王金娣
摘 要: 词汇是语言的三大要素之一,是我们要表达的思想概念的载体。词汇直接影响并制约学生英语听、说、读、写能力的发展。高中英语课程词汇量加大,词汇成了学生学习英语的最大障碍。本文指在分析词汇教学中的误区,提出充分利用教材中的阅读材料,以语篇为载体将词汇教学和阅读有机结合,切实降低学生词汇学习难度,提高词汇教学的有效性。
关键词: 语篇 词汇 有效性
一、引言
词汇是组成语言的最基本材料,是英语学习的基础。英国著名语言学家D.A Wilkins曾说:“Without grammar very little can be conveyed,without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.”新课标中明确要求普通高中毕业达到的八级词汇目标为:(1)运用词汇理解和表达不同的功能意图和态度等;(2)运用词汇描述比较复杂的事物行为和特征,说明概念等;(3)学会使用3000个单词和400—500个习惯用语和固定搭配,由此可见高中英语词汇教学的重要性。
一般来说,词汇量和学生的英语阅读水平密切相关。要达到新课标的要求本来就非易事,2011年对高考词汇量要求比去年增加了100个单词,使英语词汇教学的难度更大了,这些都使教师意识到了词汇教学的重要性。然而,笔者在教研活动、平时的听课及教学中发现,教师虽然重视词汇的教学,却走入了一个误区:在英语教学过程中,我注意到,很多课堂的组织模式是这样的:老师把准备好的单词向学生传授,随后是对课文的简单的概述,接着就是对文章进行逐句逐词的阐释,而学生在下面努力地做笔记。这样的教学效果如何呢?有些学生说他们不知道这个语篇内容,而把大量的精力放在单个词和句上;同时有些学生花了大量的时间背老师所教授的单词,但记忆效果不佳。出现这些问题的原因在于,老师没有把教材所提供的语篇真正作为语言教学的载体,实现语篇和词汇教学的相辅相成。
亚里士多德曾说:“花在树则生,离枝则死;鸟在林则乐,离群则悲。”事实上,词汇应该在一定的语言环境中才能体现其实质内涵和活力。所以在教学中应该以语篇为载体才能更好地实现词汇教学目标的实效。分析10年高考试题,我们可以发现试题没有偏题、怪题,试题非常注重基础,注重词汇在语境中的运用。因此,充分利用教材的阅读材料,将词汇教学和阅读有机结合,切实降低学生词汇学习难度,提高词汇学习的有效性是广大英语教师应该努力的教学方向。本文就以笔者在教学过程中的五个教学实践为例,探讨如何在语篇教学中进行有效词汇教学。
二、教学实践
(一)以教材单元话题为词汇学习的切入口
高中教材每个单元都围绕某一个话题,依托两个阅读材料来展开教学的。新教材的话题范围广泛,涵盖科技、航天、地理、人文、医学、环保、自然新闻及文化遗产保护等;话题丰富,有友谊、旅游、音乐、体育、节日等,符合学生年龄特征和兴趣。因此,教师可以利用话题,精心创设情境,视语篇为词汇学习的切入口。下面以NSEFC中Book 5 Unit 5 First aid这一单元的reading:First aid for burns为例,共享教学上的探索。笔者在上这一课时,先让学生看一段有关急救的视频,然后问:
【案例1】
What happened to the girl?
What did his father do?
学生马上回答:The girl is bleeding/gets injured in her leg and her father is giving first aid before a doctor can be found.然后让学生运用头脑风暴,列举出有关需要急救的相关信息。学生积极性很高,运用以前所学的知识说出:fall ill,get injured,get burned,break ones arm or leg,get sunburned,hurt by electricity等一些词汇。有很多的学生因为不知道英语词汇而无法表达,急得用中文来代替;还有的学生赶紧翻到课后的词汇表寻找需要的单词。教师此时呈现出分别带有bleeding,a sprained ankle,choking,nosebleed,electric shock,get swollen和be poisoned to death等字样的相关图片。由于图片的直观性,学生马上就猜出并记住这些本单元的重点词汇fall ill,get injured/burned,bleed,sprained,ankle,choke,nosebleed,electric shock和poison的意思。教师顺势要求学生利用这些词说出更多的句子来掌握他们的用法。学生很快就说出:
His nose was bleeding.
The engineer died of electric shock.
His wife suddenly fell ill last week.
Her arms were very swollen after the accident.
He got badly injured in the football match.
甚至更有同学已能把好几个词汇串成句:First aid is a kind of help given to someone who suddenly falls ill or gets injured.这种词汇教学活动,因为有真实的语境,贴近生活,能很好地激发学生的学习欲望,学生能快速地记住并掌握词汇。
(二)以核心词汇为词汇学习的出发点
阅读文章承载了大量的词汇与表达方式,如果能合理利用,对词汇教学就会有很大的促进作用。课文的核心词汇其实也是学生理解的难点,单独地加以分析会使学生产生畏难感,认为这个知识点很难学,从而影响学习效果。以回答问题的方式可以减轻学生的思想压力,因为尽管学生可能对句子或词汇不是很理解,但还是能够顺利地找出答案,这时教师再顺势进行讲解,学生自然就接受得快。而且学生在思考问题的时候是处在主动思维的状态,由学生主动思考得出的答案更易于记忆。在教学NSEFC 中Book 5 Unit 4 Making the news 这一单元的Using language:Getting the“scoop”,笔者就在第三段Careful reading后抛出问题:
【案例2】
How many people read his article before it was ready to be processed into the film negatives?Who were they?
学生很容易从课文中找到以下信息:
·a senior editor from his department,
·the copy-editor,
·the native speaker,
·the chief editor
·and the news desk editor
然后顺势呈现以下过程:
并将一些重点词汇用醒目的颜色标出来,这样学生在理解课文内容的基础上掌握以下词汇就显得容易多了:senior editor,chief editor,edit,polish the style,approve,pass…on to…,last of all,be processed into.有了理解的基础,自信心也有了,学习效率随之也提高了。
(三)在巩固性练习中提高新词的复现率
教材是我们进行词汇教学的“本”,所以我们一定要充分利用教材中的语篇,多角度创造词汇赖以生存的语境,层层递进,让目标词汇不断重现,不断深化,使学生自然习得。阅读后可以设计一些任务,增加该单元新词的复现率,如设计一篇概括课文的小短文,把关键词或目标词挖成空,让学生填空,也可以设置包括目标词在内的选项用完形填空形式让其选择,从而熟悉和运用所学词汇。笔者在处理NSEFC中Book 5 Unit4“Making the news”这一单元的reading时,就要求学生根据课文内容完成以下几个句子:
【案例3】
1.She is to go to college.
2.Jerry was playing football and Tom was playing volleyball.
3.She has on her studies for a long time since her mother left.
4.The boy broke the window,so he had to pay for it.
5.Everything whether we have enough money.
6.The manager was of bribing the president.
7.Please take an umbrella in it rains.
通过此练习来加强学生对eager,meanwhile,concentrate,deliberately,depend on,accuse,case这几个字词的理解。在学完本课之后,笔者又要求学生按照课文内容完成填空,让学生在语境中进一步领悟新词的意义与用法,加深对文章的理解和词汇的复习。
【案例4】
Zhou Yangs first job at China Daily is as a journalist. Before he starts to work,Hu Xin,his new boss,has a discussion with him.The talk is to strongly influence his life.
Zhou Yang knows that he cant go out on story until he is more experienced.Only then can he cover a story and submit the article by himself.
Hu Xin tells Zhou Yang that hell have a professional photographer,and it may be possible for him to concentrate on photography later on and hell find his colleagues very eager to assist him.Zhou Yang should ask many questions to acquire all the information he needs to know. He must have a good nose for a story to assess when people are not telling the whole truth;he must use research to inform himself of the missing part of the story;he mustnt miss the deadline.Meanwhile he has to prepare the next question depending on what the person says.
Zhou Yang asks Hu Xin if he has ever had a case where someone accused his journalists of getting the wrong end of a trick.Hu answers a footballer was accused of taking money for deliberately not scoring goals,so as to let the other team win.(文中有下划线的词为挖空点)
(四)在开放式写作中拓展词汇的运用能力
词汇学习的最终目的是运用,而不是储存。学生在掌握一定的词汇后,教师就要鼓励其积极运用。写作是一种既能反馈出学生对课文体裁、词汇及重要句型的掌握程度,又能促进学生对课文所学语言材料的灵活运用的一种创造性的活动。因此,教师在每个单元都要求学生对课文进行缩写,或根据材料进行仿写,也可要求学生运用目标词汇编写故事,以切实提高词汇的运用能力。笔者在学完Making the news这一单元后,列出了本单元所要掌握的核心词汇:be eager to do sth,approve of,in case of,accuse…of…,set out to do,depend on,meanwhile,assist sb. to do sth/assist sb.in/with sth,concentrate on,so as to,inform sb.of sth,last of all,be delighted to do sth/with sth.,deliberately和本单元的语法倒装。要求学生尽可能多地利用这些词汇和倒装语法自编故事。题材内容不限。由于笔者事先就注重在语篇教学中进行词汇渗透,学生掌握情况较好,因此写出来的文章条理清晰,词汇和语法运用恰当,句子正确率高。下文为学生作品之一:
【案例5】
Learning to swim
It was very hot yesterday.Hardly could I stand the terrible weather,so my father advised me to go swimming.I had been eager to for a long time,so I approved of his suggestion.
Hardly had I got to the swimming pool when I felt very frightened.But Father informed me of jumping into the water again and again.However,I deliberately pretended not to hear what he said so as to hide my nervousness.Father laughed at me after reading my thoughts.
So angry was I that I jumped into the swimming pool directly and set out to swim in the water.How difficult it is!I depended on my father a lot and caught his arms tightly in case of sinking into the water.But father kept encouraging me.Meanwhile he showed me how to swim and assisted me in it a lot.Seeing this,I was filled with strength and concentrated on practicing the same action over and over again.
Last of all,I was delighted to find that I was able to swim.Only then did I understand the old saying better:Where there is a will,there is a way.
三、课后反思
(一)寓词汇教学于篇章教学的优点
一个词如何恰如其分地起到交际的作用,必须立足于情景,而提供丰富语境的最好材料就是语篇,语篇在广义上包括“话语”和“篇章”,它能使词义具体化,表现出词义搭配的选择性和交际性。Scott T(2003)曾说词语的呈现需要在典型的语篇中进行,这样才能有利于学习者理解词语的含义、搭配和句法分布位置等;语言在本性上是语篇敏感的(context-sensitive):脱离了语篇,单个词语的意义就无法确定;脱离了句子的词语是这样,脱离了语篇的句子也是这样。吕叔湘先生也曾说:“词语要嵌在上下文里头才有生命,才容易记住,才知道用法。”因而利用语篇进行词汇教学是培养学生在交际中正确运用词汇能力的最佳途径。
(二)在语篇教学中培养写作能力的优势
书面表达是考查学生综合运用能力的方法之一,但很多学生写出的文章只有单词,没有句子,更别提衔接、连贯等语篇特征,让读者不明白。这是因为学生篇章意识淡薄,篇章知识匮乏。好的文章应该是词汇、语法、结构和内容的完美结合,教材语篇就是很好的范例。语篇教学的优势就在于教学中教师对词汇、语法和句型的用法已多次反复出现和运用,已为学生打好语言基本功,对篇章结构的分析又为学生的篇章组织能力奠定了基础,开放式写作提高了学生运用词汇的能力,达到了最终的教学目的,所以以语篇教学为载体的教学和学习方式,可增强学生对衔接与连贯技巧的敏感性,能有效地提高学生的写作能力。
四、结语
语篇是滋润词义的“沃土”,词汇是组成语篇的重要元素。一方面,语篇必须通过一个个词汇的组合才能表达比较完整、系统的思想内容,另一方面,词汇也因为语篇才能更好地体现出其丰富的词汇意义。词汇的学习不是简单的机械背诵,词汇的教学应更注重对词汇所承载的深层涵义的理解,注重表达的恰当性,注重语篇的支持和文化的传授。在“言”“文”穿行过程中,不断提升语言的综合运用能力。
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