葛炳芳
葛炳芳,英语特级教师,浙江省教育厅教研室英语教研员,浙江省教育学会外语教学分会秘书长,中国教育学会外语教学专业委员会理事,教育部“国培计划”培训专家,浙江师范大学、杭州师范大学教育硕士兼职导师,杭州师范大学讲席教授。
摘要:读后活动是利用阅读文本开展教学的一个环节,旨在促进学生在新的语境中应用相关语言和内容去表达意义、表达思想,使阅读课堂“学伴用随”“学思并举”。
本文根据布卢姆教育目标分类法提出了熟悉文本、深化理解、拓展运用、分析对比、评判推断和建构创造六类活动,并基于案例提出了四项注意点:回归文本是拓展运用的前提,作业也是读后活动的一部分,真实问题是读后活动的重要资源和读后活动高度综合,但必有重心、步步为营。
关键词:英语阅读教学;读后活动;理念;策略;思考
读后活动设计的理念与策略
读后活动作为“阅读课中一个拓展和延伸的环节,是信息输出与反馈的重要过程,是对阅读内容的深化和巩固。它能够将阅读与听、说、写融为一体,将语言学习与真实交际融为一体,从而有效提升学生的综合语言运用能力”。教师在设计读后活动时应该体现读后活动的“真实性、阶梯性、拓展性、趣味性和主体性”(李冬梅,2016)。
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读前、读中和读后活动的主要形式
读前活动主要有:KWL 图表、信息分类、图表标示和预测等。读前活动的目的是通过了解所涉及语篇的主题、概念、核心语言以及文本与学习者的经验和生活的连结等,激活学生的认知图式,感知相关语言表达,为阅读学习作准备。
读中活动主要有:梳理文本脉络、整理思维导图和互动质疑等,其目的是通过了解更多文本细节、深入理解文本信息点之间的联系、解读作者意图和隐含意义以及赏析文本表达方式等活动,与文本持续互动,由此实现内化语言、生成意义、体验策略。更微观的读中活动有“通过语境或构词法作推断、理解句内关系,利用指代或连接词建立句子与意义之间的联系”(Grellet,1981)等。
读后活动主要有:评论观点、提出质疑、求同辨异和判断推理等。读后活动的目的是通过预测事件走向、证实质疑或提出新的质疑、解读隐喻、评价内容与文体、形成观点等活动,最终实现发展思维、迁移创新、输出语言、表达思想、促进学习。读后活动多以讨论、辩论、问答、续说、续写、概要、表演、报告及海报等形式开展。
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读后活动的设计理念
“读后活动就像文本形式一样丰富多彩。但理想的样子,就是这些活动与一系列阅读目的紧密相连。这样,学生能检查并讨论读中活动的内容,有意义地利用他们在阅读过程的收获(例如,讨论对作者观点的回应、利用读中笔记等)。然后,开展聚焦文本内容的诸如辩论、角色扮演、相似文本的比较性阅读,或者聚焦文本语言的教学活动”(Hedge,2000)。
其中让学生置入文本情境、回应文本相关内容是促进学生思考、评价文本内容,运用语言表达思想并发展其思维能力的重要活动。因为“解读与回应(interpretation and response)是基于文本的课堂教学的核心”(Nuttall,1982);“ 回应文本(response to a text)是个体的、因人而异的,学生应该能够获取帮助其表达观点和理解的参考资源”(Pachler et al.,2014);教师“应当鼓励学生不仅仅回应阅读文本语言,而且还要回应阅读文本的内容”(Harmer,1998)。
读后活动的本质,是在新的语境中应用相关的语言和内容去表达意义、表达思想。学生经过读前和读中的活动,获取了新的信息(话题和文化等方面的信息),获得了新的语言(文体、词汇、句式、习语等)。这些都使得读后活动的开展更有空间。教师可以设计“字面理解、信息重组、推断、预测、评估、个性化回应”(Day & Park,2005) 等读后任务去发掘读后活动的本质,关注文本内容、思维培养和语言运用的高度融合。因为“思维需要语言作支撑,需要内容作基础,更需要时间去体验”(葛炳芳,2013)。
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读后活动的设计策略
读后活动总是在理解阅读文本的基础上开展。一般而言,读后活动是为读完整个文本后的教学而设计的。当然,“并非每一堂阅读课都要在读完整个文本后才可以设置一个‘大型的’读后活动。读后活动也可以安排在读完一个相对独立的片段后进行”(葛炳芳,2011)。读后活动的设计有时还可与读前导入的活动相呼应,并充分利用读中活动。
基于对所学文本内容和语言的再现,在新的语境中超越所学内容,依托已有认知、情感、态度和价值观来进行新的思考,促进阅读课堂中的“学伴用随”(王初明,2009)和“学思并举”(黄远振等,2014)。
根据布卢姆“记忆(remember)、理解(understand)、应用(apply)、分析(analyze)、评价(evaluate)、创造(create)” 的认知过程维度(the Cognitive Process Dimension) 目标分类体系(Krathwohl,2002),我们可以从以下六个方面设计读后活动。
1、熟悉文本类活动:描写、说明有关信息点之间的简单联系。
2、深化理解类活动:个性化的解释或回应文本内容,推断作者意图。
3、拓展运用类活动:在相似情境中应用文本内容或语言探讨或解决问题。
4、分析对比类活动:解构文本内容和表达,分析、对比文本内容与新情境的联系。
5、评判推断类活动:批判性地评价文本内容和表达,回应文本内容,作出个性化的判断,表达自己的思想。
6、建构创造类活动:用所获取的信息推导或创构新的内容和思想并进行表达。
其中第(1)(2)类活动主要可聚焦读前、读中所涉及语言和内容的延伸拓展;第(3)(4)类活动可聚焦主题拓展和模仿表达;第(5)(6)类活动可聚焦文本重构、思想借鉴、观点形成和创新表达等。教师应根据生源情况、教学内容以及教学时间安排等因素来平衡活动的类型与数量。
读后活动设计的四点思考
下面笔者根据浙江省2017年高中英语课堂教学评比活动中的案例片段,谈谈读后活动的四项注意点。
该评比活动所使用的文本是一篇题为 The Paradox of Choice (《选择的悖论》)(见文末)的文章。文本改编自对 The Paradox of Choice — Why More Is Less 一书的同题书评,为议论文文体(argumentation)。本文论述过多选择(option floods)给人们带来困扰的原因和破解这一“悖论”的“招数”。
作者的核心观点在文尾说明:在过多选择让人无所适从的时候,“恰到好处”就是“最佳选择”的新标准(“Good enough” is the new “best choice”.)。
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回归文本是拓展运用的前提
[课例片段1] 李老师的案例
Step 3 Thinking and discussing
Q1: What kind of choice is a “good enough” choice?
Q2: Think of a title. Students think of the question and share their ideas with each other.
Step 4 Applying
Teacher asks students to give advice to Tom, who is facing the problem of choosing his subjects.
Students share their ideas in groups and present their ideas to the class.
[案例评析]
第3步要求学生回归文本内容,运用逻辑性思维、评判性思维和创造性思维提炼文本主题,并加上标题。第4步要求学生将课堂所学应用到现实,解决实际问题,引领学生进一步回归文本,提供使其升华思想的机会。本课例片段的读后活动主要是建构创造类的活动。
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作业也是读后活动的一部分
[课例片段2] 刘老师的案例
Step 4 Further comprehending
Students explore a suitable title for the passage.
Teacher helps students learn to tell which title is the most suitable one.
Step 5 Homework assignment
Students write a short passage on option. Present their topic first and give examples and make contrasts.
[ 案例评析]
此读后活动的设计是通过拟定合适的文本标题来帮助学生深入理解文本内容和写作目的,探讨主题意义和文体特征。作业是整节课活动的延伸。这样的读后活动兼具评判推断和建构创造的特征,涉及逻辑性思维、评判性思维和创造性思维等思维能力的培养,也涉及对内容的概括与重整和对文体特征的解读。
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真实问题是读后活动的重要资源
[课例片段3] 姚老师的案例
Post-reading Activity: Sharing
Student A: I chose Physics because I did it well in Grade One. However, it is becoming much more difficult. Did I make the right choice?
Student B: I chose Biology because I love it. However, I failed it in the last exam. Did I make the right choice?
Student C: I found many classmates who chose Information Technology got 100. But my score is just 85. Did I make the right choice?
What suggestions can you give them after learning the passage?
[案例评析]
此活动是根据浙江省高中学生面临的“选课”问题而设计的问题解决类的观点分享活动,给学生提供了一个回应文本的视角。学生从文本走向自己的实际生活,并在探讨真实问题的过程中更加深入地理解了文本观点和作者意图。在给同伴提建议的过程中,学生使用文本关于“选择”的话题语言和表达观点(提建议)的功能语言,提升对自己所作选择的信心。
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读后活动高度综合,但必有中心、步步为营
[课例片段4] 曹老师的案例
Reading and evaluating
Ask students to evaluate the points of the author’s. Initiate students’ critical thinking by reviewing the whole text again and by analyzing if the author makes his statements convincing. Proceed “think—pair—share” activity in which students share their understanding in pairs. Then encourage students to connect the text with the real world, and share their ideas about their own experiences.
[案例评析]
“任务必须与话题匹配”(Harmer,1998) 是设计阅读活动的重要原则,此活动也不例外。学生需要联系生活、作者和读者,首先准确理解作者的观点:" 'Good enough' is the new 'best choice'.",然后对这一观点进行评判。
学生回顾上文,批判性地思考作者的观点和论证手法(这有助于培养学生的写作概要能力),继而和同伴分享个性化的理解,并与同伴进行对话交流。在交流中,学生需要复述自己和同伴的观点,并形成自己的判断。然后学生联系自己的实际生活,走出文本,用阅读的所得所思进一步明确作者观点对自己的启示,塑造自身的文化品格。
这一活动的重心显然是评判推断和建构创造。但是,教师设计活动时也考量了对熟悉文本和深化理解的铺垫,并以拓展运用和分析对比作过渡。这个活动说明了读后活动的高度综合性,即内容、思维和语言的高度综合需要在“英语阅读教学的综合视野”(葛炳芳,2013,2015)下有过程、综合而有侧重地开展。
附文
The Paradox of Choice
When I was a kid, we had three television channels, two churches, two kinds of cheese (mild or strong) and one telephone. The black box served no other purpose than making calls, and that did us just fine. In contrast, anyone who enters a phone store today runs the risk of being completely defeated by far too many brands, models and contract options. There has always been more choice.
It is true that selection measures progress, but there is a limit: Option floods can destroy our quality of life. Why is this paradox of choice?
First, a large selection almost makes you fall apart. To test this, a supermarket set up a stand where customers could try out twenty four varieties of jelly. They could taste as many as they liked before buying. The next day, the owners carried out the same experiment with only six varieties. The result? They sold ten times more jelly on day two. Why? With such a wide range, customers could not come to a decision, so they bought nothing. The experiment was repeated several times with different products. The results were always the same.
Second, a broader selection leads to poorer decisions. If you ask young people what is important in a girlfriend, without a second thought, they will tell you all the usual qualities: intelligence, good manners, warmth, the ability to listen, a sense of humour, physical attractiveness and so on. But do they actually take these qualities into account when choosing someone? In the past, a young man from a village of average size could choose among maybe twenty girls of similar age with whom he went to school. He knew their families and vice versa, leading to a decision based on several well-known qualities. Nowadays, in the age of online dating, millions of personal data are available. It has been proved that the stress caused by this extremely complicated variety is so large that the male brain reduces the decision to one single criterion: physical attractiveness!
Finally, large selection leads to dissatisfaction. How can you be sure you are making the right choice when 200 options surround and confuse you? The answer is: You cannot. The more choice you have, the more unsure and therefore dissatisfied you are afterward.
So, what can you do? Think carefully about what you want before you inspect existing offers. Write down these criteria and stick to them—rigidly. Also, realise that you can never make a perfect decision. Instead, learn to love a “good” choice. Yes, even in terms of life partners. Only the best will do? In this age of unlimited variety, rather the opposite is true: “Good enough” is the new “best choice”.