Cause and Effect in English Learning

陈源

Abstract：This paper tends to imply the causation of a typical Chinese boys poor state in English learning through interview and literature reading. By analyzing his answers to the designed questions, it can be seen that he dose not perform well in and out of English class. It is important for a learner to actively participate in his learning and be responsible for his own study.

Key words：cause and effect; English learning; interview

中圖分类号：H319 文献标识码： A文章编号：1672-1578（2014)3-0001-01

The interviewee E is a lovely boy, sitting at the first row of the classroom. When the head teacher talks about him, she shakes her head with a sigh, adding that he is a nice boy, but poor at study. Take a close look at his way of learning English, and it may imply the causation of his present poor state in English learning.

When the class is over, he smiles to the interviewer and plays with others happily. However, he became serious when the interviewer asked him to answer some questions related to English learning. This reflects his anxiety in learning. It is negative emotion, which leads to passive and resistant behavior. This greatly reduces students learning efficiency(Yan Chuanhai 65). Whats more, he seems to appreciate English without sheer confidence. He is not that confident because of the poor state in learning. Owing to repeated failures in English exams, he made no further attempt to turn things around. When the interviewer asked him about his weakness in learning English, he applied a negative word, indicating that he was weak at every single aspect of English learning, listening, speaking, reading and writing included. There exist mutual influences between the low scores and lack of confidence. Accordingly, this forms a vicious circle in his English learning.

When the interviewer asked him whether he previews the text before learning, he nodded his head, adding that he usually previews by looking at the pictures around the text. He explained that it is an efficient and interesting way to look at the pictures around the text. There is no need for further information because the English teacher will give a lesson next day. It is reasonable for a naughty boy to preview the text in this way. Still, it is not advisable. The suggested way to preview is as follows. Glance at the word list, and make sure the topic and key words of the unit. Then, preview the text and underline the difficult points, related with grammar, vocabulary or context. With these mentioned steps, a student may have a clear map about what the text talks about. This helps him/her to better focus on teaching.

As for the class participation, the boy admitted that he got distracted easily. He clarified that it was a bit difficult for him to follow the teacher. In this case, it also implies causation. Due to the sloppy preview and mind-wandering, he cannot catch up with others in learning. When the teacher asks him questions, he was afraid of making mistakes. The “affective filter” occurs when the acquirer is unmotivated, lacking in self-confident, or anxious, when he is ‘on the defensive, when he considers the language class to be a place where his weakness will be revealed (Krashen 3). He worried about classmates laughing at him. This high “affective filter” prevents him from learning more from the class.

A key issue in second language pedagogy is whether the learner should be taught to approach the learning task consciously as an intellectual exercise, or whether he should be encouraged to avoid thinking about the language and absorb it intuitively. (Stern 327) Here, it indicates the importance of teachers role. However, teachers cannot replace students role in learning. As a future pre-service teacher, it is necessary to do action research and thus improve the teaching. It is also essential to evaluate students objectively in our future teaching. Since the ability to learn English varies from person to person, patient and enlightened are required as teachers basic character.

To conclude, teaching and learning are always complementary. Since English should be considered as a progressive course, it cannot be achieved overnight. Still, it is more than important for a learner to actively participate in his learning and be responsible for his own study. The cause and effect in English cannot be overlooked. When the present learning status and methods go wrong, the leaner should positively try it another way.

Works Cited：

[1]Krashen, S. D. 1985. The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications[M]. Torrance, CA: Laredo.

[2]Stern,H.H.1999. Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching[M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

[3]閆传海, 张梅娟. 情感因素在外语教学中的介入[J].外语界, 2002,5(64.66).