英语教学中语言形式与语言意义的统一

潘 娜

(杭州外国语学校，浙江杭州 310023)

英语教学中语言形式与语言意义的统一

潘 娜

(杭州外国语学校，浙江杭州 310023)

语言形式教学与语言意义教学是英语课堂教学实践中的两个相对独立而又相辅相成的方面．在教学中既要在注重语言形式时关注语言意义，也要在掌握语言意义时注重语言形式．

英语教学；语言形式；语言意义；统一

在英语教学中，对语言的形式（form）与意义（meaning）的侧重，人们有着不同的理解和处理方式．从语言本身来看，语言是一套有着外在组织规律的声音信息；因而英语教师在课堂教学中要传递语言知识、讲解语言规则并操练语言结构．从语言功能来看，语言是一种传递交流信息的工具；所以，英语教师在教学中应重视语言的意义和内容，即如何用语言做事、表情达意、交流信息和沟通思想情感．因此，英语教师的教学既要注意语言的形式又要注意语言意义．教师的语言观应该是全面的、整和的，是语言形式和意义的辨证统一．

在课堂教学实践中，教师可以根据学生的实际情况，设计许多形式与意义不同指向的教学活动．下面笔者以课文“The Record-holder”为例来说明教师如何设计多样的融合语言形式和意义的情景与活动，进而引导学生从单纯掌握语言知识发展到运用语言知识完成社会生活任务．

1 在注重语言形式时关注语言意义

1.1 单词和短语的引出及其操练

“语言知识不是外语教学的目的，外语教学的目的是培养运用目的语的能力．但是，语言知识是外语教学的立脚点，是外语教学所要培植的语言运用能力的大树的根．”[1]

该课文的教学中要完成的具体任务是学习语言知识．课文有八个新单词和短语，笔者仅例举其中两个．教学中，教师先通过1）和2）两句话引出短语evade doing something和put somebody to shame．此时，教师仅考虑语言形式，没有信息差（information gap），因而学生更关注的是语言形式．接着教师又设计了各种学生熟悉的情景，让他们真正掌握语言意义．

1）He ______ answering the question by talking about something else. (evaded)

Teacher: How do you evade answering my questions?

Student 1: I sometimes evade answering your questions by burying my head in my hands.

Student 2: I evade answering questions by avoiding your eye contact.

Teacher: Do people like to talk about those sensitive topics?

Student 1: Most people evade talking about others’ privacy.

Teacher: Can you describe a responsible citizen?

Student 1: A responsible citizen never evades paying taxes.

Student 2: A responsible citizen never evades his or her responsibilities.

2）Joe Sanders wins “The Nicest Garden Competition” each year. His garden ______ the others’______. (put to shame)

Teacher: At the end of the singing competition during the Art Festival in our school, a professional singer sang us a song. How will you compare her performance to the competitors’?

Student: Her performance put the competitors’ to shame.

Teacher: The visiting teacher sitting at the back of our classroom just now gave me his name card. This outstanding teacher is the vice principal in Nanchang Foreign Language School.

Student: This teacher puts Ms. Pan to shame.

在英语词汇教学中运用情景教学把语言形式融合到情景中，可以让学生在感知情景、体会情景并描绘情景后牢固掌握语言形式和意义，从而很自然地运用语言．这样就可以使静态的语言形式教学变成动态的融合语言形式和意义的教学，可以大大提高教学效率．

1.2 句型和优美句子的模仿和操练

语言形式（form）是有限的，而语言意义（meaning）却是无限的，人们可用有限的语言形式创造出无限的句子和语篇来表情达意．在课文中，有一些句型和优美的句子值得学生学习模仿和使用．例如句型Children who play truant from school are unimaginative. A quiet day’s fishing, or eight hours in a cinema seeing the same film over and over again, is usually as far as they get. (…, or …is usually as far as … get.) 可以被学生利用来回答以下问题：How do you like the food in our school cafeteria? Are your grandparents retired? Do you think they enjoy their life? 他们的回答如下：

Food in our school cafeteria is really awful. Pork steak cooked in strange sources, chicken mixed with red pepper or fried green vegetables is usually as far as we get every day.

Life for retirement is no fun. Endless house chores or eight hours playing Mahjong with friends is usually as far as they get.

再如下面的句子中被赋予新的意义的是句型：“something didn’t … as somebody hoped it would, but …”．

1）The “Revealer” didn’t help the search party find any lost treasure as they hoped it would, but an empty tin trunk.

2）The speech didn’t amuse his daughter as he hoped it would, but made her unhappy.

剖宫产术后疼痛主要分为腹部的切口痛、子宫的宫缩痛以及炎性疼痛。切口痛来源于腹部伤口的创伤性刺激，经脊髓后角，传递到中枢神经系统，呈持续存在状态。子宫收缩时，神经末梢受压，子宫下段及会阴部扩张，产生宫缩痛，为短暂间断发作的绞痛。同时，子宫收缩可导致局部血管缺血，组织缺氧，释放炎症介质，导致炎性疼痛。剖宫产术后疼痛以宫缩痛更为明显，疼痛一般在术后12h内达到高峰，24h内持续处于较高水平[2]。

3）The bull didn’t pay attention to the matador as he hoped it would, but turned its attention to the drunk.

2 在掌握语言意义时注重语言形式

2.1 理解文本意义，关注语言形式

“第二语言研究证实在交际过程中学习者对语言形式和功能的关注十分有利于语言的发展．一旦语言形式失去其内容，语言就将成为毫无意义的声音符号．”[2]但由于人们在吸取语言意义以后就将语言形式抛弃了，所以要特别注意引导学生在交际中关注语言细节．

我们可以用一个简单的现象来说明上述情况：当我们在复述别人的故事时我们很少一成不变地使用陈述者原来的语言．这是因为“我们的工作记忆通常通过提取语言意义将故事保留下来，而不是提取语言”[3]．

人类在交际中本能的追求意义，而忽视语言形式．例如在学生复述课文“The Record-holder”时，一位学生的复述内容如下：It was a beautiful day. I found sitting in the classroombored and suffered(boring and suffering), so Idecide(decided) to play truant. I hitchhiked to Dover and in the evening I went into a boat to sleep. The next morning I was surprised to find the boat had traveled to Calais. From there, I again hitchhiked to Parisby(in) a lorry.Instead took me(Instead of taking me) to the centre of Paris, the lorry driver left me just outside the city. I stopped another car which took me to Perpignan on the French-Spanish border. That was the end of my trip. There I was picked up by a policeman and sent back to school by the local authorities. I traveled 1, 600 miles during the whole trip, which put other children who play truant to shame. I really enjoyed my trip.

在这个学生的复述中，斜体部分从语法上讲是错误的（括号中给出的是正确的）．这位学生虽然有一些语言形式上的错误，但是其复述已经完全包括了原故事的意义．这就应证了上述说法．

这里需要指出教师不能要求学生张口必须准确，因为有时候错误也是一种资源．流利是在不断修正错误的实践过程中获得的．只有通过有意义的交流才能学会一种语言．在交流实践中，只要能够达意，不引起误解或闹出笑话，出现一些语音、语法或用词错误，也是允许的．教师在教学中应该重视通过有效的方法纠正一些语言形式错误来提高语言的准确度，从而使学生的语言运用能力更上一层楼．

2.2 跳出文本意义，灵活运用语言形式

在语言教学中，教师既要学生关注语言的意义，又希望学生学到语言的形式．如何在话题设计中将对意义的关注和语言形式的关注有效地组合在一起，是教师需要关注的问题．这就要求教师精心设计话题；尽量把话题转变为学生语言形式习得的机会．笔者认为话题设计必须考虑两个主要问题：1）是否可以让学生充分运用已学语言形式；2）是否能刺激学生表达真实性语言意义．例如：在学生基本理解了课文“The Record-holder”的语言形式和意义后，教师可以设计这样深入的话题或任务：Can you tell us a story which can also be entitled the “Record-holder”? While telling the story, you are required to use at least three words and expressions we’ve just learned. 同时教师给出以下出自本课文的八个单词和短语，供学生任意选用三个以上：unimaginative, evade doing something, put to shame, in the meantime, dream of, set up a record, as far as, record-holder．教师设计这样的话题是要学生充分考虑意义成分，同时又有意识地借要求学生运用课文中的单词和短语来引导学生注重语言形式．

3 结 语

外语教学是一个多方面和多层次因素的综合、统筹与和谐的过程．《全日制义务教育普通高中英语课程标准（实验稿）》[4]倡导在英语教学中实施任务型教学．而任务型教学是融会多种教学法发展而来的，它不排斥其它教学方法．

强调培养学生运用语言的能力并不排斥对语言知识的学习．语言能力是从以语法为主的语言知识转化而来的，语言能力的培养与语言知识的学习是统一的，并非对立的．张正东教授认为：“母语与思维是同步发展的，学会母语的过程可能是意义先于形式．但对学习外语的学生而言，思维发展却先于语言，目的语在他们头脑中空乏的是目的语形式，在无目的语形式的情况下，要运用目的语是困难的．”[1]所以教师不能误入重视意义、轻视形式的极端．

同样教师在传授英语语言形式时要设置情景和任务让学生操练或模拟交际，以培养运用英语的能力．不能纯粹重点讲解英语语言形式而忽视语言意义．

综上所述，在课堂英语教学中我们不能从一个极端转向另一个极端，用一种倾向掩盖另一种倾向．我们的教学既要在注重语言形式时关注语言意义，也要在掌握语言意义时注重语言形式．

[1] 张正东. 论双语教学[J]. 基础教育外语教学研究, 2002, (7): 13-15.

[2] Ellis R. The Study of Second Language Acquisition [M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994: 3.

[3] Skehan P. A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning [M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998: 49.

[4] 教育部. 全日制义务教育普通高中英语课程标准: 实验稿[M]. 北京: 人民教育出版社, 2003.

Integration of Language Forms and Language Meanings in English Teaching

PAN Na
(Hangzhou Foreign Language School, Hangzhou, China 310023)

Teaching of language forms and teaching of language meanings, which are relatively independent but complement each other, are two aspects in the practice of classroom English teaching. So in the practice of English teaching, teachers should pay attention to language meanings in the teaching of language forms and pay attention to language forms in the teaching of language meanings.

English Teaching; Language Form; Language Meaning; Integration

G632.4

A

1674-3563(2010)02-0057-04

10.3875/j.issn. 1674-3563.2010.02.012 本文的PDF文件可以从xuebao.wzu.edu.cn获得

(编辑：周斌)

2010-02-12

潘娜(1969- )，女，浙江岱山人，高级讲师，学士，研究方向：语言学及应用语言学