游戏在学龄前儿童英语教学中的应用毕业论文.doc

本科毕业论文（设计）题目：游戏在学龄前儿童英语教学中的应用系（部） 外语系 学科门类 文学 专 业 英语 学 号 姓 名 指导教师 职 称 2014年 05 月 17 日THE APPLICATION OF GAMES TO PRESCHOOL CHILDREN ENGLISH TEACHINGA ThesisSubmitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofBachelor of ArtsWritten by: Supervised by: Foreign Languages DepartmentMay 17, 2014游戏在学龄前儿童英语教学中的应用摘 要众所周知，随着社会和经济的发展，英语成为世界上最广泛使用的语言。英语教育的低龄化已成为我国英语教育活动的一种趋势。英语不仅在小学中流行，而且被广泛运用于许多幼儿园和早教机构中。然而，如何把学龄前儿童作为二语习得者来进行教学仍然是一个令人困惑的问题。笔者采用观察法和调查法研究了在教学过程中使用游戏的有效性。通过调查笔者发现学龄前儿童学习英语的兴趣逐渐地下降。因此,培养学龄前儿童学习英语的兴趣成为英语教学中的首要任务。研究表明运用游戏的目的是为了引起学龄前儿童学习英语的兴趣和提高他们的能力。与此同时，对教师而言，选择符合学龄前儿童阶段的游戏是极其重要的。此外，本文阐述了当前学龄前儿童缺乏学习英语的兴趣的原因，并对所出现的问题提出了解决办法。最后，本文得出的结论是利用游戏进行教学能够提高学龄前儿童学习英语的兴趣。关键词：游戏 英语教学 学龄前儿童The Application of Games to Preschool Children English Teaching Abstract With the development of the society and economy, it has been universally acknowledged that English is the most widely used language in the world. There has been a trend of teaching preschool children at younger ages throughout the whole nation. Not only is English now prevalent in primary school, but also is applied widely by many kindergartens and early education organizations. However, how to teach preschool children as second language learners is still a puzzling question. The author uses research methods such as classroom observation and interview to investigate the effectiveness of using games in the teaching process. According to survey, the author finds that preschool childrens interest in English is gradually decreasing. Therefore, to cultivate preschool childrens interest has become the most important task in English teaching. The research shows that games are used to aim at raising preschool childrens interest and improving their ability. Meanwhile, it is extremely important for teachers to choose games which are suitable for preschool children. In addition, this thesis explains why preschool children learn English with lack of interest and how to resolve the problem. At last, this thesis draws a conclusion that using games can raise preschool childrens interest to learn English.Key Words: games English teaching preschool childrenContents1 Introduction12 Literature review23 Theoretical basis43.1 Characteristics of preschool children43.1.1 Cognitive development of preschool children in English learning43.1.2 Psychological feature of preschool children in English learning53.2 Stephen Krashens theory of second language acquisition64 Problems in preschool English teaching74.1 Problems of preschool children in English learning74.2 Problems of teachers in using games95 Application of games in English teaching105.1 Principles of games in English teaching115.2 Design of games in English teaching115.3 Suggestions for teachers in using games126 Conclusion14Works Cited17Acknowledgements19Appendix I21Appendix II221 Introduction Nowadays, English is one of the indispensable language around the world. With the rapid development of economy and society, more and more people are learning English. With the advancement of science and technology, English becomes an international language. People who are from different countries and cultures need to communicate far more frequently in order to make a living. China should also therefore keep pace with the times. The object of study is preschool children whose age is from 3 to 6. Although many preschool children know nothing about English when they begin to learn it in kindergarten, they have a burning desire to learn every interesting thing. The advantages of preschool children in learning English are reflected in their strong imitative ability, thirst for knowledge, strong desire in the demonstration as well as light psychological burden. When teachers tell them to play a game, they are proactive and prepared to enjoy. At that time, they want to take an active part in the game and pay any attention to the content of the game. Moreover, it is demonstrated that preschool children learn best by doing, by acting throughout the whole world. This study focuses on games in preschool childrens English teaching. Hence, it is a convenient method for teachers in English teaching. This thesis first gives a review of definition of games and the characteristics of games, and then it presents a rather detailed depiction of the classification of games. It introduces some scholars illustration of using games in the teaching process. It also can be obviously explained different scholars different opinions and aims to divide games into a multitude of definitions. What is more, games are fit for the development of cognitive and psychological characteristics of preschool children. When they move into primary schools, they would continue their learning. At that time, learning English would become easy and pleasant. Consequently, kindergartens are a key period to develop preschool childrens intelligence and help them to form good learning habits. According to the questionnaire of preschool children, an important problem is that preschool childrens interest in English learning is decreasing. This thesis shows that games are used to aim at raising preschool childrens interest and improving their learning ability. It is using games in English class that are an effective approach for preschool children to study English. During the study, some findings and significance of games in English teaching will be presented. Additionally, this thesis explains why preschool children learn English with lack of interest and how to resolve the problem. Meanwhile, it is needed for teachers to create innovative games with appropriate methods. This thesis also gives some advices for teachers to choose appropriate games to cultivate preschool childrens interest and organize teaching effectively.2 Literature review It has been universally acknowledged that English is an essential tool for communication now in China. There has been a trend of teaching preschool children at younger ages throughout the whole nation. It goes without saying that playing games in English teaching is a better way. First and foremost, different people hold different definitions on games. “Games are different kinds of activities. They are highly structured and include specific rules to be followed” (Bernard and Olivia 271). In addition, “A game could be any activity that formulized a technique into units that can be scored in some way” (Brown 197). Besides, According to Longman Dictionary Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, “game” in language teaching can be defined as an organized activity that usually has the following characters: a particular task or objective; a set of rules; competition between players; communication between players by spoken or written (Jack et al. 191). What is more, Byrne held the view that games are a form of playing governed by rules. It is a way of getting the learner to use the language in the course of the game. From above, it can be illustrated that games are organized by specific rules and goals. Consequently, it can be understood that games include many elements, such as specific rules, goals, competition and communication, in particular. The main focus of games in language teaching is to help preschool children learn and have fun.Some scholars study the characteristic of games. According to a book, which was written by Zeng Yanhong, from her own perspective, game involves four features. The first characteristic of games is rules. Every game has its own rules. The fundamental characteristic of games is rules. In other words, if a game does not have a specific rule, it will not carry out fluently. In order to use the game in an efficient way, students must follow some rules of the game. The second characteristic of games is challenging. Not only should games are coincident with the growth rule of preschool children, but also they are in accordance with the learning characteristics of preschool children. The third characteristic of games is unpredictability. Before the game starts, no one can be bound to predict who wins. Only in this way, preschool children will take the attitude that they are equal. Everyone has feasibility to win. It is quite apparent that preschool children will participate in the game wholeheartedly. The last characteristic of games is competition and cooperation. It is a truth universally acknowledged that all the preschool children would like to be a championship in the game. Only by competition and cooperation, they can work together towards the common goal.For the deeper study of games, some scholars start to study them from categories. Game has found an increasingly wide application in language teaching. There are quite a few categories of teaching games. Different people have different views for classification of games. People divided games into different categories. A good case in point was Zhang Zhiyuan, a distinguished scholar, who indicated five types of language teaching games, including role-play, musical activity, intelligence game, sports games and drama performing. He argued that these games could meet the need to develop the multiple intelligences of preschool children. Moreover, in Games for Language Learning, The authors collected the games according to their features in language learning. They grouped the games in language learning as: sound games, word games, picture games, memory games, story games, psychology games, caring and sharing games, card and board games, magic tricks, true or false games, question and answer games, guessing and speculating games and miscellaneous. An advantage of these games is that they are easy for teachers to handle. All in all, it can be clearly seen that different scholars base on different aims to divide games into a multitude of types.In recent year, the study of games has made great progress. Definitely, games in language teaching can be divided into different functions. It can be identified as give practice in skills, consisting of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Besides, games can be used to develop preschool childrens language skill. Based on their different functions, games can be divided into three aspects. First and foremost, it is the memory games. A great memory can help preschool children succeed in learning language. It can help them learn faster and faster. Certainly, when teachers teach vocabulary and pronunciation, they can organize a game called “What is missing?”. Secondly, it is the response games. During the game, preschool children should focus their attention on what the teacher says, when the teacher asks questions, they could response as soon as possible. In this type of game, preschool children are benefiting to understand and learn English easily. At last, it is the observation games. These observation games are designed to promote preschool childrens skills. Other benefits include memory improvement, attention enhancement and concentration development. And, the games are extremely challenging and fun for preschool children to play. Briefly it can be concluded that games play an important part in preschool childrens English teaching. Playing games can arouse preschool childrens interest in English learning. So, to arouse preschool childrens interest is the key point in their English learning. The author uses research methods such as classroom observation and interview to investigate the effectiveness of using games in the teaching process. According to survey, the author finds that preschool childrens interest in English is gradually decreasing. Many preschool children think studying English is boring and do not want to learn it. Therefore, to cultivate preschool childrens interest has become the most important task in English teaching. The research shows that games are used to aim at raising preschool childrens interest and improving their ability. From the questionnaire of teachers, it is clear that playing games in English teaching is a better way, which can arouse the preschool childrens interest to learn English well. Meanwhile, it is essential for teachers to choose games which are applicable to the class. Through the questionnaire, this thesis explains why preschool children learn English with lack of interest and how to resolve the problem. At last, this thesis draws a conclusion that using games can raise preschool childrens interest to learn English.3 Theoretical basisThis chapter presents a detailed summary of the findings on advocating for using games from cognition, psychology, and the field of second language. The theoretical framework of this study is based on the theories of Eric Lennebery, John Dewey and Stephen Krashen. It advocates that using games is a study aid for teaching children in English classes.3.1 Characteristics of preschool childrenGenerally speaking, preschool children have a burning desire to learn every interesting thing. They are always curious about the whole world. Children are able to produce utterances which they can not possibly have heard from an adult. Obviously, they are very active and creative language learners. They can make sense of the world from what they see and hear. The author explains that why the cognitive development and psychological characteristic of preschool children are suitable for learning English.3.1.1 Cognitive development of preschool children in English learning As to the cognitive ability, when preschool children study English, there will be the absence of metalinguistic awareness. Absolutely, during their learning process, they invariably take notice of themselves. This is a prerequisite for language acquisition. Thus, preschool children put them back into learning language, to some extent, and fully accept another language in cognitive. Generally, it is widely shared that preschool children can learn language more easily than older learners. This is supported by the Critical Period Hypothesis, which was first proposed by Montreal neurologist Wilder Penfield. Subsequently, it was popularized by Eric Lennebery in 1967 with Biological Foundations of Language. Lennberg hypothesized that language could be acquired only within a “critical period”, extending from early infancy to puberty. This theory claims that there is an ideal time to gain language in a linguistically sufficient environment, after which further language acquisition becomes much more difficult and effortful. It should be the case that preschool children are better second language learners than adults. It is an essential stage for preschool children in kindergartens to memorize basic vocabularies. Unlike adults, preschool children maybe recite poems easily and quickly. Even if for most o