优化英语阅读教学的切入点

1、优化英语阅读教学的切入点以2011年苏州市评优课第一名的教学设计为例 作者 葛文山在近期英语赛课中，我校青年教师捷报频传。真正让这些青年教师脱颖而出的是，她们对阅读教学的深刻理解和独辟蹊径的教学设计。尤其在当前中学英语阅读教学处在“思路因循守旧，设计千篇一律”的困境下，这几节课更是给人耳目一新和豁然开朗的感觉。公开课是推陈出新的平台，每一节课应该有自己的亮点，有值得“公开”的内容和价值。下面就以2011年苏州市初中英语教师评优课第一名的公开课为案例，探索如何在阅读教学设计中取得突破。本节课的阅读材料是江苏牛津初中英语八年级下第五单元中的课文An interview with an ORBIS

2、doctor（一次对国际奥比斯组织医生的采访），全文见附录。一、改革学习方式荀子儒效篇中说，不闻不若闻之，闻之不若见之；见之不若知之，知之不若行之；学至于行而止矣。英语中也有类似的谚语1：Tell me and Ill forget;我听过，我忘记；Show me and I may remember;我看过，我记得；Involve me and Ill understand.”我做过，我学会。这些古语和谚语都强调自主、探索和合作的学习方式的重要性。英语老师要让学生成为学习的主人，发展学生的主体意识、能动性和创造性。英语课程标准也要求教师尽量采用创造性地设计贴近学生实际的教学活动，吸引和组织他

3、们积极参与，通过“任务型”教学途径，让学生通过思考、调查、讨论、交流和合作等方式，学习和使用英语，完成学习任务。这一点在实验中也得到了证明。美国著名学习专家爱德加戴尔1946年通过实验得以首先发现并提出“学习金字塔理论”，用数字形式形象显示了采用不同的学习方式，学习者在两周以后还能记住内容（平均学习保持率）的多少。爱德加戴尔提出，学习效果在30%以下的几种传统方式，都是个人学习或被动学习；而学习效果在50以上的，都是团队学习、主动学习和参与式学习。第一种学习方式Lecture就是我们传统的讲授法，老师在上面讲，学生在下面听，学习效果却是最低的，两周以后学习的内容只能留下5；而效率最好的学习方式

4、是第六种Practice by doing（做中学）和第七种Teaching others（实际演练），可以记住75以上的学习内容（见下表）。序号学习方式平均学习保持率属性1Lecture（讲授法）5%个人学习或被动学习2Reading（阅读）10%3Audio Visual（视听）20%4Demonstration（示范或演示）30%5Discussion Group（小组讨论）50%团队学习或主动学习6Practice by doing（做中学）75%7Teaching others（应用或教别人）90%Practice by doing（做中学）指的就是任务型教学模式，让学生带着明确的任

5、务目标，在做事情的过程中发展语言能力、思维能力以及交流与合作的能力，从而提高综合语言运用能力。在本节公开课中，执教者善于鼓励学生通过思考、调查、讨论、交流和合作等方式去理解阅读材料，使阅读教学更加突出学生的主体性和语言学习的交互性。效果好的阅读任务常具有以下特点：真实性，阅读任务具有实际意义，贴近学生的生活、学习经历和社会实际，学生乐于参与，有话可说。整体性，阅读任务不宜过于细化，因为太琐碎的任务难以有探索的空间。层次性。阅读任务应由繁到简，由易到难，前后相连，层层推进，形成由初级任务到高级任务，再由高级任务涵盖初级任务的循环，构成“任务链”。二、调整教学模式当前，中小学英语阅读教学中普遍采取

6、整体教学模式。它盛行于上个世纪90年代初，强调先对文章进行宏观把握，掌握主要内容和整体特点，然后再深入分析对象各部分的特点。但是，有些老师不顾实际情况，生搬硬套，机械地运用整体阅读教学模式，一个环节不敢少，一个步骤不颠倒。这种固步自封，不敢越雷池半步的做法，造成阅读课教学环节雷同的现象非常严重，简直就是一个模子里刻出来的，都是导入活动（lead-in）、扫读（scanning）、略读（skimming）、细读（careful reading）、深度阅读（further reading）、拓展（extensions）等几个固定环节。难怪英语老师们说，这种“千人一面”的公开课，根本就没有公开的价值

7、和内容；阅读教学公开课已经变成了“八股文”，都不愿意去听。我们要想因地制宜地运用好整体阅读教学模式，就必须对它的内涵有一个正确的理解。它强调把对微观的深入理解纳入阅读对象整体的坐标系上，体现出局部决定于整体的思想原则。也就是说，教师可以根据实际情况，灵活调整整体阅读教学的教学环节，没有必要全盘照搬，必要时可以删除或增加一些教学环节。例如，本节课做了三点调整：删除跳读（Scanning）。跳读是一项重要的阅读技能，但是，教师也要根据实际情况选择性的加以使用，做到每节课都要有不同的侧重点。考虑到教学环节的流畅性和完整性，本节课的教学设计没有包括与跳读相关的阅读活动。增加阅读策略（reading s

8、trategies）指导。本节课阅读材料是英文采访稿，对学生来说，有一点陌生。所以本节课的教学设计增加了针对性地知道学生运用阅读技巧，并就文章的语言特色、行文风格、文体等方面进行分析，介绍阅读方法，帮助学生更好地理解文章，提高阅读能力。增加批判性阅读（critical reading）。批判性阅读必须以独立思考为基础。没有独立思考，没有创新意识，就没有自己独特的观点。本节公开课尝试着从阅读材料中选出一些有争议、有代表性的观点，让学生发表自己的看法，并陈述理由。这是一个开发性的任务，有助于培养学生思维的广阔性，灵活性和深刻性。调整后的局部环节都服务于本节课的总目标：Being an effici

9、ent reader（成为一个有效的阅读者）（见下表）。Being an efficient reader（做一个有效的阅读者）Being a keen reader（做一个热切的读者）话题导入Being a smart reader（做一个聪明的读者）阅读策略Being a sharp reader（做一个敏锐的读者）主要事实Being a critical reader（做一个有主见的读者）批判性阅读Being a cross-cultural reader（做一个跨文化的读者）拓展延伸三、塑身阅读阶段英语阅读教学分为三个主要阶段：before-reading（阅读前）、while-rea

10、ding（阅读中）和post-reading（阅读后）。其中，while-reading是阅读教学的主体部分。这三个阶段就如同语文写作教学中所提倡的“凤头、猪肚和凤尾”一样。阅读教学的最佳结构是橄榄形，两头小中间大。Before-reading是阅读教学的开头，应该像凤头那样短小、美丽、精彩，旨在激活学生与话题相关的已有的背景知识，是下一个阅读环节的垫脚石。While-reading关注文章的主要信息，是阅读教学的主体部分，应该像猪肚子那样有充实、丰富的内容。教师和学生应该把主要的时间和精力，放在如何使用恰当的阅读策略获取主要事实和观点上。Post-reading属于读后的拓展，要像豹子尾巴那

11、样刚健有力，去激发学生独立思考，批判性的接受文章中的观点，或创造性地使用已获取的信息。然而，许多老师往往本末倒置在读前导入和读后拓展上面花费了太多的时间和精力，而对于while-reading主体部分却是一带而过，造成读前导入和读后的拓展有喧宾夺主之势，课堂教学结构形同一个哑铃，两头大中间小。导致这种畸形课堂结构的原因主要有两个：一是，过分夸大读前导入的作用。现行的整体阅读教学模式建立在“图式理论（schema）”的基础之上，核心思想是，人在理解新事物时，总是将新事物与已有的知识联系起来。显然，学生对话题的原有知识越多，阅读理解的难度就会越小。中小学英语教师对“图式理论”的理解，经历了一个很长

12、的过程，从陌生走往熟悉，从忽视到重视，现在甚至出了“读前导入挤占阅读本身”的矫枉过正的局面。二是，有些公开课教师哗众取宠，想使用一些热闹的华而不实的场面来迎合听课教师。“阅读前”和“阅读后”阶段主要以听说为主，课堂气氛显得活跃热情。相比较而言，“阅读中”是一个比较安静的过程。学生需要静下心来才能有效的加工和处理文章的主要信息，课堂气氛显得悄无声息。其实，这是一个正常的自然的阅读教学过程。而有些公开课老师却把这种内在的阅读过程视之为“冷场”。“阅读中”是阅读课堂教学的核心阶段，如果这个根本任务做不踏实，反而注重不重要的细微末端，再华丽的读前导入活动，也只能算作是绣花枕头。“阅读后”的拓展讲究厚积

13、薄发，只有稳扎稳打，步步为营，扎实地做好“阅读中”的各项任务，读后的拓展才会显得雄健有力，起到画龙点睛之效果。考虑到这些因素，我们对本节公开课的开始做了时间限制，读前的活动点到为止，大约用了5分钟，导入了文章的话题、interview（面试）的形式和几个影响阅读理解的关键词汇。在这一阅读公开课上，教师引导学生把大量时间和精力放在“阅读中”，做足了文章，所以读后的拓展活动（being a cross-cultural reader）才显得水到渠成，在本节课最后的5分钟里，学生蓄势待发，纷纷举手踊跃发言，让人难以相信这是发生老师和学生是第一次接触的接班上课的课堂之上。四、创新细节设计小细节，透射教

14、育大理念和大智慧。细节决定教学创新设计的成败。1凸显文章脉络课堂，不是一些教学活动和任务的杂乱无章的堆积，它需要一个贯穿始终的线索。明晰的线索有利于学生对阅读材料中的信息进行有效的加工、处理和提取。在本节课的教学设计中，我们梳理出形式和话题两个主要线索：形式主线索是，提问和回答问题（Asking and answering questions），本文是一篇采访稿，由6组问题和回答组成。话题主线索是，在初中阶段，当学生被要求用英语来介绍一个国际性慈善组织时，应该包括该组织的成立缘由、运行方式、受助者的反应、大众参与方式等几个主要方面的内容。这两条主线索是相辅相成，相互吻合的，我们只要紧紧抓住形式

15、主线索中的6个问题，就可以获取关于国际奥比斯组织（ORBIS）的主要信息。所以，接下来的教学设计都是围绕着这两条主线索步步深入，层层展开的。许多听课教师在点评时，都有一个共同的感受：本课脉络分明，听完后，不要参照听课笔记，就能回忆起教学过程的框架和文章的主要内容。2简化信息转换在英语阅读教学中，教师常使用的阅读任务包括：回答问题、正误判断（True or False）、猜测词义、多项选择（Multiple choice）、中英互译等。这些传统阅读任务只局限于检测学生阅读理解的结果，根本不关心学生的阅读理解过程。而英语阅读教学，是一个“信息输入信息转换信息输出”的过程，一定要注重“理解过程”。也

16、就是说，英语阅读教学的主要目的之一就是，让学生学会如何快速捕捉信息和加工信息，并为以后的交际储存更多的可以随意提取的信息。课文是信息的载体，纯粹文本形式呈现的信息往往头绪繁杂，会增加记忆的负担。因此，教师可利用信息转换手段（Transition Devices），帮助学生把文字形式的阅读篇章内容转换成另一种形式，利于信息的加工和保存。在阅读教学中常用的转换手段有：图片、简笔画、表格、树形图、网络图、流程图、时间线等。这些手段可以通过完整的视觉表象形式将文本的主要内容、人物和事件的发展关系（网络图）、分类关系（数形图）、事件的发展过程（流程图）、戏剧场景（简笔画）等生动、清晰地呈现给学生，从而为

17、后来的交际储存更多的有效信息。例如，在本节公开课中，利用了国际奥比斯组织的logo（标识）的原型、隐去飞机部分和增加虚线的形状，形象地概括出文章的三个主要部分，帮助学生获取这个组织的主要信息。3巧用逆向思维我们都习惯于朝着事物发展的正方向去考虑问题并寻求解决办法。其实，有的时候，对于某些特殊问题，我们可以“反其道而思之”，从结论往回推，反过来思考，让思维朝着对立面的方向发展，从问题的相反面深入地进行探索。本节课的阅读材料是一篇采访稿，又记者的6个问题和被采访者（Dr. Ma）的6个回答组成。采访的中心环节就是提出和回答问题（Asking and answering questions）。一般的

18、思维方式是，根据问题来寻找相应的答案。但是，本节课的教学设计却反其道而行之，先呈现被采访者的回答，让学生快速阅读：Dr Ma: Blindness affects about 45 million people around the world, mostly in poor countries, and about 80 percent of these cases can be cured or prevented. However, many people do not have the money for medical treatment.然后，上课教师再让学生从演记者的立场去思考“

19、要得到这样的答案，我应该提出什么样的问题”。Interviewers question:Dr. Ma, could you tell us something about blindness?Dr. Ma, how many people have eye problems?这样一来，学生要提出正确的问题，就必须看懂这段文字，并准确概括出其锻炼大意，最后从下面两个问题挑选一个正确的。这一个小小的改动，让学生从被动的阅读者转变成了积极主动的思考者。循规蹈矩的思维方式，虽然简单省事，风险小，但是容易使思路刻板、僵化，摆脱不了旧思想模式的桎梏，得到的往往是一些毫无创意的答案，给人一种老调重弹的感觉。

20、其实，每个事物都具有多面性。我们由于受过去旧经验的束缚，往往就看到熟悉的一面，而对另外陌生的一面却视若无睹。逆向思维能克服这一障碍，往往是出人意料，给人以耳目一新的感觉。结束语英语阅读教学创新，不是搞怪，玩噱头或“为赋新词强说愁”，而是在有理、有序、有效基础上，实现的一种自我超越和突破。有理，是指教学设计符合语言教学规律，做到因材施教。有序，是说教学环节要前后互相衔接，不能“东一榔头西一棒子”。有效，是指教学设计的有效性，不追求中看不中用的花拳绣腿。附录一：课堂实录本节课的阅读材料是江苏牛津初中英语八年级下第五单元中的课文An interview with an ORBIS doctor. 授

21、课对象为初二学生，借班上课。执教教师是江苏省张家港外国语学校朱益春老师。Step1. Be a keen reader.1. A short interview.T: Good morning. Its my first time being here, Im very glad to see you guys and Id like to know something about you. Who is the monitor?Ss:(In chorus)Jim is.M:(standing up)I am the monitor.T:(walking to Jim)Nice to meet

22、 you.M: Nice to meet you.T: Can I ask you some questions?M: Sure. Go ahead, please.T: How many students are there in the class?M: Forty-five.T: How many of you are wearing glasses?M: Em. Let me seeThirty.T: Oh, The number is very large. Why are you wearing glasses?M: Because we cant see clearly.T: T

23、hen why do you have eye problems?M: Maybe because we watch too much TV.(Some students are laughing.)S1:(Other students are joining.)Every day we have to do lots of homework. Thats why we have poor eyesight.S2: And some boys just spend too much time playing computer games.(Students are laughing and f

24、eeling less tense.)T: So if we dont use eyes in a right way, we may have eye problems. Now lets meet a famous eye doctor, Dr Ma. A few days ago, he just helped a poor student with eye problems. Would you like to listen to his story?Ss: Yeah.T: Now listen carefully.【设计说明】：通过对班长做一个小采访，来导入话题和文章体裁。2. A

25、short story.T: Tom is a poor student, he used to be apatientwith eye problems. He needs to see a doctor. Now tell me where we can see many patients?Ss: In a hospital.T: Well done. A patient means a sick person. Now repeat the word after me.(Writing patient on the blackboard and getting students to r

26、ead it aloud.)T: (Continuing the story) If Tom doesnt see a doctor immediately, he will becomeblindand can see nothing. What does blind mean? It meansSs: Cant see anything.T: Right. A blind person can see nothing. And the illness is calledblindness.(Writing blindness on the blackboard and getting st

27、udents to read it aloud.)T: (Continuing the story) Because of the blindness, he couldnt do many things, can he read, write or play computer games?Ss: No.T: So the blindnessaffectedhis life a lot, and here affect means making changes. For example, smoking will make some changes, bad changes to our he

28、alth, so we can say:S: Smoking will affect our health.(Writing affect on the blackboard and getting students to read it aloud.)T: (Continuing the story) Blindness affected Toms life a lot, so he needed to go to hospital. But he didnt have enough money. He couldntaffordto go to hospital. Do you have

29、enough money to go to school?S: Yeah.T: So we can say?S: We canaffordto go to school.T: Well done, but in some poor areas, some children dont have enough money to go to school, so we can say?S: They cant afford to go to school.(Writing afford on the blackboard and getting students to read it aloud.)

30、T: Tom couldnt afford to go to hospital, so he was sad. Luckily, an eye doctor, Dr. Ma came to him and would like to help him without asking for any money, so we call Dr Ma avolunteerdoctor. So does a volunteer do a job for money or for free?S: For free.(Writing volunteer on the blackboard and getti

31、ng students to read it aloud.)T: (Continuing the story) Dr. Maoperated onTom, cutting into his eyes and taking away something bad. Here operate means that a doctor uses a knife, cut into ones body and take away something bad. Its noun form is operation.(Writing operate and operation on the blackboar

32、d and getting students to read them aloud.)T: Dr Ma performed an operation on Tom, and the operation was very successful. Toms blindness wascured. Thats to say, the operation made his blindness go away. Can he see things clearly now?Ss: Yes, he can.(Writing cure on the blackboard and getting student

33、s to read it aloud.)T: (Continuing the story) Yeah, he can see things very clearly, and he is very grateful to Dr Ma. This is the story. What do you think of Dr Ma?S1: He is very kind.S2: He is helpful.T: Yeah, I agree with you.【设计说明】：用讲故事创设语境，呈现阅读材料中的关键生词。3. Completing the story.T: (Showing the sli

34、de) Now lets see the story again, but some words are missing here. Would you complete the story with the new words? Lets have a try.affectblindnesscurepatientoperateaffordoperation volunteerTom is a student, he used to be a _ with eye problems. Because of the _, he couldnt see anything at all. The i

35、llness _ him a lot and changed his life from bad to worse.He didnt have enough money, and couldnt _ to go to hospital. Luckily, a _doctor, Dr Ma, would like to help him for free. He _ on him, cutting into his eyes and taking away something bad.The _ was very successful and Toms blindness was _. Now,

36、 Tom can see things very clearly.【设计说明】：用刚学到的生词填空，完成短文，巩固学生对词义的掌握。3. Predicting questions.T: Do you still remember what I did with your monitor at the beginning of our lesson?Ss: You asked our monitor some questions.T: Actually, I had a short interview with him. Lets see the word interview. (Showing

37、 the slide)T: The word interview is made up of two parts. The first part inter means between, from one to another. The part view means ideas, opinions. So what does the word mean?S1: Share information.S2: Exchanging ideas.T: In order to exchange ideas, one person has to ask right questions and the o

38、ther has to answer it properly. So whats the most important thing in an interview?S: Asking right questions.T: Now suppose the famous eye doctor is coming to our class. What questions will you ask Dr Ma about protecting your eyes? Discuss in pairs and then tell me your questions.（Ss discuss with the

39、 partner）S1: Dr Ma, why do you want to be a volunteer doctor?S2: Dr Ma, what can we do to protect our eyes?S3: Dr Ma, I like eating very much. What kind of food is good for our eyes?（Ss are laughing）T: A good job. You are good interviewers and have asked interesting questions.【设计说明】：通过阅读前的预测活动，有效地激发

40、学生已有的背景知识。Step2. Be a wise reader.T: Heres an interview with Dr Ma. But the interviewers questions are missing. please read the answers quickly and see which question will be asked.Answer1:Blindness affects about 45 million people around the world, mostly in poor countries, and about 80 percent of t

41、hese cases can be cured or prevented. However, many people do not have the money for medical treatment.Question1:A. Dr. Ma, could you tell us something about blindness?B. Dr. Ma, how many people have eye problems?T: Whats the most important thing in choosing the right question?S: Catching the top se

42、ntence.T: Thats it! The top sentence must be the answer of the interviewers question. Lets see the next one.Answer2:ORBIS uses a flying eye hospital to visit poor countries. On the plane, volunteer doctors perform operations. The plane is also used as a teaching centre.Question2:A. How do doctors vi

43、sit poor countries?B. How does ORBIS help?T: The word also in the last sentence is very useful. Do you know why?S: It tells the two things which doctors do to help people in poor countries.T: Very good. Lets move to third one.Answer3:Many of our patients are so poor that they cant afford to travel t

44、o hospital, so we have to go to them. Also, local doctors and nurses can come to our plane to learn about eye operations. We teach them new skills and share our knowledge. They can even watch the operations on video. By training local doctors and nurses, we hope to help even more people.Question3:A.

45、 Why are your patients so poor?B. Why does ORBIS need a plane?T: Now can you tell me which word is very useful in find the main idea?Ss: Also!T: Well done. Youre learning fast. It tells us the reason why ORBIS needs a plane. Lets see the fourth paragraph.Answer4:Were the lucky ones. Modern medicine

46、is developing so quickly that we can treat and cure most eye problems and improve the lives of patients. All we need is enough money to carry on with our work. We hope people will support our work by sending donations to ORBIS.Question4:A. Can medicine cure all eye problems?B. Dr. Ma, whats your hop

47、e?T: What does Dr. Ma try to say here?S1: ORBIS needs more help.S2: He hopes more money will be donated to ROBIS.T: So the right chioce is B. These questionsare very important. They can help us get the main idea of each paragraph. From the the questions, we can also know the interview is about a cha

48、rity called ?Ss: ORBIS!【设计说明】：逆向思维，让学生根据采访答案，来判定对应的采访问题。Step3. Be a sharp reader.1. Logo1:T: Right! It is about a charity named ORBIS. Now lets have a look at its logo (Showing the slide) . This is the first part of the logo, what does it look like?Ss: An eye!T: Yes. But what else does it look like?

49、Ss: The earth?T:Yeah, youre clever. It means the serious eye problems on the earth. Open your books, read Question1 and Answer 1 and then tell me how serious the eye problems are.(Ss are reading Question1 and Answer1)T: How serious? The numbers may help you(Showing the slide).S: Blindness affects ab

50、out 45 million people around the world, mostly in poor countries.T: Can they be cured or prevented? How many of them can be cured or prevented?S: Yes, about 80 percent of the cases can be cured or prevented.T: Then why dont they go to hospital?S: Because many people have no money for medical treatme

51、nt.【设计说明】：创造性地挖掘出logo的象征意义，帮助学生掌握相关信息。2. Logo2:T: So much for the first part of the logo, lets come to the second part. Is there anything different from the first one? (Showing the slide).S: In the second one, there is a plane.T: Yes, this is the real logo of ORBIS. Why is there a plane here?S: It u

52、ses a plane to visit poor countries.T: Good answer. Actually its a flying eye hospital. Now lets read Question2 and Question 3, and try to complete the following flow chart about ORBIS. (Showing the slide).ORBISVisit _ countriesPerform eye _ local doctorsTeach new _A _ eye hospital_ more peopleT:(Af

53、ter several minutes)Have you found the answers? Lets have a check. What kind of hospital is it?S: Its a flying eye hospital.T: Right. Why does it use a plane to visit the patients?S: It uses a plane to visit poor countries, because many people are so poor that they cant afford to go to hospital.T: G

54、ood, and what do they do on the plane?S: They perform operations and the plane is also used as a teaching centre to train local doctors and nurses.T: Well done. How do they train the local doctors?S1: They teach them new skills and share knowledge with them.S2: They can even watch operations on vide

55、o.T: Yeah, on the plane, they train local doctors. Have you ever heard of a saying: Its nice to give a person a fish, but it is better to teach him how to fish?Ss: Yes.T: By training local doctors and nurses, they can help even more people.【设计说明】：突出logo中飞机的象征意义，重点讲述ORBIS的工作方式。3. Logo3:T: Just now I

56、talked about the logo, and now I add something new to it. Lets look at it again. (Showing the slide).T: Do you think it looks like a circle?Ss: Yeah.T: But here a small part is missing, what does it mean? It means there are still some places where ORBIS cant go to help. It needs more help.Ss: Oh.T: Now read Question6 and its answer and see what they need.T: What is needed to carry on with the work?S: Enough money is needed.T: And what does Dr Ma hope?S: He hopes people will support their work by sending donation