优化阅读教学设计 培养学生思维能力

钱剑英

摘 要：本文笔者思考的是如何改进阅读教学设计，让学生对阅读内容、阅读过程充满兴趣和好奇心，进而促进他们的思维发展，最后达到“有思想、有内容的表达”。

关键词：英语教学； 优化阅读教学设计； 培养思维能力

中图分类号：G633．41 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1006-3315（2014）03-014-003

一、引言

2013年，社会又一次把英语教学推上了风口浪尖。中央电视台新闻频道播出《英语，中国应该怎么考？》，中国青年报报道《近20年的中学英语改革是一种倒退？》。民众广泛认为“英语耗时多，收效小”、“中小学英语教育掉入应试泥潭”。英语教育专家们也承认“英语教育有问题”。在“学习内容”方面，“英语教材内容与孩子们的认知水平不符，教学要求降低了孩子们的智商”，在英语教学上，缺乏“深层次探讨”和“有思想、有内容的表达”。

笔者经历了近20年浙江省所有英语教学改革。80年代以《How Karl Marx Learned Foreign Languages》为代表的文学经典类教材用了将近15年，1996年由人民教育出版社和朗文出版集团有限公司合编了《高级中学教科书》，当时英语教师一片欢欣鼓舞，不管从听说还是读写都觉得有了时代感、有了生活气息，到了2003年，人民教育出版社英语室编著了《全日制普通高级中学教科书》，然后就是现行的教材。虽然现行教材还存在一些不足，但可以看出教材编写者一直在不断努力中。同时我们一线教师也从未停止过优化课堂教学的研究。本文笔者思考的是如何改进阅读教学设计，让学生对阅读内容、阅读过程充满兴趣和好奇心，进而促进他们的思维发展，最后达到“有思想、有内容的表达”。

二、阅读教学中思维能力的培养

近年来，英语教育界出现了一批一线教師积极研究基于评判性思维的评判性阅读教学（葛炳芳，2013；贵丽萍，2010；欧阳护华、熊涛，2013），但是高中生的评判性思维还处于起步阶段，思维能力要求过高的任务会令他们无所适从（朱旭彬，2012），也有老师认为评判性阅读教学是“贵族”教学，收益人群往往只是部分优秀学生。笔者认为阅读课中并不是处处都适宜设置评判性的任务，因此，本课例的思维能力并不专指评判性思维，而是广义上的思维训练，即在表象、概念的基础上培养学生学会分析、比较、综合、概括、判断、推理等能力。

本课例的文章《The Rescue》选自《全日制普通高级中学教科书（必修）》第一册第四单元。主要的教学目的是通过学生阅读文章，完成老师设置的教学任务，培养他们的思维能力。

教学过程：

步骤一: 导入

Today we are going to read a story “The Rescue” by DH Lawrence, who was one of the most famous writers in Britain. “Rescue” is the act of saving sb. or sth. from a dangerous or difficult situation. Can you name some dangerous or difficult situations in which people need rescue?

【预设答案】earthquake; flood; typhoon; hurricane; fire; robbery; war; explosion; traffic accidents; tsunami; lost in the forest; snow storm; sand storm, etc.

【评析】利用头脑风暴导入主题，搭建了一个训练发散性思维的平台。词汇量大的同学会输出一些其他同学不太熟悉的词比如：tsunami，这样可以丰富其他同学的词汇。同时每位同学想到的危险处境不尽相同，可以拓宽学生的思维空间。

步骤二:阅读，理解文本

Activity 1: In the story, there are two main characters: Flora and Jeff. They are facing a dangerous situation. Read the first few sentences of the story and guess what it is？

Flora heard somebody shouting. She looked around and saw Jeff running. Before she could move, she heard a loud noise, which grew to a terrible roar.

【预设答案】A terrible flood was advancing towards Flora and Jeff.

【评析】阅读被看成是属于接受技能(Receptive Skill)的范畴,往往被看做是一种“被动”、“消极”地接受信息的过程。教师在阅读教学的过程中引导学生恰当地运用预测,能变“被动”为“主动”。由于它要求学生集中精力、开动脑筋,进行大胆、积极、富于创造性的思维活动,因此,它将极大调动学生参与意识,时刻准备接收所需信息的思维倾向。对于根据上述文本的预测，有学生认为是There was a terrible earthquake,也有学生认为是A building was falling down.

Activity 2: Read more sentences and you will have a clear idea.教师展示更多的文本信息。

She looked at Jeff, who was waving his arms. She looked around, behind her. There she saw a wall of water that was quickly advancing towards her. She was so surprised that she couldnt move. She wanted to watch it. However, before she could think twice, the water was upon her.

【评析】读到此处，学生恍然大悟，几乎齐声说 “A flood”.

Activity 3: What damage will a flood cause?

【预设答案】Things will be washed away; people will lose their lives; crops will be destroyed…

【评析】学生回答“a flood”后，教师顺势提问学生洪水会带来什么危害。目的是要求学生利用已知信息来限定将要阅读到的内容可能会涉及的范围,为了让学生积极思考，在阅读的过程中匹配自己预测的内容和最大限度地获取未知信息。

Activity4: Keep on reading till “Flora started crying” and underline the damage the flood caused. Dont worry about the missing words.

“____1___!”Jeff shouted, ____2___ her arm.

The next moment the first wave swept her down, swallowing the garden. Jeff __3___ her towards the house. Everything went so fast, she couldnt think. Before they reached the house, a new great wave came, sweeping down trees, and sweeping them down too. They both went down under water.

Then Jeff pulled her up. He was standing, __4____ a tree that grew against the wall. Floras head was above the water but she couldnt stand up. She ___5___, but could not get on her feet. Only his hand was holding her hand. She fought for her life, and finally ___6__. Now, the water, which was cold as ice and flowed faster than a river, was above her knees. Jeff and Flora looked into each others face with a look of fright.

“____7____!” Jeff shouted.

It was only just around the corner: four big steps! She looked at him, but she could not move. When the water seemed to go down a little, they ran. As they got to the steps, they heard another great roar, and the wall of the house shook. The water flowed around their legs again, but Jeff had opened the hall door.

Flora quickly began ___8___. Boom! Another wave struck the house, and a strange cracking noise again. The water moved up like a sea. Flora ran up the stairs. There she stopped, listening to the strange sounds, while the whole house moved. Flora, whose beautiful hair and dress were all cold and wet, started crying.

【预设答案】swallowed the garden; swept down trees; moved the hous……

【评析】 这一环节是引导学生自主查找、梳理信息点，主动建构信息网，以帮助学生对阅读文本的准确理解。

Activity 5: Flora and Jeff were in real danger. What do you think they should do?

【预设答案】climb to a high place; hold onto something firm or strong enough; catch sth which can float; call 110; send SOS signals etc.

【评析】为了培养学生在生活中遇到类似的情况的时候该如何及时、妥善的解决问题的能力。

Activity six: Finish the last part of the story and answer two questions:

“The house is falling down!” shouted Jeff. “Where is the chimney? Which room? The chimney will stand.”

Jeff looked out of the window. Below, the water swept past the house like a wild river. Tree after tree went down, cut down by the water, which must have been three meters deep. The garden that was once so beautiful was completely destroyed, swept away by the wild water.

A terrible noise went through the house. A part of the house had gone down and the floor moved up and down under their feet. For some moments both were silent.

“This will stand. This here will stand. See! That chimney! Like a tower. Yes! All right! All right!”

Question 1:What was Jeff looking for? Why?

Question 2:What does “stand” mean? Choose one sentence in which “stand” has the similar meaning as the one in the passage.

A.The salad improves if made in advance and left to stand.

B.Stand the plant in the open in a sunny, sheltered place.

C.There are very few buildings left standing.

D.I reached for the lamp, which stood in the middle of the table.

【預设答案】1. Jeff was looking for the chimney, because it was the highest place in the house.

2.C

【评析】猜测词义是学生在阅读文本时必须要具备的一项能力，因为在阅读过程中碰到生词我们不可能每个都去查字典。像stand这一类“熟词生义”，学生还容易受先前学过的语义干扰。为了猜准词义，学生必须全神贯注，联系上下文，理顺文本前后逻辑，大脑始终处于思维状态。

步骤三:阅读，赏析语言

seizing, run, pulled herself up, struggled and struggled, climbing the stairs, dragged, get to the steps, ran up, holding onto

Activity 1: Discuss with your partner and decide what the missing words should be. There are some words and expressions to help you.

What do the words and expressions have in common?

【预设答案】1.Run 2. seizing 3.dragged 4.holding onto 5.struggled and struggled 6.pulled herself up 7.Get to the steps8.climbing the stairs

All the words and expressions vividly convey the two main characters were eager to rescue themselves.

【评析】这项任务的设计是为了培养学生在整体理解文章的基础上，正确把握上下文的逻辑关系，准确理解词义。

通过对单词短语的分析，概括出故事主人公奋力自救和互助的过程，是培养学生分析、概括能力。

Activity 2:How did the writer describe the terrible flood? Read the whole story again and underline the words, phrases and sentences to describe the flood.

【预设答案】

【评析】这是要求比较高的一项任务。作者是从洪水的声音、速度、形状和力量四个角度描写，描写过程中分别用了生动形象的比喻、对比等修辞。学生要完成这项任务，需要有较强的分析和概括能力。教师可以通过启发，举例子等方式帮助学生思考完成任务。

步骤四:读后，评判、创造

Activity 1:Since the writer did such a detailed and vivid description of the flood, can we use a “A Terrible Flood”to replace the title “The Rescue”?Why?

【评析】好标题应做到概括性、针对性、醒目性三原则的有机结合。本文虽然有大篇幅描写洪水的来势汹汹，但作者想突出的主题是主人公在如此凶猛的洪水中如何自救和互助，所以文章标题更适合用The Rescue，而不是A Terrible Flood. 这是训练学生们评判性思维能力。

Activity 2:The story we learned today is only part of a novel.What do you think will happen to Jeff and Flora?

【评析】续写故事是要求学生根据提供的情节，充分理解情节的中心、人物、主要事件，然后顺着原文的思路开展合乎情理的想象，想象事情的发展结果。写作手法与语言风格也要和原文保持一致，使整篇文章没有做作的痕迹。这样的练习，既可以发展学生们的想象力和思维力，又可以培养他们的语言表达能力。

三、结语

有老师评价，在这节课中，学生们像是做了一次大运动量的思維体操，每个环节都需要学生分析、推断、预测、归纳、概括、评价等。

“学而不思则罔”。在外语界“思辨缺席”的现实背景下，每一位英语教育实践者都应该积极探索思维训练的方式方法，不仅在阅读中实践，也可以在听、说、写中培养。让孩子们能对我们的学科感兴趣，帮助他们成为善于思考的一代。

参考文献：

［1］葛炳芳.英语阅读教学的综合视野:内容、思维和语言[M]杭州:浙江大学出版社，2013

［2］贵丽萍,黄建英,周勇,林妮.英语阅读教学中的思维活动:评判性阅读视角[M]杭州:浙江大学出版社，2011

［3］欧阳护华,熊涛.基于批评话语分析的三维批判性阅读模式[J] 广东外语外贸大学学报,(1):37-39，2013

［4］全日制普通高级中学教科书(必修).英语第一册(上)[M]北京:人民教育出版社，2003

［5］朱旭彬.高中英语评判性阅读教学设问策略之探索[J]中小学外语教学(中学篇),(8):1-5，2012