高校英语专业课程改革中的学生主体性及教师主导性

杨维　覃艳

摘 要：“以学生为主体，教师为主导”的教育思想能在高校英语专业课程改革中深入发挥英语专业学生在语言习得课程中的自主性、批判性、积极性和创造性。教师的主导作用主要表现在课程开发和课程教学中引导学生架构语言规律模型及体现语言素材的意义和功能。

关键词：以学生为中心 自主性 表意模型 语法规则

新世纪英语专业课程教学改革强调培养学生的语言能力和人文素养。“以学生为主体，教师为主导”的教育模式能充分体现英语专业教师的引导作用和激励功能，能进一步发挥英语专业学生在课程学习中的自主性、灵活性、创造性和积极性。探讨以激发学生学习能动性为核心的教育思潮在英语专业课程开发及教学环节设计中的具体应用，能全面培养英语专业学生的理论认知水平、语言应用技能和基础人文素养，同时也有利于高校英语专业教师提升职业素养、转变教学理念和拓展授课模式。[1]

传统的英语专业课程教学强调教师在课堂教学活动凸显主体地位，讲授通常成为教师授课的主体模式。一堂课的多数时间，学生常常缺乏有效参与课堂进程的资源和手段。对于大多数英语专业学生而言，第二语言的习得进程即为课堂学习时专心听取授课内容，快速记录课堂笔记以及努力掌握语言知识。很多学生甚至认为第二语言习得就是各项语言要点的识记和再现。其实，每个人外语习得水平的关键差异往往不在于词汇量的大小、传统意义上的语法熟练程度或者句型的复杂多样性。譬如，作家和普通人写作层次的主要差异不在于词汇量的积累，更不取决于母语语法的掌握程度。在笔者看来，造成两者写作水平差异的主要因素之一就是语言表意能力的差别。作家以写书为职业，日常工作的主要内容是高效产出大量有意义的语篇，作家的基本素养之一就是驾驭常见的语言文字用以描绘、记叙、概括并解释现实生活中错综复杂的热点事件、生活百态和社会关系。也就是说，作家能高效运用现有语言单位，生动贴切地表述真实世界中客观存在的场景、事件或者塑造内心世界里主观构建的概念和意境。恰恰相反，普通人以阅读为爱好，业余消遣的重要途径是畅快阅读大量有情节的作品，普通人的基本素质之一就是采用常见的语言文字用以描述、总结和抒发日常生活中的事件、经历、情感和体验。也就是说，普通人的写作水准可界定为采用广泛认可的表意模式和文化内涵从而准确并清晰传递主客观世界中的事件和观念。另外，写作表达不光与语言文字的掌握程度有关，也与作者的思想密切相关。作家在社会阅历、知识经验、生活感悟等方面的积累比普通人更深厚。因此，作家的知识储备、写作素材和经历见识比普通人更丰富。总而言之，普通人对语言规律的提炼、验证和运用不如作家深刻，对背景知识、创作素材和社会文化的理解不如作家有洞察力。反映在作品上，普通人选取的创作素材相对作家而言较为枯燥、平淡，写作手法和语言运用也不如作家恰当、精准和生动。在英语专业课程教学中，笔者发现多数学生对英语语法的认知仅仅停留在用本族语描述语言规则这一层面，既不了解语法规律之间的关系，也并未意识到语法规则的生成途径。很多学生对语法规则所指代的意义和功能也缺乏基本认知。比如，很多学生可以用本族语讲述英语中定语从句的概念，但不能在语篇中准确辨识定语从句。因此，类似的语法结构在写作中极少出现。并且有相当一部分的学生在写作或口语不能正确生成定语从句。为此，笔者在英语专业课程教学中采用“以学生为主体，教师为主导”的教育模式，引导学生积极搜寻、产出和比较内嵌该语法结构的素材，启发学生提炼该语法规律的概念模型，并鼓励学生运用构建的表意模型来理解含有该语法结构的实例，进而指导学生在实践中检验并修正所提取语言规律的真实性和适用范围，并激励学生自主运用提炼的概念模型在真实语境下产出语言素材。例如，“This is an old photo of my family. Thats my father wearing a short sleeved shirt next to the dog.” 教师提问并启发学生“The word ‘thatin the second sentence is referred to as？” 学生的反馈可作为下一步构建表意模块的出发点。“‘thatis referred to as the photo. However， if ‘thatmeant the photo， the second sentence would be interpreted as the photo is my father wearing a short sleeved shirt next to the dog. In fact， my father could be anything but a photo. My father is a person， not a photo in any sense.” 教師继续引导学生解读相关语言素材并界定与指代词有关的概念模型。”My younger brother joined the spectacular parade in Virginia to commemorate Lincoln. That ignited a series of memorial concerts in honor of this American president. ‘Thatin the second sentence is referred to as the spectacular parade. Whats that in the front pocket of your dark jeans？ Its a handmade yo-yo from a craft store. ‘thatin the first sentence is referred to as an object or a thing visually perceived by the conversation starter.” 教师引导学生归纳上述指代词所对应的概念模型。“‘thatcan be referred to as a thing or an object in the context. But can ‘thatbe referred to as a person or a group of people？” 学生通过探究上述语言实例进一步拓展指代词的表意内涵。”Whos the girl dressed in blue with a writing pad in her hand？ Thats Susan， a small business owner based in Downtown Manitoba. ‘Thatis referred to as the blue wearing girl some distance from the conversation starter.” 教师指导学生完善上述指代词的表意内涵并解读最初提供的语言素材。”‘Thatmay be referred to as a person or a group of people， as the girl wearing a blue attire in the previous context. Also， ‘thatmay be referred to an object or a thing. Therefore， ‘thatfrom the first example is referred to as the person in the photo. The whole sentence can be interpreted as the person in the photo is my dad. He wore a short sleeved shirt next to the dog.” 教师通过引导学生搜寻或产出含有该指代词的定语从句，可启发她们探究内嵌此类定语从句复合句的语法模型。”Jack that works at the front desk of Hilton Garden Inn came across a rock music star at the festival. “教师首先诱导学生在语境中界定这个指代词的所指对象。”‘thatcan be referred to as a person or a thing. But in this particular context， it cant represent the front desk， a rock music star or the festival but Jack.”通过界定指代词在语境下的表意内涵，教师引导学生把含有定语从句的复杂句简化并分割。”How to break down the complex sentence and preserve its meaning？ So who works at the hotel？ Jack. As a result， Jack works at the front desk of Hilton Garden Inn. This makes perfect sense given the context. How to connect Jack to the remaining components of the complex sentence and create meaning？ Jack came across a rock music star at the festival.” 教师提示学生含有定语从句的复合句似乎可以看成是两个简单句的组合，但两者有部分内容必定产生关联。“Tiffany pointed her finger to a Calgary travelers guide brochure. I flipped through a bound copy of a collection of Shakespeares sonnets.”学生发现前后两句话没有关联，所以无法压缩为含有定语从句的复合句。但是” Tiffany pointed her finger to a Calgary travelers guide brochure. I fixed my eyes intently on the travelers guide brochure. Both sentences contain Calgary travelers guide brochure thus can be compressed into a complex sentence with an attributive clause.”教师再次引导学生用有关指代词替代句子成份并将它们合并为含有定语从句的复合句。“Now that a Calgary travelers guide brochure is a man made object and thus be substituted with ‘that， those two sentences can be compressed into a complex sentence as Tiffany pointed her finger to a Calgary travelers guide brochure that I fixed my eyes intently on.” 教师还可引导学生探究相关指代词在充当定语从句中主语或宾语时的摆放位置。在第一个例子中充当定语从句主语，紧挨指代对象并向右与部分句子成分连接成句。”Jack works at the front desk of Hotel Garden Inn. Jack is referred to as that.”在第二个例子中充当定语从句宾语，紧挨指代对象，其后句子成份向左与其连接成句。”I fixed my eyes intently on the Calgary travelers guide brochure. The Calgary travelers guide brochure is referred to as that.”最后，教师继续发挥学生的主体性，在提炼复合句中定语从句基本表意模型后，引导学生探讨语篇中定语从句的功能。学生通过细致比较不难发现，通过相关指代词生成定语从句，能指示原有简单句的人或物。与原有的简单句比较，含有定语从句的复合句可有效减少语言单位长度，使表达更简洁、精炼。学生在研究含有定语从句复杂句的拆分和合并后会发现，用生成的表意模块解读含有定语从句的复杂句，能精准领悟复杂句的含义，进而提高阅读理解的准确度和速率。同样，教师可启发学生构建其它指代词在具体语境中的指示范畴。例如“Which do you like better for main food， potatoes or rice？ Which should I take to the State Museum， Number 6 or Number 17？” 学生通过搜集、产出和归纳有关语言素材，可意识到“‘whichis referred to as A or B / A or B or C…A and B and C being things or persons. Therefore， ‘whichmay be referred to as an object or objects in an attributive clause.” 教师鼓励学生参照已归纳的含有‘that定语从句复合句的表意模型导出含有‘which定语从句复合句的表意模型。”Tom typed a lengthy email on his laptop computer which was bought last September.”通过教师指引，学生尝试把上述复合句分解为两个简单句.“Since ‘whichmay be referred to as an object. ‘whichin this case can be referred to his laptop computer. Therefore， Toms laptop computer was bought last September. Tom typed a lengthy email on his laptop computer.”教师再次引导学生架构含‘which且该指代词在定语从句中充当宾语的复合句的表意模型。“The networking system of this textile exporting company which Gregory managed to construct crashed on Thursday evening. ‘whichis referred to as the networking system， so the complex sentence can be broken down into the following two. The networking system of this textile exporting company crashed on Thursday evening. Gregory managed to construct the networking system of this textile exporting company.”学生可进一步验证该指代词在充当定语从句宾语时的摆放位置是否跟‘that 在充当定语从句宾语时的摆放位置一致。经验证，该指代词在充当定语从句宾语时紧挨指代对象，其后句子成份向左与其连接成句。教师可将学生分组并布置研讨任务，激励她们延伸原有语法表意模型从而分析含有其它指代词定语从句的复合句。例如，”Jonathan lives in a city where I spent my childhood years. Where does Mike live？ Mike lives at 183 Beach Avenue. Where did Claire see the nesting birds？ She saw the nesting birds in Tims backyard. At 183 Beach Avenue or in Tims backyard may be generalized as ‘at/in a place. Therefore， where can be further constructed as ‘at/in/on which with ‘whichbeing referred to as a location. Since where in this complex sentence may be constructed as‘in whichwith ‘which being referred to as a city， a specific location， it can be decomposed into the following two. The first one reads ‘Jonathan lives in a city. The second one reads‘I spent my childhood years in the city. Anther complex sentence built in reference to the module goes like this. This old fashioned dinner table where sparkling plates of roast potatoes were laid weighed about 50 kilograms. This complex sentence may be decomposed into two. ‘Sparkling plates of roast potatoes were laid on this old-fashioned dinner table. ‘This old-fashioned dinner table weighed about 50 kilograms. ‘whichis referred to as this old-fashioned dinner table. Where can be constructed as ‘on which.教师可在后续分组任务中引导学生构建更丰富的表意模型从而解读内含更多指代词定语从句的复合句。例如， “Patricia remembered her time when she played hockey in Canada. When did Alice leave for the international airport？ She left for the airport at 8pm. When will Brian tour Americas west coast？ He will tour Americas west coast during his annual vacation. Therefore， when is referred to as ‘in/at/during whichwith ‘whichbeing referred to as a specific point of time or a specific duration of time. So the complex sentence with the‘when attributive clause may be decomposed into the following two. ‘Patricia remembered her time. ‘She played hockey in Canada during her time. ‘whichis referred to as her time and when is constructed as ‘during which. Using this model， two simple sentences below sharing a time frame may be compressed into one complex sentence with an attributive clause containing‘when. The holiday season lasted roughly four weeks. Lora celebrated the special occasion with her close relatives in the holiday season. If ‘whenis constructed as ‘in whichwith ‘whichbeing referred to as the holiday season. The above-mentioned two simple sentences may be condensed into one complex sentence with a ‘whenattributive clause in the following. ‘The holiday season when Lora celebrated the special occasion with her close relatives lasted roughly four weeks.总而言之，学生应当在教师指导下，充分展现语言习得的主体性、探究性和实践性，学生能搜集和生成各类语法素材并提炼和归纳繁杂语法现象的一般规律。学生可建构并拓展语法规则的表意模型。学生还可探索并界定语言体系内各语法规则的转换关系。学生能使用表述模块理解蕴含语法规则的素材，能灵活生成语篇并展现语法规则的意义和功能。教师应在任务型教学中考虑不同小组的语言能力差异。对于二语习得水平较高的组别，教师可多布置一些探究型、研讨型的任务，充分激发她们的理论研究潜能。对于二语习得水平较一般的组别，教师可多布置一些兴趣型、实用型的任务，深入开发她们的概念架构能力和语言应用技巧。对于二语习得水平较弱的组别，教师可多布置一些基础型、交叉型的任务，稳步提升她们的二语习得水平和语言表述技能。[2～7]

参考文献

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[2]Ellis， R： Can Syntax Be Taught？ Applied Linguistics， 5， 2， 1984.

[3]Krashen， S： Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford： Pergamon Press， 1982.

[4]Nunan， D： The Learner-Centered Classroom. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press， 1988.

[5]郭晓英，郭洪，网络环境下大学英语写作自主学习模式研究， 《美中外语》， 2009

[6]江妮，“以教师为主导，以学生为主体”教学方式探讨，《知识窗：教师版》，2010

[7]孙国林，“教师为主导、学生为主体”教学原则的理论依据，《内蒙古教育》，2008