熟练教师与新晋教师在初中英语课堂指令上的对比研究(4)
In Lin Lin (2014)’s observation of a class teaching Module 10 Unit 1 Where’s my pen? , the teacher’s instruction did not work because of students’ incomprehension for it. It should be an interesting game, but only a few more able students started working on it and most students in class were at a loss. This is to say, the students of different level cannot always accept the same instruction, especially the one that is beyond students language competency. Additionally, Xie Huizhen (2014) interprets that some students are shy and are afraid of making mistakes, so they would not ask the teacher to explain the instruction proactively. Thus, teachers should have a clear command of the students’ language level and give the instruction that is suitable for students. In some other studies abroad we can also find that instructions should be inpidualized sometimes to adjust students’ literacy (Conner et al., 2009). But actually, inside one classroom, students of different level can vary to some extent, even though the students have been grouped according to their academic scores, which may lead to some problems in teaching and instructing. Thus, the best solution is to make instructions simple and clear, suitable and understandable for almost everyone in the classroom.
In Lin Lin (2014)’s statement, by simple instruction, students can quickly follow the teacher’s instruction and start the activity. However, there are some other doubts that if the instruction is simple, but not clear, for example, the instructor’s pronunciation is not standard enough, the expression is not logical, or some simple sentences can have different meanings, which would be more likely happen in the class charged by a novice teacher, the students still cannot accept effective instruction. This would retrospect to a teacher’s personal professional skills.
2.3.2 Give Instruction with Some Aids
Yao Renhuan and Hong Wei (2011) manifest that in English language classroom, a kind of real communicative situation, teachers’ instruction must go with some other forms besides oral form. Students may miss teacher’s utterance or misunderstand the meaning of instruction, which can result in classroom inefficiency. The teaching practice proves that when the instruction was given together with some contagious body language, objects or pictures, it can assist students to quickly and accurately understand what the teachers want them to do. Yao Renhuan and Hong Wei (2011) notice that when the ways of giving instruction are not simply oral form, the students are more likely to be motivated into the class activities. As performers and presenters, teachers must acquire the presentation skills, such as use natural body language to help oral speech. This claims the teachers have a good command of public speaking technology. Otherwise, inappropriate body language would attract student’s attention on the teachers’ personal behavior but not the language knowledge. In their experiments, with only a case study, they do not analyze the point clearly and thoroughly.
In the wake of the leapfrog in science and technology, a great number of the language classrooms are equipped with multimedia devices, which is used to help teaching in classroom. More classroom equipments can be seen in the Appendix A on Harmer’s book, such as “the tape recorder, the language laboratory, video machines, the overhead projector, computers, data projectors and interactive whiteboards” (1998: 252). Bauer (2002) expounds that increasing number of educational institutions choose Web-based learning and teaching. An investigative study conducted at Myungin Middle School in Seoul, South Korea displays the result that students learn vocabulary better when they receive spoken instruction, added visual text and associated graphics. The additional multimedia components do require students more time on the instruction, however, it improves learning by illustrating what the vocabulary means during the class (Kim, & Gilman, 2008).