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How to improve Middle School students oral EnglishAbstractAbstract:This paper presents an analytical study of the method on how to improve the Middle School students oral English and this paper will be presented in three parts. The first part is the introduction of oral English, which is the ability to use language to express ideas and communicate with each other. It points out the purpose of oral English teaching in the Middle School and the problems existing in teaching and oral English studying .The focus of the paper lays on the middle part that shows different kinds of problems. In this section, the paper analyses the existing problems and suggests some useful methods to solve the problems. It also provides some suggestions on how to improve oral English, such as, pronunciation, vocabulary, and sentence pattern. At last, an example is given to show how to teach oral English on the purpose of improving oral English in the Middle School. The last part of She paper is the conclusion .summing up the importance of oral English and how to improve the Middle School students oral English.Keywords: Oral English Method Context Problem摘 要这篇论文针对怎么提高中学生英语口语的方法进行分析、描述。整篇论文分为三个部分。文章的第一部分首先介绍什么是口语，口语是丁种利用语言表达思想，进行口头交际的能力。它指出了中学口语教学的目的和目前在中学口语的教学过程中存在了很多问题。文章的重点在第二部分，它对口语教学过程中的间题进行了具体分析并针对问题提出了建设性的意见。同时指出要想真正提高自己的口语能力，必须从一些基本方面人手，如:发音、句型和词汇。最后是对文章进行了总结性概括，强调了口语在英语学习过程的重要性。关键词: 口语 方法 语境 问题IIContentsAbstract.I摘要.III Introduction.1II Some disadvantages impeding the training of oral English.2.3.1 At first, the idea of neglecting oral English is generally existed in the Middle School.32.3.2 Obviously, be lacking in practicing oral English is the major reason why the students have no confidence before speaking.32.3.3 The serious language barrier is context.45III Characteristics of oral English.63.1Pronunciation.63.2Vocabulary .6.IV Use of oral English in communication.95.1 Oral Presentations:.95.1. Talking Warm-Up:.95.1.2 Focus on Speaking Strategies 5.1.3 A Song To Make You Talk:105.1.4 Retelling Personal Stories.105.1.5 Out-of-class Talking Opportunities1111VI Conclusion.13Bibliography.14How to improve Middle School students oral EnglishI IntroductionOral English is the ability to use language to express ideas and communicate with each other. In the Middle School, the purpose of English teaching is making students master some basic knowledge about English and training their ability that they could use English to communicate with other people. Some research shows that in English learning, the older the student, the higher the cost, or the lower the efficiency. The study of English, especially oral English, should be tackled during the period of middle school Sooner than that of graduate school .So we must realize the importance of oral English in the Middle School and change the teaching model that lays particular stress on analyzing of grammar and the practice of sentence pattern with the central position of teachers. This kind model of teaching violates the principle of quality education and basic law of English teaching. Instead, we should fully give students effect free rein, and strengthen the training of oral English because language is a kind of tool using in communication. According to the history of language, the spoken language is proceed to the writing, therefore, oral English is the key of studying English and it is very important in English teaching. Nevertheless, students in the Middle School are hardly interested in oral English even thought they are frightened to use language to express their perfect thought. All these things indicate that there are many problems existing in oral English teaching and studying in the Middle School.With the development of English teaching, oral English becomes more important, but there are some disadvantages impeding the training of oral English.II Some disadvantages impeding the training of oral English.At first, the idea of neglecting oral English is generally existed in the Middle School. Most of students study English. With the purpose of graduated exam, and its a pity that there is no exam about oral English before attending to the college. So both teachers and students think that it is a waste of time to practice oral English, causing the appearance of mute English, This factor is the key problem about oral English and we must change our wrong cognition. Dont be afraid of wasting time! Teachers should deal with the relationship between language studying and language utilizing. Change the traditional teaching which teachers teach the students from the beginning to the end. In contrast, teachers should organize the activities like pair work, group work, class discussion and interview which were designed in the students book, and give enough time to encourage them to communicate with each other to exchange their ideas. Then teachers choose some students to expound their ideas on which students could make a discussion and later teachers make a conclusion. This kind of method can enliven the thought of students and promote the communication between teachers and students. Students also gain the ability of language utilizing in the proceed of activities. Secondly, many students have been influenced by the fearing speaking. They are afraid of speaking because they think they will do something wrong and be blame for the mistakes and ridiculed by other students This kind of psychology affects their regular thought and lead to anxiety and nervousness.Obviously, be lacking in practicing oral English is the major reason why the students have no confidence before speaking. Besides, they think of the grammar excessively. It is an inevitable appearance that learners are making mistakes during the process of studying. Dulay and Burt have said that “we cant master the language with no mistake.”, they point out the importance of mistakes during the language studying. When the student expresses their ideas freely, too much correction will not only interrupt their train of thought, but also damage the students initiative and engender scare. The major task of teachers is not to find the mistakes which occurred in the students oral English. They should encourage the students to do more practice and help them to set up confidence. Teacher must treat the mistakes distinctively. Nevertheless, we must pay more attention to the basic structure mistakes in order to avoid the multiple of mistakes. Teachers should correct the mistakes after expression. But partial mistakes should be rectified by themselves, because with the development of language studying, the problems will be solved naturally, During the period, teacher can train the sensibility of language and understanding of mistakes, so teachers could usually ask students to sum up the mistakes that take on in their words.The serious language barrier is context. In communication and linguistics, context refers to the meaning of message (such as a sentence ), its relationship to other parts of the message (such as a book ), the environment in which the communication occurred, and any perceptions which may be associated with the communication. The ability of language application is not the simple accumulation of linguistic knowledge. In the regular communication, people can express their ideas nimbly with different kinds of context and language material could change into the language through the pronunciation organs. But students have little chance to experience the real English communication scene and the main scene is the class in the schools. It is worse that the unique language environment usually controls by the teachers, with some practice done mechanically, so that is a communication without thought, information and affection. Learning English needs a language environment. Without it, people have to spend a lot more time on memorizing. For many of the learners, even they have tried hard, they still achieve very little. At this moment, teachers must put up context according to the lessons and lead them to practice oral English. Besides, teachers make full use of teaching equipment, such as, computer, film and slide show, to provide the context with audiovisual teaching materials. Context is used in different senses. In a marrow sense, it refers to the linguistic context, and in a board sense, it includes the physical situation as well, this is called extra-linguistic context, which embraces the people, time, place and even the whole cultural background. So when Chinese students speak English, they must pay a attention to avoid the Cinglish, such as, “build into”, it doesnt mean “by putting parts, materials, etc. together (with what is made as a direct object)”, but with a meaning of “make something from a film and permanent part of something larger”. So teachers must train students to think of language in English and stimulate their interest.If we want to improve Middle School students oral English, we should do some special training.III Characteristics of oral EnglishPronunciation is the base and key of oral English. The wrong pronunciation will bring the barrier in communication. Chinese people want to master the correct pronunciation requires a process of “painstakingly desire”. And students will become more confident to communicate with each other with perfect pronunciation, it also make other people enjoy your pronunciation during the talk.1. Pronunciation organThe articulatory 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 steam coming from the lungs may be modified in these cavities in variety of ways. It may also be modified in the larynx before it reaches any of the cavities. Such modification results from some kind of interference with the movement of air steam. This modification can be achieved by completely interrupting the air steam or by partial interference in one way or another.2. The pronunciation of IPA(international phonetic alphabet) and classification of vowels and consonants.The basic difference between a vowel and a consonant is that in the pronunciation of the former the air that comes from the lungs meats with no obstruction of any kind in the throat, the nose, or the mouth, while in that of the latter it is obstructed in one way of another.3. The regulation of alphabet pronunciationSome principles are existed in alphabet pronunciation, such as “a” can be pronounced: ei basis a: after e any bag I arrange4. Syllable and word stress“Import” have two syllables, if we put the word stress on the first syllable, import, it is a noun. And if we put the word stress on the second syllable, import, it is a verb.5. IntonationWhen pitch, stress and sound length are tied to the sentence rather than the word in isolation. Intonation plays an important role in the conveyance of meaning in almost every language, especially in a language like English. English has four basics types of intonation, known as the four tones: the falling tone, the rising tone, the fall-rise tone and the rise-fall tone. In oral English, we speak the same sentence in different intonations can express different meanings. For example, the sentence “I cant eat anything”, when we say in the falling tone, is equal in meaning to “I cant eat anything”, but if the word anything in the fall-rise tone, the sentence implies that there are particular Things that I can eat.Sentence pattern is the important link to establish the context in the thought. The requirement of mastering the sentence pattern is for us to deposit, and also use them as accasion demands. Some sentence patterns are specially to express the regularize scene and they can have different affection:a. Would you please wake me up tomorrow morning?b. Can you help me, please?c. I wander if you can help me.d. Could you spare me a few minutes?These sentences are all models of asking help, but they are in different ways with different affection. Reciting is a basic method to master the sentence pattern. Students in the Middle School must recite many good articles and useful sentences. The second method is speaking impromptu. Teachers could give some topics and ask students to talk something about them, but the topics must be wide-ranging and agree with the students interest in order that students could talk much about them instead of one or two sentences. This method is also a good one to put up with fearing speaking.Vocabulary plays an important role in practicing oral English. Students must grasp lots of vocabulary and extent their vocabulary whenever it necessary. Generally speaking, nearly 5000words are enough to communicate. Oral English is different from writing, many simple words are used frequently, such as, go, make, do. These words are very active and they can usually express the meaning briefly and vivid.When teachers have an English lesson in class, how do they make full use of time to improve the students oral English? If there are special oral English lessons in the Middle School, they could take the following lesson for example.A typical example oral English lesson(for 45 minute-class periods0This is an oral English course example, which is based on parallel strands of different speaking activities running throughout the term and providing continuity, coherence and a sense of progression. Each of the strands focuses on the continuous development of specific sub-skills proficiency and gives students exposure to different modes of oral communication. Here are the main strands for the course:IV Use of oral English in communication1. Oral Presentations:Each student presents a 3-minute talk at the students desk on a given topic. Evaluation by the classmates and written feedback by the teacher is provided in order to allow students to assess their ability and make futher progress.2. Talking Warm-Up:Usually an enjoyable pair word communication activity to get all the students involved in talking and establish a good class atmosphere. The Oral Presentations and the Talking Warm-up take up the first 40 minutes lot. Since time is not completely predictable with students giving their first talk, you found it easier to start off with the Oral Presentations rather than with the talking Warm-up so that you can shorten or stretch the warm-up according to the situation.3. Focus on Speaking Strategies:This part of the lesson follows the units in the students book. Students prepare the model dialogues and useful phrases in advance so that there is enough time to carry out the communication tasks in class.4. A Song To Make You Talk:The song serves as the basis for small group discussions in which students share their response to the song and discuss its theme following the questions on the handout. There are always more questions than students can discuss in class as a stimulus for out-of-class practice.5. Retelling Personal Stories:Students need time to think of a good story from their life, therefore it is best if the activity is introduced just before the break so that the students can think of a story during that time and be ready to start the activity in the second half of the lesson. Demonstrate by telling the class an interesting story from your own life.This may be the only time during the semester when you will have every students undivided attention! Instruct the students to think of an interesting story from their life during the break. But remind them not to tell anybody yet!Write some ideas on the blackboard to help them: a funny thing that happened when you were young a lucky escape an embarrassing moment your best day ever a romantic evening an adventure while travelingLet the students tell their story to their partner. As will soon become clear, this is really only a practice run. Instruct the students to write their name and a title for their story on the slip of paper which you give them. Explain the rules of the activity (perhaps get two students to stand up and go through the motions as a demonstration). Work in pairs, tell each other the story, and then swap the piece of paper. Then when you form a new pair with another student, you will repeat the procedure, telling the story on the slip of paper which you now hold. Check: What do you do after telling the story? (swap cards) After you find a new partner, do you tell them the story about yourself, or the story on the sheet of paper in your hand? (the sheet in your hand)6. Out-of-class Talking Opportunities:At the end of each Oral English lesson, four practice topics are provided whichserve a double purpose: All students discuss them after class at English Corners.This course break the routine of repetitive lesson pattern, special events arescheduled during the term, such as the sketch performance m the middle of theterm, the Christmas lesson and a Class Speech Competition. Since students tendto perceive repetition as boring and often expect their teacher to spark offfireworks of surprises every single lesson, It is important to make the coursedesign transparent to students and point out the benefits of continuous skillsdevelopment over the term.But there is few single oral English lessons in the Middle School, so teachers must put more oral English practice in a lesson.1. Asking students to read the useful expressions, dialogues, or the whole test in class in order that students can master more vocabulary and sentence patterns.2. Say something about student regular life. Teacher can give some useful words or sentences to help student talk about as many as possible.3. Text retelling. Students must use their own words to retell the long text learned last class and teachers give an example in class first ,which students are imitated. 4. Sentences making. When teachers teach some new language points, they can explain the grammar with an example, and ask students to make new sentences themselves followed by the example. This method is also a good one to learn new words or phrases.5. Debate or argument. Students can argue the topic which concerned with the lessons. For example, guessing is an interesting games to practice the modal verb:A: What do you think it may be?B: I think it may be an apple.C: It cannot be an apple, I think it must be a banana.D: How can it be a banana? A banana is long, but it looks round. It must be an orange.E: It cant be an orange. Anyone with eyes can see it is a .Consequently, students can practice their oral English unconsciously in some games.Each person uses language to their ideas and communicates with others, so oral English is play the major role in communication. With the development of science and technology, social requirement is the greatest power to reform the English teaching. Students should develop the ability of oral English to meet the companys demands that is the requirement of communication and ability. In the Middle School, both teachers and students must eliminate the idea of
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