外学位论文基本格式规范

3.2.2.3 Teachers’ teaching English through English in Class

Teachers’ speaking English in class can construct an atmosphere of speaking English. Thus students can be bathed or buried in the atmosphere may say what they want to say, even though in broken English. This is particularly important for teachers to cultivate the language environment for students. As far as we are concerned, teacher is the guider for students in oral English class.

Under such circumstance, teachers should be the model and also try their best to encourage students to speak English. In order to achieve this purpose, teachers are required to teach English through English. This can leave the impression to students that English needs practicing. Because of some practical problems, for example, the limited study resources, teachers are inclined to teach English through English not only to cultivate the language environment for students’ learning, but also to improve their oral English proficiency.

Teaching English through English should be insisted on by senior school teachers. With the trend of globalization, the demand for English proficiency is much higher. In order to suit the needs of both China and the whole world, teachers are required to speak English with students in class and after class as much as possible. This modern teaching technique is in accordance with the development of foreign language teaching worldwide.

3.2.2.4 Eliminating Cultural Differences

Eliminating culture differences is also a very important step. It is undeniable that the culture differences between English and Chinese do exist. Therefore, whether the oral English teaching successful, to a certain extent, is a criterion of helping students eliminate the cultural barriers. In the teaching process, teachers not only aim at improving students language proficiency through reading, writing, listening, and speaking, but also make students aware of the specific language environment and cultural traditions in English speaking countries. Only by doing so can we bridge the cultural gap and communicate freely.

3.3 The Solutions to Government’ Education Policy 3.3.1 Small Class Size

.The educational department may carry out the small-class teaching policy to limit the number of class in senior schools. However, as mentioned some training techniques and methods above,

group activities and pair work are the two important forms of organizing small class. My views are consistent with Dr Dengsheng Zhang’s opinions.

Compared with large class teaching, students and teachers feel more comfortable in a class environment. In a small class, students feel more flexible and pleasant because they have the opportunities to interact with teachers and among themselves. Large class teaching is a way of trying to fit all students into a single mode; the small class teaching is a customized teaching for each individual student. Large class teaching is mainly teacher centered, small class teaching is student centered. Small class teaching allows the teacher to respond to developing situations in such a way to maximize the opportunities for learning. Small class is generally better to develop higher level intellectual skills involving reasoning and problem-solving, as well as applying principles. They are more effective environments for exploring, and possibly shaping, the values and attitudes of students. (Dengsheng Zhang, 2004; cited from McInnis, 2004)

. The “small-class” teaching is in accordance with the principles of the Interactive Approach. And also it carefully focuses on cultivating the ability of thinking and solving problems of students. It can not only improve the speaking and listening opportunities that are emphasized in the English teaching, but also the advanced class design can fundamentally teach students the right methods of learning English and the shortcuts of eliminating the language learning barriers. The “small-class” emphasizes the elaborate teaching plan, teaching purpose and the proficiency of English teachers. With more and more English training centers get clear understanding about the “small-class” education, senior schools in China will soon realize the advantages of language acquisition of “small-class” teaching.

The “small-class” teaching advocates that each class is only offered to fifteen to twenty students. Teachers always guide students to read some English originals and explain some foreign cultural phenomenon, sometimes even leave students some topics about life, philosophy. At the same time, teachers will teach students some skills, especially the oral English competency. The ultimate propose of learning English is for communication. Therefore, the “small-class” teaching prepares both teachers and students the language environment they are eager to acquire.

3.3.2 The Reform of English Test System

In view of the current situation, the reform of the current English test system should be carried out on the way. The oral English should be listed in the test which requires students and teachers not only focus on the scores, but also pay more attention on developing the oral English competency,

since we know that the purpose of learning a language is for communication. Thus the final score of English in the entrance examination to college will eventually include the written part and oral part. This reform is in accordance with the standard for developing students’ ability in a comprehensive way.

It is difficult to change English test system according to the current situation. This problem cannot be solved by few people, but by the schools, teachers and educational government. The test-oriented system has been practiced in China since 1970s; it is the only criteria for selecting students. Until now, the education government begins to carry out the quality-oriented policy because of the requirements of both the development of China and the international trend.

The ultimate goal of learning English is to communicate with people both in China and abroad. For most senior school students, they have already learned English for more than four or five years, but what they have acquired is the “Mute-crux” English. This calls for urgent modification about the English Test System. Speaking part should be regarded as one of four important aspects to test students’ English ability.

The author has offered some approaches to solve the problems which have listed above. For example, cultivation of language environment, creation of more chances to practice oral English, professionalism for teachers’ oral English, the reform of English test system are all the ideas which the author has put forward. In each small part, the author also gives detailed analysis to every method or approach.

Conclusion

Our education pays more attention to feeding students with knowledge than to fostering their ability to learn by themselves and to think independently. Today’s education is not teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, but teaching students in the same way without discriminations, taking no particular consideration of their different interest and capacities. Teachers’ role is to guiding students to do better in the process of learning and the other is developing their interests and eagerness in study.

Having analyzed the aim and criteria of English course, I have offered the students’ conditions and some problems Chinese teachers may encounter in oral English class, it maybe concluded that both teachers and senior school students have their roles in oral English teaching and learning. Teachers need to be aware of the importance of varying their roles in the teaching, not only as an authority figure, but as an assessor, or an organizer, or a participant. A qualified and sympathetic teacher must have a full understanding of his/her needs and interests as well. If a teacher knows his/her own advantages and disadvantages in oral English class and those of his/her students, he/she is sure to succeed in oral English classes.

Bibliography

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http://fccl.ksu.ru/papers/gp002.htm

Doff, A. 1991. Teach English ------ A Training Course for Teachers[M]. Beijing: World Publishing

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Harmer, J. 1983. The Practice of English Language Teaching[M]. New York: Longman House. Elaterin,

N.

1998.

Constructivism

[J/OL].

(March

29,

2006)

http://chss2.montclair.edu/sotillos/_meth/00000018.htm Dengsheng Zhang. 2004. Small Class Teaching [J/OL]. (April 18, 2006)

http://personal.gscit.monash.edu.au/~dengs/teaching/GCHE/part2-3.pdf George E. Marsh II. 1999. Constructivism [J/OL]. (April 16, 2006)

http://www.healthnet.org.np/training/msoffice/access/WW189.htm Richards, J. J.2001. The Context of Language Teaching[M]. 北京: 外语教育与研究出版社. Robins, R. H. 2002. General Linguistics[M]. 北京: 外语教育与研究出版社.

Rosser, R, & Bolitho, R. 1990. Currents of Change in English Language Teaching[M]. Oxford:

Oxford University Press. http://www.lunw.com/thesis/49\8193_1.html 成云. 2004. 心理学[M]. 成都: 四川大学出版社. 胡春洞. 1990. 英语教学法[M]. 北京: 高等教育出版社.

李曼珏, 林榕. 2003. Survey of General Linguistics[M]. 长沙: 中南大学出版社. 刘家坊. 2002. 教育学[M]. 成都: 四川大学出版社.

舒白梅，陈佑林. 1999. 外语教学法[M]. 北京: 高等教育出版社.

王林奇. 2005. 我国中学英语教学的历史与现状浅析[J/OL]. (April 18, 2006) 中国教育部. 2000.全日制普通高级中学英语教学大纲[S]. 北京: 人民教育出版社. 钟启泉. 2001. 外语教育展望[M]. 上海: 华东师范大学出版社.

也可用以下格式：

Winitz, H. Grammaticality judgment as a function of explicit and implicit instruction in Spanish[J].

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戴炜栋、陈莉萍. 二语语法教学理论综述[J]. 外语教学与研究, 2005,(2):92-99.

附1：论文独创性声明

姓名： X X X 学院： 外国语学院 专业 ： 英 语 班级： X班 英文题目： Strategies of Oral English Teaching in Senior Schools

中文题目： 高中英语口语教学策略

本论文是我个人在导师指导下进行的研究工作及取得的研究成果。论文中除了特别加以标注和致谢的地方外，不包含其他人或其他机构已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。其他同志对本研究的启发和所做的贡献均已在论文中作了明确的声明并表示了谢意。

作者签名： X X X 日期： 20XX-X-XX

附2：论文使用授权声明

本人完全了解乐山师范学院有关保留、使用毕业论文的规定，即：学校有权保留送交论文的复印件，允许论文被查阅和借阅；学校可以公布论文的全部或部分内容，可以采取影印、缩印或其他复制手段保存论文。保密的论文在解密后遵守此规定。

作者签名： X X X 导师签名： X X X 日期： 20XX–X-XX

乐 山 师 范 学 院

学 士 学 位 论 文

Strategies of Oral English Teaching in Senior Schools

高中英语口语教学策略

作 者 X X X 完成日期20XX年 X月 X日

指导教师 X X X 职称 讲 师

院 别 外 国 语 学 院 专业 英 语

班 级 20 X X级X 班 学号 XXXXXXX

二○一二 年 X 月 X 日

LESHAN TEACHERS COLLEGE

Strategies of Oral English Teaching in Senior Schools

by

X XX

照片 （彩照、可扫描）

Supervisor X XX

20XX LESHAN

Acknowledgements

I am particularly indebted to my instructor Mr. XXX for guiding me to accomplish my graduation paper. I would like to thank all his great concern and enthusiastic support. With the purpose of finishing the graduation paper in a professional way, Mr. XXX instructs the paper with his profound knowledge and teaching experience. In addition, I also want to express my gratitude to the authors whose books are listed in the bibliography.

Abstract

In the language learning process, speaking is one of the four important language skills. However, it is always difficult for senior students and teachers to drill this skill. Because of the lack of the language environment and few opportunities to speak English, Oral English teaching in senior schools has already encountered some problems. With the guidance of Foreign Language Teaching Methodologies, the linguistic theories and psychological theories, this paper carries out an analysis of the causes of poor Oral English teaching in senior school. This analysis shows that the learners’ main difficulties in their Oral English learning are the lack of confidence and creativity, and the impact of psychological obstacles, etc. Based on the analysis of students’ problems in Oral English learning, this paper also discusses the teaching of Oral English methods. And it also gives some methods to the learners in order to improve their Oral English competency.

Key Words: senior English; oral English instruction; strategies

摘 要

在语言学习过程中，口语是四种重要的语言技能之一。然而，对高中英语老师和学生来说，提高口语能力显得尤其困难。缺乏语言环境以及很少有机会说英语，高中英语教学已经遇到诸多的问题。在外语教学法，语言学理论以及心理学理论的支持下，本论文细致地分析了引起高中英语口语教学处于劣势地位的原因。这些分析同时也表明了学生在英语口语学习过程中遇到的主要困难是缺乏自信和创造力以及心理障碍的影响。在对学生在口语学习中的困难分析，本文讨论了英语口语教学的具体方法及措施，提出了方法来解决学生口语问题的方法，以此达到提高他们英语口语水平的目的。

关键词：高中英语；口语教学；策略

compare our interpretations with the original versions in the novels and books so that we can find our mistakes, shortcomings and progresses in our interpretation. Interpreting what you hear---changing roles: three people make a group: one speaks Chinese, one speaks English acting as foreigners, one acts interpreter. Then they can change roles. This is a very good interpreting method and is good for studying from each other. In addition, it may improve the responding ability and speed for students.

3.1.2.2 Oral Composition

Then oral composition and 3-minute training method is suitable for intense training. Making an oral composition about a certain topic for one minute the first time and recording the composition on tape at the same time. Then listen to the composition and find out the room for improvement. Then make the same composition about a certain topic for two minutes for the second time and also record it. And at last repeat the above-mentioned for three minutes. The method of retelling articles or English stories in our own words is also very useful. If possible, we may read some English tongue twisters loudly and quickly with one or two candy in our mouth (just as Chinese cross-talk actors do) to train our oral and tongues suitable for English pronunciation. Paying more attention to phrases and small words as one major shortcoming of Chinese English (especially Chinese oral English) is that Chinese students tend to use big words in their oral language, but the idiomatic oral English is abundant with short, active and vivid phrases. And most of such phrases are made of small words.

3.1.2.3 The Oral English Training Techniques

The recitation technique is also very useful in practicing oral English. As we know, recitation is the process of language and knowledge accumulation, it is also the effective method for training pronunciation, intonation and so on. Selecting suitable materials, such as the recorded materials, for students to read and recite. This process of recitation is called accumulation. In order to have good communicating skills, we firstly have to acquire a lot of English articles and passages and bear them in mind. This is the gradual awareness of immersing oneself in the English environment.

Step-by-step method is a traditional method for practicing. As the saying goes “Constant rain wears the stone.” It is also true when applies to the English learning. Developing language competency requires students to train their oral English skills based on their English level, from simple materials to difficult ones, from words, sentences to conversation and articles. For senior

school students, it is better to find a fixed partner to practice oral English in school. This method is more direct to test how well our oral English would be. Communicating with partners is the aim of learning English, because language learning is for communication.

Question & answer method is one of the common techniques for oral English practice. It highly advocates students ask and answer by themselves, even sometimes can change roles, such as students ask and teachers answer. But before adopting this technique, teachers should have a clear purpose and good preparation. Such as, before students raising questions, teachers should clearly explain the theme and other requirements; otherwise, the question & answer technique cannot be under good control. In addition, the learned text should not only be mastered by few students, but also should be offered lots of opportunities to most students to speak in class. Furthermore, during the teaching, teachers can play the role of setting models, equally taking part in the conversations as well. When students making the conversation, teachers would also be the partners of other students and then make the presentation to the whole class. All the activities are not easy for teachers. At first, teachers should change the old conception that typical classroom interactions are teacher-dominated, leaving little psychological space for students’ initiative. Much teaching, for example, is still lack of variety. That is, everyone in the classroom is put through the same hoops at the same time, irrespective of individuality ability or inclination. Teachers form the idea that students should be the masters of the whole class, and will highly appreciate students’ performance. Secondly, it is the usual phenomenon that there arise some problems that students sometimes incline to be overactive. Thus teachers do not need to complain or abandon the interactive approach. It is teachers’ responsibility to guide students according to the New Standards

.

3.1.3 Fostering Self-confidence and Creativity

Fostering self-confidence and creativity is a very important step to encourage students to open their mouth to speak. Many students are afraid to speak English mainly because they have no confidence. Fostering self-confidence should be arranged in a more gradual and detailed way. Students can participate in some English associations to get along with lots of students to train their interpersonal skills in order to become sociable and extroverted. Students can also take part in a lot of English speaking contests. This is a very good way to build up self-confidence. Standing on the stage to make a speech is not only a way to express your ideas, but also a very important method to make you believe yourself and full of emotion, enthusiasm. In addition, extensive reading could help students foster their creativity. It is the requirement for students according to the modern

education system.

3.2 Solutions to Teachers’ problems

3.2.1 The Professionalism for Teachers’ Oral English

Professionalism for teachers’ oral English requires teachers to improve their oral English in a professional way. As for this aspect, more teacher training programs are highly required. Because of the current situation in china, the quantity and quality of teachers are still the key factors which prevent our English teaching from moving forward.

According to the accurate statistics, the senior school English teachers who are qualified for the New Standard are less than 50%. Take Xiao Gan city for example, among 234 senior school English teachers, nearly half of them does not have standard degree. And only six teachers have acquired the bachelor degrees (Wang Linqi, 2005). Therefore, teachers need to be trained to help learners develop their expertise as learners. Apart from the present problems this involves, there is also a problem of what the teacher is to do with whatever pedagogic expertise he or she already has. Developing oral competency is not easy for teachers since they are already adults and even some of them have very strong accent which is hard to change.

Training programs for teachers, however, especially for the oral English training is essential. Because teachers are still the guide for students, helping students become independent of them, in other words, to develop their own expertise as learners so that they can continue to learn efficiently. In order to achieve professionalism for teachers’ oral English, schools or educational department can set up some training centers or lectures, and invite some native English experts to be the instructors to teach Chinese teachers oral English. Moreover, every year there would be some oral English tests for teachers in order to guarantee their professionalism and stimulate their interests.

3.2.2 Attempt of New Teaching Theories and Strategies 3.2.2.1 New Teaching Methods

New teaching methods represent the characteristics of modern English teaching. Model-based method is to follow the English models. Students can set a sentence, an article, a conversation, or even a short paragraph or article as models to practice oral English. Students can creatively use English by setting the basic structure as base, remedying the contents of models, including one’s own opinions.

Theme-based method is to set the themes as the basic training method to make speech clearly.

For example, making a self-introduction in English in two minutes is a typical example. Self-introduction is a theme (Zhong Qiquan, 2001, p.46). After learning the model of self-introduction, students have to reach the purpose of introducing themselves. They would better select some themes which are related with their daily life. These themes include: describing people’s appearance, character, emotion, and discussing relationships between different people.

The art of correcting mistakes is still an important part for teachers to improve students’ oral English. To help students speak accurately, it is important for teachers to correct students’ errors. However, it is not acceptable to make corrections when they are speaking. It is suggested that the teacher take down notes of errors students make in class. If they are common problems, he/she can present them as language points and ask students to do some practice; if they are committed by individual student, just point out them at the completion of the individual performance, or give students a note with the corrections.

3.2.2.2 The Interactive Approach

Interactive approach is the interaction between teachers and students or among themselves. This approach involves language to be a communicative tool, its main use is to build up and maintain social relations between people, in whichever situation they find themselves, therefore, do need to know the grammar and vocabulary of the language, but as importantly, they need know the rules for using them in the whole range of communicative contexts in which people from those in the second language community interact (Liu Jiafang, 2004, p.142). The interactive approach fully represents the characteristics of modern English teaching methodology. It does not only break the tradition that teachers are the dominators of the whole class, but also make students more active and closely cooperate with teachers in order to develop their own language competency.

One of the easiest and best ways for practicing is to encourage pair work. Pair work is when the teacher divides the whole class into pairs. Every student works with their partner and all the pairs work at the same time. It is not the same as public pair work – where pairs speak in turn in front of the class. Pair work is a way of organizing your class. It can be used for many different kinds of activity, and is naturally more suitable for some activities than for others. Furthermore, pair work is more effective when practicing oral English in class, to a certain extent; teachers can make full use of the pair work with the purpose of stimulating students’ interests and improving their oral English proficiency.

Group activities stimulate students to participate in extracurricular activities by forming small

groups. For example, there will be a sports group, a social problems group, a study method research group, a drama group, a western study group, or even a fashion group, etc. They are supposed to collect some reading material on a specific aspect in their everyday reading of newspapers or magazines in English and do some reports of their extracurricular activities every time they meet in class. They may do some different things in their extracurricular activities, such as making up dialogues, conversations or discussions and debates. This can really help them in working independently and in speaking more in English when the students are interested in their topic and some of them have got some knowledge about the topic they are given, they can have real practice of their oral English. As time goes on, they will get used to learning from one another instead of referring to a Chinese-English dictionary. It is challenging to plan presentations for a large EFL class. Group projects with 4-5 students in one group will save class time, develop cooperative learning skills and reduce the anxiety of being a single presenter. In order to have a dynamic group, with a feeling of cohesiveness and togetherness, even though learners come from diverse learning styles, the teacher needs to be familiar with a variety of cooperative group techniques:

? Groups of 4-5 students in a class of 50 work best and scheduling two groups every other week throughout the semester is a good plan..

? Have students choose their own partners, since it is much easier for students to work out their own schedules for getting together outside the classroom. If the teacher groups students from different departments together, there can be time conflicts among them.

? One student is chosen as the coordinator or leader, responsible for evenly distributing the assignments among members (Rosser & Bolitho, 1990, p.253).

Role-play requires Chinese teachers of English to learn from some native English speakers: just as the students to go through them by themselves before class so that they can do some situation practices, that is to say, doing role play in class. In preparing for the role play, it is necessary for the teacher to create some “information gap” exercises. This maybe achieved by giving each student a role card so that each student may know what to do himself without knowing anything about some other roles. To make sure that students use the expressions they are supposed to use, the teacher may write them on the blackboard. This may help them to use the given expressions when practicing oral English.

inseparable from social life (Elaterin, 1998; cited from Vygotsky, 1987).

Central to Vygotsky's theory is that the human species is distinguished from others by use of tools, deliberate teaching, and intentional learning. Tools refer both to the variety of implements created by humans and psychological tools, such as language. The mind has social origins and the cultural tools available to the individual influence the nature of the mind that is constructed (Elaterin, 1998; cited from Vygotsky, 1987).

1.3 Theories of Foreign Language Teaching Methodology

Foreign Language Teaching Methodology (FLTM) (Shu Baimei & Chen Youlin, 1990) is the backbone for the oral English teaching in senior schools. It is a science that studies the process and the patterns of foreign language teaching, aiming at revealing the nature and laws of foreign language teaching. The goal of it is to help the learner master the target language in the shortest time. By mastering the target language, we mean that the learner is able to have successful communication with others in the target language.

Foreign Language Teaching Methodology is in consistent with the study on Oral English teaching strategies. The Direct Method insists that only the target language should be used in class and meanings should be communicated directly. The Oral Approach advocates that language is identified with speech. The Audio-lingual Method emphasizes the teaching of speaking before reading and writing. The Cognitive Approach insists the belief that language learning is a process which involves active mental processes. The Natural Approach is an approach to develop teaching principles which emphasizes natural communication rather than formal grammar study. The Communicative Approach emphasizes that the goal of language learning is communicative competence.

As is often mentioned, the Teaching Syllabus (The Ministry of Education, 2000) stipulates that band one requires senior school students to retell main ideas based on the general meaning of the passages, and can do some introduction about family, friends, or class by using simple sentences and expressions. Band two describes that students can answer questions and discuss according to the text efficiently. It also requires students to do daily talk about society, culture, and science which related to the text in the textbooks. Moreover, The High School English Standards (The Ministry of Education, 2002) stipulates that Band six requires senior school students to do daily conversation and express their own opinions on the given topics. Students can describe personal experience and express themselves appropriately on some specific occasions. Band eight stresses that students can

make a 3-minute speech based on simple topics by preparation in a short time and do some translations in daily life.

2．Analyses of Oral English Learning and Teaching

Having mentioned the theoretical framework that goes well with the study, the author would like to analyze the causes of the problem from three different perspectives. The oral English teaching in senior schools cannot get satisfactory effect. The students’ problems in oral English learning can be divided into four aspects. They are the lack of language environment, few opportunities to contact with English, lack of confidence and creativity and the impact of psychological obstacles. The teachers’ factors include three points, they are less proficiency in oral English teaching, poor teaching theories and strategies and traditional teaching modes. The administrators’ problems are the large class and current English test system. The problems which I have mentioned will be further analyzed in the following.

2.1 Students’ Factors in Their Oral English Learning 2.1.1 Lack of Language Environment

Traditionally, lack of language environment prevents students from learning English well. Students are regarded as the most important factor in oral English teaching. However, especially in China, the difficulties that students in oral English learning would probably have four points. The first one is definitely the lack of language environment. The students in china always learn English in a single-handed language environment that is highly influenced by Chinese (Hu Chundong, 1990,). There are few opportunities to speak English except for the several acquired English lessons. It is also difficult for students to review the speaking activities after class by themselves. As for the second language acquisition, English is not only the daily communicative language for students, or even for Chinese people. Most students cannot form the English thinking habit after several years of learning because of the limited language environment. Learning a language or skill, the most effective way is to practice it in the authentic situation with media. For us English learners, if students want to master a language including mastering all its skills. We must think something in it, express some in it. That is to say, when students are learning English, they must put themselves into an atmosphere of English.

However, this problem is closely related with the current social background. It is easy to figure out that the first language acquisition is a natural process to move on for Chinese students since Chinese is our mother tongue which can be practiced in families with people around. Thus the proficiency of Chinese is much higher than English for Chinese students. The reason is, obviously,

that the language environment is quite important for students to acquire the first or second language. Nevertheless, the current situation for senior school students who want to develop oral English competency is serious. It is investigated that students only can have four to six English lessons which are total about four to five hours every week. Naturally, there are about eighteen weeks every semester, so the total is around ninety hours the whole semester for every student to learn English in class. But in the 45-minute class, teachers almost dominate the class, leaving little time for students to speak English. After class, it is unusual to speak English between teachers and students, let alone to speak English at home with their parents or family members for most of them know nothing about English or even just little. So there comes with the problem how students can improve their oral English in such a language environment.

2.1.2 Few Opportunities to Contact with English

Few opportunities to contact with English reduce the time to practice English for senior school students. The opportunities to listen to English are also very limited. Good English competency is fundamentally based on the practice of large amount of listening. Nevertheless, because of the poor quality of the teaching equipment and materials, or the less proficiency of teachers in oral English, the students always listen very little. These factors exert direct influence on the speaking activities.

Limited amount of class time restrains students to contact more with English. For most senior school students, also they have four to five English lessons every week, but the English they touch is almost the text books. It is really hard for students to improve their English especially their oral English. As far as we are concerned, high level of English proficiency requires hard work and long-term practice. However, most students have very limited English learning resources, such as English magazines or newspapers. In China, especially in some remote areas and regions, students even do not have the tape recorders or English tapes. This poses big obstacle for students to contact with English. The external environment prevents them from speaking and practicing English.

2.1.3 Lack of Confidence and Creativity

Lack of confidence and creativity is the factor which limits students’ performance in oral English class. Speech anxiety and limited presentation skills are the major problems that lead to learners' oral presentation failures. In order to help students effectively cope with their fear of oral presentations, it is essential for teachers to acknowledge that speech anxiety is perfectly normal. Having an open discussion on speech anxiety will assist students to feel that they are not alone.

Fortunately, we can get some insights from psychotherapy and speech communication literature, which can be used to assist students to overcome their public speaking anxieties.

Chinese students are traditionally taught as modest and cautious ones. It is also the traditional Chinese culture which evaluates that students should behave well according to some specific rules. All of this makes Chinese students not confident or rigorous in oral English learning. It is investigated that motivation and attitudes are important factors which help to determine the level of proficiency achieved by different students. The most successful oral English learners will be those who have both a talent and a high motivation for learning. Personality has been explored in terms of a number of personal traits, such as extroversion/ introversion, social skills, inhibition/ risk-taking involved in the oral English learning (Li Manjue & Lin Rong，2003，p307-8). It is hypothesized that an extrovert may benefit from getting more practice in using the English and contributes to his oral fluency; that, talkativeness and responsiveness are significantly related to the measures of the oral English; that a good English learner is always ready to be prepared to experiment by taking risks in the language learning.

2.1.4 The impact of Psychological Obstacles

Impact of the psychological obstacles needs carefully discussing. Many senior school students in china have only four or five years of English learning experience, thus the basic structures of English learning is not very good, such as less standard in pronunciation and intonation, few practice in vocabulary, sentence patterns and grammars. While facing these problems, students are inclined to lose interest in English learning as a result of forming the psychological obstacles. In this case, students are afraid to open their mouths to speak or make mistakes, let alone participating in some speaking activities. In the long run, this leads to the so-called vicious circle in students’ oral English learning.

During the English learning process, according to the psychology, the emotional factors include learning motivation and self-confidence (Cheng Yun, 2004, p.87). The students who are lack of confidence are always to be afraid of facing directly with teachers and answer questions in class or participate in other activities. In this case, they are inclined to miss a lot of practice opportunities and have the attitude of dislike English. For those students who are lack of motivation in English learning are more easily to lose interest in English and also can not learn English well .In China, students who have poor oral English communicative skills but with high scores in entrance examination to college are also able to be admitted by famous universities in China. After

graduation, students who cannot speak English well or even know little about English can still find jobs. The situation is quite different in India and some other African countries. In those countries, English is a very important factor for job hunting and promotion. Therefore, learners have high motivation in English learning and also can reach high English level after long-term study.

Comparatively speaking, the psychological obstacles that senior students face are urgent and need solving quickly.

2.2 Teachers Factors in Their Oral English Teaching 2.2.1 Less Proficiency in Teachers’ Oral English

Less proficiency in teachers’ oral English can not meet the criteria of modern English teaching. In the present-day society, with the changing concepts of modern English education, teachers will not only focus on teaching grammar structures, but also the shift has been diverted into the oral English teaching. However, many English teachers in china have less proficiency in their oral English teaching. As far as we are concerned, teachers play a significant role as a guider for students to practice their oral English. But the poor quality of teachers can not meet the needs of modern English teaching.

It can be traced back to the 1970s when China began to adopt the national policy of reform and opening up to the outside world. Under such circumstance, Chinese education has emphasized the learning and teaching of English, thus more and more teachers have been asked to teach English in senior schools without systematic training not only in the teaching methodologies, but also the proficiency of oral English. Because of the influence of traditional teaching mode, many teachers lay great emphasis on the written work. The entrance examination to college only requires the written part, to a certain extent; teachers require less on the oral English. In this way, the proficiency of their oral English is low. And for some old teachers, it is much harder for them to improve their oral English, because English learning was prohibited by Chinese authority at that time when they were young. During 1960s and 1970s, the international situation was complicated and the relationships between china and foreign countries were intense. Thus people who learned English were regarded as betrayals. In present-day society, it is understandable that some teachers are very experienced in teaching English, but have less proficiency in oral English.

2.2.2 Poor Teaching Theories and Strategies

Comparatively speaking, the poor teaching theories and strategies that teachers have may

greatly affect the oral English teaching. Teachers in some backward and remote areas of china still use the traditional teaching mode, which cannot adjust to the development of English teaching. Lack of training, proficiency and awareness of changing teaching theories, teachers, to a certain extent, are not qualified to teach students in a professional way. They still stress teaching oral English on reading, reciting which are not the only two methods of training students to practice their oral English.

Because of the different times and situations, teachers have no opportunities to study the teaching theories and strategies. Furthermore, the heavy pressure that teachers have comes from the entrance examination to college. Gradually, they pay their attention on tackling with the tests and improving students’ ability on doing examination well. The test-oriented education system also has negative impact on teachers who have less time and energy to cultivate the teaching theories and strategies.

2.2.3 The Traditional Teaching modes

Moreover, the teachers are highly influenced by the old teaching pattern----the Grammar Translation Method. First target language into mother tongue into target language then the text, students would read aloud sentence by sentence and each word would be translated (Li Manjue & Lin Rong，2003，p. 247). Meanwhile, the Syllabus usually was designed around grammatical structures, starting with simple ones, like the verb’ to be’, and progressing through to more complex ones, such as verb tenses (The Ministry of Education, 2000). It is a language teaching method based on the study of the texts in the target language, which have to be explained and studied in the mother tongue and then translated.

The traditional teaching modes greatly affect students’ oral English. How can we expect that students be taught by that method would then be able to go out and do their daily shopping in that language or buy travel tickets, invite its speaker to dinner by speaking or introducing their family situations to them? The students taught by that method maybe only know how to express their ideas logically or theoretical, yet they dare not put into practice or they will always be limited by the logical and theoretical rules strictly, as a result, their words are dull and unattractive maybe they are experts in theory but cowards in practice.

2.3 Administrators’ Problems 2.3.1 Large Class

Large class limits both teachers and students to practice oral English freely. In China, with more and more students entering universities, the number of students in senior schools is growing rapidly. In the past, there were only forty students in one classroom; in contrast, there are now more than fifty and sixty students in one class. It is really difficult for the administrator to control the trend, or even carry out some policies to curb this tendency. Under such circumstance, teachers are said to be responsible for not having enough time to provide students for the oral English practice. Therefore, there are few opportunities for a face-to-face interaction between teachers and students.

Large class is a very difficult problem to deal with. The problems related to large classes in language learning can aggravate difficulties in carrying out speaking, setting up communicative tasks, and attending to all students during class time; impossibility of establishing good rapport with students, concerns for weaker students who may get lost; students’ not listening to teacher. So a large class can mean any number! However, it is not just the number of students which makes teaching difficult; teachers and students can face the following challenges: teachers can have difficulty keeping everyone’s attention; students’ motivation to learn English can be poorer; students have difficulty hearing the teacher; teachers do not have enough opportunity to help weaker students.

In China, large population limits the development of economy and social life. As a developing country, our teaching system still needs improving. We are lack of teaching resources, qualified senior school teachers, and modern teaching equipments and buildings. Thus in senior schools, there are more than fifty or sixty students in one class. In this kind of class, teachers dominate almost the whole class, focusing on explanations of the material and text which are related with the exams. However, the speed is slow and many teachers do not have enough teaching hours to meet the needs of the regular students in class. Many teachers have to teach at the expense of the majority with lower ability to learn English, who are usually left uncared for. As a result, such large classes, which decrease the time for student-teacher interaction in graduating classes, make learner-centered English teaching difficult.

2.3.2 The Current English Test System

The current English test system leaves direct impact on Oral English teaching in senior schools. According to The Requirements of the High School English Standards, oral English is not the required part in the English test or even in the entrance examination to college. This reality is the very cause that many teachers and students in china lay little emphasis on oral English, even ignore

it. For the sake of achieving high scores in the English test, teachers and students sometimes focus on doing written exercise and tasks at the expense of putting oral English teaching or practice aside. This phenomenon does widely exist in senior schools in china, the current situation that oral English teaching in senior schools face might be serious. Thus the current English test system needs reforming in order to meet the needs of both teachers and students.

Still, there are no spoken English tests designed to examine students’ oral English in the NCEE, which discourages them from emphasizing spoken English. Therefore, many of them do not need to pay attention to their spoken English. They have low motivation to speak English in and after class. Thus it can be seen that overuse of Chinese in English instruction results in the lack of students’ English input, which hinders students’ thinking when they are learning it. It is large classes that cause a chain reaction to English instruction that is more teacher-centered, lacking in effective interactions between teachers and students, and students themselves, which lead to students’ difficulty in speaking English. Furthermore, there is no spoken English test, which constrains students’ ability to speak English.

The educational department designs the English exams paper based on the two principles. Firstly, in order to adapt to the new situation of our economy and social life, shorten the distances between the foreign countries and China in teaching, the focus will be shifted on the language communicative ability in exam paper; secondly, in terms of the current situation of our English teaching and the reality of the unbalanced teaching mode, the tests still insist on checking the language points, including the grammar, sentence patterns, and daily expressions, writing, reading, etc. However, the comprehensive ability of students should contain four aspects: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Because of the limitation of the teaching resources, the tests are not covering the speaking part. This is the reality that restrains a lot of senior school students from achieving the high level of English proficiency.

The author has analyzed the problems, such as, lack of language environment, few opportunities to contact with English, less proficiency in teachers’ oral English, poor teaching theories and strategies, large class, the current English test system. These difficulties and problems that limit the oral English teaching and learning do widely exist in senior schools. It is urgent to solve them on order to meet the purpose of modern English teaching.

3. Solutions to Oral English Teaching Strategies

Based on the present situation, in order to solve students’ difficulties in oral English learning, the author offers some effective methods to solve the problems that have been mentioned above. For students, the cultivation of language environment, creation of more chances to practice oral English and fostering self-confidence and creativity are three main methods. For teachers, the professionalism for teachers’ oral English, attempt of new teaching theories and strategies and eliminating culture differences are three main ideas which are offered to solve teachers’ problems. For administrators, small-class teaching and the reform of English test system are important methods to adopt.

3.1 Solutions to Students’ Problems 3.1.1 Cultivation of Language Environment

By tackling students’ problem, cultivation of the language environment is highly demanded. Fostering interest in practicing oral English should be put in the first place. Only by encouraging students to enjoy speaking English orally can the teachers teaching theories receive a satisfactory result. In the teaching process, we can adopt measures of creating situation, film play, group activities, telling stories and so on. The great of teaching methodologies are closely connected with colorful extra-curricular activities which provide students a lot of opportunities for students to express them in English and stimulate them with new ideas and methods.

We study spoken English so as to make oral communications, so this order of importance of oral English should be followed: fluency, accuracy, and appropriateness (Hammer, 1983, p.127). That is to say, we have to pay more attention to the practical communicating ability instead of only laying emphasis on the grammatical correctness. Try to find some partners to practice oral English together and English salon is a very good place. This is a remarkable opportunity to exchange English learning experience, widen our sight and improve our interest in English. If English partners are not easy to get, then we have to create some English environment ourselves by speaking to ourselves.

3.1.2 Creation of More Chances to Practice Oral English

3.1.2.1 The Method of Interpreting Simple Chinese-English Novels

The method of interpreting simple Chinese-English novels and books is very effective and easy to insist on. First we read the Chinese part and then try to interpret them into English and then

附1：论文独创性声明

姓名： X X X 学院： 外国语学院 专业 ： 英 语 班级： X班 英文题目： Strategies of Oral English Teaching in Senior Schools

中文题目： 高中英语口语教学策略

本论文是我个人在导师指导下进行的研究工作及取得的研究成果。论文中除了特别加以标注和致谢的地方外，不包含其他人或其他机构已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。其他同志对本研究的启发和所做的贡献均已在论文中作了明确的声明并表示了谢意。

作者签名： X X X 日期： 20XX-X-XX

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作者签名： X X X 导师签名： X X X 日期： 20XX–X-XX

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