On Building up Interest in Learning English

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Abstract：This paper analyzes the problems in learning English and points out the importance of interest in English-learning. It also discusses the methods that English teachers help students to build up interest in learning English.

Key words： interest； learning English

中图分类号：H319 文献标识码： A 文章编号：1672-1578（2014）8-0002-02

1 The Importance of Interest in learning English

Interest is the condition of wanting to know or learn about something or somebody， according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English with Chinese Translation.

Because of interest， student works hard at objects he/she like； because of interest， people choose job they want to do； because of interest， new things and new technology come into being instantly… Of course， interest plays an important role in Learning English.

2 Some Problems in Learning English

In ELT， teacher often meets several problems： student likes English but he can’t do well in it； student works hard at English， but he can’t get the results he want； student doesn’t like to learn English… There are many reasons that cause problems， such as student’s cognition， intelligence， personality， studying and living environment； influence of parents and teacher’s… But one of the most important reasons is most of them don’t like English at all. Why？

We’ve heard a story―children still took the risk though the teacher used all kinds of means to forbid students to play with electronic game. Just because it’s a great pleasure for them to play with this kind of game， they like it. Then what will happen if they have the same interest in English？ According to education psychology， before a student is engaged in any behavior， he must be aroused either by inner interests or by external stimulus. Then what is motivation？ Motivation is the most essential and direct factor that causes man’s behavior. It has four functions： the function of arousing， directing， maintaining and adjusting. And it plays a positive role in student’s behavior. Interest plays the most important role in arousing motivation. Therefore interest is very important in learning of English.

Then what kind of factors will interfere with student’s interest？ We all have the same experience， we always complain about time’s flying so fast if a teacher’s class were vivid， wonderful， exciting… So we can’t help to interesting in his course and working hard at it. Otherwise， if a teacher’s class is very boring， we not only dislike the teacher but also have a little interest in that course. Obviously， the method of teaching affects student’s interest in study， as well as teacher’s attitudes to students. In addition， there’re many other reasons that affects student’s interest in learning English， for instance， cognition， personality， studying environment…

3 The methods of building up Students’ interest in learning english

It’s very clear that interest plays a very important role in English learning. Then how to build up the interest？

Firstly， teacher should arouse interest in class.Teacher should pay attention to his teaching methods. Translation Method is the oldest method of English teaching. But “oldest” doesn’t mean bad. Practice proves that Translation Method is effective for teaching reading in English while maybe it doesn’t benefit the oral language teaching. Moreover， other teaching methods have come into being with the development of technology， such as， Audio-visual method， etc. These methods all have the same characteristics： more advanced， lively， direct and it’s easier to cause student’s interest…In a word， English teacher should use not only proper， various and scientific methods to give English class but also try to arouse students’ enthusiasm in English learning.

Secondly， a teacher’s attitude to students is also important. Students react defensively by withdrawing， by refusing to cooperate， or by being “lazy”. Students who think poorly of themselves are unlikely to change their attitudes or behavior. They don’t like themselves very much. They feel they’re stupid， and they feel that everyone else must agree with them in their self-evaluations. Attempting to change people by focusing on their weaknesses seldom works； focusing on weakness reinforces feelings of worthlessness or inferiority. Students who have self-defeating attitudes may feel that they can’t win， that everyone is unfair， or that no one likes them. Then they believe they can’t be good at English and have no interest in learning of English. At last， they give up， are tired of or hate to learn English. The students need encouragement. “Encouragement is the process of encouraging： of imparting courage or confidence.”（Robert J. Martin） The encouragement process is not a way of inducing students to conform through the use of praise or reward but a process of helping students to change their views of self， others， and the world.

Thirdly， we should pay attention to the way of communication. The relationship between teacher and student， parent and child is mediated by verbal and nonverbal communication. To help students to build up interest， we should pay attention to the words we use. The words teachers often use to communicate with children attempts to blame， question， or order them to do something. Then is this helpful

for building up students’ learning interest？ It tent to put the other person on the defensive， especially if a sensitive topic is being discussed. It’s best for us to avoid use them. On the other hand， we should learn about listening skills， such as， silence， listening noises， nonverbal expression， reflecting what is being said. Here， I have a dialogue between a student and a teacher：The student said， “I didn’t finish my homework today.” The teacher answered， “you didn’t finish your homework.” We can feel nonaccusing tone of the teacher’s voice， except the sentence.

Obviously， this sentence embodies many information：（1）let student know that he is listening；（2）put the responsibility for what comes next on the student；（3）invite student to continue；（4）not to put student on the defensive by asking question， demanding an explanation， blaming， or inducing guilt feelings…It provides feedback to the speaker， and let him know that the other person is listening； it encourages the speaker； it helps the listener to be a better listener； it allows the listener to listen without interfering， blaming， offering advice， inducing guilt feeling， or throwing up roadblocks.

4 Closing

In a word， it’s very clear that building up students’ interest in learning English is obviously important. An excellent teacher should pay attention to his teaching method， attitude to students， the ways of communication and feedback and the learning environment that he creates.

REFERENCE：

[1]Bennett W. A. 1968 Aspects of Language and Language Teaching： Cambridge， England， Cambridge University Press.

[2]David R. Stone & Elwin C. Nielsem 1934 Educational Psychology The Development of Teaching Skills： Utah State University.

[3]Dennis Child 1981 Psychology and the Teacher： Butler & Tanner Ltd. Frome and London.

[4]Henry Clay Lindgren 1980 Educational Psychology in the Classroom： New York： Oxford University Press.

[5]Hudgins B. Bryce， Gary D. Phye， Candace Garrett Schau， Gary L. 1917 Educational Psychology The Development of Teaching Skills： Harper & Row， Publishers， New York.