提高小学生英语单词认读兴趣.doc

通过图片教学方法提高小学生英语单词认读兴趣Enhancing Young Learners Word Recognition Interest through Pictures论文摘要小学生学习英语，单词认读能力的培养和训练非常重要，然而多数学生在单词认读方面存在困难，在单词的发音和理解方面有困难，必须准确认读每一个单词或认读时很容易疲倦等问题。笔者通过从学生学习单词的方法入手，对如何提高小学生词汇认读兴趣进行分析，发现在目前的小学英语教学中，多数教师采用图片教学词汇的方法，注意让学生认读单词或句子，并提供给学生有情节的、感兴趣的图片材料，从而进一步引导学生理解词汇含义。据以上所述及分析，作为一名小学英语教师的笔者，在单词认读教学过程中增添了一系列的图片，并对其教学效果进行了研究。研究的目的是：激发小学生对英语单词认读能力的兴趣并建立起英语的语感，训练和引导学生养成正确的单词认读能力习惯，帮助学生明确识别什么和如何读得地道，进而提高学生单词认读的能力。本课题假设：图片教学的方法较之传统的一本书、一支笔及反复诵读的教学方法更能吸引学生注意力，更能有效地提高学生的单词认读兴趣。本课题的教案包括两个系列图片，侧重对小学生单词认读的训练，通过图片展示的情景，帮助学生有目的地识别并认清主要含义，指导学生揣摩发音，进一步理解词汇，为进一步掌握单词奠定基础。在同一小学三、五年级的班级经过为期四周的教学实验，收集了课堂观察，以及实验后的问卷调查和学生访谈等数据。这些数据有效地表明，学生的单词认读兴趣通过图片教学的方法得到更有效的培养和提高。本课题研究成果，可提供给小学教师一条提高学生单词认读兴趣的有效途径，使不同程度的学生在短时间内在单词认读能力方面都能有相应的提高，进而养成正确的朗读、记忆单词。关键词：兴趣 图片教学方法 认读AbstractWord recognition tasks are extremely important in the primary language classroom. This paper presents a detailed report of a project whose objective is to solve the problem that young learners have in listening. The young learners have been bored and tired with the traditional way as reciting the word by rote.The project hypothesis was that students word recognition interest could be better enhanced through picture practice, because it is an interesting approach that can help the students to focus on the general ideas first，the message of the word, and then the specific information, the spelling and the pronunciation of the word, next. The specific activity lesson plan involved various real life topics and activities for young learners, which hoped to help the students build the skills for what to know and how to read because these pictures meet students needs and interests. All students in this project implementation are Grade Three and Five students in a primary school. During implementation, three research tools are used, which include teachers reflection notes, questionnaire and the student interview. The data produced were collected and analyzed to testify the hypothesis.The results show that using pictures has helped the students find a better way to make their understanding and mastering of words easier and more enjoyable. Using pictures can improve the students interest to recognize the words and the students tend further to remember the words. The results of the data analysis are consistent with the initial hypothesis: showing pictures is a better way for young learners to enhance their word recognition interest as compared with the traditional method.Key words: interest the teaching method of showing pictures word recognitionTable of ContentsPages1. Introduction .1.1 Project Background.112. Objective and Hypothesis . 2.1 Project objective . 2.2 Project hypothesis .3333. Rationale .3.1 Characters of primary school students.3.2 Importance of vocabulary learning.3.2.1For English reading or speaking.33334. Research Design . 3.1 Research method 3.2 Activity design.3.2.1 Activity 1: Presenting new words by showing pictures .3.2.2 Activity 2: Guessing meaning from action and pictures .445775. Data Description . .5.1 Data collection procedures.5.2 Data analysis.9996. Results and Discussion . 6.1 Students self-evaluation in the questionnaire . 6.2 Findings from the interview . 6.3 Findings from Teaching Notes. 6.4 Unsolved problems .10101010107. Conclusion .11Bibliography.13Appendix I: Two series of pictures Used in the Project .14Appendix II: Word recognition Lesson Plan and Teachers Reflection Notes .15Appendix III: Questionnaire23Enhancing Young Learners Word Recognition Interest through Pictures1. IntroductionAs everyone knows, classroom learning is one of the most important ways that the students learn English. In recent years, the importance of word recognition skill is widely recognized by English language teachers. They believe that if their students can develop their word recognition skills they can begin to read by themselves, which is to say, they can become autonomous and learn in the way many native speakers learn their first language through words. As far as the English teaching in the primary schools is concerned, teachers therefore need to arouse the students interest to learn the words so that they may remember them better and longer.It is said that the best age for the children to learn English is 10 to 12. So English is a popular foreign language to be taught in primary school in China nowadays. In fact, the children are required to learn English when they are only 8 or even younger in some experimental schools or bilingual schools. Children at this age are lacking in shyness. Why do they learn English? Maybe they are not very clear about the answer. So at the beginning, most of them are very curious about the subject. But as the day passed, the more they learned, the more they feel bored because of the words, how to understand them and remember them. As a primary school teacher, the researcher has some opportunities to observe the lessons of different teachers. The same phenomenon surfaced when the researcher was observing the primary school English classroom. It seemed that listening, reading and repeating most young learners used in word recognition practice were not effective. A careful analysis showed that their problems in word recognition were caused by the lack of motivation and background knowledge.Acquiring a language means learning the language in a natural way, particularly without making conscious efforts. This is the character for children to learn their mother tongue. And this could cast some light on how we teachers could help the young learners learn English: to design English lessons that make learning seem effortless and effective to young learners.In addition, interest is the best teacher. When learning a foreign language, students experience so much practice and repetition. Without interest, what a boring job it will be! Michel de Montaiple said: “In the education of children there is nothing like alluring the interest and affection; otherwise you only make so many assess laden with books.” So, for the children just beginning their schooldays, it is very important for them to be interested in what they are learning. It is our teachers main task to arouse and cultivate the childrens interest, give them encouragement and help them set up self-confidence, improve the childrens four skills of listening, speaking, and reading and writing, make sure that they all have fun learning English. So they can learn it more effectively. Therefore, to solve young learners problem in word recognition stated above, a four-week experiment, featured by showing pictures, was designed and carried out with two groups of primary school students. All students in this project were Grade Three and Grade Five students in a public primary school in Suzhou. The project hypothesis was that using pictures, which can get the students to know the general ideas first and the specific information next, would enhance students word recognition. The two kinds of series of pictures selected for the project were not only in line with the school curriculum but also relevant to students real life experience so as not to arouse their interest without interfering with their normal daily study. The elements in the picture included animals, school life, and sports pictures, which could be very attractive and interesting for the young learners of their age. The specific activities designed for each picture intended to let students build the skills for what to know and how to read. They were highly practical for young learners than their traditional repeating exercises.The whole project was designed the by the researcher, and the researcher can teach the students by herself who carried out the whole experimental lesson plan to the class. However, the researcher managed to come to the classroom from time to time to supervise and observe the pedagogical activities and also to interview the students in the Target class.2. Objective and Hypothesis 2.1 Project ObjectiveThe project aimed to enhance young learners word recognition interest.2.2 Project HypothesisIt was hypothesized that showing pictures would be a better way for young learners to enhance their word recognition interest than the traditional repeating method.3. RationaleAs the technology develops dramatically, the Global village is not just a slogan any more. English, as the language spoken most widely all over the world, is not only important for business purposes, but also becoming a regular linguistic skill such as mandarin to China. And in China, English is the second language for the young learners. To help the young learner learn English, the teacher should teach the words first, so enhancing the young learners word recognition is important for them to learn English deeply.Word recognition, here, is defined as the young learners (about 7-12 years old) ability to see a word and understand its meaning. As young learners are able to see a picture and catch the main idea of the picture, it was hoped that young learners are interested in learning English word through the use of pictures, because if they can understand the meaning of the word through pictures first, then they can be interested in learning the sound of the word and remembering the spelling of the word.3.1 Characters of primary school studentsChildren are naturally curious and active. They are full of enthusiasm and often show a lot of eagerness to participate. If children are happy, feel secure and in a threat-free environment they are more likely to enjoy learning. It is often said that childrens attention span is short but we sometimes find small children can concentrate on one thing for fairly long time but not on other things. So it really depends on what they do. Children will not concentrate if you lecture them. This means we need to consider how to create a real desire for children to learn English; we need to provide opportunities for children to experience and experiment with the new language; we also need to provide a variety of opportunities for children to use the language in different contexts, and finally provide timely feedback for children to know how they are doing and what needs to be improved.3.2 Importance of word learningFor primary school students, learning new words is the main method for learning English. Most Chinese students would probably identify the acquisition of “new words” as their single greatest source of problems in learning English; learning English words is often perceived as time consuming and boring(Christine & Thorne, 1992:38) So vocabulary is one of the most important aspects of English learning (Zhang, 1996:42). For most students, their way of learning English words is still what we call “rote-learning”(Yue, 1991:60). Some surveys among primary school students show that many of them think that their greatest problem in learning English is vocabulary. Some children dont like English just because they are bored of learning new words and memorizing words every morning. Without vocabulary communication would be impossible even though a person may have a good knowledge of grammar. It may be argued that vocabulary is central to language learning. Therefore vocabulary is basic to language learning. The new Chinese National Plan for English Teaching in Primary School requires students to learn a vocabulary of 600 words and a considerable number of idiomatic phrases. Actually many schools are far from reaching this goal. The way out is how the words are taught and learned.3.2.1 For English reading or speakingVocabulary is used in reading, and the word used in speaking, listening and writing. When a person communicates with each other, the vocabularies gap between two of native speakers is generally 2000 words. As for second language learners, the gap is wider, while the traditional exam-oriented teaching method in China, which attaches too much attention to reading, makes this gap even wider! Children are not able to read in English by knowing very little vocabulary and very few structures. But the children have a very important experience; that is reading with their parents on picture stories and all kinds of childrens books. Children can be offered different kinds of reading materials such as simple picture stories so that they can accumulate reading experiences. The pictures gave the young learners the situation, they can read the pictures and guess what have happened in pictures and pictures gave an enlightenment to the young learners to get useful message through the pictures. Word recogniton is focus on the word not on the whole information of the picture. After understanding the meaning of the word, the young learners could be interested in learning more about the word, such as how to read it and how to remember it. So word recognition interest is important for the children to get and much more important to learn English well.4. Research Design 4.1 Research methodTraditional methods of teaching words are usually spelling them by repeating again and again. Thus rote-learning could lead the students to depress their interested in learning the words and the young learners were afraid of learning English. For the primary school students, if they have no interest and the teacher used the simple method of repeating and repeating the words to read and recognize them, the students will keep away from learning the words, and even the English learning. So in this research, according to the age of the students, the researcher used the colorful pictures and the intuitionistic objects to teach, in order to improve the young learners curious of learning English words. On the basic of the students were interested in the word recognition through the pictures, the researcher could find how the students learned the spelling and how long they could remember the word.Presenting new words can be made meaningful and communicative. Teachers can employ the following techniques: using real objects; miming or acting; using pictures. And compare with the traditional one: using the word card and read the word again and again. Do a questionnaire survey to know what the students like.4.2 Activity designBased on the rationale, some task-based activities are designed using the word lists from three units in Primary English for China Book 3A and 5A as the material. (Unit 1 Hello!; Book 5A Unit 6 At a PE lesson) 4.2.1 Activity 1: Presented new words by showing pictures Book 3A Unit 1 Hello! a cat a dog a monkey a pandaa tiger a zebra an elephant a birdTime: 20 minutesContent: the names of the animalsMaterials: pictures for these animals in 3A Unit 1 Hello!Objective: The purpose of these words is to make the students interested in English and learn how to pronounce them, and colorful pictures can attract them to remember these words well.Procedures: 1. Look at the pictures and figure out what animals they can see. 2. Listen and repeat. Get the students listen to the audio tape twice, then repeat them one by one. 3. Game: Whats missing? Play the game with the pictures. The students close eyes and then open and say what picture (the name of the animal) is missing. 4. Magic eyes: Using the pictures and word cards. The students match them correctly. 5. Say hello to each other. The students wear the masks and introduce themselves, such as: Hello! Im a cat. The others: Hello! Miss or Mr. Cat. 6. Assign homework: recite the names of the animals.4.2.2 Activity 2: Guessing meaning from action and pictures5A Unit 6run jump sitrunning jumping sitting stand sleep walk standing sleeping walkingTime: 20 minutesContent: the verbs and the present participlesMaterials: pictures for these words in 6A Unit 6 At a PE lessonObjective: The purpose of these words is to make the students interest in English and learn how to understand them, and colorful pictures can attract them to remember these words well.Procedures: 1. Look at the pictures and figure out what they can see. 2. Read the words one by one with the dialogue: What can you do? I can. 3. Game: What can I do? Play the game with actions. The students act the word out, the others guess. 4. Do the action. Present the new knowledge the present participle.What are you doing? Im .ing. 5. Game: What am I doing? Youre .ing. 6. Compare the two structures: What can I do? What am I doing? The students compare them and give some results about them. 6. Assign homework: recite the words and the present participles.Activity 1 is for the students in Grade 3 who are the first year to learn English. So arouse them to interest in English with the visualized pictures. They can learn the words better. Activity 2 is for the students in Grade 5 who are the third year to learn English. They have some experience in learning English, so using the pictures and actions can make the students understanding the meaning of the words well.The activities for each grade are relevant to students word recognition enhancement such as the games what they have seen, predicting and guessing the meaning of the words, answering the questions to get the general idea, introducing or comparing to know the specific information about the structures.Meaningful and communicative activities were to be designed in teaching vocabulary so that the students could learn English words more efficiently and get satisfactory results. Techniques and ways discussed above are to be used to achieve the aims.Week 1 Activity 1Presented new wordsFor use with the word list of Book3A, Unit 1Purpose: practice using different ways of presenting new words.Instruction: Students work together, in pairs or in groups to read out the word when the teacher shows a picture, mime an action.Procedure: The teacher tells the students to how to read the word . Then he/she shows pictures and mimes actions. After the teacher finishes the demonstration, he/she asks a volunteer student to act as the teacher and the rest to read out the words. After that the teacher gets the students to work in pairs or in groups. Each student should get a chance to act as the demonstrator. The teacher circulates and monitors the activity.Week 2 Activity 2Teaching different aspects of wordsFor use with the word list of Book 5A, Unit 6.Purpose: to practice using different techniques of learning different aspects of new words.Instruction: The teacher demonstrates how to use word fields, word chains and word formation to learn new words. The students work in pairs, in groups and then together to present their achievements.Procedure: The teacher shows the students the pictu