英语二专正文文献.doc

1. Introduction

In 2002, the circulation of Power Point was estimated at more than 400 million copies, and about 20 to 30 million ones are presented in the world every day (Allan JA, 2002). In recent years, with the development of society, the education of multi-media teaching has been gradually introduced into the English classroom in the secondary school. Professors may use a different mix of technologies in the classroom and use them creatively in order to promote the most learning for students and satisfy students’ learning needs and objectives (Austin M. Jill, 2008). The commonly used software in the multimedia courseware includes Power Point, Author ware, Macromedia, etc. Among them, Power Point, because of the simplicity of the production, has been widely used in English language teaching (孟东and冯少中2005: 130-33). It has such superior performance as diagrams, audio-visual form, which greatly increases the students’ awareness of abstract things and the process of understanding in the learning of English. Thus, it leads the classroom teaching to a new level. Meanwhile, with the popularity of computers and the addition of multimedia classrooms, a growing number of English teachers gradually replace the original teaching form with the presentation of the Power Point.
Essentially, the multi-media teaching is exactly what we need for the modernization of teaching methods. However, in this update of the teaching mode, multi-media teaching has gradually revealed a number of issues. At the same time, such teaching method has also exposed shortcomings in some aspects from the effect (陈宇2005: 43-5). Therefore, we should first of all, carry out certain norms in the processes of production and the methods of usage when we make the teaching course wares and use them in the English classes, which will be helpful to avoid the drawbacks of multi-media show in class at an early stage. On the basis of that, we can truly make it serve for our secondary school English class completely.
In this paper, the thesis will be focused on exploring means of using multimedia software to optimize English teaching in the secondary classroom, primarily through the usage of software for the Power Point, the skills to use, as well as the combination with the actual situation in classroom teaching.

2. The feature of the English teaching in secondary school

Through the understanding of the status and characteristics of English language teaching, the personality analysis of secondary school students’ characteristics, we are able to facilitate the teaching of English with the usage of Power Point in a timely manner. With the current tend of the overall situation, we need to make the Power Point teaching coursewares for different ages, and for different English courses.

2.1 The current situation of English teaching
With the further reform and opening up in our country, the communication with the foreign countries is increasingly expanded. On the other hand, the requirements on English language education will become higher. Looking back the past two decades, it is a steady period of development in the English teaching for our country. First of all, the country makes a series of education policies, such as the proportion of English in general education and higher education, which are all conducive to the development of foreign language teaching. At the same time, relational institutions also developed a unified national curriculum.
On the basis of the teaching materials for the National Commission, they have also prepared new secondary school English teaching materials in recent years. Besides what is mentioned above, a large number of teaching reference books, supplementary reading materials and audio-visual information are also published.
In addition, from the respect of teachers, a large number of high-quality teachers have been trained for secondary schools from various types of professional training institutions, which is beneficial to improve the level of foreign language teaching in secondary schools. Under the awareness of the importance of learning English in the whole society, more and more people have a better understanding of the chance. It has created a good atmosphere for English language learning. The majority of secondary school students to learn English are highly active. Their learning targets are clear, and study methods are continuously improved.

2.2 The features of the English class
Understanding of the purposes and characteristics of English teaching in secondary schools will make the target more clearly, make the process rational, and act more consciously in the teaching process; thereby it will promote the continuous improvement of the teaching quality. It will also have important significance on the formation of the English teaching system with Chinese characteristics.
In our formal school, we have had English classes for several years. During this long period of years, we not only accept the foreign language teaching in schools abroad, but also broaden our horizons in a real way, and form its own characteristics. These features are rooted in our social system, teaching purposes, teaching conditions, the characteristics of English itself, study, teachers, and other factors. These features can be broadly divided into the following five points:
(1) Like other subjects in secondary schools, language teaching should assume the dual task of education and training, that is, we should excavate entirely the factors of ideological and moral education to the students.
In the lower grades, teachers should make those points as the main content, such as fostering the correct purpose of learning, cultivating interests in learning English, developing good study habits and disciplining of the ideological and moral education. Under the natural and reasonable guidance to students, they will be influenced in language learning, and in the ideological and moral aspects.
(2) Teachers should present the knowledge of language briefly and succinctly, the purpose of which is to enable students to understand the structures in order to practice the language well. Language practice in the classroom is in accordance with mechanical exercise, practical exercise and productive exercise in order
(3) In the course of secondary school English teaching, it is necessary to attach importance to the oral training, but also to the written form. They should be an organic combination of comprehensive training, such as listening, speaking, reading and writing. In the process of mutual promotion, none of them can be neglected, but a slight emphasis on the different stages.
In the primary stage, that is grade 1 or 2 in the junior high school, students imitate strongly and have less sense of shame. It is a good opportunity to focus on language training, which can lay a good foundation to the advanced stage.
Intermediate phase, that is, grade 2 in junior to grade 1 in high school, is a transitional stage. In addition to catching the training of listening and speaking, we should also guide the students to read. At the same time, teachers should improve the content of grammar teaching and enrich the vocabulary, which is for entry into a more advanced stage whose main task is reading skills.
(4) Teachers should make full use of English, and make the proper use of mother tongue. An English-speaking teacher shall provide more opportunities for students to listen. The dialogue between teachers and students or among the students can also create a condition of listening and speaking. In the whole process of English learning, the role of promotion and interference of the mother tongue is very clear. The regular work of teachers is to rule out the possibility of its interference, and to play its promoted role.
(5) In the teaching process, teachers are at work all the time. They should play a guiding role, and make students fully mobilize the initiative and enthusiasm. The guiding role is reflected in the arrangements of teaching contents, the determination of the key points, the organization and implementation of teaching activities, to name just a few. The characters and qualities of teachers, such as voice tone, language fluency, writing specification, are the most convincing teaching materials for students.
Teachers should be concerned about the overall development of the students, and make students interested in learning English so that students are taught while being educated. Teachers must mobilize the students to learn English initiatively and actively, and make the students happy to take part in practical activities of speech. Under the guidance of the teachers’ actively practice in language, students will become the master of the classroom.

2.3 The characteristic of students in the secondary school
It is one of the important issues of concern that students’ personality characteristics and psychological factors have influences on the English language learning, which has been one of the studies of non-intelligence factors. On the other hand, it must be also taken into account in the process of students’ contribution and teaching decision-making process.
From the study in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province has collected 156 first-year high school students during the English examination (刘桂蓉, 2008). After the implementation of the "Cartel 16PF test", the techniques of statistical analysis explore the relationship between characters of students and English language learning. Through the gender differences in contrast, it is found that optimism sensitivity and fantasy are major characters on the impact of secondary school students to learn a foreign language.
Junior high school students are in a transition from childhood to adolescence period of rapid change. They have the characteristics of semi-mature, semi-naive, half-sensible, semi-ignorance. As it were，they are semi-children and semi-adult. In teaching activities, they have had the abilities to determine appropriately according to the characteristics in nature and the inherent links of things, or they can also carry out the induction or deduction. They have been able to observe certain requirements according to the teaching objects and phenomena, and can carry out something on purpose for a long time. In general learning activities, the time spent focusing on the observation will extend with the higher grade.
Some students can make assumptions, reasoning and argumentation without the limitations of the particular circumstances and beyond the direct perception of things. Some students can analyze, have scientific experiments based on the available information, and make judgments and reasoning in order to discover the internal relations of things.
Thus, in the English language teaching process, we must understand the basis of character of the junior high school students. Under the support of PowerPoint, teachers can make appropriate curriculums.

3. The introduction of the PowerPoint
Before we introduce the PowerPoint in English teaching in the secondary school, we could have a preliminary understanding of this software at first. In addition to the overview of features and advantages, the usage of PowerPoint today and in the feature will be also introduced, which is useful to help us have a comprehensive grasp of it.

3.1 The brief introduction of the PowerPoint
PowerPoint is one of the Office components. It can be set to produce text, graphics, images, sounds, and video clips and other multimedia elements in one presentation.
The message can be presented with a group of graphic illustrations in order to introduce the company's products, or to show the academic achievement and contribution. Nowadays, this form of electronic presentation and exchange is one of the most popular technologies. Turning to the usage of PowerPoint in English classroom, it can play an effective role in teaching.

3.2 The features and advantages of the PowerPoint
As a powerful presentation of authoring software, PowerPoint has the typical characteristics as follows: a simple structure, a low technological threshold, a short cycle, informative space, a wide range of supported platform, etc.
If PowerPoint is introduced into the classroom teaching of English, three main features can be obvious: First of all, it can help to create a good visual for students with a relaxing and lively language-learning environment. Furthermore, PowerPoint can meet our requirements to such two aspects as visual and auditory needs, which makes the language learning more lively and entertaining. Finally, students can be encouraged to make PowerPoint by themselves, such as the forms of group cooperation, or individual speech. Through these ways, it is much easier for students to learn English independently, to train the skills of communication and to improve the learning methods. On the other hand, it can also play an important role in shaping better self-confidence and personality.

3.3 The usage of the PowerPoint today
Since entering to the twenty-first century, secondary school English education has been undergoing continuous and comprehensive reform. Especially, the reform of teaching methods is a breakthrough in the education reform. With the auxiliary functions of PowerPoint used in secondary English teaching, it gradually turns to follow the emerging trend.
The use of PowerPoint is better suited to teaching in the form of classes, so more and more teachers in our country have already started to make it become an indispensable tool for teaching software. Under the guidance of modern educational theory and thought, the advanced features of PowerPoint can be fully brought into play in the English class teaching. We can promote the exploration of new ideas in the education reform, the development of new teaching and learning ways in thinking, which inspire a living and innovative spirit of learning, and find the innovation of teaching reform. Therefore, PowerPoint used in English teaching in secondary schools would have more creative and more practical value.
However, the teachers have limited skill levels, and lack relevant theoretical guidance when making PowerPoint, the overall level of courseware production is not high. Most of the teachers prefer to learn by themselves and they make the software by themselves, which is called native ones. The effectiveness of multimedia teaching courseware does not give full play together with the rough design and the failure to make timely improvements, which may have negative effects otherwise.

3.4 The usage of the PowerPoint in the future
In general, the development of PowerPoint should be under the guidance of the theory in teaching design. It should be also combined with teachers’ own practice. It neither can be too simple nor remain in the amateur level too long. If we want to ensure that the qualities of the majority of the teachers in this area could be improved,