我們不難發(fā)現(xiàn)中學外語教學中存在著這樣的現(xiàn)象：初中生，尤其是初一、初 二的學生，說英語的積極性普 遍很高，上課踴躍發(fā)言，大膽說英語。而到了初 三以上，特別是到了高二、高三，說英語的積極性大大下降。 學生中筆頭考試 能得八、九十分，但口頭表達能力極差的大有人在。究其原因有：1.機械的聽說 讀寫分割法， 即認為在初級階段（初一、初二）主要抓聽、說，中級階段從聽、 說過渡到讀、寫，而高級階段（高二、高三 ）抓讀和寫，片面地把聽說讀寫分 割開來；2.應試教育帶來的后果，只重分數(shù)，忽視能力的培養(yǎng)；3.教師的教 學 脫離學生心理發(fā)展的特點等等原因。所以英語教學到了高中階段就忽視興趣的激 勵和說話能力的培養(yǎng)。

那么，高中階段如何激發(fā)興趣、培養(yǎng)說的能力呢？

一、根據(jù)學生年齡特征，激發(fā)興趣，培養(yǎng)說的能力

在初級階段由于學生年齡小，好學、好問、好奇、好模仿，思維形式處于從 形象思維為主向主要以抽象思維為主轉(zhuǎn)化的階段，直觀、重復、模仿等教學手 段有著很重要的地位。到了高中階段，學生身心發(fā)展趨于成熟 ，抽象邏輯思維起主導作用。同時說話時的心理活動也隨之變化，對說話的興趣有所下降，顯得 不那么積極主 動了。根據(jù)這些特點老師應調(diào)整自己的教學方法，重視激勵學生 說話的興趣，使之與學生的身心發(fā)展相適應。 為此，我們從高一開始著手從教 學方法上激勵興趣，調(diào)動學生說英語的積極性。

1.改革Daily Talk活動 改變原來的Duty report等比較單調(diào)、 機械的方 法。每堂課前化三分鐘，每次一位學生上臺演講，談當天的新聞，講故事，講 班級中最新發(fā)生的事及一切學生感興趣的事，多傳遞信息。例如 ：足球世界杯賽舉行時，學生們，尤其是男生，上臺大談足球："My favourite football stars”，“The f ootball match betweenBrazil and Argentina"，"Football in China"，"The development of footb all"等等，簡直成了足球系列講座。 每年3月5 日到來時，學生就會談諸如："How shall we learn from Le i Feng？ ""LeiFeng has come back again.""Is it necessary to learn fromLei Feng today？" 等等。每當班級中出現(xiàn)問題時學生也會加以評論，談 自己的想法，如：“What shall we do with those who don'tkeep the rules of our school ？ ""Shall we cheat in theexaminations in order to get a good mark？"有時學生們利用2 —3分鐘做個游戲，如：Guess the letters of some English words ，Tongue twisters等。學生的興趣越來越高， 積極性也不斷高漲。 在此基礎上我們要求學生演講時多與教學 相結(jié)合，盡可能多用新學的單詞、詞組、句型等，并鼓勵學生創(chuàng)新。教師注意引導，定期總結(jié)， 表揚說得好的 學生。漸漸地學生說英語的積極性高漲了起來，大家你追我趕， 積極準備。遇有困難，主動與同學商量或請教 老師。久而久之，學生的英語表 達日趨準確，內(nèi)容更加豐富，聽的學生更樂意聽，使學生聽、說的能力同時得 到 了訓練。

2.創(chuàng)設情景串聯(lián)對話 以往對話教學多采用讓學生聽對話錄音、重復、背誦、 模仿編對話等方式。這種操練往往脫離真實的情景，忽視了語言內(nèi)容的真實性， 教學形式比較呆板，高中生很容易生厭。針對這種情況， 我們的教學不是停留在這個階段上，而是進一步創(chuàng)設新的情景，培養(yǎng)學生在新的情景中進行交際性操 練，努力 達到創(chuàng)造性地運用所學語言知識進行交際。如我在教對話時讓學生了解詞語和句型內(nèi)容后，充分發(fā)揮學生的想 象力，讓他們聯(lián)系新舊知識，創(chuàng)設情 景進行對話練習，拓寬學生的思路，取得了較好的效果。有些學生可以把 許多情節(jié)串聯(lián)起來，以對話的形式表演出來，內(nèi)容貼近學生日常生活實際，所學語言 知識得到靈活運用。例如 我們在課本第一、二冊中學過Asking the Way， Inquiring about Health， Inquiring about Weather， Asking forStreet Direction；第三冊中學到Giving Advice about Having MorePhysical Exercise， 他們把內(nèi)容串起來編成下列對話：

S[,1]:(Picking up the phone)Hello, may I speak to LingLing?

S[,2]:It's Ling Ling speaking.Is that Zhang Hai?

S[,1]:Yes, I'm calling to tell you that our formerclassmate Li Yin is ill in hospita l.

S[,2]:I'm sorry to hear that. What's the matter with him?

S[,1]:I'm not very clear about that. I'm only told that heis in the No. Six Hospital of Shan ghai.

S[,2]: Then we'd better go and sec him in the hospital.

S[,1]:That's what I think. He'll be glad to see us.

S[,2]:When shall we go?

S[,1]:How about this Sunday afternoon?

S[,2]:That's a good idea. But by the way, what willthe weather be like that day?

S[,1]:I've just listened to the weather forecast. Theweatherman says it will be fine.And it will not be very hot.The high will be 30℃.

S[,2]:That's fine.Where shall we meet?

S[,1]:Let's meet at the No.224 bus-stop at two.

S[,2]:All right.See you then.Bye!

(Sunday afternoon)

S[,1]:Hi, Ling Ling. How long have you been waiting?

S[,2]:I've just arrived. Look, the bus is coming.

S[,1]:Let's get on the bus.

(On the bus)

S[,2]:Do you know where we shall get off?

S[,1]:I'm afraid I don't. Let's ask the conductor.

S[,2]:Excuse me, conductor. We're going to the No. SixHospital. Can you tell us where to get off?

S[,3]:Certainly. Get off at the fifth stop. Then,turn backand go straight forward for about two minutes. You'll seethe hospital on your left.

S[,1],S[,2]:Get off at the fifth stop. Turn back and gostraight forward for two minutes. The hospital is on our left.OK. Thank you very much.

S[,3]:You are welcome.

S[,1],S[,2]:Oh, here we are.

(In the hospital)

S[,1],S[,2]:Hello, Li Yin.

S[,4]:Hello, Ling Ling and Zhang Hai.Why are you here?

S[,1]:We are told you are ill and now we're here to seeyou.

S[,4]:I'm very glad to see you, and thank you very much.

S[,2]:What's wrong with you? Are you better now?

S[,4]:I was down with a high fever a week ago. I came tosee the doctor. The doctor told me there was something wrongwith my lung. And he asked me to stay in hospital for a fewdays. Now, I'm much better.

S[,1]:We are glad to hear that. You know how worried wewere when we knew you were in hosp ital.

S[,2]:You should take good care of yourself in the future.

S[,4]:Yes, I will. But could you give me some advice onmy health?

S[,1]:I think you should have more physical exercise.Taking part in some ballgames will do you good.

S[,4]:Thank you for your advice.

S[,2]:We'd better take leave now. Have a good rest. Wewish you'll soon be well again.

S[,4]:Thank you for coming to see me.

S[,1],S[,2]:Bye-bye.

S[,4]:Bye.

這樣不僅學生說英語的能力得到了提高，而且語言知識得到了鞏固。

3.注意課文創(chuàng)造性提問的設計 一般提問可分理解性、記憶性及創(chuàng)造性三類。 隨著學生思維能力的提高， 課文提問要適當增加創(chuàng)造性問題，以滿足學生抽象 思維發(fā)展的需求。提問時適當減少Yes／No問題， 逐步增加 用Why 等句型提 問。

例如， 學習第六冊第五課After TwentyYears，這課的內(nèi)容、情節(jié)、語言 都比較簡單， 我向?qū)W生提了以下問題：Did Jimmy recognize Bob? But why didn't Jimmy take Bob tothe police st ation himself? Do you think Jimmy is right? Whatkind of person do you think Jimmy is? Would you do the sameif you were Jimmy? Why or why not?…在使學生理解課文的 同時激發(fā)學生的思維和發(fā)言興趣，使其樂意思考，競相發(fā)言。有時我們針對所 學內(nèi)容安排討論會，對不同的觀點、看法進行討論。如學習第五 冊第二課 lmproving Your Study Habit ， 我讓學生就以下題目進行辯論：Whatdo you think is more impor tant, intelligence or hard work, ifyou want to be a top student? Is study habit important or no t?Give your reasons to support your idea. …由于這些都和學生的實際生活有關，課文又給學生提供了語 言材 料，他們積極發(fā)言，積極思考，熱烈地參與辯論，常有欲罷不能的局面。

二、適當把握難度，讓學生不斷獲得成功感， 促進說話能力

成功感固然能激發(fā)學生的學習興趣，但是沒有困難、沒有障礙的學習也會抑 制學生的學習興趣，會削弱有積極作用的情緒感受。在培養(yǎng)學生英語說話能力 時教學內(nèi)容必須有適當?shù)碾y度，教師必須善于提出有一定深度 的問題，鼓勵學生不滿足現(xiàn)狀，更上一層樓。同時讓學生從克服困難、掌握新知識中得到樂趣。 我們的具體做 法是，高中三年中對學生的說話要求由低向高，形成坡度，逐漸提高要求。高一教對話時，在學會詞匯、句型 、課文的基礎上讓學生練習說英 語，也就是說在提供語言材料的基礎上練習說。如讓學生用新的詞匯、句型造句， 用自己的話復述課文，總結(jié)段落大意， 歸納文章中心等。 例如學完課本第三冊 AcidRain一課整篇課文后 ，在老師的幫助下，學生們作出歸納：

Paragraph 1:How acid rain is formed.

Paragraph 2:The damages acid rain has done to forests, lakes and streams.

Paragraph 3: One example of the damages that acid rain has caused to forests.

Paragraph 4:Because of the acid rain some kinds of animal population is declining.

Paragraph 5:The bad effects acid rain has on buildings and monuments.

Main idea:The great damages acid rain has done to us.

當學生積累了大量的語言材料，有了初步的說話能力，我們便進一步提高要 求，讓高二學生練習Topic Ta lking。老師根據(jù)所教課文內(nèi)容提出Topic讓學 生談。還是以剛才Acid Rain一課為例，我給了學生這樣的Topi c:Being a student,what should you do to deal with acidrain？有些學生談得很好， "Although we ar e students, still wecan do our bit to help solve this problem. First, we can tryour best to tell people the harmfulness of acid rain so thatpeople will pay more attention.Secondly,we sho uld do our bestto learn as much knowledge as possible so that some day we'llbe able to find out ways to solve this problem. "再如學了第三冊 Modern Examinations 一課后，我提出了"What do you think ofour examinations today?Do you like to take examinations? Why?How do you feel before ex aminations? What do you like ourexammations to be?"等主題讓學生討論，發(fā)表他們自己的看法。 學生們 暢所欲言，紛紛談自己的想法："I don't like examinations atall. I always feel nervous before exa minations. And the morenervous I am, the worse I do in examinations. So I hateexaminations . ""It's hard for me to like examinations.But I think it's necessary. After taking exam inations. we'llknow how well we have grasped the knowledge and the teacherswill have a clear picture of how we've learned our lessons,then they can make some changes in their teaching."到 了高三階段再上一層樓， 不但讓學生練習復述、主題討論，還讓學生針對課文中的人物及事情作出 Comment ，展開小組討論， 舉行辯論。例如學習了After Twenty Years一課后，我讓 學生從不同的角度對故事中人物的 行為、 做法發(fā)表評論。如從法律的角度、從 友誼的角度去評價Jimmy，引導學生進行辯論。我們在課堂上把班 級分成兩組， 一組為正方，另一組為反方。 正方認為："Jimmy is right. As he is a policeman, heshoul d do everything according to the law.Jimmy and Bob aregood friends but Jimmy still think s of his duty as apoliceman first.He sets a good example to all the policemen. We should learn from him."反方認為："As Jimmy is a goodfriend of Bob's,he should think of friendship first. He mayjust tell Bob the whole thing and let him go. And at thesame time, he may try to persuade Bob to stop doinganything against the law.In this way,Jimmy can not only be agood friend but also a good policeman."由于在要求上做到循序漸 進，學生不斷獲得成功感，不斷得到新的目標激勵，不斷感受到艱苦思維的愉 悅，說話的興趣就不斷得到激發(fā)與保持。

三年來（從高一到高三），在師生的共同努力下，學生在英語的各項能力上 取得了豐碩成果，學生的英語口頭表達能力受到了來校參觀訪問的外國客人和 教學實習老師的高度贊揚。許多學生還在社區(qū)里充當英語譯員 ，深受歡迎和好評。我任教班級的全體學生參加97年英語高考口試，全部合格；會考平均分96， A、B級達98％ ；高考平均分120 （市平均分93，市重點中學平均分110）。