On-improving-students’-speaking-ability.docx

On improving students speaking abilityAbstractWith the opening-up of China, English teaching has been getting more and more attention, especially since Beijing won the bid to hold the 2008 Olympic Games. People are enthusiastic about learning English .As a result, English teaching and reform are coming to a turning point, which predicts a bright future in English education in China.Now, a 9-year voluntary education program is put forward in China. A Standard English course is being used to replace the former teaching outline. The new standard adopts the international system according to which English language education is divided into 9 levels. This has changed the old style of teaching, which attaches importance to grammar and vocabulary. Adopting the new standard helps to develop the students ability to use English in their daily life, by focusing on arousing their interest, and encouraging their participation.The new method will place less stress on “reading and writing”, in favor of “listening” and “speaking”. So now, speaking is getting more and more important in middle school English teaching.This paper discuss how to improve students speaking ability and expound the theme through three aspects as follows:The importance of speaking.Some barriers in the process of speaking communication.Essential methods for improving students speaking ability.The issue will be discussed from the perspective of a teacher of English in junior middle school and a possible conclusion will be reached with the help of some theoretical and practical support.Key words: speaking、communication、ability、middle school、English teaching.摘要：随着改革开放深入，英语教学越来越引起人们的重视，尤其北京成功深奥。人们都热中于英语学习。所以英语教改进入一个转折点，面临着美好的未来。现在，在九年制义务教育中，标准英语课程以取代以前的教学模式。根据英语语言教育分成九个等级，新课标采用了国际体制，改变了旧的方法。新的教学方式通过引起学生的兴趣，鼓励他们参与去培养学生日常生活中运用英语的能力。新的方法重在听力和口语，因此现在口语在中学英语教学中越来越重要。本文主要讨论如何提高学生的口语能力，从下面三个大的方面阐述：1. 说的重要性。2. 口语交流过程中的一些障碍。3. 提高口语能力的基本方法。本文从初中英语教师的观点，并且从理论和实际结合中得出结论。关键词：口语 交流 能力 中学 英语教学1. IntroductionEnglish is a popular language -especially in the new century. As is known to us all, it is the most widely used language in the developing world and its getting more and more important nowadays. Recent estimates suggest that more than 400 million people speak it as their first language, with more than 1800 million people speaking it as second language. It is an official language in a large number of countries and is widely used in air traffic control and academic gatherings.Nowadays, with the opening-up of China, English teaching has been getting more and more attention, especially since Beijing won the bid to hold the 2008 Olympic Games. People are enthusiastic about learning English. Most of our students begin to learn English from Grade 3 in primary schools. However, classroom teaching has long been the only way to learn English in China, and the method has usually involved cramming grammar-translation knowledge into learning a language. But this approach of teaching and learning English is evidentially passive, because it goes against the principle of English teaching, which requires that listening and speaking take the lead in English teaching, and on the basis of these two skills, reading and writing will be cultivated. So speaking as one of the four language skills has played a very important role in English teaching in middle schools. All the communications are established on the basis of speaking. To be able to have a good pronunciation and tone, that is, speaking well can give you confidence in communication. In daily life speaking is the best way which make the communication of information become more quickly, especially in the present society with such quick development of people s life pace .so it is necessary for the students to develop the ability of speaking. Whats more, with the reformation of new process of teaching, it requires that the students will have the expressing ability to receive and pass information in English in real occasions. But many students often can speak well in class or in relaxed occasions, and when they are put in a real condition, they cant. Why does it appear? Well, it is affected by many elements One of the elements is their English speaking ability. So it demands the English teachers in junior schools to develop the students speaking ability. So also it is necessary for the teachers to help the students develop the ability of speaking.I have observed the students speaking English since I became a teacher. I find many students often can speak well in class or in a relaxed occasion. But when I invite some foreign teachers to talk to them, they become very good audiences. Some students would like to say something, but often the foreign teacher cant understand what they say. Why? Because they have no good phonetics or correct grammars. Then why dont some of them say anything? Their answers are that they are afraid to make mistakes. And also some of the students say that they have no enough vocabularies to express. They want to say something, but suddenly they cant remember the words r they dont know the available words. And on the other hand, by analyzed the students book, I find the speaking English is getting more and more, but both some teachers and students dont find it yet. So they arent able to emphasize the speaking English during the teaching. Little by little, the students speaking ability cant be improved effectively. So facing with the series of problems, I attempt my teaching method to teach the present two small classes, including sixty students. I hope they can make a larger progress from the vocabulary, mental, phonetics until next year when they will graduate. importance of speaking The importance of speaking existing in the language of human beings “Language is vocal ,this means that speech is the primary medium of language. While writing is secondary. Firstly, for any language speech existed long before the writing system came into being. Even today languages which have lonely a spoken form outnumber language which have a well-developed writing system. Secondly, normal children always learn to speak first. They begin to read and write only when they have reached the school age. Thirdly, speech is more important than writing for peoples daily life. A person who cant read and write is only an illiterate. However, a person who cant speak is normally regarded asdisabled.So speech is very important in the development of human beings. The position of speaking in the four language skills Of the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, &writing), listening takes the first step. However, communication is a two-way activity. When you can understand what is said to you, because of some reasons, you cant speak out what you mean, then the communication cant be continued. So this communication will become a fall. During the learning of a language, listening and reading are a process of understanding and absorption, speaking and writing are a process of expression and use. Understanding and absorption are foundation while expression and use are improvement. That is, the former is a process of input; the latter is a process of output. Without the latter, the development of the language practical ability to understand and absorption will be meaningless. It is impossible to master the English and to form the ability to use English comprehensively only relying on the input of language. The expression of spoken and written should also be used to check and improve the language absorption and the thinking ability. While the language input is increased, the favorable practical activities of output will also be done constantly on the basis of understanding. And the final aim of language teaching is to develop the students ability to communicate in the form of spoken and written. And often the spoken English is more than the written English in language using. Especially in modern society with so quickstep, undoubtly, speaking communication is the quickest way. Although in the modern Internet world, E-mail also give people more convenient, when they write and read the E-mail, they will spend more time than speaking directly. Whats more, writing cant express the writer s feelings, quickly and directly, and the reader cant understand the writers feeling .For example, one person is angry now. And he wants to tell his friend his present feeling .So he writes to his friend who cant understand his feeling just by reading his letter or E-mail better. But if he can speak to his friend directly, then his friend can know his feeling by his tone or expression. And he can also know how much his anger is .So this is a quick and direct speaking effect. Meanwhile, reading and writing have no this effect. On the other hand, it is only our tongue that builds a communication bridge between the listener and the speaker. Thereby, the listening ability must rely on the speaking in a way. Moreover, it is proved that if the speaking is trained best, it will be helpful for students confidence to learn English. The importance of speaking existing in the teaching syllabus The aims of teaching syllabus stipulates that “ English teaching in middle schools are mainly to train students to have a definite foundation of listening and speaking so as to attain the aim to communicate comprehensively with others in English.”It requires the teachers of English to organize their 45-minute class in English to create a living and lively English environment of English learning. Thus the students listening and speaking will be spontaneously trained and be practiced. The importance of speaking reflected in the textbook Today, the newly compiled series of textbooks of teaching and learning, different from those old ones, which only emphasize on the grammar and translation, have been used widely in our country. Those outmoded teaching approaches will have to be abandoned to use the new concept of teaching English. As a result English teachers will have to improve themselves either subjectively or objectively so as to become a qualified teacher of English in middle schools. And in the new textbooks, which mostly emphasize on listening and speaking, according to different the stage of ages, it includes listening practice, speaking and chant, playing and acting, Audio-Vidal etc, and with the appropriate pictures to help them understand and encourage them to act it out .Let them learn English unconsciously and learn to use it freely. At the same time, the teachers also are required to organize their class with some simple spoken English, and with their gestures and expression in accordance with the necessary. And the teachers should create a real English situation to help the students understand and imitate better to improve the listening and speaking ability. On the one hand, the students should be also given more opportunities to speak English, and then their ability of speaking must be more concretely and effectively trained. On the other hand, students are required to speak English when asked to answer questions or convey their own opinions in the 45-minute class. After class, they can be required to retell the interesting story reflected in the textbook, or to make an interview with their classmates to express their own opinions to the story .So, surely, their speaking can be improved effectively. New tests focus on speaking At present, the teaching syllabus stipulates.“Examination and test should include written part, listening test and oral test as well.”And now you can find listening test in our all kinds of tests. And many areas take the oral test as an important part to estimate the students comprehensive level. However, as early as ten years ago, you couldnt find the oral test in the final examination. Even you didnt hear of the word of “oral test”. Now, the writer find, in the final examination the students speaking ability is very different from those in ten years ago. Their intonations and tones and even expressions are much better. And it contributes to the daily training. So the voiceless English is increasingly developed.Whats more, now you often can find that there are many English-speaking competitions on TV and many areas also hold all kinds of speaking competitions. At the same time, there are more and more super English speakers presenting in the non-English countries.Now, weve known the importance of speaking, we should try our best to better the students competence of speaking. However, during the process of speaking communication, there are some barriers of which we should be aware. barriers in the process speaking communication. Phonetic barrier “The articulator apparatus of a human being are contained in three important areas or cavities: the pharyngeal cavity-the throat, the oral cavity-the mouth, and the nasal cavity-the nose. The air stream coming from the lungs may be modified in these cavities in a variety of ways. It may also be modified in the larynx before it reaches any of the cavities.”Because of the point ,the learners should be required to know every part of pronunciation of humans body and can pronounce the pure English .However, for most students in the process of their learning, they are greatly influenced by their teachers, especially teachers phonetics. But at present in many areas, especially in the rural areas, schools are short of specialized English teachers. Some other teachers who are not familiar with the sound linking, plosive, stress, etc. are asked to teach English. Maybe they are competent in teaching English grammar and language points, but it is surely difficult for them to speak fluent and pure English. And also some schools cant afford modern machines, so the students cant imitate the pure English, So their speaking ability cant be trained favorably, when they communicate with others, they often find their pronunciations are different from others . So they cant understand what is said to them. Therefore, their listening ability will be influenced and the confidence of communication also be influenced.Two year ago, I taught Grade Seven. At the beginning of the lessons, the pronunciations of many students from different rural are quite different. For example, “China t” they always pronounce tr. I spent almost three months in correcting them. With my emphasis on the phonetics, the students have been also especially focusing on it every time when they have their spoken lessons; they always imitate the pure English pronunciation from their foreign teachers. Grammar barrier Although we emphasize again and again that the aim of our language teaching is to communicate, we still should have some knowledge of English grammar. In English, there is a change of tense. And the order, which the action happens, can be presented by the change of verbs, which many students often ign