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摘 要 隨着全球化的不断发展，英语作为国际通用语，其重要性显而易见。英语教学中，开展以学生为中心的交际型课堂能够帮助学生更好的掌握语言交际能力。西藏大学生由于其特殊的社会，地理，文化等原因以及藏-汉-英三语教学模式的影响，英语教学相对比较落后。本文作者试图从藏族大学生特点入手，找到开展有效课堂教学的方法。
关键词 有效课堂教学 藏族大学生 方法
中图分类号：G424 文献标识码：A
1 Background
With the development of globalization， English， as an internationally-used language， shows its importance in communication. Because the major way for Chinese students to learn English is attending English classes， whether such classes are effective is worth considering.
The traditional English teaching in China features in the following ways： structure-based， examination-oriented， and teacher-centered. Most students just follow the instructions of teachers in class， with few chances of doing communicative works with their classmates or teachers. Students are accustomed to that the teacher just reads the texts or sets an example or presents grammatical points etc. It can be a very common occasion that students keep silence when the teacher asks questions， then the teacher has to answer the questions all by himself （herself）， and then move forward. Such inefficient teaching mode forms big obstacle to the students’ English learning. Thus it is of great significance on studying the effective classroom activities.
The English teaching and learning is relatively difficult in Tibet due to its special social， geographical and cultural factors and the Tibetan-Chinese-English teaching mode. Tibetan students’ English level is weak compared with others. Because most Tibetan students are from remote areas， they are mind-occlusive，conservative and very shy. Many students are passive， easy to be nervous and anxious in class， they are not willing to take communicative language practice and interact with the teacher even when they meet with problems in English learning. And the author finds that some Tibetan students have the negative thought of giving up English learning. So， teachers for institute of nationalities are facing greater difficulties in classroom teaching. We should be fully aware of their learning characteristics， trying to help foster confidence and courage and adjust the teaching methods and classroom activities to the needs of the students to make sure an effective teaching and learning.
2 Methods of creating an effective classroom teaching
2.1 Establishing Students-centered Classroom
More students-centered activities make students actively participate in the classroom. As shown in the research of Zhou Xing & Zhou Yun （2002）， the students-centered classroom may provide more chances for students to practice target knowledge， which prompt students’ language learning better. Therefore the teacher should shift the teacher-centered classroom into students-centered classroom. Teachers should meet students’ needs and expectation. In order to let students play active role in the class， teachers should be aware of students’ personal factors， needs and motivation etc. Only when teachers understand the factors of their students mentioned above and develop the teaching approaches according to the students’ characteristics， can they make English teaching more successful.
Most Tibetan students are shy and timid， they are afraid of speaking in public for fear of making mistakes and being laughed at. And this requires the teacher to take the difficulty level， pattern and assessment form of classroom activities into consideration. The teacher should modify the demands to Tibetan students and be always encouraging to protect the students’ enthusiasm in learning. For example， the assessment can be done at first in the form of a short piece of writing instead of a speech to ease their anxiety.
2.2 Organizing various classroom activities
Teachers should design various classroom activities in the forms of dialogues， role-plays， daily words test， listening to the radio， interview， scenario simulations， group discussions and story-tellings etc. Interesting topics are also very important in designing effective activities. The design should be based on what the students are interested in， know about and are able to carry out. For example， activity design can be added with some Tibetan factors， like Tibetan food， dance， songs， culture， customs or the comparison of Tibet with other cultures. The teacher should not adhere too much to the textbooks but try to arouse the students’ interest in the topics and facilitate them to participate in the activities actively.
2.3 Ensuring Effective Classroom Interaction in Class
Teachers should raise the Tibetan students’ interests for interaction. A good question from the teacher can motivate the students to answer. When teachers give more open questions to students， and allow them to answer without any limitations， thus they may have desires for interaction.
Teachers should make sure that all the students have opportunities to take part in the interaction. When designing the activities， teachers should try to design various classroom activities to enlarge students’ interaction space and approaches. Only in this way， it can promise an effective interaction is of significant value.
2.4 Implementing different functions in classroom
As Richards （1994：23） points out， the roles of teachers and students decide the classroom interaction. The role of the teacher affects the role of students. In an effective classroom， the teacher is clear about what roles he/she plays while organizing the classroom activities. Only proper roles of the teacher can make the teaching effective， some roles are listed in the following： 1） Teacher as an Instructor
When teaching， the teacher plays the role of an organizer and instructor， which are perhaps the most important and difficult role the teacher has to play （Harmer 1992）. When doing classroom activities， instructions given by the teacher appear to be very important. Only if the instructions are clear can students understand what they are going to talk about and what feedback they should give at the end of the activity. The teacher should be fully aware of the students’ reflection， and use Chinese to repeat the instructions again to ensure that all the students have understood what they have to do.
2） Teacher as a participant
In order to make students know what they have to do， the teacher could talk with students whose English is better to set a model for the others. Sometimes teachers can participate in the activities. When the teacher acts as a participant， the atmosphere of the class will be more relaxed. This can help reduce students’ anxiety and raise their confidence to a certain extent. It can also contribute to a better teacher-student relationship. The teacher can get to know the progress and give students effective guide when they have problems in the process. Moreover， this can give students a chance to practice English with someone whose English is better than them.
3） Teacher as an Adviser
Teachers may act as an adviser during the classroom activities when they find the students need suggestions as they face problems and difficulties. When students are doing discussion， the teacher can walk around the classroom， giving advice， offering help or giving guidance. And the teacher can encourage some students who are always silent to participate in the discussion.
4） Teacher as an Assessor
One of the most important jobs of the teacher is to assess students’ work and to see how well they performed in the class. Teachers need to evaluate students’ work and according to which they can give students advice and encouragement. This kind of feedback helps students to see what mistakes they have made so that they can be corrected. The teacher can also know more about the students’ learning by assessment， and then make timely adjustment to their teaching ways and contents to ensure an effective teaching.
3 Conclusion
Effective classroom activities are useful and important for Tibetan students to have a better understanding of the knowledge. It is of great importance to see that various students-centered and interactive classroom activities can enhance students’ participation， output and play more active roles in class. And teachers for institute of nationalities should be more aware of their different functions to ensure the effectiveness of classroom teaching. In order to do that， teachers should also understand the students learning characteristics to adjust their teaching methods and choices of activities.
Reference
[1] Harmer，J. The Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers. London： Longman Group UK Limited. 1992.
[2] Richards，J.C.The Context of Language Teaching. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press. 1994.
[3] 崔允墎.有效教學：理念与策略.人民教育出版社，2001.
[4] 罗登勇.浅谈英语课堂活动的有效性.外语教研，2010.29：83.
[5] 王鉴，申群英.近十年来我国“有效教学”问题研究评析.课程与教学，2008.10：39-43.
[6] 张淑敏.如何提高英语课堂教学活动的有效性.教学研究，2009.16：93.
[7] 周星，周韵.大学英语课堂教师话语的调查与分析.外语教学与研究，2002.34：59-65.
关键词 有效课堂教学 藏族大学生 方法
中图分类号：G424 文献标识码：A
1 Background
With the development of globalization， English， as an internationally-used language， shows its importance in communication. Because the major way for Chinese students to learn English is attending English classes， whether such classes are effective is worth considering.
The traditional English teaching in China features in the following ways： structure-based， examination-oriented， and teacher-centered. Most students just follow the instructions of teachers in class， with few chances of doing communicative works with their classmates or teachers. Students are accustomed to that the teacher just reads the texts or sets an example or presents grammatical points etc. It can be a very common occasion that students keep silence when the teacher asks questions， then the teacher has to answer the questions all by himself （herself）， and then move forward. Such inefficient teaching mode forms big obstacle to the students’ English learning. Thus it is of great significance on studying the effective classroom activities.
The English teaching and learning is relatively difficult in Tibet due to its special social， geographical and cultural factors and the Tibetan-Chinese-English teaching mode. Tibetan students’ English level is weak compared with others. Because most Tibetan students are from remote areas， they are mind-occlusive，conservative and very shy. Many students are passive， easy to be nervous and anxious in class， they are not willing to take communicative language practice and interact with the teacher even when they meet with problems in English learning. And the author finds that some Tibetan students have the negative thought of giving up English learning. So， teachers for institute of nationalities are facing greater difficulties in classroom teaching. We should be fully aware of their learning characteristics， trying to help foster confidence and courage and adjust the teaching methods and classroom activities to the needs of the students to make sure an effective teaching and learning.
2 Methods of creating an effective classroom teaching
2.1 Establishing Students-centered Classroom
More students-centered activities make students actively participate in the classroom. As shown in the research of Zhou Xing & Zhou Yun （2002）， the students-centered classroom may provide more chances for students to practice target knowledge， which prompt students’ language learning better. Therefore the teacher should shift the teacher-centered classroom into students-centered classroom. Teachers should meet students’ needs and expectation. In order to let students play active role in the class， teachers should be aware of students’ personal factors， needs and motivation etc. Only when teachers understand the factors of their students mentioned above and develop the teaching approaches according to the students’ characteristics， can they make English teaching more successful.
Most Tibetan students are shy and timid， they are afraid of speaking in public for fear of making mistakes and being laughed at. And this requires the teacher to take the difficulty level， pattern and assessment form of classroom activities into consideration. The teacher should modify the demands to Tibetan students and be always encouraging to protect the students’ enthusiasm in learning. For example， the assessment can be done at first in the form of a short piece of writing instead of a speech to ease their anxiety.
2.2 Organizing various classroom activities
Teachers should design various classroom activities in the forms of dialogues， role-plays， daily words test， listening to the radio， interview， scenario simulations， group discussions and story-tellings etc. Interesting topics are also very important in designing effective activities. The design should be based on what the students are interested in， know about and are able to carry out. For example， activity design can be added with some Tibetan factors， like Tibetan food， dance， songs， culture， customs or the comparison of Tibet with other cultures. The teacher should not adhere too much to the textbooks but try to arouse the students’ interest in the topics and facilitate them to participate in the activities actively.
2.3 Ensuring Effective Classroom Interaction in Class
Teachers should raise the Tibetan students’ interests for interaction. A good question from the teacher can motivate the students to answer. When teachers give more open questions to students， and allow them to answer without any limitations， thus they may have desires for interaction.
Teachers should make sure that all the students have opportunities to take part in the interaction. When designing the activities， teachers should try to design various classroom activities to enlarge students’ interaction space and approaches. Only in this way， it can promise an effective interaction is of significant value.
2.4 Implementing different functions in classroom
As Richards （1994：23） points out， the roles of teachers and students decide the classroom interaction. The role of the teacher affects the role of students. In an effective classroom， the teacher is clear about what roles he/she plays while organizing the classroom activities. Only proper roles of the teacher can make the teaching effective， some roles are listed in the following： 1） Teacher as an Instructor
When teaching， the teacher plays the role of an organizer and instructor， which are perhaps the most important and difficult role the teacher has to play （Harmer 1992）. When doing classroom activities， instructions given by the teacher appear to be very important. Only if the instructions are clear can students understand what they are going to talk about and what feedback they should give at the end of the activity. The teacher should be fully aware of the students’ reflection， and use Chinese to repeat the instructions again to ensure that all the students have understood what they have to do.
2） Teacher as a participant
In order to make students know what they have to do， the teacher could talk with students whose English is better to set a model for the others. Sometimes teachers can participate in the activities. When the teacher acts as a participant， the atmosphere of the class will be more relaxed. This can help reduce students’ anxiety and raise their confidence to a certain extent. It can also contribute to a better teacher-student relationship. The teacher can get to know the progress and give students effective guide when they have problems in the process. Moreover， this can give students a chance to practice English with someone whose English is better than them.
3） Teacher as an Adviser
Teachers may act as an adviser during the classroom activities when they find the students need suggestions as they face problems and difficulties. When students are doing discussion， the teacher can walk around the classroom， giving advice， offering help or giving guidance. And the teacher can encourage some students who are always silent to participate in the discussion.
4） Teacher as an Assessor
One of the most important jobs of the teacher is to assess students’ work and to see how well they performed in the class. Teachers need to evaluate students’ work and according to which they can give students advice and encouragement. This kind of feedback helps students to see what mistakes they have made so that they can be corrected. The teacher can also know more about the students’ learning by assessment， and then make timely adjustment to their teaching ways and contents to ensure an effective teaching.
3 Conclusion
Effective classroom activities are useful and important for Tibetan students to have a better understanding of the knowledge. It is of great importance to see that various students-centered and interactive classroom activities can enhance students’ participation， output and play more active roles in class. And teachers for institute of nationalities should be more aware of their different functions to ensure the effectiveness of classroom teaching. In order to do that， teachers should also understand the students learning characteristics to adjust their teaching methods and choices of activities.
Reference
[1] Harmer，J. The Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers. London： Longman Group UK Limited. 1992.
[2] Richards，J.C.The Context of Language Teaching. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press. 1994.
[3] 崔允墎.有效教學：理念与策略.人民教育出版社，2001.
[4] 罗登勇.浅谈英语课堂活动的有效性.外语教研，2010.29：83.
[5] 王鉴，申群英.近十年来我国“有效教学”问题研究评析.课程与教学，2008.10：39-43.
[6] 张淑敏.如何提高英语课堂教学活动的有效性.教学研究，2009.16：93.
[7] 周星，周韵.大学英语课堂教师话语的调查与分析.外语教学与研究，2002.34：59-65.