How to improve students’ oral English ability

陳忠澤

[Abstract] With the opening-up of China， English teaching has been getting more and more attention， Now， A Standard English course is being used to replace the former teaching outline. The new standard adopts the international system. This has changed the old style of teaching， which attaches importance to grammar and vocabulary. The new method will place less stress on “reading and writing”， in favor of “l(fā)istening” and “speaking”. So now， speaking is getting more and more important in middle school English teaching.

This paper discuss how to improve studentsspeaking ability .

[Key words] speaking、communication、ability、middle school、English teaching.

1. Introduction

Chinese people all know that English is very important for the future development of China. “With the accession of China to the WTO and other international organizations， international Sporting events， English is looked by Chinese leaders very important .Because it continues its opening up internationally and lets them become increasingly global leaders. ” What is the goal for learning a foreign language？ It is for communication， but not for taking examinations. I agree with that Chinese government has spent a lot of money on holding a range of English tests. Such as TOEFL， TPT， TEM-8， CET-6 etc. But holding these texts is kind of measure to force Chinese students to learn English. Because leaders know how important English is in the future. But in China not only many students misunderstood it， but also plenty of teacher and students' parents. They focus on the scores. As a result， a large number of Chinese students can achieve high scores in English tests but can not speak fluent English when they face a foreigner or speak to their classmates. This is a common phenomenon in China. This essay focuses on finding the problems which cause Chinese students can not speak English out and ways to solve them.

2. The Present Situation of Oral English in Middle School

For most students oral English is a headache thing. Due to the wrong way of teaching methods， many students have lost patience in learning English， especially oral English， some students say frankly that in English class， teacher order them to listen carefully about what teacher said and write down all the notes which appear on blackboard， and recite words and passage. It is no use for them to improve oral English， they do not review those notes because they dont know what they are and can not remember words because they dont know how to use them in a correct situation. Some students feel shy of speaking English when there is no one talking with them or no an English speaking environment. If they speak English with someone， friends and other classmates will make fun of them. As influenced by Chinese culture， plenty of students are not willing to express themselves when face others. And according to the traditional way of Chinese thinking， everyone should be modest. In other words， if someone is good at some field， he had better not show his talent before people. But they ignore that English comes from the other countries where people are very outgoing and like to show his advantages. They are different from Chinese. So， Chinese student should try to use the way of English speaking people used to speak English.

3. The Importance of Speaking

“Language is vocal ，this means that speech is the primary medium of language. While writing is secondary. Firstly， for any language speech existed long before the writing system came into being. Even today languages which have lonely a spoken form outnumber language which have a well-developed writing system. Secondly， normal children always learn to speak first. They begin to read and write only when they have reached the school age. Thirdly， speech is more important than writing for peoples daily life. A person who can't read and write is only an ‘illiterate. However， a person who can't speak is normally regarded as‘disabled.So speech is very important in the development of human beings.

The aims of teaching syllabus stipulates that “ English teaching in middle schools are mainly to train students to have a definite foundation of listening and speaking so as to attain the aim to communicate comprehensively with others in English.”③It requires the teachers of English to organize their 45-minute class in English to create a living and lively English environment of English learning. Thus the students listening and speaking is very important.

4. Essential Methods for Improving StudentsSpeaking Ability.

In class， the students should be given more time to speak and they can't be regarded just as audiences， which will not have a good teaching effect and the student's speaking ability also can't be trained .The teachers should let the students take part in the class. In JFFC textbooks， there are many interesting dialogues and stories. So the teachers should let the students act the dialogue out or make another dialogue with their own words as possible as they can. And therere many riddles and chants in the textbooks. So the teachers can take the formation of competition to let the students imitate and follow the tape and see who is the winner. Next， the teachers can also arrange for the student to retell the stories， which they are more interested in. And the students also estimate their favorite ball players.

If there is something wrong with a student 's pronunciation， then， obviously， he can't understand what's on in the communication. And increasingly it will influence the student's confidence of communication. So teacher of English should help students lay a solid base of English phonetics， which includes accurate pronunciation， good intonation， sound linking， plosive and strong and weak forms .It is proved that students with good pronunciation and intonation have obvious advantages in speaking just as a writer's opinions can be obtained by reading between the lines， a speaker s intention can be revealed from the intonation and tunes he uses.

5. Conclusion

This essay focuses on how to find ways to improve studentsoral English in Middle School. First part is a brief introduction of how important the oral English is in China， and the disadvantage of the present teaching methods. The second part describes the phenomenon of the present oral English in middle school. The third and the fourth part are some advice for teachers and students on how to improve oral English.