陳純斌
《英文經(jīng)典短篇小說(shuō)閱讀與賞析》這門校本課程是廣東省廣州市第二中學(xué)專門為高一應(yīng)元班和實(shí)驗(yàn)班的學(xué)生開(kāi)設(shè)的。他們的英語(yǔ)基礎(chǔ)良好,自主學(xué)習(xí)能力較強(qiáng),有一定的探索鉆研精神。雖然為年級(jí)的尖子生,相當(dāng)一部分學(xué)生仍然以題海戰(zhàn)術(shù)作為提升閱讀技能的主要手段。他們習(xí)慣做以單項(xiàng)選擇為主的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化閱讀理解練習(xí),一味被動(dòng)地在文本中尋找答案,未能主動(dòng)地對(duì)文本進(jìn)行個(gè)性化解讀。許多學(xué)生只是停留在對(duì)文本知識(shí)的記憶和理解上,對(duì)文本的言外之意、作者的情感態(tài)度、核心觀點(diǎn)、賞析文本的選詞用句等缺乏自己的見(jiàn)解和觀點(diǎn),用英語(yǔ)提出問(wèn)題、解決問(wèn)題的能力有待提高。
閱讀和賞析英文經(jīng)典短篇小說(shuō)是培養(yǎng)學(xué)生英語(yǔ)思維品質(zhì)和人文素質(zhì),提升英語(yǔ)綜合能力的最佳途徑之一。相對(duì)于長(zhǎng)篇巨著,這些字?jǐn)?shù)在1000 字左右的英文經(jīng)典短篇小說(shuō)內(nèi)容精悍,如歐·亨利的《最后一片葉子》《麥琪的禮物》,愛(ài)倫·坡的《失竊的信》,凱特·肖邦的《一雙絲襪》等集故事性、趣味性、人文性為一體,能激發(fā)學(xué)生的學(xué)習(xí)熱情和興趣,也便于教師在課堂上的實(shí)際施教操作。同時(shí),鑒于現(xiàn)階段的英語(yǔ)教科書普遍存在偏重技能性,缺乏思維性和人文性等問(wèn)題,英文經(jīng)典短篇小說(shuō)無(wú)論是在語(yǔ)言的地道性方面,還是在思維深度和人文素養(yǎng)培養(yǎng)方面都更勝一籌。對(duì)于尖子生來(lái)說(shuō),這樣的課程更具挑戰(zhàn)性、創(chuàng)新性,更能有效培養(yǎng)其英語(yǔ)思維和表達(dá)習(xí)慣,提高其閱讀理解能力、批判性思維能力、賞析文學(xué)作品的能力和寫作水平,同時(shí)提升其跨文化意識(shí)和人文素養(yǎng)。
結(jié)合學(xué)生的特點(diǎn)和在閱讀方面存在的問(wèn)題,筆者將評(píng)判性閱讀技能引入《英文經(jīng)典短篇小說(shuō)閱讀與賞析》這門校本課程的教學(xué)實(shí)踐,旨在提升閱讀層次,促使學(xué)生積極主動(dòng)思考,真正理解語(yǔ)篇,形成個(gè)性見(jiàn)解,并最終培養(yǎng)學(xué)生的批判性閱讀思維。
評(píng)判性閱讀(Critical Reading)又稱批判性閱讀,要求讀者在閱讀過(guò)程中利用預(yù)測(cè)、分析、質(zhì)疑、推斷、總結(jié)、評(píng)價(jià)等批判性思維方法,達(dá)到對(duì)閱讀材料的深層理解;它是一種深層次閱讀,是一種積極的個(gè)性化閱讀(張淳2009)。皮羅齊(Pirozzi,2003)將評(píng)判性閱讀定義為“對(duì)文本的高層次理解,它包括釋義和評(píng)價(jià)的技能,可以使讀者分辨重要和非重要信息,把事實(shí)和觀點(diǎn)區(qū)分開(kāi),并且確定作者的目的和語(yǔ)氣;同時(shí),要通過(guò)推理推導(dǎo)出言外之意,填補(bǔ)空白部分,得出符合邏輯的結(jié)論”。評(píng)判性閱讀的常用策略包括預(yù)測(cè)、預(yù)覽、評(píng)注、推斷、提問(wèn)、概述、評(píng)價(jià)等(Flynn 1989)。評(píng)判性閱讀要求閱讀者積極參與閱讀過(guò)程,不僅要對(duì)閱讀材料進(jìn)行簡(jiǎn)單梳理,了解主旨大意,還要根據(jù)已有的背景知識(shí)和所得信息進(jìn)行推理判斷,深入領(lǐng)會(huì)作者意圖,形成自己的觀點(diǎn),甚至對(duì)作者的觀點(diǎn)提出質(zhì)疑。因此,閱讀教學(xué)不只是讓學(xué)生通過(guò)略讀、尋讀查找信息,理解大意,它還涉及對(duì)文本更深層次的分析、探究和評(píng)價(jià)(貴麗萍、黃建英,等2011)。教師必須有意識(shí)地挖掘文本材料,創(chuàng)設(shè)條件,在不同環(huán)節(jié)設(shè)計(jì)相關(guān)的教學(xué)活動(dòng),增加學(xué)生運(yùn)用評(píng)判性閱讀策略的機(jī)會(huì),真正提高學(xué)生的閱讀能力和思維能力。
文本材料:美國(guó)著名短篇小說(shuō)家歐·亨利的英文短篇小說(shuō)《麥琪的禮物》
Step 1:Warming Up
筆者就標(biāo)題提出問(wèn)題:“How do you understand the title The Gift of the Magi? Does the word Magi refer to a person's name?”學(xué)生給出不同的答案。
筆者呈現(xiàn)圖片和文字,以連環(huán)畫的形式介紹故事The Adoration of the Magi 中the Magi 的相關(guān)背景故事和含義。The word Magi is the plural form of magus.They are believed to be the ones who invented the art of giving Christmas presents.
【設(shè)計(jì)說(shuō)明】這一環(huán)節(jié)運(yùn)用了評(píng)判性閱讀中的預(yù)覽(Preview)策略,激發(fā)了學(xué)生的閱讀興趣,激活了他們的背景知識(shí),提高了其閱讀效率,從而為后續(xù)閱讀作好了鋪墊,進(jìn)而為更好地理解文章主旨奠定了基礎(chǔ)。
Step 2:Reading for the Plot
Task 1:Find out the“time,event,character”quickly.
鼓山下院廣場(chǎng)項(xiàng)目地塊總面積為37 711.3 m2(合56.56畝),作業(yè)過(guò)程嚴(yán)格按照《城市測(cè)量規(guī)范》(CJJ/T 8—2011)和福州市勘測(cè)院《土方測(cè)量作業(yè)指導(dǎo)書》要求進(jìn)行,坐標(biāo)系為福州城市地方平面直角坐標(biāo)系,高程為羅零高程系。經(jīng)檢驗(yàn),測(cè)量成果精度準(zhǔn)確、可靠。
Task 2:Use complete sentences to summarize the main plot by following the logic of“beginning—development—result”.
【設(shè)計(jì)說(shuō)明】該環(huán)節(jié)設(shè)計(jì)了兩個(gè)任務(wù),需要學(xué)生運(yùn)用評(píng)判性閱讀中的概述(Summarizing)策略。概述要求閱讀者在理解文本內(nèi)容的基礎(chǔ)上篩除次要信息,提取核心信息,并用簡(jiǎn)明、確切的語(yǔ)言加以表述,不得加入自己的主觀評(píng)論和解釋。Task 1 相對(duì)簡(jiǎn)單,學(xué)生很快可以提取到答案。筆者在學(xué)生完成第一個(gè)任務(wù)后設(shè)計(jì)了第二個(gè)任務(wù),讓學(xué)生根據(jù)時(shí)間、人物、事件這三大要素和起因、經(jīng)過(guò)、結(jié)果的故事內(nèi)在邏輯,簡(jiǎn)要概括故事,這樣既加深了學(xué)生對(duì)文本材料的理解,又培養(yǎng)了學(xué)生的語(yǔ)言組織能力和概述能力。以下是學(xué)生的發(fā)言內(nèi)容:
Being Poor,Della decides to sell her hair to buy a Christmas gift for her husband Jim.After selling her precious hair,she buys Jim a chain for his gold watch.But later Jim gives Della a beautiful set of combs,which proves to be of no use for her now.Then,Della gives the chain to Jim,but is told that Jim has sold his gold watch to get the money to buy the combs for her hair.
Step 3:Read for Comprehension
Task 1:Analyzing Della's and Jim's character.
In the story,the writer gives vivid descriptions of Della's and Jim's behaviour and facial expressions.Please underline these sentences and discuss with your partner to analyze their characters.
下表是筆者整理的部分學(xué)生答案。
Della/Jim's character Clues in a very negative mood(disappointed,worried,upset,desperate,helpless)She stood by the window and looked out at a grey cat walking along a grey fence in a grey backyard.in a complicated mood,half sad and half delighted.Her eyes were shining,but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds.delighted With a quick motion and brightness still in her eyes,she danced out the door and down the street.eager White fingers quickly tore at the string and paper.nervous and worried Then she heard his step and she turned white for just a minute.very surprised,unbelievable He simply looked at her with a strange expression on his face.“You have cut off your hair?”asked Jim,slowly,as if he had not accepted the information even after his mind worked very hard.
【設(shè)計(jì)說(shuō)明】學(xué)生在做完故事內(nèi)容概述之后,對(duì)故事大意已經(jīng)比較了解,此時(shí)運(yùn)用評(píng)判性閱讀中的分析(Analyzing)和推斷(Inferring)策略,將升華對(duì)文本的理解。要完成這一環(huán)節(jié)的任務(wù),學(xué)生首先必須對(duì)文本內(nèi)容作出篩選,找出重點(diǎn)句子,同時(shí)拓展思維,深入分析推理,思考后得出結(jié)論。筆者不局限于學(xué)生給出的關(guān)于主人公性格特點(diǎn)的簡(jiǎn)單答案,還進(jìn)行追問(wèn)。例如,學(xué)生找出這樣的句子:“Instead of obeying,Jim fell on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled.”筆者問(wèn):“Why didn't Jim obey? Why did he smile?”學(xué)生答:“He didn't obey,because he had sold his gold watch and the chain was of no use for him now.He smiled,which indicates that though they had both done something that seemed foolish,he was glad that they both did that out of love for each other.”正是因?yàn)閷?duì)文本有了充分的理解和深入的分析,學(xué)生才有了高質(zhì)量的輸出;同時(shí),學(xué)生也能透過(guò)文本的表層信息領(lǐng)悟作者在文字背后所塑造的人物的特點(diǎn)和人格魅力。以上環(huán)節(jié)有效地提高了學(xué)生的分析推斷閱讀技能。
Task 2:Further Questions.
After you get a better understanding of the story,now think over two questions.
1. Why does the author compare the couple to the Magi?
2.Which part of the story impresses you most?
【設(shè)計(jì)說(shuō)明】本環(huán)節(jié)需要學(xué)生運(yùn)用評(píng)判性閱讀中的提問(wèn)(Questioning)、分析(Analyzing)和評(píng)價(jià)(Evaluating)策略。在高中英語(yǔ)閱讀教學(xué)中,教師一般提出的問(wèn)題分為展示型問(wèn)題、參閱型問(wèn)題、評(píng)估型問(wèn)題(梁美珍2011)。本環(huán)節(jié)的這兩個(gè)問(wèn)題分別屬于參閱型問(wèn)題、評(píng)估型問(wèn)題。參閱型問(wèn)題沒(méi)有現(xiàn)成的答案,要求學(xué)生結(jié)合個(gè)人的理解和文章所提供的信息進(jìn)行綜合分析。所以在回答第一個(gè)問(wèn)題時(shí),學(xué)生不僅要透徹理解文本,還要運(yùn)用評(píng)判性閱讀中的分析(Analyzing)策略,才能抓住文章精髓,形成自己的結(jié)論。評(píng)估型問(wèn)題要求學(xué)生在理解文章的基礎(chǔ)上進(jìn)行深層次的邏輯思維,運(yùn)用所學(xué)語(yǔ)言知識(shí)就某個(gè)事件或觀點(diǎn)發(fā)表自己的看法。第二個(gè)問(wèn)題是開(kāi)放性問(wèn)題。學(xué)生各抒己見(jiàn),從不同的角度對(duì)文本作出個(gè)性化的解讀。這一過(guò)程實(shí)際上已運(yùn)用了評(píng)判性閱讀中的評(píng)價(jià)(Evaluating)策略。評(píng)價(jià)是一種體現(xiàn)評(píng)判性思維的綜合技能,一般用于讀后環(huán)節(jié)的活動(dòng)設(shè)計(jì)中。教師可以引導(dǎo)學(xué)生對(duì)作者的觀點(diǎn)、文章內(nèi)容、作者的意圖、作者的措辭、篇章結(jié)構(gòu)等進(jìn)行評(píng)價(jià)(貴麗萍、黃建英,等2011)。這一環(huán)節(jié)的設(shè)計(jì)不僅培養(yǎng)了學(xué)生的思維能力,還提高了他們的語(yǔ)言綜合運(yùn)用能力。以下摘錄了一些代表性觀點(diǎn):
S1:Despite that Jim and Della were in dire poverty,both of them were willing to sacrifice what they cherished most just to give the other a Christmas gift.This profoundly moves me.It's essence that love defeated money is meaningful in this big bad world full of material desire.
S2:What touches me most is Della's attitude towards life and tough times.Although Jim and Della suffered from serious poverty,they still tried their best to find a satisfactory gift for each other and even ignore the most cherished possessions of their own.Life is hard for this young couple,but as long as they had the passion and love to the life,they could lead a simple life full of happiness.
S3:What impresses me most is the greatness of love sparkling in common people. Though Jim and Della struggled to make ends meet,they are willing to sacrifice their priceless possessions for each other.The beauty of their humanity and their touching love are reflected by a pair of simple and awkward gifts.
Step 4:Post-reading
Four students work in a group to create a new story.
If you are to continue this story,what do you think will happen next?
【設(shè)計(jì)說(shuō)明】本環(huán)節(jié)先由學(xué)生在課堂上以四人小組為單位討論完成,再由一名學(xué)生代表口述續(xù)寫的故事,最后筆者布置把口頭表達(dá)修改潤(rùn)色成書面作文的任務(wù)。讀后續(xù)寫練習(xí)需要學(xué)生結(jié)合所讀材料,再寫作、再創(chuàng)造,其過(guò)程涉及分析、評(píng)價(jià)、綜合所有材料,需要充分運(yùn)用發(fā)散性思維、創(chuàng)造性思維,能培養(yǎng)學(xué)生的批判性思維能力。以下為一個(gè)小組代表的習(xí)作:
They carried on living their lives.All of a sudden,they became very rich and thrived from nothing.Wonder why? One day the king petrolled around the city in which the couple lived. All civilians were out to see the king for themselves,including Jim and Della. Della was not even dressed when she hurried to go out. Her hair was in a mess. So as the king's carriage passed by slowly,Della was combing her hair.The king saw her tidying her hair with a shining comb by coincidence and was charmed by this scene.So he decided to exchange Della's comb with gold and jewels,even with a promising job for Jim.
As you can imagine,their difficult times were gone with the wind,and they lived a happy life from then on...
《英文經(jīng)典短篇小說(shuō)的閱讀和賞析》這門課程開(kāi)設(shè)時(shí)限接近一年。在教學(xué)過(guò)程中,筆者一直堅(jiān)持運(yùn)用評(píng)判性閱讀策略。一年下來(lái),筆者發(fā)現(xiàn)學(xué)生思考問(wèn)題更加積極、主動(dòng),能多角度、全方位地分析、解決問(wèn)題,提升了思維能力,同時(shí)提高了語(yǔ)言運(yùn)用能力和在活動(dòng)過(guò)程中語(yǔ)言輸出的質(zhì)量。
在培養(yǎng)評(píng)判性閱讀能力的過(guò)程中,教師需要注意以下幾點(diǎn):
第一,精心設(shè)計(jì)有深度、有層次、多樣化、能夠引發(fā)學(xué)生思考的問(wèn)題。設(shè)計(jì)的任務(wù)應(yīng)激發(fā)學(xué)生的問(wèn)題意識(shí),發(fā)揮學(xué)生的自主性,增加學(xué)生使用評(píng)判性閱讀技能的機(jī)會(huì),避免流于表面或形式。
第二,營(yíng)造民主、寬松的課堂氛圍,激發(fā)學(xué)生的評(píng)判性意識(shí)。教師應(yīng)鼓勵(lì)學(xué)生個(gè)性化思考,大膽表達(dá)自我,甚至挑戰(zhàn)書本和權(quán)威。對(duì)于提出錯(cuò)誤觀點(diǎn)的學(xué)生也不能打擊其獨(dú)立思考的積極性。只有這樣,才能真正促進(jìn)學(xué)生評(píng)判性思維的養(yǎng)成。
第三,改變作業(yè)方式,變“刷題”為“讀書”,幫助學(xué)生養(yǎng)成自主評(píng)判性閱讀習(xí)慣。蘇霍姆林斯基說(shuō):“要想讓學(xué)生變得更聰明,不是給他們?cè)黾幼鳂I(yè),不是給他們補(bǔ)課,而是讓他們閱讀、閱讀、再閱讀?!痹u(píng)判性思維能力的提高是一個(gè)長(zhǎng)期、持續(xù)的過(guò)程。課堂時(shí)間是有限的,僅限于課堂的閱讀活動(dòng)是遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠的。教師可以通過(guò)少留或不留練習(xí)題,改為閱讀、摘抄、給文章寫評(píng)注等方式來(lái)培養(yǎng)學(xué)生的閱讀習(xí)慣。讓閱讀從課堂走向課外,讓英語(yǔ)閱讀成為一種自然的生活方式,讓學(xué)習(xí)隨時(shí)隨地發(fā)生,讓批判性思維成為習(xí)慣。