王金娣
摘 要: 詞匯是語言的三大要素之一,是我們要表達(dá)的思想概念的載體。詞匯直接影響并制約學(xué)生英語聽、說、讀、寫能力的發(fā)展。高中英語課程詞匯量加大,詞匯成了學(xué)生學(xué)習(xí)英語的最大障礙。本文指在分析詞匯教學(xué)中的誤區(qū),提出充分利用教材中的閱讀材料,以語篇為載體將詞匯教學(xué)和閱讀有機(jī)結(jié)合,切實(shí)降低學(xué)生詞匯學(xué)習(xí)難度,提高詞匯教學(xué)的有效性。
關(guān)鍵詞: 語篇 詞匯 有效性
一、引言
詞匯是組成語言的最基本材料,是英語學(xué)習(xí)的基礎(chǔ)。英國著名語言學(xué)家D.A Wilkins曾說:“Without grammar very little can be conveyed,without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.”新課標(biāo)中明確要求普通高中畢業(yè)達(dá)到的八級(jí)詞匯目標(biāo)為:(1)運(yùn)用詞匯理解和表達(dá)不同的功能意圖和態(tài)度等;(2)運(yùn)用詞匯描述比較復(fù)雜的事物行為和特征,說明概念等;(3)學(xué)會(huì)使用3000個(gè)單詞和400—500個(gè)習(xí)慣用語和固定搭配,由此可見高中英語詞匯教學(xué)的重要性。
一般來說,詞匯量和學(xué)生的英語閱讀水平密切相關(guān)。要達(dá)到新課標(biāo)的要求本來就非易事,2011年對(duì)高考詞匯量要求比去年增加了100個(gè)單詞,使英語詞匯教學(xué)的難度更大了,這些都使教師意識(shí)到了詞匯教學(xué)的重要性。然而,筆者在教研活動(dòng)、平時(shí)的聽課及教學(xué)中發(fā)現(xiàn),教師雖然重視詞匯的教學(xué),卻走入了一個(gè)誤區(qū):在英語教學(xué)過程中,我注意到,很多課堂的組織模式是這樣的:老師把準(zhǔn)備好的單詞向?qū)W生傳授,隨后是對(duì)課文的簡(jiǎn)單的概述,接著就是對(duì)文章進(jìn)行逐句逐詞的闡釋,而學(xué)生在下面努力地做筆記。這樣的教學(xué)效果如何呢?有些學(xué)生說他們不知道這個(gè)語篇內(nèi)容,而把大量的精力放在單個(gè)詞和句上;同時(shí)有些學(xué)生花了大量的時(shí)間背老師所教授的單詞,但記憶效果不佳。出現(xiàn)這些問題的原因在于,老師沒有把教材所提供的語篇真正作為語言教學(xué)的載體,實(shí)現(xiàn)語篇和詞匯教學(xué)的相輔相成。
亞里士多德曾說:“花在樹則生,離枝則死;鳥在林則樂,離群則悲?!笔聦?shí)上,詞匯應(yīng)該在一定的語言環(huán)境中才能體現(xiàn)其實(shí)質(zhì)內(nèi)涵和活力。所以在教學(xué)中應(yīng)該以語篇為載體才能更好地實(shí)現(xiàn)詞匯教學(xué)目標(biāo)的實(shí)效。分析10年高考試題,我們可以發(fā)現(xiàn)試題沒有偏題、怪題,試題非常注重基礎(chǔ),注重詞匯在語境中的運(yùn)用。因此,充分利用教材的閱讀材料,將詞匯教學(xué)和閱讀有機(jī)結(jié)合,切實(shí)降低學(xué)生詞匯學(xué)習(xí)難度,提高詞匯學(xué)習(xí)的有效性是廣大英語教師應(yīng)該努力的教學(xué)方向。本文就以筆者在教學(xué)過程中的五個(gè)教學(xué)實(shí)踐為例,探討如何在語篇教學(xué)中進(jìn)行有效詞匯教學(xué)。
二、教學(xué)實(shí)踐
(一)以教材單元話題為詞匯學(xué)習(xí)的切入口
高中教材每個(gè)單元都圍繞某一個(gè)話題,依托兩個(gè)閱讀材料來展開教學(xué)的。新教材的話題范圍廣泛,涵蓋科技、航天、地理、人文、醫(yī)學(xué)、環(huán)保、自然新聞及文化遺產(chǎn)保護(hù)等;話題豐富,有友誼、旅游、音樂、體育、節(jié)日等,符合學(xué)生年齡特征和興趣。因此,教師可以利用話題,精心創(chuàng)設(shè)情境,視語篇為詞匯學(xué)習(xí)的切入口。下面以NSEFC中Book 5 Unit 5 First aid這一單元的reading:First aid for burns為例,共享教學(xué)上的探索。筆者在上這一課時(shí),先讓學(xué)生看一段有關(guān)急救的視頻,然后問:
【案例1】
What happened to the girl?
What did his father do?
學(xué)生馬上回答:The girl is bleeding/gets injured in her leg and her father is giving first aid before a doctor can be found.然后讓學(xué)生運(yùn)用頭腦風(fēng)暴,列舉出有關(guān)需要急救的相關(guān)信息。學(xué)生積極性很高,運(yùn)用以前所學(xué)的知識(shí)說出:fall ill,get injured,get burned,break ones arm or leg,get sunburned,hurt by electricity等一些詞匯。有很多的學(xué)生因?yàn)椴恢烙⒄Z詞匯而無法表達(dá),急得用中文來代替;還有的學(xué)生趕緊翻到課后的詞匯表尋找需要的單詞。教師此時(shí)呈現(xiàn)出分別帶有bleeding,a sprained ankle,choking,nosebleed,electric shock,get swollen和be poisoned to death等字樣的相關(guān)圖片。由于圖片的直觀性,學(xué)生馬上就猜出并記住這些本單元的重點(diǎn)詞匯fall ill,get injured/burned,bleed,sprained,ankle,choke,nosebleed,electric shock和poison的意思。教師順勢(shì)要求學(xué)生利用這些詞說出更多的句子來掌握他們的用法。學(xué)生很快就說出:
His nose was bleeding.
The engineer died of electric shock.
His wife suddenly fell ill last week.
Her arms were very swollen after the accident.
He got badly injured in the football match.
甚至更有同學(xué)已能把好幾個(gè)詞匯串成句:First aid is a kind of help given to someone who suddenly falls ill or gets injured.這種詞匯教學(xué)活動(dòng),因?yàn)橛姓鎸?shí)的語境,貼近生活,能很好地激發(fā)學(xué)生的學(xué)習(xí)欲望,學(xué)生能快速地記住并掌握詞匯。
(二)以核心詞匯為詞匯學(xué)習(xí)的出發(fā)點(diǎn)
閱讀文章承載了大量的詞匯與表達(dá)方式,如果能合理利用,對(duì)詞匯教學(xué)就會(huì)有很大的促進(jìn)作用。課文的核心詞匯其實(shí)也是學(xué)生理解的難點(diǎn),單獨(dú)地加以分析會(huì)使學(xué)生產(chǎn)生畏難感,認(rèn)為這個(gè)知識(shí)點(diǎn)很難學(xué),從而影響學(xué)習(xí)效果。以回答問題的方式可以減輕學(xué)生的思想壓力,因?yàn)楸M管學(xué)生可能對(duì)句子或詞匯不是很理解,但還是能夠順利地找出答案,這時(shí)教師再順勢(shì)進(jìn)行講解,學(xué)生自然就接受得快。而且學(xué)生在思考問題的時(shí)候是處在主動(dòng)思維的狀態(tài),由學(xué)生主動(dòng)思考得出的答案更易于記憶。在教學(xué)NSEFC 中Book 5 Unit 4 Making the news 這一單元的Using language:Getting the“scoop”,筆者就在第三段Careful reading后拋出問題:
【案例2】
How many people read his article before it was ready to be processed into the film negatives?Who were they?
學(xué)生很容易從課文中找到以下信息:
·a senior editor from his department,
·the copy-editor,
·the native speaker,
·the chief editor
·and the news desk editor
然后順勢(shì)呈現(xiàn)以下過程:
并將一些重點(diǎn)詞匯用醒目的顏色標(biāo)出來,這樣學(xué)生在理解課文內(nèi)容的基礎(chǔ)上掌握以下詞匯就顯得容易多了:senior editor,chief editor,edit,polish the style,approve,pass…on to…,last of all,be processed into.有了理解的基礎(chǔ),自信心也有了,學(xué)習(xí)效率隨之也提高了。
(三)在鞏固性練習(xí)中提高新詞的復(fù)現(xiàn)率
教材是我們進(jìn)行詞匯教學(xué)的“本”,所以我們一定要充分利用教材中的語篇,多角度創(chuàng)造詞匯賴以生存的語境,層層遞進(jìn),讓目標(biāo)詞匯不斷重現(xiàn),不斷深化,使學(xué)生自然習(xí)得。閱讀后可以設(shè)計(jì)一些任務(wù),增加該單元新詞的復(fù)現(xiàn)率,如設(shè)計(jì)一篇概括課文的小短文,把關(guān)鍵詞或目標(biāo)詞挖成空,讓學(xué)生填空,也可以設(shè)置包括目標(biāo)詞在內(nèi)的選項(xiàng)用完形填空形式讓其選擇,從而熟悉和運(yùn)用所學(xué)詞匯。筆者在處理NSEFC中Book 5 Unit4“Making the news”這一單元的reading時(shí),就要求學(xué)生根據(jù)課文內(nèi)容完成以下幾個(gè)句子:
【案例3】
1.She is to go to college.
2.Jerry was playing football and Tom was playing volleyball.
3.She has on her studies for a long time since her mother left.
4.The boy broke the window,so he had to pay for it.
5.Everything whether we have enough money.
6.The manager was of bribing the president.
7.Please take an umbrella in it rains.
通過此練習(xí)來加強(qiáng)學(xué)生對(duì)eager,meanwhile,concentrate,deliberately,depend on,accuse,case這幾個(gè)字詞的理解。在學(xué)完本課之后,筆者又要求學(xué)生按照課文內(nèi)容完成填空,讓學(xué)生在語境中進(jìn)一步領(lǐng)悟新詞的意義與用法,加深對(duì)文章的理解和詞匯的復(fù)習(xí)。
【案例4】
Zhou Yangs first job at China Daily is as a journalist. Before he starts to work,Hu Xin,his new boss,has a discussion with him.The talk is to strongly influence his life.
Zhou Yang knows that he cant go out on story until he is more experienced.Only then can he cover a story and submit the article by himself.
Hu Xin tells Zhou Yang that hell have a professional photographer,and it may be possible for him to concentrate on photography later on and hell find his colleagues very eager to assist him.Zhou Yang should ask many questions to acquire all the information he needs to know. He must have a good nose for a story to assess when people are not telling the whole truth;he must use research to inform himself of the missing part of the story;he mustnt miss the deadline.Meanwhile he has to prepare the next question depending on what the person says.
Zhou Yang asks Hu Xin if he has ever had a case where someone accused his journalists of getting the wrong end of a trick.Hu answers a footballer was accused of taking money for deliberately not scoring goals,so as to let the other team win.(文中有下劃線的詞為挖空點(diǎn))
(四)在開放式寫作中拓展詞匯的運(yùn)用能力
詞匯學(xué)習(xí)的最終目的是運(yùn)用,而不是儲(chǔ)存。學(xué)生在掌握一定的詞匯后,教師就要鼓勵(lì)其積極運(yùn)用。寫作是一種既能反饋出學(xué)生對(duì)課文體裁、詞匯及重要句型的掌握程度,又能促進(jìn)學(xué)生對(duì)課文所學(xué)語言材料的靈活運(yùn)用的一種創(chuàng)造性的活動(dòng)。因此,教師在每個(gè)單元都要求學(xué)生對(duì)課文進(jìn)行縮寫,或根據(jù)材料進(jìn)行仿寫,也可要求學(xué)生運(yùn)用目標(biāo)詞匯編寫故事,以切實(shí)提高詞匯的運(yùn)用能力。筆者在學(xué)完Making the news這一單元后,列出了本單元所要掌握的核心詞匯:be eager to do sth,approve of,in case of,accuse…of…,set out to do,depend on,meanwhile,assist sb. to do sth/assist sb.in/with sth,concentrate on,so as to,inform sb.of sth,last of all,be delighted to do sth/with sth.,deliberately和本單元的語法倒裝。要求學(xué)生盡可能多地利用這些詞匯和倒裝語法自編故事。題材內(nèi)容不限。由于筆者事先就注重在語篇教學(xué)中進(jìn)行詞匯滲透,學(xué)生掌握情況較好,因此寫出來的文章條理清晰,詞匯和語法運(yùn)用恰當(dāng),句子正確率高。下文為學(xué)生作品之一:
【案例5】
Learning to swim
It was very hot yesterday.Hardly could I stand the terrible weather,so my father advised me to go swimming.I had been eager to for a long time,so I approved of his suggestion.
Hardly had I got to the swimming pool when I felt very frightened.But Father informed me of jumping into the water again and again.However,I deliberately pretended not to hear what he said so as to hide my nervousness.Father laughed at me after reading my thoughts.
So angry was I that I jumped into the swimming pool directly and set out to swim in the water.How difficult it is!I depended on my father a lot and caught his arms tightly in case of sinking into the water.But father kept encouraging me.Meanwhile he showed me how to swim and assisted me in it a lot.Seeing this,I was filled with strength and concentrated on practicing the same action over and over again.
Last of all,I was delighted to find that I was able to swim.Only then did I understand the old saying better:Where there is a will,there is a way.
三、課后反思
(一)寓詞匯教學(xué)于篇章教學(xué)的優(yōu)點(diǎn)
一個(gè)詞如何恰如其分地起到交際的作用,必須立足于情景,而提供豐富語境的最好材料就是語篇,語篇在廣義上包括“話語”和“篇章”,它能使詞義具體化,表現(xiàn)出詞義搭配的選擇性和交際性。Scott T(2003)曾說詞語的呈現(xiàn)需要在典型的語篇中進(jìn)行,這樣才能有利于學(xué)習(xí)者理解詞語的含義、搭配和句法分布位置等;語言在本性上是語篇敏感的(context-sensitive):脫離了語篇,單個(gè)詞語的意義就無法確定;脫離了句子的詞語是這樣,脫離了語篇的句子也是這樣。呂叔湘先生也曾說:“詞語要嵌在上下文里頭才有生命,才容易記住,才知道用法?!币蚨谜Z篇進(jìn)行詞匯教學(xué)是培養(yǎng)學(xué)生在交際中正確運(yùn)用詞匯能力的最佳途徑。
(二)在語篇教學(xué)中培養(yǎng)寫作能力的優(yōu)勢(shì)
書面表達(dá)是考查學(xué)生綜合運(yùn)用能力的方法之一,但很多學(xué)生寫出的文章只有單詞,沒有句子,更別提銜接、連貫等語篇特征,讓讀者不明白。這是因?yàn)閷W(xué)生篇章意識(shí)淡薄,篇章知識(shí)匱乏。好的文章應(yīng)該是詞匯、語法、結(jié)構(gòu)和內(nèi)容的完美結(jié)合,教材語篇就是很好的范例。語篇教學(xué)的優(yōu)勢(shì)就在于教學(xué)中教師對(duì)詞匯、語法和句型的用法已多次反復(fù)出現(xiàn)和運(yùn)用,已為學(xué)生打好語言基本功,對(duì)篇章結(jié)構(gòu)的分析又為學(xué)生的篇章組織能力奠定了基礎(chǔ),開放式寫作提高了學(xué)生運(yùn)用詞匯的能力,達(dá)到了最終的教學(xué)目的,所以以語篇教學(xué)為載體的教學(xué)和學(xué)習(xí)方式,可增強(qiáng)學(xué)生對(duì)銜接與連貫技巧的敏感性,能有效地提高學(xué)生的寫作能力。
四、結(jié)語
語篇是滋潤詞義的“沃土”,詞匯是組成語篇的重要元素。一方面,語篇必須通過一個(gè)個(gè)詞匯的組合才能表達(dá)比較完整、系統(tǒng)的思想內(nèi)容,另一方面,詞匯也因?yàn)檎Z篇才能更好地體現(xiàn)出其豐富的詞匯意義。詞匯的學(xué)習(xí)不是簡(jiǎn)單的機(jī)械背誦,詞匯的教學(xué)應(yīng)更注重對(duì)詞匯所承載的深層涵義的理解,注重表達(dá)的恰當(dāng)性,注重語篇的支持和文化的傳授。在“言”“文”穿行過程中,不斷提升語言的綜合運(yùn)用能力。
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