A Study On The Effectiveness Of The Language Game Model In The Intensive Reading For English Majors

Wittgenstein’s later philosophical studies which centered on the ‘language game’ theoryhave changed the development direction of the western philosophy. People began toconcretely study the essences, functions, features and forms of language and so on; thesecharacters are closely related to the social characters of language.The core of Wittgenstein’s ‘Language game’ theory is meaning in use. Different from thetraditional view on games which stresses the attribute of amusement; Wittgenstein’s‘language game’ refers to language activity into which language is woven. On the premise ofrule-following,‘language game’ highlights the dynamic activities when people use languageand stresses to study language meaning in use, which reflects the view of practice of‘language game’. The appropriate usage of language (language rules) is respected andfollowed，the diversity of life form determines the infinity of language games.The language game model under the guidance of Wittgenstein’s ‘language game’ theoryis discussed in this thesis. The principle of authenticity is advocated to highlight the practicalattributes of language. This model stresses the training of language rules. It promotes theinter-subjectivity among learners and teachers and develops harmonious atmosphere of classteaching. Cultural insight, interactive assessment system and the live extracurricular activitiesare advocated in this model.The author holds that the language game model is not newborn, it is the specificapplication of Wittgenstein’s ‘language game’ theory in English teaching for English majors.It highlights language rules and language learning in its use. Language teaching is regarded asan integrated activity due to the attribute of the wholeness of meaning and dynamic character;language teaching is a dynamic entity that changes with the teaching environment, teachers’experience of teaching and learners’ capability of acceptance. The combination of seriousteaching attitude and lively teaching means is the essence of this thesis.A teaching experiment is carried out in this study to test the effectiveness of the languagegame model in improving the learners’ English level. The experiment includes apre-questionnaire, a post-questionnaire, a pre-test and a post-test. The analysis of theexperiment shows that through the four-month teaching practice, learners in the two classes(the Experimental Class and the Controlled Class), who have no significant differenceoriginally, achieve different scores in the post-test. Students in the Experimental Classimprove significantly. Besides, the comparison between pre-questionnaire andpost-questionnaire proves students’ learning interest and autonomy are stimulated, their comprehensive language proficiency is improved, and in addition, their awareness of cultureand cooperation are raised as well. Generally speaking, applying the language game model inthe intensive reading for English majors is effective. However, due to the various limitations,a further research in this field is needed.