Teach or not to teach phonetic symbols in

Teach or not to teach ——phonetic symbols in primary English classroom 人民教育出版社 2008 -10 -18 陈力

Teach or not to teach: a real headache n As the national curriculum standard and most newlypublished textbooks do not support phonetic symbols (PS) teaching while many teachers argue that it’s especially helpful, whether or not to teach PS in primary English in China has become a problem troubling both teachers, teacher trainers. n There is no simple answer to this teach-or-not question.

Teach or not to teach: two surveys “Do you think teaching PS useful to your students? ” “Why Do you think so? ” Survey A (2007 -2008) 1024 teachers (from BJ, TJ, HB, JX, LN, YN, XJ) n Survey B (2008) 5000 teachers (online) n

Teach or not to teach: teacher’s response (I) “YES!”(64. 4%) and reasons: n better pronunciation n vocabulary learning (reading/spelling/remembering) n reviewing and self-learning (after class) n No more 扑栗子给乌蜜择不如不可偷猫肉！ n the problem of fossilization n use of dictionaries

Teach or not to teach: teachers response (II) n n n n “NO！”(35. 6%) and reasons: boring pressure for both teachers and learners kill the children's interests cause confusion between letters, pinyin and PS difficult/ not suitable for children “phonics” may be a better choice

Teach or not to teach: when n n Grade 5 4 6 3 (48%) (29%) (14%) (9%)

Teach or not to teach: how much & how n n n Know of something? Read? Write? Remember? or not Test? or not Intensively(Gao: 2008)? or extensively PS? Or phonics

Teach or not to teach: reflection n n There is no right or wrong answers or simple solution to the problem. What is right？ What is reasonable？ What is practical ? What is possible？

Teach or not to teach: reflection Particularity n n n Who? Where? What ? Why? Teacher’s preference and skill. Learner’s and teachers’ needs.

Teach or not to teach: looking forward… n beyond-method (No more R-or-W question) n comparative study and case study Which is more efficient? Suitable? for whom? n teacher education How much and in what way

chenli@pep. com. cn Thank you!