大学英语口语的视听说方法 Audio-visual-spoken Methodology in College Spoken English
Thesis Statement: Nowadays, with the development of audio-visual aids and materials and the new requirements of society for talents, audio-visual-spoken instruction is becoming a feasible, manageable, efficient and promising teaching method for college spoken English teaching.
dissertation声明：如今，随着视听器材和材料，人才的发展对社会的新要求，视听说教学正成为一种可行的，可管理的，高效的和有前途的教学方法，为大学英语口语教学。
Abstract
摘要
In recent years, under the background of globalization, the requirement of the society to the practical communicative capacity of English talents has been greatly improved. Just like what many entrepreneurs said, it is much harder to find someone competent than to find someone who majored in English. With the development of audio-visual aids and electronic products, a new spoken English teaching method, audio-visual-spoken methodology is found, which is a method mainly in connection with spoken English teaching. Compared with conventional spoken English teaching, audio-visual-spoken teaching is a dynamic cognitive nonindividual body of language input, language absorption and language output, and possesses remarkable advantages on the improvement of the practical communicative capacity of students.
Key words: Audio-visual-spoken method, practical communicative capacity, factual activities
近年来，在全球化的背景下，社会对英语人才口语交际能力的要求大幅提高，传统的英语口语教学的培养模式已经无法满足社会对英语口语人才的需求。也正如许多企业家所说的那样：会几句英语的人很多，但要想找到胜任的口语人才却很难。随着视听教学设备和音像电子产品的发展，一种新的英语教学法——视听说教学法诞生。它是一种结合了视听法，听说法，情景法等多种现代英语教学法的新型英语教学方法，也是一种主要针对口语教学的教学方法。视听说教学是一个语言输入、语言吸收和语言输出的动态认知连续体，相对于传统的英语口语教学，它在提高学生英语实际交际能力方面具有显著的优势。#p#分页标题#e#
关键词：视听说教学法，实际交际能力，真实性活动
Acknowledgments
致谢
First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Li Peng, both for her intellectual guidance and for her warm and constant encouragement during the process of writing this thesis. With patience and prudence, she labored through drafts of this thesis and pointed out defects in my theorizing. Therefore, I owe all the merits in this thesis, if any, to her, though I am fully aware that the thesis might still contain some mistakes, for which I bear the whole responsibility.
首先，我谨表示衷心的感谢我的导师，副教授李鹏教授，她优秀的指导和在写这篇dissertation的过程中她热情和不断的鼓励。有耐心和谨慎的态度，她费了很多精力对于本dissertation的草稿，并指出我的理论缺陷。因此，我在这篇dissertation中的不足之处，如果有的话，她说，虽然我是完全明白的dissertation仍可能包含一些错误，对此我承担全部责任。
My cordial and sincere thanks go to all the teachers in the Department of English, whose interesting and informative courses have benefited me a lot during my college years. The profit that I gained from their profound knowledge, remarkable expertise and intellectual ingenuity will be of everlasting significance to my future life and career.
I am also very grateful to my classmates, who have given me a lot of help and courage during my stay in the University and throughout the process of writing this thesis.
Last but not the least, big thanks go to my family who have shared with me my worries, frustrations, and hopefully my ultimate happiness in eventually finishing this thesis.
我亲切和真诚的感谢所有英语系的老师，其有趣和翔实的课程中我的大学四年都受益了我很多。我从他们渊博的知识，卓越的专业知识和智力的独创性所赚取的财富将是永恒的意义对我今后的生活和事业。#p#分页标题#e#
我也非常感谢我的同学，在我在大学的住宿和整个写这篇dissertation的过程中给了我很多的帮助和勇气。
最后但，感谢我的家人与我分享我的忧虑，沮丧，并希望我在最终完成这篇dissertation时的幸福。
Audio-visual-spoken Methodology in College Spoken English Teaching
大学英语口语的视听说方法
Introduction
引言
In recent years, under the background of globalization, the requirement of the society to the practical communicative capacity of English talents has been greatly improved. Just like what many entrepreneurs said, it is much harder to find someone competent than to find someone who majored in English. With the development of audio-visual aids and electronic products, a new spoken English teaching method, audio-visual-spoken methodology, which is a method mainly in connection with spoken English teaching, is found. Compared with conventional spoken English teaching, audio-visual-spoken teaching is a dynamic cognitive non-individual body of language input, language absorption and language output, and possesses remarkable advantages on the improvement of the practical communicative capacity of students.
Audio-visual-spoken methodology, which applies the methods of electrified education to class, can provide students an excellent linguistic cognitive environment. By means of huge amounts of audio input and visual input, audio-visual-spoken methodology transmits all-around linguistic information and nonlinguistic information to students, makes the learners feel the real meaning and aphetic function, promotes the linguistic absorption of the students, and detects and fosters the practical communicative capacity of the students by means of meaningful and real communicative activities.
ⅠThe present and future application of audio-visual-spoken instruction in college spoken English teaching.
In many universities, both the universities and the students do not pay much attention to the improvement of spoken English. In order to make sure how important the spoken English on the minds of college students majored in English, I once made a stochastic non-tangible survey on audio-visual-spoken teaching. I stochastically investigated one hundred students majored in English in Sichuan International Studies University Chengdu Institution. The survey result shows that sixty-six informants spend their main time and energy on listening; twenty informants are attracted by the frame and music; and only fourteen informants pay their main attention to spoken English.#p#分页标题#e#
The survey indicates that the present application of audio-visual-spoken instruction in most universities lacks of the training of spoken capacity and can not exert the audio-visual-spoken instruction to the max on spoken English teaching. The three aspects of audio-visual-spoken methodology should be a dynamic cognitive non-individual body. Meanwhile, the three aspects are reciprocally beneficial to each aspect and can not solely exert its importance. Thus, the proportion of viewing, listening and speaking should have been scientifically and reasonably arranged. Only by this way, can the audio-visual-spoken methodology be an excellent method in college spoken English teaching.
Ⅱ The prospects of audio-visual-spoken instruction
Audio-visual-spoken methodology was introduced to China from the United States in the 1980s, but until the last decade, with the development of modern information technology, more and more multi-media network technique is applied into classroom teaching, even into classroom teaching of spoken English. Multi-media technique is the technique that the computers interactively and synthetically deal with multi-media information including words, graphs, pictures, voice and video and so on., bring logical connection to many kinds of information, and make it a interactive system. The application of multi-media technique in spoken English teaching reflects the following characteristics: 1) The display channels of information are diversified; 2) Pluralism of the sources of information; 3) Multi-media provides a bigger platform for the mode of autonomic learning and cooperative learning of the students and makes the students easier to show their learning result; 4) Multi-media increases the interests and enthusiasm of the English learners.
The key role of applying multi-media into spoken English teaching is instructional design. The teachers must begin with four aspects, situation, cooperation, communication and meaning, and complete the analysis of instructional objectives, the creation of scene, collection of information and materials, arrangement of content and the design of the pattern of cooperative and interactively communicative learning.
The popularity of personal computer makes the audio-visual-spoken methodology a main trend in the field of college spoken English teaching. The plenty and popularity of multi-media devices also bring convenience of instructional design, teaching pattern and the selection of teaching material.
Compared with the traditional text books, the multi-media teaching material itself has many irreplaceable advantages. Most of the traditional text books used in spoken English classes are compiled decades ago and out of date. They are unattractive to both students and teachers and non-effective in spoken English teaching. On the contrary, the multi-media teaching material is attractive and interesting. In audio-visual-spoken methodology, the application of multi-media teaching materials can greatly increase the efficiency of spoken English teaching and learning. Audio-visual-spoken methodology is a multidimensional cognitive style in which the teaching materials impact upon the students from viewing, listening and speaking. Moreover, the audio-visual-spoken methodology places great emphasis on practical communicative capacity and the imitation of native speakers. By means of participating in real communicative activities and imitating the voice and intonation of native speakers, students can improve their spoken English, as well as their communicative competence.#p#分页标题#e#
In addition, in audio-visual-spoken teaching process, the attention of the students is more concentrative than that in traditional spoken teaching process. Thus, for the students, learning spoken English is an amused and participial process. For these reasons, audio-visual-spoken methodology can greatly improve the effect of teaching and learning in college spoken English teaching.
Ⅲ The feasibility of audio-visual-spoken instruction in college spoken English teaching.
Undoubtedly, audio-visual-spoken methodology has a very bright prospect. However, as a new theory, many people may be suspicious of the feasibility of audio-visual-spoken methodology. As is known to everyone, it’s the first step that is troublesome. Nowadays, the time is ripe and the conditions are favorable for the application of audio-visual-spoken methodology.
A. The development of audio-visual aids and materials provides spoken English teaching much convenience and prerequisite.
In the last two decades, the rapid expansion of audio-visual-spoken devices and multi-media teaching materials and the popularity of computer are the prerequisite of audio-visual-spoken teaching process. A lot of instructional software is developed and designed for the application of audio-visual-spoken methodology. The development of economy and the widespread of computer make it possible for every student to have more resources of teaching equipment. The popularity of storage equipments and multi-media players also allows every student to learn freely and easily.
B. The new requirement of the society for talents is closely parallel with the aim of audio-visual-spoken instruction
The development of information and technology industry brings the prerequisite of audio-visual-spoken methodology, while the requirement of the society for spoken English talents is the inevitability of audio-visual-spoken methodology.
English has been popular for more than ten years, yet the demand of spoken English talents is still increasing. The reason why the spoken English talents in universities still can not meet the needs of the society after decades of fostering is not that there is not enough graduates majored in English, but that the English qualifications of the most English majors can not meet the requirements of company. The fundamental reason the aim and the requirements of the spoken English teaching program of most universities is not parallel with the requirements of the companies that need spoken English talents.
The following material is quoted from the teaching program made by the teaching and research section of Pingdingshan University. From these materials, we can know that the aims and requirements of the teaching program of the audio-visual-spoken methodology are closely parallel with the aims and needs of the modern society towards spoken English talents. The following material is the instructional design:
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The course quality, aim and task:
1. Quality
The course is a course to cultivate students’ ability of listening and speaking, Let the students be able to use English in all-round way.
2. Aim and Task
Students should be able to exchange information effectively
Students are trained to enhance their ability to study independently
Students are trained to improve their cultural quality so as to meet the needs of china’s social development and international exchanges.
The course requirements for students
Basic requirements
Listening
Can understand lessons given in English. Can join in discussion and speak in class according to requirements.
Can understand the main points of audio-visual materials, for example, dialogues, short passage or reports, related to what is taught in class and delivered at slow speed (about 130 words per minute).
Can understand English broadcast, for example, news reports, science reports and stories about history, delivered at low speed.
Can understand directions to places, instructions to do things, and manuals. Can understand numbers (both cardinal and ordinal) and time expressions.
Can understand the topic of discussion, and grasp the main idea and major points.
Can use basic listening skills.
Speaking
Can answer questions in class, use familiar simple expressions and sentences to exchange opinions with classmates, and give short prepared speeches on familiar topics.
Can introduce oneself, classmates and friends, and response to other people’s introductions.
Can give directions, do shopping, leave messages and make requests in simple English.
Can use English numbers to report time, inquire about prices and give telephone numbers and e-mail addresses.
Can hold simple conversations with native English-speakers on everyday topics.
Have mastered basic conversational strategies, for example, initiating maintaining and closing a conversation, and asking people to repeat what they have said.
Intermediate requirements
Listening
Can understand the main points and details of talks or lectures given by native English speakers.
Can understand the main idea and main details of extended English radio or TV broadcasts produced in China, for example, news reports, interviews and lectures on familiar topics delivered at a speed of about 150 words per minute.
Can understand most of the courses in my area of specialty taught by foreign teachers in English.
Can use basic listening skills to help comprehension, for example, skills to understand main points or details.
Speaking
Can hold conversations on fairly fluent English with native English-speakers on familiar topics, maintain the conversation or discussion, and agree or disagree with the other party politely.#p#分页标题#e#
Can give directions, make explanations and answer difficult questions using relatively complicated language, when looking at maps or using instruction manuals.
Can express personal emotions, for example, surprise, likes and dislikes, depression, complaint, and give personal opinions on certain events.
Can tell a complete story, for example, how it happened, developed and ended and the time, place, characters and causes involved.
Can describe personal experience, such as an event that happened in the past or an event I have experienced. Can express wishes and hopes, for example, about a travel plan or an ideal job.
High requirements
Listening
Can understand extended dialogues, passages and reports delivered at normal speed and grasp the main points and major details, even when the structure is complicated and the idea is only implied.
Can understand radio and TV broadcasts produced in English-speaking countries, for example, news reports, interviews, lectures, films and TV series, delivered at normal speed, and grasp the main idea.
Can understand academic lectures and special talks related to my area of specialty, and grasp the facts and abstract ideas in them.
Speaking
Can hold conversations or discussions on general or specialized topics with native English-speakers in fairly fluent and correct English, and effectively maintain the conversation or discussion.
Can express oneself, for example, my emotions and wishes, in English flexibly and effectively for personal purpose or purpose of communication.
Can make concise summaries of extended texts or speeches in difficult language, and give extended explanations on a certain topic.
Can express one’s opinions freely at academic conferences or exchanges, with clear focus, complete content and fluent language.
Can use fairly complicated speaking skills, for example, attracting the audience’s attention, maintaining their enthusiasm and adjusting my relationship with other speakers.1
In audio-visual-spoken teaching program, the outstanding features are the inseparably close combination of listening and speaking and the emphasis on practical listening and speaking capacity. From this view audio-visual-spoken teaching method is the inexorable trend in the field of college spoken English teaching.
C. The English foundation of college students has reached a certain level which allows them to be efficient in audio-visual-spoken studying.
Being college students, they have improved their foundation of English knowledge and skills to a relatively high level. There is no need for the teachers to teach them grammar or phonetic symbol. Most of them may have mastered thousands of words and expressions and they can think in English, talk over things in English and can basically understand the English of other people. They can study on their own without supervision. Their social experience and broad knowledge make them easier understand English culture and the language itself. All the above factors make the students easily accept this new teaching method and meet the needs of audio-visual-spoken methodology.#p#分页标题#e#
Ⅳ. The manageability and efficiency of audio-visual-spoken instruction
Audio-visual-spoken methodology is not only efficient but also manageable. Manageability provides efficiency and meanwhile the efficiency makes the manageability meaningful.
A. The manageability.
The popularity of personal computer makes the audio-visual-spoken methodology a main trend in the field of college spoken English teaching. Computer has many advantages which can provide multi-media material of high quality, simple and highly efficient operation system, efficient compatibility between many other audio-visual aids and new and malleable teaching materials. The plenty and popularity of multi-media devices also brings convenience of instructional design, teaching pattern and the selection of teaching material. Another advantage computer provide to the audio-visual-spoken methodology is that the multi-media material that can be used in spoken English class possesses the characteristics of timelessness, the varsity of geography and cost performance. All the above merits bring the bright prospects of audio-visual-spoken methodology now and in the future.
B. The efficiency.
The audio-visual-spoken methodology is efficient. By means of abundant and multidimensional incitation, the students can improve their practical communicative capacity easier. And the teaching materials and teaching content is proteiform and flexible. The spoken English teachers can change the direction and emphasis of the teaching material and content according to the capacity of the students. Thus the teaching process and the teaching result can be properly and timely adjusted.
In addition, the three aspects of audio-visual-spoken methodology is an inseparable cognitive non-individual body. In it, listening and speaking are mutually beneficial and dependent. The students can efficiently improve one aspect of their capacities while they are doing with another capacity.
For example, the teaching of intonation may be very difficult to do by the spoken English teachers themselves, but the students can gradually improve their voice and intonation during the process of attending the audio-visual-spoken classes. Almost all of the main capacities of human being are learned from imitation. Audio-visual-spoken methodology provides all the possibilities for the students to imitate from native speakers in real communicative activities.
Ⅴ. Problems and tactics in audio-visual-spoken instruction
Being a relatively new methodology, audio-visual-spoken instruction still has many problems to be solved and many practical and academic tactics to be discovered. However, these problems are not the main aspects of audio-visual-spoken methodology and it is certain that audio-visual-spoken methodology will be the main trend in spoken English teaching.
A. Problems
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Although audio-visual-spoken methodology is considered as an efficient and promising teaching method in the field of college spoken English teaching, there are also many kinds of problems in it. If these problems can not be properly solved or avoided, the application of audio-visual-spoken methodology will get half the result with twice the effort. Therefore, accurately discovering and analyzing these problems is very important in the practical operating process of audio-visual-spoken methodology.
In many cases, the audio-visual materials may pre-dominate the class. Thus, the training of spoken capacity will be ignored and the attention of the students will be diverted from the language to the plot of the multi-media programs. The two aspects of communicative capacity, listening and speaking, can not be improved at the same time. In fact, listening and speaking are a mutual beneficial process. Therefore, such kind of problems should be avoided in the practice of college spoken English teaching. The students can imitate and correct during the process of listening and train their listening capacity during the process of speaking.
Some teachers are unqualified to carry on audio-visual-spoken teaching process. This kind of teaching method raises a higher claim for spoken English teachers. Many young teachers can not arrange the class activities and the content of teaching materials because that they are lack of teaching experience. On the other hand, some elder teachers are unaccustomed to computer and multi-media teaching materials. Besides, lack of organizing capacity and control ability may also lead to failure in audio-visual-spoken teaching process. So this kind of situation should be improved to meet the needs of audio-visual-spoken methodology.
Even though the English foundation of most college students has reached a relatively high level, some other students cannot catch up with the audio-visual-spoken methodology. Moreover, the foundation of the students in the same class is different. Owning to the different English foundation and communicative skill, the direction of teaching material and the degree of teaching advancement are becoming more difficult to make. These factors may add difficulties to the practical teaching process and reduce the efficiency of audio-visual-spoken methodology.
Most of the teaching text books are developed decades ago and the content of these teaching materials can not keep up with the new world and new requirements. The proportion of different aspects in these teaching materials is also unreasonable. In the past, grammar, words and expressions and listening skills pre-dominated the whole class. However, in accordance with the new requirements of the society, the scale of speaking should be greatly improved. On the aspect of listening, the emphasis should be shifted from listening skill to listening comprehension. The structure and the content of teaching materials need to be updated.
Occasionally, the enthusiasm of the students for speaking is limited. Some students may be unsociable and eccentric or introverted. Some one may hold an apathy opinion on the importance of spoken English.#p#分页标题#e#
B. Tactics
Even though, there are many kinds of problems in the application of audio-visual-spoken methodology, tactics are also there to solve these problems. Audio-visual-spoken methodology is still an excellent teaching method and more and more tactics are to be found to make audio-visual-spoken methodology a perfect teaching method in the process of teaching.
In order to maximize the result of audio-visual-spoken teaching process, the spoken English teachers have to hold viewing, listening and speaking together and to strengthen output. English communicative capacity can be divided into two aspects, input and output. Listening is input and speaking is output. If any aspect of them is not well trained, the communicative capacity can not be improved to a higher degree.
Some students may be shy or introverted, they dare not speak out in these activities and most of the time they are afraid of expressing their own idea in free conversation because they are not active. Carrying on dialogues under certain situation can help them to build confidence.
Television programs are also a very important kind of audio-visual material. Since the end of the last century, a lot of foreign English television programs are introduced to China and available for university students and teachers. Television series, programs, plays and movies are more and more popular among university students majored in English and English teachers. Thus, television programs become an efficient kind of teaching materials which can be brought into spoken English classes, applied by spoken English teachers and learned by the students. Because of the interests of television programs, they can be served as a supplement to the classroom spoken English teaching. Meanwhile, the students themselves can improve their audio-visual-spoken capacity by means of discussing and exchanging ideals.
Watching television play and movies, discussing television or movies, and playing the roles in television play or movies, free discussion in English corner, spoken English competition and spoken English salon are some practical and efficient patterns of audio-visual-spoken methodology. By this kind of real communicative activities, the students can gradually improve their communicative capacity.
Ⅵ. Conclusion: Introducing audio-visual-spoken instruction to college spoken English teaching will greatly improve the result of college spoken English teaching
The dynamic cognitive pattern of audio-visual-spoken methodology makes the students totally understand the form, meaning and function of English, can give full play to the initiative of participating in communicative activities of the students, effectively put into full play to the modern media and the classroom teaching, and makes the practical communicative capacity of the students improved during the relaxed and joyful process in which the students gain progress and happiness. I hope that this article could call attention to the audio-visual-spoken methodology and that more and more people will make effort to foster talents of practical communicative capacity.#p#分页标题#e#
Notes
引入大学英语口语视听说教学，将大大提高大学英语口语教学的结果.
Bibliography
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马相明，《现代外语教学方法研究》，北京：经济管理出版社，2001。
文秋芳，《英语口语测试与教学》，上海：上海外语教育出版社，1999。
杨 阳（主编），《英语教学方法——技能与技巧》，北京：高等教育出版社，2005。
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