The Problems and Suggestions of the Oral English Teaching of Senior High School

郑旺

【Abstract】Oral English plays a vital part in English teaching， which is one of the four skills including listening， speaking， reading and writing. However， students only pay attention to reading and writing but neglect listening and speaking for a long time due to the examination oriented education， in consequence， the lively and vivid language classes shift into boring grammar class， which brings about the low oral English level of students. With the acceleration of the new curriculum reform， higher requirements for English teaching have been put forward， and more attention has been paid to the cultivation of students oral comprehensive ability. This paper aims at pointing out some problems of oral English teaching of senior high school and come up with a variety of tentative suggestions to refine and enhance students oral comprehensive capacity.

【Key words】oral English teaching； problem； suggestion； teaching methods

I. Introduction

According to the new curriculum standard， it states that language skills are a significant part of language competence. Language skills are involved in four skills：listening， speaking， reading and writing and we require to recognize the comprehensive capacity of the four skills. Listening and reading are skills for understanding while speaking and writing are to express. These four skills supplement and promote each other in language learning and communication （Xiong， 2009）. English is a language， and students learning results will eventually be reflected in integrated ability to use language. At the same time， it points out that English teaching goal of senior high school is so as to foster students comprehensive ability of using English， especially listening and speaking ability， so that they can communicate effectively in English in the process of interaction （Sun， 2014）.

For a long time， the foreign language teaching of elementary education in our country pays more attention to language teaching knowledge but neglect the students language skills and learning strategy training， as a result， the senior high school students appear the phenomenon of high scores and low abilities in English learning. In view of the situation and problems of oral English teaching， this paper puts forward certain tentative advice about how to conduct oral English teaching.

II. The primary problems of oral English teaching

1. Psychological factors of students

In fact， most of the high school students know the importance of oral English， they still dare not speak and feel fear. On the one hand， despite the fact that high school students have some basis in English， different students English learning level remains various and prone to polarization due to that the learning surroundings， educational conditions， learning methods， and teaching methods of senior high school are nothing like those of junior high school. Most of the students who have lacked of appropriate training to speak English in primary and secondary schools feel very fear and horrible owing to the criticism by the teacher， laughter by other students and embarrassment of unable to speak， even they hold the standpoint that the more you say， the more you make mistakes. On the other hand， it is from the fear of teachers. The previous senior high school teaching mainly focuses on the college entrance examination where the teachers strictly control the teaching class and have the supreme right， but the students are only a subsidiary of teaching， that is to say， everything is decided by the teachers. The perfect teaching that the teachers pursue is to state knowledge of textbook constantly while the student can only memorize and recite what they have learned in the class. Teachers and students are the relationship between managing and managed as well as controlling and controlled. Students are afraid of the authority of teachers and dare not speak. Based on the above two aspects， students is probable to lack self-confidence and learning enthusiasm， so that their oral English level is worse and worse.endprint

2. The shortage of language surroundings

Learners of different level need to match with appropriate teaching materials. At present， the teaching materials on the market are more concerned about professional English， which are not suitable for oral English teaching of senior high school. There are some conversations matching with Chinese in the oral English teaching books， and teachers usually let the students follow or read the contents of textbooks， and then check students pronunciation and intonation errors， which can not be effective to achieve the independent output of students creativity. Some textbooks are called “listening and speaking course”， in reality， they only emphasize on listening but ignore spoken English. In addition， the topic of teaching materials is far from the students life and it is difficult to arouse the interest of the students （Cao， 2011）.

Because of the long-term impact of examination oriented education， many schools do not set up special oral English classes， and students seldom have the opportunity to communicate with each other in English class. In most schools， there are not spoken English classes at all due to the large number of students， the large class capacity， and the limitations of teachers and hardware facilities. In the actual class， as the class size is too large， some even up to seventy or eighty people or more， it is very difficult to operate and make students practice their oral English.

3. The ignorance of teachers to oral English

Some teachers ignore their spoken language ability though most high school teachers graduate from English Major in normal universities. When they start to give lessons， they get ready to organize oral English teaching activities in the classroom， but the oral English teaching quality decreases and even teachers oral communicative ability is also being gradually decreased with time going by due to lack of willpower and perseverance as well as the pressure of examinations. In the end， the communication activities appear to be inadequate or simply talk about arbitrary prepared content in the class.

Some teachers still think that teaching should focus on grammar， vocabulary， and language points rather than discourse and actual operation， and adopt outdated teaching methods and let students become passive recipients. English teaching rarely gives students chances to express their ideas in English in addition to occasionally ask a few simple questions. Even if they speak English， it is solely to practice the key words， phrases， or grammatical structures. At the same time， in the oral English class， many teachers are busy in correcting students pronunciation， intonation and give emphasis on vocabulary and grammar， which not only break the students thought， but also have negative psychological impact on students. There is undoubtedly that it will dampen their enthusiasm and hinder the improvement of students oral English ability.endprint

III. The suggestions of oral English teaching

1. The renovation of teachers role

The teacher should first establish an ideology that the teachers role is to guide， inspire students to contemplate， grasp and control the teaching process instead of speaking constantly or compelling students to listen. Instead， the students should be the subject of learning， and teachers should mobilize students learning initiative and enthusiasm in order to encourage students to participate in classroom activities， and then enable students to put their knowledge into ability. It is indispensable to increase appropriately all kinds of English classroom activities and extracurricular activities， encourage students to communicate with each other in English， and cultivate English consciousness of students （Wu， 2010）.

2. The advocacy of cooperative learning and achievement of mutual interaction

The oral communication is not a simple addition of listening and speaking. Only when the interaction between listeners and speakers is active is the essence and meaning of oral communication. Therefore， teachers should attempt to create a two-way interactive teaching environment， so that students can actively participate in oral communication practice and try their best to achieve two-way interaction in classroom teaching. With the purpose of achieving mutual interaction， cooperative learning proves to be effective and useful. The biggest advantage is that cooperative learning provides the communication environment， inspire the listeners and speakers to communicate more frequently and constantly improve the capacity of oral communication.

3. The autonomy of oral English teaching materials and topics

Students should freely choose topics on the basis of their own interests， which can stimulate the enthusiasm of students and promote the formation of independent learning ability （Ling， 2014）. It is obviously unwise for teachers to restrict the topics of oral English teaching materials， and it is likely to weaken the enthusiasm of students participation. In the oral English class， students can choose topics that they are interested in or subjects that they have studied， and find a good starting point and let themselves have something to express. Students topics can be involved in a variety of aspects， such as video clips， exotic scenes， school year plans， current reviews， and non debate. These themes are novel and interesting， which can create an atmosphere of learning English and practicing oral English.endprint

IV. Conclusion

In order to enhancing the oral English comprehensive capacity of senior high school students， teachers should try to choose suitable teaching materials in accordance with students aptitude， local conditions， take a variety of teaching methods， create real language context， establish relaxed and harmonious atmosphere， and cultivate students interest in oral English class， to overcome cultural barriers and enable students to speak more. Whats more， teachers should guide patiently， encourage students frequently， deal with their mistakes so as to let students gradually build self-confidence and promote students oral training. At the same time， teachers should constantly improve their own professional quality， explore more effective teaching methods， and further improve students oral communicative ability. And the school should set up more reasonable English course and class capacity， meanwhile， establish a more efficient oral assessment system.

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