Current Situation and Countermeasure of English Class in Secondary Vocational Schools

2019-09-16曹丛丛

校园英语·中旬 2019年7期

【Abstract】English is an important basic course in secondary vocational colleges. The teaching purpose is to cultivate students comprehensive ability of English and enable them to communicate in simple daily communication and to learn the professional skills in English. So far， the situation of English class in secondary vocational schools is not optimistic. In order to improve the efficiency of English learning and the quality of teaching， teachers need to carry out a series of countermeasures. This paper analyses the current situation of English curriculum for secondary vocational students and provides corresponding countermeasures， so as to improve the efficiency of English class and the quality of teaching.

【Key words】English curriculum; class efficiency; current situation; Countermeasures

【作者簡介】曹丛丛，三亚理工职业学院。

The learning of English course in secondary vocational schools enables students to master certain basic knowledge and skills of English， and at the same time， it also cultivates students English application ability in daily life and professional scene， and to cultivate listening and speaking skills. However， up to now， most of the students in English classes in secondary vocational schools have weak English foundation and incorrect learning attitude; most of them do not realize the importance of English learning and are bored with English learning; students are not disciplined enough to play with mobile phones， sleep and read extra-curricular books in class; after class， they will spend all night surfing the Internet， playing games. As a result， a vicious circle of less learning， less interest and worse English achievement has been formed; In addition， students have a negative burnout mentality and do not want to make progress. They think that they have not learned English well in middle school and have no way to start in secondary vocational school.

However， English learning is a process that needs long-term accumulation and repeated consolidation. Students efforts in peacetime are necessary to ensure the effectiveness of English learning. In view of the above situation， how to change the current situation of secondary vocational students learning English， cultivate students interest in learning English， and make students change from “tired of learning” to “willing to learn”， teachers need to take corresponding countermeasures.

1. To realize class transition based on ARCS motivation design model

ARCS model is a teaching design model proposed by Professor John M. Keller of Florida State University in the 1980s. The so-called ARCS is written by the initials of Attention， Relevance， Confidence and Satisfaction. Secondary vocational English class can be designed according to this model， so as to improve class efficiency.

The practical exploration of ARCS model in English classroom is as follows：

1.1 Attention. In the warming-up section of each lesson， students are attracted by using familiar cartoons or interesting English drawing books.

1.2 Relevance. It is an effective strategy in English teaching that students are often asked to find out what is related to themselves from the knowledge modules they have learnt. This kind of “relevance” is used to maintain students learning motivation.

1.3 Confidence. Teachers should try their best to make the contents and activities of English classes hierarchical and build up students self-confidence in classroom practice with different degrees of difficulty and ease.

1.4 Satisfaction. In the course of classroom practice， teachers should use monitor communication task， performance， deal with sensitively with students mistakes to give feedback and motivate students so that students can reach a satisfactory state.

2. To implement effective incentive mechanism during class

During class， we should pay attention to enhancing the interesting of teaching content， and try our best to use rich teaching methods such as physical objects， pictures and multimedia， so as to transform abstract and boring learning content into interesting dynamic content and enhance visual quality.

We can also set up some teaching activities with extra credits， such as group teaching， group cooperation， group competition to answer questions， or weekly championship， monthly championship， teachers comments at the end of the semester， supported by incentive rules.

3. To emphasize the practicability of English learning and combine English teaching with students professional knowledge

Teachers should pay attention to the practicability of English learning and take into account the particularity of students sources， make boring knowledge interesting， simplify difficult knowledge， and make the key content of learning clear. Apart from the basic English knowledge taught in each class， teachers should make it clear that the content that they teach should serve students employment and effectively combine English with employment. English learning in secondary vocational schools should generally be practical， and students classroom learning and employment should be effectively combined to achieve a win-win effect.

4. To reform of assessment methods

The purpose of English teaching evaluation is to provide timely feedback to teachers and students through the evaluation of students learning process and effectiveness， so as to help teachers improve teaching and promote students development.

5.1 The necessity of reforming assessment method

Traditional written test evaluation is very difficult for students to examine the flexible use of language and the actual expression， and the lack of evaluation of the thinking process will lead to students belittling of the thinking process. Oral English competence test requires students to strengthen their English thinking ability and find their own shortcomings in English input， so as to enhance information intake in future learning， so that learning and assessment can complement each other. This kind of procedural assessment can effectively urge students to review in time， effectively grasp what they have learned， improve the learning effect and apply what they have learned.

5.2 To reform examination method

（1） To Change the final assessment into procedural assessment. At present， the English scores of secondary vocational school are generally composed of three parts： the usual scores， the mid-term scores and the final scores. Mid-term and final examinations are closed papers in written form. Through previous examinations， it is found that students test results are not ideal. Usually， a large number of students fail to pass the examination .However， both mid-term and final examinations are written examinations. The first half of the mid-term examinations are seldom involved in the final examinations， which will artificially affect the continuity of language learning. Therefore， this form can not effectively and reasonably reflect the students learning level. And the starting point of secondary school English is to better enable students to choose jobs， employment， so vocational school English learning should focus on practicality.

（2） To change written examination into oral examination.

Reforming the written examination of the English course in secondary vocational school into a procedural one， focusing on the practical ability of students oral expression， is more in line with the current level of students English mastery. The original written examination was changed to oral examination， the original midterm and final examinations were changed to monthly examinations， and the results of comprehensive monthly examinations were converted to final results. Specific implementation methods are as follows： the teacher will extract 60-80 words and 30-40 sentences from the contents of each month， and examine the students learning and specific application.

In a word， only by recognizing the current situation of secondary vocational students English learning， solving the problems in teaching in time and seeking strategies suitable for the development of secondary vocational English teaching， can provide students with an ideal English learning environment， cultivate students comprehensive application ability of English， and make them adapt to the needs of further education and employment.