The Application Of Interaction Patterns To Senior English Teaching In Middle Schools

At present English teaching in middle school classes is dominated by the teacher-centered, grammar-translation method. The students have no chances to interact. Little attention is paid to the training of the students' communicative competence. They aren't able to express themselves correctly and freely. So, this teaching method can no longer meet the needs for development. Teaching is a two -way operation. Without students' participation, language teaching cannot be effective. Students themselves must go through the learning process. The ultimate goal of English teaching is to cultivate students' abilities to interact. An effective way to realize this goal is through "interaction" which is the key of success in the English Teaching. The application of the interaction patterns to English teaching lies on classroom practice. The abilities of listening, speaking, reading and writing are all necessary for language students, as listed in the Syllabus designs for middle schools issued by the Ministry of Education in 2000. However, the study of the approach is still mainly concerned with the theory, while its application is largely neglected. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the problems of the current situation of English teaching and learning and possible solutions to the problem. The study was composed of two research questions:1. How to create interaction patterns and apply these patterns into the English teaching of Senior Middle Schools? 2. How to enhance the students' interest and motivation of learning English and to improve the students' language communicative competence and overall language abilities by using interaction patterns?This thesis explores the concept of "interaction", its theoretical basis and the principles to be followed of designing "interaction" activities. The principles were conducted on the basis of theories of Brown, H Douglas and other linguistic theories. Considering the language knowledge the students have acquired in Junior middle school, it is possible to develop their interaction competence during the learning of Senior middle school. There are some basic interaction principles we must follow in EFL teaching and learning. Firstly, we must create meaningful language practical activitiesand stick on the new teaching processes of the center of learning and practicing. Then we must develop the students' creativity, thinking and abilities of using language. Finally in the teaching processes, we must combine teaching contents with students' previous knowledge so that their enthusiasm of participation can be stimulated.Merits and Advantages of EFL classroom interaction are discussed. Firstly Interaction Patterns can elicit students' intrinsic motivation. Motivation gives rise to learning methods, which affect classroom interaction, then the interaction influence mood, which decides learning results and the realization of learning purpose. Secondly it can enhance students' competence of English knowledge and make the classroom the places of language, make students to be the subjectivity in the learning processes. Finally it can improve the students' communicative competence and performance.This thesis explains three principal Interaction Patterns. They are teacher-students interaction, student-student interaction and human-computer interaction. In the course of interaction, both teachers and students are in an active state. The students are real masters of learning. The interaction patterns help to motivate students' independence and stimulate their activeness and creativeness; Teachers should consider more how students themselves are able to master basic language knowledge and structures while teachers are preparing the lessons. Besides, teachers should encourage students to ask more questions in class and stimulate them to discuss questions. Teachers should change their roles and teaching concepts, hi order to quicken teaching effectives and elicit students' interest, multimedia software and Inter net should be used.Different kinds of Interaction Patterns adop...