with Mandarin training and introduces speaking-related knowledge. The correct use of Mandarin is the starting point for speaking ability training. In addition to strictly requiring students to read texts and answer questions in Mandarin during normal classes, students must also undergo special training separately. For this, you can refer to the relevant knowledge of the Mandarin test for training, so that students can understand the difference between dialects and Mandarin, master the common sense of reading aloud such as tone, intonation, speaking speed, stress, pauses, etc., and introduce the relevant knowledge of speaking: such as speaking etiquette, gestures, Center and purpose, organization and accuracy, coherence, appropriateness, etc., so as to carry out special training. Such as training on speaking stress. In one sentence, due to different stress, the meaning is also different. Taking the sentence "I know she can sing" as an example, students are required to answer the following questions: a. Who knew she could sing? b. Did you know she can sing? c. Who do you know who can sing? d. Do you know if she can sing? e. Do you know what she can do? After clarifying the meaning of each sentence, students are guided to accurately grasp and use stress, thereby achieving twice the result with half the effort. Teachers should make full use of speaking classes to organize and guide students in storytelling, recitation, lectures, debates, etc., in order to activate students' interest in speaking and improve their speaking ability.
② Combined with Chinese teaching, this is the main classroom for fine speaking ability. Its training forms are diverse, such as "three minutes of speaking" training in each Chinese class, using text words to connect words to speak , Q&A, discussion, retelling, reading, etc., to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of students' speaking ability and cultivate students' active thinking ability and the good habit of having the courage to speak.
③ Carry out Chinese activity classes, which are big classrooms for speaking training. Carrying out Chinese activities can stimulate and cultivate students' interest in speaking. If speaking training in the classroom makes students feel constrained due to limitations in scope and time, then the rich and colorful extracurricular activities are a big classroom for speaking training. In addition to using extracurricular language activities to regularly hold recitations, book reviews, film reviews, performance reviews, and debates, it can also be combined with social practice and cultural and entertainment activities. Carry out various activities, such as allowing students to conduct investigations, interviews, and discussions around hot issues in school and society, and improve their ability to observe phenomena and speak in practice; organize students to rehearse textbook plays, which not only stimulates students' interest in speaking training, but also deepens their understanding of the text. It also enriches the understanding of after-school life and organizes students to collect proverbs, sayings, sayings, etc. in daily life, and learn lively language forms from the people. These are undoubtedly a vast world for students to train their speaking.
3. Pay attention to the macro grasp of training
① Training must be planned, systematic and step-by-step. The components of speaking ability are complex, and the training content is diverse and there are many ways. Only with a plan can we overcome the randomness of training; only with a system can we overcome the irregularity of training; only by clarifying the stage goals and the relationship between each goal, and following the ability There is an objective law of development from low level to high level, so that speaking training can have a certain scientific nature and ensure the effectiveness of training.
②Training must grasp the "degree". Speaking is an intellectual activity and, like reading and writing, is a manifestation of comprehensive ability. Classroom training is often restricted by educational tasks and is not easy to regulate. For example, in discussions, if there is too much, the situation will be difficult to control, and if there is too little, there will be no radiating surface. Teachers must grasp the appropriate amount of "degree": let go (there is a certain radiating surface), close in (not arbitrary). Moreover, in the current situation where exam-oriented education still dominates, test scores are still the lifeblood of students. Therefore, speaking training should be controlled at a "degree" that can improve speaking ability without affecting test scores. To grasp this "degree" well, the following points must be achieved: First, speaking training must be closely integrated with the entire Chinese teaching, especially reading teaching. By reading and memorizing texts, students can be influenced by standardized written language and cultivate students' Language sense; through retelling and commenting on teaching materials, students can deepen their understanding of the text and improve their reading ability. The second is to combine speaking and writing, using writing to assist speaking and speaking to promote writing, so that students' written and oral expression abilities can be improved. The third is to arrange training according to the different situations of each grade; since the first year, second year of junior high school, first year of high school, and second year of high school do not take the entrance examination, the amount of speaking training can be more, while the amount of speaking training for the third year of junior high school and the third year of high school can be appropriately reduced.
③Establish an incentive mechanism to promote individuality. The first time you speak is the key, the first time you speak is also the key, one stands up and leads a large group. During the training process, we must be good at motivating students to make them introverted, shy, and reticent. In order to encourage them to speak, students can be organized to hold frequent group discussions to create favorable conditions for them to speak in front of everyone. Everyone speaks freely, which not only strengthens their courage, practices their speaking skills, but also stimulates their interest in speaking.
It is necessary to build a warm and relaxed speaking environment and democratize teaching so that students' individuality can be expressed.
4. Monitoring of speaking ability
The ability to speak is an important part of Chinese ability, and how to supervise and inspect the training of students’ speaking ability is placed in Chinese teaching. Another new topic. Based on the requirements for speaking ability in the "Outline" and textbooks and the actual situation of the current Chinese language examination, it is necessary to monitor speaking ability. It is completely feasible to incorporate the speaking test into the unified Chinese language test at the end of the school year to measure and promote learning. , and it is also more scientific.
1. Test format
According to the teaching requirements of "Speaking" in the "Outline" and textbooks and the current situation of Chinese language examinations, regular examinations in schools should take a combination of written and oral examinations. method. The test format of speaking ability can be defined as: first grade students in junior high school, reading aloud and telling stories; second grade students in junior high school, reading aloud and introducing things; first and second grade students in high school, reading aloud and making impromptu speeches. The third year of junior high school and the third year of high school do not need to take the oral test because they have to take the entrance examination. Specific test questions will be determined by students drawing lots 10 minutes before the test.
2. Test standards and proportions
The formulation of speaking test standards should be based on the actual situation of students' Chinese ability. If the speaking scoring standard is set too high, it will not be conducive to mobilizing students' enthusiasm; if it is set too low, it will not be conducive to giving full play to the guiding role of motivating students to "speak." The test standards for asking for bribes can be rejected. The standards for the Mandarin proficiency test are divided into three levels, and the requirements are appropriately lowered. That is: standard Mandarin, elegant manners, natural intonation, clear hierarchy, and fluent expression, with a score of more than 90 points, which is Level 1; being able to speak Mandarin, with a loud voice, and basically fluent expression, with a score of 80-89 points, is Level 2; basic Able to speak Mandarin and organize simple words to express according to the topic, with a score of 60-79 points, which is Level 3.
The scores of the speaking test can account for 10% of the comprehensive Chinese language test scores. This score can not only arouse students' interest in "speaking", but also promote a comprehensive and balanced Chinese ability. For development, one or two is more appropriate.
3. Test content
The selection of speaking test content should be based on the teaching materials and the students' real life. The design of test questions should be closely linked to school education and students' lives, so that students can feel that they have "something to say" and "have something to say." For example, topics such as "Tell me about myself", "If I were the monitor", "Can middle school students wear jewelry", "Analysis of the phenomenon of greeting cards", are more interesting to students. Students can be involved in the design of test questions. Extensively soliciting questions from students, firstly, can collect many questions close to students' thoughts and lives, which facilitates the establishment of a question bank; secondly, it is easy to stimulate students' enthusiasm for "speaking" and achieve the purpose of educating themselves.
4. Test operation
For the test operation process of middle school students' speaking ability, you can refer to the test methods of Mandarin proficiency, such as test takers, preparation, referee listening, scoring, etc. However, it cannot be completely equated with the Mandarin proficiency test, because the Mandarin proficiency test is a relatively formal, rigorous, and professional test that monitors the "accuracy" of the testee, while the student's speaking test is to test the "ability" of speaking. The focus is not consistent. During the test scoring operation, students can be directly involved in the evaluation; each student can be both a testee and a rater. In this way, we can not only break the test scoring standards, but also provide students with a detailed analysis of the reasons and results of each testee's score, so that students have a scoring ruler in their minds, and then conduct class-wide grading to allow students to have a scoring ruler in their minds. Each student serves as a judge. Finally, add the average score of the whole class and the old-fashioned bungalow and divide it by 2 to get the subject's speaking score. This can not only strengthen students' awareness of participation and theme awareness, but also greatly activate students' enthusiasm for speaking, which is more conducive to the formation of a good speaking atmosphere in the school.
To sum up, strengthening speaking training in middle school Chinese education and incorporating the test of speaking ability into the content of Chinese examinations are the needs of Chinese quality education and the requirements of the times for Chinese education. How to do this? It is very necessary and completely feasible. In short, as long as the training of students' speaking ability is truly regularized, institutionalized and standardized, and carried out unremittingly, a qualitative leap will surely occur in the overall improvement of students' Chinese quality.