王碧文
《普通高中英语课程标准(2017年版)》指出,语言能力是构成英语学科核心素养的基础要素(教育部 2018)。语言能力是指在社会情境中,以听、说、读、看、写等方式理解和表达意义的能力。词汇是语言重要的组成部分之一。一种语言依靠词汇,按照一定的语法规则,组成有意义的语篇。著名的语言学家威尔金斯(Wilkins,1972)说:“Without grammar,very little can be conveyed,but without vocabulary,nothing can be conveyed.”由此可见,词汇教学在语言教学中占有十分重要的地位。一般来说,高三学生掌握词汇的多少是衡量其英语水平的标准之一。“词不离句,句不离文”是教单词的经验之谈。如果孤立地复习单词,学生就会觉得枯燥乏味,也很难记住。如果能结合语境,通过词块、句子、话题进行词汇复习,有情景、有意义,学生就易学易记,也能实现其交际功能,达到表达思想、交流感情的目的。
很多教师在高三英语词汇复习中缺乏针对性、层次性、关联性、整体性和持续性,未能引导学生进行词汇的系统复习。他们片面地认为词汇学习主要靠记和背,往往让学生在课余时间记、背单词表中的词汇,且仅仅通过单词听写或测试督促学生记忆词汇。这样,学生长期处于被动学习的状态,教学效果不尽如人意。
首先,学生在平时听、说、读、写中依赖性强,一旦遇到生词就查词典,没有养成主动钻研词汇的习惯。学生往往在独立面对新的语言材料或生词时束手无策。
其次,学生记忆词汇不得法。学生在词汇学习中脱离语境,以孤立词项为单位进行输入、储存和提取,既没有组块记忆,又缺乏必要的联想和回忆线,学习效果不佳。
通过以上分析可知,教师有责任从教与学的实际出发,根据英语词汇的特点,采用灵活多变的教学方法,结合语境,合理有效地引导学生复习词汇,扩大他们的词汇量,提高他们正确使用词汇的能力。下面将结合教学实践,提出几种提高高三英语词汇复习有效性的教学策略,以达成教学目标。
创设语境进行词汇教学是指根据词汇的意义需要,让学生在情境中准确理解词义及其用法和搭配等。因此,教师要认真研究教材和考纲词汇,努力创设相关语境,调动学生学习的主动性,使他们自觉投入语境,主动参与活动,从而了解并掌握单词。
例如:人教版高中《英语》选修8 Unit 3 Reading中:I covered the whole thing with a bucket.(P20)
对于cover这个考纲重点词汇,教师并没有直接解释它的意义,也没有刻意讲解它的用法,而是找出近年来福建省各地质检卷对cover一词多义的考查,引导学生通过不同的语境体会其意义及区别。
1.The noise was so loud that she covered her ears with her hands.(cover:place sth.over 用……盖住)
2.I hoped that the seven dollars would cover the cost for repairing the windows.(2011福建泉州质检完形)(cover:be enough for够用)
3.The bird covered the distance in three minutes.(新概念第5课)(cover:travel走一段路)
4.He laughed to cover his nervousness.(cover:hide掩饰)
5.The reporter was sent to cover the news(. cover:report 采访)
6.The book covers many problems we are interested in.(2011 福建龙岩质检单选)(cover:include包括,涉及)
7.The territory(领土)covered 17 million acres(英亩),covering parts of Washington.(2011福建厦门质检阅读 E)(cover:have an area of占地)
【设计说明】语言学家吕叔湘先生说:“词汇要嵌在上下文里头才有生命,才容易记住,才知道用法。”针对高考英语语篇中很多常用词汇不断重复出现,教师引导学生通过不同的语境,体会cover的意义及区别,引导他们归纳、总结,提高他们在特定语境中判断词义的能力。
科克罗(Kochroo,1962)研究发现,要成功地记住一个单词,学生至少得连续遇到它7次。三木和内申等人(Saragi&Nation,et al.1978)则指出,不断地遇到一个单词16次以后,才能自然地记住它。因此,要达到自然习得单词,就必须让学生在一定时间内频繁地遇到同一个单词,从而自然地记住它。但是,教科书在编写和设计时很难达到这么高的复现率,有效的复现主要依靠教师。这就要求教师在不同的时间用不同的方式帮助学生复现所学过的词汇,尽量减少遗忘率,增强词汇和记忆持久性。在复习词汇如bring,go等时,教师应引导学生加强词汇的联想,归纳、总结,从而以词汇为中心联想辐射,为词汇编织一张网。这样,即使断了其中一根线,仍有其他若干线将这个生词固定在大脑中。
例如,人教版高中《英语》Module3Unit3Reading中出现的go through,bring up等词组是这个单元的重点词汇,且go,up多搭配学生比较容易混淆的词。go搭配不同的介词,up搭配不同的动词,都有不同的意思。教师可以先引导学生就go,up的不同搭配进行发散思维,想出一个词组并造句。如:go搭配不同介词,学生进行发散思维(见图 1):
图1
up搭配不同动词,学生进行发散思维(见图2):
图2
这些新的信息(词组)进入大脑时,最初被安置在“外层”,如果不及时对它们进行深加工处理,它们很快就会被后来进入的新信息排挤掉。课后,教师要求学生选择几个词组,编一个小故事,并在第二堂课上展示,以达到巩固的目的。
以下是高三(5)班某位学生就go的词组编的小短文。
Time went by quickly,it has been 3 years since I last saw my close friend,Lucy.Yesterday I was going through some old letters when I found one from my friend,Lucy.After high school,she went against her father’s wishes and worked in Shenzhen.Last year she got married to an American and gave birth to a pair of twin sisters.She went through hard times of bringing up her children.Life was not as comfortable as it was in her hometown,because there are many things she had to go without.But despite all the hardship,she went on working hard and held a positive attitude towards life.
以下是高三(6)班某位学生就up的词组编的小短文。
As time goes by quickly,we step into senior 3,under the great pressure,I have ever come up with the idea of giving up(放弃)my study.In these two years,my time is fully taken up(占据)with Maths study,but it seems that my efforts didn’t pay off.I still can not catch up(赶上)with others,which depressed me so much.
Last Sunday,I got up(起床)late with a bad mood,and found nothing could cheer me up.I was about to tidy up(整理)my bed when my Mum came in.It seems that she read my mind and said:“Don’t be so disappointed,it’s not a big deal.You should just make up for(弥补)the knowledge you lack and you will catch up with your classmates eventually.But I still have to give you some advice.Firstly,do not make up(编造)any excuses for your own failure.Secondly,don’t stay up too late,build up your health(增进健康)and develop a good habit of study.Once you make up your mind,you should keep it up.Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.”This conversation means a lot to me.I want to have a better future,I won’t let anything block up(阻挡)my step,otherwise I will regret for it all my lifetime.So,my dear friends,let’s keep up our spirits,work together and draw up(绘制)a beautiful blueprint(蓝图)of our future.
【设计说明】词语的意义不是孤零零地存在于词汇系统中,而是相互联系、相互依存的。根据语义场理论,教师可以引导学生通过句子填空、语篇填空理解、识记和运用词汇练习,提高词汇的运用能力。通过鼓励学生将所学词汇用到自己的语句中、短文中,在真实语境中运用所学词汇,使他们的思维变得更积极、更主动,真正做到从“要我用词汇”变成“我要用词汇”。正所谓“大脑深加工,复习更有效;词汇由心生,记忆更牢靠”。
人教版高中英语教材中很多课文话题与生活息息相关,且相当一部分是学生感兴趣的话题。教师可以充分挖掘教材,选准话题让学生仿写;也可以设计更多的口头或书面“产出型”练习,帮助学生理解和记忆词汇。这样,既能达到巩固学生主题词汇的目的,又能增强其词汇运用能力,一举两得。
例如,在复习完人教版高中《英语》Module 3 Unit 3 的重点词汇(passage,manner,patience,permit,account,spot,in rags,by accident,take a chance,bring up,go through,account for等)后,教师可以引导学生根据下面一幅漫画(见图3)选用本单元的重点词汇进行描述。
图3
图3描绘的是醉酒驾车的违章行为,请学生用本堂课所学单词、词组描述这幅漫画的内容(可以适当想象)。
参考词汇:drunk driver,drunk driving,permit,manner,patience,spot,in rags,by accident,take a chance(risk),bring up,account for,go through
高三(5)班学生较好地运用了本堂课所学的词组。下面是某位学生的习作:
It is well known that drunk driving accounted for lots of road accidents,thus drunk driving is not permitted in our country.But in the picture,we can see a drunk driver in rags was caught speeding.The police educated the driver to raise his awareness of safety with patience.However,the driver has drunk so much that he talked with the policeman in a rude manner,he even brought up everything he had eaten.For the sake of the people’s safety and for the happiness of his life,the policeman fined the driver 3 000 yuan on the spot.Charged with drunk driving without a driving permit,the driver was jailed(监禁)for three months.Going through the hardships in the prison,the driver will never take a risk to drive his car after drinking.
In my opinion,it’s time we took some measures to make a total ban on it.Only in this way can people pay enough attention to their daily driving.If we can keep on doing this,the road accidents will decrease soon in the future.
【设计说明】创设生活化的真实语境,引导学生对词汇进行有机整合和处理,化“零”为“整”、融“词”于“境”,将零碎的词汇通过句子翻译、小语段甚至语篇进行输出。这种词汇教学方法改变了教师单方面“注入”式讲授的模式,发挥了学生的主体作用,不仅复习和巩固了原来的知识,还培养了学生的想象力。
相关心理学研究表明:信息处理水平对记忆具有很大的影响,对信息的加工水平越深,信息越能更长久地保存在记忆中。因此,在高三英语词汇复习过程中,教师要积极创设语境,启发、诱导学生思考、想象、表达,将词汇与句子、语篇结合起来,从而激活学生的思维、想象、记忆,培养他们用英语思维的能力,发展他们运用语言的能力,真正提高词汇复习效率。