论试甘肃农村初中英语口语能力培养--本科毕业设计.doc

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本科生毕业论文

题 目 试论甘肃农村初中英语口语能力培养
学 院 外国语学院
专 业 英 语
作者姓名 陈 惠
班 级 2007级八班
学 号 274010801
指导教师 杨 瑞 峰
提交日期 2011. 5. 25

The Cultivation of Junior Middle School Students’ Spoken English Ability in Rural Areas of Gansu Province

Chen Hui

A thesis
submitted to the School of Foreign Languages and Literature Tianshui Normal University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree

of

BACHELOR OF ARTS
in
ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Tianshui, Gansu
May, 2011

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本人郑重声明：本人所呈交的论文是在指导教师的指导下独立进行研究所取得的成果。学位论文中凡是引用他人已经发表或未经发表的成果、数据、观点等均已明确注明出处。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，不包含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的科研成果。
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论文作者签名： 年 月 日

论文指导教师签名：

The Cultivation of Junior Middle School Students’ Spoken English Ability in Rural Areas of Gansu Province

Chen Hui

Abstract: Widely spoken in the world, English plays a quite important role in modern society. With the development of science and technology, China has taken part in more and more international co-operations. This inevitable tendency requires a number of qualified English personnel in society. The final purpose of learning a language is to communicate with others, thus the spoken English is quite important. Having conducted a case study in Meichuan Middle School in Min county Dingxi City, the author of this thesis has studied the present situation of spoken English teaching and learning in rural areas of Gansu Province and found the situation is far from satisfactory. The author brings forth some methods for spoken English teaching and learning. As students’ guide, teachers can cultivate students’ interest in speaking English and conduct them to do more effective exercises. Students ought to cultivate their interest in speaking English and do more practice.

Key words: Spoken English; cultivation of ability; interest; practice

试论甘肃农村初中英语口语能力培养
陈惠

【摘要】作为世界上广泛使用的语言，英语在现代社会中起着重要作用。随着科学技术的发展，中国已参与了越来越多的国际间的合作。这种不可避免的趋势就需要社会上有大量英语人才。学习语言的目的在于交流，因此，口语的表达能力是非常重要的。本论文作者在定西市岷县梅川中学做了一个问卷调查，发现甘肃农村初中英语口语教学现状不容乐观。针对这一发现，本论文作者分析了造成这种现状的原因并提出了一些提高那个地区中学生英语口语能力的建议。作为学生的领路人，老师可以激发学生讲英语的兴趣并指导他们做更多有效实践。学生应该培养讲英语的兴趣并做更多练习。

【关键词】英语口语；能力培养；兴趣；实践

CONTENTS

I. Introduction ……………………………………………….…………………...1
1.1 The condition of spoken English teaching and learning……………………...1
1.2 A review over the past research on spoken English...............................................2
II. Research Design and Findings……………………………………………..3
2.1 Research design…………………………………………………………………..3
2.2 Findings of the research…………………………………….......................3
III. Some Methods in Teaching Spoken English ………………………...4
3.1 Creating a relaxing class atmosphere…………………………………………….4
3.2 Giving students more encouragement……………………………………………5
3.3 Some practical methods in teaching……………………………………………...6
3.3.1 English daily report………………………………………………………..6
3.3.2 Role-play…………………………………………………………………7
3.3.3 Encouraging students to ask questions……………………………………..8
3.3.4 Using pictures……………………………………………………………..9
IV. Useful Methods for Students’ Speaking English……………………10
4.1 Cultivating interest in speaking English……………………………………10
4.2 Imitating standard pronunciation…………………………………11
4.3 Retelling in English………………………………………………………….12
4.4 Widening English daily words……………………………………………….12
V. Conclusion...........................................................................................................13
References…………………………………………………………..……………..14
Acknowledgements...............................................................................................15

I. Introduction
1.1 The condition of spoken English teaching and learning
The author of this paper conducted a questionnaire which indicates that the present situation of spoken English teaching and learning in rural areas of Gansu province is far from satisfactory. There are various reasons. First of all, students and teachers pay less attention to oral English. At present, there are few exams of spoken English in those areas, thus students and teachers don’t pay enough attention to spoken English. Teachers usually judge students’ English ability by their written exams. The main purpose of teachers and students is to get high grades to pass exams. Second, Chinese atmosphere has negative influence on oral English teaching and learning. Students in rural areas of Gansu Province are surrounded by the Chinese language atmosphere and there are few chances for them to practice their oral English. So they may feel embarrassed to speak English in public. Third, in rural areas of Gansu Province, the teaching condition is very poor. Teaching facilities and staff are not enough. Teachers teach students English with traditional methods. Students don’t have radios to listen to English and they don’t even have good English materials. What they can do is only to follow their teachers’ teaching. What’s worse, because of lacking teaching staff, a lot of teachers in these areas are not professional. They themselves can’t speak English fluently and some of them even just know some basic English skills. The average English level of students there is very poor, let alone spoken English.
1.2 A review over the past research on spoken English teaching and learning
Widely spoken in the world, English plays a quite important role in modern society. With the development of science and technology, China has taken part in more and more international co-operations. This inevitable tendency requires a number of qualified English personnel in society. The final purpose of learning a language is to communicate with others, thus the spoken English is quite important. Many scholars have realized the importance of spoken English and have done some relevant researches.
Linguist French says that spoken English is first and words are second. Spoken English should be conducted by the task-based principle in order to improve the level of spoken English (Nunan David, 1999). However, they did not propose practical ways of improving spoken English ability.
Many Chinese scholars also realize the importance of spoken English and express some suggestions about how to improve spoken English level. Li Tingxiang in 1993 concluded English teaching experience and borrowed good aspects of foreign language teaching from abroad in English Teaching. Liu Jinlan in 2006 pointed out that traditional and poor teaching methods should be changed completely in spoken English teaching so as to improve students’ capacity of communication. In order to realize this goal, relevant factors influencing the spoken English teaching effects should be known very well, such as psychological factors, cultural differences and so on. “Asking and answering is the main means of improving capacity of language communication in class teaching” (Xu Xiuting, 2006). Another scholar, Yang Ping in mainland China says that teaching contents is the main objective evidence by which teachers creative contexts. In the process of teaching, whether the contexts are creatived or not, what kind of contexts and in what form the contexts appear, which are decided by teaching material traits and teaching goals (Yang Ping, 2006).
From what has been discussed above, scholars neglected the present situation of oral English teaching and learning in most remote areas, although Chinese and overseas scholars have realized the importance of spoken English and discussed some teaching and learning methods of spoken English. However, most of these methods are not suitable for students in those areas. Having conducted a case study in Meichuan Middle School in Min county Dingxi City, the author of this thesis has studied the present situation of spoken English teaching and learning in rural areas of Gansu Province. What’s more, the author has analyzed the reasons of this situation and discussed some means of spoken English teaching and learning which are suitable for junior middle school students in those areas. The author hopes that junior middle school students in those areas can improve their spoken English ability in order to reach the goal of English learning.
II. Research Design and Findings
2.1 Research Design
The study lasted for nearly one month, from September 25th to October 20th, 2010. At the beginning of the study, a questionnaire was made. After this, the questionnaire was carried out. Then the author of this thesis collected and analyzed the questionnaire. The subjects are junior middle school students in Meichuan Middle School in Dingxi City, 100 students in total. The major instrument used in the paper was class observation and questionnaire. In order to know the situation of spoken English teaching and learning of junior middle school students in rural areas of Gansu province, a questionnaire was designed. The self-made questionnaire was composed of nine questions. Some of these questions contain three alternatives marked A, B, and C, the others contain four alternatives marked A, B, C and D.
2.2 Findings of the research
In order to get the results of the study, the author collected and analyzed the data of this questionnaire carefully. As for Question One, 81 students chose answer C, that is to say, there are multimedia classrooms in their school, but they are hardly used. As for Question Two, 93 students chose answer B, namely, nobody speak English well in their class. As for Question Three, 80 students chose answer D, that is to say, students hardly speak English in this middle school. As for Question Four, 86 students chose answer C, namely, students in that school never communicate with English. As for Question Five, 89 students chose answer B, that is to say, they do not think English important. As for Question Six, 87 students chose B, namely, they do not practice spoken English. As for Question Seven, 91 students chose answer C, that is to say, their English teacher always pronounces incorrectly. As for Question Eight, 89 students chose D, namely, their English teacher hardly speak English in class. As for Question Nine, all the students investigated chose B, that is to say, their parents can’t speak English. The data of this questionnaire indicates that the present situation of spoken English teaching and learning in rural areas of Gansu province is far from satisfactory. There are many reasons First of all, students and teachers pay less attention to oral English. At present, there are few exams of spoken English in those areas, thus students and teachers don’t pay enough attention to oral English. Teachers often judge students’ English ability by their written exams. The main purpose of teachers and students is to get high grades to pass exams. Second, Chinese atmosphere has negative influence on oral English teaching and learning. Students in rural areas of Gansu Province are surrounded by the Chinese language atmosphere and there are few chances for them to practice their spoken English. So they may feel embarrassed to speak English in public. Third, in rural areas of Gansu Province, the teaching condition is very poor. Teaching facilities and teaching staff are not enough. Teachers teach English with traditional methods. Students don’t have radios to listen to English and they don’t even have good English materials. What they can do is only to follow their teachers’ teaching. What’s worse, because of lacking teaching staff, a lot of teachers in these areas are not professional. They themselves can’t speak English fluently and some of them even just know some basic English skills. The average English level of students there is very poor, let alone spoken English. Because of all these factors, spoken English level of junior middle school students is very low in rural areas of Gansu province. The following parts are some methods for spoken English teaching and learning.
III. Some Methods in Teaching Spoken English
As is known, teachers play a quite important role in English teaching and learning. Their duties are not only to pass knowledge to students and help students pass exams, but also to light up students’ methods in their study. Being the guide of learning, teachers’ role can influence students greatly. First of all, they ought to improve their own oral English. Second, they ought to pay more attention to teaching and learning of spoken English.
3.1 Creating a relaxing Class Atmosphere
The efficiency of English learning and teaching has close relation to the atmosphere both in and out of class. Broadly speaking, there are two factors that may influence students' oral English in class. One is that they can’t find proper words to express their opinions and the other is that they are afraid of making mistakes. Sometimes they make mistakes while they are speaking because they are shy and nervous. So relaxed class atmosphere can help students speak English actively. Teachers ought to work hard to create relaxed atmosphere to decrease students’ feelings of fear. There are some ways for teachers to create relaxed class atmosphere. First, it is very important for teachers to have the first class with a long and friendly introduction. Tell your students as much as possible about yourself and experiences because students are always very curious about their new teacher. Don’t forget to live time at the end of the class for the questions. Students have many questions, even if they are shy and timid. A few students might boldly ask questions immediately. Many will need encouragement and time to collect their thoughts after you have finished your introduction, even if you have told them you expect them to ask questions. The most timid students might even require you to ask them write the questions down and hand them in. In any case, presenting yourself in the first class as a warm and interesting teacher can make students feel that you are an approachable teacher. They will express themselves actively and boldly in future. Second, a sense of humor in the classroom is very useful. This might even be the best way to create a relaxed atmosphere. A teacher that jokes with the students will find the students much more active. Third, teachers should not overcorrect your students’ spoken English. Of course, teachers’ job is to improve your students learning, but it does not mean that teachers should correct every sentence. Improving students’ spoken English also mean giving them ample chances to practice it in class as well as boosting their confidence in their spoken English ability. If teachers overcorrect students’