Modern College English (1) Speaking

Author: Yang Limin Yi Yan Lin Yan Zhai Zheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: This book is part of the "Modern College English" series, serving as a speaking textbook. The series consists of 4 volumes, designed for undergraduate students in their first and second years of English major programs and learners with similar proficiency levels.
As is well known, speaking is a crucial skill for language communication. For many years, students in China have faced significant challenges in English learning, such as "not daring to speak," "not wanting to speak," "having nothing to say," and "not knowing how to speak." This speaking textbook series is specifically developed to address these issues, drawing on the strengths of similar textbooks both domestically and internationally, while inheriting the traditional approach to speaking instruction in China.
The features of this textbook are as follows:
1. As an integral part of a series, this textbook is closely linked with other materials, such as listening and writing intensive reading, in terms of language, themes, and training focus. This approach significantly increases students' exposure to language materials, helping to overcome the issue of "having nothing to say." At the same time, it provides students with training in different methods, such as speaking after listening, speaking after reading, and speaking after writing.
2. The content of the textbook is rich and diverse. Each lesson provides a substantial amount of language material. This is done to facilitate student imitation, offering them necessary vocabulary, expressions, relevant viewpoints, and ideas. More importantly, it aims to spark students' interest and motivation to speak. The dialogues and passages selected for this series cover a wide range of topics, closely aligning with students' daily lives to address the issue of "not wanting to speak."
3. The first two volumes of this textbook adopt a combination of themes and speaking functions, with the goal of enabling students to quickly master everyday spoken language through speaking lessons, something that intensive reading courses cannot replace. However, speaking is not just about set phrases. It also involves rich content. The textbook organizes units around themes, interspersing various speaking functions within them.
4. This textbook places great emphasis on fun but even more on humanistic depth. We strive to maintain the textbook's tone while keeping it light-hearted, ensuring that students not only speak but also speak meaningfully, coherently, and with quality.
5. The entire textbook is comprehensive, progressing from simple to complex and from the familiar to the broader. Themes transition from daily life in the first two volumes to various social, cultural, economic, and political hot topics in the last two volumes. The focus of exercises also evolves from functional expressions related to daily life, such as relatively simple Q&A, retelling, and summarizing, to discussions on these hot topics. Discussions and simulated debates, fully prepared for real-world scenarios, not only reflect the phased nature of training but also prevent mechanical monotony in the textbook's arrangement and disconnection between training methods.
6. This textbook strives to be both Chinese and international in flavor, taking into account China's context, the lives of Chinese students, and their desire to express themselves, while also introducing Western culture and life.
7. The language used in this textbook is designed to be authentic, while avoiding slang, colloquialisms, and vulgar expressions. It includes some useful related vocabulary but in limited quantities. The primary goal of speaking lessons is not to expand vocabulary but to apply what has already been learned.
8. The exercises in this textbook draw on the strengths of international materials, focusing on communicative, engaging, and diverse activities, placing students in an active role.
It is noted that most students using this textbook have just graduated from high school, with only a few having received specialized training. Generally, their speaking abilities are weak. Therefore, it is essential not to overwhelm them at the beginning or make them dislike speaking. Instead, students must be encouraged to speak boldly and enjoy it, helping them develop good habits. This textbook is written with this spirit in mind.
1. The focus of training in this textbook
i. The basic skills of speaking are Q&A and retelling, but since these have already been intensively trained in intensive reading and writing courses, they are not separately listed in this speaking textbook. However, they should still be emphasized throughout classroom teaching.
ii. Mastering basic functions and expressions of ideas in speaking, such as greetings, introductions, requests, suggestions, agreements, disagreements, and interruptions.
iii. Developing everyday speaking skills. Learn to use the language learned to ask for directions, see a doctor, talk about the weather, places, people, study, exercise, hobbies, diet, and daily routines.
2. The basic framework and usage of this textbook
This textbook consists of 15 lessons, with each lesson taking 2–3 hours, suitable for use over a semester. Each lesson is divided into 5 parts:
i. Warm-up exercises
Approximately 15 minutes. These exercises introduce the lesson's theme through methods like picture viewing and Q&A, stimulating students' interest and opening their minds.
ii. Dialogues and passages
Each lesson includes 2–3 dialogues and 2–3 passages, which together form the language material for the lesson. These materials require students to preview them before class (listening to recordings, reading, familiarizing themselves with the pronunciation and usage of key vocabulary). The dialogues and passages were selected to provide students with material and models for speaking practice. Students can prepare an outline for in-class speaking but should avoid rote memorization.
iii. Exercises
This is the main activity in speaking lessons. The types of exercises vary depending on the material, generally including group Q&A, role-playing, summarizing main ideas, retelling stories, arranging dialogues, and simple discussions. Through these exercises, students will master various speaking functions and improve their everyday speaking skills.
When expressing ideas in speaking, students should be authentic, specific, and natural, while also maintaining a certain level of fluency. Language should be controlled but not overly analyzed like intensive reading texts, allowing students a degree of freedom in speaking.
iv. Language bank
Each lesson lists common words and sentence patterns used to express functions and ideas, for students to refer to. Teachers should remind students to use these materials when assigning homework.
v. Supplementary materials
The purpose of supplementary materials is twofold: first, to provide more ideas and material for students' in-class and out-of-class speaking activities; second, to meet the needs of students with higher proficiency who feel challenged by the regular material. Teachers should familiarize themselves with these materials to use them flexibly in class.
In addition to the above, all materials will be accompanied by audio recordings and answer keys for exercises. It is also important to repeatedly emphasize the importance of extracurricular speaking activities to students, so that classroom exercises can be transformed into practical communicative skills.