杨丽论文

Enhancing English vocabulary pronouncing and spelling through the application of “Orthographic Cipher” approach in a Rural Senior One High School“表音密码”教学法在提高农村高一学生英语词汇拼读效率方面的运用中文摘要英语是世界通用语言，目前在全球范围内是使用最多的交际语言，词汇学习是英语学习者学习英语的一个重要的组成部分。

众所周知，正确拼读英语单词是英语词汇学习的重中之重。

有关事实表明，大多数农村高一学生虽然学了五六年英语（小学三年级开始），但他们在英语单词拼读方面依然有很大困难。

毫无疑问，英语单词拼读能力的薄弱，直接阻碍着学生在英语其它方面的学习。

为什么学生不能有效地拼读英语单词？如何改进英语词汇教学，采取更科学有效的教学方法激发学生的积极性和主动性？这个问题一直困扰着笔者。

这是否与英语语音的学习方法和学习策略有关？目前还在农村学校流行的“国际音标”语音教学法是否符合英语文字的本质？语音训练新方法——“表音密码”教学法是否能够提高农村高一学生拼读英语单词的效率？“表音密码”作为一种不同于“国际音标”的语音教学法，也许能更好地适应中学英语教学的要求，能够使学生有效地读写记忆英语单词。

带着这个愿望，笔者开始了这次研究。

首先阐述了词汇教学的的重要性，然后对国内教授英语单词拼读的现状进行了分析，迫切地感到上述问题有必要进行研究。

接着本文通过回顾国内外在学习策略及单词拼读教学方法上的诸多研究，发现各种方法各有优缺点，但都不是从英语文字本质出发，效率低。

因而，笔者针对河南省农村一所高中的一年级学生进行了“表音密码”方法在单词拼读中的运用方面的研究。

论文提出两个假设：㈠“表音密码”语音教学法能够提升农村高一学生的英语单词的拼读能力；㈡英语单词拼读能力的提高能够带动学生在英语其它方面学习能力的提高。

为了验证这些假设，笔者采用河南省某农村中学高一年级两个平行班作为研究对象，一个实验班，一个对照班。

实验班采用“表音密码”教学法训练学生拼读单词，对照班采用“国际音标”教学法训练学生拼读单词。

实验结束后，经过两个班的前后测成绩和问卷数据的spss分析，结果表明受培训的实验班在后测中，假词朗读和拼写测试明显优于对照班；“表音密码”教学法比“国际音标”教学法更能有效提高高一学生的英语单词拼读能力，也证明接受“表音密码”教学法进行培训的学生极大地提升了学习英语的自信心和主动性，从而也在很大程度上带动了学生在英语整体学习能力的提高。

最后，论文总结了本教学实验的阶段性后果，提出了运用“表音密码”教学法进行单词拼读教学的两点建议：1.在学习英语的任何阶段，即使是在已有六年英语学习基础的高中阶段，英语教师都要从英语是表音文字这个本质特点出发，对学生进行“表音密码”方法的训练，提高学生的英语单词拼读能力。

2.教师应该结合实际所用教材，经常性地对学生进行“表音密码”方法的训练，帮助学生更实际有效地学习英语词汇，增加词汇量，为英语学习打下坚实的基础，从而带动学生英语学习的全面提高。

关键词：“表音密码”教学法，英语词汇的拼读能力，农村中学。

AbstractEnglish is the most widely used number one world language. However, too many students in rural areas in China have great difficulty in learning even the most basic elements of the language: vocabulary. As is well known to us all, what is of great significance to leaning English vocabulary is the pronunciation and spelling of each word, and the pronunciation of a word is the basis of the base. During my teaching practice, a great many students in a rural senior one high school still have so many problems in pronouncing and spelling English vocabulary. There is no doubt that the problems badly influence the English learning of a student. The following questions always strike me: why do students often fail in pronouncing and spelling English vocabulary efficiently? What is the effective approach to build up the confidence and motivation of students? Does it relate to their English phonetic learning strategies? Can IPA-international phonetic alphabet approach that is still popular in rural areas assist students in pronouncing and spelling English words efficiently? Can “orthographic cipher”approach enhance rural students‟reading and spelling abilities of English vocabulary?Based on the questions, an investigation was conducted in the application of the “Orthographic Cipher” approach used to teach and learn to pronounce and spell English words. Firstly, the author elaborated the great importance of English vocabulary in Teaching and Learning English; then analyzed the domestic situations in teaching and learning to pronounce and spell English vocabulary and felt that there is critical need for research. Next, the author found that the three approach —the International Phonetic Alphabet approach, the phonics approach and the whole language approach all don‟t reflect th e English nature i.e.a kind of the orthographic language and have low efficiency though they have their own merits. Therefore, the author began the study o f the “Orthographic Cipher” approach used by the senior one students of a rural senior high school in Henan province.Two hypotheses are proposed: ⑴The “orthographic cipher” approach can enhancerural students‟ abilities to read and spell English words; and ⑵ the improved phonetic level can help to re-found interest in English and confidence in themselves in learning this language, thus raising their whole English learning level. In order to validate the assumptions, the author has taken two natural classes of the first graders in senior one high school as the subjects, experimental class and control class. The experimental class was taught to read and spell English words b y the “orthographic cipher” approach while the control class by means of the IPA approach. After three-month experiment, the pre-test and post-test are analyzed. The SPSS analysis shows that students in experimental class who have been trained in the use of the “orthographic cipher” approach performed better in the pseudo word post-test than those in the use of the IPA.The results show that the “orthographic cipher” approach can effectively develop the students‟ ability to pronounce and spell English vocabulary. I also prove that the English reading and spelling ability of the experimental group has increased remarkably over those of the control class; Moreover, it built up the students‟ self-confidence and they would learn English on their own initiative.Finally, the thesis summarizes the achievements of the experiments and sets forth two suggestions on vocabulary teaching from “orthographic cipher” phonetic instruction: First, it is essential that teachers should instruct students in a basic English learning stages in pronouncing and spelling English words by the “orthographic cipher”approach, which reflects the English nature i.e. a kind of alphabetic language.Second, I suggest that teachers should make the best of the present teaching materials to instruct students how to read and spell English words by means of the “orthogr aphic cipher” approach daily. The first thing that we should do as teachers is to help students learn English vocabulary more effectively, acquire as many English words as possible and lay a solid foundation for going on learning English, having a strong influence on the whole English level of the student in our country.Key words: the “orthographic cipher”approach, , pronouncing and spelling of English vocabulary, a rural senior high schoolContentChapter 1 Introduction1.1 The importance of English vocabulary in Teaching and Learning English1.2 The importance of English sounds in teaching and learning to read and spellEnglish vocabulary1.3 The Present Situation of V ocabulary Teaching In A Rural Senior High School1.4 The Statement of the Problem and Need for studyChapter 2 Literature Review2.1 Three Dominant Approaches in Teaching Decoding and Encoding English2.2 The International Phonetic Alphabet Approach2.2.1 Advantages of the International Phonetic Alphabet2.2.2 Disadvantages of the International Phonetic Alphabet2.3 The Phonics Teaching Method2.3.1 Advantages of the Phonics Teaching Method2.3.2 Disadvantages of the Phonics Teaching Method2.4 The Whole Language Teaching Method2.4.1 Advantages of the Whole Language Teaching Method2.4.2 Disadvantages of the Whole Language Teaching Method2.5 New phonetic instruction----- Orthographic Cipher2.5.1 Knowledge about Orthographic Cipher2.5.1.1 26 Letter Names and 26 Letter Sounds2.5.1.2 26 Consonant Letter Sounds and 18 V owel Letter Sounds2.5.1.3 108 Letters and Common Combinations Representing 26 ConsonantLetter Sounds And 18 V owel Sounds2.5.1.4 468 Uninterrupted Sounds2.5.1.5 Common Prefix and Suffix2.5.2The Abilities Of Orthographic Cipher2.5.2.1 Segment Words2.5.2.2 The Location of Stressed Syllable2.5.2.3 The Pronunciation Of Stressed And Unstressed SyllableChapter 3 Research Methodology3.1. Research questions3.2 Subjects3.3 Design of the Study3.3.1 The experiment group: the orthographic cipher method3.3.2 The control group: The IPA Method3.4 Measures of the experimental Procedures3.4.1 Pre-test3.4.2 Post-test3.5 Instruction Processes3.5.1 26 letter names and letter sounds3.5.2 Instruction of the 26 Consonant Letter Sounds3.5.3 Instruction of the 18 V owel Letter Sounds3.5.4 Instruction of 118 Letter and Letter Combinations Representing The 44 Sounds inEnglish3.5.5 Instructions of 468 Uninterrupted Sounds3.5.6 Prefix and Suffix3.5.7 Instruction of the Seven Cipher Abilities3.5.7.1 Segment Words3.5.7.2 The Location of Stressed Syllable3.5.7.3 The Pronunciation of Stressed and Unstressed Syllable3.5.7.4 Application3.5.7.5 RewritingChapter 4 Results and Analyses4.1 Results and Analysis of the Pretest4.2 Results and Analysis of the Posttest4.3 SummaryChapter 5 Conclusion5.1 Major Findings of The study5.2 Pedagogical Implication of the Study5.3 Limitations of the Study and Suggestions for Further ResearchReferencesAppendixⅠ: Knowledge about Orthographic CipherAppendixⅡ: Abilities of Orthographic CipherAppendi xⅢ:Orthographic Cipher Training PretestAppendixⅣPhonetic Training PosttestChapter 1: Introduction1.1 The importance of English vocabulary in Teaching and Learning EnglishLanguage is the instrument through which people communicate with each other. V ocabulary is one of the three elements（phonology, grammar, and vocabulary）of a language. Words constitute a fundamental component of any language; thereby words are of critical importance to language learners. It is also the building material of a language. It is clear enough that without knowledge of words, language learning turn out to be “a castle in the air”（Wilkins,1978）. Wilkins also says “Provided one knows the appropriate vocabulary, communicating in a foreign language may not be very difficult; without vocabulary, however, it is next to impossible.”（Wilkins,1978）. Carter & McCarthy compared the relative significance of grammar and vocabulary in the processing of negotiating meaning for language learners and drew the conclusi on that “Without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed”（Carter & McCarthy，1990. Just as Harmer says “If we compare language structure as the sketch of language, vocabulary is the thing that provides important org ans as well as blood and flesh”（Harmer,1990）In all, vocabulary is of vital importance in foreign language learning and teaching. Insome sense, language proficiency is depended on the quantity of mastered vocabulary. V ocabulary is the foundation of all language skills and is the rather afflicting part that English learners may come across in the first place. Vocabulary teaching is fundamental and an integral part of language teaching.In learning English, vocabulary acquisition is the main task, it is very important to acquire as many English words as possible. It is well-aware that learning English involves the learning of a large number of English words. In measures the readability of an English text, vocabulary difficulty has consistently been found to be the most significant predictor of overall readability. Moreover, once a vocabulary measure is included in a prediction formula, sentence structure does not add very much to the prediction. In teaching comprehension, the first task is helping students understand what unfamiliar words mean. The second task is helping students remember words or, more precisely, helping them store words, especially content words in memory. A second fact about vocabulary and memory is that form may be more important than meaning in remembering a word item. We rely on the form of a word to lead us to its meaning, for we see or hear a particular …shape‟ and try then to remember what that shape means（Carter & McCarthy1990, p.64）..1.2 The importance of English sounds in teaching and learning to read and spellEnglish vocabularyEnglish is an alphabetic language. As an alphabetical language, its letters should represent the 44 sounds in English. These 44 sounds are both life and soul of English. Whether one can spell an English word correctly is largely decided by whether he or she knows the one hundred or so letters and letter combinations that represent these 44 sounds.As is mentioned above, vocabulary begins with sounds, so phoneme is the foundation of vocabulary. The most important ability is phoneme for English learners. Learning a foreign language must begin with phoneme.As long as we learn phoneme well, we lay a solid foundation for the vocabulary learning. If we don‟t learn it well, it will affect badly the development of language competence and learning ability.The famous phonetic professor of Britain from London University, C. Gimson, stated that whatever language, people must be equipped with almost all of the phonetic knowledge of this language, 50% grammar and vocabulary an d that‟s enough. (Hu min, 2003). Although a bit exaggerated，we can see the importance of phoneme in learning language. The famous professor, Xu Guozhang, stressed that learning phoneme well is the first step of learning English process. He stated that learning pronunciation well is the best way to restore the language materials in the right form, and hence strengthen the grammar and vocabulary the most efficiently, thus improving the practical application ability. If the pronunciation isn‟t learnt well, the learners have difficulty in not only speaking English but also reading English (Xu Guozhang, 1991).Professor Liu Bingshan also pointed out, “The English teaching in middle schools is in a basic stage, having a strong influence on the whole English level of the student in our country. Mastering phoneme is the basis of the base—the base must be founded in the youth ”(Shu Dingfang, 2005)According to the statements and researches from the above experts and professors, we can see the significance of phoneme. They placed special emphasis on the pronouncing accuracy. Whether and how many phonemes are mastered directly determines on the competences of listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating. If a student has a strong reading ability, his or her vocabulary, understanding of the language in terms of its grammar and usage will soon be enriched and developed properly.1.3 The Present Situation of Vocabulary Teaching In A Rural Senior High SchoolIn spite of the importance of English vocabulary and phoneme mentioned above in teaching and learning English, it‟s not time for English learners, English teachers and language experts to be optimistic in terms of learning and teaching status of vocabulary.. In a rural senior high school, many English learners get into the habit of rote learning of English, which was developed from the start. Many English teachers teach students English vocabulary just as they treat Chinese. In class, they explain the meanings of words first, and then they have the students read the words after him or her. Secondly, the students and theteachers appeal to dictionaries whenever they encounter new words. Consequently, much time is wasted; the main themes of vocabulary are weakened; the cognitive sequence is confused.Why so? Because Many English teachers teach students English vocabulary by still purely using the IPA as the only method, which, in practice, takes a roundabout way. As a result, students use the IPA as a walking stick. If they don‟t recognize the IPA of a ce rtain word, they don‟t pronounce it accurately, thus not spelling the word quickly and correctly, which makes students try to spend time in memorizing its spelling one letter after another, which brings about double memories and double waste.1.4The Statement of the Problem and Need for studyIn middle school English classes, teachers seem to spend too much time on explaining grammatical language points and drilling students with endless hours of all kinds of exercises in order to help students digest what they learn in class. However, some very basic language learning abilities are neglected, such as word decoding strategies. In order to help students get higher scores, teachers train students to get correct answers tirelessly. Students have to do endless hours of rigid and boring exercises in order to master some language points. Yet, the results are no surprise to us that many students still make disappointing progress. In order to improve the situation, both educators and front line teachers are beginning to pay more attention to the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). But basic word processing strategies seem to be a forgotten realm. Teachers do not realize it‟s a necessary precondition for children to unlock the door to English learning. Furthermore, many teachers themselves do not have a clear understanding of the correspondence between words‟ pronunciation and their printed forms. In my opinion, if we can help students master such basic word decoding skills, everything else coming after that probably will all become easier.Through my many years of English teaching English, I find that correct spelling and remembering of even the meaning of words must rely on identifying word‟s accurate pronunciation. If a child can‟t read a word correctly, it will be very difficult for him or her to remember its spelling, say nothing of its meaning. Although I know these clearly, English vocabulary has been worrying us all the time, though we have been spending too much timeand making too many efforts in learning words. I have been afflicted because I have not been able to find out an efficient approach to teach the students to learn to read and spell the words they are required to master. T he students have been distressed because they haven‟t been able to learn the required words. I want to know if there is a new strategy that can help middle school students to process words more efficiently than before. Just then, I was taught with honour by Doctor Li the “orthographic cipher” method, an approach based on English origins. I started to try to learn and apply it myself. As soon as I have mastered it, I realized that the orthographic cipher may be just that something that our students need as a powerful tool to deal with the English words. However, for a great many senior one high school students in a rural school who have read words by means of the IPA for three years, Which is more effective to read and spell English vocabulary, the International Phonetic Alphabet approach or the “orthographic cipher” approach?Therefore, I must study the teaching approach of the “orthographic cipher”. I will compare the current word processing strategies and do an experiment between the “orthographic cipher” and the IPA. I hope there is a new strategy that can help middle school students to process words more efficiently than before.Chapter 2 Literature ReviewThis chapter is the literature review of the present study. It first introduces the dominant methods in phonological teaching and then the advantages and disadvantages of the dominant teaching methods. Lastly, a new and practical phonetic instruction-----the “Orthographic Cipher” approach is introduced. Related literatures from Chinese writers and writers abroad have been reviewed in this chapter to show this topic has been dealt with in recent years.2.1 Three Dominant Approaches in Teaching Decoding and Encoding EnglishAt present, the dominant methods we use in teaching decoding and encoding English are ⑴International Phonetic Alphabet approach, ⑵Phonics approach ⑶the wholelanguage approach. In general, most non-English speaking countries use the IPA system —The International Phonetic Alphabet as the main word processing strategy. China is a typical example. However, along with the development and improvement of English learning and teaching strategies, some teachers are beginning to use the phonics approach in helping students deal with words. A typical example is Ladder English. Finally, by the year 2002, the ministry of education in China decided not to require elementary schools to teach students the IPA system anymore. Instead, throughout elementary schools in China, they began to use something that is called the whole language approach in the west. All these three approaches are problematic. Before we go on exploring the strategy, it is important for us to understand the advantages and disadvantages of the three dominant approaches that are popular now.2.2 The International Phonetic Alphabet ApproachThe International Phonetic Alphabet, or the IPA for short, is a system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic Association as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language that people use to teach the exact pronunciation to newcomers. In 1886, a group of French and British language teachers, led by the French linguist Paul Passy, formed what would come to be known (from 1897 onwards) as the International Phonetic Association. The original alphabet was based on a spelling reform for English known as the Romic alphabet, but in order to make it usable for other languages, the values of the symbols were allowed to vary from language to language. However, in 1888, the alphabet was revised so as to be uniform across languages, thus providing the base for all future revisions. Since its creation, the IPA has undergone a number of revisions. After major revisions and expansions in 1900 and 932, the IPA remained unchanged until the IPA Kiel Convention in 1989. A minor revision took place in 1993, with the addition of four mid-central vowels and the removal of symbols for voiceless implosives. The alphabet was last revised in May 2005, with the addition of a symbol for the labiodental flap.Apart from the addition and removal of symbols, changes to the IPA have consisted largely in renaming symbols and categories, and modifying typefaces.As of 2008,there are 107 distinct letters, 52 diacritics, and 4 prosody marks in the IPA proper.The method with which phonetic components of an English word is marked is named phonetic notation. In China, most rural English teachers are interested in pronouncing English words by the IPA system, a set of artificial symbols like Chinese phonetic notation.2.2.1 Advantages of the International Phonetic AlphabetWhy do we need a universal system of phonetic transcription? Of course, the IPA system has its existing advantage. One of the benefits of using the IPA is the ability to use a single symbol for a sound pronounced differently in different dialects. The IPA is therefore, useful for teaching the sounds of various languages, because it does not have any ambiguities. From one language to another, it is sometimes good to create a standardized transcription system; Another benefit of using the IPA is, as long as students have fully mastered what sounds these symbols and letters represent, they can virtually look up any word from its IPA symbols, which makes it easier and convenient for dictionary users to learn how to pronounce new words. Many British dictionaries, among which are learner's dictionaries such as the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary and the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, now use the International Phonetic Alphabet to represent the pronunciation of words.It‟s mostly used by non-native speakers of English when learning to speak English.2.2.2 Disadvantages of the International Phonetic AlphabetAs we all know, the IPA is a set of specifically-devised symbols used to transcribe the sounds of speech which was independent of any particular language and applicable to all languages. Such a purpose is understandable and acceptable. Yet, in reality, English is typically an orthographic language of which 97.4% of English words are phonetic, according to the statistics from English speaking countries, thus, under the condition that the whole English phonetic system itself is as good as 97.4%, using the IPA system to mark the sounds of every English word is definitely unnecessary and certainly a waste of time. On the other hand,phonetic symbols are hard to learn. The first reason is that there have not been a set ofsymbols as a universal system for transcribing speech sounds, the IPA is not universal among dictionaries in different countries; all kinds of phonetic symbols are dazzling. Inconsistent phonetic symbols have greatly prevented learners from learning to read words, they can only learn to read by feeling and repetition and will be confused for ever. What‟s more important, with the IPA, the learners will have to learn different contents but writing the symbols. That means, they will have to recognize the universal sounds of a set of symbols. As known to us, the symbol set of IPA is also much harder to learn because it is so large. Moreover, the learners who learn English by means of the IPA method do not read the word itself but pay attention to its phonetic symbols; they are reading the phonetic symbols. The method makes learners depend on IPA too much. Consequently, many Chinese English learners can not read the English materials without the IPA. As is known to us, it is impossible for us to add the I PA to all kinds of English readings like newspapers, magazines, etc. Americans don‟t use the IPA unless they can‟t sound out a word when they see it. Only then do they look it up in a dictionary. The word becomes one without sound: its sound and form are separated. The method of “international phonetic alphabet” changes the nature of alphabetic orthography of English., which is also exactly what the IPA system does to every word when the pronunciation of a word is marked by an artificial cluster of symbols this can be seen when we observe any student using the IPA system to first sound out a word, and then try to remember the spelling of the same word by remembering the letter names of that word. Without letter sounds, or to be more specific, any natural or linear sequence of letter arrangements is no different than a set of meaningless number random numbers or letters randomly put together. This is why so many students find it difficult to remember the spelling of English words because the IPA system turn the letters in any given word into dead letters. Lastly, many students have much difficulty in just memorizing and sounding out all the IPA symbols accurately. This is especially true for younger children. It is too complicated for the small children to recognize that many abstract and meaningless symbols in addition to remembering words themselves. This is the reason why English-speaking countries, like America, England, Canada etc, never learn the IPA system but have few problems in pronouncing words.In short, the IPA system creates more problems for Chinese students in learning English than solutions.2.3 The Phonics Teaching MethodPhonics has a long history in English teaching methodology, and it was originated in American reading instruction as far as in 1790s. However, it was not until 1960s that phonics drew great attention of researchers in western countries. And phonics started to become popular in the 1990s when the relationship between phonic and word-decoding-recoding ability has been found.Back then, since there were not that many books written, the primary textbook for most people was the Bible. Children were taught to read the Bible through their memorization of the twenty-six-letter alphabet. Gradually phonics was developed and merged into the teaching of the association of sounds with letter identification. With that, there was an extreme amount of emphasis on word decoding skills to help a student sound out unfamiliar words. Phonics became actually a teaching method emphasizing word-decoding abilities. Children were taught systematically to break the code of a written language that aims to identify letter-sound correspondences with phonics, which helps them put together a word by using sounds.The so-called phonics approach roughly refer to the method of decoding words by relying on the students‟ knowledge of letter sounds in words and the natural orthography rules. In English speaking countries, phonics is an essential part of a comprehensive approach to the teaching of reading that involves the breaking down of words into smaller parts. This process is called decoding. It focuses on letter and sound relationship and teaches children to “sound out” unfamiliar words. Children are also taught encoding skills, which help them to learn to spell new words correctly by putting together the sounds and letters that they hear. The goal of phonics instruction is to teach students that there are systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds. At present, phonics is the most popular English teaching method in the world and is widely applied in the USA, Canada etc. In these countries, beginners shall start with phonics in kindergarten which can。