大学生英语课堂沉默现象原因的问卷分析研究

The Questionnaire Analysis Research on the Causes of College Students’ Reticence in the English Classroom

摘要: 在外语教学研究文献中，亚洲学生，尤其是中国学生一直都是与沉默、被动的语言学习者划等号的。很多教师把课堂沉默现象简单归因于亚洲文化因素所造成的本身固有性情，认为不可改变，因而纷纷采用单向的讲座式的教学方法。然而随着国际交流竞争的日益增多和社会对人才要求的提高，这种教学方式的弊端已较为突显。因而要改变沉默现象，就要对课堂沉默现象进行重新认识。通过对江苏六大高校学生和教师问卷调查研究，作者发现学生在英语课堂上的沉默更可能是过去和现在的学习环境所造就的课堂学习习惯，研究还发现学生对公开的课堂参与持积极态度。因此大学生英语课堂的沉默现象的改变有赖于课堂学习环境和气氛的改变。 Asian (especially Chinese) students of English as a second/foreign language have been alleged to be reticent learners in the recent ESL/EFL literature. Many teachers and researchers attribute such reticence to learners’ inherent disposition that is caused by Asian cultural factors, which simply cannot be altered. The one-way lecture-mode teaching methods are consequently adopted in teaching practice. Nevertheless, the disadvantages of such methods have been more and more apparent with the increase of international commu nication and competition and the new requirements for talents’ overall English proficiency. Thereby, a reconsideration of Chinese learners’ reticence in English class is a prerequisite for the change of the traditional ways of teaching. It has been revealed through the questionnaire study on students and teachers from six institutions of higher education in Jiangsu Province that the reticence is more likely to be the performance of learners’ habitual classroom behavior that has been formed in the traditional instructional contexts. It is also found that mainland learners hold a positive attitude to overt participation in classroom activities. Therefore, classroom reticence can be altered with the appropriate learning environment and learning atmosphere.