论文总字数：31557字

摘 要

随着教育改革的发展，传统的初中英语教学模式已经落后于潮流。现今的初中英语教学把计算机辅助教学放在一个重要位置。同时，阅读教学仍是教学中非常关键的，它能够培养并且提高学生对文章的理解力。通过计算机辅助教学，教师能将教育信息的图像、声音、图表、文字等同时形象地、生动地、直观地呈现在教学中，使得阅读教学对学生来说更加有趣并且容易接受。尽管计算机辅助教学逐步成为一个很好的选择，但是在其具体运用时还是会出现一些问题。本文以“The Story of Xi Wang”(8AU5 牛津英语)为例，具体分析了英语阅读教学中任务型教学的步骤，探究了计算机辅助教学在其中的运用，探讨了CAI给阅读教学带来的优点。据此对教师以及学生如何有效运用多媒体，以便使它更好地为中学英语教学服务给出了一定的启示和建议。

关键词：阅读教学；计算机辅助教学；任务型教学；启示

Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………1
2. Literature Review …………………………………………………………2
3. The Application of CAI in Reading Teaching in the Middle School from the Perspective of TBLT …………………………………………………3

3.1 The Application of CAI in Pre-task Activities …………………………...4

3.2 The Application of CAI in While-task Activities ………………………....5

3.3 The Application of CAI in Post-task Activities …………………………...7

1. Suggestion for Teaching Process ……………………………………...8

4.1 Suggestion for Teachers ………………………………………………….9

4.2 Suggestion for Students ……………………………………………........11 5. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………..12

Works Cited ……………………………………………………………...13

1. Introduction

As we all know, the use of computer technology in English teaching has been a common phenomenon in modern times. English teachers in middle schools always pay most attention to reading which contains: purpose, principles and content. Now, this kind of English lesson is required to create more chances for students to practice English by providing more texts, pictures, images, videos and audio materials. However, we know that it is hard to reach these requirements with traditional teaching methods. Teaching English with the help of computer is a good way to solve this problem.

In an era when computer sciences have been widely used, there are so many terms created, not all of which can accurately describe features of this trend. CAI, which is a narrower term, refers to drill-and-practice, tutorial, or simulation activities offered either by themselves or as supplements to traditional, teacher-directed instruction is the best definition (Cotton amp; Wikelund, 1992). This system includes Hardware, Software and Courseware, and it goes through 5 steps, which is led by America. And, the terms, such as Computer Aided Language Instruction, Computer Assisted Language Instruction, Computer Based Instruction and Computer Assisted Language Learning, are synonymous with CAI.

Therefore, which teaching method fits CAI most becomes a new task challenging English teachers. And, how to use CAI as an assistant in reading teaching is the main task to English teachers. Many teachers can’t have a good understanding of the reason of using computer assisted language learning. They doubt whether it is useful or effective by using computer which takes several more hours in preparing for each lesson. However, instead of wasting time, the use of CAI will not only captivate the teaching community, but also increase the productivity in teaching process with the help of TBLT. TBLT is quite different from the traditional teaching method such as the PPP approach which includes presentation, practice and production. It is defined as: an analytic approach to syllabus design and methodology in which chains of information-gathering, problem-solving and evaluative tasks are used to organize language teaching and learning; these interdependent pedagogical tasks, which combing insights from sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic research, are designed to methodologically simulate the communicative events which learners encounter in specific second language-using environment. (Markee 1997: 47) That’s to say, TBLT can help CAI play the greatest role.

The thesis first states the status-quo of reading teaching in middle school in China. Then it takes “The Story of Xi Wang”（8AU5 Oxford English）as an example to analyze the feature of CAI in reading teaching from the perspective of Task-based Teaching Approach which includes pre-task, while-task and post-task activities. In the end, in this thesis, what experiences can be drawn from the successful arrangement of reading class by using CAI is included. By concluding problems existing in the use of CAI in class teaching, we can take some measures to solve the problems and promote the development of CAI in reading teaching from the perspectives of teachers and students.

2. Literature Review

The development of CAI in teaching has been studied by many scholars both at home and abroad. Some scholars focused on the learning environment. Some scholars connected the class teaching with distance education through the use of CAI. Some scholars analyzed the important factors of CAI which made it a useful assistant. Tsai, S. W.amp;Pohl, N. F had ever done an experiment in their book ‘Computer Assisted Instructional Augmented with Planned Teacher/Student Contact’ which presents the situation of CAI used in class teaching and why CAI is so widely applied in English teaching(Tsai, S. W.amp;Pohl, N. F,1980). And J.P.Hasebrook (1995), published in Psyclit Journal Articals that“ The effective use of multimedia is influenced by many internal and external factors，like motivation, knowledge, mode and contents of media, learning strategies, features of the task, etc.” (Hasebrook 1995: 5) which discovered some problems existed of the way of how to use CAI in class that we must pay attention to. Hermann(1980) once studied 750 German adolescent learners of English. She found that those who have been studying for five years or more had a more positive attitude to the second language culture than those who were just new learners. This experiment shows the importance of motivation raised by the success they are gaining from learning. From my perspective, this thesis, based on the theory of task-based teaching approach, analyzes the use of CAI in a specific reading teaching to further comprehend the importance and function of it, and meanwhile to gain deep understanding of this medium.

3. The Application of CAI in Reading Teaching in the Middle School from the Perspective of TBLT

It goes without saying that the best way to learn English is to go to an English-speaking country and live there. It is obvious that this would improve their English level considerably. Unfortunately, most English learners in China do not have the opportunity. To most English learners, especially the middle school students, the only way to learn English well is listening carefully in English classroom teaching. However, simulation is one type of CAI that allows students to be immersed and actively involved in an environment that is accessible. Therefore, CAI becomes a tool in classroom teaching. It can create an learning environment without actually leaving in those countries. CAI can provide a perfect language learning environment: presenting rich visual and audio materials, providing foreign stories, setting up communication and cooperation among students, etc, which can keep your ears and eyes open. Computer Assisted Language Learning activities may be based on network, such as the Internet, presenting several advantages: rapid global access at any time from any computer with Internat access; integration of graphics, audio, and text; and case and low cost of publication (Ken amp; Warschauer 2000, 19).

However, although CAI can largely improve the quality of English class teaching, it is still necessary for teachers to make provisions for their influence on learners’ perception of difficulty by providing texts and tasks that range across these levels in a computer assisted language learning environment. Therefore, task-based teaching approach is needed, which can be useful by providing tasks gradually according to the level of difficulty to learners and ensures that learners with lower proficiency can ease themselves into different tasks with necessary information.

TBLT mainly consists of 3 parts in Reading teaching: pre-task, while-task and post-task. The following analyses are about functions of CAI in these steps in the classroom teaching of ‘The Story of XiWang’ (8A U5 Oxford English).

3.1 The Application of CAI in Pre-task Activities

The pre-task reading means the tasks that the students should carry out before reading the text in detail. Jane Willis divides this stage into three activities: first, to introduce the meaning and importance of the tasks to students, and to stimulate students to participate in the task; second, to offer authentic language data and materials, such as text, so that students can pay attention to certain language form; finally, to guide students to notice some forms by analyzing the data and materials to arouse students’ attention. (Jane Willis 1996: 15) That’s to say, in this phase, teachers are required to provide useful and authentic subjects which can stimulate student’s learning interests. Pre-task stage in reading aims to let the learner understand what they hope to learn, what they hope to do and why they hope to learn the materials. The purpose of the pre-task is to facilitate while-task activities.

Using ‘The Story of XiWang’ as an example, the pre-task phase can be designed as follows:

To begin with, some quizzes about animals will be put forward. Teachers may use several riddles about different kinds of animals to gradually lead into the topic of giant panda, for example:

1. It is the largest animal on land and its nose is very long.-elephant
2. It is small and lovely, but has a long tail. It likes nuts.-squirrel
3. We are beautiful black and white animals. We look like bears. We live only in China. Our favorite food is bamboo shoots and leaves. Our greatest hope is to take a color photo. Who are we? -giant panda

Every question will be answered with a picture of this kind of animal shown in the screen. And then ask: Could you please say something about giant panda? If Students have some knowledge about it, they will be invited to talk about it. Or teachers will briefly introduce it to students and play flash about the life of giant panda. After that, some pictures taken from the flash will be presented, which are connected to some new words in this text. Students will need to read the new words represented below the pictures and then a vocabulary exercise will help them to remember these words.

As to the approach of TBLT, this step is designed to arouse the students’ curiosity of the lesson and create a lively atmosphere. In this procedure, if English teachers just teach in the traditional way, it could be very boring. However, with the help of CAI, teachers can show some related pictures or videos about giant panda on the screen to easily stimulate students’ interests, the students will participate in these tasks more actively, aggressively and successfully. Every student will know something about giant panda more or less. But, a small range of students will be shy of talking in class. The complement of the quizzes will make a certain situation for the teacher to create a great atmosphere to study with the students, and it can also encourage students to express themselves well. The following video is beneficial to broaden students’ horizon and introduce the new words and phrases in a funny and interesting way which can arouse the students’ attentions quickly. Besides, the students in middle schools are just some teenagers. They are energetic and active, eager to learn new knowledge. But they are easy to be distracted in the reading class because they are too young to keep long attention. Therefore, these vivid pictures and videos can be used to improve the class efficiency and quality. In this case, the use of CAI shows its importance.

3.2 The Application of CAI in While-task Activities

Different from the pre-task, the phase will emphasize details. Jane Willis divides this stage into three parts: first, carrying out tasks; second, planning post tasks; third, reporting. The task itself offers students chances to use and improve the fluency, accuracy and completion of applying language, and lays a solid foundation for the post-task. In the designing period, students cooperate with each other and study from each other, according to the situation of carrying out tasks and preparing for reporting, while the teacher acts as an assistant to remind students to pay attention to certain forms and relations between forms and meanings. The while-task period focuses on the accuracy of language’s form and application. Moreover, it verifies whether the pre-task is effective or not. (Jane Willis 1996: 29) In other words, during while-reading, students need to gain both main idea and the detailed information of the text. Teachers are required to provide interactive questions in order to spur students to learn the text by themselves.

Using ‘The Story of XiWang’ as an example, the while-task phase can be designed as follows:

First, skimming-fast reading. There will be 2 tasks.

Task 1: reading the passage quickly and answering two questions

Students will be asked to listen to the recording. Then 2 simple questions will be given to check if students have grasped the main idea of the passage:

1. What is the name of this panda? What does it mean?
2. What will happen to giant pandas if we do nothing?

Task 2: analyzing the structure of the passage

Students need to read the passage and finish a task ‘matching the part with the main idea’ in order to grasp the structure of the text.

Second, scanning.

Firstly, students need to read Paragraph 1-3 by themselves and try to complete some sentences with blanks. After that students also need to finish a growth chart of Xi Wang:

Secondly, teachers can instruct students to listen to Para 4-6 and write down the problems faced by giant pandas in a table.

Thirdly, teachers would like students to read Part 7 together and find out the actions we can take to protect giant pandas.

As to the approach of TBLT，this step is one of the most important parts of this lesson. It’s used to train the students’ ability to scan the passage for details. Task-based language teaching is applied to create various classroom activities, which can help the students have a better understanding of the reading material. In this procedure, if English teachers just teach in the traditional way, information would present in plain text form which does not facilitate the retention of information well. However, when information in text form is transferred to another visual form, it can be more effectively processed and retained. For instance, the table is a good form for students to summarize and remember detailed information which is more clear and direct. The sequencing exercise is also a good try. It shows both the sentences and related pictures at the same time, which can be remembered quickly. What’s more, in tradition, teachers expressed their opinions just in words or body languages after the students answering questions. It was not good enough to arouse the students’ attention in a long time. However, CAI can do it easily. For example, when students answer the question correctly, teachers can show a “great” gesture or a bunch of flower on the screen to express their agreements. The more proud the learners can feel from learning the language, the more motivated they are likely to be. So, this action can strengthen students’ confidence and encourage their positive attitudes towards English learning immediately. Maybe, in this reading class, teachers can also show different facial expressions of giant panda to indicate whether students’ answer is right or not. So, students will pay more attention to their exercise, especially when they get wrong answers. It is a good way to create an easy and happy learning atmosphere around our topic ‘giant panda’ by using these different and funny expressions to show the teachers’ different attitudes.

3.3 The Application of CAI in Post-task Activities

The post-task stage in reading aims to improve students’ integrated skills and revise the language points. The purpose of post-task is mainly focused on improving students’ speaking and communicating ability. This stage is an out-put stage. Jane Willis suggests that in this period the teacher should design some activities particularly to stress some special forms of language system, or organize some specialized practices. What should be noticed is that stressing language forms should be placed after finishing tasks, and should be aimed at the questions that are common among students, but not follow the conventional teaching syllabus mechanically. (Jane Willis 1996: 48) Namely, in this session, teachers are required to provide inventive activities which can fulfill several functions. Using ‘The Story of XiWang’ as an example, the post-task phase can be designed as follows:

There will be two tasks:

Task 1: fulfilling the paragraph with some blanks and retelling the story.

Task 2: group work

Students will be assigned a task ‘If you are a panda in danger or a panda saved by the old man, what do you want to say and show to us or to the old man? You can use the following words to say something, of course you can use your own.’

Students need to work in groups with the information they found in the Internet before the class. Some students need to draw pictures of the living condition of the giant panda, and others need to write down some sentences about it. The representatives of the group need to present and introduce their presentation through PowerPoint. We will see whose presentation is the most significative and creative one.

In this stage, learners need to reinforce what they have learned and improve their over-all abilities. Post-task activities should enable students to produce language based on what they learned. Therefore, using CAI is an ideal way to teach language through which students’ capability of using English can be improved by fulfilling tasks. An word guessing and retelling task can not only help students review the language points they have learned but also improve their oral language skills. In addition, post-task stage should provide the students with opportunities to connect what they have to read to what they have experienced in real-life. So, the group work used in post-task stage is for this purpose. Students need to surf the Internet to find some related information before the class which both broaden their horizon and develop their ability of self-study. This task also drives students to recall the book knowledge, and cooperate with their partners. With the help of multi-media, students are placed in a condition which becomes a real community. They are more likely to express themselves fluently. At the same time, the peers can understand each other better and become more aware of their merits and shortcomings by teamwork.

4. Suggestion for Teaching Process

The reformed basic rationale of the National English Curriculum includes: first, emphasising on quality-oriented education; second, focusing on holistic and flexible objectives; third, regarding students as the center and respect individual differences; fourth, promoting activity-based methods, experiential, participatory and cooperative learning; fifth, paying attention to the important role of formative assessment in promoting students’ development; sixth, expanding the range of learning resources and opportunities available. All this transformations requires the change of teaching methods and approach.

A scripted presentation is an ordinary scene in English class with traditional teaching mode. The language communicative ability is in a ‘dormant’ state. In this mode, teachers are the only learning resource in the teaching approach. However, in fact, the main task of English learning is self-learning rather than taught by others. Different from other basic subjects, English is a practical course. Exercise is the only way for students to develop and improve language skills. Zhang Yao, chief of department of higher education pointed out: it’s necessary to turn the current passive teaching model which puts ‘book class large size class teaching’ as the center to the computer teaching mode which puts a comprehensive application and students as the center. And, the reform of teaching mode will be located in ‘the combination of computer-assisted self-learning and interpersonal face-to-face teaching’. This reform should develop English teaching towards the direction of a more personalized and active learning without restricting by time and place. The new network teaching supporting platform with computer multi-media and network technology as the core is gradually introduced into the field of English teaching. This platform provides the most extensive learning resources, most convenient learning tools and most flexible learning strategies. In this teaching mode, teachers use CAI to assist teaching. Teachers become a part of the teaching system and media is used as the auxiliary. And Constructivism holds the opinion that: students are the main part of the teaching process and all activities should organize around them. Teachers are only the organizer and designer of the class. Under this circumstance, teachers and students will play different roles, take different duties and have different problems which need to take notice of. In general, both teachers and students should experience a role transfer from traditional teaching mode to the new teaching mode.

4.1 Suggestion for Teachers

Nowadays, students are the center of the class, while teachers become the organizers of the class. In the past, teachers used to focus on teaching some language points or grammar. Education in this period is examination-oriented. Teachers paid most of their attention to develop students’ reading and writing abilities. They just distributed a large amount of knowledge to students without caring about students’ receptivity. What’s worse, teachers are accustomed to using only a book and a piece of chalk as teaching aids. This made the class more boring and frustrated students’ interest. Now, teachers have to change their minds. They need to provide more authentic instructional contexts and activities in class than traditional knowledge-based curricula.

As an organizer, when using CAI in class design, teachers need to pay attention to two main aspects.

First, it is hard to make a perfect PPT. Teachers have to think about how to organize the content and redundancy of inputted materials in a proper way, how to grasp the density of information they show to students through computer, and how to arrange each slide, etc. At the same time, teachers must take students’ comprehension for the background knowledge into consideration.

剩余内容已隐藏，请支付后下载全文，论文总字数：31557字