Present Situation of Chinese Middle School Students’ Oral English and Feasible Ways to Improve It

袁华明

【摘 要】時下，英語在国际上愈发显示出其重要性和优越性，尤其是入世以来，它在语言家族中的地位变得不可忽视。同时，英语也是世界上使用最广泛的一种语言。然而，在交往中口语又显得至关重要。本文通过分析英语口语较差的原因，提出了一些解决口语问题的途径。

【关键词】我国中学生英语口语现状；形成原因；提高途径

I. Present Situation of Chinese Middle School Students Oral English

The 21st century is filled with international competition，which is getting more and more heated. With the development of science and technology，it is easier to communicate among nations or international groups. However，the oral English ability of Chinese middle school students can not meet the needs of our country development.

To a great extent，schools are unable to endow students with good English. According to statistics，the number of graduates who speak English excellently is very small. Even for university graduates，only five percent can make it. The proportion for graduates who understand international conferences well is sixteen percent.

Ⅱ.Reasons Resulting in Oral English Barriers of Chinese Middle School Students

The phenomenon that Chinese middle school students can not speak English well，which has much to do with English teaching，has come into being.The reasons are as follows：

1.On the Guiding Ideology for English Teaching

Chinas current syllabus for English teaching shows that language is a communication tool，and that the ultimate goal of language teaching is to foster students ability for communicating in the form of writing or speaking. However，due to the limited courses，the goal of English teaching has been defined as enabling students to have good reading ability and a certain listening and translating ability，and only primary level for writing and speaking. Although students have learned English for several years，they get little listening or speaking practice. It is obvious that this kind of students are unable to express freely in English.

2.On Teaching Practice

The feature of English teaching at middle school is that there are too many points to teach，which include reading，listening，grammar，and so on. In addition，the important knowledge points are grammar and phrase explanation. And the students take notes seriously. So Chinese students rarely open their mouths to speak.

Any more，in reality listening and speaking often assist each other，while in todays Chinese classes，they are separated by the teacher. In listening class，the teacher plays the recording，and after that the students make choices. If any student could not understand，the teacher would explain. This kind of practice is much less effective than that in realistic communication.

Thirdly，Chinas students have few chances to communicate with the people from English-speaking countries. Although teachers sometimes create a few model activities，yet they are unrealistic，after all. If an oral activity is held，the dialogues have to be between the teacher and one student or more. Consequently，other students have no chance to speak；if divided into several groups，the whole class will be out of control and their mistakes can not be corrected at once，even ignored.

Ⅲ.Feasible Ways to Improve Oral English

1. Laying a Good Foundation for Pronunciation

Pronunciation is the most important basic skill for learning English well. If we can not pronounce the words correctly，we shall find difficulty in improving our listening. So its necessary for the teacher to impart some knowledge about phonetics. The teacher can compare a couple of phonemes to observe the positions of the lips，the teeth and the tongue.

2. Reading Aloud and Imitating

Reading aloud is an important link and effective measure for fostering students sense of language and intensifying the ability of listening and speaking. Besides this，imitation ability is also crucial to English learning. Imitation can also develop the organs for pronunciation，which makes the students speak fluent and standard English.

3. Making Use of English Corner，English Radio and English Films or Songs

The major task of English learning is to make the students master the language，which should be practiced again and again in different kinds of language circumstances. For this reason，the teacher should broaden English teaching out of class and make full use of the after-school time. For example，the teacher could make it a rule that every student should read English aloud in the morning；and holding an English Speech Contest is also necessary. The teacher can also ask the students to listen to a certain program during a certain period. Moreover，listening to English songs is helpful to increase English learners interest in language，too.

Conclusion

The key to driving ahead the teaching reform is the teacher. What the teacher should do is to change the out-of-date ideas. In addition，they are supposed to analyze and summarize the teaching experience，and improve their teaching methods to elevate students oral English.

參考文獻

[1]Brown，H.D.1994，Principles of Language Learning and Teaching

[2]Widdowson，H.G.1978，Teaching Language as Communication. Oxford University Press

[3]戴炜栋，束定芳，1994，试论影响外语习得的若干重要因素

[4]何自然，1997，《语用学与英语学习》。上海外语教育出版社