Effective Strategies to Improve English Teaching

Wenying Wang

, Chaorun Zhou

School of Foreign Languages of Yuxi Normal University, Yuxi, Yunnan, 653100, China

Keywords: English teaching, Classroom strategies, Language and culture.

Abstract: Due to the differences between Chinese culture and English culture, English teaching should focus on the

mobilization of students’ initiative on learning rather than testing skills. Therefore, effective teaching

methods should be applied to English teaching. On the basis of English classroom teaching, teachers should

let students explore independently, improving teaching efficiency through independent reading and

thinking, teacher-student interactions and other diversified teaching forms.

1 INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, English teaching in China emphasizes

the cultivation of students’ testing skills rather than

its contacting feature. Such teaching method cannot

help students get rid of book-hills fundamentally,

because students’ language application skills cannot

be improved through classroom teaching. Therefore,

teachers should pay attention to language features of

English and adopt effective and scientific strategies

in English classroom teaching. It is helpful to pro-

mote the quality of routine English classroom teach-

ing and students' English comprehensive ability.

2 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH

TEACHING AND TEACHING

STRATEGIES

Currently, English is the most widely used language

in the world. Since the reform and opening up in the

last century, English has been the fundamental cur-

riculum for China’s school education. In the long

process of China’s English teaching practice, some

new methods and precious experience have been ex-

plored and accumulated. But in China, English

teaching adopts structuralism, the core of which is

the skill-imparting of voice, vocabulary and gram-

mar. According to structuralism, language is a

closed teaching system, and its internal structure

needs to be strengthened in the routine teaching

process. This kind of teaching method artificially

separates mean-ing and language form. English

teaching practice shows that closed language system

can train stu-dents’ answering skills in English

examinations, es-pecially for the comprehensive

ability of testing skills. However, students who pass

the examinations cannot truly master the functional

roles of English. For example, they often have a

comparatively com-prehensive understanding on

English grammar but ignore its practical function of

communication, which results in some ambiguities

in the communi-cation process.

Given the current situation of English teaching

and students’ language application, students’

English comprehensive ability needs to be enhanced

as much as possible. In routine English teaching

practice, appropriate teaching strategies and

application function need to be explored and valued.

In addition, English teaching should be student-

centered and aimed at improving students'

comprehensive foundation and language ability.

3 BASIC FRAME OF ENGLISH

TEACHING EFFICIENCY

3.1 Explanation part of English classes

For English classroom teaching, the primary part is

explanation. In the process of vocabulary explana-

tion, teachers need to make students understand vo-

cabularies in a concrete way, such as using pictures

and actual materials. In the process of vocabulary

understanding, students need to know the different

meanings, avoiding ambiguities in the application.

Therefore, teachers should try their best to explain

vocabularies in a more concrete and comprehensive

217

Zhou C. and Wang W.

Effective Strategies to Improve English Teaching.

DOI: 10.5220/0006447502170220

In ISME 2016 - Information Science and Management Engineering IV (ISME 2016), pages 217-220

ISBN: 978-989-758-208-0

217

way. In grammar explanation, teachers should pay

attention to links and differences between the new

grammar and the prior grammar, making the process

of explanations more stereoscopic through compari-

son. Different explanation and imparting methods,

such as ideographic way and demonstration, are en-

couraged in teaching. These methods make it possi-

ble for students to acquire knowledge more directly

in a multi-dimension level and ultimately stimulate

students’ interest in English learning.

3.2 Application and expansion parts in

English teaching process

After the completion of explanation part, it is im-

portant for teachers to encourage students to apply

English to practice. After acquiring relevant lan-

guage points, students need to retrospect and consol-

idate their knowledge. In traditional teaching mode,

the reappearance of language points occurs in the

classroom. Teachers present questions to students on

the spot and make some comments on students’ an-

swers. However, this method needs to be refined to

ensure the efficiency of teaching.

Actually, the mastery of language should be di-

vided into two levels, manifesting whether students

master language points accurately and fluently.

Therefore, students should use language points accu-

rately and fluently on both reading comprehension

and language expression. However, some students

can use the language accurately but not fluently.

Therefore, teachers should guide students to learn in

the teaching process. For example, they allow stu-

dents to make mistakes and encourage them to over-

come their own defects in language application.

In the teaching process, teachers should encour-

age students to expand their knowledge on language

application, improving the accuracy and fluency of

language application gradually. Therefore, some rel-

evant tasks should be properly set, which allows stu-

dents to find their language application problems

when completing the tasks.

3.3 Inspections in the process of

English teaching

In English teaching process, inspections play a vital

role. Through inspections, teachers can know how

much students have learned. Especially, it is signifi-

cant for teachers to know students’ language level

and make further teaching plans accordingly.

During inspections, teachers should pay attention

to the pertinence and implement diversified explora-

tions in the designing process. Teaching purposes

are often associated with a variety of properties.

Thus, it is necessary to establish concrete assessment

criteria on students’ English ability, instead of

mechanical language assessments. Then on the basis

of the assessment criteria and language application,

as-sessment methods should be set, scientifically

meas-uring students’ preference in language

learning. Therefore, students should not be assessed

by the fi-nal examinations and the core of the

syllabus. Lan-guage ability assessments should be

added in period-ical English language assessments

and inspections.

4 TEACHING STRATEGIES ON

THE INTEGRATION AND

EXPANSION OF ENGLISH

CULTURE AND CHINESE

CULTURE

According to the actual situation of teaching, teach-

ers should re-cognize and excavate the local culture,

exploring the links between local culture and

English culture. They should also be sensitive in

English language and culture, allowing students to

contact language and culture and acquire English

more com-prehensively.

4.1 Guidance on the differences of

English culture and Chinese culture

Any language and culture is an open system. To im-

prove the efficiency of English teaching, teachers

should update both English and Chinese language

and culture systems timely. That is, teachers’

knowledge base should keep up with the current

trends of language and culture. Only when teachers

equip with a good knowledge of English language

and culture, can they distinguish the differences in

the teaching process. Such discernment makes it

possible for teachers to distinguish essences from

English language and culture. With the comprehen-

sive knowledge of English culture, teachers can bet-

ter guide students to use English culture and express

their viewpoints on local culture smoothly and accu-

rately.

Furthermore, the meaning of local culture and

dif-ferences between local culture and English

culture should never be ignored in the process of

English teaching. However, the fact is that

differences cannot be valued, which makes some

students fail to scientifically acquire the national

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culture and solve contradictions of language and

culture. Therefore, English teaching should focus on

students’ contradicting points. Teachers should

impart knowledge of English language and culture

from the perspective of Chinese culture and English

culture, allowing students to better grasp English

language and culture.

4.2 Culture and language integration

through penetration and creation

When promoting the integration of Chinese culture

and English culture, penetration should be used to

avoid cultural indoctrination in the learning process

of English culture. Teachers should be liberated

from the traditional teaching methods and use com-

parative analysis to mobilize students to learn Eng-

lish language and culture. Students should learn and

explore from different aspects in the learning

process of English language and culture. Routine

classroom teaching is important occasion to spread

new knowledge. Teachers should take advantage of

the convenience of routine classroom teaching and

spread knowledge of English language and culture,

thus stimulating students’ interest in English.

Some schools create English application stages

like English Corner, where students can apply what

they have learned to practice. Making full use of

English Corner can strengthen the efficiency of Eng-

lish learning and allow students to express them-

selves more fluently. Teachers should try their best

to create possible conditions and mobilize students’

interest in using English, thus making students get

out of the restrictions gradually. In routine English

teaching, teachers should provide rich material for

English communication and avoid students’ speech-

lessness in classes, helping them acquire more lan-

guage application skills.

4.3 Teaching strategies thinking on the

perspective of thinking expansion

English learning is a part of students’ self-cognition,

and English is an important expression means after

self-cognition. Through English learning, students

can better expand the breadth and depth of their

thinking. In the teaching process, teachers should let

students explore independently, allowing them to

use the language more logically.

In routine English teaching, teachers should

grasp students’ initiative, encouraging them to

explore ac-tively and express viewpoints in English

in different forms. Teachers can carry out such

thought devel-opment of English teaching through

independent ex-ploration, reading, etc. On this basis,

teachers can purposefully guide students to

summarize language points in each period of English

teaching, especially for the difficult and important

ones. It also helps stu-dents tease out a

comprehensive knowledge structure through their

own efforts. In English teaching process, language

features should always be the focus. In the process

of knowledge integration, students should make

advantage of their initiative, especially on the

application of writing methods and thinking mode.

Self-learning can better enhance students' lan-

guage thinking skills. It is also important to optimize

learning process and integrate teaching resources for

the improvement of English teaching efficiency.

Teachers can allow students to go deep into English

articles, thus exploring authors’ purposes and sum-

marizing the knowledge of English language and

culture. Finally, deep impression could be left in

students' minds, helping them expand thinking and

understanding on language and culture.

5 CONCLUSION

Actually, language teaching is a kind of profound

thinking activity, and the main purpose of which is

to train students to use language in communicative

activities. Language teaching contains many aspects

including grammar, vocabularies, specific terms,

etc., so does the affecting factors. Currently in

China, schools of different education levels set

English classes. But these schools adopt traditional

teaching methods, emphasizing on the explanation

of gram-mar and specific language structure. This

method ig-nores the cultivation of English

comprehensive abil-ity, regarding language points as

isolate islands in the sea of knowledge. Thus,

students fail to acquire language application

methods through language teaching, making it

impossible to achieve the ulti-mate efficiency of

English teaching. Therefore, more attention should

be paid to the reform of English teaching, especially

on how to mobilize students’ in-itiative. More

explorations should be implemented on teaching

practice to guide students to grasp the differences of

Western culture and Chinese culture, ultimately

achieving the goal of smooth and accurate

international communication.

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Effective Strategies to Improve English Teaching

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REFERENCES

Nong Kebai. On How to Cultivate Students' Interest in

Learning. New Course. 2009(08):95-95.

Wu Yanping. Culture Lack on English Learning of Middle

School Students. Education Science Forum.

2009(01):53-54.

Wang Ruomei. Cultural Significance: Intensive Factors in

English Teaching. Jiangsu Education Research.

2009(10):47-49.

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