摘要:传统的语法教学大都使用演绎、推理或归纳法。传统的教学法受到现代教学法的冲击。淡化语法教学是现代英语教学的必然趋势。本文从高职院校学生的实际情况出发,以不定式为例提出英语语法教学的一些构想。
关键词:高职院校;语法教学;构想
1introduction
recent developments in language teaching have left many doubting about how to teach grammar. how to teach it effectively and meaningfully is the problem we face. the traditional ways of grammar teaching has been beaten by the communicative approaches. but they still have some instructive meanings. in designing a language class, one of the first things is to identify the influential factors that have to be taken account. at least the designer should consider the features unique to the learning of a language. learning a language well always means the use of ears, mouth, hands, brain, etc. as well as the eyes. this will mean significant adjustment of a learning class involving a lot of contents including the materials and the activities. and this is one of the reasons why modern language classes are usually all communicative, with very rare exceptions. from his experience, the writer finds that the traditional ways of grammar teaching such as deduction and induction are still instructive. thus,he wants to try a comprehensive way to teach english grammar. this paper tries to introduce a comprehensive approach of teaching english rammar in context instead of in isolation.
2the students’ background
2.1features of students in vocational college
if a language class is communicative, it is then basically learner-centered. therefore most of the influential factors in the designing of such a class will be very much related to or decided by the nature and need of the learners in question.
a language-teaching plan may be viewed as the teachers’ main guidelines, but it is the students who are set to benefit. therefore when planning a class, first one has to learn about the learners, who the learners are and what they do. research has shown the differences between college students and child language learners, which must be considered in the planning of a language class. some experts summaries 10 characteristics of college language learners, which may serve as a guide for the class planning. college students, for instance, are more likely to be learning rather than acquiring a new language, and this feature should exclude some popular materials and activities as unsuitable to them. yet college students can learn more efficiently, because they have a greater emory storage capacity, a greater capacity for analytic reasoning and can develop a strong instrumental motivation. to them, the subject matter involved in the learning can be more abstract, serious, less playful but more formal, and, so far as the input is comprehensible, and at the appropriate level, they can be quite efficient classroom learners. all these differ from child learners’ needs, creating wholly different teaching plan.
2.2students’ needs
most of the students have learned english for more than six years with a vocabulary of about 2 500 words and superficial knowledge of grammar for many reasons. some of them have jobs and even have quitted learning english for many years. english is mostly taught at middle schools using the traditional grammar-translation method, because of the exam-centered education system. this emphasis on examinations is due to the perception that results are superior to other qualifications in evaluating a teacher’s work. in order to cope with the demands of these exams, lessons are usually teacher-oriented, with teachers predominantly using chinese to teach english. therefore, students had little opportunities to accept a new teaching method. they want to obtain more knowledge of grammar in order to understand and use the target language correctly and effectively.
3constructive thinking of grammar teaching
3.1rationales
designers should not forget the findings in language learning that learners, adults or children, share a similar language acquisition sequence. teachers should work with such a process rather than against it. thus, the theoretical basis of the design of a grammar class is supposed to include the following elements.
3.2teaching methodology —— traditional and communicative
approach
teaching methods influence the result that produces in classroom teaching. traditional ways in chinese classroom teaching have been questioned and new approaches are being tried. grammar should be taught in a context, not rules and structures alone. penny ur(1988)suggests that: “when we teach grammar, we are —— or should be —— getting the learners to learn quite a number of different, though related, bits of knowledge and skills: how to recognize the examples of structure, how to produce the form, how to understand its meaning in context, and produce meaningful sentences using it themselves.”
as described above, grammar should be taught and practiced as a means of communication, rather than as a means of correcting the accuracy of individual sentences. learners should be taught how to form correct structures and also their functions, as the first step towards meaningful communication. learners should have a reason to use the information given in an exercise. grammar should be best introduced through a traditional approach. then, once students have a fairly thorough understanding of the grammar point, they are gently led into some communicative activities that allow them to demonstrate and consolidate their knowledge of that grammar point. in this way the communicative approach is not intended as a replacement for the traditional one, but as a supplement to it.
3.3psychological basis —— humanistic psychology
this theory initiates the full development of individual potential and realization of self-value. it proposes that a friendly and harmonious environment is the premise to satisfy the needs of both teachers and learners. s. p. corder, a famous applied linguist, has pointed out that language teachers actually cannot teach a language to students, what they can do is to create a harmonious language-learning environment for them.
3.4center of the grammar class —— learners and learning
since learners are the cores of the learning and learning is the process to achieve learners’ target, the grammar class is to focus primarily on both the learners and the learning. it is both learner-centered and learning-centered and the learners’ autonomy is to be emphasized.
4the principles and aims of the teaching plan
a teacher should prepare his/her lesson sufficiently, explain clearly and use various teaching aids to stimulate the students’ interest. good classroom control should be maintained and the teaching content should not only be presented theoretically but also put into practice.
at the same time, the students should be more relaxed, increasing the effectiveness of their study. they should be encouraged to participate and interact closely both with their classmates and the teacher. an environment should be created where they feel free to express their ideas without inhibition. so the aims are:
a.to provide students with opportunities to develop their language use.
d.the infinitive in sentences g and h is used as attributive. the infinitive used as attributive is often cited behind the noun or pronoun it modifies.
