例析高中英语阅读教学中设问的有效性
2018-04-14卢潇潇王若尘
◎卢潇潇 王若尘
一、前言
《普通高中英语课程标准》明确指出,高中英语阅读教学的目的是在进一步发展学生综合语言运用能力的基础上,着重提高学生用英语获取信息、处理信息、分析问题和解决问题的能力,特别注重提高学生用英语进行思维和表达的能力。在常规的阅读教学过程中,教师通常要设计一系列的问题来引导学生对文本内容进行疏通和理解,对文本语言进行感知和运用,并对作者的观点、写作意图、情感态度和文化背景等进行分析、综合和评价,开展较高层次的思维活动,培养学生的评判性思维能力。因此,如何合理有效地设计问题就成了阅读教学的核心,也是我们教师在不断探究和努力的主题。
以下是在某课堂教学评比中开出的一节阅读课,以此为例,来共同探讨和分享在阅读教学设计中如何把握问题的主线、层次和思维意识,引导学生有效地阅读。
二、课例呈现
1.教材分析 阅读材料是是一篇夹叙夹议的文章“Before They were Famous”,作者首先以一个小故事吸引眼球并自然导入话题:好莱坞有不少明星成名前都干过平凡的工作,并且举了许多例子来证明这是一个事实。然后通过两个例子来分析为什么说这种经历对他们之后的成功起着重要作用。最后以一句看似轻松幽默的玩笑话结尾,实则表达自己的观点:不管你现在多么的平凡,但只要你肯努力,有梦想,就一定能成功。文章的语言和内容并不难懂,但是学生很难读懂这些例子的背后作者实际要传达的信息。因此,本节课阅读教学的主要目标就是使学生能理解作者举例的目的,读出作者对于成功的观点,并学习文章的框架结构。同时,这也为下一步的写作奠定了内容和结构的基础。
2.教学设计及意图分析 Step1:Lead in
Q1:Who is your favorite star?
Q2:Do you know anything about him/her before he/she was famous?
Step2:Predict
Q3:What questions will you have when you see the title?
Step3:Reading
Task1:Fill in the table
Here is a table to help solve these two questions.Go through the textand fill in the table.
“They”refer to Whatdid they do before becoming famous ?Dustin Hoffman Carpenter Model Roseanne Barr Ewan Mcgregor Bellman Michael Caine
Task 2:Study the“Transitional Sentence”
Q4:Why are there somany names in one paragraph?What does thewriterwant to prove to us?
通过以上问题,引出主题句:Hoffman isn’t the only Hollywood starwho made a living from ordinary jobs before becoming famous.紧接着,问学生:
Q5:If a paragraph beginswith this sentence,what do you expect to read next?
Q6:How many examples arementioned in paragraph 5?
Q7:Ifwe want to know something about Hoffman,where can we find it?
Task 3:Learn from three stories
Story 1:(Paragraph 1-4)
Q8:Who is that nervous-looking waiter?
Q9:Why was he nervous?
Q10:Why did he tell Spiegel thathewasactually an actor?Was he lucky?How do you know?
Q11:Did Hoffman choose to accept it?How do you know?
Q12:If you were Dustin Hoffman,what advice would you give to those who want to be successful?
Story 2:(Paragraph 6)
Q13:Did Hanks love his job as a bellman?How do you know?
Q14:Is this experience useful in his acting career?How do you know?
Q15:If you were Hanks,what advice would you give to people who are doing ordinary jobs butwant to be successful?
Story 3:(Paragraph 7)
Q16:Did Caine like his experience as a soldier or not?
Q17:Is it useful in Caine’s future career?How do you know?
Q18:If you were Caine,what advice would you give to people who are undergoing/having unpleasant experience?
Task 4:The function of the last paragraph
Step4:Voice your opinion
There are lots of factors for success,for example,love for what you do,experiences,luck,hard work,holding to your dream,and appearance,etc.Which one do you think is the most important factor for success?Discuss in groups of four.Choose a reporter first.Then decide which factor is the most important factor for success.Here is a structure for your report.
Step 5:Sum up
We have learned something about success-----Always follow your dream.Love what you do.Early experience is a great fortune.We have also learned about the structure of a good writing.
Step 6:Assignment
1.Read Jobs’speech“Stay Hungry,Stay Foolish”,underline sentences you agreemost.
2.Write an essay with the title“The Key Factors for Success”.
Requirements:At least two key factors;With topic sentences in the essay;Give examples to support your idea;You can quote one or two sentences from Steve Jobs’speech.
三、问题设计的有效性分析
通过以上课例发现,授课教师通过18个问题将学生一步步领进了阅读世界,从读前的预测、读中的信息梳理、读后的思维延伸环节,每个问题的设计恰到好处,不仅围绕标题的核心“before”“famous”,突出主线,而且每个问题在思维层面逐渐深入,具有梯度和层次,更重要的是教师能从评判性思维的角度出发设计问题,帮助学生理解文本,思考和关注文本背后的信息,更能与作者进行心灵交汇,形成自己的见解和观点。具体表现在:
1.问题设计的主线意识 阅读教学是教师帮助学生理解文本、拓展内涵、发展思维的过程,这个过程是整体的连续进展的,教师首先要从整体上把握文本的“脉络”,循着脉络发展设计问题,问题要凸显整节阅读课的核心主线,既要顾及段落主题,又要关注到主体段落之间的适度联系。尤其在文本梳理过程中,一条贯穿始终的主线,尤为重要。清晰明朗的主线可以将原本看似孤立的文字串联,便于学生更快速、更全面地理解文本,使阅读过程更有意义。
而在上述课例中,教师从文本结构和信息内容这个角度出发,围绕标题“Before they were famous”,聚焦“before”“they”“famous”三个核心词汇,引出文本中的“they”,获取“before”的故事内容,挖掘和剖析“famous”的原因,通过问题链,引导学生对文本主线进行提炼,有效梳理文本内容,让学生对作者的行文结构一目了然:
Para 1-4:A story to introduce the topic
Para 5:A topic sentence to introduce 4 other examples
Para 6:A pleasant experience
Para 7:An unpleasant experience
Para 8:A sentence to sum up
这样,学生在问答问题的同时,也对整篇文章的结构内容有整体的概念和深刻的理解,自然能够为有效地阅读奠定基础。
2.问题设计的层次梯度 阅读是从文本、到作者、再到读者的解读过程。学生首先要获取文本所呈现的表层信息,通过表层信息来挖掘作者背后的写作意图及观点立场,最后才能形成自己的意识,成为评判性读者,达到阅读的目的。在这个课例中,教师能够按照学生的认知发展规律,从读前预测、读中文本信息的梳理、到读后的延伸,在问题设计时层层递进,从事实性问题、到推断性问题、再到开放性问题,环环相扣,水到渠成。尤其在分析文本中的三个小故事时,问题设计特别到位,让学生有充分的时间和空间去思考作者的写作意图,帮助学生更准确地理解文本的内涵。
例如,教师在引领学生分析第一个故事(Dustin Hoffman当餐厅招待时,偶遇著名制作人Spiegel,紧张地自我介绍,渴望得到赏识,结果却被无情地泼了一头冷水。但是他并未就此放弃梦想,最终凭借努力两次获得奥斯卡奖,成为一名好莱坞巨星。),设计的问题如下:
Q1:Who is that nervous-looking youngman?
Q2:Why was he so nervous?
Q3:Why did he tell Spiegel that he was actually an actor?
Q4:Was he lucky?How do you know?
Q5:Did Hoffman choose to accept it?How do you know?
Q6:If you were Hoffman,what advice would you give to those who are now doing ordinary jobs butwant to be successful?
看似简单的6个问题巧妙地形成了一组问题链,环环相扣,层层推进。每一个问题都是下一个问题的铺垫,下一个问题则是前一个问题的延伸。这些问题可以分成三大类别:事实性问题,推断性问题和开放性问题。这三类问题体现了思维层次上由浅入深的递进。教师所问的最后一个问题才是这个环节的关键,但是如果没有前几个问题的铺垫,最后一个问题对大多学生而言难度太高。教师通过精心设计的问题链,巧妙地搭建支架,在思维层面不露痕迹地引导学生,最终大多数学生都能理解故事背后的含义和作者真实的写作意图。
3.问题设计的思维含量 授课教师在整个教学设计过程中非常关注问题的思维含量。在读前阶段,结合学生原有认知,围绕文本话题设计核心主线,通过环环相扣的问题设计引导学生思维,帮助学生梳理文本,构建有效信息。在读后阶段,基于学生对文本信息的获取和理解,从文本语言、信息、结构、写作意图及读者情感等多个角度引导学生对文本进行分析、综合和评价,并引导学生从文本中找到足够的证据来证明自己的观点,避免盲目拓展和主观臆断,培养学生全方位、多角度、深层次的评判性思维能力,成为有力的评判者。
例如,文中第五段首句Hoffman isn’t the only Hollywood starwhomade a living from ordinary jobs before becoming famous是一个功能句。该句既总结了上文,又归纳了本段内容,是上下文的衔接。关注此句能帮助学生更好更快地理解阅读文章的内容,在写作中使用这种句子能使上下文更加连贯。那该如何引导学生关注该句,发现该句的功能,并且学习该写作技巧呢?教师在处理此结构时设问如下:
Q1:Why are there somany names in one paragraph?
Q2:What does the writer want to show to us?
Q3:Can you sum up themain idea of this paragraph based on this sentence?
Q4:So this sentence is the topic sentencewhich tells usmain idea of this paragraph.Ifwe want to know something about Hoffman,where can we find it?Which paragraphs?
T:So this sentence shows the main idea of paragraph1 to 4 and paragraph5.In English,it is called transitional sentence.
又如:在处理文本第六、七两段的故事内容时,教师设问如下:
Q1:Did Hanks love his job as a bellman?How do you know?
Q2:Is this experience useful in his acting career?How do you know?
Q3:If you were Hanks,what advice would you give to people who are doing ordinary jobs butwant to be successful?
Q4:Did Caine like his experience as a soldier or not?
Q5:Is it useful in Caine’s future career?How do you know?
Q6:If you were Caine,what advice would you give to people who are having unpleasant experience?
这些问题都能激发学生结合文本信息和自己的观点,全方位、多角度、深层次地去思考文本内容所折射的寓意,让学生真正进入阅读的思维空间,发展和培养他们的高阶思维能力。
四、结束语
总之,阅读教学是帮助学生理解文本、拓展内涵和发展思维的过程,只要我们教师能够利用好文本,挖掘其内涵,通过精心的问题设计,引导学生走进文本,走进作者的内心世界,了解作者的写作意图,形成自己的观点和见解,才能真正激发和培养学生的自主学习意识和评判性思维能力,体现阅读的价值所在。
参考文献:
[1]教育部:《普通高中英语课程标准(实验)》,人民教育出版社,2003年。
[2]梁美珍等:《英语阅读教学中的问题设计:评判性阅读视角》,浙江大学出版社,2013年。