二、教学模式及测试
浅谈合作学习原则在医学研究生英语教学中的构建
摘要：本文在阐述合作学习理论的基础上，探讨合作学习原则在医学英语教学中的建立和实施，通过构建合作教学策略和合作学习方式，培养学生的合作品质和英语应用能力，从而整体上提高医学英语的教学质量。笔者就该模式的基本理念、实施策略及其在英语课堂教学中的运用等方面作初步探讨。
关键词：合作学习原则 医学英语 教学策略
一、前言
合作学习是许多教师一致认为的一种有效的教学理论与策略，合作学习模式是一种值得尝试的创新教学模式。学生以小组活动形式在学习过程中进行交际，共享信息、相互帮助、共同努力和进步（王坦）。本文阐述医学研究生英语教学中运用合作学习原则，促进学生学习方式转变，实施合作学习，培养创新思维，提高学生的语言运用能力，促进学生在整个学习过程中的交互、协商、监控等主观能动作用的发挥。
二、合作学习理论
2.1 合作学习及其内涵
合作学习（cooperative learning）是20世纪70年代初兴于美国的一种教学理论与策略，是“指学生在小组或团队中为了完成共同的任务，有明确的责任分工的互助性学习”。在美国，“合作学习”与“掌握学习”（mastery learning）被誉为当代最受欢迎的两种教学策略。合作学习是基于“人多智广”（Four heads are better than one.）的哲学思想。美国教育家帕克于20世纪80年代把合作学习的革新精神引入课堂，使课堂充满了真正合作与民主的气氛。美国明尼苏达大学的合作学习中心（Cooperative Learning Center）的约翰逊兄弟（D. W. Johnson & R. T. Johnson）于1977年认为：“合作学习就是在教学上运用小组，使学生共同活动以最大限度地促进他们自己以及他人的学习。”台湾学者林生傅先生在2000年论及合作学习指出：“合作学习乃是一种创新的教学设计，目的在于使学习活动成为共同的活动，其成效关系到团体的荣辱。”
从以上国内外专家的表述中，得出合作学习的内涵，即合作学习是以小组活动为主体而进行的一种教学活动；合作学习是一种同伴之间的合作互助活动；合作学习是一种目标导向活动；合作学习把个人之间的竞争转换为小组之间的竞争：合作学习是由教师设计教学，分配学习任务和控制教学进程的活动。合作者之间存在积极的相互依赖关系（positive inter-dependence）、小组成员各自承担责任义务（individual accountability）、成员间需要沟通与互动（communication and interaction）、学生可以自主决定合作的方式、内容，独立解决合作过程中遇到的问题。合作学习把传统的常模参照改为标准参照评价。
2.2 合作学习的理论基础
合作学习围绕以人为本的教育理念，以建构主义学习理论为基础。建构主义认为，学生应该是知识意义的主动建构者，而非外部刺激的被动接受者；教师应该是学生主动建构知识意义的帮助者，而非知识的灌输者。根据建构主义理论，知识不仅是个体在与物理环境的交互中建构起来的，而且社会性的交互协作用更加重要。人的高级心理机能的发展是社会性相互作用内化的结果，每个学生都有自己的知识经验，因此可以通过相互沟通和交流，合作完成任务、共同解决问题。这种社会性的相互作用可以为知识建构创设一个广泛的学习共同体（learning community），从而为知识建构提供丰富的资源和积极的支持。
三、合作学习原则在医学英语教学中的建构
英语教学是一种双向活动，既有教师的主观能动作用，又必须发挥学生的主观能动性，只有把这两个作用有效地结合起来，才能达到良好的教学效果。英语教学是为了培养学生的交际能力。合作学习所倡导的相互作用正是将交际作为语言学习手段的多边活动。我们采用case study的小组学习形式，以内科、外科、护理、医技、中医等医院构建格局分配小组，小组成员的任务是在限定时间内完成教师分配的学习任务，但学习任务必须由每个组的组员共同完成，组员各有具体的分工，教师指定组长。合作学习的过程改变了课堂教学人数多的格局。英语教师在合作学习理论的指导下，以培养学生的英语运用能力和创新思维为着眼点，积极创设全员参与、主动参与、差异参与的学习氛围，构建现代教学理念下的合作学习模式，具体如下：
3.1 确定目标、明确任务
英语教学任务必须具体，要做到任务能调动全员参与的兴趣，以保证合作学习取得实质性的效果。每个小组根据自己的专业特征探讨本学科的发展前沿及问题所在，在开学初就要求其在期末时交一篇三千至五千字的论文，以及课堂演示稿。全体同学及教师一起演示评判打分。
3.2 优化组合、自主学习
组建科学合理、分工明确的学习小组，让学生在小组中合作探究，这是英语教学中自主学习、合作学习的基本教学组织形式。
3.3 小组反思、集中点拨
反思、评价是合作学习的一个必要环节，是学生对自己学习过程中的得失进行重新认识、提高学习质量的重要保证。
3.4 把握角色、强化主导
在实施合作学习原则的过程中，作为指导者、参与者、调控者的教师要经常走到学生小组中去，适时给予点拨与调控。
医学英语教学的目标是培养既具有医学专业知识，又具有熟练英语交际能力的复合型人才，从而提高医学专业学生的综合素质和适应能力。
四、对合作学习原则运用的评估
4.1 积极作用
合作学习是一种新颖的教学策略，它以学生为中心，以小组学习活动为基本形式。能提高学生兴趣、开放课堂的教学模式。培养学生运用语言交际的能力在很大程度上取决于英语教学的组织形式，而小组合作学习便适应了这种需要。
学生的年龄、知识水平、学习经验和思想情感因素具有趋同性，易于相互传递和接受信息。宽松、民主的学习氛围，极大地保护和增强了学生学习英语的兴趣，合作式小组学习对于第二语言习得和交际能力的提高具有创造机会的潜能。
4.2 合作学习中需关注的几方面
（1）合作学习小组的组织：按大专业指令性划分小组会造成各小组人数不尽相同。如果小组过大就不能保证每一位组员都有锻炼的机会，反之如果过小，组员的任务过重，就会有压力感，也不能从其他学生那里获得更多有价值的观点。应考虑根据学生的性别、兴趣、能力、英语成绩等主要方面进行合理搭配划分学习小组；或根据不同的教学环节或学习任务随机进行分组；或根据彼此之间的关系、兴趣爱好等自行组合。
（2）任务目标的科学安排：应该考虑医学专业的差异性给评价标准带来的不确定性。要么评价标准不统一，要么评价标准不科学。
（3）组员责任的承担：一些学生在小组活动中表现得不太合作。有的学生难以在公众面前发言，小组成员有时不能和睦相处，小组讨论噪音较大，讨论时活动时间不能充分利用，小组合作学习组织不到位，出现小组中个别成员承担大部分甚至所有的任务，而某些成员无所事事，出现“搭车”现象。
4.3 合作学习原则实施中教师的作用
合作学习原则下的教师的角色变成了组织者、参与者和指导者。教师组织小组的划分及活动时间，指定组长人选。教师安排活动空间、分派职责、指挥组间合作。适时批评与表扬，多用正强化，巩固和发展学生的学习动机。教师解释学习任务、成功的标准以及期望行为。教师监督学生的行为，并积极参与。
4.4 合作学习中学生的作用
合作学习最终目的是培养学生个体的能力。合作学习要培养学生的责任感。全组的成功要依靠于每个组员的学习情况。责任感的关键在于组员之间的相互帮助和确保每个人都能独立地通过学习评价。每个组员参与活动都是必要的。每一个成员不但要对自己所接受的任务尽心尽力，还要负起帮助、鼓励、支持队友的责任。
五、结束语
合作学习模式体现了“以人为本”的学习理念，强调了学生学习的主动性和教学的针对性与指导性，有利于建立新型的师生关系。注重培养学生学习的积极性和趣味性，突出语言的运用，重视语言的实践性和语言能力的获得，重视小组合作交际，重视生生互动，使学生之间相互合作、相互学习、相互协调和相互竞争的品质得到了培养，有利于培养学生良好的心理素质，合作学习原则是一种有利于学生开展英语实践活动的教学策略。
参考文献
1．郭砚冰．2002．英语课堂合作学习的实施与评价[J]．厦门教育学院学报（3）:59-61.
2. [美]约翰逊（D. W.）, [美]约翰逊（T.R.）著．伍新春，郑秋，张洁译．2004．合作学习[M]．北京：北京师范大学出版社：33-34.
3．王坦．2003．合作学习的理论与实践[M]．北京：北京人事出版社：67-68.
“合作学习”在研究生英语教学中的实践——以小组口头报告为例
摘要：建构主义学习观指导下的合作学习是一种有效的“以学生为主体”的教学活动形式。在这种活动中，学生是教与学的主体，发挥着主动性和积极性。本文针对研究生英语教学现状，以课堂小组口头报告的实践，提出合作学习模式在研究生英语教学中的积极作用。本文详细探讨了小组口头报告的实践过程，着重分析了在这种合作学习中，学生和教师的角色转换，以期为研究生英语教学改革提供有益的借鉴。
关键词：研究生英语教学 建构主义合作学习 口头报告 有效学习
一、前言
大学英语教学目标是培养学生的英语综合应用能力，特别是听说能力，使他们在今后工作和社会交往中能用英语有效地进行口头和书面的信息交流，同时增强其自主学习能力、提高综合文化素养，以适应我国社会发展和国际交流的需要（教育部高等教育司，2004:1）。研究生英语教学在努力培养研究生英语实际运用能力的同时，促进其专业能力的提高，从而提高其将来在学术活动和国际交往方面的能力。
但是目前研究生英语教学面临着严峻的挑战：首先，哑巴英语现象凸现。毫不夸张地说，研究生英语水平还不如本科生水平。我们不能忽视很多因素造成这种现象，如研究生只重视其专业课程的学习，一些工作后重返校园的研究生荒废英语多年，不同学源的研究生英语基础参差不齐，研究生教材的不适当性，等等。其次，学生厌学情绪和焦虑情绪导致英语学习效果不尽如人意。大多数学生已经学习了十几年的英语，传统的教学模式成了惯性教学，千篇一律的讲授方式令人倦怠，“课堂气氛刻板单调，死气沉沉。这种填鸭式教学很容易降低学生学习外语的兴趣，削弱学生学习外语的信心，导致学习效果不佳”（张庆宗，2011:112）。此外，研究生阶段的学生，由于年龄和心理的成熟度，学习焦虑感增强。他们担心不能正确运用语言表达自己的想法从而产生交际焦虑；担心自己在课堂上语言能力落后于其他同学，强烈的羞耻感催生课堂焦虑；对考试成绩影响学业的担忧导致产生测试焦虑（Horwitz et al.1986:125-132）。厌学情绪和焦虑情绪对外语学习产生了负面影响。
研究生英语教学的这种困顿现状亟待改革。如何调动研究生学习英语的积极性，促进学生个性的发展，激发出创新的活力；如何在课堂上营造出轻松、和谐、以学生为中心的氛围；教师如何有效组织教学、设计丰富多彩的课堂活动，这些都需要英语教师和学生在教学改革中共同探索，努力寻求适合研究生英语教学的模式、提高英语学习的效率。
二、建构主义学习理论与合作学习
在皮亚杰、布鲁纳、杜威和维果茨基研究的基础上，建构主义的学习观和教学观正日益发挥着它的重要作用。建构主义强调学生的个人努力，把学生置于教学的中心。“建构主义方法把让学生自己努力去理解教学内容置于教学的中心，极大地改变了教学的重心”（Prawat, 1992:357）。合作学习是建构主义应用于教学的实例，这种方式由来已久，可以追溯到20世纪早期杜威倡导民主化的学习社区。社会建构主义学习理论的代表人物维果茨基提倡教学中的合作学习方式。“合作式学习是一种自主的团体行为，在合作学习的过程中，学生即是主体又是客体。每个学生在交往学习的过程中发挥个体的潜在能力，积极参与学习活动并付出最大的努力。通过合作学习，同学们相互信任、相互配合、协同学习、共同应对和解决学习中出现的难题，以获取最大的学习成效”（张庆宗，2011:83）。
在合作学习中，学生以小组形式解决复杂的问题。学习小组是合作学习的核心因素，学习小组由各要素组成：面对面的互动、积极的相互依赖、个人责任、合作技能和小组进程。通过合作学习的方式，“大家的学习兴趣极大提高，详细阐述、理解、解释、辩论等成为小组活动必不可少的组成部分，在小组里，学习得到了其他人的支持”（Webb and Palincsar, 1996:844）。小组学习的关键在于学生相互交流的质量。教师在合作学习中的作用不同于以往教学方式中的传道解惑，而是“好的教师会用一些思考和备选方案激发学生讨论，促进、激励学生进行思考”（Palincsar, 1998:345）。合作学习的方式很多，本文主要探讨研究生英语课堂中小组口头报告（presentation）的有效合作学习实践。
三、口头报告合作学习方式的实践过程
合作学习小组的五个要素在小组口头报告各个环节中发挥着重要的作用。1．学习小组构成。课堂上学生以小组为单位聚集在一起，而不是散布在教室中。学习小组由学生自愿组成，人数五或六人。在构成学习小组时，学生也要考虑一些因素对发挥小组最优学习效能的影响：如性别因素、个性因素、语言能力因素等。通常每个学习小组有一或两位态势上更加活跃，语言能力更强的“种子”成员，他们在小组活动中发挥着积极的作用。2．话题预设与小组准备环节。教师提前布置口头报告的题目或范围（比如：家庭暴力）。小组成员各司其职，分工合作。有的学生负责梳理相关文献研究；有的学生负责查找更多的案例素材；有的学生负责口头报告大纲的草拟；还有的同学负责视频技术的制作与展现。在分工合作中，各个小组成员独立完成各自的工作，但同时又相互配合，“小组成员体验着积极的互相依赖——他们需要相互支持、解释与指导”（Hoy & Miskel, 2007: 73）。小组成员集思广益，在阅读大量文献素材的过程中，发现问题、提出问题、设计自己的口头报告重点。3．口头报告课堂展示环节。每个小组成员轮流发言，陈述观点，各个成员的观点，形成统一的整体性和逻辑性。在这个过程中，每个小组充分发挥各自的特长，创新小组口头报告的形式。比如：情节剧形式。这种课堂活动新颖、富于活力。它给予学生机会，把他们学到的零星的语言有技巧地组织起来，模拟课堂外可能遇到的真实场景进行演练。如“家暴”这个话题，学习小组设计出庭前和解的场景剧，从当事人、律师、法官各个角度详细分析家暴的原因、危害和应对措施。而有的小组呈现相当学术化的口头报告形式，为其他同学提供模拟的学术会议氛围，如学习小组详尽的回顾与介绍中国反家暴法的艰难立法过程与展望。4．讨论环节。这个环节是整个活动的高潮。报告小组可以给出问题供所有同学和教师讨论，如家庭中的冷暴力对孩子的影响等，这样的拓展问题使得学生进一步深化认识这个话题和与之相关的语言知识。同时，这个过程也极大发展了学生的批判思维能力。他们质疑权威的观点，表达个性的看法，提出建设性的意见等。5．最后，评估环节。合作学习模式强调学生与教师共同参与评价过程，这个过程也是构建学习的过程。评价的内容可以是报告内容、理论研究、案例分析这样实质性的考核，也可以是小组表现性、活跃性、创新性这样软指标的衡量。无论是教师的打分还是学生的打分同样是重要的量性评定，同时辅以质性的参考意见和主观评语，这更能激发学习动机，发挥学习潜能和增强学习效果。
四、口头报告合作学习方式中学生的角色
在合作学习过程中，学生是学习的主体。社会建构主义认为：学习是学习者根据自己的知识背景，在他人的协助下，在社会情景中主动建构自己的意义学习过程（张庆宗，2011: 22）。同样的话题，由于学生的不同专业背景和学习经验，被从不同学科或专业的角度进行多层次、多元化的阐释和理解。比如在讨论“安乐死”这个话题的时候，法学背景的学生侧重立法的必要性和实践性，担心立法化的安乐死会被不法之徒滥用；商学背景的学生分析这一现象背后的利益集团的博弈，呼吁规范化安乐死行为；人文专业的学生更倾向于从人文关怀和人道主义的角度探讨生死的永恒主题，倡导终极关怀；而医学背景的学生从职业的角度出发，呼吁医道，提出对医患纠纷问题的社会化讨论。英语课程的单元内容和讨论话题，在学生的演绎下，成为多学科内容的交叉学习，这种主动建构的学习过程极大地丰富了课堂教学内容，在教学形式上更调动了学生参与课堂的主动性和积极性，体现了“以学生为本”的教学理念和方法。
同样的，在这个过程中，学生的语言能力与综合能力得到发展。在口头报告准备阶段，通过大量的阅读文献素材，语言学习不再拘泥于教材中的精读，学生的阅读理解能力得到锻炼；在选择合适口头报告的案例或素材过程中，学生进行积极的理性思考，批判思维能力同时得到提高；在与小组成员分享学习经验和讨论问题时，学生的语言交流能力得到了发展；在准备汇报过程中，学生把调查研究与分析的内容以书面和学术的形式写出来，这提高了他们的学术写作能力；在分工合作的过程中，学生的合作意识和合作能力得到了提高；为了整个口头报告过程的顺利进行，学生还学会了控制与管理学习小组的工作，他们的组织能力得到拓展；在问答环节，不断迅速地作出反应和应答锻炼了学生的应变能力；与师生的互动过程中，学生学会相互尊重与倾听，学会分享与协作，学会质疑权威。在英语课上，合作学习的方式不仅提高了学生单纯的语言技能，而且发展了学生的综合能力，这些能力更促进了语言的学习与语言技能的提高。
五、口头报告合作学习方式中教师的角色
传统的教学模式下，教师是权威者，是课堂的主宰。教师习惯把知识结论直接传授给学生。在“教师教，学生学”的局面下，教师是焦点。而在合作学习教学方式中，教师不再是知识的单一传授者，而是学习过程的参与者和协作者。“在这个过程中，教师是指导者，鼓励学生活动，克制住试图在语言运用、语法问题和策略上弥补学生不足的倾向，而是记录下这些问题，随后在评论和交流实践中解决它们。在小组活动结束时，教师扼要总结活动，指出其他的可能方案，拓展问题，并帮助小组成员进行自我纠正的讨论”（Richards and Rodgers, 2000:78-9）。
依据维果茨基的“最近发展区”理论（Vygotsky, 1978），比学生语言能力更强、经验更丰富的教师，在最近发展区介入学生的主动学习。在口头报告的合作实践中，教师介绍口头报告形式的基本框架。话题相关的前沿知识背景，运用各种教学策略帮助学生解决问题，为学生提供及时的意见反馈，提出批判性的问题供学生拓展思考，帮助学生与其他学生进行交流。比如在讨论“医疗纠纷”这个话题的时候，鉴于学生这方面的阅历和经验不足，教师可以先介绍诸如“医疗不当”和“循证行医”此类的术语知识，再引导学生进入具体案例的讨论和发言。在这种支架式教学模式下，学生的学习过程是一个从被动到主动、从客体到主体的过程，从在教师的指导下过渡到学生发现问题、解决问题、自主学习、建构知识的独立性过程，从而实现有效的学习。
同样，合作学习模式要求教师也是一名学习者。“外语教师要注重学习，树立终身学习的观念，学习是获得发展的唯一源泉”（张庆宗，2011:197）。不同学生的口头报告涉猎不同的专业知识，可以说学生的专业知识（法学、商学、社会学等）高于大多数英语专业背景的教师。教师在指导口头报告过程中，也需要学习多学科的知识充实自己，这样才能有效指导、并提出深刻的问题和有针对性地评价。这就要求教师树立学习者的信念，在与学生的互动中实践学习者的角色。
六、结论
本文在分析研究生英语教学现状的基础上，借鉴建构主义的学习理论，有针对性地提出了小组口头报告——这种合作学习方式在研究生英语教学上的适用。这种教学方法实践了“以学生为中心”的现代人文主义教学理念，充分调动了研究生英语学习的积极性和创新性，实现了有效的英语学习。在社会进入信息化，网络化的今天，英语日益突现它作为国际性语言的作用和价值。对于高端人才培养的研究生，有效的英语学习和英语运用能力对其今后的职业发展和丰富人生有着价值增值的作用。
参考文献
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The Role of Learning Strategies in English Language Teaching
Abstract: This article discussed learning strategies from the following aspects: 1）learning strategies and second language learning, 2）the application of out-of-class languagelearning strategies in the Chinese context and 3）the implications of the learning strategies for classroom teaching. The purpose of studying learning strategies was to help poor language learners learn better. Teachers should bear in mind the importance of raising students' awareness of learning strategies and providing students with sufficient “conscious-raising” training in promoting “learner autonomy”.
Key words: learning strategies English language teaching L2 learning
Since 1975, the focus of research in L2 learning has shifted from “teachers' teaching to students' learning”（Wen and Johnson, 1997:27）, and there has been a boom in the studies of learning strategies. The purpose of carrying out these studies is to try to find the secret of successful language learners in the hope that less effective learners may benefit from it（Hedge, 2000; Ku, 2000; Williams and Burden, 1997; Wenden, 1986）. Since then, characteristics of good language learners have been described; some tentative conclusions of learning strategies have been drawn and various classifications of learning strategies have been defined by different linguists and investigators. This article will discuss learning strategies from the following aspects:learning strategies and second language learning, the application of out-of-class language learning strategies in the Chinese context and the implications of the learning strategies for classroom teaching.
1. Learning Strategies and Second Language Learning
1.1 The relationship between strategy use and L2 proficiency
The relationship between strategy use and L2 proficiency is similar to that between motivation and successful learning. Up to now we still do not know the frequent use of certain language strategies is the cause or the result of L2 proficiency（Ellis, 1994; Green and Oxford 1995）. But when discussing the relationship between strategy use and L2 proficiency, we should not evaluate it from one way but from two ways or two directions so as to have an overall assessment of the influence of learning strategies on learners' L2 learning.
1.2 The role of “learner autonomy”
Sinclair（1999:310）states that autonomous leaning is mainly concerned with “the situations and opportunities for exercising a degree of independence”. Dam（1995:1）defines learner autonomy as “a readiness to take charge of one's own leaning in the service of one's needs and purposes”. Pearson（1988）found that there are two important factors which might influence learners' L2 learning, one is their investment and energy into L2 learning and the other is their awareness of “learner autonomy”. Since no student can be accompanied by his teacher throughout his whole life and learning is “a lifelong process”, the purpose of education lies in helping students form an independent learning habit and become responsible for their own learning process（Williams and Burden, 1997）.
1.3 Exposure to authentic context
Willis（1996）argues that one of the essential conditions for effective language learning is to expose language learners to a rich and comprehensible input situation. With adequate exposure and appropriate conditions, learners will acquire the L2 in a formal classroom environment. Krashen's “input hypothesis” also lays stress on learners' exposure to sufficient comprehensible input, which will help language learners to acquire that language（Richard and Rodgers, 1986;Wen and Johnson, 1997）. From the above mentioned we can see that exposure to a real language learning situation is vital and essential for L2 learning.
2. The Application of Out-of-class Learning Strategies in the Chinese Context
Pickard（1996）states that in language-learning process, out-of-class learning strategies play an important role in L2 learning. From our teaching experience, we strongly agree with Pickard's statement.
According to the English Curriculum Requirements（2007:18），“the objective of College English is to develop students' ability to use English in a well-rounded way, especially in listening and speaking, so that in their future studies and careers as well as social interactions they will be able to communicate effectively, and at the same time enhance their ability to study independently and improve their general cultural awareness so as to meet the needs of China's social development and international exchanges”.
It is impossible to reach the prescribed teaching objectives by using limited classroom teaching hours. In order to reach the goals and fulfill the tasks of college English teaching, we language teachers have to organize and guide students to do different kinds of out-of-class activities, which are regarded as complement and continuation of classroom teaching. Below are some out-of-class activities we used to do in our class with an emphasis on enhancing the integration of four language skills and helping learners eventually form a good habit of selfdirected learning.
2.1 Reading authentic materials
Willis（1996）states that reading can provide learners with an infinite space to learn how to use the target language and many successful language learners think that reading is an efficient and effective way to enlarge vocabulary, grasp new phrases and consolidate grammar learning.
In the Chinese context, what we should recommend our students to read is up to the size of their vocabulary. We may advise those students with limited vocabulary to read simplified readers from the very beginning. Then gradually with the increase of their vocabulary, guide them to read some authentic materials such as English newspapers and English magazines.
2.2 Listening to English radio and watching English TV
Pickard（1996）found that learners' exposure to the language through listening to English radio with pleasure may enhance their language acquisition. Wenden（1991）states that learners may acquire L2 by using functional practice strategies such as listening to the English radio, watching English television, which is congruent with Naiman et al.'s（Skehan, 1989）finding that the strategies most used by good language learners are to listen to English radio and watch English TV programs. We recommend students to listen to English radio programs such as China Radio International（CRI）, BBC and VOA, and encourage students to watch CCTV new channel.
2.3 A series of lectures
Dickinson（1992）states that learner training can enhance L2 learning by means of providing learners with the techniques of how to become an independent learner. Wenden（1991）states that the purpose of learner training is to help learners become more self-directed. In order to help students learn L2 effectively, we should give students a series of lectures on study skills and selfdirected learning such as learner autonomy, how to enlarge your vocabulary and etc.
3. The Implications of the Learning Strategies for Classroom Teaching
3.1 Two most frequently used learning strategies
From the studies of learning strategies, we found that good language learners are common in two aspects: active participation in language-learning activities and use English as a means of communication. Thus in language teaching, we should put more emphasis on encouraging students' active participation into class and out-of-class activities and try to create a simulated real learning environment in the Chinese context.
3.2 A shift in language teaching
Williams and Burden（1997）state that language teaching should shift from imparting knowledge and skills to teaching how to learn. The shift in language teaching is very instructive in China. The consequence of traditional Chinese English teaching focusing on “linguistic competence” is that learners can produce a set of correct utterances which are isolated from the real situation; learners lack communicative competence.
3.3 Knowing teaching objectives
As we know, language is a means of communication. Williams and Burden（1997）state that the use of learning strategies lies in your teaching objectives. Ellis（1994）and Wenden（1991）maintain that different teaching objectives lead to different results of L2 learning, that is to say, formal practice strategies may facilitate learners' grasp of “linguistic competence” while functional practice strategies may enhance learners' “communicative competence”. In order to teach effectively, we language teachers should bear in mind the goal of developing learners'“communicative competence”.
3.4 Promoting learner autonomy
Pearson（1988）found that good language learners are those who are autonomous and selfregulated in their own learning experience. Almost all the language teachers believe that it is important to cultivate learners' self-directed learning（Abrams,1994; Wenden,1991）. Hence the role of a language teacher is to help students make awareness of their own learning and be responsible for their own learning and lead them to the path of autonomous leaning.
3.5 The importance of rich exposure to authentic context
The ultimate goal of language learning is to use it in a real or authentic context. In China, there exists a strange phenomenon—many students who have passed College English Test（CET）Band 4 even CET Band 6 are still not capable of communicating with foreigners efficiently, translating articles related to their majors accurately or expressing their own opinions freely in academic writing. The reason for the strange phenomenon probably lies in learners' insufficient exposure to authentic context. This phenomenon shows the importance of rich exposure to a real situation in L2 learning.
In a word, just as Ellis（1994:559）states, although there are some limitations on the studies of learning strategies, such as the research methods which are “interviews, questionnaires, diaries and think-aloud tasks”, the data collected from self-report and questionnaire, and most of the approach which are “cross-sectional”, not‘longitudinal”, and the result of the research into learning strategies might be imprecise and doubtful, the educational shift from focusing on teaching to focusing on learning broadens our view and provides a new dimension to describe and explain L2 learning. From the conclusion of the studies of learning strategies, we can see that certain learning strategies can help poor language learners learn better. Teachers should bear in mind the importance of raising students' awareness of learning strategies and providing students with sufficient “conscious-raising” training in promoting “learner autonomy”.
References
1.Abrams,D.1994.Reviews:Learner strategies for earner autonomy[J].ELT J 48/3:280-281.
2.Dam,L.1995.From Theory to Classroom Practice[M].Dublin:Authentik.
3.Dickinson,L.1992.Learner Training for Language Learning[M].Dublin:Authentik.
4.Ellis,R.1994.The Study of Second Language Acquisition[M].Oxford:Oxford University Press.
5.Green,J.M.&Oxford,R.1995.A closer look art learning strategies,L2 proficiency,and gender[J].TESOL Quarterly 29/2:261-297.
6.Hedge,T.2000.Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom[M].Oxford:Oxford University Press.
7. Ku, P.Y. 2000. Strategies associated with English proficiency of EFL students in Taiwan. In: G. S. Hu（ed.）, Proceedings of the '98 International Conferences on Teaching English at Tertiary Level in the Chinese Context [M]. Beijing: Tsinghua University Press: 44-64.
8.Pearson,E.1988.Learner strategies and learner interviews[J].ELT J 42/3:173-178.
9.Pickard,N.1996.Out-of-class language learning strategies[J].ELT J 50/2:150-159.
10.Richard, J.C. & Rodgers, T. S. 1986. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. [M]. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
11.Skehan,P.1989.Individual Differences in Second-language Learning[M].London:Edward Arnold.
12.Sinclair, B. 1999. Survey review: recent publications of autonomy in language learning [J]. ELT J 53/4:309-329.
13. Wen, Q. F. & Johnson, R. K. 1997. L2 leaner variables and English achievement: a study of tertiary-level English majors in China[J].Applied Linguistics 18/1:27-48.
14.Wenden, A. 1986. What do second-language learners know about their language leaning? [J]. Applied Linguistics 7/2:186-205.
15.Wenden,A.1991.Learner Strategies for Learner Autonomy.[M].London:Prentice Hall.
16.Williams, M. & Burden, R. L. 1997. Psychology for Language Teachers. [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
17.Willis,J.1996.A Framework for Task-based Learning[M].London:Longman.
18．教育部高等教育司．2007．大学英语课程教学要求 [M]．上海：上海外语教育出版社．
Politeness Theory in Teacher's Talk
Abstract: Teacher-student interaction in particular is central to the enterprise of education, since the major goals and activities of schools are achieved through communication. Teachers, who play a dominant role in school communication, should know some strategies in manipulating interpersonal relationships as well as imparting knowledge. A theory of “politeness”, which claims to describe and explain some universal features of social interaction, can also be applied in the context of teacher-student conversations to help teachers deal with teacher-student relationship in an appropriate way. The essay introduces the relevant theory of politeness first and then analyses a one-to-one tutoring dialogue with reference to the theory.
Key words: politeness theory teacher-student interaction interpersonal relationship
1. Introduction
As Halliday points out, schools are only one of many institutions that are interesting “as a nexus of interpersonal contexts for the use of language”（Halliday, 1978, cited in Cazden, 1979）. The basic purpose of school is achieved through communication. “The whole function of the school is to be a communication network joining professional and client... Hence an understanding of the institutional use of language is even more fundamental in the school than elsewhere”（ibid）. Whereas in schools, teachers play a dominant role in school's communication. In classroom, teachers talk about two-thirds of the time and initiate most of the interactions（Anderson, 1978, cited in Cazden, 1979）. As Cazden states, teaching is more than telling, more than even the most successful referential communication; it also requires the management of interpersonal relationships and the accomplishment of classroom control in face-saving ways.
As a linguistic term，“politeness” was popularized by Brown and Levinson（1987）when they developed a framework to account for some apparently universal features of social interaction. The most important principle of Brown and Levinson's politeness theory is that we change our language based on the hearer and thus our strategies for compliance gaining change depending on the hearer. Politeness is the expression of the speaker's intention to mitigate face threats carried by certain face threatening acts toward another. In the context of teacher-student interaction, politeness theory can facilitate us to consider the relationship between teachers and students and how teachers manage to fulfill the students' face needs through language control.
In order to look into how “politeness” is at work in the teacher-student interaction as it is applied to teacher talk, a dialogue on one-to-one tutoring in physics will be examined from the perspective of politeness using Brown and Levinson's model.
2. Relevant Theory of Politeness
According to Holmes（1995）, politeness is an expression of concern for the feelings of others. In everyday usage the term “politeness” describes behavior which is somewhat formal and distancing, where the intention is not to intrude or impose. Being polite means expressing respect towards the person you are talking to and avoiding offending them. Politeness as a linguistic theory was first systematized by Brown and Levinson（1978）. In their theory, a key concept is the idea of “face”, which derives from Goffman's concept of face and from the everyday usages“losing face” and “saving face”（Reiter, 2000）. The theory is based on the presumption that it is in the mutual interest of participants in a conversation to cooperate in order to maintain each others' face because everybody has face wants and they are all concerned about their face and the selfimage they present to others. Brown and Levinson distinguish two aspects of “face” which they claim are universal and refer to two basic desires of any person in any interaction，“negative face”and “positive face”. The former is a person's desire or need to be unimpeded by others, to be free to act without being imposed upon. The latter is a person's need for social approval, or a person's wish to be appreciated and admired by others.
Certain communicative acts which run contrary to the addressee's and/or the speaker's positive and/or negative face are regarded as face-threatening acts（FTAs）by Brown and Levinson（1987）. They claim three factors which determine the seriousness of a FTA as follows:
（i）Social Distance（D）between the speaker and hearer;
（ii）Relative Power（P）between the participants;
（iii）Absolute Ranking（R）of impositions in the culture.
The values of D, P, and R are added in order to know the amount of “face” work to be performed. According to Reiter（2000）, if the speaker evaluates D, P and R as minimal, she/he may request the hearer to close the window by simply uttering:Please close the window.Whereas if the speaker evaluates D,P and R as maximum,she/he may utter differently:It's gone a bit too cold, hasn't it? Would you mind closing the window, please?
As Reiter（2000）states, because participants are rational agents, apart from determining the seriousness of a FTA according to the above-mentioned factors, in an interaction they will choose possible strategies which will enable them to either avoid or mitigate FTAs. Brown and Levinson（1987）propose five strategies which can be placed in a hierarchy as follows:
1. Do the FTA on record without redressive action, baldly;
2. Do the FTA on record with positive politeness;
3. Do the FTA on record with negative politeness;
4. Do the FTA off record;
5. Don't do the FTA.
3. Analysis of the Dialogue
As mentioned above, the perceived seriousness of the FTA will determine the selection of the redressive strategy. In the following analysis of the tutoring dialogue, it can be found that different politeness strategies are applied in the teacher's utterances. The full text can be referred to in the appendix.
3.1 Do the FTA on record Without Redressive Action, Baldly
This strategy is employed when there is no risk of loss of “face” involved; the participants have no doubts about the communicative intention of the speaker. Therefore, the act will be performed in the most direct, concise, clear and unambiguous way, conform to Grice's maxims（Reiter, 2000:14）. Brown and Levinson（1987）also mention that there is no need for redressive action when other demands for efficiency override the interlocutors' “face” concerns.
In this dialogue, the communicative intention between the teacher and the student is solving the physical problem and the main role of the teacher is to instruct and guide the student to deal with the problem. So some utterances of the teacher are direct and clear in order to make the student understand the instructions fully and solve the problem efficiently. But since they do not make the student lose face, they are performed baldly without redressive action. This strategy identified in this dialogue includes:
3.1.1 Making Direct Requirements
1. T: [student name], I'd like you to read the problem carefully, and then tell me your strategy for solving this.
83. T: Well, go ahead with what you were gonna do with this line, or tell me what you're gonna do.
101. T: ... So now, I want you to go back to the problem and look and see if you can... there's enough information there to get A sub y.
The teacher makes direct requirements in these three utterances but she/he also clearly shows what the student should do.
3.1.2 Reminding
13. T: At this point don't tell me exactly what you're doing, just general strategy.
At the moment, it seems that the student is struggling to explain the detailed procedures of solving the problem, but it is not necessary, so the teacher gives her/him reminding directly in order to keep going efficiently. Similarly, in the following three examples（71, 87 and 97）the teacher speaks directly to remind the student when she/he is straying from the correct thread.
71. T: Make it clear you're just talking about the y components. Have it clear...
Most importantly, have it clear in your own head.
87. T: Just do it algebraically for now.
97. T: Think out loud.
3.1.3 Correction
30. S: Now how... let's see. To delete the... the axes?
31. T: Leave those axes there. Those are fine for this problem.
and:
114. S: It's, uh, change in velocity over time?
115. T: It's change in velocity per time, so, now... hit parenthesis here.
and:
116. S: It would be v final minus v initial?
117. T: mm hmm. And we might want to say v final y here
The above three interlocutions appear in terms of question and answer. The teacher makes corrections naturally while answering the student's questions.
195. T: And newton, the abbreviation is actually capital N. Not Nt.
The teacher clearly states the objective fact that the correct abbreviation of newton should be N, in which a correction is involved.
3.1.4 Giving Instructions
27. T: It's fine to put in the axes now. It's obvious in this problem where it should go.
33. T: Looking at this problem, it's obvious which way the axes should go.
In these two examples, the teacher gives the student instructions about what to do next.
The reasons why no redressive action is taken on these occasions are: on the one hand, according to Brown and Levinson（1978）, to do an FTA baldy, without redress, implies vastly superior power on the part of the speaker. In this dialogue, obviously the teacher has superior power over the student; on the other hand, as Cazden（1979）states, when task focus has been achieved, students expect that the teacher will give directions for the work to be done, and then there is no need for redressive action.
3.2 Do the FTA on Record with Positive Politeness
According to Peccei（1999）, positive politeness orients to preserving the positive face of the other people. It is characterized by the expression of approval and appreciation of the addressee's personality by making her/him feel part of an in-group（Reiter, 2000:15）. Some examples of positive politeness put forward by Brown and Levinson are: paying attention to the other person, showing exaggerated interest, approval and sympathy, use of in-group identity makers, being optimistic, search for agreement and common ground, offering and promising. A number of examples of positive politeness strategy used by the teacher in this dialogue are:
3.2.1 Paying Compliments
As Holmes（1995）states, compliments are clearly positive politeness devices which express goodwill and solidarity between the speaker and the addressee and they may function as praise and encouragement. For example:
9. T: Mm hmm, good.
21. T: OK, good. And you'll see how to get the A at some point. But, you have the right general strategy. Very much so.
39. T: That's a fine name.
57. T: That's exactly right.
85. T: OK, that's excellent. Yeah, you can definitely solve for T algebraically.
89. T: Excellent.
121. T: Excellent. Unknown. See, you knew this.
153. T: Excellent. [pause] And now you're practically done with this problem.
163. T: Excellent. Now we're almost done.
The teacher uses different words to pay compliments on the student's performance. It can also be seen as noticing and attending to the student's wants because the students needs to get responses or feedback from the teacher to know if she/he is doing in the right way.
3.2.2 Using In-group Markers
This is achieved by the use of “we”，“us”，“our” or “let's” to include both speaker and hearer in the activity. For example:
23. T: OK, so now let's go down and identify the forces on that package.
37. T: Let's give that guy a name.
73. T: And we really want to say A sub y here. This is our...
109. T: Yeah, we can guess the acceleration is constant. They don't tell us that, but it's reasonable to guess that, if it's the simplest thing.
3.2.3 Offering Excuses
This strategy shows consideration for the other person's feelings and redresses the potential face-threatening facts involved in. The following two examples show how the teacher saves the student's positive face through offering excuses.
29. T: That's OK, this thing is finicky. I'm glad I'm on this end and only have to watch when people are struggling with it.
Here, the teacher suggests that “don't worry about the timepiece and just take it easy”. The second half of the sentence has a touch of joking in it, which relieves the student's embarrassment.
49. T: It's OK, it's OK. It's almost like a force.
50. S: Uh huh.
51. T: It's in the same units as force.
The teacher offers an excuse for the student's misconception by implicating that it is likely to confuse tension with force because of their similarity.
3.2.4 Being Optimistic
101. T: OK, so now you've got your T nailed down. As soon as you find A sub y, you'll have T.
Being optimistic about the result which the student has achieved at present, the teacher is indicating that the student can solve the problem step by step.
3.2.5 Avoiding Disagreement
43. T: What's this guy?
44. S: Um, It's tension.
45. T: Yeah, it's the force from the tension in the string.
46. S: Right.
The teacher does not want to make the student feel challenged and embarrassed, so she/he seeks to avoid disagreement with the student and makes correction indirectly rather than immediately says，“No, it's not tension, but force”.
3.3 Do the FTA on Record with Negative Politeness
According to Peccei（1999）, negative politeness orients to a person's self-image as a free individual who should not be imposed upon. In this dialogue the teacher tries to use this strategy to reduce the force of an imposition and mitigate the threat of the act to preserve the negative face of the student.
91. T: And if you wanted to use distributive law on that, you could. It would simplify it.
133. T: Yeah, now we could actually put numbers in, if you wanted.
159. T: ... But I'm saying if you wanted to write less, you could take the unit all the way outside the parentheses.
The speaker can minimize the threat to the hearer, give the hearer the option not to act, or communicate the speaker's desire not to impinge on the hearer（Brown and Levinson 1987:131）. By hedging，“if you wanted”, the teacher minimizes the imposition on the student by making the request as understated as possible.
185. T: And actually, if you were taking this on the GRE, you'd probably have a multiple choice, and one of the things might say 44.4 or 45. You could say 45 newton here, that would be close enough.
Negative politeness also involves some frequent use of other mitigating devices，expressions that “soften the blow”，like please，possibly，might，I'm sorry but... etc.（Peccei，1999:65）. Here，the teacher uses “probably” and “might” to mitigate FTAs.
3.4 Do the FTA off Record
According to Reiter（2000）, this strategy is employed when the risk of loss of “face” is great, the communicative act is ambiguous, i.e. a hint, and its interpretation is left to the addressee. The off-record strategy, also called hints or non-conventional indirectness, is thus related to the flouting of Grice's maxims in which meaning is to some degree negotiable by means of conversational implicature.
2. S: OK. [pause 17 sec] hmm. [pause 6 sec]
3. T: Thinking out loud as much as possible is good.
4. S: OK, um... Well, first I'm gonna draw all the forces.
The teacher encourages the student to say aloud what she/he is thinking. Instead of addressing the request to the student directly, the teacher just drops a hint that it is good to think out loud.
24. S: OK. Start off with an axes.
25. T: OK. I usually put in the forces first, and then the axes.
26. S: Oh.
The teacher does not point out the student's mistake directly but makes a hint from her/his own perspective so as to tell the student what should be considered first.
47. T: Tension is not quite the same thing as the force.
48. S: Oh, sorry.
The teacher states that there are some differences between tension and force, which is implicating that the student confuses tension with force.
61. T: It's... are you talking about the F net, here, as a vector? Or just one component of it?
65. T: Other problems. It's very good to make that distinction right at the beginning. So are you talking about one component of it, or are you talking about the vector...
139. T: Mm hmm. So, minus... Is that initial velocity up or down?
140. S: Oh, that's right, it's going down, so...
In the two underlined sentences, instead of making statements the teacher asks questions which allow interpretation as hints that something is wrong whilst allowing the student to discover the mistake by herself/himself and make sure whether she/he is talking about F net as vector or just talking about one component of it. In the same way, the student also gets a hint from the words of the teacher in line 139 that she/he should make certain that the initial velocity is going down, not up.
81. T: No, I wouldn't put numbers in at all, yet, if that... What are you thinking of doing, here?
In the first half of line 81, the teacher also tries to avoid pointing out the student's mistake directly but gives a hint in her/his point of view. In the second half, the question implicates that it is better for the student to rethink about the problem.
144. S: All over 2.
145. T: I'm pleased to see you keep the units in.
146. S: I'm sorry?
147. T: I'm pleased to see you using units.
148. S: Oh, OK. 2 seconds.
Obviously, the teacher successfully drops a hint which makes the student realize that she/he should remember to use units.
165. T: Do you have to take tests without calculators?
166. S: Yeah.
167. T: OK, well, let me show you how to do this without a calculator, then.
The teacher implicates that there is no need to use calculators at any time. It can also be interpreted as pre-sequence which is provided by Yule（1996）. The first question leaves room for the student to say “no” for the following “let me show you how to do this without a calculator”. It provides an opportunity for the student to “halt the potentially risky act”（ibid. 67）.
4. Conclusion
Through the analysis of this tutoring dialogue, it can be seen that there are different strategies to handle face threatening acts and these strategies are put into a hierarchy of effectiveness. When there is no risk of loss of face, the bald on record strategy is employed to communicate intention directly without redressive action. When face threatening acts are inevitable or desired,positive and negative politeness strategies are developed in order to formulate messages to save the hearer's face with redressive action. The off record strategy uses indirect languages, usually some hints, to remove the speaker from the potential to being imposing when face threatening acts make the risk of loss of face great. It is by the use of these so-called politeness strategies that speakers succeed in communicating both their primary messages as well as their intention to be polite in doing so. And in doing so, they reduce the face loss that results from the interaction.
As I mentioned before, the teaching situation is more dependent on verbal communication than other institutions. Teachers use language not only for telling and imparting knowledge, but also for managing interpersonal relations in a way that they should take account of the “face”needs of students. Cazden（1979）points out that teachers, by the nature of their professional role, are continually posing threats to students' face. These threats involve constraining their freedom of action, evaluating their actions and utterances, and interrupting student work and student talk. However, because of the distance between teachers and students and the superior power on the part of the teachers, teachers are clearly in control in most situations; thus sometimes teachers may be inclined to neglect the “face” needs of students and usually give direct imperatives. On the other hand, we seldom consider the management of interaction and relationship between teachers and students from the perspective of politeness. Through analysis of teacher's language in this dialogue, we can see that politeness theory can not only be applied to daily-life conversation to protect face as well as achieve communication goals, it also can be applied to teachers' talk, based on which teachers think strategically and are conscious of their language choices so that they can accomplish the classroom control in a face-saving way.
References
1.Anderson，E. S.1978. Learning to Speak with Style:A Study of the Sociolinguistics Skills of Children [D]. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Stanford University.（University Microfilms No. 78-8755.）
2.Brown,P and S.Levinson.1978.Universals in Language Usage:Politeness Phenomena.In:Questions and Politeness:Strategies in Social Interaction.E.Goody（ed.）[C].Cambridge:Cambridge University Press:56-310.
3.Brown,P and S.Levinson.1987.Politeness:Some Universals in Language Use[M].Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
4.Cazden,C.B.1979.Language in Education:Variation in the Teacher-Talk Register.In:Language in Public Life:Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics.G.R.Tucker,and J.E.Alatis（eds.）[M]. Washington D. C.: Georgetown University Press: 144-162.
5.Halliday,M.A.K.1978.Language as Social Semiotic:The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning. [M]. Baltimore: University Park Press.
6.Holmes,J.1995.Women,Men and Politeness[M].London:Longman.
7.Peccei,J.S.1999.Pragmatics[M].London and New York:Routledge.
8.Reiter, R. M. 2000. Linguistic Politeness in Britain and Uruguay: A Contrastive Study of Requests and Apologies[M].Amsterdam:John Benjamins B.V.
9.Yule,G.1996.Pragmatics[M].Oxford:Oxford University.
Appendix
Taken from the website:
http://www-rcf.usc.edu/%7Ebillmann/diversity/DDivers-site.htm
“The Dialogue Diversity Corpus”: Item 3: Physics Tutoring- Student S13
Problem 1
1. T: [student name], I'd like you to read the problem carefully, and then tell me your strategy for solving this.
2. S: OK. [pause 17 sec] hmm. [pause 6 sec]
3. T: Thinking out loud as much as possible is good.
4. S: OK, um... Well, first I'm gonna draw all the forces.
5. T: Mm hmm
6. S: That are acting on the... I guess... What is that, now?
7. T: Acting on what?
8. S: On the uh... on the package.
9. T: Mm hmm, good.
10. S: Um, starting off with the gravitational force and the tension in the string.
11. T: OK.
12. S: Um...
13. T: At this point don't tell me exactly what you're doing, just general strategy.
14. S: OK.
15. T: Once you've identified all the forces on the package, then what?
16. S: And then I'll draw up an equation for F=ma.
17. T: Good.
18. S: And then solve.
19. T: OK, and then you'll solve for whatever's unknown.
20. S: Right.
21. T: OK, good. And you'll see how to get the A at some point. But, you have the right general strategy. Very much so.
22. S: OK.
23. T: OK. So now let's go down and identify the forces on that package.
24. S: OK. Start off with an axes.
25. T: OK. I usually put in the forces first, and then the axes.
26. S: Oh.
27. T: It's fine to put in the axes now. It's obvious in this problem where it should go.
28. S: OK. [beep] oops. Sorry.
29. T: That's OK. This thing is finicky. I'm glad I'm on this end and only have to watch when people are struggling with it.
30. S: Now how... let's see. To delete the... the axes?
31. T: Leave those axes there. Those are fine for this problem.
32. S: OK.
33. T: Looking at this problem, it's obvious which way the axes should go.
34. S: OK.
35. T: OK. Now from the... where those axes start, if you want to... yeah. Good, good.
36. S: OK.
37. T: Let's give that guy a name.
38. S: Um...
39. T: That's a fine name.
40. S: OK.
41. T: Mg.
42. S: OK.
43. T: What's this guy?
44. S: Um. It's tension.
45. T: Yeah, it's the force from the tension in the string.
46. S: Right.
47. T: Tension's not quite the same thing as the force.
48. S: Oh, sorry.
49. T: It's OK, it's OK. It's almost like a force.
50. S: Uh huh.
51. T: It's in the same units as force.
52. S: OK. Um... I guess I'll come up here and do an equation, now.
53. T: Mm hmm. [beep] And... do you know immediately from reading the problem which way the acceleration is pointing?
54. S: Well, it's slowing down, so
55. T: Good.
56. S: I imagine it would be going up.
57. T: That's exactly right. If you're going in a direction and slowing down, your acceleration points backwards to your direction of motion.
58. S: OK. So we have... let's see. [pause]
59. T: Good. F net.
60. S: OK. Um... T minus...
61. T: It's... are you talking about the F net, here, as a vector? Or just one component of it?
62. S: Um... That would be the... hmm.
63. T: It's good to keep that distinction in your mind. This is really a one dimensional problem, but in
64. S: Right.
65. T: Other problems. It's very good to make that distinction right at the beginning. So are you talking about one component of it, or are you talking about the vector...
66. S: Um, like, the whole...
67. T: A vector equation, here?
68. S: I'm talking about just the, um, one component, I guess.
69. T: The y component, yeah. It would be... the vector equation would be F vector equals T vector plus mg vector, and then you'd take just... you wouldn't really look at these, you'd just look at the y. So if you're gonna put T minus mg, which is the y components, go back and say F net sub y.
70. S: Oh, OK. I see.
71. T: Make it clear you're just talking about the y components. Have it clear... Most importantly, have it clear in your own head.
72. S: OK. OK. We have T minus mg, um... equals mass times acceleration.
73. T: And we really want to say A sub y here. This is our...
74. S: OK.
75. T: Y component equation. That's excellent.
76. S: OK. And then, uh... next line?
77. T: Mm hmm. [pause 8 sec]
78. S: We don't know what the tension is, that's what we're trying to find out.
79. T: Mm hmm.
80. S: So...
81. T: No, I wouldn't put numbers in at all, yet, if that... What are you thinking of doing, here?
82. S: Hmm.
83. T: Well, go ahead with what you were gonna do with this line, or tell me what you're gonna do.
84. S: OK. I'm... I'm gonna... hmm. I'm gonna solve for... try to solve for T.
85. T: OK. That's excellent. Yeah, you can definitely solve for T algebraically.
86. S: OK. So we have T equals um... the mass is...
87. T: Just do it algebraically for now.
88. S: OK. mg plus ma sub y.
89. T: Excellent.
90. S: OK.
91. T: And if you wanted to use distributive law on that, you could. It would simplify it.
92. S: OK. [pause 16 sec]
93. T: Good.
94. S: OK.
95. T: OK. Now... When you look at that guy, T equals m times quantity g plus A sub y, which guy is... Do you know everything there yet?
96. S: Hmm.
97. T: Think out loud.
98. S: OK, we need another equation.
99. T: Yeah, you need something to find the A sub y.
100. S: Right. OK.
101. T: OK, so now you've got your T nailed down. As soon as you find A sub y, you'll have T. So now, I want you to go back to the problem and look and see if you can... there's enough information there to get A sub y.
102. S: OK. Well, we know the, um, initial velocity and the final velocity is zero.
103. T: Mm hmm.
104. S: So...
105. T: Yeah, we know v sub y initial is minus 10 meters per second, and v sub y final is zero. So go on.
106. S: OK, so we'd use um... We also know the time is 2 seconds.
107. T: Mm hmm.
108. S: So we could use...
109. T: Yeah, we can guess the acceleration is constant. They don't tell us that, but it's reasonable to guess that, if it's the simplest thing.
110. S: OK, so... We have another equation, A in the y direction
111. T: Mm hmm
112. S: Would be, um... I'm stuck.
113. T: OK, what's the definition of acceleration?
114. S: It's, uh, change in velocity over time?
115. T: It's change in velocity per time, so, now... hit parenthesis here. And now, what's an expression for the change in velocity?
116. S: It would be v final minus v initial?
117. T: Mm hmm. And we might want to say v final y here
118. S: OK.
119. T: Since we're talking about just the y component.
120. S: OK. [pause 13 sec] And that's...
121. T: Excellent. Unknown. See, you knew this.
122. S: OK. Divided by t.
123. T: Mm hmm.
124. S: OK.
125. T: Divided by t.
126. S: Oh, I'm... Oh, can't go back, can I?
127. T: No.
128. S: OK, we'll have to try
129. T: You said it right. You said it... you said t, but then...
130. S: OK.
131. T: Your fingers wanted to get ahead. OK, this is good.
132. S: OK.
133. T: Yeah, now we could actually put numbers in, if you wanted.
134. S: OK.
135. T: I mean, we know that that means over t.
136. S: OK. So the final velocity is zero.
137. T: Mm hmm.
138. S: Minus initial velocity is 10 meters per second.
139. T: Mm hmm. So, minus... Is that initial velocity up or down?
140. S: Oh, that's right, it's going down, so...
141. T: So it's minus minus 10 meters per second.
142. S: Oops.
143. T: Excellent.
144. S: All over 2.
145. T: I'm pleased to see you keep the units in.
146. S: I'm sorry?
147. T: I'm pleased to see you using units.
148. S: Oh, OK. 2 seconds.
149. T: Mm hmm.
150. S: OK, so, um... seconds will cancel. Oh, no, they won't. What am I thinking? So, uh... we can just solve for A sub y, then.
151. T: Mm hmm. [pause 6 sec]
152. S: It would be 5 meters per second squared.
153. T: Excellent. [pause] And now you're practically done with this problem.
154. S: OK. So then we come up... let's see. The second equation. The mass is... what is it? 3 kilograms?
155. T: That's what it says.
156. S: OK. [pause 7 sec] Times 9.8.
157. T: Mm hmm, that's fine. [pause] Yeah, you could put meters per second squared outside the parentheses, just like an algebraic variable.
158. S: Oh, I forgot that we took that out.
159. T: Yeah, that's fine. Go ahead. No, no, no. I'm saying... No, no, no. We didn't... we haven't done it yet. I'm saying we could do it. 9.8 meters per second squared is right, plus 5 meters per second squared. But I'm saying if you wanted to write less, you could take the unit all the way outside the parentheses.
160. S: OK.
161. T: Provided they both have the same unit. It's just like distributive law with an algebraic variable.
162. S: OK. [pause] OK.
163. T: Excellent. Now we're almost done.
164. S: Equals... [pause] using my calculator...
165. T: Do you have to take tests without calculators?
166. S: Yeah.
167. T: OK, well, let me show you how to do this without a calculator, then.
168. S: Should we just...
169. T: Somebody just said that to me yesterday. If people had said it before, I would have given people tricks to do it without a calculator. If you take GRE you have to do them without a calculator, too.
170. S: Uh huh.
171. T: OK, so what would be 3 times 15?
172. S: Uh, 3... 45.
173. T: OK, and... so now, look at 9.8 plus 5 as 15 minus .2 instead.
174. S: OK, so...
175. T: OK.
176. S: It's 14.4.
177. T: So it will be... So, we have...
178. S: Err, wait, no, I'm sorry.
179. T: So it'll be 45 minus .2 times 3.
180. S: Right.
181. T: So what would that be?
182. S: 44.4
183. T: Uh huh.
184. S: OK. 4... newton.
185. T: And actually, if you were taking this on the GRE, you'd probably have a multiple choice, and one of the things might say 44.4 or 45. You could say 45 newton here, that would be close enough.
186. S: Right, 'cause... OK.
187. T: Yeah, but I'd... you know, there are these little tricks to calculating without a calculator, and I don't know why they don't teach them in elementary school or something. Maybe because they're hidebound.
188. S: Uh huh.
189. T: And the education methods are left over from pre-calculator days.
190. S: OK, so...
191. T: OK.
192. S: That's the answer, then.
193. T: Good.
194. S: OK.
195. T: And newton, the abbreviation is actually capital N. Not Nt.
196. S: OK. Um...
197. T: Good.
198. S: OK.
199. T: And no questions about this one?
200. S: No questions. Looks pretty straightforward.
201. T: Mm hmm.
202. S: I know they're gonna get harder, though.
203. T: Yeah. Well, you also... you've grasped... You already knew... the sticking point most people have on this problem is that when you're accelerating up and going down you're slowing down. Or, that when you're going down and slowing down, your acceleration is up. That's where most people seem to have trouble.
204. S: Oh.
205. T: And you knew that already.
206. S: OK. Great.
207. T: OK.
Sketch Engine系统在外语词汇教学中的应用
摘要：基于计算机的语料库研究是信息技术运用在外语教学的体现之一。Sketch Engine是一个在线语料库索引系统，用来描述总结词汇的语法知识。本文主要介绍该工具的基本功能，以及在外语词汇教学中的可应用性，并探讨了在教学实践中，教师如何借助语料库的资源充实课堂资料，从语料库辅助教学的模式中受益。
关键词：语料库Sketch Engine外语词汇教学
一、引言
自从美国布朗大学Henry Kucera和Nelson Francis于1964年创建第一个电子语料库——布朗语料库（Brown Corpus）以来，语料库语言学已经获得了长足的发展。随着各种语言语料库及多样分析工具的出现，同时观察千万条语言实例已成为点击鼠标和键盘就能轻松达到的现实。一些语料库工具还能对分析结果自动归类，并直观呈现出来。因而，基于语料库的语言教学及研究变得颇受欢迎，被越来越多的教师及研究者接受和使用。
在对语料库语言学有了理论上的了解后，研究者需要掌握如何在教学和研究中使用语料库。语料库的应用大致可以分为三个主要阶段：语料库建设、数据提取、统计和数据分析（梁茂成、李文中、许家金，2010: 23）。语料库作为存放语言素材或语料文本的仓库，需借助相应的工具才能得以方便地使用。常用的一些软件或工具，如Wordsmith, Range和Paraconc等，其基本原理都是通过语料库索引工具（Concordance）根据使用者的要求把文本仓库中所有单词的使用情况标注出来，帮助使用者进行语音、语法的实证研究，词汇与语法的联结，以及语篇结构特征的研究。
然而，要掌握并在实际教学与研究中熟练应用这些语料库软件或工具，实非一日之功。笔者在学习及使用过程中，发现了一个语料库查询系统Sketch Engine，它的巨大容量和实用功能为研究者提供了一个良好的应用平台。
二、Sketch Engine基本功能
近几十年里，有关语料库在词典编撰中的应用问题一直是词典学界争论较多的话题之一。到了21世纪初，词典编纂学家们关注的是如何从语料库中挖掘出最有价值的信息（Kilgarriff & Rundell,2002）。
正是基于以上考虑，语料库专家A. Kilgarriff设计出了Sketch Engine这一词典编纂辅助系统。这是一个结合了庞大语料库的系统，对预装的语料库进行了一定的处理，可以为用户提供多种分析结果。其总容量达数亿词，而且容量还在不断扩大。
Sketch Engine中预装的英语语料库有British National Corpus（BNC）, British Academic Spoken English Corpus（BASE）, British Academic Written English Corpus（BAWE）等。Sketch Engine的主要功能包括：①自动产生“词语速描”（Word Sketches）——一个从语料库中抽象出来的页面，该页面对特定词的语法特征及搭配特征进行信息汇总；②辅助词典编纂人员对词义进行分解；③根据词典编纂人员对词义的分析，建立词义数据库，用于对相关词的其他使用实例进行词义消歧（Word Sense Disambiguation）。Sketch Engine在词典编纂中的应用前景十分广阔：2002年，Rundell等人利用该工具编纂的Macmillan English Dictionary（2002）首先出版；2004年，Waite等人利用该工具编写了新版Oxford Thesaurus of English（2004）。鉴于Sketch Engine的实用价值，它被广泛地应用于机器翻译、语言学习等其他领域（陈国华、梁茂成，2005:116）。
该软件无须下载，使用者可登陆www.sketchengine.co.uk网页，注册即可获得30天的免费试用机会。本文以下介绍Sketch Engine的几种主要功能，旨在将这工具引入英语教学的实践环节，让教师和学生能认识和应用Sketch Engine软件并从中获得帮助。
图1显示了Sketch Engine系统提供的不同语种的语料库，下文将使用的语料库是英国国家语料库British National Corpus（BNC）的资料。通过注册登录后，使用者可进入一个界面如下的窗口，根据需要选择语料库，可以对用词情况进行检索、生成词表、描述词汇特性、同义词汇总及辨析等工作。
图1
选择语料库后，就进入一个操作界面，窗口左侧选项有Concordance、Word Sketch、Thesaurus和Word Sketch Difference，这分别表现出Sketch Engine的几个强大功能。
1．索引功能（Concordance）
Sketch Engine的语料库检索主要用于启动新一轮的索引功能，通过这一功能，可以检索任何实义词或短语在语料库中的用法，同时，所得到的每一索引行的节点词通过超级链接与语料库中的实例相连接，以方便观察语境。此外，通过这一功能也可以激活Sketch Engine的所有其他功能。
2．词语速描（Word Sketch）
词语速描是Sketch Engine最大的特点所在，它可根据用户需要自动生成所查询词汇的所有显著搭配词及搭配关系，所呈现的信息均来源于真实的语料。同样，列出的所有词汇也都通过超级链接直接连接到语料库中，使得所检索词汇的各种搭配关系及在语料库中的所有例证一览无余，极大地方便了语料库在词典编撰中的使用，也为词汇教学带来实际的便利。它使用户学习到的不再是孤立的知识点，而是彼此有关联的信息。
3．类义词功能（Thesaurus）
Sketch Engine还有列举类义词的功能。点击Sketch Engine主界面左侧的Thesaurus按钮，系统会提示用户输入需要查看的原形词及其词性，确认后系统会打开新页面，与原形词意义接近的词汇会以列表形式呈现出来，以方便使用者进行分析。
4．速描词语差异（Word Sketch Difference）
教师在学生的口语或书面表达上经常会发现他们或者重复使用单一词汇，或者以中文近义词错误地套用英语近义词的问题。Sketch Engine工具的另一重要功能近义词辨析可以在教学上帮助教师和学生减少或避免这些问题。
速描词语差异功能可以比较两个词在搭配方式上的异同。点击Sketch Engine主界面左侧的Sketch-Diff按钮，系统会提示用户输入两个需要比较的原形词。分别输入两个原形词，系统会打开一个新的页面，显示这两个词的搭配方式。页面中的Common Patterns显示两个词共同的搭配方式，反映二者在词义上的共同之处。两个词分别有Only Patterns，分别显示这两个词各自特有的搭配方式。
三、Sketch Engine的三个功能
Sketch Engine工具在外语教学中可以表现出十分重要的实际应用价值。以下分别举例介绍这些功能在外语词汇教学中的应用。
1．索引功能（Concordance）在词汇用法教学中的应用
本文随机选出英语中一个常用词neglect作为索引词来介绍Sketch Engine的这一功能。
从窗口左侧选择Concordance，在Query框输入查询词汇neglect（还可以通过高级选项设置Context及Text Types的类型，搜索结果窗口第1页显示图略）。这是一个典型的KWIC（key word in context），即“语境中的关键词”（索引），语料库应用的一个最基本的功能。
教师可以带着学生去仔细分析这些索引行，寻找总结出词汇运用的规律。
2．词语速描（Word Sketch）在词语搭配教学中的应用
下面以动词neglect和形容词economical作为索引词来介绍该工具的这一功能。
在窗口左侧选择Word Sketch，依次在Lemma框输入所查询词汇的基本词形，并设置好所对应的词性verb和adjective（不同词汇可设置不同的参数）。结果窗口显示如图2（economical速描结果图略）。
图2
图2为neglect一词的语法搭配特性的描述总结。图中共包括8类语法关系，各类中又包括若干个搭配词，按照搭配的显著性大小排列。图中第一列所反映的语法关系为object of neglect，共计723条，告诉我们neglect一词后通常跟随哪些名词作为宾语。同样，图中第二列反映的是哪些词可作为neglect一词的主语，依此类推。
教师可根据教学需要从显示的信息中筛选出学生最应该掌握的知识点，尤其是使用显著性高的词汇（无下划线的数字表示显著性）和高频率使用的词汇（有下划线标出的数字表示频率）。如，与neglect搭配的典型宾语有：duty, aspect, effect, issue, fact, child等词，其主谓搭配中常见的主语有government, parent, community和teacher等，常用的修饰语有often, totally, sadly等。与economical搭配的高频名词有way、use、repair和method，常用的修饰语有more, most, very, quite等。这些查询的结果可以很好地补充词汇学习及课文中相关的练习，扩大学生的词汇储备。
在每个搭配类型和搭配词后面都有一个超级链接点，直接把对应的搭配方式或搭配词与语料库中的实例连接起来，如果要进一步了解某个搭配词使用的具体语境，用户可以点击超级链接点，浏览语料库中的对应实例。如果继续点击每一检索行中的节点词，还可以观察更大的语境。由此，可以看出Sketch Engine工具所呈现的是一种动态的资源，这不仅可以为教学提供丰富鲜活的语料，更可以激发学生的对词汇特性的探知欲。
3．类义词功能（Thesaurus）在词汇教学中的应用
点击Sketch Engine主界面左侧的Thesaurus按钮，系统会提示用户输入需要查看的原形词及其词性，确认后系统会打开新页面。图3分别为与neglect和economical意义接近的词汇列表的一部分截图。
图3
可以看出，与economical意义接近的词汇列表中cost-effective, versatile, convenient, adept, inexpensive处于前列，但没有找到economic，这为在教学中比较economical与economic两个词提供了十分有说服力的例证。
类义词列表是语义消歧的结果，Sketch Engine将ignore, underestimate, obscure, disregard, forget, omit, overlook等词列为neglect的类义词，而且这些词与economical的类义词也同样被超级链接到语料库之中，便于使用者分析各自的语义与搭配方式，这对语言教学无疑是十分有帮助的。
4．速描词语差异（Word Sketch Difference）在近义词辨析中的应用
速描词语差异功能可以比较两个词在搭配方式上的异同。点击Sketch Engine主界面左侧的Sketch-Diff按钮，系统会提示用户输入两个需要比较的原形词。继续以前面的词汇neglect为例进行介绍。分别输入neglect和ignore，系统会打开一个新的页面，显示这两个词的搭配方式。
图4
图4页面中的Common Patterns显示这两个词共同的搭配方式，反映了二者在词义上的共同之处。如，二者都可与fact、possibility、issue、effect和aspect等宾语搭配，也可以与government、teacher、researcher、parent等主语搭配。
Ignore和neglect的Only Patterns则分别显示这两个词各自特有的搭配方式（由于结果数据较多，显示页面在此就不一一列出）。根据列表可以总结出，与neglect搭配最多最典型的宾语是duty，而只能与ignore搭配的宾语常见的有warning、advice、request、remark、protest、plea等；与neglect搭配较多的修饰语是sadly、seriously，而与ignore搭配较多的修饰语有virtually、deliberately、simply和for purpose等；与neglect短语搭配较多的by后的宾语是historian、researcher、scientist，而与ignore短语搭配较多的by的宾语有media、government、authority。这些搭配信息表明ignore有“拒绝理会”、“拒绝考虑”的意思，显示出主观故意性，而neglect则一般没有这种主观故意。
可见，Sketch Engine所输出的速描词语差异既能反映两词之间的共同之处，又比较了两者间的差异，十分便于了解近义词在用法上和词义上的异同点，对学习者辨别不同词汇具有重要的价值。
四、结语
总的来说，语料库利用量化数据，可以帮助教师解决平时靠语言直觉无法确定的问题，如纠正学生大多数的搭配失误，以及不地道的词语表达行为。
语料库的特点之一在于它的实证性，它将大量语言使用者的语言直觉汇集起来，从而使得语言分析更为客观（McEnery & Wilson, 2001:103），具有独特的优势。
教师还可以鼓励学生多使用索引工具，以利用语料库辅助词汇教学。利用语料库辅助教学所提倡的数据驱动式学习（data driven learning）让学生带着问题在语料库的真实实例中发现自己所学语言的事实，学生容易记住通过自己努力所发现的内容。在这种学习中，学生由被动接受变为主动探索，学习变成了自我发现、自我提高的过程，这应该就是我们语言教学的目的之一。
参考文献
1. Kilgarriff A. & M. Rundell. 2002. Lexical profiling software and its lexicographic applications—A case study. Proceeding of EURALEX.Copenhagen,August.
2.McEnery, T. & A. Wilson. 2001. Corpus Linguistics [M]. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press:103.
3. Sketch Engine. www.sketchengine.co.uk [OL].
4．陈国华，梁茂成．2005．合作语料库与词典编纂接口 [J]．广州外语外贸大学学报（6）:116-120.
5．梁茂成，李文中，许家金．2010．语料库应用教程 [M]．北京：外语教学与研究出版社：23.
英语词汇拼写错误分析及其对教学的启示
摘要：本文在先前有关词汇拼写错误研究的基础上，对词汇拼写错误进行了分类，并首次就错误成因对英语专业及非英语专业学生进行了问卷调查。结论表明除了学习者的学习态度、学习策略等个体差异外，社会大环境、现代英语教育理念以及教师对词汇拼写的重视程度等外部因素也对词汇拼写有一定的影响，因此教师要采取行之有效的措施尽可能减少错误发生的几率。
关键词：英语词汇 拼写错误 错误分析
词汇习得是二语习得中的重要环节，词汇量的大小是衡量语言水平的重要标准。然而我们却发现无论是在学生的作业中还是各级各类的考试中拼写错误极其严重，学习者能识读的词汇量与能正确拼写的词汇量极不相当，有些人能进行流利的口语交流但书面表达却问题严重。据何华清2009年的统计显示，词汇错误占语言类错误的59.33%，其中拼写错误发生频率最高，占词汇错误总数的35. 65%，高居词汇错误之首。桂诗春2005年提供的CLEC调查结果表明拼写错误五花八门，例如：knowledge有22种误拼，society有21种误拼，government有13种误拼（龚蝾，2007:39）。所以英语词汇拼写成了一个亟待关注的问题。在以往有影响的研究中，研究者们从学习者角度出发，在发音失误方面、词形知识表征方面和心理语言学方面对拼写错误进行了分析（何平安，2001；王雪文&孙蓝，2004；肖旭月，2001）。本文在以往研究的基础上，就词汇拼写错误的原因进行再分析，旨在进一步探讨避免错误出现的有效方法。
一、拼写错误类型
综合学习者所出现的各种错误拼写，笔者将其分为如下类型：
1．发音规律依赖型错误
在教学实践中我们很容易会发现学生将college错拼成colege或colleage, environment错拼成enviroment, climb错拼成clim, nowaday错拼成nowday。有学者（何平安，2001；王雪文&孙蓝，2004）把与尾辅音、双写辅音字母、辅音连缀、不发音字母和弱读音节有关的错误称为语音变异现象；把由发音相同的字母或字母组合替代了原来的字母和字母组合的现象称为形素变异现象，如将enforce错拼成inforce, always错拼成allways。笔者把以往学者们归类的语音变异型、形素变异型（或称为形素置换型）统一归为发音规律依赖型错误，因为此类错误均是由于不当运用发音规律导致的。
2．自造词错误
自造词现象也是学生中常见的错误，其错误又可大体分为三类：第一类造词现象体现在对原本合成词的分解和对分解词的合成上，如将forever错写成for ever, instead错写成in stead; moreover错写成more over, once more错写成oncemore, anyone错写成any one, above错写成a bove。第二类造词现象就是词缀的非正确使用，这体现在前缀、后缀以及前后缀叠加的错误上，如将judge（法官）错写成judger, professional（专业人士）错写成professionalist，“舒适”错写成comfortness，“不寻常”错写成inordinary，“空虚”错写成emptyness、emptyment或emptition。在一次学生的词性变形练习中access的名词形式被写成了accessibility、accession、accessment和accessness等多种形式。Depart的名词形式也出现了departture, department等错误变形。另外，不能区别同词根不同词缀的错误也可归并到此类，比如不能区别unable、disable和enable。第三类造词现象体现在不能区分相似发音和相似拼写上，例如：impossible错拼成inpossible, optimistic错拼成obtimistic, attitude错拼成attitude、attitude、attitude和atitute。把quite和quiet、smile和smell、fell和feel等词混淆的错误也很常见，例如：They want to have a quite environment. We should smell to misfortune.
3．与语法相关的错误
这类错误拼写包括了不规则动词的变化、特殊名词的复数形式、数量词的拼写，等等。具体体现在把规则动词的变化规则、名词复数化一般形式普遍应用于特殊动词及特殊名词的复数形式，如将catch的过去式拼成catched（应为caught）, foot的复数形式拼成foots（应为feet）以及对数词随意添加-ty，如：fourty, fivety。
二、原因分析
国内外学者专家对二语习得者的词汇拼写错误进行了多方位的研究与解释，国内也不乏针对不同学习群体的多维度的英语词汇拼写错误成因和校正方法的研究，但鲜有来自学习者自身对于此问题的看法。为更全面地探析拼写错误成因，笔者对60名英语专业大三学生和110名非英语专业大二学生就词汇拼写错误产生的原因进行了问卷调查，调查是以书面形式进行，要求每个学生独立写出自己认为造成词汇拼写错误的原因，所列原因数量不限。
结果，60名专业学生共列原因104条，110名非专业学生共列原因170条。笔者将学生的答案进行整理发现学生所列原因中有些非常具有普遍性。经归类，我们可以清楚地看到（如图所示）现代教育偏重听说技能、考试题型侧重客观题、教师不重视、电子产品的使用在学生看来是造成词汇拼写错误的主要原因。所不同的是，英语专业的学生将自身的懒惰归于主要原因之一，而非英语专业的学生认为兴趣低也是造成词汇拼写错误的主要原因。
在问卷中，学生们认为现如今英语的教学理念更多地强调了听说等交际技能，加之各类考试多为客观题，即便考试中的听力和写作涉及词汇拼写，侧重的也是大意的完成而非词汇的正确拼写，这使得他们从小学到中学会更多地注意提高自己的口语能力而没有给予语法规则和词汇拼写足够的重视。其次，学生们普遍反映在课堂学习过程中的确会有单词的听写，但这更像是一个教学的环节而非技能的强调，拼写的重要性并未得到教师的强调，作业中的拼写错误更是被教师的红笔一带而过。再次，由于电脑的普及使得学生有可能上交电子版或打印版的作业，电脑的拼写检查功能又可以让学生轻而易举地规避掉拼写错误而忽视正确拼写的重要性。对英语不感兴趣，认为记忆词汇乏味的学生大有人在，而懒惰、不良的学习习惯和学习方法也是词汇拼写错误的诱因。当然，也有学生把发音规律和拼写规则等相关知识的匮乏罗列在原因之中。
由此可见，除了学习者的学习态度、学习策略等个体差异能影响词汇正确拼写外，现今的社会大环境、现代英语教育理念以及教师对词汇拼写的态度等外部因素也成了词汇拼写错误的推手。
三、对教学的启示
词汇学习是个非常复杂的过程，了解拼写错误的类型以及产生错误的主客观因素之后，教师便要在有限的课堂教学时数内采取行之有效的措施尽量减少主客观因素对词汇拼写造成的不良影响以尽可能减少错误发生的几率。
1．提高认识
教师要端正自身态度、重视词汇拼写，并引导学生提高对正确拼写重要性的认识。二语词汇知识发展一般要经历三个阶段：词汇发展形成阶段；以第一语言词项为中介的发展阶段；二语词汇综合发展阶段（Jiang,2000:47）。特别在词汇学习的初级阶段里，教师要引导学生将注意力集中于发音及拼写上。
2．细化方法
教师首先要让学生了解词汇的发音规律但不要过度概化规律的作用。不发音的字母、双写字母及非重读元音等英语发音会对其拼写造成误区（Mitton,1996:58），因此特别要注意辅音连缀、弱读音节以及不遵循语音规则的发音，还要对发音上相近的词汇进行比较性记忆。其次，教师应提醒学生哪些词容易拼错，特别在学习新词汇时，要注意派生词的记忆，从一开始就要注意哪些词是可以添加前后缀的、可以添加什么样的前后缀。因为即便词缀含义清晰但缺乏统一性仍会给依词缀规则拼读词汇的人带来麻烦。另外，要定期地、有针对性地对词汇拼写进行专项检查和测试，从而督促学生的学习。
3．扩大阅读
阅读过程中的词汇认同是处理文字可接受的方式，而拼写是产出。扩大阅读，在不同的语境中频繁接触扩大了对某一个词的了解面，也加深了对于正确拼写的记忆。词汇的正确拼写也恰恰得益于反复的接触。推荐学生读一些比较好的原著、杂志、报纸，这样学生既可以学到比较地道的表达方式，又可以扩大词汇量和知识面。
参考文献
1.Jiang,N.2000.Lexical representation and development in a second language[J].Applied Linguistics（21）:47-77.
2.Mitton,R.1996.English Spelling and the Computer[M].Harlow,Essex:Longman Group.
3．龚蝾．2007．从大学英语学习者词汇错误看认知因素对二语词库表征的影响[J]．外语界（1）:39-46.
4．何安平．2001．学生英语拼写错误分析[J]．外语教学与研究（3）:199-205.
5．何华清．2009．非英语专业学生写作中的词汇错误分析：一项基于语料库的研究[J]．外语界（3）:2-9.
6．王雪文，孙蓝．2004．中国学生英语拼写错误再分析[J]．外语教学与研究（4）:299-304.
7．肖旭月．2001．语言表征在取词拼写过程中的作用[J]．外语教学与研究（6）:422-429.
课程整合理念对英语写作课程的启示——以非英语专业硕士为例
摘要：课程整合是一种新的教育理念。它不仅仅是一种组合工具，还是一种思维方式。该理念对于提高英语实用技能具有重大意义。本文拟从两方面探讨英语写作课程整合的优势：一是科目间的知识整合；二是书本知识和意义图式的整合。
关键词：课程整合 经验 主题性教学 学校共同体 评价体系
大学是英语学习的分水岭。在本科教育阶段，本科生逐渐脱离初学者的心态，或快或慢地进入中级阶段。当一个人进入硕士阶段时，他便基本上具备了进行自主学习的心态和成熟度。这时，学习者对英语教育“实用化”的呼声便日渐高涨。在针对我校1800名硕士研究生的问卷调查中，关于研究生公共英语教学应开设课程的多选题中，学生要求开设学术英语写作（46%）、学术论文翻译（43%）、学术文章阅读（43%）和学术英语演讲（45%）等。这反映了中级学习者不同于初级学习者的一个重大差别：他们对语言输出的渴望大于语言输入。但是从纯听到纯说，从纯读到纯写，中间的跨度又太大。因此，师生们容易掉入一个“高不成低不就”的困境。
近年来，许多学校对硕士研究生公共英语在多个方面进行了改革，但这些改革是否能实现“实用性”的目标呢？回答是否定的。无论是原汁原味的教材，还是华丽的多媒体，都不是激发学习者主动学习的必要条件。本作者认为，中级英语学习者的主要问题不在于改变外因，而在于内因——教育理念——的转换。本文试图从课程整合的新理念出发，探索非英语专业硕士英语写作课程的改革方向。
课程整合不是简单的拼凑。比恩认为，“课程整合不仅仅是一种组合工具——它只需要美丽的变革以及在课程计划中作跨越不同学科领域的重组；课程整合还是一种思维的方式。”“课程整合的核心关注点就是对自我意义和社会意义的探寻。”（比恩，2004:294）根据这个定义，课程整合至少包含两个方面：一是不同学科知识之间的相互联系；二是书本知识与自我意义和社会意义的整合。具体到英语写作课程，整合概念可以定义为科目间的知识整合，和书本知识与意义图式的整合。
一、科目间的知识整合
一直以来，我们采取分科教学的方式，将英语教学分割为听、说、读、写、译的科目，但实际上任何语言都是听、说、读、写、译的综合体。听力课程上在听“旅游”的文章时，口语课程上却在讨论“家庭关系”；阅读课堂上在学习“环保意识”，写作教师却要求写“关于科技进步题材的摘要”。单项训练使学生内在的知识结构是分裂的，没有整体感。詹姆斯·比恩说：“分科的学科方法作为一种学科知识的选择性表征，错误地将后者描绘为‘目的’，而非教育的‘手段’”（比恩，2004:297）。所谓手段，是指学习者通过语言这一媒介去探索自身和周围的世界。建构主义者认为“学习者不是单纯的消极接受或复制教师、课本里的输入性知识；相反，他们积极斡旋于其中，尽量使知识变得有意义，并和与主题有关的、已知的（或者认为知道的）知识联系起来”（帕克等，2004:216-7）。所以，语言学习的输入和输出应当紧密结合。这样，语言学习才具有实际意义，才能激发学习者的兴趣。
比恩的着眼点是跨学科的知识整合，那么对于英语教学来说，听、说、读、写、译各技能之间的整合更有必要。近年来，有学者提出读、写结合的新课程：以写促读和以读促写。比如说写文献综述的时候，写作是最终目的，而为了达到这个目的，阅读大量资料是前提条件。这便是以写促读。当学习者阅读之后写摘要，这便是以读促写。写作是为了帮助学习者更深入地理解文本。在此基础上，我们还可以开发说、写结合、听、写结合的课程。以说促写，以听促写，以写促说，以写促听。写作课程不意味着纯粹的写，而应该调动学习者的各项技能来开展练习。练习的目的不仅仅是文本输出，而是建构意义。
二、书本知识与意义图式的整合
学习者学习的对象是知识，但目的却是通过书本知识去理解和改造外部世界。学习的意义是非常重要的思考对象。课堂教学若不和外部世界发生关系，学习便丧失意义，学习者的兴趣便无处谈起。教师要“鼓励年轻人把学习经验整合进他们的意义图式中，从而扩展和加深他们对自我和周围世界的理解”（比恩，2004:295）。人只有在从事与自身有关的任务时，才会产生强烈的兴趣和好奇心，才会具备去克服困难的勇气和坚持力，才能把自己引向新的体验，才能有收获的可能。为了实现这种整合，我们需要力图实现以下三点要求：1）从经验出发，并以经验结束；2）主题性教学；3）开放的评价体系。
2.1 从经验出发，并以经验结束
杜威说，“教育是经验的继续不断的改组和改造”（杜威，2008:77）。“从经验出发”的思想涉及两个方面：教师和学生的经验。一是指教师要具备指导学生学习活动的经验。以写作课程为例，教师自身应当具有学术写作方面的经验，不仅自己写过，而且具备坚实的理论知识。教师应该有能力评价作文的构成要素是否完备、立论是否正确、论据是否充分、结论是否严谨合理；文理是否通顺，逻辑性是否强，等等。二是指“从学生的经验出发进行学习”。以写作课为例，其写作的方向和主题一定要由学生自己选择，要和每个人不同的经验结合起来。只有当学习者把学习目标融入到真实生活中，才能激发学习兴趣。
除了“从经验出发”之外，学习者还要“以经验结束”。既然“学习被视作新知识与经验的持续整合”（比恩，2004:304），那么当新知识以独特的方式融入旧经验之后，将形成具有个人特色的新经验。该经验又成为学习者下一步学习的起点。研究性学习（PBL）认为“……学生学习的具体结果不但不能预先确定，也不可完全预测”（奥克斯等，2004:565）。以写作课程为例，即使学习者选择同样的题材进行写作，由于各自的旧经验不同，其对世界的理解、对写作知识的掌握程度不一样，虽然有小组成员的帮助，但其最终形成的成果是完全不同的。无论在语言、结构、还是思维各方面，学习者的作品带有个人特色。教师应当鼓励学习者进行这种具有个性的探索。不要用“有些人认为A，有些人认为B，我认为A/B”这样的八股文模式约束学习者的写作自由。也不要要求每个人都达到唯一的标准。目前对学生作文的评价集中在形式上：文章结构、过渡词、语法等，但轻视思想深度、逻辑等深层标准。学生从教师评价中得到的信息是：只要外表漂亮，写作便成功了。这一点认知大大地压制了学生的批判性思维，挫伤了学习积极性。如果教育者承认学习是个性化的学习，便会发现A学生的语言水平不高，但逻辑性强；B学生的语言水平高，但思想没有深度。教师能做的事情是针对每个人的特点进行指导，最重要的一点是不要用单一的标准评价学生的表现，不要限制学习者表达的自由。
在新的教育理念下，学习不再是A、B、C、D四选一的模式，而具备以下特点：开放的过程，与学习者个人经验紧密相连的，并且不可预测的结果。
2.2 主题性教学
“主题性课程是指集中于一个共同主题的系列经验、项目、课程或单元”（奥克斯等，2004:564），通常持续几周时间。“它提供了‘退出’必修课程和刻板的学校常规的方式”（曼宁等，2004:570）。这种课程强调“深度”多于“广度”，能有效地激发学生的批判性思维。比如说四、六级作文的要求是15分钟内完成一篇150字左右的作文。对于硕士生的字数要求是200～250字。没人认为或者相信非英语专业的硕士生在字数上能够并且应该突破一千、三千或五千。教师不敢提这样的要求，学生亦不敢相信。为什么我们不能突破短篇文章的约束呢？因为在旧的教育体系中，写作教学与真实生活脱节，学生穷于应付随机遇上的话题，他们无话可说，却不得不找话说而已。加上学生写作的唯一读者是教师，因此真实想法变得不重要，学生只关心在规定的时间内字数是否凑齐、语言错误是否减少。在这种情况下，突破字数简直是天方夜谭。
而主题性学习可以帮助学生开展对某个主题的持续的、深层次的研究。只有当语言教学与实际问题紧密结合、并且有充分的研究时间时，学生才有心情、有准备、有充足的时间去进行真正的研究，才能激发他批判性思维的潜能，而不是“应付学习”。“教育……是一个主动的和建设性的过程”（杜威，2008:42）。以写作课程为例，教师安排8～10周开展一次真正意义上的学术论文写作的探索活动。由小组选择自己感兴趣的社会性话题，自己查阅资料、进行问卷调查、统计分析数据、思考原因等，最后写出一篇有实际意义的论文。在这个“主动和建设性”的过程中，学生必然要独立作出选择，大量地查找和阅读相关资料，设计一份有可行性价值的问卷，统计分析数据时必然要进行批判性的思维，直到最后将经过认真考虑后的思想付诸笔墨。整个过程中，筛选、判断、合作、辩论、阅读、写作等技能贯穿始终。与机械性的单个技能训练相比，主题性教学更接近教育的本质。
2.3 开放的评价体系
当学习不再是寻求唯一答案，而变成对生活的探索时，教师对学生的评价体系相应地要发生本质上的改变。过去的“一考定高下”的终结性评价不再适用于新课程。尤其对于写作这类主观性强的任务而言，一个单纯的分数对学习者的帮助不大。学习者需要教师更细致的评价，即形成性评价。不仅要针对文本的细节进行评价，而且要对写作过程进行评价。教师不仅仅需要对学生的语法错误、逻辑错误、修辞等作出评价和建议，而且更需要和学生面对面地交流，关注他的写作过程当中的想法，如为什么此处要使用例子、这句话想要表达什么思想等问题。
总之，当学习者在一个学习共同体内，从自己的原有经验出发，围绕一个项目而非技能开展与实际生活有关联的活动，过程当中得到教师的持续指导，最终形成具有个人特色的成果，这种学习模式将有效地提高语言输出的能力、实现“实用化”的目标。
参考文献
1．奥克斯，等．2004．技术素养：21世纪的迫切任务[A]．帕克，费雷斯特· W等．课程规划：当代之取向（第七版）[C]．杭州：浙江教育出版社：564-565.
2．比恩，詹姆斯．2004．课程整合与知识的学科[A]．帕克，费雷斯特· W等．课程规划：当代之取向（第七版）[C]．杭州：浙江教育出版社：294-304.
3．杜威．2008．杜威教育文集（第2卷）[M]．北京：人民教育出版社：10-77.
4．曼宁，李，等．将中间学校的理念贯彻到中学中去[A]．帕克，费雷斯特· W等．课程规划：当代之取向（第七版）[C]．杭州：浙江教育出版社：570.
5．帕克，费雷斯特·W等．2004．课程规划：当代之取向（第七版）[C]．杭州：浙江教育出版社：216-217.
“研究生学术英语写作”任务协作式课堂模式探索
摘要：从建构主义和交际教学法出发，研究生学术英语写作课程的任务协作式课堂模式可分为以下几个步骤：“任务型”准备、“辅助型”讲解、“协作型”研究讨论、“展示型”课堂汇报。其中“任务协作式”是课堂模式的关键步骤和主要特点。
关键词：学术英语 任务 协作 课堂模式
一、引言
随着研究生的培养目标、培养方案的改革，很多学校的研究生英语教学内容正从传统的普通英语向学术英语转变。这不仅仅是一种教学内容的转变，而且是教学理念和教学方式的根本转变，是从过去的语言形式的教学向更加明确的以内容为引导的语言教学的转变。广大的英语一线教师对学术英语的教学从不同方面作了大量的研究和探索，如：学术英语教学的课程需求和教学方法（蔡基刚，2012:30-35），课程模式研究（董艳、刘晓虹，2009:94-98；蔡基刚，2012:30-35），学术英语的习得模式探索（罗娜、肖巧玲，2011:80-86），等等。有的学校已经将学术英语的教学内容再加以细分。如中国科学院研究生院对非英语专业研究生开设了“学术交流英语口语”课程并作了大量的探索与实践（刘彬、彭工，2010:71-77）。这一切都表明，研究生阶段的教学正逐步地转向学术英语教学。从教学实践来看，研究生经过了中学和大学阶段的学习，具备了一定的听、说、读、写的能力，能借助工具书的帮助，进行英语基本技能的学习和训练。如果研究生阶段的教学还是停留在这几个基本技能的培养上，不仅让学生觉得和大学阶段的学习内容和侧重点重复，教师也感觉英语教学的内容和方法落入俗套。研究生以后要从事科学研究（学术型硕士）或者工程实践（专业硕士），接触学术性的东西比较多。因此，研究生的教学有必要也完全有可能转到学术性英语上来。
英语写作课程一般是高年级的课程，是建立在一定的阅读能力和基本技能上的课程。由于师资水平和教学内容所限，很多写作课程的课堂模式就是教师在上面讲一些写作理论和注意事项，然后根据所讲的写作特点让学生做写作练习，教师在课下批改学生的写作作业，上课时在课堂上讲解。由于写作理论比较枯燥，特别是学术写作的写作规范和一些语言特征，学生们在过去的普通英语课上接触过（如某些语法特征），而又缺乏写作的感性经验，因此教师往往感到费了很大的气力讲解，一些学生还是不能很好地理解。因此，教师如何引导和营造一种好的学术英语写作课堂模式是至关重要的。
二、任务协作式课堂模式的理论基础
1. “以人为本”的教学原则
教育的目的就是要培养出更加完善的人，从而促进人类社会的发展。因此，教育和培养出来的人的素质是息息相关的，而教育不是空洞的说教、不是空穴来风的宣传，它应贯穿于一切教育教学活动之中。这就要求在教学中要始终围绕“以人为本”这个教学原则。体现在教学活动中，要求教师在课程设计、课堂模式、教学评估中要以学生为中心，一切服务于开发学生的潜能、发挥学生的能动性，把学生培养成为心智健全、自信、爱学习、有能力的个体。
2．建构主义
建构主义认为，学习过程不是一个被动的、完全靠外部刺激的接受过程，而是在一定的文化、社会等因素的影响和制约下实现意义的建构过程，这个过程是学习者的一个积极的、主动的过程。教师在意义建构过程中充当引导者和监督者，充当学习者从“第一个发展区”跨越到“第二个发展区”的支架。建构主义对教学具有启发和指导作用，教师在教学过程中应充分认识和发挥自己的主观能动作用，了解学生的学习水平，确定教学目标，在教学过程中以学生为主体，引导学生发挥其主观能动性，最终实现意义的建构。
3．交际教学法
乔姆斯基认为，语言的获得分为“语言能力”和“语言行为”，语言能力是语言结构知识，或语法规则体系；而语言行为则指在具体的情境中使用和运用语言（徐强，2002:2-7）。语言能力和语言行为的区分是交际教学法的理论基础。交际教学法认为，语言的习得是知识的输入与输出的完整过程，在教学过程中，教师要摈弃以结构主义为指导的讲解语法和语言结构的教学形式，积极引导学生互相交流，通过一系列的语言行为，达到提高语言技能、增强交际技巧、提高语言能力的目的。交际教学法注重语言的运用，主张在语言的实际运用中学习提高语言能力。
三、任务协作式课堂模式
1．研究生学术英语写作课程的教学目标
研究生学术英语写作课程旨在培养英语科技论文基础写作能力和文献阅读能力，使学生能够比较顺利地读懂本学科的英语文献，从文体上把握普通文体与科技文体的差别和英语科技论文各部分的结构特征，从语域上把握英语科技论文各部分的语言特征，其中包括词汇、语法、句型、修辞手段等等，最终掌握英语学术论文的写作方法和写作规范。
2. “任务型”准备
由于研究生在本科阶段阅读和写作学术论文的机会比较少，对学术性的写作缺乏感性认识，而研究生阶段的学术写作的开设学期又往往在第一学期。因此，教师在教学中要充分考虑到这一点，要对本阶段的学术性写作做好材料和知识上的准备。从自主学习和以学生为中心的教学理论出发，教师可要求学生自己熟悉、阅读学术性的论文，而教师在准备材料过程中充当指导者和监督者。教师可要求学生以小组为单位到图书馆去查阅、搜寻与所学专业有关的论文，篇幅不限，最好是在英文学术期刊上发表的论文。在这个过程中，教师要引导学生收集那些内容比较新颖、语言适合研究生阅读水平的论文，数量可在五篇左右。收集完毕后，小组成员人手一份。大家可各自研读所收集的论文材料，对英语学术论文的结构及语言特征有个大概的了解。
3. “辅助型”讲解
学生们对学术性论文有了总体的认识和理解之后，教师在课堂上要对教学目标所规定的内容（如学术性论文中的引言部分）进行讲解。教师可挑选一篇典型的学术性论文范文，对范文进行三个层次的讲解。（1）进行总体意义上的解释和分析。在这个步骤中，教师引导学生阅读、理解、分析范文中的每一句话，从每句话的具体意义中抽象出其功能意义，即作者在每句话中想要表达的主旨和目的。在这一步骤中，教师要讲解、示范句子的语言意义和功能意义的区别，引导学生从语言意义中抽象概括出功能意义，引导学生从词汇、句型、语法和上下文的关系中去审视和理解作者在句子中想表达的意图和目的。（2）综合每个句子的意义，分析作者的逻辑思维。综合句子的意义和整篇文章的逻辑思维，可将整篇文章的意义分为几个层次，这就是一篇范文的模板。当然，不同作者写的学术性论文会有个人的特点，不同的学术期刊对学术性论文的要求也不尽相同，它们或许和根据范文概括出的模板有所差别，但某些内容是必不可少的。如：Glasman-Deal. H（2011:29-30）在Science Research Writing for Non-native Speakers of English一书中概括出introduction部分的模板为：
其中，provide background facts/information和describe the problem you will address以及describe the present paper这三部分在大部分学术性论文中的引言部分会涉及。（3）语类分析。教师归纳论文中的表达特定意义（如：背景信息）的词汇、句型、常用语法，等等，并将这些语言类别的表意功能加以讲解。
4. “协作型”研究讨论
根据“以学生为中心”与“交际教学法”的理论原则，教师可把整个课堂分为几个任务小组，每组的成员数量根据班级容量大小而定。北京工业大学的研究生班容量一般为69～72人不等，一般每个小组的成员数量为6～8人。学生具备了通过阅读自己收集的论文资料所获得的感性知识，并在课堂上接受了教师关于学术性写作的系统理论讲解。下一步骤就是学生在教师的指导下运用已学过的写作理论进行批判性阅读（critical reading），然后以小组为单位对所读论文的结构、语类分析等进行讨论。这是学生自主任务型学习在课堂上的延伸，教师在这个教学环节要起到指导、监督的作用，在教室中旁听各个小组的讨论情况，对学生们提出的问题进行回答、鼓励，提醒那些不愿开口的学生积极参与讨论。这个教学环节通过交际过程不仅增强了学生们的语言输出，从而巩固了对写作理论知识的理解，也增强了小组成员的合作意识，活跃了课堂气氛，积极地促进了学术英语写作知识的建构。
5. “展示型”课堂汇报
小组讨论完成后，教师可要求一个或几个小组在课堂上做presentation，对归纳出的学术论文的特点向全班同学汇报和讲解。小组成员可有不同的分工，有的进行背景知识的汇报，有的则分析词汇、语法等特征。在汇报过程中，允许其他同学提出问题，作汇报的同学要对这些问题进行回答和讲解，从而形成全班范围的研究讨论。学生完成课堂汇报后，教师要进行及时的评讲，对模糊的问题要引领全班进行讨论。
四、结语
这种任务协作式的学术写作课堂模式能积极地引导学生们去自主学习，从论文资料的收集到讨论、汇报都是在教师的指导下自主完成的，这能有效地激发学生的能动性和积极性。整个课堂始终围绕着“以学生为中心”的教学原则和交际教学法，积极地完成知识的建构过程。但其中也不乏不尽如人意之处，如各个任务小组的论文资料不一致，在课堂上使用和讨论起来就显得范围过大，其他学生不太容易理解，教师也不太容易掌控所有小组的文献阅读和讨论过程，这都需要在以后的实际教学中加以完善和提高。
参考文献
1.Glasman-Deal H.2011.Science Research Writing for Non-native Speakers of English[M]．北京：机械工业出版社： 29-30.
2．蔡基刚．2012. “学术英语”课程需求分析和教学方法研究 [J]．外语教学理论与实践（2）:30-35.
3．董艳，刘晓虹．2009．非英语专业硕、博研究生英语教学CIM模式[J]．安徽理工大学学报（社会科学版）（2）:94-98.
4．刘彬，彭工．2010. “学术交流英语口语”课程的探索与实践 [A]．研究生英语教学与研究（2010）[C].北京：中国人民大学出版社：71-77.
5．罗娜，肖巧玲．2011．硕士研究生EAP习得模式探索[J]．外语教学理论与实践（3）:80-86.
6．徐强．2002．交际法英语教学和考试评估[M]．上海：上海外语教育出版社：2-7.
基于场认知风格的均衡教学模式的构建
摘要：在二语习得过程中个体差异因素决定着学习者的学习行为。认知风格的不同是研究个体差异的重要领域。场认知风格作为认知风格的核心和主要维度对于二语习得的成功起着至关重要的作用。本研究基于场独立性/场依存性理论，采用艾森克人格问卷（EPQ），对学习者的心理认知方式进行评估，在统计软件SPSS 13.0下建立数据库进行统计分析处理，并将结果和大学英语四级考试语言技能成绩进行相关性比对。数据显示人格因素与英语学习的听说读写四项基本技能存在不同程度的相关。作者通过研究场认知风格在二语习得教学中的意义提出建构认知风格下的均衡教学模式的设想。
关键词：场独立性/场依存性 认知风格 个体差异 二语习得 均衡教学模式
一、引言
学习者作为学习的主体在学习时间、地点、教材、师资等条件相仿的情况下，学习效果却可能不一致、甚至相差甚远，在第二语言习得过程中表现出很大的个体差异。究其原因，认知风格是最重要的个体差异因素之一。当涉及学习任务时认知风格也可以称为“学习风格（learning styles）”，它是学习者特有的认知、情感和心理行为特征；是学生在面对学习任务时所选择的独特方式（Pritchard,2008）1。特定学习者的学习风格通常体现了该学习者对学习方法的定向和偏爱等个体差异。认知风格的不同是个体差异研究的重要领域。场独立性和场依存性构成了认知风格的理论框架，与认知风格的其他要素均有紧密的联系，可以说场独立性/依存性是认知风格的核心。
20世纪60年代以来，第二语言教学研究领域的重心发生了转移，研究者认识到学习者的特征对习得过程的影响，对学习者的认知风格（cognitive style）进行了深入的探讨和研究，学习者的个体差异（individual differences）及其对第二语言习得的成功所发挥的至关重要的作用日益受到重视。在研究外语教学方法和策略的同时，探讨影响学习方法和策略的场独立性/依存性认知风格以及和二语习得教学的关系，把心理发展与认知方式的研究联系到教学中，以促进学生语言知识和语言技能的全面发展。
二、场独立性/依存性认知风格理论发展概述
场独立与场依存是一对基于信息处理的不同心理认知过程，并有着相互对立特征的认知风格。美国心理学家H.A.Witkin最早提出场独立性（Field Independence/FI）和场依存性（Field Dependence/FD）认知风格的概念。Witkin的大量研究发现场依存性/独立性维度是跨诸知觉而表现在心理活动的各个方面，如记忆、思维、情感、学习、解决问题和社会交往等，它具有普遍性、稳定性、两极性和价值中性等特点，是一个过程变量。这一风格维度反映了学习者对整体和部分的认知偏好（Kuhn, L. 2009）2。
场独立性/场依存性认知风格是心理学研究的课题。根据《教育心理学百科全书》的定义，在心理学的术语中“场”泛指能够从中感知到某一特定相关环节的一系列思想、理念和情感。所谓场依存性是人们在信息加工过程中倾向于依赖外在的参照物或外部环境线索作指导3。Witkin等人认为FI认知风格不受原有场结构的影响，倾向于从整个场中离析出部分有组织的场；而FD认知风格则受到原有场结构的限制，倾向于使它保持原貌。场独立/场依存风格维度是一个双极性的连续体（bipolar continuum），其两端分别代表极端的场依存性和场独立性，具有不同风格的学习者位于这个连续体的某一点上。这一点的两极——场独立和场依存，就像“高”和“矮”一样，是相对的。但是场独立/场依存风格维度并无好坏之分4。
在场独立/场依存学习风格理论的晚期发展中Witkin对其作了重大修改。场独立/场依存被看作是心理分化的体现。由于对外界参照依赖程度的不同，在风格维度的两极发展了两种不同的技能：认知改组技能和人际交往技能。场独立学习者具有比较发展的认知改组技能，善于运用分析的方式，能够从复杂的情景中区分出事物的若干要素和组成部分。而场依存的学习者则比较容易表现出擅长人际交往的技能，偏爱笼统的和整体的方式而非分析的方式。在这里Witkin把学习风格的定义扩展到三个维度：对外界参照的依赖程度、认知改组技能和人际交往技能（Ungerer, F. 2006）4。《教育心理学百科全书》（2008）将场独立/场依存的特征归结如下3：
表一 场独立性/场依存性学习风格的主要特征：
与其早期理论相比Witkin在其关于场独立/场依存性学习风格的新定义中完善了场独立/场依存的两极对分性。他们的假设是场独立学习者在某些学习任务上的表现好于场依存学习者；而对于另一些学习任务场依存学习者的表现超过场独立者。Witkin的研究表明，场独立型与场依存型认知风格与学习有密切关系。场独立者偏爱自然科学学科，其学习动机以内在动机为主，学习自主性强，喜欢个人钻研或独自学习；善于运用分析的知觉方式，易适应结构松散的教学风格；而场依存者则偏爱社会科学学科，善于运用整体的知觉方式，喜欢结构严密的教学方式，乐于在集体中学习以取得互相学习、互为启发的机会（Sternberg, J. 2006）5。
在语言学习方面，Willing在澳大利亚调查了517名成年英语学习者（ESL）的学习风格1。研究发现，认知风格的差异影响了学习者对某些学习方法的偏好。例如，场依存型的学习者倾向于选择以下活动：
（1）In class, I like to learn by games．在课堂上，我喜欢通过做游戏来学习。
（2）I like to learn English by working in pairs．我喜欢两人一组学英语。
但是，场独立型的学习者报告了以下偏好：
（3）I like to study grammar．我喜欢学习语法。
（4）I like the teacher to let me find my mistakes．我喜欢老师让我发现自己的错误。
张大均、陈旭（2009）6通过对中国学生的调查研究得出结论：在语言学习初级阶段，场依存性强的学习者与场独立性强的学习者可能没有显著差异，但是达到一定水平之后，场独立性逐渐显示出其优势，两者的差异随着时间的延长而加大。
三、基于场认知风格的外语教学研究
虽然场独立性/依存性在认知活动中加工和组织信息所显示出来的独特的、稳定的风格并无好坏之分，但一个人的学习活动会受到其认知风格的影响。基于场独立性/依存性的认知理论，本研究采用艾森克设计的有关人格维度研究的EPQ问卷的测定方法，对于所教学生的人格特征进行调查，并和大学英语四级考试的语言技能成绩进行对照分析。希望通过掌握学生认知风格的基本特点以及课堂教学策略与学生认知风格之间的内在联系，提高英语教学效率。
3.1测试对象：参与本研究的为大学二年级平行班学生，其中大部分是山东籍，年龄在19～21岁之间。他们至少都在大学学过两年、中学学过六年英语，还有一些在小学甚至在幼儿园就接触过英语，英语词汇量应该在5000左右，全部参加了测试前不久的全国大学英语四级考试。按专业的不同进行分层抽样，在每一专业内按学号进行简单随机抽取，共抽出80人作为样本进行统计分析。样本中各专业人数分布如下：
语言类专业15人、经管类专业25人、理工类专业20人、其他专业20人。
3.2艾森克人格测验（Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, EPQ）是英国心理学家艾森克（H. J. Eysenck）等人编制的一种有效的自陈式人格测量工具，以特质论为理论基础，对分析人格的结构具有重要作用。目前，已被广泛应用于心理学研究与实际应用、医学、司法、教育、人才测评与选拔等诸多领域。EPQ有90个题目，含三个维度、四个分量表。本实验采用陈仲庚主持修订的成人EPQ版本85题中E量表的21个条目，主要测量外显或内隐倾向。以下是EPQ对于E量的描述：
“高分特征：人格外向，可能渴望刺激和冒险；情感易于外露、冲动；喜欢参加人多热闹的聚会、好交际；开朗、活泼。低分特征：人格内向、好静、离群、富于内省；除了亲密朋友之外，对一般人缄默冷淡；不喜欢刺激、冒险和冲动，喜欢有秩序的生活方式，很少进攻，情绪比较稳定。”
3.3数据分析
参加测试的80名学生在10分钟内全部答完21个问题，问卷的有效率为100%。应用SPSS13.0软件对所得到的EPQ问卷测试成绩和全国大学英语四级考试语言技能成绩进行统计，得到下表：
表二 描述性数据统计
表三 相关性数据统计
从分析结果看出：EPQ成绩与听力、口语的相关系数为正，与阅读、写作的相关系数为负，说明外向的学生在听力和口语上占优势、内向的学生在阅读和写作上占优势。听说读写四种能力中，听说的关系最为密切，再者为阅读和写作。研究表明，具有场独立性的学习者交际能力较强，而具有场依存性的学习者则语言熟练程度较高．
通过对认知风格不同的学生进行问卷与观察而知，在二语习得方面，认知风格不同的学生有着不同的表现。“场独立型”学习者的特点：在学习上独立性较强，属于分析型学习者，有较强的推理和分析能力，在阅读和写作方面表现较为突出。在课堂上通常比较安静与内敛，归纳能力强；对科技性强、逻辑性强的文章感兴趣，偏爱听说和写，主张教师上课采用发现法，传统的翻译教学法很适合他们。场独立型学生在内部激励的情况下学习得更好，他们的成绩和所得到的学习反馈关联不明显。
“场依存型”学习者的特点：喜欢与人交往，属于感性型学习者，容易获得自然语言输入，在口头语言交际能力方面发展较好。在课堂上通常热衷于小组活动，并更易于通过合作与交流学习语言。对文学性强、描述性的文章感兴趣；偏爱听说和读；场依存型学生主张教师上课采用讨论法，交际教学法对他们更有效。场依存型学生更易受惩罚的影响；在学习过程中，当有反馈信息时，场依存型学生的成绩有明显提高。
四、认知风格下的均衡教学模式构建
学习者千差万别，风格不一：有些在某些方面能够施展自己的长处，在另一些方面却表露出自己的弱处；有些课堂上表现活跃、积极参与的同学在学期考试或全国统一考试中成绩并不出色；而有些沉默寡言的同学却常出乎意料地考出令人满意的成绩。
由于学习者特有的认知风格影响他们对知识的获取和技能的掌握，场独立与场依存的学习者分别更适应不同的学习或教学方法。在外语教学中，教师应根据场独立性和场依存性的学生在学习上的不同风格特点，采取不同的教学设计、教学策略与之相匹配，构建均衡的教学模式，努力创造各种氛围以适应不同风格的学习者，达到一个确定的教学目标，使语言知识尽快转化成语言能力和交际能力。
所谓均衡，笔者认为，一是将学习者之间的差异和他们之间的共同点进行均衡。既采用课堂讨论的教学方法，倾向于以学生为中心，让学生在组织课堂时发挥大的作用；又采用讲授法和发现法，强调教师的主导作用。既设立与学生有互动过程的教学情境，比如根据场依存者更善于在“自然”环境中面对面的习得第二语言的特点，设置“口语角”和小范围的“派对”等练习英语的“自然环境”，采用归纳的教学方法。又定向于教学方面认知特征的教学情境，比如针对场独立者善于课堂学习的特点，学习方式可涉及分析、细节的把握、反复的练习与训练以及其他集中精力的学习活动，采用演绎式的教学方法。既鼓励学生树立标准，也常常强调规范的标准。
其次，对场独立型与场依存型的学生个别化对待，达到因材施教的均衡。这种个别化对待不仅应体现在上面所提到的学习任务和方法的不同上，还应体现在对他们的鼓励和引导上。既把负评价当成是一种有效的教学技巧、指出学生错误的回答并分析错在哪里，同时也采用正强化。不歧视某种风格的学生，而应本着一视同仁的态度，并因人而异采用不同的教学策略，以促进学生的全面发展。
三是发展潜能，注意“扬长”和“避短”的均衡。任何一种学习风格均有其长处、优势和短处、劣势。所谓的“扬长”即采用与学习者特有的场认知风格中的长处相一致的教学策略，使学生对知识的获得更快、更多、更直接。“避短”即与场认知风格中的长处不相一致的有意失配教学策略。“扬长避短”的方法虽然无法弥补学习者学习方式上的欠缺，但从长远看对知识的获得有积极意义。
四是在针对不同风格的学习者进行教学的同时认识到认知风格是可转化的。Brown（2007）7认为场独立性/场依赖性对个体来说不是一成不变的，而是一个可变的维度。在不同的学习情况下，学习者个体可以变换自己的风格。在外语学习中，我们不应把学习者的风格看成是僵化的单一模式：非场独立即场依赖。人们的认知方式并非处于这对连续体的两端；应对学习者的认知风格加以引导，缩小不同风格学习者之间的差距，积极促进学习者的外语习得和个性全面发展。
五、结束语
教育是一个极其复杂的过程，但重视学习者在语言习得过程中的主体地位和个体差异，以人为本、因材施教是当今语言教育者不懈追求的目标。在设计一门以学习者为中心的课程时把学习者的需求与偏好容纳进去是至关重要的。基于场认知风格的二语习得研究通过分析心理认知方式和语言学习的关系了解学习者的学习习惯、理解其认知风格的倾向，以采取多种教学方式，灵活有效地指导习得过程，达到创造适应个体特点的学习环境和条件，激发学习风格的多样性的目的。构建均衡的教学模式对于二语习得效率的提高，引导和促进学生在语言知识、语言技能以及个性等方面均衡和谐发展，并对于研究学习者掌握外语的学习模式有一定的借鉴意义。
参考文献
1.Pritchard,A.2008.Ways of Learning:Learning Theories and Learning Styles in the Classroom[M].London:Taylor & Francis,
2. Kuhn,L. 2009. Differentiation and Integration:Applying an Interdisciplinary Systems [D]. Azusa Pacific University.
3.Encyclopedia of Education Psychology, SAGE Reference,2008.
4.Ungerer, F. 2006. An Introduction to Cognitive Linguistics [M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
5.Sternberg, J. 2006. The Nature of Intellectual Styles [M]. Mahwah:Laurence Erlbaun Associations, Inc., Publishers.
6．张大均，陈旭．2009．中国大学生心理健康素质调查 [M]．北京：北京师范大学出版社．
7.Brown,D.2007.Principles of Language Learning and Teaching[M].New Jersey:Prentice Hall,Inc.
Evaluation of English Textbooks for Professional Master's Degree Students of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Abstract: Based on Cunningsworth's Evaluation Guidelines, Breen & Candlin's Evaluation Guide, and Zhou Xuelin's Evaluation Checklist, a questionnaire was designed to assess whether teaching with the two textbooks（The Art of Public Speaking and English for International Academic Conferences）for Professional Master's Degree students of the Chinese Academy of Sciences can reach the goal of providing students with an intensive training for them to achieve a good command of the English language adequate for their further academic pursuit and for future career. Evaluation results show that the two textbooks have helped students with their practical writing and improved their presentation skills, preparing them for academic conferences/exchange and business situations. However, the assessment reveals the textbooks' inadequacy in meeting the needs of students of strong science background as well.
Key words: Professional Master's Degree students of the Chinese Academy of Sciences evaluation of English textbooks
1. Introduction
Since 2009, Mainland China has started to enroll full-time professional Master's degree students（PMDS）from among fresh graduates. And the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China is planning to increase the proportion of PMDS in its overall enrollment of students of Master's degree, aiming at a 7:3 ratio between students of professional Master's degree and students of academic Master's degree by 2015-2020. Accordingly, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has expanded its enrollment of PMDS from around 150 in 2009 to 1,100 in 2010（based on the numbers of PMDS taking the English course—the compulsory degree course—in University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（UCAS）, 133 in 2009 and 1,000 in 2010 respectively）. The situation has posed an urgent problem for the English teachers at GUCAS—to standardize the English teaching of PMDS enrolled by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Hutchinson and Torres（1994:318）consider that textbooks play the “facilitating role” in English language teaching, offering a “framework of guidance and orientation” for teachers and serving as a “framework or guide that helps（learners）to organize their learning both inside and outside the classroom.” Representing the “visible heart of any ELT program” for both teachers and students, adequate textbooks are thus of great use and importance（Sheldon,1988:237）. Therefore, selecting effective English textbooks for PMDS of the Chinese Academy of Sciences becomes a prior concern in the standardization process.
In the past two years' experimental teaching, English teachers at UCAS assigned to this program have carefully picked and tried out two textbooks, The Art of Public Speaking and English for International Academic Conferences.There are two types of instructional material evaluations: “a predictive evaluation designed to make a decision regarding what materials to use, and a retrospective evaluation designed to examine materials that have actually been used”（Ellis,1997:36）. The current study adopted a retrospective evaluation to examine whether the two textbooks could meet the learners' real-world professional demands, and to determine “whether it is worthwhile using the materials again, which activities‘work' and which do not, and how to modify the materials to make them more effective for future use”（Ellis,1997:37）.
2. The Study
In this study, the target textbooks were The Art of Public Speaking and English for International Academic Conferences, both developed by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, Beijing. They were chosen as textbooks for the one-semester English compulsory degree course for PMDS of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the spring semester of 2011, there were 28 classes—1,000 students—using the target textbooks at the same time. Five Chinese teachers and one international teacher assigned to this program had four meetings throughout the semester, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the textbooks and sharing teaching experiences and methods. By the end of the semester, a questionnaire was designed to further evaluate the textbooks. 240 questionnaires were sent out, and 227 were returned.
Based on Cunningsworth's Evaluation Guidelines（1987）, Breen & Candlin's Evaluation Guide（1984）, and Zhou Xuelin's Evaluation Checklist（1996）, this questionnaire focused on whether the target textbooks could help to fulfill the overall objectives of this program and satisfy the learners' professional demands.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1
The English program for professional Master's degree students of the Chinese Academy of Sciences aims to provide PMDS with an intensive training for them to achieve a good command of the English language adequate for their further academic pursuit and for future career. Specifically, it is intended to help improve PMDS' skills in practical and academic writing and to help improve their communicative skills in listening and speaking, with an emphasis on developing their skills in making presentations at academic conferences home and abroad.
In the survey 35% of the participating students considered the course very satisfying,55% satisfying, 9% average, 1% unsatisfying, and none very unsatisfying. 78% regarded it necessary and helpful to use The Art of Public Speaking and English for International Academic Conferences jointly. Among these students, 31% believed the proper ratio between The Art of Public Speaking and English for International Academic Conferences should be 5:5, 31% 3:7, and 38% 7:3. 22% regarded it necessary to focus on just one textbook, among whom 44% thought the focus should be on English for International Academic Conferences,and 56% The Art of Public Speaking.The results show that the joint use of the two textbooks could attend the two goals of the program:English for International Academic Conferences meeting the need to improve students'writing skills,and The Art of Public Speaking assisting to develop their skills in making presentations.And 60% of the students reckoned that The Art of Public Speaking was of more use to prepare them for future career.
3.2
As for The Art of Public Speaking,70% thought it helped them to develop more reading skills since it provided many supplementary materials and sample speeches. 48% thought it boosted their interest in English study through clear and well-organized instructions and a variety of videos which allowed students to see the principles of effective public speaking in action vividly. The textbook incorporated a number of Chinese examples. Encouraged by the Chinese speakers in the video clips, students found it less difficult to make effective presentations in English. As a result, they became more confident in English communication. The textbook designed exercises for thinking and speaking after each chapter so that students could carry on the study after class and apply what they had learned in class and from the textbook to various situations. It also created a variety of job situations in which students need to make public speech. These exercises and activities were effective to help students acquire a variety of language skills, preparing them to deal with typical situations they would meet in their future professional life. 40% admitted their writing skills improved, claiming that the instructions on speech preparation in the textbook also taught them how to write logically, coherently and convincingly. 35% believed they could communicate more effectively in English. Although the textbook came with a CD-ROM containing more than 50 speech videos, only 28% deemed their listening comprehension ability improved, mainly because the speakers in the videos spoke too fast, and some Chinese speakers' speeches were marred by accents and the influence of Chinese intonation.
Interviews with the teachers showed similar results. In the first meeting before the semester started, they discussed how to make the best of The Art of Public Speaking to develop and balance students' reading, writing, listening and speaking skills, predicting that students would benefit most in speaking and listening. In the second meeting 3 weeks later, 4 teachers out of 6 expressed their worries that students were reluctant to make presentation in class. In the middle of the semester, the teachers had a third meeting, all reporting that students showed more confidence and interest in presentations and class activities. Since the videos in the CD-ROM were too difficult for the students, 3 teachers shifted to appropriate on-line videos, focusing more on videos of academic presentations of a wide range to cater to the special needs of professional Master's degree students of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 3 teachers again reported that they found students applying the strategies they learned in speech preparation in their essay writing. In the fourth meeting after the oral session of the final exam in the form of presentation making, all 6 teachers shared the same opinion that The Art of Public Speaking helped achieve the goal of improving students' reading, writing and communicative skills, especially developing their skills in making presentations.
3.3
73% students believed English for International Academic Conferences helped improve their writing skills. It provided 3 samples, learning aids, and a list of useful expressions and sentence patterns for each type of academic writing so that students would not be daunted by academic writing and there would be no serious mistakes as to the form and content of their writing. 41% believed they made progress in reading. 28% believed they could better express themselves. And 28% found the international conference teaching session interesting, because the teachers converted the class to a mimic international conference or a multinational company（3 teachers conducted 15 classes this way）.
However,both teachers and students regretted that the content of English for International Academic Conferences was not accurate.There were errors in spelling and grammar,and some materials needed to be updated. 3 teachers pointed out the necessity to add practical writing, like report, memo and minutes, to the teaching to better prepare PMDS for various situations in their future career.
4. Conclusions
Hutchinson and Torres（1994:326）see teaching as “a partnership between teacher and materials”.The two textbooks The Art of Public Speaking and English for International Academic Conferences, more profession-oriented than examination-oriented, could help teachers in the English program for professional Master's degree students of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to achieve the goals of improving students' skills in practical and academic writing and improving their communicative skills in listening and speaking, with an emphasis on developing their skills in making presentations at academic conferences home and abroad. They made teaching easier, more interesting, and better organized. However, Cunningsworth（1995）notes that if teachers depend heavily on textbooks, it may cause a lack of variety in teaching procedures and a decline in language use.Therefore,teachers should maintain a reasonable independence from them.The Art of Public Speaking can be used not just as a textbook for oral English.Teachers can refer to it as a resource for teaching reading and writing as well. Since it is in lack of samples of academic speech, teachers are advised to add supplementary materials to address the needs of students of different academic backgrounds.English for International Academic Conferences can be mainly used for academic writing, accompanied by materials on practical writing. Due to the program's strong professional orientation, teachers need to devise a variety of in-class and after-class activities to help students internalize the knowledge and skills learned in class to prepare them in language and skills for future career.
References
1.Breen，M. P. and Candlin，C. N. 1987. Which materials? A consumer's and designer's guide. In: Sheldon L. E.（ed.）ELT Textbooks and Materials:Problems in Evaluation and Development[C].London:Modern English Publications: 13-28.
2.Cunningsworth,A.1984.Evaluating and Selecting ELT Teaching Materials[M].London:Heinemann.
3.Cunningsworth,A.1995.Choosing Your Course Book[M].Oxford:Heinemann.
4.Ellis,R.1997.The empirical evaluation of language teaching materials[J].ELT Journal 51（1）:36-42.
5.Hutchinson,T.,&Torres,E.1994.The textbook as agent of change[J].ELT Journal 48（4）:315-328.
6.Sheldon,L.E.1988.Evaluating ELT Textbooks and Materials [J].ELT Journal 42（2）:237-246.
7.Zhou,X.L.1996.A Brief Study of Evaluation Standard for Foreign Language Teaching Material[J].Foreign Language World 62（2）:60-62.
Project-Based Learning in Graduate English Classrooms—An Action Research
Abstract: This paper is about an action research that applies Project-Based Learning to two Graduate English classrooms in a university of technology. The process of the research is described, effects of the application on students' learning motivation, language competence and learner autonomy analyzed, and finally the outcome achieved and further adaptations presented .
Key words: Project-Based Learning（PBL）action research Graduate English self-reflection
1. Introduction
This report is about an action research which I, a TEFL teacher, conducted in two Graduate English classrooms, by employing Project-Based Learning to motivate students and promote their language competence. Before going into details about the process of the research, I'll start by clarifying some basic notions, including the terms of action research and Project-Based Learning.
1.1 Action Research
Action research, a type of research that teachers, instead of researchers, carry out in their own classrooms to improve their own practice, was defined by Carr and Kemmis（1986:162）as “a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own practices, their understanding of these practices, and the situations in which the practices are carried out”. It is also regarded as an effective approach to teachers' professional development and thus widely advocated by language education researchers and teacher educators（e.g. Allwright & Baily, 1991; Crookes, 1993; Kemmis & McTaggart, 1982; McNiff, 1988; Nunan, 1990; Wang, 2002; etc.）. According to Wang（2002）, teachers can conduct action research either to solve a problem or to apply a new method in their teaching, and for the latter purpose, several steps should be followed, i.e. identifying new teaching method, designing a plan for action, implementing the action plan, monitoring the implementation and collecting data, and lastly, analyzing data and evaluating the effect. An action research report, however, is usually written in the first person, in contrast with the third person in common research papers, to highlight the teacher's autonomy in the research.
1.2 Project-Based Learning (PBL)
“A project is an extended task which usually integrates language skills work through a number of activities. These activities combine in working towards an agreed goal and may include planning, the gathering of information through reading, listening, interviewing, etc. discussion of the information, problem solving, oral or written reporting, and display”（Hedge, 1993:276）. Thus Project-Based Learning can be regarded as a more complicated version of Task-Based Learning. Although PBL as an ELT methodology didn't receive wide attention until the recent years, it is actually rooted in John Dewey's Project-Based Pedagogy of the early 20th century（as mentioned in Mathews-Aydinli, 2007）, which was then practiced in Europe with an educational philosophy to enable the young generation to become responsible and cooperative social members in order to build a democratic and participatory society（Legutke & Thomas, 1991:158）. Bauer-Ramazani（2007）argues that PBL follows the educational theories of cognitivism and social constructionism, including Piaget's cognitive approach to learning, Vygotsky's social development theory, Dewey's student-directed learning, and Papert's constructionism.
Since 1998, PBL has been adopted by foreign language educators in China and applied in their classrooms, which resulted in a large number of studies（Zhu, 2010）. A great majority of these studies were about PBL in College English classrooms for undergraduates（e.g. Gao, 2010;Gu & Zhu, 2002; Li, 2010; Wang, 2010; Yang & Han, 2012; etc.）, but few studies have been conducted on the application of PBL in Graduate English teaching. However, PBL is particularly suited to Graduate English classrooms. Firstly, Graduate English is usually taught in a teacherfronted manner with little interaction among students, so it is necessary for teachers to encourage students' participation by using teaching methods such as PBL. Besides, graduate students have received at least over 8 years of English education and passed CET-4, which means in language they are capable of doing project work of comprehensive nature. Lastly, an essential need of graduate students is to learn how to carry out research and write academic papers, namely the ability to analyze a problem, to deduce and to present one's ideas, and as pointed out by Hedge（1993:276-7），“project work encourages imagination and creativity, self-discipline and responsibility, collaboration, research and study skills, and cross-curricular work through exploitation of knowledge gained in other subjects”.
2. Action Planning
The purpose of applying research-oriented PBL in my classes was to improve students' learning motivation, language competence, learner autonomy, and preliminary abilities in academic research. I taught two Graduate English classes, 40 students in each, with more males than females, since all of them were students of technology. According to the scores of their entrance exam, their language proficiency was around or even below the intermediate level for graduate students. At the beginning of the semester, I made the following action plan.
First, students would form groups of four with classmates they chose voluntarily for the project work, which would be done every week or every other week, based on the topics of the texts students learned, ranging from language, success, depression to Generation X. Thus the texts would be a kind of language support for their output, and the very process of doing the projects would, in turn, consolidate their learning. Here are the major procedures in doing the projects.
Having been given several research questions relevant to the topics, each group would choose one research question and then design a questionnaire or conduct a library research accordingly after class. If they did a survey research, they were required to collect data from at least 30 people among their classmates or other peers, analyze the data and draw conclusions. Finally, they would collaboratively deliver an oral report in front of the class about their project, introducing their research question, research methods and results. They were encouraged to present their data on the blackboard in various forms like pie graphs, bar graphs, tables and also had to answer questions from their classmates and teacher. In the whole process, English should be the working language.
3. Action Effect
Action research consists of “action” and “research”, so after implementation of PBL, there should be ways for the teacher to measure the effect of the action, which is called monitoring and data collection in action research. Generally, there would be three ways to elicit feedback for the present research: my observation as a teacher in class, informal interviews to students after class, and a questionnaire conducted at the end of the semester. The questionnaire was the major source of data, with about a dozen questions, open and closed. Of the 80 questionnaires distributed, 70 valid ones were collected. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of all the data yielded the following findings.
3.1 PBL Promoted Students' English-learning Motivation
As shown in the questionnaire, when asked whether their learning interest had been improved, an overwhelming majority of students chose “improved” or “greatly improved”（see Figure 1）. Besides, for the open questions, students reported similar results, describing PBL with words like “interesting”，“more positive in English class”，“lively atmosphere in class”.
Figure 1 PBL's Effect on Learning Interest
My observation also confirmed this finding. For example, some low-proficiency students who would otherwise have remained silent in class became very enthusiastic about the project and their report was amazing. Among them, Student X was incompetent in oral English and was more often a listener than a speaker in other classroom activities. However, when he reported the project, he was quite confident and spoke in an inspiring voice, which won a warm applause from his classmates. Some other students who showed little interest in daily English learning, to my surprise, was also actively engaged in doing the project. For instance, Student S was always seated in the last row in class, often daydreaming or even taking a nap. However, when it was his group's turn to do the project, he voluntarily read much more English materials than usual, summarized all the literature he covered and finally gave a very clear and informative report to his classmates. Furthermore, most students became more attentive and interested in listening to the reports of other groups than in other classroom activities.
3.2 PBL Improved Students' Language Competence
In the questionnaire, all students admitted to improvement in some aspects of their language competence by doing the project, especially in their translation, speaking and vocabulary learning（see Figure 2）. For the open questions in the questionnaire, students also mentioned promotion of their pragmatic use of English and better mastery of learning strategies as the effect.
Figure 2 PBL's Effect on the Improvement of Language Competence
3.3 PBL Developed Students' Learner Autonomy
Doing the project provided an opportunity for the students to develop their learner autonomy since most of them reported autonomously looking up new words and phrases and reading relevant literature in English（see Figures 3 & 4）. Students also stated directly that their learner autonomy had been promoted in their answer to the open questions. However, the effect was not prominent, for nearly a quarter of them had not read any relevant literature（see Figure 4）.
Figure 3 Autonomous Learning in PBL: Looking Up Vocabulary
Figure 4 Autonomous Learning in PBL: Reading Relevant Literature
3.4 PBL-strengthened Abilities in Other Fields
The research competence of students benefited, to some extent, from the small-scale empirical or library research in the project work. They reported in the questionnaire that through PBL they had improved their analytic abilities and become more knowledgeable in social sciences. Moreover, they felt they had expanded their range of knowledge, and developed collaborative spirit as well as intimate peer relationship.
My observation in class added more evidence to this finding. Every time a project was to be reported, all the members of the reporting group would arrive at the classroom very early to write about their research and draw graphs showing the results on the blackboard in such an impressive layout that teachers and students in classrooms nearby would be attracted and appreciate it at the door until the bell rang for class. All of the work above was done voluntarily.
3.5 PBL Still Needed Improving
Despite the prominent advantages of PBL, Figures 1 to 4 above show that a small proportion of the students still benefited little from it. In the questionnaire, students also provided feedback on the imperfection of our PBL and offered some suggestions. The biggest problem was the limited choices and varieties available when they did the project. They expected more freedom in choosing the topic and more forms of projects to adopt. Besides, they hoped to see more interaction between the reporters and the audience and a more balanced participation of group members. They also felt the language errors in the reporters' presentation should be corrected to make the reports more comprehensible. And they asked for my support and help in the project work, as well as an evaluation system for their performance.
On the whole, PBL had exerted rather positive and delighting effect on students' learning. The data show that 78% of the students regarded PBL as a more effective teaching method than the traditional teacher-fronted methods and 86% would like to go on with it the next semester.
4. SeIf-reflection
In action research, teachers' critical self-reflection is a very important part and a prerequisite for teacher development. In this research, I made reflections on teacher roles, the implementation of PBL and the conduction of the research.
Reflecting on my role as a teacher, I found that I had not provided the students with enough scaffolding in the process of their project work. For example, I failed to give more detailed explanation of the research methods and language backup they needed in doing the project. And when they reported their projects, I should have created a better environment in which reporters and listeners could engage in a hot discussion about the project, which might lead to deeper understanding of the topic.
The implementation of PBL in my classrooms was not perfect, either. Students wanted more variety in the project work, so it would be better to encourage them to explore more ways to do a project and to decide on the specific research questions for themselves than to assign the research questions to them. And in order to consolidate their language learning, written reports of the projects should be required along with the oral ones. Figure 2 above shows that less than half of the students believed their writing abilities were improved, so writing a report may offset this flaw. Furthermore, there should be an assessment system for PBL in our classrooms so as to solve problems such as the imbalanced participation of group members, lack of feedback and lack of motivation.
Lastly, the way this action research was conducted could be more rigorous. For example, there could be a pre-action survey to get a clearer idea of the students' needs in language learning and thus to design PBL accordingly. Moreover, if I had collected more abundant data through other data collection methods to form triangulation, the result would be more convincing and comprehensive.
5. Conclusion
In this paper, I reported an action research I did involving PBL in two Graduate English classrooms. The research had positive effects on my students' learning motivation, language competence, learner autonomy and other qualities, but also with problems and flaws. I believe that with modifications and improvements, the research will be even more effective if it can be continued in the next semester. Action research has not only benefited my students, but also given me more insights through critical self-reflection, therefore helping me to be a better teacher.
References
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Learner Autonomy and English Education for Research Students
Abstract: Autonomy is one of the key concepts in various fields such as philosophy and psychology, and it attracts increasing attention in education, particularly in tertiary language education. In spite of the widespread usage of the notion learning autonomy, the meaning of autonomy and its applications in language education remain uncertain and ambiguous in language education. This paper aims to clarify the true meaning of learner autonomy, to raise awareness of the concept among Chinese language teachers, and to suggest some ways to practice the notion in teaching.
Key words: learner autonomy Vygotsky Chinese higher education
1. Introduction
Autonomy is one of the key concepts in various fields such as philosophy and psychology, and it attracts increasing attention in education, particularly in tertiary language education. In the field of philosophy, autonomy emphasizes individual responsibility to the society as “a fully functioning person”（Rogers 1969）, while it is applied in the education field with a focus on the individual as the center of society. Bound（1988:18）suggests “A fundamental purpose of education is assumed to be to develop in individuals the ability to make their own decisions about what they think and do.” In spite of the widespread usage of the notion learning autonomy, the meaning of autonomy and its applications in language education, as Benson and Voller points out（1997:1）, remain uncertain and ambiguous in language education. My principal concerns in this article are to clarify the true meaning of learner autonomy, to raise awareness of the concept among Chinese language teachers, and to suggest some ways to practice the notion in teaching. In what follows, I will first discusses the definition of learner autonomy in language education and explore the notion in relation to Vygotsky's essential theories in language learning. Next, I will examine its appropriateness in the context of Chinese language education in which English is learnt as a foreign language. The final section is devoted to suggestions such as keeping a learning diary which I find very helpful in promoting learner autonomy.
2. Learner Autonomy
We may trace learner autonomy in language education back to the foundation document produced by Holec（1981）. In the report prepared for the Council of Europe he suggests that autonomy in language learning requires two preconditions: first, the learner must be capable of making decisions about learning; second, the learner should be provided with a structure for learning that allows him to take responsibility for his decisions. In short, Holec defines autonomy as “the ability to take charge of one's learning”, including a series of techniques such as “determining the objectives, defining the contents and progressions”（1981:3）.
This definition, however, has been challenged and redefined by many a theorist, among whom Little（1991:4）argues that the essential meaning of autonomy is a capacity for detachment, critical reflection, decisionmaking, and independent action. As Benson and Voller（1997）points out, a number of books, articles, international conferences, and newsletters（Independence;Learner Autonomy in Language Learning; Learning）have addressed this topic; however, it seems quite impossible to find a “canon” for the concept of autonomy in language teaching and learning, because the concept carries meanings from diverse disciplines and from their applications in various domains. Moreover, definition of learner autonomy is in a process of development in which people attribute new meaning to it.
It is often claimed that autonomy in education is learning without a teacher's instruction. This idea may come from the assumption that any initiative, intervention or instruction from the teacher will diminish the autonomy that the learners have achieved. It cannot be denied that autonomous learners are no longer expected to come and sit at the feet of their teacher waiting for instructions. However, this changing relationship of learner and teacher does not necessarily imply that the teacher is redundant with autonomous learners. In autonomous teaching and learning, the teacher is encouraged to take the role of facilitator, counselor, guide, helper, or as resource（Voller 1997:99）.
In this regard, I consider the concept of scaffolding to be a precise interpretation of teachers' role in autonomous language education. The scaffolding is “temporary, but essential for the successful construction of the building”（Gibbons, 2002:10）. Gibbons（2002）develops this metaphor in language education and argues that scaffolding does not merely mean help, but is “a special kind of help that assists learners to move toward new skills, concepts or levels of understanding”（2002:10）. This concept is largely based on Vygotsky's essential theories of the language and learning process（Vygotsky, 1978）. One key tenet in Vygotsky's theory is the concept of a zone of proximal development. A zone of proximal development is the difference between a student's capacity to complete a task on his own, and his capacity to complete it with assistance. The process through which the students are able to achieve what they can perform only with the assistance of someone else is a scaffolding process. According to Vygotsky（1978）, an essential feature of learning is that it explores various internal developmental processes that can function only when the student is interacting with other people in the learning 2 environment and co-operate with them.
3. Learner Autonomy in the Chinese Context
Autonomy is traditionally regarded as a western theory. However, it is likely to be another“buzz word”（Little, 1991）in the Chinese tertiary language education. Before applying learner autonomy to the Chinese context, we should carefully examine whether it is an appropriate concept for Chinese teachers and learners. This section reflects on the possible misconceptions about learner autonomy in the Chinese context and critically investigates its appropriateness for the students and teachers.
Misconception 1: autonomy is a western cultural construct
No matter what educational system a country has, as long as it develops critical and independent thinking, learner autonomy has to be one of the educational goals, or at least an implicit one. It is now widely accepted that humans in different cultures are more similar than is often supposed, and learner autonomy should not be seen as an exclusively western cultural construct. From the psychological point of view, it is universal in human nature to have a sense of the self that is defined by Strawson（1996:21）as “the sense that people have of themselves as being, specifically, a mental presence, a mental someone, a conscious subject that has a certain character or personality, and is distinct from all its particular experiences, thoughts, hopes, wishes, feelings and so on.” Therefore for an educational system that develops learners' critical and independent thinking, with the recognition of the sense of self as one of universal human nature, learner autonomy is an appropriate concept neither unique in the western cultural traditions nor valid only in western educational practice.
Misconception 2: Learner autonomy challenges teachers' authority
It is claimed that autonomous learning may cause difficulty for both Chinese teachers and students because of the traditionally respected position of the teacher, who is regarded as an unquestionable source of authority and this view is deeply rooted within Chinese culture（Ho and Crookall, 1995）. One misleading point in this statement is the teacher's authority in the Chinese context. There were some periods of time in China's history when teachers were viewed as an unquestionable authority, and though they are still highly respected, it is no longer rare for students to challenge ambiguous statements or contradictory arguments that a teacher makes and teachers are trained to consider students' suggestions in order to improve teaching quality. Obviously not every teacher is able to handle the students' challenges positively, but those teachers who manage to offer satisfactory answers without losing face are regarded as mature and skillful.
Misconception 3: Chinese students learn passively, therefore learner autonomy is an inappropriate pedagogical goal in China
The third misconception is that Chinese students are always viewed as passive recipients of knowledge, and they sometimes think themselves in the same way（Anderson, 1993）. Based on this misconception, it is assumed that autonomous learning is not appropriate for the Chinese context because the learner is used to passive learning and being encouraged to be autonomous may make the learner feel uncomfortable. However, an autonomous learner is not born. Most learners acquire the capability to be autonomous and learn to take responsibility throughout their educational career. It is true that China's educational system has its shortcomings, especially in the aspect of fostering independence and autonomy, but that should not become a reason to discourage the learner from trying to be autonomous. Indeed, encouraging learner autonomy might be a pragmatic solution to this shortcoming in China's educational system.
4. The Application of Learner Autonomy
Though the theory of learner autonomy can be appropriate for Chinese students, many of them are still taught in ways that encourage passive learning which does not require the application of their acquired knowledge and skills to the world beyond the classroom. If the ultimate goal of school education is to prepare the students for their citizenship, teachers and schools have to foster autonomy and responsibility in students. To this end, the teacher needs to leave the students with opportunities to discover what interests them and to discover for themselves the ways of learning that work best for them. Learning to be autonomous while at school will not only help students with their academic pursuit but also throughout their future lives.
4.1 Changing Attitudes
How is an autonomous learner described? Does she follow a teacher's instructions? Is she active in answering questions in class? Or is she the role model of diligence and obedience? An autonomous learner might be all of these，but in doing so she does not aim to please the teacher but seeks to contribute to her own learning. Therefore an autonomous learner cannot be judged by her behavior but by her attitudes to learning and the abilities she has developed to learn. In this regard，the first effort I will make is to help my students with their intrinsic motivation. I believe that students can become autonomous and select the best strategies for themselves only by a change in attitude. An ancient Chinese saying well illustrates intrinsic motivation: you can bring a cow to grass，but you cannot make him eat. If the cow is not hungry he will not do his part to eat though plenty of grass is offered.（There is a similar saying in English about watering a horse）For language learning intrinsic motivation is the hunger that drives a student to learn more about the language. With genuine intrinsic motivation the learner thinks of what should be his/her learning objectives，ponders hsi/her experience，autonomously manages the process and takes responsibility for the learning outcomes. Another kind of motivation is extrinsic motivation such as reward and punishment that may also inspire learning. However，it is important to recognize that extrinsic motivation may increase a learner's dependence on the teacher instead of facilitating learner autonomy.
The change of attitudes is normally a gradual process that requires initiative and practice from the student's side as well as patience and encouragement from the teacher's side, because it is time consuming to break away from old patterns of thinking and behavior in order to actually put into practice the new rule that one has already accepted in theory.
4.2 Developing Learning Strategies
In addition to helping students become motivated，we need to equip them with learning strategies so that learners may know how to be autonomous and control their own learning processes. The first strategy is concerned with mental steps or operations that learners use to process both linguistic and sociolinguistic content（Wenden，1991:19）. Human learning falls into four stages according to information processing theorists:（1）selecting information from incoming data；（2）comprehending it；（3）storing it；（4）retrieving it for use（Hunt，1982）.
Cognitive strategies are involved in each step of the information processing. A learner may use selective attending strategy at the selection stage, in order to prepare herself to select the information that she needs. To use this strategy the learner should have to decide what kind of input she wishes to attend to. After information selection, she will use elaboration strategies such as inferencing and deductive reasoning to comprehend the selected information and mnemonic strategy to store it in the long-term memory. If the stored information has been learnt, it can be retrieved automatically when needed for a particular task.
The second strategy involves meta-cognitive aspects of learning. To fulfill a learning task effectively, a student has to at use a minimum of two meta-cognitive strategies: first, she needs to identify the task, and with sufficient knowledge of the task, a student can use the second metacognitive strategy to choose an appropriate cognitive strategy to do the task. Moreover, during the execution of the cognitive strategy the learner monitors the process and make sure this is the suitable way of doing the task. Sometimes the ongoing cognitive strategy needs adjustment to better suit the task. On the completion of the task an effective learner will assess the selection, execution and effectiveness of the cognitive strategy. These operations of identifying the task, selecting the cognitive strategy, monitoring the progress, checking and assessing the effectiveness are all meta-cognitive strategies.
5. Conclusion
This paper is concerned with the definition of learner autonomy in language education. It argues that learner autonomy does not mean learning without a teacher, and it does not promote learning in isolation. Instead, it is the ability of the individual to take charge of her learning process and to be responsible for his/her learning result. Furthermore the concept should be appropriate for learners in a Chinese cultural and educational context though some misconceptions may exist. The students learn better when they are in charge of their own learning, because being in charge makes learning more meaningful and motivating.
References
1. Anderson, J. 1993. Is a communicative approach practical for teaching English in China? Pros and Cons [J]. System 21/4:472.
2.Benson,P.and Voller,P.（ed.）1997.Autonomy&Independence in Language Learning[M].Harlow:Longman.
3.Bound,D.1988.Moving towards autonomy[A].In:Bound（ed.）Developing Student Autonomy in Learning[C]. London: Kogan Page.
4.Gibbon, P. 2002. Scaffolding Language Scaffolding Learning: Teaching Second Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom[M].Heinemann:Portsmouth NH.
5. Ho, J. and Crookall, D. 1995. Breaking with Chinese Cultural traditions: learner autonomy in English language teaching[J].System 23.
6.Holec,Henri.1981.Autonomy and Foreign Language Learning[M].Pergamon Press:Council of Europe.
7.Hunt,M.1982.The Universe Within:A New Science Explores the Human Mind [M].New York:Simon&Schuster.
8.Little,D.1991.Learner Autonomy 1:Definitions,Issues and Problems[M].Dublin:Authentik.
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10.Strawson,G.1996.The sense of the self[J].London Review of Books 18（8）:21-22.
11. Voller, P. 1997. Does the teacher have a role in autonomous language learning? [A]. In: Benson and Voller（eds.）Autonomy and Independence in Language Learning[C].Harlow:Longman.
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高职英语专业写作课程设置探讨
摘要：高职高专英语专业写作课程设置存在学时不足的问题。写作课程设置的改革需要解决写作课程设置的目的及任务、课程设置下的写作训练模式以及具体课程设置方法。写作教学及写作训练模式多样化，如写长法、过程写作、任务写作等。
关键词：写作课程设置 写长法 任务教学法 过程教学法
引言
近年来高职教育取得了很大发展。高职英语教学是高职教育中一个重要环节，但是高职英语教学面临着许多难题，特别是英语专业写作课的教学，面临的问题就更多。写作是中国英语学习者最大的难题（田延明等，2010:269），高职学生也不例外。
首先，在我国教育体系中，计划经济的痕迹还很明显，在培养目标、专业设置、课程建设方面，普遍存在着“一刀切”的现象（杨永林、董玉真，2010:15）。高职院校存在同样问题，即重视英语基础课的教学。课程设置方面偏重于阅读和视听说课类的课程，写作课程的设置受到了忽略。许多高职院校的公共英语课不设置英语写作课，一般的英语专业也只设有一个学期（144学时，每周4学时）的英语写作课。这种课程安排对有效提高学生英语写作能力是不利的。
另外，由于传统英语写作教学的种种局限性，教学效果并不令人满意。许多高职院校的毕业生在工作岗位上仍然缺乏用英语书写信函、会议通知等的能力。这说明高职英语写作课的教育理念滞后，由此产生的写作教学课程设置不足给完成教学目标带来了一些问题。所以迅速提高高职学生的英语写作能力是高职英语教师共同面对的一个课题。因此，如何改进英语教学，尤其是在英语写作课程设置方面，存在着一些需要思考的问题。写作是四大语言技能之一，是二语习得的重要内容。目前国内研究表明，写作教学不是边缘教学，而是大学英语整体教学中一个必不可少的有机组成部分（李航，2007:688）。应用英语写作的教学目标则是高职英语教育与大学英语教育不同之处，是高职学生学习英语必须具备的一项基本应用技能，也是就业所必需的一项重要技能，所以高职英语教学是不能忽视这一高职教育特点的。
一、高职英语专业写作教学的对策
以上问题都需要在对写作课程设置改革中加以解决，这样才能有效地培养学生英语的写作能力，达到英语教学的目的和目标。大学英语教学改革旨在提高教学效率、促进学生综合英语水平的提高。要真正达到这个目的，大学英语教学界需要从根本上解决现存的问题，其中一个重要问题就是改革传统教学观念和模式（刘润清、戴曼纯，2003:88）。改革传统的教学观念之一就是首先要解决课程设置问题。解决高职英语专业写作课存在的诸多问题，就要使英语写作课程在整个英语教学计划安排中得到重视。然后才能逐步解决教学目标、教学方法及语言应用能力等其他综合问题。
1.1 解决英语专业写作课程设置的目的及任务
课程目标是课程所要达到的结果，是指通过具体教学内容和教学活动使学生在某一时间内将发生性质不同和程度不同的变化结果，它具有终结性、指向性、前瞻性、曲折性和可操作性等特征（黄远振，2010:85）。课程与教学二者唇齿相依。课程与教学重新整合的依据是“课程教学”理念，其内涵包括：课程与教学过程的本质是变革（transformation）……课程作为一系列教学事件，即课程是动态的过程，是不断变化的课程教学事件（转自黄远振，2010:71）。从语言认知的客观规律出发，课程的设置不仅要考虑教学目标的完成，也要考虑如何达到这一目标，即课程的设置不仅要有完整性，而且每个阶段都要具备承上启下的作用，又要根据不同时期的教学目标作出相应的调整，循序渐进、从易到难、从简到繁、从短到长。只有这样的才符合语言的认知规律，才能为教学目标服务。
高职英语专业的写作课程的设置应该贯穿整个三个学年。每个时期的课程要有相应的教学任务、教学目标和教学方法。但宗旨只有一个，就是通过写作的不间断训练提高学生的写作能力。关于第二语言的习得研究，有一个定论，就是语言不是“教会的”，而是“学会的”。但根据语言认知和习得的客观规律，实际上语言是“用会的”。写作能力的提高尤其如此。只有在反复的训练中运用写作技巧，才有可能提高写作能力。训练就是运用的过程。
1.2 课程设置下的写作训练模式
教学方式可以是多样化的。任务教学法（task-based approach）、体验学习法（experiential learning）、过程教学法（process approach）和合作学习法（cooperative learning）等都可以运用到不同阶段的写作训练中。但贯穿始终是要以“写长法”为基本训练方式。
从事第二语言习得研究的王初明教授提出的“写长法”的教学理念，旨在引导学生冲破英语学习的极限状态，更好地增强学习成就感，提高自信心，将语言知识有效地转化为语言应用能力。“写长法”已经成为我国英语教育界普遍认可的比较完整的英语教学途径和学习理念（秦秀白，2004:3）。“写长法”不刻意追求教学和学习内容的系统性，而是强调学生体验学写外语的过程，使外语能力得到充分的锻炼。教师要在任务设计上下足工夫，为学生提供一个操练外语的平台，让学生有内容可写、愿意写、能够写，以长促学、以量促质，由此去拓展外语能力、产生成就感（王初明，2004:7）。“写长法”的这种理念正好适合于解决高职英语写作教学中的问题。下面将讨论具体的解决方法。
二、英语专业写作课程设置方法
高职院校学制为三年，第三学年的第二个学期为实习期，实际在校学习时间为两个半学年。英语专业的写作课程就应该贯穿整个学习时期，这样才有足够的学时帮助学生消除写作的恐惧感，逐渐培养良好的写作习惯，在不断的训练中掌握并运用英语语言知识，从而提高英语写作能力，并提高综合英语运用能力。因为好文章是写出来的（杨永林、丁韬，2011:75）。
2.1 一年级写作课的设置和教学
一般高职专业英语写作课是从二年级开始的，但一年级开设英语写作课是有成功范例的。“写长法”在广州外语外贸大学英语语言与文化专业进行的写作课教学改革试验，充分证明了这一点（郑超，2004:13）。这个试验证明，写作的训练越早越好；写作意识和写作兴趣的培养越早越好；写作信心的建立越早越好；写作能力的提高越早越好。所以本阶段可以运用“写长法”以调动学生的写作积极性。“写长法”的基本思路是针对学生学外语多年而不会运用的困境，以设计激发学生表达真情实感和写作冲动的任务为教学重点（王初明，2004:6）。这样才有机会正确掌握英语的写作知识，并把所学到的英语基础知识运用到实际中去。
一年级的写作课程安排为每周2学时，可以与精读课结合。教学重点是加强英语写作基础的训练——词的运用和句子结构的训练。第一学期重点是词汇的分类和运用以及词汇组句的训练；第二学期重点是句子结构的掌握和运用以及句子间的逻辑关系。教学目标是培养学生的英语基础知识的运用能力，为段落写作打下基础。教学目的是消除焦虑情绪，培养写作兴趣。教学原则是“学用结合，为用而学”，学一点、会一点、用一点。教学内容是正确运用词汇和句子结构。加强英语基础知识的构建有两个方法：复习巩固高中时期的英语知识和掌握新的语言基础知识。教学训练活动多种多样：如编写情景对话、改编电影片段对话、短文的改写、缩写、编写墙报及班报、互写邮件、读后感及观后感、日常生活描述（日记）、周记、汉译英笔译等。训练活动可以与其他英语语言训练课程结合，扩展为以听促写、以说促写、以读促写、以译促写。目的就是巩固、习得和运用扎实的英语语言基础知识。
这个阶段的训练可以称为“自由写作”。通过这种早期的无拘无束的兴趣写作训练，调动学生的学习兴趣，消除对写作的恐惧感，为“写得出、写得对、写得快”打下良好的基础。
2.2 二年级写作课的设置和教学
二年级写作课要起到承上启下的作用。第一学期教学重点是句子之间的逻辑关系。第二学期重点是段落结构和段落间的逻辑关系；教学内容是英语应用文的写作；教学目的是培养良好的写作习惯；教学方法是任务写作；训练方式是模仿写作法；教学目标是为篇章写作打下基础。教学原则是“在加强英语语言基础知识和基本技能训练的同时，重视培养学生实际使用英语进行交际的能力”（高职高专教育英语课程教学基本要求，2000: 1）。
这个阶段的课程设置可以根据其他课程的安排，适当地调整为每周2学时或4学时，或者上半学期为2学时、下半学期为4学时。要结合本专业课程进行写作训练。特别是应用文的集中写作训练。经过一年级的基础写作训练，培养了写作的兴趣，建立起了写作的信心，在加入将来就职需要的动机，学生在应用文的写作上，不会存在太大的障碍。由于应用文这个新元素的导入，学生会产生新鲜感。在结合本专业的基础上，学生会有兴趣加大写作的训练强度，这就为进一步提高学生的英语应用能力提供了良好的教学环境。“教”与“学”得到了配合，学生便会在“用”的过程中得到锻炼、得到提高。力求使学生通过本阶段的训练，能够“写得出、写得对、写得快”，从而达到增强学生的语言运用能力，提高运用英语进行书面交流的目的。
本阶段的训练可以采用“现时—传统修辞派”的写作训练方式。“‘现时—传统修辞派’（Current-Traditional Rhetoric）的目光从语言的句子、词汇扩展到了整个语篇的组织、修辞和逻辑。它注重写作的段落组织（topic sentence, support sentence, conclusive sentence, transition sentence等）；写作的段落发展（illustration, exemplification, comparison/contrast, cause/effect, classification, definition等）；文体的分类（description, narration, exposition, argumentation），及文体风格（clear, brief, straightforward等）。目的是使学习者能通过‘填空式地将内容放入这些模型中去’来学习写作。也可理解为模仿写作训练。北京外国语大学丁往道等编著的《英语写作手册》（1990）就是这派理论的典型教材，在我国高校中影响深远。‘写长法’在广外英语本科二年级教学中的成熟发展则大量地借鉴了此流派对段落的处理方式。”（欧阳护华，2004:9）
这种段落的写作训练恰好适合应用文的写作。因为大多数应用文是段落式的文体写作。除了应用文写作，可以加大训练量，加入不同文体的段落写作训练，为三年级的深度写作训练作准备。除了教材中需要掌握的有关应用文模式，教师可以补充课外资料。如有可能，可以收集一些目前企业或公司正在使用的一些常用应用文范例，让学生模仿写作，以提高实际运用的能力。写作训练活动如快速阅读各种文体的应用文并模仿写作；快速阅读不同文体的短文并模仿写作；快速阅读英语电影的英文字幕并模仿写作；编写广告词和说明书等并模仿写作；汉译英笔译训练也可带动写作训练，等等。而以读促写则是重要的训练方法。
2.3 三年级写作课的设置和教学
三年级第二个学期实习，只有第一个学期有教学任务，所以写作课可以继续设置为2-4学时，以保证足够的训练时间。教学重点是扩大写作范围，加深写作难度；教学内容是英语议论文的写作；教学目的是培养严谨的逻辑思考能力；教学方法是自由写作和任务写作；教学目标是提高布局谋篇能力和增强语言表现力；教学原则是促进逻辑思考能力和严谨的书面语言表达能力，为就职作准备。
三年级的写作课采用过程教学法。“‘过程教学法’（Process Approach）理论基础是认知心理学。它认为写作是一个写作者发现、整理、表达其意义或真理的认知心理过程，其过程从来就不是直线的、静态的、一次性的；写作内容高于表达形式；教师的作用应为辅助、协作学习者在写作过程中体验、反省、总结其心理认知的各道程序。因此，它的教学内容侧重写作的过程：定题、创意、收集资料、聚焦、大纲计划、起草、修改、编辑、纠错等。”（欧阳护华，2004:19）。所以过程写作法以“写作过程（writing process）”为出发点，将写作过程列为教学的重心，设计一系列课堂内外写作活动，让学生充分投入到写作的具体过程中，通过写作而学习写作（learn to write through writing），从而最终获取好的成果（李航，2007:689）。因此过程写作法将写作理解为一种不断循环的过程，学习写作要在反复地打磨、修改的过程中完善成型。使学生意识到写作思维过程的不同阶段：准备阶段、写作阶段及修改定稿阶段，并使学生了解到最重要的阶段是准备阶段，包括阅读相关信息、整理阅读笔记、作提纲，建立主题构架等。因为好文章是想出来、悟出来的（杨永林、丁韬，2011:75）。
在前两个阶段的量的训练的基础上，此阶段需要质的飞跃。这就需要大量阅读来自真实英语背景的语言资料，为了更好地输出——写作，此阶段要加大输入量——阅读量。“Bazerman（1995）的教材The Informed Writer特别强调阅读和写作的互补性——‘阅读与写作携手并进。读得越好，写得越好。'”（转自桂诗春，2004:36）。这种阅读和写作的关系是语言教学的基本规律，也是众所周知的，所以，我们必须在教学中应用这个规律。因为三年级是高年级阶段，随着学生的阅读能力的提高，在写作训练上首先要注重阅读和写作的关系。以读促写，提高阅读量，反复模仿，加深写作难度。因为好文章是读出来的（杨永林、丁韬，2011:75）。其次在写作中培养学生的独立思考能力和逻辑思维能力，使书面语言表现力更有深度，语言结构更严谨。
写作训练方式可以采用自由写作和任务写作。前者可以在课堂上就某个学生感兴趣的话题展开讨论，然后基于讨论进行6～10分钟的持续不断的自由写作。文体不限。学生可以自拟题目、自选题材，文体不限、字数不限（但要规定最少字数）。后者是规定题目，设定任务、明确问题、限时限量。可以是独立完成，也可以小组共同完成。任务写作可以分为课上和课下两部分。课上进行短篇写作，课下长篇写作。任务写作可以锻炼学生组织语言材料，运用语言材料的能力。重点是思维逻辑关系的建立——如何有效地回答问题和解决问题。
此阶段还要考虑到英语专业的学生在将来的学习、工作和生活环境下的写作需要，将技能写作与学术写作、办公环境写作及个人生活写作贯穿起来，以最大限度地满足学生在不同环境下的写作需要。侧重篇章的写作，以实用写作为主，采用篇章的形式使学生充分意识到写作的目的、对象和环境。
三、写作课程的能力训练
通过两年半五个学期的写作训练，学生的写作能力一定有不同程度的提高。长期的多种形式的写作训练，可以提高学生的语言运用的综合能力。以下是活动训练项目与综合能力培养的结合链条：
● 通过课上课下自由写作，提高促进自主学习的能力；
● 通过写作主题讨论，提高思考能力，促进互相学习、互相协作、取长补短的能力；
● 通过反复修改习作，培养严谨的学习、工作态度；
● 通过课上快速写作训练，培养快速思考和表达能力、令行禁止的能力；
● 通过与写作范文对比训练，提高写作质量；
另外，多样化的写作训练也锻炼了学生能够把其他语言技能与提高写作能力结合起来，培养以读促写、以听促写、以说促写、以译促写的能力。但下面两个能力的培养是非常重要的。
3.1 修改习作能力
好文章是改出来的，是交流出来的，需要技术的精巧（杨永林、丁韬，2011:76）。好文章是表达清晰的。你必须清楚地了解每个句子和每个段落要表达的意思（译自Rucgard, 1993: 12）。只有不断地修改，才能成就好文章。所以习作的修改非常重要。特别是一个段落的写作完成后，要进行认真仔细检查，通过检查提高写作能力。主要检查段落的结构布局、句子的结构及遣词造句以及语法拼写错误等。一般按照下面的顺序逐项检查：
段落检查：每个段落是否有主题句；每个段落是否只有一个主题；段落长度是否合适；
句子检查：是否有超长句子；句子结构是否完整；句子长度是否多样；
词汇检查：拼写是否错误，使用词典；是否避免使用俚语俗语；是否删除了多余的词汇。（译自Lisa Emerson & Jan McPherson,1997:23）
3.2 英语语言基础知识的运用能力
在完善写作教学程设置以后，英语语言基础知识的教学成为整个写作课教学的基础任务。这个教学任务可以在一年级的写作训练中完成。写作是一种书面交流，需要学生掌握英语书面用语的特点以及与口头用语的不同之处，需要学生建立组织语言的能力。而基础的语法能力是组织语言进行交际能力的重要组成部分。由于许多高职院校的学生由于没有扎实的语言基础，无法把自己的思想用英语明白地表达出来。因此，我们在进行写作教学时，要从组织句子开始训练。这就要求我们在教学中通过大量句型句子的操练，使学生对语法规律有全面、深入的了解，从而可以在写作中正确地组织语言结构。总之，没有坚实的语言基础，学生是不可能做到在书面上语言表达完整、逻辑关系清楚的。因此，我们必须重视学生语言基础知识的巩固和提高。这个阶段可以通过写长法的训练，在多写多练中发现错误，纠正错误。
四、结语
总之，英语写作课的目标就是培养学生运用语言的能力。首先从学校方面就要重视，在增加写作课时的同时，要加大教师的投入量。教师也要重视写作的训练活动，这样学生才会意识到写作能力的培养的重要性。通过学校和教师的共同努力，学生的积极性一定能够调动起来，英语写作课不再成为学生的负担。这样才能达到英语写作的教学目的——提高学生的英语的实际应用能力；教学任务才能真正完成——为学生就业做好准备。从教学法上来看，理论上讲教学法多种多样，但只要适合提高学生的英语的实际写作能力，都是好方法。教师可根据不同的情况采用不同的教学方法。如果我们尊重语言习得规律，重视教学过程，使教学科学化、合理化、规范化，就能帮助学生提高运用英语语言知识，提高英语写作能力。相信通过不断摸索，总结出日趋完善的教学方法，并能够做到以写带动其他语言技能的提高，同时其他语言技能也能促进写作的提高。努力使学生英语语言的四种基本功都有所提高，为未来的就职作好准备。
参考文献
1.Lisa Emerson&Jan McPherson.1997.Writing Guidelines[M].New Zealand:The Dunmore Press Ltd.
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