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III. The situation about the acquisition and learning in China’s Englishteaching. 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com Manyresearchers cannot distinguish the foreign language and the second language.The second language is one when people acquired another language in anenvironment of the target language after they have acquired the first language.The second language situation must be in a condition of contacting with peoplewho speaking this language, and the level of this kind of language input shouldreach a proper degree, it usually has the official position and recognizedeffect（蔺华国，韩立芳, 2005）. However,a foreign language is another language, which is not learned in an environmentof target language or native language. Usually, it must be learned from theformal language teaching （蔺华国，韩立芳, 2005）. copyright paper51.com Fromit, we can see that environment is an important standard to distinguish “thesecond language” and “foreign language”, so we can say that the situation ofEnglish teaching in China now belongs to foreign language teaching, not to thesecond language acquisition, because the English learning is mainly based onthe classes (徐春英，2002). That is to say China’s Englishlearning is lacking of the linguistic and cultural environment of“acquisition”. Generally, China’steaching mode is like this: in the classes, students’ main job is to follow theteachers, learning and practicing from easiest to hardest, and after class,most of the time, the language that students contact and use is only the nativelanguage---Chinese. During the classes, what students can do is using Englishseriously in a non-natural environment. And either in speaking or in learning,they must consider carefully in order to avoid making mistakes. Thus, in fact,what we do in the most of our English classes is seriously training theabilities of listening, speaking, reading and writing under a situation ofplanning, organizing with strong consciousness. So, that is “learning”, noneother than get the unconscious and relaxative language acquisition (陈旸，2006). 内容来自www.paper51.com Sincewe have no acquisition conditions in such a non-English social environment, themain way to recognize and master it is also the English teaching in class. Whenhaving a class, teachers should use the systematic language points to helpstudents recognize the English rules about vocabulary, phrases, sentences andarticles. In the latest years, a few people claim that Krashen’s theory of thesecond language acquisition should be used in China’s English teaching. However,these learning forms of the unconscious, natural and informal can get a goodresult in our English learning? Maybe, it is useless, because we cannotentirely do it like Krashen’s theory, that is “acquisition + learning”, butshould be “learning + acquisition”. Learning is more important than acquisitionin China (蔺华国，韩立芳, 2005). So, our English teaching shouldcombine the conscious and formal learning with the unconscious and naturalacquisition, and try to create the learning environment to make studentsthemselves go into it to practice. copyright paper51.com Whenwe look back of the English teaching process of China’s junior middle school, ithas adopted several different teaching methodologies. Also, the teachingmaterials are improved constantly. So, we can see that China is tryingto explore a new way to contact “learning” and “acquisition”, especially thenew material we are using now. The contents have several big differences withthe old ones, and the quality has been improved greatly. This new materialstresses the principle of “listening and reading first”, and there are a lot ofwords in the dialogues. Besides, it was edited in the form of units, and the contentsare close to the students’ daily life and oral speaking. For example, there aresome introductions about diet and cultures, such as dumplings, moon cakes,sandwiches, chips, and take-away food. The actual English material emphasizesthe use of language. It requires teachers to teach students how to use English,and calls for students to acquire language based on comprehension and thenwants the learners to use the language actively not only just to learn it. Thematerial also introduces several kinds of activities to students, such asrole-plays, information communication, and guessing game. The purpose is tosupply a practical language environment to students, and help them improvetheir communicative competence, for example, greeting, making apologies,suggestion, invitation, describing people’s characters and behaviors and so on.At the same time, it mentions many new things, such as E-mail and IP card. Inconclusion, this change of the material is the result of the combination of“learning” and “acquisition” theories. http://www.paper51.com IV. Creating an “acquisition” atmosphere and improving the“learning” effects copyright paper51.com
Language,as we all know, is a complex system. It has many abstract rules and irregularphenomena. It is just like the camera or computer. If you want to use itcorrectly, you should experience the special learning, and master the necessaryknowledge and rules (王才仁，2001).So, we can say that to master a language is not an easy thing, especiallylearning English well in our country. In the front part of this paper, I havetalked about that the best way to learn English is to combine learning andacquisition together. Then, what should we do to combine them together? 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com
(1).Krashen argues that teachers should try to create a low-nervous communicationatmosphere in the class, and let students pay more attention to thesignificance and the achievement of the communication, but not the accuracy ofthe language form, because overstressing the accuracy of the language canaffect the purpose of the communication, and reduce the students’ interests (蔺华国，韩立芳, 2005).Besides, from the process of the first language acquisition, we can see thatthe accuracy of the children’s language are not formed under the adults’constantly correction, but gradually formed by using the language tocommunicate and express. Otto Jespersen, a linguist of Denmark, wrotesuch a paragraph in “Why is Native Language learnt so well”: copyright paper51.com “They (parents) are greatly pleased at every little advance the childmakes. Even awkward attempt meets with sympathy and encouragement and the mostdifficult step on the path of language becomes the merriest game.Unfortunately, this is a point often overlooked by teachers of language, whodemand faultless accuracy from the beginning (王才仁，2001).” http://www.paper51.com
Here,it is obvious that it is very important to create a favorable environment whenstudents are learning English. copyright paper51.com (2).Teachers should let students become the main roles in the class. In the past, China’steaching mode is like that: teachers play the central role. Thus, the knowledgethat students have mastered is usually from the teachers’ repeated practice, sotheir training is “mechanical”. The reason why children’s native languageacquisition is so successful, that is because they accept information on theirown, and change “let me study” into “I will study”. In a word, teachers are theadministrator and supervisor in the class. Therefore, they should create an“acquisition” atmosphere; let students become the central roles, and have enoughtime to have all kinds of activities. http://www.paper51.com (3).The English teaching should especially consider students’ other aspects exceptthe intellectual factor (曹刿生，2006). That is, the English teachingshould be based on their experiences and interests and tries to supply a realscene in order to let students finish the tasks by using the learned language.Teachers should organize students to talk about the things that they arefamiliar with or concerned about, let them open their mouth, and practice theother language skills. At the same time, teachers should protect students’initiative and allow them to make mistakes, avoiding restraining their languageacquisition. In a word, the foreign language teaching should let students comeinto contact with the original language information as much as possible, andits practical forms are various, such as telling stories, talking aboutexperiences, news report and mini-plays. http://www.paper51.com
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