BriefAnalysisofChineseStudentsErrorsinEnglishReading.docx
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BriefAnalysisofChineseStudentsErrorsinEnglishReading.docx
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BriefAnalysisofChineseStudentsErrorsinEnglishReading
BriefAnalysisofChineseStudents’ErrorsinEnglishReading
Abstract:
Onthebasisofthetheoriesofpsycholinguisticperspectiveinlanguageteachingandcommunicativeapproachinlanguagelearning,thispaperanalysesbrieflysometangibleerrorsfortheChinesestudentsintheirreadinginlinewiththeauthor’sownteachingexperiences.Thepaperisanattemptatovercomingtheobstaclesexistingbetweenthetextwritersandthetextreadersandenablingthelattertobecomeeffectivereaders.
Keywords:
psycholinguistic,communicative,errors,readingcomprehension
1.Instruction
Englishreadinghasalwaysbeenconsideredoneofthemostimportantpartsofforeignlanguagelearning.Withoutreading,nothingcanbedoneinthedevelopmentofthecompetenceinlistening,speaking,writingandtranslating.Readingcourses,orrather,intensivereadingones,fillupalargecomponentofthecurricula.Obviously,studentsandteachershouldpaygreatattentiontotheimportanceofreadingcourses.Andwhatisreading?
HowcanChinesestudentsachieveproficientreading?
2.Theoryofpsycholinguisticperspectiveandcommunicativeapproach
Asweknow,thepsycholinguisticmodelofEFTisameaning-basedmodelproposedbyGoodman(1967)andSmith(1971).Goodmanthinksthatinthereadingprocessthe“readerreconstructs,asbestashecan,amessagewhichhasbeenencodedbyawriterasagraphicdisplay”(Goodman1973).Smithsays“···skillinreadingactuallydependsonusingtheeyesaslittleaspossible,···aswebecomefluentreaderswelearntorelymoreonwhatwealreadyknow,onwhatisbehindtheeyeballs,andlessontheprintonthepageinfrontofus”(1978).Thepsycholinguistsassumethatifthereaderhastheabilitytoselecttheproductivelanguagecues,hecandecode,throughhispsycholinguisticprocessing,themessageinthetext,andsharemuchofinformationwhichthewriterintendstoconvey.
ThecommunicativeapproachofEFL,WhichprevailsafterWorldWarⅡ,holdsthat“Theprimarygoalofmostforeignlanguagelearningistodeveloptheabilitytouserealandappropriatelanguagetocommunicateandinteractwithothers,andthegoalofforeignlanguageteachingistoextendtherangeofcommunicativesituationinwhichthelearnerscanperformwithfocusonmeaningwithoutbeinghinderedbytheattentionhemustpaytolinguisticform.”(Littlewood,1981).Incommunicativeteachingmodel,theclassisstudents-centred,andcommunicativeactivitiesareperformedbetweenstudentsandtheteachers,studentsandstudents.Butefficientcommunicationstilldependsonsuccessfuldecodingofthe“meaning”ofthediscourses,thatis,alistenermustinstantlymakeoutwhataspeakerwantstogetacross.Andcommunicativeefficiencymeansthatstudentsshouldbeabletodoefficientlyinallofthefourskills.Soreadingcompetence,whichcanbeconsideredasacommunicationbetweenreadersandwriters,shouldalsobebroughtintofullconsideration.
ThereshouldbesomethingincommonwithboththepsycholinguisticperspectiveofEFTandcommunicativeapproachofEFL:
reading(andlistening)shouldberegardedasanactivepsycholinguisticprocess;atext(ordiscourse)isassumedtohaveitspotentialmeaning;andit’srealmeaningdependsonthereader’s(orlistener’s)interactionwiththetext(ordiscourse).Therelationshipbetweenawriterandareadermayberepresentedinthissimpleflowchart:
Writerorspeaker→Textordiscourse(withmessageormeaning)→Readerorlistener
Thisproceedingclearlyshowsthatthepurposeofreadingistotrytogetoutofatextasmuchaspossiblethemessagethatthewriterhastriedtoputintoit.However,wemayfinditvulnerable:
theresultofthereaders’interactionwillvaryfromonetoanother,andareaderdoesnotnecessarilyachievewhatthewriterexpects.Thereismuchthatremainstobeexploredwithinthespanbetweenthewriterandthereader:
whatconstraintspreventthereaderfromsharingthemessage(meaning)withthewriter?
Ateacher’srole,Ithink,istobridgethegapandhelpthestudentsbecomeefficientreaders.
3.SomeTangibleErrorsinReadingComprehension
TheChineselanguageistotallydifferentfromtheEnglishlanguage.TheformerbelongstotheSino-TibetanlanguagefamilyandthelattertotheIndo-Europeanlanguagefamily.Therefore,WhenChineselearnersattempttounderstandatextinEnglish,theyfacelinguisticproblemsinvariousrespects:
spelling,gender,verbforms,tensesandwordorder.Inadditiontothese,I’dliketodiscusssomeotherobstaclesbetweenwritersandreaders.
Lexicalandsyntacticalerrors.
Wordssuchas“imaginative”and“imaginary”and“respectable”areoftenmisunderstoodandmisusedbyChineselearnersasintheirmothertonguewordshavevirtuallynoinflexions.Inmyclassroom,however,Ihavefoundmystudentsmoreliabletostumbleoverarticlesandprepositions.IbelievethereasonisthattheseparticlesareneverusedintheChineselanguageandhencedifficulttohandle.Forexample,theymayfinditdifficulttounderstandthesetwosentences:
Iamneveratalossforaword,andheisneveratalossfortheword.
Awomanwithoutamanislikeafishwithoutabicycle.
Thefirstspeakeraimsat“his”proficiencyofwordingand“my”casualchoiceofwords,andthesecondspeakerwantstotellthatamanisnomorenecessarytoawomanthanabicycletoafish.TheChinesestudentmightfeelatalossforthemeaningbecauseheorsheoftenoverlookstheconfusing“smallwords”suchasarticlesandprepositions.Studentsmaybeaskedtodistinguishvariedshadesofmeaningswhenparticlesareusedbeforetheteacheroffershishelp.
Chineseisananalyticlanguageandtherelationshipbetweenthedifferentpartsofasentenceisbasedonreasoning.English,however,isasyntheticlanguageandtherelationshipbetweenthedifferentpartsisusuallydecidedbyanalysisofthoseconnectingwordsandthesentencestructure.Naturally,inmostcasestheambiguitycanbeclearedupwhenwelookatthecontext,butsometimeseventhecontextdoesn’thelp.Wehavetomakeclearabout“Whichgovernswhat”beforewehaveabetterunderstanding,especiallythoselengthyoneswithcomplicatedstructures.Lookatthissentence:
Thestart-upprogramforthereactormustnotbecommencedbeforecompletionandformalacceptanceoffireprecautionsandassociatedinstallationsbythecompetentauthoritiesinquestionandbytheinsuresortheirrepresentative.
FortheChinesestudentswhoarenotusedtotheconnectingwords“of”“by”“for”etc.thissentenceisreallyachallengeforthem.Acarefulanalysisbasedoncommonsenseandgrammaticalknowledgecandissolvethemystery.Thekeytotheproblemliesinthetwoseriesofrelatedphrases:
Completionofassociatedinstallationsbythecompetentauthoritiesinquestion
Formalacceptanceoffireprecautionsbytheinsurersortheirrepresentative
Anotherexample:
Thepresidentsaidatapressconferencedominatedbyquestionsonyesterday’selectionresultsthathecouldnotexplainwhytheRepublicanshadsufferedsuchawidespreaddefeat,whichintheendwoulddeprivetheRepublicanPartyoflong-heldsuperiorityintheHouse.
It’snoteasyforaChinesestudenttosmoothoutthecomplicatedstructureofthislongsentenceatfirstsight.Inordertodecodethesegraphicsigns,agrammaticalanalysisisnecessary,butthiscanbedonebythestudentsbeforeora-
fterclass.Onlywhenthestudentsfailtopresentanacceptableexplanationshouldtheteacherdothejobforthem(“That-clause”istheobjectofthe
verb“said”and“which-clause”isusedasanattributemodifying“defeat”).
Whenthereaderreconstructsmeaningfromthetext,hehasunavoidablytousethegraphicsymbols,syntacticstructuresandsemanticsystemsofthelanguage.Theteacher’staskistopointoutpossibledifficultiesforthestudentsandguidethemtoattacktheproblems.
Meaning“betweenthelines”
Andmoreover,Chinesereadersoftengetlostwhilereadingparagraphswithimpliedmeaningsormeanings“betweenthelines”.Supposethestudentsareaskedtoreadthefollowingparagraph:
“Ifyouareinterestedinbuyingapairofcontactlenses,bepreparedtopay$200ormore.Generallytherearethreemainreasonswhypeoplewantcontactlenses.Youmayneedthembecausethecorneaofyoureyeismisshapenandordinaryglasse
sarenotsatisfactory.Ifso,you’llbeinthegroupthatcomprises1to2percentofcontactlenswearers.Butyoumaywantthemforasport,avocation,orvocation.Perhapsyou’reabaseballplayer,aboxer,aswimmer,anaviator,anactor,orperhapsyou’reengagedinanindustrywhereflyingparticlesmayendangeryoureyes.Ifyougetyourcontactlensesforoneofthesereasons,youareinthesamegroupwithabout20percentoftheusers.Butifforsomereasons,youfeelthatglassesarehandicappingourappearanceandyouwouldratherhaveinvisibleglasses,you’llhavelotsofcompany.About79percentoflensusershopetoimprovetheirlooks.”
Thestudentsarethenaskedtomakeadecision;whichofthefollowingcanrepresentthewriter’sintention?
AorB.
A.Togivethereasonsforpeoplewearingcontactlenses.
B.Tosaythatmanissometimesvain.
Inaccordancewithmyexperiences,manyreaderswillpreferAbecausetheycaneasilyfindenoughevidencetosupportthatdecision.Ifwetaketheparagraphintofurtherconsiderationhowever,wefindthattheyhavefailedtonoticetherationalrelationshipbetweentheusers,thatis,thewriterneverfailstomentionthepercentageofuserswhengivingeachreason.Themajorityofwearersseemtofeelthatcontactlensesaremoreattractivethanglasses.Al
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