潘 娜
(杭州外國語學(xué)校,浙江杭州 310023)
英語教學(xué)中語言形式與語言意義的統(tǒng)一
潘 娜
(杭州外國語學(xué)校,浙江杭州 310023)
語言形式教學(xué)與語言意義教學(xué)是英語課堂教學(xué)實(shí)踐中的兩個(gè)相對獨(dú)立而又相輔相成的方面.在教學(xué)中既要在注重語言形式時(shí)關(guān)注語言意義,也要在掌握語言意義時(shí)注重語言形式.
英語教學(xué);語言形式;語言意義;統(tǒng)一
在英語教學(xué)中,對語言的形式(form)與意義(meaning)的側(cè)重,人們有著不同的理解和處理方式.從語言本身來看,語言是一套有著外在組織規(guī)律的聲音信息;因而英語教師在課堂教學(xué)中要傳遞語言知識、講解語言規(guī)則并操練語言結(jié)構(gòu).從語言功能來看,語言是一種傳遞交流信息的工具;所以,英語教師在教學(xué)中應(yīng)重視語言的意義和內(nèi)容,即如何用語言做事、表情達(dá)意、交流信息和溝通思想情感.因此,英語教師的教學(xué)既要注意語言的形式又要注意語言意義.教師的語言觀應(yīng)該是全面的、整和的,是語言形式和意義的辨證統(tǒng)一.
在課堂教學(xué)實(shí)踐中,教師可以根據(jù)學(xué)生的實(shí)際情況,設(shè)計(jì)許多形式與意義不同指向的教學(xué)活動.下面筆者以課文“The Record-holder”為例來說明教師如何設(shè)計(jì)多樣的融合語言形式和意義的情景與活動,進(jìn)而引導(dǎo)學(xué)生從單純掌握語言知識發(fā)展到運(yùn)用語言知識完成社會生活任務(wù).
1.1 單詞和短語的引出及其操練
“語言知識不是外語教學(xué)的目的,外語教學(xué)的目的是培養(yǎng)運(yùn)用目的語的能力.但是,語言知識是外語教學(xué)的立腳點(diǎn),是外語教學(xué)所要培植的語言運(yùn)用能力的大樹的根.”[1]
該課文的教學(xué)中要完成的具體任務(wù)是學(xué)習(xí)語言知識.課文有八個(gè)新單詞和短語,筆者僅例舉其中兩個(gè).教學(xué)中,教師先通過1)和2)兩句話引出短語evade doing something和put somebody to shame.此時(shí),教師僅考慮語言形式,沒有信息差(information gap),因而學(xué)生更關(guān)注的是語言形式.接著教師又設(shè)計(jì)了各種學(xué)生熟悉的情景,讓他們真正掌握語言意義.
1)He ______ answering the question by talking about something else. (evaded)
Teacher: How do you evade answering my questions?
Student 1: I sometimes evade answering your questions by burying my head in my hands.
Student 2: I evade answering questions by avoiding your eye contact.
Teacher: Do people like to talk about those sensitive topics?
Student 1: Most people evade talking about others’ privacy.
Teacher: Can you describe a responsible citizen?
Student 1: A responsible citizen never evades paying taxes.
Student 2: A responsible citizen never evades his or her responsibilities.
2)Joe Sanders wins “The Nicest Garden Competition” each year. His garden ______ the others’______. (put to shame)
Teacher: At the end of the singing competition during the Art Festival in our school, a professional singer sang us a song. How will you compare her performance to the competitors’?
Student: Her performance put the competitors’ to shame.
Teacher: The visiting teacher sitting at the back of our classroom just now gave me his name card. This outstanding teacher is the vice principal in Nanchang Foreign Language School.
Student: This teacher puts Ms. Pan to shame.
在英語詞匯教學(xué)中運(yùn)用情景教學(xué)把語言形式融合到情景中,可以讓學(xué)生在感知情景、體會情景并描繪情景后牢固掌握語言形式和意義,從而很自然地運(yùn)用語言.這樣就可以使靜態(tài)的語言形式教學(xué)變成動態(tài)的融合語言形式和意義的教學(xué),可以大大提高教學(xué)效率.
1.2 句型和優(yōu)美句子的模仿和操練
語言形式(form)是有限的,而語言意義(meaning)卻是無限的,人們可用有限的語言形式創(chuàng)造出無限的句子和語篇來表情達(dá)意.在課文中,有一些句型和優(yōu)美的句子值得學(xué)生學(xué)習(xí)模仿和使用.例如句型Children who play truant from school are unimaginative. A quiet day’s fishing, or eight hours in a cinema seeing the same film over and over again, is usually as far as they get. (…, or …is usually as far as … get.) 可以被學(xué)生利用來回答以下問題:How do you like the food in our school cafeteria? Are your grandparents retired? Do you think they enjoy their life? 他們的回答如下:
Food in our school cafeteria is really awful. Pork steak cooked in strange sources, chicken mixed with red pepper or fried green vegetables is usually as far as we get every day.
Life for retirement is no fun. Endless house chores or eight hours playing Mahjong with friends is usually as far as they get.
再如下面的句子中被賦予新的意義的是句型:“something didn’t … as somebody hoped it would, but …”.
1)The “Revealer” didn’t help the search party find any lost treasure as they hoped it would, but an empty tin trunk.
2)The speech didn’t amuse his daughter as he hoped it would, but made her unhappy.
剖宮產(chǎn)術(shù)后疼痛主要分為腹部的切口痛、子宮的宮縮痛以及炎性疼痛。切口痛來源于腹部傷口的創(chuàng)傷性刺激,經(jīng)脊髓后角,傳遞到中樞神經(jīng)系統(tǒng),呈持續(xù)存在狀態(tài)。子宮收縮時(shí),神經(jīng)末梢受壓,子宮下段及會陰部擴(kuò)張,產(chǎn)生宮縮痛,為短暫間斷發(fā)作的絞痛。同時(shí),子宮收縮可導(dǎo)致局部血管缺血,組織缺氧,釋放炎癥介質(zhì),導(dǎo)致炎性疼痛。剖宮產(chǎn)術(shù)后疼痛以宮縮痛更為明顯,疼痛一般在術(shù)后12h內(nèi)達(dá)到高峰,24h內(nèi)持續(xù)處于較高水平[2]。
3)The bull didn’t pay attention to the matador as he hoped it would, but turned its attention to the drunk.
2.1 理解文本意義,關(guān)注語言形式
“第二語言研究證實(shí)在交際過程中學(xué)習(xí)者對語言形式和功能的關(guān)注十分有利于語言的發(fā)展.一旦語言形式失去其內(nèi)容,語言就將成為毫無意義的聲音符號.”[2]但由于人們在吸取語言意義以后就將語言形式拋棄了,所以要特別注意引導(dǎo)學(xué)生在交際中關(guān)注語言細(xì)節(jié).
我們可以用一個(gè)簡單的現(xiàn)象來說明上述情況:當(dāng)我們在復(fù)述別人的故事時(shí)我們很少一成不變地使用陳述者原來的語言.這是因?yàn)椤拔覀兊墓ぷ饔洃浲ǔMㄟ^提取語言意義將故事保留下來,而不是提取語言”[3].
人類在交際中本能的追求意義,而忽視語言形式.例如在學(xué)生復(fù)述課文“The Record-holder”時(shí),一位學(xué)生的復(fù)述內(nèi)容如下:It was a beautiful day. I found sitting in the classroombored and suffered(boring and suffering), so Idecide(decided) to play truant. I hitchhiked to Dover and in the evening I went into a boat to sleep. The next morning I was surprised to find the boat had traveled to Calais. From there, I again hitchhiked to Parisby(in) a lorry.Instead took me(Instead of taking me) to the centre of Paris, the lorry driver left me just outside the city. I stopped another car which took me to Perpignan on the French-Spanish border. That was the end of my trip. There I was picked up by a policeman and sent back to school by the local authorities. I traveled 1, 600 miles during the whole trip, which put other children who play truant to shame. I really enjoyed my trip.
在這個(gè)學(xué)生的復(fù)述中,斜體部分從語法上講是錯(cuò)誤的(括號中給出的是正確的).這位學(xué)生雖然有一些語言形式上的錯(cuò)誤,但是其復(fù)述已經(jīng)完全包括了原故事的意義.這就應(yīng)證了上述說法.
這里需要指出教師不能要求學(xué)生張口必須準(zhǔn)確,因?yàn)橛袝r(shí)候錯(cuò)誤也是一種資源.流利是在不斷修正錯(cuò)誤的實(shí)踐過程中獲得的.只有通過有意義的交流才能學(xué)會一種語言.在交流實(shí)踐中,只要能夠達(dá)意,不引起誤解或鬧出笑話,出現(xiàn)一些語音、語法或用詞錯(cuò)誤,也是允許的.教師在教學(xué)中應(yīng)該重視通過有效的方法糾正一些語言形式錯(cuò)誤來提高語言的準(zhǔn)確度,從而使學(xué)生的語言運(yùn)用能力更上一層樓.
2.2 跳出文本意義,靈活運(yùn)用語言形式
在語言教學(xué)中,教師既要學(xué)生關(guān)注語言的意義,又希望學(xué)生學(xué)到語言的形式.如何在話題設(shè)計(jì)中將對意義的關(guān)注和語言形式的關(guān)注有效地組合在一起,是教師需要關(guān)注的問題.這就要求教師精心設(shè)計(jì)話題;盡量把話題轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)閷W(xué)生語言形式習(xí)得的機(jī)會.筆者認(rèn)為話題設(shè)計(jì)必須考慮兩個(gè)主要問題:1)是否可以讓學(xué)生充分運(yùn)用已學(xué)語言形式;2)是否能刺激學(xué)生表達(dá)真實(shí)性語言意義.例如:在學(xué)生基本理解了課文“The Record-holder”的語言形式和意義后,教師可以設(shè)計(jì)這樣深入的話題或任務(wù):Can you tell us a story which can also be entitled the “Record-holder”? While telling the story, you are required to use at least three words and expressions we’ve just learned. 同時(shí)教師給出以下出自本課文的八個(gè)單詞和短語,供學(xué)生任意選用三個(gè)以上:unimaginative, evade doing something, put to shame, in the meantime, dream of, set up a record, as far as, record-holder.教師設(shè)計(jì)這樣的話題是要學(xué)生充分考慮意義成分,同時(shí)又有意識地借要求學(xué)生運(yùn)用課文中的單詞和短語來引導(dǎo)學(xué)生注重語言形式.
外語教學(xué)是一個(gè)多方面和多層次因素的綜合、統(tǒng)籌與和諧的過程.《全日制義務(wù)教育普通高中英語課程標(biāo)準(zhǔn)(實(shí)驗(yàn)稿)》[4]倡導(dǎo)在英語教學(xué)中實(shí)施任務(wù)型教學(xué).而任務(wù)型教學(xué)是融會多種教學(xué)法發(fā)展而來的,它不排斥其它教學(xué)方法.
強(qiáng)調(diào)培養(yǎng)學(xué)生運(yùn)用語言的能力并不排斥對語言知識的學(xué)習(xí).語言能力是從以語法為主的語言知識轉(zhuǎn)化而來的,語言能力的培養(yǎng)與語言知識的學(xué)習(xí)是統(tǒng)一的,并非對立的.張正東教授認(rèn)為:“母語與思維是同步發(fā)展的,學(xué)會母語的過程可能是意義先于形式.但對學(xué)習(xí)外語的學(xué)生而言,思維發(fā)展卻先于語言,目的語在他們頭腦中空乏的是目的語形式,在無目的語形式的情況下,要運(yùn)用目的語是困難的.”[1]所以教師不能誤入重視意義、輕視形式的極端.
同樣教師在傳授英語語言形式時(shí)要設(shè)置情景和任務(wù)讓學(xué)生操練或模擬交際,以培養(yǎng)運(yùn)用英語的能力.不能純粹重點(diǎn)講解英語語言形式而忽視語言意義.
綜上所述,在課堂英語教學(xué)中我們不能從一個(gè)極端轉(zhuǎn)向另一個(gè)極端,用一種傾向掩蓋另一種傾向.我們的教學(xué)既要在注重語言形式時(shí)關(guān)注語言意義,也要在掌握語言意義時(shí)注重語言形式.
[1] 張正東. 論雙語教學(xué)[J]. 基礎(chǔ)教育外語教學(xué)研究, 2002, (7): 13-15.
[2] Ellis R. The Study of Second Language Acquisition [M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994: 3.
[3] Skehan P. A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning [M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998: 49.
[4] 教育部. 全日制義務(wù)教育普通高中英語課程標(biāo)準(zhǔn): 實(shí)驗(yàn)稿[M]. 北京: 人民教育出版社, 2003.
Integration of Language Forms and Language Meanings in English Teaching
PAN Na
(Hangzhou Foreign Language School, Hangzhou, China 310023)
Teaching of language forms and teaching of language meanings, which are relatively independent but complement each other, are two aspects in the practice of classroom English teaching. So in the practice of English teaching, teachers should pay attention to language meanings in the teaching of language forms and pay attention to language forms in the teaching of language meanings.
English Teaching; Language Form; Language Meaning; Integration
G632.4
A
1674-3563(2010)02-0057-04
10.3875/j.issn. 1674-3563.2010.02.012 本文的PDF文件可以從xuebao.wzu.edu.cn獲得
(編輯:周斌)
2010-02-12
潘娜(1969- ),女,浙江岱山人,高級講師,學(xué)士,研究方向:語言學(xué)及應(yīng)用語言學(xué)
溫州大學(xué)學(xué)報(bào)(自然科學(xué)版)2010年2期