摘要
英语阅读是中学英语教学中非常重要的一部分,《新课标》对高中学生的阅读能力提出了明确要求。而目前高中英语阅读教学现状与《新课标》的要求存在较大差距。原因是学生的阅读能力不足。这归因于以语言教学为中心,以教师为中心的传统教学模式。教师和学生缺乏对阅读过程本质的理解,缺乏对语篇知识的了解与运用是导致上述问题的根本原因。
有两句关于阅读理解的名言:“脱离了语境就脱离了对文章的理解。”“理解一个词义要看它的结伴关系。”可见,语境与阅读理解之间的密切关系。由于语境与语言的密切关系,语境在语言学界已引起了巨大兴趣。
Malinowski于1923年首先提出了语境理论。他的语境指的是情景语境而没考虑语言语境。继他之后很多学者也对语境进行了研究。比如,海姆斯、莱昂斯、费斯和利奇等。国内的象胡壮麟、何兆熊等。本研究详细介绍了海内外学者对语境的研究,并阐述了他们各自不同的观点,在借鉴和分析以上各学者研究成果的基础上,本研究按照一些学者的观点也把语境分为语言语境和非语言语境。众所周知,语义学和语用学是语言学的两大分支。从语义学的角度看,语境的功能表现在语义共现和排除歧义两方面。从语用学的角度看,语境的功能主要表现在以下两个方面:一是语境可以帮助讲话人根据具体环境选择合适的话语;二是语境可以帮助受话人根据具体情景正确理解讲话人的真正意图。也就是说,语义学重视研究语言的字面意义,而语用学则强调的是语言在特殊环境中的实际运用,两者都重视语境。因此,本研究从语义学和语用学两个角度来探讨语境在语篇理解中的功能,进而将其运用到阅读教学中,指导高中学生进行阅读练习。
本研究试图通过语境理论在阅读教学上的实际应用来提高学生的阅读效率。为了研究语境基础上的阅读教学与阅读效率之间的关系,需要在实验中明确以下问题:
一语境基础上的阅读教学能否激发学生的阅读热情?
二语境基础上的阅读教学能否提高学生的英语阅读能力?
三语境基础上的阅读教学能否提高学生的英语阅读成绩?
笔者结合语境理论指导下的英语阅读教学模式在枣庄第十八中学选出两个班作为实验对象。一个对比班,另一个实验班。控制班采用传统方式教学,而实验班则运用语境理论指导学生阅读。实验时间为四个月。
本研究通过实验过程中对调查问卷结果的频率分析和课下访谈等来分析学生学习态度、学习兴趣及阅读策略的变化;并通过社会科学统计软件包SPSS11.0进行数据分析,分析两个班三次考试成绩的不同变化,找出主要原因。并给老师学生提出了一些合理建议。
实验证明,语境理论指导下的英语阅读教学模式可以激发学生的学习兴趣,提高学生的英语阅读能力,拓展他们的阅读策略,培养他们良好的阅读习惯。为教师的阅读教学提供了可供借鉴的方法。因此,本研究认为在中学英语阅读教学中运用以语境为导向的阅读教学模式是可行的,可操作的。
English reading, which has an important position among English teaching, is an indispensable part of English learning for the high school students. The new English Curriculum Standards for Middle Schools requires the senior high school students to achieve a relatively high level in reading. Compared with the requirement, we still have a long way to go in the teaching of English reading in senior high school. The reason is that students are weak in English reading. The author of this thesis attributes the inadequacy of students’reading to the traditional teaching model based on understanding text at sentence-level, which is the result of language-centered and teacher-centered reading class. In other words, the major reason is that both students and teachers do not have an objective view on the nature of reading.
There are two mottos on English reading comprehension:“No context, no text”; and“You know a word by the company it keeps”indicating the close relationship between context and language.
Because of the close relationship between context and language, the study of context has aroused great interest in linguistic circles. Context was first used by Malinowsky in 1923. His notion of context refers to the situation, but it lacks consideration of the linguistic context. Besides him, many other scholars also probe into this field, such as Hymes, Lyons, Firth and Leech, etc. In China, there are also scholars who have made much progress in this field, such as Hu Zhuanglin, He Zhaoxiong, etc. But most of them pay more attention to linguistic context and neglect non-linguistic context. This thesis concentrates both on the linguistic context and non-linguistic context and holds that they are of equal importance. The thesis presents a detailed introduction of the studies of context at home and abroad and attempts to provide the definition and classification of context, as well as roles of context from the semantic and pragmatic perspectives. On the basis of a general study of many scholars, this thesis attempts to categorize context into linguistic context and non-linguistic context.
As we know, semantics and pragmatics are two branches of linguistics. The functions of context in semantic field mainly refer to the roles of the linguistic context in influencing and restricting the meaning in respect of semantic co-occurrence and disambiguation. The study of function of context from pragmatic perspective attempts to explore the roles of non-linguistic context in influencing the practical use of language in the particular context. Two terms are used to describe the major roles: selectional restrictions and interpretation. The roles of the context in determining the speaker’s language selected as appropriate to the context is termed as selectional restrictions; and those in supporting the hearer’s inference of what the speaker really means is termed as interpretation. That is to say, semantics focuses on the lexical meaning of language while pragmatics stresses the practical use of language in particular contexts. Both of them pay great attention to context. This thesis intends to study the functions of context from semantic and pragmatic perspectives respectively and attempts to apply contextual theory to English reading teaching at Chinese senior high school, and it aims to help students master the linguistic knowledge and non- linguistic knowledge as much as possible so that their reading interest and reading efficiency can be improved.
This thesis attempts to improve students’reading proficiency by implementing context theory instruction in English reading. To investigate the relationship between context-based reading teaching and English reading proficiency, the following specific questions were addressed in the present experimental study:
(1) Does context-based reading teaching stimulate the students’enthusiasm?
(2) Does context-based reading teaching improve the students’reading ability?
(3) Does context-based reading teaching improve the students’reading achievement?
The author decided to write the thesis on the feasible instructional patterns of this model based on her research about achievements in this field and an experimental study she actually carried out in No.18 Senior High School in Zaozhuang. The author chose two classes from No. 18 Middle School in Zaozhuang, one as the control group and the other, the experiment group. The two groups were at the same level of English proficiency. One class has 55 students, the other has 57 students. In the control class, no contextual theory instruction was implemented, while in the experimental class, contextual theory instruction was conducted regularly in the 4-month study.
Two questionnaires concerning English reading and contextual theory were administrated to collect data, which lay a foundation for the study. Moreover, interviews were conducted and journals were kept to investigate changes in students’ attitudes and interests towards English reading. Statistical instruments from SPSS11.0 and Frequency Analysis were used to analyze the quantitative data, and descriptive analyses were conducted to get the information of students attitudes towards English reading and their utilization of context theory in English reading; independent sample t-tests were used to identify the significance among pre-test, mid-test and post-test in English reading proficiency and English achievements by implementing context theory in English reading. The author gives teachers and students some suggestions based on her own research and experiment.
The results of this research indicated that in this teaching context, students in the experimental class improved their English reading ability more rapidly than those in the control class. This teaching model can stimulate their reading interest and improve their reading ability. Their reading strategies also develop very fast. This research offered a good way for the teachers in English reading teaching. The author concludes that it is feasible and beneficial to use contextual theory instruction in Chinese senior high school English classrooms.
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