目前英语是世界上通用的语言。英语作为世界语言，英语教学近年来在全球越来越受到重视。然而,中国的英语教学模式过分注重语法分析，片面追求升学率，忽略学生的英语文化素养的提高，导致大多数学生的口语交际能力缺失。教育工作者应在培养学生英语基础学习能力的同时注重口语训练与教学以培养学生的口头表达能力。本文将以“外研社杯”全国大学生英语竞赛为例，根据辩论赛的特点揭示中国课堂教学模式的现状和不足,探究将辩论引入课堂的可行性并提出相关策略，以期对学生的外国语言应用交际能力的培养发挥指导和借鉴作用。
Currently, English is a common language in the world. As English is a worldwide language, English teaching is becoming more and more important in the world these years. However, English teaching mode in China gives excessive attention to grammar analysis while neglecting the improvement on students’ English cultural attainments, which places undue emphasis on the proportion of students entering schools of a higher level, causing most students failure in intercultural exchanges. Expect instilling basic English knowledge, more attention should be paid to speaking training and teaching, in order to cultivate students' communicative ability. This paper will take the FLTRP Cup National English Debate Contest for college students as an example to reveal the status and shortcomings of the English teaching mode in China, explore the feasibility of the debate getting introduced to classroom and put forward some relevant strategies. In pursuit of providing a guidance and reference to develop the students’ foreign language performance and communicative ability.
FLTRP National English Debate Contest (abbreviated as FLTRP NEDC) is the only national English debate tournament in China. Since it was founded in 1997, due to a grand scale of events, excellent participants, international schedule and score standards, and authoritative judges, FLTRP NEDC, one of the first-level of English debate contests, has represented the highest level of oral English teaching in China indisputably. English speech and debate are the embodiment of the English language comprehensive ability. As English is popular and frequently used in international exchanges all over the world, people have more chances to use English to make a speech or debate: in formal academic reports, foreign friends’ banquet, all types of speech and debate contests, and so on. English speech and debate are the basic and necessary skills of today’s students, it should be taken seriously in school education. The eighth level of the target language skills in the Ordinary High School English Curriculum (experimental edition) states that: "Be able to prepare for a 3-minute speech about the general topic." The goal of ninth level is: "Be able to prepare for a 5-10 minutes speech on some special subjects and answer questions about it." Moreover, speech and debate as a class, language application have also been listed as one of any high school elective courses. Speech and debate are listed as one of the arbitrary elective courses of high school as a language application class. Featuring an orderly, efficient and entertaining format, the parliamentary debating style originates from the British Parliamentary debating. Since 2004, FLTRP NEDC has officially adopted the parliamentary debating style，the prevalent debating format across the world. Thereafter，FLTRP NEDC has made positive impacts respectively upon on China's college debaters, college English teaching and the research of English debate. At present, Chinese English teaching still adopts the traditional teaching mode. Teachers pass knowledge on to their students according to the teaching material. The purpose of teaching is completing teaching tasks. Teaching is a process of learning, understanding and mastering, which is directly reflected in the teaching material. However, the process of cultivating students’ positive learning attitudes and habits is invisible, it is the teaching content in daily life. Teachers should study and teach in the light of students’ specific conditions. The using of teaching materials which corresponds with the New Curriculum is a significant milestone. With its development in teaching content, the teaching modes have been in rapid change to keep pace with the time. Education should be faced with modernization and future. Therefore, the English teaching modes should keep in change with time. In a long run, though adopting the parliamentary debating style successfully，FLTRP NEDC is still groping its way towards the demand which adapts to the present status of China so as to cater for the innovation and advancement of Chinese English teaching in the 21st century.
Under the circumstances of economic globalization and cultural diversity, it is more and more important to attach great importance to the students’ oral English learning and to cultivate international talents. Oral English teaching is an important content of English teaching. Improving students’ oral communication ability is the demand of the New Curriculum. As an approach of oral English teaching, the features of debate make it possible to enhance students’ oral communication ability and achieve the goal of improving oral English teaching. With the FLTRP NEDC hold successfully, the English debate is introduced into the English classroom in China, the debate contest has a profound influence on Chinese teaching mode. All participating tutors, independent judges and debaters have realized the significance of the debate. Debate is not only the art of language, but also the contest of the wisdom. Since the FLTRP NEDC founded, its unique format features and comprehensive requirements inject a breath of fresh air into the English Teaching in China with great inspiration and guidance. As mentioned above, the writings about English debate in China are rare, the study of the debate in English teaching is in the ascendant. What’s more, debate is an integral part of campus culture, it promotes students to grow in the direction of being talented with other campus activities. Some get effect instantly but most influence students unconsciously. It worth attention that the out-of-order organization and the inappropriate motion may bring some negative effects, such as triggering a vicious rivalries, causing mental confusion, etc. The influence of debate in English teaching should not be underestimated.The study and the application of English debate are an innovation of English teaching research in China. The prospect is eventful and there are vast virgin lands to be reclaimed. |
