Analysis on the Individual Discrepancy in English Teaching

ISSN 1009-5039http://www.overscaen.comOverseas English海外英谒Tel:+86- -551-5690811 5690812Analysis on the Individual Discrepancy in English TeachingLUO Lan(Department of English, School of Foreign Languages, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China)Abstract: Recendly, a great tide of English teaching reform swept acrOss China, advocating the innovation of educational concept andteaching mode. However, the phenomenon of rigid uniformity in teaching process is still commonly seen, neglecting the individual discrep-ancy of students. The individual discrepancy is manifested by both the congenital heredity and the acquired disposition. Supported by theChinese traditional theory of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude and Vygotsky s "the zone of proximal development" theo-ry, this paper ilustrates the importance of paying attention to the individual discrepancy from the perspective of students' growing back-ground and personality. In addition, standing on the point of view of relevant authority and English teacher, the author tries to put forwardsome countermeasures.Key words: individual discrepancy; teaching students in accordance with their aptitude; the zone of proximal development (ZPD); teach-er's role中图分类号:G642文献标识码:A 文章编号: 1009- -5039(2011)12 -0088 -031 Introductionsand with exactly coordinate thought and afection. The same is trueof education. Great attention not only should be paid to the generalIt is generally known that English learming in China appears asituation of students, but also to the individual discrepancy in theyounger age trend and lasts for a long period from the primaryteaching and learning process. The individual discrepancy is mani-school to college. However, the cruel fact is that the English practi-fested by both the congenital heredity (gender, height, weight, age,cal use of most Chinese is very poor, they still can not communicateetc.) and the acquired disposition (interest, hobby, personality, com-with the foreigners even though they have passed various calegoriespetence, etc.).of exams. As for this gloomy situation, many attempts have been2.1 Growing backgroundmade.In recent years, led by the Ministry of Education, a great tideIt is an inevitable fact that a class is composed of studentsof English teaching refom is sweeping across China. This reformfrom different family and growing background, 80 it is essential forputs emphasis on the transformation from teacher- centered to stu-the teacher to adopt distinct teaching method with each individual.dent- centered and attach importance to the subjectivity and partici-For the students form remote mountainous area, the underdevelop-pation of students. Undoubtedly, the reform's intention is alright,ment region or national minorities, the teacher should realize theirbut the implementation has been obstructed for various causes andweak foundation of listening and spoken language and adopt the en-the eurrent situation of English teaching is not so ideal.couragement -based teaching method to dispel their self-contemptu-To begin with, the traditional English teaching environmentous psychology generated by the family poverty. More seifically,formed in a long time has deeply rooted in the students' mind, mostthe teacher can ask them to answer some simple questions in classof whom have got used to the way of learming by mechanical memo-and build up their self- -confidence. On the contrary, most of the stu.ry. Although great efforts have been made to the renovation of edu-dents from urban area with superior family background possess sol-cational concept and teaching mode, restricted by the poor commu-id foundation of listening and spoken language, while lack the spiritnicative competence of students, the popularization of communica-of hardworking and are tired of the words and grammatical rulestive teaching method is still difficult. What's more, greatly influ-need to be memorized mechanically. For this kind of students, theenced by the examination- -oriented education system, the urgent de-'teacher should supervise and speed up the fulfIment of assignedsire for high marks forces the teacher to make compromise in thetasks. For the students from single parent family, what the teacherteaching process. Last but not the least, the phenomenon of rigidshould initially do is to show them more concern and love ratheruniformity in teaching process is commonly seen, neglecting the in-than discrimination, leading them overcome the paychological prob-dividual discrepancy of students. This paper mainly focuses on thelem and gain the sense of belongingness, thus they can engage them-last point and diseusses the solutions to this problem from the per-selves in the normal leaming process together with the other stu-spective of English teaching.dents.2 Individual discrepancy2.2 PersonalityA8 Goethe said, one can not find two leaves with the duplicatePersonality is a popular concept that has been brought into theshape in a tree, and one also can not find two people out of one thou-research scope of psychology, pedagogy and Bome other fields. Ac-中国煤化工MYHCNM HG收稿日期:2011-09-15修回 日期:2011-10-15作者简介:罗兰,现就职于武汉理工大学外国语学院英语系。88外薄颖旷/ 111111118。r栏赍任编辑:得勤奎2011年12月Overseas English海外具语cording to the American psychologist Ryckman, personality can bedevelopment.defined as a dynamic and organized :set of characteristics possessed3.2 The zone of proximal development (ZPD)by a person that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, motiva-tions, and behaviors in various situations. (Ryckman, 2004) ThereThe zone of proximal development is a concept created by sem-are several theoretical perspectives on personality in psychology,inal psychologist Lev Vygotsky. According to Vygotsky, the zone ofwhich involve diferent ideas about the relationship between person-proximal development "is the distance between the actual develop-ality and other psychological constructs, as well as diferent theo-nies about the way prsonality develops. One of the most popular is level of polential development as delermined through problem solv_the five-dimnension personality model proposed by lewis Goldberg,ing under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capablein which personality traits are divided into five categories: extraver~peers." (Vygotsky. 1978) In other words, it is the range of abilitiession, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and opennessthat a person can perform with assistance, but cannol yet performn in-to experience. This theory is often applied to explain some educa-dependently.tional problems and has its own specific significance in the pedago-Since the individual discrepancy exists among the studentsgy field.with dfferent competence in comprehension and receiving. the ZPDObviously, no acceptable or available criterion can be em-of each individual is differenl. If putting those students with differ-ployed to judge a personality good or not. The English leacherent ZPD in the same class, the situation that part of them will beshould foster strengths and circumvent weaknesses of a specifie per-sick of dissatisfaction while the other part will be sick of indigestionsonality, guiding the students with different personality to developwill definitely inluence the teaching effect and frustrate the stu-toward the direction of learning English well. In the classroom, thedent's enthusiasm. The hierarchical teaching method based on thisstudents can be divided into the following categories.confict is effective to balance the needs of both parts. Rearranging1) Competitive. This kind of student often regards the class-the teaching class according to the practical capacity of sludentsroom as the place for distinguishing victory and failure, paying over-nd implementing corresponding teaching method can meet themuch attention to the marks and rewards given by teacher.need of students of different levels so that be more compatible with2) Cooperaive. This kind of student would like to cooperatethe ZPD. in a much higher level, will drive the potential levelwith the teacher and partner and regards the casoom as the placepromptly transform to the actual development leve! and create thefor communication.new 7PD. Admittedly, some people may argue that the hierarchical3) Avoidant. This kind of student shows litle interest in whatteaching will foster the proud emotion and meanwhile the inferiorityhappened in class and is unilling to participant the activities.of students of different level, at least we can not deny the timelinessMost of them are bad hand of speech in publie and shy.produced by this method if implemented appropriately.4) Dependent. This kind of student lacks curiosity to new4 Feasible countermeasuresknowledge and always be willing to be guided by authority. To someextent, it is a performance of lacking confidence and competition4.1 Newly entitled duty of authorityconsciousness.For the problems mentioned above, what the Ministry of Educa-5) Independent. This kind of student is of independent mindtion, the leader of the development of Chinese education, should doand also be ready to listen to others' opinions, but sometimes lacksis to thoroughly reform the current English examination system andthe cooperative spirit and may involve in the dilemma of isolation.correct the leaming motivation ultimately. The more important isAlthough the personality is relevant stable and hard to change,that the the rights subject should be transformed to the whole soci-teacher's impact can change the personality to some extent. It isety, since the modes of English education and talents cultivation arewhat we call plasticity of personality. If the teacher could grasp thedecided by the social needs and ought to be consistent with the de-personalities of each student and take advantage of the plasticity,velopment of society. Besides, for the individual discrepancy inthe student would be guided along the right direction in EnglishEnglish teaching, the relevant authorities should carry out the hier-learming.archical teaching method, which has been adopted by some schools3 Theoretical basisand has achieved satisfied efeet.4.2 Multiple identities of teacher3.1 Theory of teaching stodents in accordance with their aptitudeTheory of teaching students in accordance with their aptitudeabsolute authority, the boundary between teacher and student is sois firstly applied and rflected in the teaching practice of Confuciusclearly demarcated that student just plays a passive recipient dur-and generalized by Zhu Xi, the ideologist in Song dynasty. The cen-ing the leaming proces. As the carrier of knowledge, teacher con-tral philosophy of this theory mainly covers two levels: the first istrols the teaching content, time schedule and elassroom rhythm.that the teacher should pay great atlention to students" individualHowever, this teacher-centered teaching mnde! is increasingly tend-diferences, give them fair chances to develop and make them be-ing lo run counter to the era development, even contradict with thelieve firmly that Heaven brought them into this world. they mustprevalence of modem educational concepls which put emphasis onhave some talents in learming; the second is that the leacher shouldthe establishment of students-centered learming environment. Noadopt different teaching methods according with their aptitude andmatter what teachi中国煤化Inunicative meth-personalities. It rlects the objective law about development oftheir body and mind in process of education, possessing vital practi-od or lask-basedMYHCNMHG: teacher shouldtake the practical I'se objective, lay-cal significance in today's education area. The essence embodiesing stress on the cultivation of student's communicative compe-the basic requirements of quality- oriented education and all- -roundtence. With the public subscription of reference books and the evo-本栏目责任编辑:傅勤耋、V呸调敷入8SOverseas English海外英语2011年12月lution of computer techniques, the fact that teacher's status of mo-and teacher. Besides the identity of instructor and evaluator, teach-nopoly to knowledge has collapsed and been greatly challengeder is the direct participant of activity rather than out of the assign-makes higher demand on teacher's self awareness and self- identity.ment. On the one hand, slepping off the platform and joining the stu-Owing to the individual discrepancy of student, besides the tradi-dents, the teacher can fumish them with prompt assistance form thetional roles of carrier and organizer, teacher should meanwhilelevel of language, viewpoint or cognition. On the other hand, the in-plays the fllowing role.volvement of teacher provides valuable evidence or information for4.2.1 Instructor of learningthe acurate evaluation to student's actual learning level, W hat'gLeaming is a process in which student actively constructs themore, the harmonious relationship and elimination of distance be-knowledge structure, while the teacher plays the role of intermnedi-tween student and teacher contribute a lot to the formation of relax-ary, assisting the leamers to bridge over learning obstacles anding classroom atmosphere, and therefore wiping off the student'sbroaden horizon and cognitive ability. Restricted by the discrepan-anxiety 1o mistakes during the expression.ey of individual language skill and leaming ability, the students of5 Conclusionpoor language skill may run into problems of one sort or another:some of them even can not grasp the request of the assignment, at aAmong the modern approaches or methods in English lan-loss what to do with the task; some of them may be reluctant to par-guage teaching, the grammar-translation method, situational lan-ticipant because of the introvert personality and weak expressionguage teaching, communicative language teaching and task - basedability. To the problems above, the teacher should participant as alanguage teaching are most frequently used in the teaching prac-faciliator and decide the form of assistance and the degree of inter-tice. However, each method mentioned above has its own character-vention according to the specific circumstance involved in the prob-istics and applicable situations. It is hard to say which one is thelem. Sometimes a brief hint, an encouragement and even a benignmost suitable or feasible, in another word, no method is omnipotent.smile formn the teacher can be the eficient access to the solution. AsAn excellent English teacher should be flexible on the choice ofthe designer of the assignment, more important is that the teachersuitable method rather than be confined by any specific one.Based on the analysis on the current situation of English teach-should take advanlage of his broad knowledge and access to infor-mation to help those who lake excellent capacity to complete practi-ing in China and the neglect of individual discrepancy, the relevantcal work. consciously culivating their practical abiliy.authorities should shoulder their responsibilities in solving this4.2.2 Evaluatorproblem, the teacher is requested to advance the adaptability toMany students, especially those of inferior competence in Eng-changes, and be flexible to choose diferent teaching methods acor-lish study, often lack confidence in language performance and showdance with the student's needs and levels. Furthermore, besidesgreat interest and expectation to teacher's evaluation. Thus, teacherhaving a good command of professional knowledge, the Englishshould make conments duly to student's performance and give theteacher must be familiar with the relevant subjects, such as linguis-feedback in time. From the perspective of students, the just evalua-tics, psychology, pedagogy, and should branch into some other ap-tion is undoubtedly the most direct and efficient channel for them toplying subjects, such as the second language acquisition and theditinguish their superiority and inferiority and then adjust theirknowledge of language teaching. Only with the joint eforts, can theleaming behavior and atitude without delay. Cerainly, in order toproblems in English teaching be solved in the near future.avoid impairing the enthusiasm of student, more attention should beReferences:paid to the positive evaluation rather than the negative one. Indeed,[1] Ryckman R.Theories o[ Personality[M].Belmont,CA:Thomson/the negative feedback can not be neglected but should be given inW adsworth,2004.appropriate time and manner. Only when the students feel the con-[2] Vygolsky L S.Mind and society:The development of higher psy-cem and respect of teacher, can they set up self- confidence andchological processes[M].Cambridge,MA:Harvard Universitytransform the passive study into active one.Press,1978.sition for example, highlights and sugstions in strueture and con-[3]刘蓓莉.英语课堂教学互动中基于性格差异的因材施教策略tent should be put forward at the 8ame time the teacher points outthe grammar and spelling mistakes. In addition, righteous feedback[小英语教师2010(3).to students of different levels can make contribution to the evalua-[4]全钢十二所重点师范大学.心理学基础[M].北京:教学科学出tion of teaching eficiency and formulation of the fllowing teaching版社,2009.plan,[5]徐爱伟内材施教与外语教学中的选择[].江西师范大学学4.2.3 Participant of activity报:哲学社会科学版，20(4).It is generaly agreed that the acquisition of language is[6]徐江,郑莉.最近发展区理论对英语教学的启示[小.安徽工业achieved through the interaction and cooperation between student大学学报:社会科学版,2007(2).中国煤化工MYHCNMHG)0 C7/11111111 “栳目责任编辑:傅鳓奎