Applications of Teaching Strategies in English Classroom

【摘要】這篇文章詳細描述了英語課堂教學策略及其實用性，供廣大英語教師在教學過程中參考和共同探討，對英語教師提高英語課的教學質量和教學水平有一定的幫助。

【關鍵詞】英語課堂；教學策略；實用性；提高；教學能力；教學水平

【Abstract】This article mainly talk about the English teaching strategies and their applications in English classroom.It is mainly offered to the English teachers to reference in their teaching process and it is useful for them to improve their teaching level.

【Key words】English classroom； teaching strategies； applications improve； teaching ability； teaching level

【作者簡介】資燦，云南水利水電職業學院。

Introduction：Considering their characteristics， teaching strategies can be devided into two parts. One is lesson-universal teaching strategy and the other is lesson-specific teaching strategy. Each type of strategies can further be divided into micro teaching strategies， which pose principles for classroom instruction and are formed by specific techniques for the applications of the principles.

I. Lesson-universal teaching strategies

Lesson-universal teaching strategy refers to those strategies applicable to all kinds of lessons. For any type of lesson， whether reading， or speaking or writing， even revision. The teacher should plan beforehand， manage the class， inspire the students and evaluate the students performance. So strategies concerning instruction in these aspects can be classified as universal strategies， mainly consisting of managing strategies， motivating strategies， planning strategies， questioning strategies and evaluating strategies.

1. managing strategies：Usually， managing strategies concern the role the teachers play， the way instruction is given， the management of classroom activities， and the interaction model to apply. Principles to follow may include“right interaction model”， “proper instruction”， “all-sided involvement”， “proper timing”， “suitable seating”， and“dealing with inattentive students”. Techniques for effective classroom management may include“one-minute paper”， “planned participation”， “assigned participation”.

2. motivating strategies：Motivating strategies also fall into two types， macro and micro motivating strategies， that is， principles to follow and the techniques to use. Generally speaking principles consist of“self-determination

principle”， “self-esteem principle”， “pleasant learning principle”， “external reinforcement principle”， “variety principle”， and“feeding back principle”. There may be“newsroom”， “pick your points”， “check it out”， “kid question”， “know-want-learned listing”， “reflective participation”， “one-hour book”， “brainstorming”， “silent solutions”， “anticipation guide”and so on.

3. Questioning strategies：Questioning is the most common classroom interaction and the most influential art of teaching. Strategic questioning can arouse and stimulate the students imagination， motivate them to search out new knowledge. It can make the students think and help them clarify concepts and problems related to the lesson. The type of questions asked and students response will affect the instruction， which will then affect the whole teaching process. Thus， it is necessary for teachers to master an array of techniques for effective questioning in class. Like other teaching strategies， questioning strategies also concern two categories. One is the guidelines for questioning. The other is the techniques to use. Considering the process of question， taking the guidelines into account， there are mainly four types of questioning strategies：question-planning strategies， question-designing strategies， question-monitoring strategies and question-evaluating strategies， each is subordinated by several techniques for application.

For fulfillment of question-planning， there are“deciding on the goal or purpose for asking questions”， “selecting content for questioning”， “phrasing the questions”， “anticipating problems”and“written questions”. For fulfillment of question designing， there are“simplifying”， “moderating”， “asking thought-provoking questions”， “asking challenging questions”， “asking follow-up questions”， “asking questions relevant to students”， and asking“divergent questions”. For fulfillment of monitoring， there are“sequencing”， “nominating after the question”， “nominating non-volunteers”， and“directing attention toall”. For fulfillment of evaluation， there are“praising”， “encouraging”， “quoting”， and “gesturing”.

4. Evaluating strategies：Classroom assessment is one of the effective monitoring strategies of classroom instruction. It can make the learning process visible， provide teachers and students with information and insights needed to improve teaching effectiveness and learning quality， it can help improve studentslearning strategies and study habits in order to become more independent， successful learners. Classroom assessment is usually non-graded and anonymous. It differs from tests and other forms of students assessment in that it is aimed at course improment， rather than at assigning grades. The primary goal is to better understand studentslearning and so to improve teaching. It is learners-centered， teacher-directed， mutually beneficial， formative， and context-specific. To conduct effective evaluation， there are several principles to observe， which constitute the meta teaching strategies. Principles include“objective principle”， “process principle”， “efficiency principle”， “feedback principle”and“variety principle”. Techniques applicable may include“minute paper”， “one-sentence summary”， “student-generated test questions”， “performance monitor”， “reflecting on performance”and“assessing predictions”.

5. Planning teaching strategiesTo achieve any purpose， plan beforehand. You may succeed， or you may fail. So sufficient preparation before class is necessary. Good planning is the key to the achievement of teaching objectives. To well plan ones lesson， one must have： （1）a good command of the whole course： 1）Good knowledge of the syllabus， 2）Good knowledge of the course book， 3）Good knowledge of approaches， 4）Good knowledge of learners. （2）a scientific arrangement of lesson planning 1）Deciding on suitable objectives， both linguistic， communicative and strategic， 2）Adapt the course materials， leaving some， adapting some， replacing some teaching materials and adding some teaching materials， 3）Focus on the process of classroom instruction， 4）Anticipate teaching problems and prepare for solutions.

II. lesson-specific teaching strategies

1. vocabulary teaching strategies：If structure is the skeleton of language， vocabulary is then the organ andflesh. Vocabulary is the base for second language acquisition. Vocabulary learning and memory has always been one of the major problems for second language learners. Thus， effective vocabulary instruction is a prerequisite for second language acquisition. Vocabulary teaching strategies consist of principles may for vocabulary instruction and techniques to apply. The principles may involve selection of approaches， and selection of vocabulary for practice， and also there are application principle and feedback principle. Vocabulary instruction is usually composed of three stages：presentation， practice and evaluation. So techniques used at each stage also vary. At the presentation stage， there may be“vocabulary web”， “information gap”， “vocabulary discovery”， “vocabulary questions”， “mutimedia presention”. At the practice stage， techniques applicable my include“vocabulary tour”， “vocabulary rush”， “chain story”， “demonstrate the past”， and“cross association”. At the evaluation stage， one can apply techniques like“text revision”， “pair evaluation”， “student test”， and so on.

2. reading teaching strategies：The objective of reading instruction is to train fluent readers. And as the study of fluent readers reveals， automatic decoding， necessary background knowledge， and right reading strategies are very important. So reading instruction should aim at cultivating these qualities. Concerning the factors affecting reading instruction， like background knowledge， vocabulary， structure， interest， reading strategies， and the type of instruction， reading teaching strategies should first point to principles like appropriate approaches， whether it is top-down， bottom-up， or interactive， As far as micro strategies are concerned， there may be“CSR-Collaborative Strategic Reading”， “reciprocal reading”， “peer tutoring”， “pair reading”， “self-access reading”， “questioning the author”， “press conference”， and“pictured story”.

3. listening and speaking teaching strategies：Listening and speaking are the two most important skills for language communication. They form the major part of the communicative competence， which language teaching aims to cultivate. Thus， effective instruction in listening and speaking lessons are critical. Considering the factors affecting listening and speaking， drawing on the characteristics of natural oral communication， several principles are derived as“stimulating motivation for listening and speaking activities”， “selecting appropriate approaches”， “scientifically arranging teaching procedures”， “deciding on appropriate tasks”， “selecting proper materials”and so on. Based on the principles， several techniques have been proposed like“title exploration”， “summary choice”， “sequencing”， and“compound dictation”for listening， and“picture sequence”， “find your partner”， “flow-chart”， “role card play”， “picture gap”， “half-dialogue”，“chain-retelling”“think-pair-share”， “talking circle”， “interview”， “panel discussion”and“debating”for speaking.

4. writing teaching strategies：Writing， together with speaking， constitute the terminal goal of language teaching. To train fluent writing ability is one of the objectives of classroom instruction. To conduct writing instruction， there are several approaches developed：the content-oriented approach， the product-oriented approach， the process-oriented approach and the communication-oriented approach. But to which approach should the teacher apply， there are many factors to consider and principles to follow. Among the principles to follow， which we treat as strategies， there are authentication of writing， process of writing， clear requirements for each stage， communication of writing， intergrating writing with other activities， assessing both production and process， skill training， encouraging for free writing and so on. Based on these principles， the teacher can create his own techniques like“jumbled sentences”， “parallel writing”， “jumbled story”， “flow-chart dialogue writing”， “framework writing”， “picture sequence writing”and“unwritten dialogue”.

5. grammar teaching strategies：Grammar instruction has always been a focus in foreign language teaching， with Grammar-translation Method being the most characteristic. Even in modern language pedagogy， when the focus of education is shifting to developing communicative competence and cultivating learner autonomy， grammar instruction is still indispensable. But there is always heated debate as to whether grammar should be approached explicitly or implicity. Considering the characteristic of the learning process， some argue for the combibation of both. But learners are different in learning styles and have different demands for grammar knpwledge. So grammar teaching strategies require the conformation to the following principles in language teaching：“motivating principle”， “efficient principle”， “variety principle”， “whole-sidedness principle”， “procedure principle”， “communication principle”and “means principle”.

III. Other English Teaching Methodologies

1. Teaching English through videos： There are two types of video that can be used in the classroom. The first is the instructional video， which has been created for use in classroom or in other educational settings and has additional advantages. It is likely to already have been evaluated for language， content， and length. The second type is the authentic video or videos produced for the entertainment of native English speakers， which include； films， documentary films， television programs and news broadcasts. Using videos in the classroom can facilitate the process of learning a foreign language. It helps the learners improve their language skills. By using videos for this purpose the teacher can easily provide students with rich topics to talk about， different real-life situations， and a highstandard of language， as spoken by native speakers.

However， when usingvideos in the language classroom， the teachers role is essential in making it possible for the students to make full use of the video to improve their language and communication skills. The teacher is also responsible for keeping the whole process under control so that the session will not turn into some kind of “film club” where the students only concentate on watching the actionrather than learning new language structures. Using videos in language classes can benefit the learners and boost their language skills， especially listening and speaking. Someone thinks that it is very difficult to study English. In fact， listening and speaking are the problem in English. If listening and speaking problem are solved， it will be very easy to study English. Students really enjoy watching movies and TV， because they can get exposure to natural language in a non-threaten-setting. Videosdirect students attention to the different learning styles because they combine two elements， which is visual and audio， some student can learn better when they can “see” and “listen”rather than read and write.

2. Teaching English through Internet：With the development of information technology， we have stepped into a new age of information. There are more and more English courses on line. All kinks of websites have provided a large amount of English teaching and learning materials. The teachers can use long-distance teaching system through Internet， that is， they neednt go to school and they can teach students to learn English at home through computers. They can give on-line announcements， assign homework and correct on line. Teachers and students neednt to meet each other. Teachers can finish their teaching and students can finish their learning. This has greatly saved time and on-line teaching and learning are both convenient. The studentsautonomy has also greatly improved. On-line English courses have great adavantages：they have audios and videos and other materials. They are vivid and have greatly stimulated the studentslearning interest. We can use more and more on-line English courses. This is a big trend in the future. English teaching and learning will become a kind of unlimited teaching and learning. We can teach English and learn English at any time and any place.

Conclusion：No matter what English teaching strategies you use in classroom instruction， you should consider each students different situation. Because the English learners English level is different in the same class. This will bring many difficulties in English teaching. I think the most important thing is to stimulate the students interest， as the old saying goes“Interest is the best teacher to all students”. No matter what approaches we use， we shoul try our best to cultivate the students English learning interest. In addition， we should use some modern teaching approaches， such as media， internet， video and audio materials.

As we know， the Chinese English- teaching teachers and researchers have been looking for the best method for English teaching in China for many years. Different methods and approacheshave been introduced， tried out and found unsatisfactory among them： the Direct method in the early decades of the 20th century， Situational Method in the 1960s， Audio-lingual Method in the 1970s， and Communication approach inthe 1980s. The method chosen must be done according to the students practical needs， their learning style， their age and interest， their native language， and other factors， because all these factors decide whether our teaching will be successful or not. In Chinese， we should “因材施教，因地制宜。”

References：

[1]Sun Yaling，Standard Research of Effective Classroom Instruction， 2004.

[2]Lu Ziwen，Effective Strategic Analysis of English Improvement， 2009.

[3]Huang Yuanzhen，Teaching and Learning of New Course English， 2003.