bilingual education

Classification: Education/Science >> Vocational Education

Problem description:

What is bilingual teaching?

What is the arrangement of bilingual teaching materials?

Analysis:

First, the basic connotation of bilingual teaching

The so-called bilingual teaching, that is, some or all non-linguistic subjects are taught in non-native languages, has different practical connotations because of different countries and regions. For example, in Canada, bilingual teaching generally refers to the form of teaching in French in English-speaking areas. In the United States, bilingual teaching generally refers to the subject teaching of Spanish. In Australia, bilingual teaching refers to teaching certain subjects in a non-native language (English). Its purpose is to make these countries with many immigrants better reflect their diversity and integration. In Europe, the situation of bilingual teaching is more complicated, and most of the languages involved are English, aiming at strengthening exchanges between countries, prospering the economy and forming a joint force. Bilingual teaching, which is being explored and experimented in China and many Asian countries and regions, generally refers to the system of teaching subjects in English. Therefore, the connotation of bilingual teaching, which is currently being promoted on a trial basis, should also belong to this category. The basic requirement of bilingual education generally accepted in the world is to use two languages as teaching media in a planned and systematic way in the process of education, so that students can achieve smooth and natural development in the overall knowledge, bilingual ability and cultural learning and growth represented by these two languages. Here, the second language is the language and means of teaching, not the content or subject of teaching.

Second, the feasibility of implementing bilingual teaching

Although the overall English level of students in higher vocational colleges is lower than that of undergraduates, from the current teaching plan of higher vocational colleges, more attention is paid to the teaching of English courses while ensuring the teaching of basic courses and professional courses. Taking the economics major of Tianjin Vocational College as an example, in the three-year curriculum arrangement, foreign language courses and professional courses are offered in parallel, and special English courses (intensive reading and extensive reading) are arranged every semester. Some majors also hire foreign teachers to teach oral English, giving full play to the auxiliary role of modern teaching methods (such as language lab) in teaching, which greatly improves the teaching effect of English courses and the English level of students is greatly improved compared with the past, laying the foundation for setting up bilingual courses. However, due to the current imbalance of students' overall level, it is not possible to implement bilingual teaching in all classes of a certain course. The feasible scheme is to set up bilingual classes for students with good English on the basis of selection. For example, there are three classes in the hotel major of Tianjin Vocational College, and English has been strengthened in the first year. Then, according to self-recommendation, 30 students were selected through the examination to offer BTEC courses in the second year. Some students in this class have a good English foundation, and some students have obtained the CET-4 certificate. Some students take part in various English training or English corner activities in their spare time. In the teaching process, students can basically adapt to bilingual teaching and respond to teachers in class, and the teaching effect is good.

At present, many colleges and universities have regular or irregular academic exchanges with foreign countries, or cooperate with foreign universities to run schools, which brings teachers opportunities for study or further study, helps to improve teachers' English and professional level, and academic exchanges also provide favorable conditions for bilingual teaching to introduce original textbooks. At the same time, many professional teachers are improving their English through various channels. Therefore, bilingual teaching has a certain teacher base.

Third, the basic form and curriculum design of bilingual teaching

1. Basic forms of bilingual teaching

Bilingual teaching can take different forms: (1) The school uses a language that students don't use at home. This model is called immersion bilingual teaching. (2) Students use their mother tongue when they first enter school, and then gradually teach some subjects in a second language, while other subjects are still taught in their mother tongue. This model is called: maintenance bilingual teaching. (3) Students use part or all of their mother tongue after entering school, and then gradually change to teaching only in the second language. This model is called transitional bilingual teaching.

Unlike Singapore, Canada and India, China is a bilingual country with unequal language environment. Therefore, the bilingual teaching environment in China determines that bilingual teaching in China can only be the above-mentioned form of "maintenance bilingual teaching".

2. Curriculum design of bilingual teaching

(1) The training goal of bilingual teaching. The goal of bilingual teaching is twofold: one is to acquire subject knowledge, and the other is to cultivate and improve students' ability to use foreign languages.

(2) the choice of subjects. In view of the current situation of students in higher vocational colleges, bilingual teaching lacks sufficient experience and conditions. At this stage, higher vocational colleges should choose those relatively easy courses as the starting point, because students have a preliminary understanding or a certain foundation, so it is easy to achieve the expected teaching effect. For example, "Nutrition and Diet" is offered in the BTEC course of hotel major in Tianjin Vocational College. Students have a preliminary understanding of protein, fat, carbohydrates, calcium, vitamins and other nutrients in daily life, so that when bilingual teaching is adopted, students can relatively easily enter the role and understand the teaching content. At the same time, the course "Principles of Management" is not easy to master because students have never been exposed to it before, even if it is explained in Chinese. Therefore, when bilingual teaching is adopted, students generally feel hard. Therefore, the course selection should be easy first and then difficult, and the scope should be gradually expanded. Otherwise, students take

If you don't have a very skilled language to accept completely unfamiliar things, the result can only be against the original intention of teaching.

(3) Adopting Bilingual Teaching Mode n The teaching process of any mode is complicated, and the behaviors of teachers and students in the learning process are also varied. Generally speaking, the teaching process can be divided into three sub-processes: the teaching process strengthens the relationship between teachers and knowledge; The training process highlights the relationship between teachers and students; The learning process emphasizes the relationship between students and knowledge. In bilingual teaching in higher vocational colleges, in order to cultivate students' ability and realize the dual teaching objectives of bilingual teaching, the traditional "indoctrination" teaching method must be changed and replaced by a new "student-centered" teaching model. Therefore, the learning process has become the focus of the teaching process. Teachers put forward topics, and students use their knowledge to find solutions to problems. In the actual teaching practice, the author uses classroom teaching methods such as case teaching, brainstorming and scenario simulation to encourage students to think, state and solve problems in foreign languages. With the continuous development of teaching activities, students have become accustomed to and like this model from initial embarrassment and shyness to active participation and active speech.

In addition, we should also pay attention to correctly handling the relationship between foreign language teaching and specialized course teaching. It must be clear that bilingual teaching is not simply learning a foreign language, but learning in a foreign language. Students should focus on mastering professional knowledge and avoid turning bilingual classes into copies of ordinary English classes.

Bilingual teaching is a new teaching mode, and how to evaluate students' mastery of knowledge is another key and difficult point in bilingual teaching. There is no uniform standard at present. The author only briefly introduces the assessment methods used in bilingual teaching in Tianjin Vocational College as follows: According to the characteristics of bilingual teaching, students can be assessed by combining several academic achievements instead of traditional papers. The schoolwork mentioned here is different from the homework in the usual sense. First of all, it needs students to finish it in English, which trains students' English writing ability to some extent; Secondly, the content of the course assignment should pay attention to practical operation, that is, on the basis of applying classroom knowledge, students must obtain some materials needed in the course assignment through social investigation, information inquiry, observation and research, and practical operation. By completing the course, they not only consolidated their knowledge, but also exercised their ability to communicate, cooperate and obtain information with others. It should be noted that before assigning homework to students, teachers must carefully design the homework, make clear the knowledge points to be achieved in the homework, and which parts of students should show the knowledge points to be achieved and the standards for homework grading, and clearly tell the students. A course can design 3-4 courses according to the number of knowledge points. At the end of the semester, the final grade will be given according to the comprehensive situation of the course.

(4) Correctly handle the relationship between mother tongue teaching and foreign language teaching. In bilingual teaching, the second language used by teachers to explain the subject content must conform to students' current level of second language understanding, avoid using rhetorical language in the second language to explain the subject content, and pay attention to expanding students' second language vocabulary. However, under the current circumstances, it is still not feasible to teach in English all the time in higher vocational colleges. Through the cooperation of mother tongue, students can better understand and master the teaching content. Therefore, the role of the first language in teaching can not be ignored. First of all, the first language can provide relevant background knowledge for students to learn the subject content, which helps them to accurately understand the information input of the second language; Secondly, the first language helps to develop students' basic reading ability; Third, the first language helps students to form "advanced language ability"; Fourth, the first language can provide students with a sense of security in learning subject knowledge. Because teachers know students' first language, they are not so afraid of teaching in a second language, and psychologically ensure students to learn a second language well. However, teachers try their best to minimize the use of the first language to avoid students' dependence on the first language.

(5) Provide rich teaching resources. Bilingual teaching is a powerful guarantee for learning resources. The original foreign language textbook is a necessary condition for bilingual teaching, which can expose teachers and students to "authentic" English, but as a powerful supplement to classroom teaching, the role of teaching reference books can not be ignored. Often, all majors in higher vocational colleges have abundant Chinese reference resources, but foreign reference materials are extremely scarce. Teachers have to translate Chinese materials into foreign languages when preparing lessons, and then teach in foreign languages. Students can't get in touch with more original materials after class, and they are out of touch with each other in class, so they can't carry out substantive bilingual teaching. This problem needs to be solved urgently.

Of course, there are still some important problems to be solved in bilingual teaching. For example, a prominent problem is that the status of teachers has become the bottleneck of bilingual teaching in higher vocational colleges in China. At present, there are few teachers who can engage in bilingual teaching in higher vocational colleges in China. Teachers' ability is single, professional teachers' English ability is poor, and ordinary English teachers don't understand majors, which limits the development of bilingual teaching in higher vocational colleges to some extent. Therefore, in the long run, it is necessary to establish a bilingual teacher training system as soon as possible.

America. The Foreign Affairs University has established a set of methods to test language ability. Its standard (FSl)*** establishes five energy levels:

A. The level that can be achieved through 2-5 months of formal intensive study.

B the level that can be achieved after 6-9 months of intensive formal study.

C. the level of people who have lived abroad for 3 years and widely studied and used local languages.

D the level of living abroad for 4 years and extensively learning and applying the local language.

E. Language ability of local adults with undergraduate education.

According to this standard, contemporary linguists realize that traditional formal teaching can't solve the problem of passing the second language learning level and can only stay at the level of A and B, so people are looking for a language learning model with twice the result with half the effort, and now there has been a breakthrough, which is the localization of bilingual teaching and the internationalization of foreign students' education. It is considered as the two main aspects of the model orientation of contemporary bilingual teaching, which has been recognized by linguists all over the world. Therefore, how to adapt to the development of international and domestic situation and cultivate compound talents is a major issue in contemporary vocational education. Actively trying bilingual teaching in higher vocational colleges will make a positive contribution to improving the quality of talent training in higher vocational colleges.