◎ 于筱睿
自2014 年,上海英語高考中的基于單句考查語法知識的單項(xiàng)選擇題被取消,由以語篇形式呈現(xiàn)的“語法填空”取代。這一變化與《普通高中英語課程標(biāo)準(zhǔn)》(2017)的要求相契合:英語教學(xué)應(yīng)圍繞語篇進(jìn)行。
新要求和新題型,不僅提醒教師們及時轉(zhuǎn)變語法教學(xué)的理念,也更關(guān)注學(xué)生們是否能在真實(shí)的語言情景中正確使用語法。以上海高考英語試卷為例,語法填空題由十個填空組成,考查的語法知識涉及動詞的時態(tài)和語態(tài)、非謂語動詞、形容詞和副詞的比較級和最高級、主從復(fù)合句及其他功能詞。其中,在考查前三個語法點(diǎn)時給出提示詞,通常是動詞、形容詞或副詞的原形,其余題目只設(shè)一到三個空格,無提示詞。
在平時的教學(xué)中,筆者發(fā)現(xiàn)學(xué)生經(jīng)常因?yàn)闆]搞清“語法填空”的考查內(nèi)容而犯錯。為了讓學(xué)生對語法填空題的考查要求和考查范圍有更明確的認(rèn)識,筆者嘗試讓學(xué)生轉(zhuǎn)變身份,從被動做題轉(zhuǎn)向主動出題,嘗試以小組的形式進(jìn)行自主命題。
為保證學(xué)生能夠順利完成自主命題任務(wù)并實(shí)現(xiàn)既定的教學(xué)目標(biāo),筆者將命題任務(wù)拆解細(xì)分為以下六個環(huán)節(jié):研讀語篇、分組、出題、說題、評題和修題。
此次學(xué)生命題的原始語料取自微信公眾號“中國日報雙語新聞”于2020 年8 月23 日“夜聽雙語”板塊推送的一篇文章,標(biāo)題為《外賣平臺叫你別浪費(fèi)食物:推出“半份菜”服務(wù)》。該語篇英文原文共373 個單詞,F(xiàn)K 可讀性指數(shù)為13.3,難度略高于高中教材文本。話題有關(guān)“珍惜糧食,按需點(diǎn)餐”,既是近期新聞事實(shí)熱點(diǎn),也與學(xué)生日常生活息息相關(guān)。
為輔助學(xué)生做好命題前的準(zhǔn)備,筆者首先布置學(xué)生獨(dú)立閱讀學(xué)習(xí)該語篇,掃清文本中的生詞障礙,有意識地圈劃并積累其中出現(xiàn)的高中階段的高頻詞匯、短語,并摘抄2-3 句長難句,進(jìn)行句子結(jié)構(gòu)分析。
在評閱積累作業(yè)時,筆者發(fā)現(xiàn)學(xué)生對這類課外語篇的閱讀熱情很高。不少同學(xué)將原來文本重新編輯排版打印,并用彩筆精心做筆記。學(xué)生們對文本的用心解讀為自主命題的任務(wù)開了個好頭。
為了讓不同英語水平的學(xué)生都能參與命題,筆者事先規(guī)定了各個小組的規(guī)模和成員結(jié)構(gòu)。班級48 位同學(xué)被分成了六組,先讓學(xué)生自薦或他薦出六位小組長。組員由組長選出,要求小組內(nèi)包含英語成績有參差的組員。讓英語水平較高的同學(xué)在小組中發(fā)揮帶頭作用,也能使后進(jìn)的同學(xué)在小組合作中發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的知識盲區(qū),及時查漏補(bǔ)缺。
“出題”組織分工工作由組長負(fù)責(zé)。教師提示他們?nèi)ゼ?xì)化出題任務(wù),強(qiáng)化小組每位成員的個人責(zé)任。以下展示兩個小組的命題:
例1:
Last week Meituan co-published a proposal with a number of business organizations,calling on restaurants to stop food waste and help cultivate new eating habits for customers.
“Restaurants should innovate means of publicity using official accounts (1)_______social media and live-streaming to promote and advocate food-saving actions,”the proposal said.
Meituan and the organizations are advocating that merchants offer guidance for consumers,(2)_______(include) reminding them during the ordering process about the taste of the ingredients,portion sizes and other information about the dishes,to help them avoid food waste(3)_______misleading information.The Wuhan Catering Association (4)________(propose) an“N-1”ordering code for restaurants (5)a group of 10 diners would only order enough for nine people.More food is only brought to the table if required.
To curb portrayals of food waste on social media platforms,popular Chinese video platforms (6)_______________Douyin and Kuaishou have stepped up content reviews of food-related live streams and implemented regulation of online eating shows.
Now (7)________users search certain keywords,such as“eating show”or“competitive eaters”,a cautionary message pops up to remind them to cherish food and maintain a reasonable diet.
Across the country,about 40% of all the food Americans buy ends up in the trash.The state of Vermont has long been a leader in environmental issues.Now it has just doubled down on its bid to get Vermonters (8)________(rethink) their relationship with food and waste.
As of July 1st,it became the first state in the nation to make it illegal for residents to throw their food scraps into the trash.That means everyone in the state ——from businesses (9)_______residents-(10)________now keep their food waste out of the garbage.
(命題學(xué)生提供參考答案:1.on 2.including 3.due to 4.proposed 5.in which 6.such as 7.if8.to rethink 9.to 10.must)
例2:
Last week Meituan co-published a proposal with a number of business organizations,calling on restaurants to stop food waste and help cultivate new eating habits for customers.It claimed that (1)________must be done to deal with the problem of endless wasting.Meituan,together with some other organizations,(2)_______(advocate) that merchants offer guidance for consumers,including reminding them during the ordering process about the taste of the ingredients,portion sizes and other information about the dishes to help them avoid food waste (3)_______misleading information.
On Friday the China Cuisine Association announced that it (4)_______(team) up with Ele.me,the Alibaba Group Holding-owned food delivery platform to launch a“half-dish plan”,appealing to restaurants to offer smaller portions of dishes (5)________different customers.
The Wuhan Catering Association proposed an“N-1”ordering code for restaurants (6)_______a group of 10 diners would only order enough for nine people.More food is only brought to the table if(7)_______(require).
The problem also exists (8)_______the living standard is high.In America,about 40% of the citizens seldom cook the leftovers for (9)_______second time.The state of Vermont has long been a leader in environmental issues.Now it has just doubled down on its bid to get Vermonters to rethink their relationship with food and waste.
As of July 1st,it became the first state (10)_______made it illegal for residents to throw their food scraps into the trash.That means everyone in the state ——from businesses to residents-must now keep their food out of the garbage.
(命題學(xué)生提供參考答案:1.something 2.has advocated/is advocating 3.because of/due to 4.teamed/had teamed 5.to 6.where 7.required 8.where 9.a 10.that)
命題完成后,每組代表在課堂上向全班展示命題成果。說題主要說兩方面:小組內(nèi)的分工合作情況和命題思路。
例1 的組長很自豪地介紹這是8 位組員合作的成果。在他的組織下,每位成員至少貢獻(xiàn)了一個空,最后由他將組員的題目整合:刪去重復(fù)的考點(diǎn)、調(diào)整空格間的間隔。
例2 的組長說他們命題過程不太常規(guī)。在他布置任務(wù)前,一位成員主動獨(dú)立地完成了整套命題。此刻,他意識到自己的“失職”讓組員們失去了一次參與自主命題的機(jī)會,希望能重新命題。
點(diǎn)評題目是命題的重要環(huán)節(jié),這次點(diǎn)評的主角還是學(xué)生。學(xué)生仍以原來的命題小組為單位,以下是對課堂上幾位同學(xué)的發(fā)言的轉(zhuǎn)寫:
生1:例1 基本保留了原文結(jié)構(gòu)的完整性,但空1、3、6、9 均考查了介詞或介詞短語,整篇語法填空考查范圍有限。另外,空3 應(yīng)提供其他備選答案。
生2:例1 雖在保留了文章邏輯完整性,但忽視了對一些超綱單詞的改寫,比如curb the portrayal,catering 等。建議對這些生詞進(jìn)行替換或改寫整句。
生3:例2 的第二空,將原文的Meituan and the organizations are advocating that 改寫成了Meituan,together with some other organizations,(2)________(advocate) that。通過更改句子的主語,考查很多同學(xué)容易忽略的主謂一致的考點(diǎn),屬實(shí)精妙。此空的參考答案也不局限于原文的進(jìn)行時態(tài)is advocating,還補(bǔ)充了現(xiàn)在完成時has advocated,非常合理。
生4:例2 對原文進(jìn)行了刪減和改寫,刪除了與考點(diǎn)不相關(guān)的描寫文字,也為達(dá)到考查范圍的全面,對原文做了適當(dāng)?shù)母木?。如第十空,原文是it became the first state in the nation to make it illegal for residents to throw their food scraps into the trash,用動詞不定式to make it illegal 來修飾名詞短語the first state。命題人很巧妙地將不定式做定語改成定語從句作定語:it became the first state (10)_______made it illegal for residents to throw their food scraps into the trash,順利地將定語從句納入考查范圍,并且該空中的先行詞由序數(shù)詞first 修飾,正是許多同學(xué)容易忽視的知識點(diǎn)。
教師在學(xué)生點(diǎn)評前,雖有千言萬語,也不要急于表達(dá),將寶貴的機(jī)會留給學(xué)生。在學(xué)生點(diǎn)評后,教師可以補(bǔ)充點(diǎn)評,并通過舉例,帶領(lǐng)全班對部分題目進(jìn)行完善。例如,針對例1 中“重復(fù)考查介詞”的問題,可以刪除原第9 題,在同一段的句首對形式賓語it進(jìn)行挖空,這樣既不破壞各題間的間隔,也彌補(bǔ)了未考查“代詞”的空缺。
評題后,筆者鼓勵各個命題小組當(dāng)天對原題進(jìn)行修改。以下列節(jié)選例1 的修改版:
保留了原先的第2、3、5、6、7、8、10 空,新增了以下3 空。
“(1)_______restaurants should do is to innovate means of publicity using official accounts on social media and live-streaming to promote and advocate food-saving actions,”the proposal said.
On Friday the China Cuisine Association announced that it (4)_______(team) up with Ele.me,to launch a“half-dish plan”.
As of July 1st,it became the first state in the nation to make (9)________illegal for residents to throw their food scraps into the trash.(命題學(xué)生提供參考答案:1.what 4.had teamed9.it10.must)
從學(xué)生修改后的版本不難看出,針對課堂上同學(xué)和老師提出的問題做了相應(yīng)修改。此外,他們自己還注意到名詞性從句考查的缺失,通過改寫原文創(chuàng)造性地命制了第1 題,讓人眼前一亮。
在學(xué)生自主命題過程中,教師應(yīng)充當(dāng)怎樣的角色? 本次命題活動的目標(biāo)是否達(dá)成? 在命題活動結(jié)束后,筆者就以上問題進(jìn)行了總結(jié)和反思。
教師應(yīng)舍得“放手”。雖然命題本身對學(xué)生的能力要求較高,但只要給足學(xué)習(xí)、思考、討論、修改的時間和機(jī)會,學(xué)生是可以勝任的。
雖然是學(xué)生自主命題,教師不可“袖手旁觀”。在學(xué)生命題前,教師應(yīng)當(dāng)做好組織者,說明命題的要求和流程。在說題和評題時,教師要有甘當(dāng)“綠葉”的覺悟,讓學(xué)生掌握話語權(quán),保持他們合作探究學(xué)習(xí)的積極性和創(chuàng)造性。
命題活動后,學(xué)生們紛紛表示通過這次活動,他們會主動地去總結(jié)語法填空的重難點(diǎn)。有些學(xué)生甚至很自信地說:“下次做題,我一定能看穿出題者的意圖!”
自主命題讓學(xué)生從“被考者”搖身一變成了掌握主動權(quán)的“命題者”。小組合作的命題形式既降低了任務(wù)的難度,也給學(xué)生提供了交流的機(jī)會。在融洽的合作學(xué)習(xí)中,他們夯實(shí)了學(xué)科基礎(chǔ)知識,也感受了團(tuán)隊協(xié)作的力量。當(dāng)然,學(xué)生自主命題的實(shí)效性還需在實(shí)踐中進(jìn)一步證實(shí)。