A Glimpse of New Mode for English Listening & Speaking Teaching for College Art

[a]Fine Arts College of Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China.

*Corresponding author.

Received 25 March 2014; accepted 30 May 2014

Published online 27 June 2014

Abstract

With the increasing integration of economies and cultures in recent years, different countries have enhanced exchanges and cooperation. English, as language extensively used for international exchanges, is playing a prominent role with each passing day. All colleges attach much importance to English learning of their students, especially for art students. If they hope to be able to go to the world stage in their future development, art students have to master English skillfully. So art colleges are required adopt new English listening and speaking teaching mode during teaching. They should try hard to train the students’ abilities in English listening and speaking so as to lay a good foundation for their future art career. This article mainly analyzes the current situation of English listening and speaking teaching for college art students and the reasons for employing the new mode for English listening and speaking teaching. In addition, it mentions the differences between the new model and the traditional teaching. The article also offers the methods in order that both teachers and students are appropriate to the new mode.

Key words: Art colleges; College art students; English listening and speaking teaching; New model

Ji, L. (2014). A Glimpse of New Mode for English Listening & Speaking Teaching for College Art Students. Cross-Cultural Communication, 10(4), -0. Available from: http///index.php/ccc/article/view/4802

DOI: /10.3968/4802

INTRODUCTION

Progress is made constantly in our times. In order to achieve the rapid economic growth and promote the dissemination of its culture, a country needs to employ plentiful English talents for foreign exchanges and cooperation. So art colleges are facing a serious test. The major reason is that college art students are needed to have not only higher levels of artistic accomplishments, but also good English listening and speaking abilities so as to have better development in the future. However, art colleges are still adopting the traditional teaching methods for English teaching. Such methods focusing on the textbooks and the teachers’ explanations cannot draw the attention of the art students, or even causes the students to be less positive in learning English. Since the art students cannot improve their English listening and speaking abilities, their future development is also restricted to some extent. In order to improve this situation, the state education authorities request the art colleges introduce the new mode for English listening and speaking teaching and prepare for improving the English listening and speaking abilities of the art students.

1. STATUS QUA OF ENGLISH LISTENING AND SPEAKING TEACHING FOR COLLEGE ART STUDENTS

It is common knowledge that the art colleges pay more attention to the students’ scores of their major courses during the recruitment by neglecting the student’s scores of the cultural courses. That’s why the art students generally have weak English Foundation and poor English scores. Such recruitment method has made the art students have the wrong understanding to the cultural courses. They will give less attention to the learning of the cultural courses. So there will be more trouble for English teachers to give their listening and speaking lessons. According to a survey, 25% of the art students deem English is complicated and hard to learn in their second year of the senior high school. They completely lose confidence in learning English when they go to the colleges. Moreover, college English teachers lay more stress on the rigid textbook knowledge during teaching. They neither create a proper language environment for the art students nor impart the interesting teaching materials to the students. The result is that the students cannot concentrate themselves on English learning. They have lower abilities on English listening and speaking. They cannot make exchanges with the internationally excellent artists. In addition, the room for their art progress is so small that they cannot achieve great success in the future. Such situation is not good for the dissemination of Chinese culture or the improvement of China’s artistic appreciation.

2. REASONS FOR ADOPTING A NEW MODE OF ENGLISH LISTENING AND SPEAKING TEACHING FOR COLLEGE ART STUDENTS

2.1 Requirement by the State Educational Authorities to Art Colleges Makes the Application of the New Mode Necessary

Now China has entered into a new period of advance. It must have higher English communication ability if it wants to have an invincible position in the face of intensive international market competition. Therefore, the state educational authorities made a reform in English listening and speaking teaching in art colleges. Hence art colleges must train their art students’ abilities on English communications while improving their artistic accomplishments. The purpose is to increase the students’ English communicative abilities, promote domestic and international art exchanges, and broaden the views of the students. The art students will further have higher levels of artistic attainments, create perfect art products for China or even for the world, and bring audio or visual impacts to the people.

2.2 New Modes of English Listening and Speaking Teaching Will Stimulate Art Students’ Interest in English Learning

From ancient times till now, the only purpose of education is to boost people’s knowledge levels and recognition abilities in order to lay the solid foundation for their work in the future. When college art students are learning English under the outdated mode for English listening and speaking teaching, the teachers’ instructions are quite dull and rigid. Less abundant listening and speaking materials are provided to support the students’ learning. The students are also less definite in their learning. As a result, the students are difficult to focus themselves on English learning. After the latest of English listening and speaking teaching is introduced, art students, as the major part of English learning, are accessible with many rich and interesting materials for learning. Their interest of English learning is also motivated. So the art colleges should adopt the new mode for English listening and speaking teaching. The teachers should constantly help the art students to correct their poor habits in listening and form good listening custom. They should teach the art students to pay attention to the main ideas instead of being stranded by some individual words or sentences. The students, during listening, should learn to catch the key words and sentences. They should know the central meaning of an article or a dialogue and write down the key words and sentences rapidly. Based on what they hear, the teachers should encourage the art students to speak in English.

2.3 To Provide Proper Language Environment for Art Students

Upon adopting the new mode for English listening and speaking teaching, a teacher will provide the students with many interesting English dialogues or articles of classes. The teacher will set the students some time for their consideration after listening to a dialogue or an article. Then the teacher will ask a student about his/her understanding in the dialogue or the article. When an art student is responding to the question, the teacher will ask him/her to express his/her understanding in English. Other students may give their comments to that student’s ideas. Finally, the teacher will lead the students to get a more reasonable conclusion. Such method will offer the students a suitable language environment and improve their understanding to English dialogues and articles. The teachers need to make clear the purpose of teaching. What they teach is not the right teaching materials, but the art students. The target is to train the students and cultivate their abilities during the activities in which the students are really categorical.

2.4 Some Companies Are in Urgent Need of Employees With Good Abilities on English Listening and Speaking

Due to the ever-increasing exchanges of the countries in the world and the more and more frequently international trade in recent years, the companies related to commodity import and export are aware of the importance of their employees with higher abilities on English listening and speaking. When they are recruiting art college graduates, they lay more stress on the graduates’ abilities on English listening and speaking. What they care about most is the students’ scores in Band 4 or Band 6 of the College English Test. For the sake of increasing the art students’ employment rate and raising their own reputations, the art colleges are willing to introduce the new mode of English listening and speaking teaching to replace the traditional mode in the course of their normal teaching. They make special efforts to train art students’ abilities on English listening and speaking and do their best to make the students’ path for job application more smoothly.

3. DIFFERENCES OF THE NEW MODE OF ENGLISH LISTENING AND SPEAKING TEACHING AND THE TRADITIONAL ONE FOR COLLEGE ART STUDENTS

3.1 New Mode Changes Are Teaching Conceptions of Teachers and Enable Colleges to Set Up Different Teaching Targets

The new teaching mode adopts the multi-media technology to provide the art students with rich English listening and speaking materials. This does not only change the teaching method, but also disrupts the stubborn thoughts of the teachers through the application of the new teaching method. The teachers are required to set up different teaching objectives. Thus they learn to make expansions and innovations in the process of teaching. The teachers can use their precious teaching experience from English listening and speaking to impart English knowledge to the students. In this way, the art students may improve their understanding of English knowledge as well as their abilities on English listening and speaking. They will encounter fewer obstacles in the process of their applications for jobs. The new teaching mode is helpful in promoting exchanges among the art students from different countries, generating artistic influences, creating new and splendid art products, and adding new artistic treasures to their own countries or even to the whole society.

3.2 New Modes of Teaching Make It Possible for Teachers to Give Classroom Education Based on Features of Art Students

Compared with the customary English listening and speaking teaching mode, the new mode is possible for the teachers to give classroom education according to the characteristics of the art students. As mentioned in the above paragraphs, the art students have weak English Foundation and poor English scores. As the time goes by, the unsatisfactory English scores will make them generate psychological letdown, resulting in their gradual loss of enthusiasm on English learning. The teachers cannot attract the art students’ attention under the habitual mode for English listening and speaking teaching. So the teachers are not in a position to arouse the learning interest of the art students. In return, the art students cannot make independent thinking or demonstrate their abilities of English listening and speaking at classes. Therefore, the purpose of the new mode for English listening and speaking teaching is to let the teachers change the traditional teaching model. They should be a priority for the art students during teaching and provide them with informative and interesting dialogues or articles. Then they give humorous explanations to inspire the art students’ enthusiasm for English learning. As a result, the art students’ abilities on English listening and speaking will be improved.

3.3 New Teaching Mode Makes Use of Advanced Technology for English Listening & Speaking Teaching

In order to increase English knowledge of the art students during English listening and speaking teaching, the teachers will use the multi-media technology for teaching. The purpose is to provide the art students with rich information about English and set up a platform for English learning. In this way, the art students will choose proper learning methods which are suitable to their own conditions. They can improve their abilities on English listening and speaking while their self respect is maintained. The teachers are required to explain to the art students some knowledge points or ask them to do some work before classes. In this way, the initiatives of the students are mobilized and the understanding barriers are eliminated prior to their listening for classes. This is also good to improve the art students’ self-study abilities and will lay a solid foundation for their independent learning in the future. When the teachers are making use of the multi-media technology for teaching, they may play English films or songs to improve the interest of the art students for English learning, and achieve the objective of improving the art students’ abilities on English listening and speaking. During their daily teaching activities, the teachers should provide related background knowledge properly. The art students will understand the cultural connotations of some English words. They will make cross-culture comparisons and improve their sensitivities to these special words.

3.4 The Curriculum Is Better Provided Under the Pristine Teaching Mode

The reason for the art colleges to utilize the new mode for English listening and speaking teaching is not only to satisfy the needs of the state educational authorities, but also to make the curriculum provision more reasonably. The application of this method therefore enables the art students raise their efficiencies on English learning, which further improves their abilities on English listening and speaking. The curriculum provision under the new teaching mode is mainly represented in the fact that the teachers will use different teaching materials and methods to teach English on the basis of different levels of the art students. It prevents the art students from losing their interest in learning English. Moreover, the teachers will demonstrate different English cartoons or performances to different art students in order to boost the English learning interest of the art students.

3.5 The New Teaching Mode Allows for Sound Assessment of the Teaching Results

The adoption of the latest teaching mode makes it possible to conduct scientific and reasonable assessments to the art students. According to the further teaching mode, the decisive element of assessing the English abilities of the art students is not simply the scores they get from the exam at the end of a semester. Instead, it is the combination of their attendance in the classrooms in normal days, their performances at the classes, the scores they obtain from usual tests, and the scores they have the exam at the end of a semester. These elements are placed together with proper ratios. Then the English scores are given to the art students and are used to assess the students’ performances with a rational manner. We get the information of a survey that the contemporary teaching mode is able to stimulate the motivation of the art students for English learning and enhance the student’s abilities for independent learning. The art students are more active at classes. In one word, this unfamiliar mode contributes much to the improvement of the art students’ abilities on English listening and speaking.

4. MORE EFFORTS SHOULD BE MADE TO IMPLEMENT THE NEW MODEL FOR ENGLISH LISTENING AND SPEAKING TEACHING

4.1 Teachers’ Important Position Shall Not Be Neglected When the New Mode for English Listening and Speaking Teaching Is Put Into Use

Some people think that the adoption of the latest teaching mode is to use the progressive multi-media technology and fulfill their English teaching for the art students. Hence the teachers will have less teaching tasks and less pressure during the teaching process. These are only the superficial phenomenon of the application of the additional teaching mode. The reason is that the teachers need to take advantage of the multi-media technology and look for the materials consistent with the teaching contents when they are utilizing the new teaching mode. In addition, they will, in the course of teaching, find different teaching methods according to different art students. They do all these works in order to motivate the students’ interest in English learning. The teachers should have the good control and judgment to the whole class. They should make full preparations before giving classes. They should imagine all the situations that would occur at classes and the solutions of handling various events. Such work, however, requires the teachers spend much time and energy. Therefore, the teachers’ important position should not be neglected when the novel mode for English listening and speaking teaching is put into use.

4.2 Teachers Should Improve Their Own Levels on English Listening and Speaking Teaching

Teacher used to be a respectable occupation in cancient China. However, we find in recent years that the students are paying more attention to the teachers’ teaching abilities during their learning. The teachers with excellent teaching abilities will get the respect of the students. In other words, the students are more inclined to study when they are following good teachers. So the teachers in the art colleges must improve their own abilities on English listening and speaking. They can utilize humorous words to teach English. Thus the art students are studying in a happy and relaxed atmosphere, which is easy to improve their abilities on English listening and speaking. The teachers should be given sufficient time to summarize their teaching effects, make reflections to their teaching process, and learn relevant theories as well as professional knowledge for self improvements. Proper and correct information need to be provided to the teachers for them to understand the most recent development of English teaching and its related fields. The art colleges should enhance the training to English teachers.

CONCLUSION

College art students must work efforts to improve their abilities on English listening and speaking in order to have fewer barriers when they apply for a job. To this end, the art colleges must replace the traditional mode for English listening and speaking teaching with the new one so as to inspire the learning interest of the art students. The art colleges also need to create a proper language environment for the art students, improve their abilities on English listening and speaking, broaden their horizons, and raise their artistic attainments. All these measures will lay the good foundation for the future development of the art students. The significant position of the teachers should not be overlooked when the new mode for English listening and speaking teaching is introduced. The teachers, with the precondition of improving their own levels in English listening and speaking teaching, need to have good interactions with the art students at classes. Both the teachers and the students will work together to achieve the target to improve the abilities of the art students on English listening and speaking.

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