1、the application of roleplay in junior english teaching 试论角色扮演在初中英语教学中的应用资料The Application of Role-play in Junior English TeachingIntroductionThe ultimate goal of foreign language teaching is to enable the students to use the foreign language in work or life when necessary. But the present practice i
2、n the English learning & teaching (ELT) classroom in China could not provide satisfactory conditions for both teachers and students to achieve the goals by the traditional teaching model. How to make English learners feel the real language situation and context when learning English is worth studyin
3、g. Role-play is an effective way to make English learners reach the goal. This paper aims to attempt to study the application of role-play activities in junior English classroom.Before the discussion of the application of role-play in junior English teaching, the writer wants to do a brief introduct
4、ion about role-play. Role-play is a learning activity in which you behave in the way somebody else would behave in a particular situation from the OXFORD Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary. In pedagogy, it is a common language learning activity where students play different roles and inter
5、act from the point of view of the roles they play. As everyone knows, most of junior students are tired of English for remembering words or grammar. VanMents (1989) in his book claimed that a major advantage of role-play was that “it was highly motivating and gave students simple, direct and rapid f
6、eedback”So role-play activities can highly motivate students interest. In role-play activities, students are encouraged to actively participate in activities that are designed to promote the use of the language. Role-play activities provide students opportunities to practise English in a safe and re
7、laxed atmosphere. In fact, role-play has been one of the effective ways especially in English teaching.This paper consists of three parts： Part 1 is the causes of using role-play in junior English teaching, Part 2 is the application of role-play in junior English teaching and Part 3 is the important
8、 points in role-play in junior English teaching. Lets study them step by step through this paper.1The causes of using role-play in junior English teaching1.1 The current situation of English teachingThe current situation of English teaching in junior high schools English teachers may often get chanc
9、es to see an English lesson taught either by their colleagues or by other English teachers. The following phenomena are observed to quite common in the junior English classroom in many places in china. The teacher enjoys performing on the stage while the students act as good mannered audiences, list
10、ening to the teacher carefully and quietly, copying important notes from the blackboard into their notebooks. The teacher asks questions, and students raise their hands and answer them. Sometimes to make the class look lively and interactively, the teacher asks some pairs or groups to come to the fr
11、ont to act out a dialogue or put on a short play. But the rest of the class watch the performance, and give a warm clap at the end of it. This is a very typical lesson in the junior English room. But in fact, many students just listen or write down important information in the English class or answe
12、r questions together. In recent classes, the students utterance is no more than “yes”, “no” or only a few words. Besides that, we cant neglect another common phenomena that many students high scores in written English exams do not match their competence in using English. Current English teaching foc
13、uses too much on language knowledge such as words, grammar For example, in teaching reading: at the post reading stage of reading teaching, teachers often rely upon reading aloud, asking comprehension questions, Sometimes even sentence by sentence translation is conducted. And then focus out those g
14、rammars and new words to let students copy down to remember. Maybe we can consider these activities inadequate to fulfill the task of developing learning. But the teacher ignored to provide the students with opportunities to use them.Consequently students spend most time memorizing the so called lan
15、guage points and practising them in multiple-choice exercises, rather than using language in a real and authentic way.2.2 The New Curriculum Standards stress students-centered teaching activitiesWith the New Curriculum reformation going on in China, more and more English teachers are realizing that
16、the traditional teacher-dominated classroom should be replaced by the student-centered one. New Curriculum Standards stresses student-centered teaching activities. It is recommended that English teachers should adopt pleasing and active teaching methodologies to stimulate students interests, build u
17、p their language competence and eventually promote their ideation, imagination and creation. An increasing number of English teachers have realized the importance of changing their teaching methodologies to meet the requirements of the New Curriculum Standards. So teachers roles should shift from th
18、e traditional knowledge provider and activity controller to the learning facilitator, classroom supervisor and participator. On the other words, the teacher should give more time to students and let students to be the owner of the classes and the teacher should pay more attention to the language pra
19、ctice than the language introduction. At the same time, many Chinese scholars point out many problems to find new teaching ways. “The major problem is how to balance a relaxed learning atmosphere with the achievement of better grades in English examinations within necessarily limited classroom time”
20、 (Du Minghuan, 2006:1). “The teaching of English in junior school has not been given enough attention and there are actual difficulties in the teaching work, such as the environment of English-study is not ideal enough, the opportunities of hearing English is quite few, the influence of the number o
21、f the classmates, the influence of mental state of the students, etc.”(Li Yun, 2006:4). According to these problems about our countries junior English teaching, strengthen the training of the language knowledge is not the only way to get the goal. Role-play can help students and teachers a lot. Role
22、-play uses different communicative techniques and develops fluently in language use, promotes interaction in the classroom, makes teaching material live and increases motivation. There is a simple example. When students learn to greet others by English ways, the teacher can give students some differ
23、ent roles to practise so that students can remember this new knowledge instead of reciting them many times. Here peer learning is encouraged between teachers and learners in the learning process takes place.The idea behind using role-play as a pedagogical tool relies on the proverb that experience i
24、s the best teacher. It means that students must apply language in the classes. However, role-play is not just including playing some shows. It has been refer to many areas, the main form of role-play in teaching English are talking, interview and free role plays.2. The application of role-play in ju
25、nior English classes2.1 The first main form of role-play - talking2.1.1 Training the students spirit of cooperationTalking means conversation or discussion. Talking is one of the role-play to train the students spirit of cooperation. It needs two or more than two students in talking. So in teaching,
26、 talking can be divided two ways: pair work and group work. Many times the talk is based on a dialogue or text from books. So the role-play can give students a chance to use the language they learned just now in class. Here is a typical sample in junior English teaching. I did it with students in Ta
27、ng Hu Middle School Class14 Grade1 on September 21st, 2009.- Good morning/afternoon/evening, Helen.- Good morning/afternoon/evening, Alice.- Hi, Bob.- Hello, Frank. (From Unit 1 in Go for It on Page3)About this conversation, the teacher greets students one by one, and then gives students every situa
28、tion which is “morning”, “afternoon”, “evening”. At the same time, students can do a pair work which greet their partners. In this small activity, students can act as a foreigner to greet their friends. This small pair work not only can let students get new knowledge with unconsciousness but also ca
29、n let students know how to work with a single one or greet others by different sentences in different situations.Another sample for group-work we finished with students in Tang Hu Middle School Class14 Grade1 on September 29th, 2009.Dear Feifei,Please take these things to your sister: her hat, watch
30、, notebook, keys and ID card. The hat is on the dresser. The watch is under the bed. The notebook is on the bed. The keys are in the drawer. The ID card is on the table. Thanks, Grandma (From Unit 4 in Go for It on Page23)Under the guide of role-play plan, the teacher asks students to read through t
31、his note in order to get the main information, firstly. Next let them close their books and talk in a group to fill these blanks. At this point, teacher should take good preparations, like the following column.objectsplaceStudents should think these blanks and discuss with each other to find the ans
32、wers. And then let students try to find the main forms for a note in a group. After that, the teacher will call three students to the front, one is Feifei, another is Grandpa to ask and answer, the third students will try to draw out their description. At last, students will get free time to practice in a group. Though group work, students will feel how to play a role to communicate with others by useful information and to grasp important information. These jobs we discussed look like practising under teachers controlled, but they also give students chances to act
