Using Posters in College English Teaching
开篇：润墨网以专业的文秘视角，为您筛选了一篇Using Posters in College English Teaching范文，如需获取更多写作素材，在线客服老师一对一协助。欢迎您的阅读与分享！
Abstract： By providing more visually stimulating input （cues and captions） than a textbook， using posters in CET classrooms allows teachers to increase the amount of English output from students encourage participation， and give students more control and autonomy in class. Posters are simply one more effective tool that a CET teacher can use to address classroom challenges facing us.
Key words： posters using； college english teaching
1 Introduction
Posters， as discussed in this article， are collected pictures or photographs suitable to use to encourage student participation and provide controlled practice in a given English structure or context. They are usually accompanied by textual cues or captions. Posters are tools that can be used in a variety of ways to overcome challenges and problems of the college English teaching classroom. The particular way they are used will depend on the teacher’s experience and the students’ needs.
The photographs or pictures can be from the teacher’s collections or they can be downloaded from websites. The captions would differ depending upon the focus of the lesson and the level of the students. The back of a poster can show additional information e.g. a grammar practice.
2 The benefits of posters
By using a cyclical process of observation， reading， reflection， and trial， posters respond in many ways to the challenges in College English Teaching.
2.1 Posters foster oral practice
Using posters at the beginning of class serves as a warming-up for students， telling them that it’s time to switch to English. This is essential in a CET classroom， where learners are immersed in English in their daily lives. However， the key benefit of using posters is the significant opportunity for oral practice that they offer students.
In the first ten minutes of class， the teacher can use posters to guide student to practice several common English language structures and vocabulary. Even before the learning goal is presented， the students practice a few affirmative， negative， and interrogative sentences in English. Cooperative learnings have stressed the importance of small group interactions in CET because they allow for a significant increase in opportunities to create output.
Moreover， because posters enable students to experience language learning actively， rather than receptively， student interest grows. Oral practice using posters seems to build students’ confidence； students notice that they become more effective to practice in English with a particular poster.
2.2 Posters enhance traditional methodology by empowering students
The good habit formation often results from the repetition and substitution drilling. The difference with the use of posters， however， is that students are empowered： they cue， listen to， correct， and help one another. In previous classrooms， on the other hand， dependence on teachers was common because they were mostly teacher-centered. Richard-Amato contextualized the value of controlled practice， suggesting that it is most effective during the pre-proficiency stage of learning. Learners must also process linguistic elements in a creative， meaningful way so those elements are available to learners when they attempt to speak freely. Posters help achieve this.
2.3 Posters encourage authentic communication
Posters can serve as a springboard to more authentic and creative language use. For example， by taking advantage of students’ interest in well-known personalities， posters can be used to spur the students to identify say， ten famous people around the world. After some brainstorming， students in pairs could create new exchanges based on the people they identified.
Again employing students’ interest in public figures， posters could be used to contribute to a pre-writing task. For example， after some brainstorming， the students could write a paragraph about why a person on the poster is famous； for example： “Yang Zhengning is Chinese， but he lives in the U.S. . He is in his 80s. He is famous because...”
2.4 Posters work with various learning styles
Consideration of learning styles is critical in today’s classrooms， including the CET classroom. Studies using the Keirsey Temperament Sorter suggest that 40 to 45 percent of people throughout the world are Sensory-Perceivers. As learners， such people are visual and kinesthetic. They are keenly aware of and seek interaction with the physical environment. When students hold， pass， and flip the posters， they interact with the environment and are visually stimulated. This writer has observed that poster work helps teenagers， who can become easily distracted， stay on task. In contrast， CET texts， useful as they are， require less movement on the part of learners， and often provide fewer visual cues than posters do. Posters also promote interaction that responds to another learner type： the extrovert. Such social interaction has been associated with L2 motivation as well.
2.5 Posters help minimize incorrect language
Errors and incorrect language are limited with poster use because most posters focus on a single concept （e.g. professions， actions in progress）， and the English structure to be practiced is shown on the board and orally demonstrated prior to practicing. The narrow range of structures being practiced at one particular time reduces the possibility of confusing linguistic elements； hence， fewer errors occur. Further， classmates with a higher level of language development are more likely to find an error and correct their classmates accordingly.
3 Conclusion
Working with posters in CET classrooms allows teachers to increase the amount of English spoken by students without making teachers who are not highly proficient English speakers uneasy. At the same time， posters are more vivid than a textbook because they visually stimulate learners， encourage participation， and give students more control and autonomy in class. It is wise to say that posters using is not a perfect solution to the challenges facing CET teachers. Posters are simply one more effective tool that a CET teacher can use to address classroom challenges.
References
[1]赵建群.新世纪教材高中英语任务型教学的尝试——用海报制作导入课文教学[J].成都教育学院学报2005：（5）
[2] 江海洋.简约风格的海报也可以抢眼[J].电脑爱好者 2012（1）
[3]A1-Hejin， B.. Attention and awareness： Evidence from cognitive and second languageacquisition research. Columbia University working papers [J] TESOL and Applied linguistics. 2004 （1）：
[4]Dornyei， Z. Teaching and researching motivation. [M]England： Pearson Education Limited. 2001.
[5]Fraser， H. ESL pronunciation teaching： Could it be more effective？ [J] Australian Language Matters 7.1999. （4）： 7—8.
[6]Keirsey， D. Please understand me： Temperament， character， intelligence. [M]Del Mar， CA： Prometheus Nemesis Book Company. 1998.
[7]Richard-Amato， P. A. Making it happen： Interaction in the second language classroom. From Theory to Practice[M] 2nd ed. Longman. 2003.