Excerpted from China Teaching Newsletter.
There is a phenomenon of "false evaluation" in Chinese classroom teaching evaluation. There are two typical manifestations of the so-called false evaluation. One is "vanity"-exaggerated evaluation and exaggeration. The evaluator's evaluation of Chinese classroom teaching is not only natural and empty talk, but also deliberately inflated and exaggerated. The other is "false"-false evaluation is false evaluation. This kind of evaluation is often the same, changing with the constant, lacking pertinence, and can be "applied" to the evaluation of any Chinese class. Their similarities are that they are divorced from the characteristics of Chinese teaching, from Chinese classroom practice, from teaching texts, from the local atmosphere of classroom teaching, and run counter to the principle of seeking truth from facts. I believe most teachers are very familiar with these two evaluation languages, so I won't repeat them here. "False evaluation" and "false language" are the relationship between evaluation and being evaluated, and do not seem to belong to the same system. In fact, they are interrelated and mutually causal: on the one hand, "false language" is the basis of "false evaluation", and the proliferation of "false language" constantly gives birth to "false evaluation"; On the other hand, "false evaluation" is the driving force of "false language", and the spread of "false language" can not be separated from "false evaluation", which is definitely not positive energy for Chinese teaching.
So, what is the evaluation of Chinese classroom teaching? As far as the basic evaluation of Chinese teachers' teaching is concerned, we should start from the facts of Chinese classroom teaching and focus on three aspects of teachers' teaching: what did they teach? How was it taught? How is teaching?
First, what did you teach?
What has been taught-that is, to explore the value and significance of the teaching content by observing what the teacher has done in the Chinese class (the teaching content here is not equal to the text content, but refers to what the teacher has taught). Through these things, we can examine whether the content of the teacher's teaching is based on language, whether the interpretation of the text is correct and whether it conforms to the author's original intention; Whether the teaching goal conforms to the teaching practice (that is, the so-called "thorough understanding" of students and textbooks) and whether the teaching content conforms to the direction of the teaching goal will help students serve the goal; Whether the expanded content can become an organic part of classroom teaching, etc.
In Chinese class, what are the teachers teaching and the students learning? Usually people's answers to this question are teaching (learning) textbooks, teaching (learning) texts, teaching (learning) knowledge and so on. Phenomenologically, this answer is not bad. Of course, Chinese lessons cannot be separated from these, but as we all know, textbooks and texts are only the basis of teaching, and they are nothing more than examples of teaching. Although the texts selected into Chinese textbooks are all beautiful model essays, the examples can be changed, so there seems to be no fixed teaching content in Chinese class. Behind the teaching of these changeable text contents, the authors of different texts accurately express their feelings, convey their thoughts and convey their thoughts in words and words, which is their common feature. Therefore, fundamentally speaking, Chinese class is that students learn to correctly understand and use the language and characters of the motherland under the guidance of teachers and with the help of teaching materials, so as to improve their understanding, cultivate their thoughts and infect their feelings. At the same time, they apply what they have learned, and through oral practice of reading, writing, listening and speaking, they constantly develop their Chinese ability and improve their cultural quality. So, what should a Chinese teacher "teach"? The answer is simple: learning a language through verbal works. "Chinese teaching" should naturally be the main criterion for evaluating the content taught by teachers, and other functions of Chinese class should also be played on the basis of Chinese teaching. This is also in line with the original intention of setting up Chinese courses in junior high schools and primary schools established in New China: Chinese-"spoken language is language, written language is writing", and Chinese courses focus on the teaching and learning of spoken and written language.
Since Chinese class is a language teaching, text interpretation, that is, understanding and grasping the text language, is the key. Teacher Wang Furen has a view that reading teaching should adhere to the unity of the three "subjectivity" of text author, teacher and student. The so-called subjectivity of the text author's creation means that the text author has the right to express his thoughts, opinions, attitudes and feelings independently, and the author is subjective about his own works. This stipulates that the reader's subjectivity is limited and the space for exertion is not infinite. For teachers, correct text interpretation means that students can't be divorced from the text itself, instilling their own thoughts, opinions and emotional attitudes, as well as the thoughts and feelings they want students to have. On the other hand, some Chinese classes are "biased" at present. For example, the end of Ba Jin's Lamp is: "Thinking, thinking, I can't help smiling at the other side of the mountain." Some teachers try to interpret Beyond the Mountain as "liberated area" and "Yan 'an" in teaching, which shows that they don't respect the subjectivity of the text author. Because this explanation has no basis in the text, the author has not made a similar explanation on other occasions. Some teachers teach the back, thinking that the theme of the back reflects not a family story, but a life philosophy of "life is fragile and short", which obviously does not conform to the author's original intention. Because Mr. Zhu Ziqing made it very clear: "I wrote" Back "because I quoted the sentence in my father's letter. I really burst into tears when I read my father's letter. Many benefits my father treated me, especially those described in "The Back", are almost the same to me. My article is only realistic ... "("Answering eight questions about prose writing by literary knowledge editors ")
Of course, the text interpretation here actually refers to the teaching interpretation of the text by Chinese teachers. What is "teaching interpretation"? Teacher Qian Menglong made it very clear: there are objects in the eyes-students; The teacher is the "intermediary" between the author of the text and the students. The teacher's duty is to accurately introduce the author's thoughts and feelings to the students ... A qualified Chinese teacher should first pass the exam of the text.
Teachers' improper interpretation of the text will directly affect the formulation of classroom teaching objectives. From classroom observation, we find that the positive and partial, virtual and real, high and low of teaching objectives are all related to teachers' teaching interpretation. For example, Glug is a reading text for the first grade of primary school. "Glug" is just the sound of papaya falling into the water, but why does it cause animals in the forest to flee? Finding out the reasons should be one of the purposes of reading teaching, but some teachers set the goal as understanding and expanding onomatopoeia. After the teacher finished the topic, he suddenly added eight onomatopoeic words unrelated to the text, on the grounds that "Gulu" is an onomatopoeic word, and Chinese teaching in the lower grades of primary schools is mainly based on words. This is "bias". Ji Chang Xue She is also a primary school text. Most teachers set "knowing the secret of Jichang's success in learning shooting" as the teaching goal of this paper, and summarized the "secret" into two aspects: one is the guidance of famous teachers, and the other is diligent in learning and practicing hard. In fact, the connotation of this goal has been obviously narrowed by these teachers, because there are some self-sufficient words in the text, such as Ji Chang's "I am very satisfied with my grades" and "I think I have learned almost", which the teachers completely ignore; And constantly overcoming complacency and self-defeating is precisely the deep-seated reason for Ji Changxue's success in shooting. In the teaching of "Blessing", some teachers directly aim at understanding the cannibalism of feudal ethics, which is too abstract for students to grasp, and the goal is obviously "empty"; Some teachers set the teaching goal as to explore the root cause of Xianglinsao's death, so they always guide their teaching with a question: How did Xianglinsao die? Such a goal is "real"-it is in line with the reality of story development (Blessing is about Xianglinsao's story) and the reality of students' cognitive development (from concrete to abstract), and it can also provide a practical grasp for teaching (teaching can avoid returning empty-handed).
Extended reading is a bright spot in the current reading teaching reform. As a reasonable extension of classroom teaching, extensive reading is also an organic part of what teachers teach. Unfortunately, due to the poor interpretation of teachers' teaching, there are many phenomena of out-of-shape and deviation in extended reading. What's more, many extended readings have become students' low-level criticism under the guidance of teachers. They criticized how stupid the frogs in Sit and Look at the Sky were. Criticize Song Wu for killing tigers in violation of the wildlife protection law; Criticize the father in "The Back" for violating traffic rules; Criticizing Lu for uprooting weeping willows is destroying greening; It is foolish to criticize Gong Yu for moving mountains, which destroys the environment and ecology. There is also teaching street trees. Teachers and students criticize migrant workers as street trees. They should have come from the countryside to the city in a vast world, coveting comfort and pursuing enjoyment. This is undoubtedly a kind of "depravity", a kind of "sadness" ... this kind of irrelevant ideological criticism and artistic criticism that is divorced from the basic understanding of the author of the text, and this kind of freedom that is divorced from the scope of the text itself is purely its own. This criticism of reading teaching, which is divorced from "Chinese teaching", has been so attached, but many teachers still think it is "creative reading" and "teaching innovation"
It is not difficult to see that from the perspective of reading teaching, Chinese teaching is the basic point for teachers to have a good Chinese class. Teachers should lead students into the text, into the "story" and into the "language" to avoid being divorced from the indoctrination of the text and the preaching of the overhead text.
Second, how to teach?
How to teach-mainly depends on whether teachers attach importance to the use of language in the process of teaching implementation, and guide students to understand and use language correctly by carrying out speech practice activities such as reading, writing, listening and speaking; Whether its teaching methods are diversified, teaching strategies are appropriate, basic skills training is appropriate, whether it can arouse students' enthusiasm and initiative in learning Chinese and promote autonomous learning; Whether it can reflect learning as teaching, learning as teaching, teacher-student interaction and mutual learning; Whether ideological and moral education and humanistic edification conform to the characteristics of Chinese teaching.
Language has two aspects: form and content. What we say and write on weekdays includes two aspects: the form of discourse (how to say and write) and the content of discourse (what to say and write). A certain discourse content comes from a certain discourse form, and a certain discourse form realizes a certain discourse content, so the relationship between language and thinking is the relationship between discourse form and content. It is impossible for us to have a thorough understanding of the content of language before we know the language phenomenon and master the language form. It is precisely because language is the material shell of thought that a good Chinese class will inevitably focus on language factors, start with language forms, guide students to "learn to swim in swimming" and learn to use language in speech practice. This point has long been proved by the experience of our ancients: "The husband who writes sketches is emotional and resigned, and the viewer writes sketches emotionally." (Liu) For reading teaching, if a person can't "write", that is, he can't master the language form, then it is impossible to really "fall in love", that is, to understand his thoughts and feelings as the core. Of course, the language form here not only refers to grammar and rhetoric, but also includes the contextual meaning of words in the context.
For example, some teachers taught Sima Guang to smash the jar and praised Sima Guang for his wit and courage, but they just didn't grasp how Sima Guang smashed the jar (the teacher thought that he could understand these words without teaching students and knew how to write). In fact, Sima Guang's brave spirit is reflected in the "head-on" in the article. Why did Sima Guang "play hardball"? First, the potential list: other children were scared to cry, looking for an adult to find someone, only he was alone. Second, the strength is thin: a child is not as high as a big water tank. How can he break it if he doesn't hit hard Third, time is short: if you don't break the can immediately and release the water in time, no matter how good the idea is, the child who falls into the water will still be drowned. Sima Guang's brave spirit, if you don't grasp the key word "slam" and beat it with a heavy hammer, how can you show it? It can be seen that the humanistic spirit is not spoken by teachers, but must be implemented in the teaching and training of language and writing.
For another example, some teachers teach Shi Tiesheng's Memories of Autumn, thinking that it is an article praising maternal love and should educate students about maternal love. Therefore, the teaching goal is to promote the greatness of maternal love. I searched many famous sayings of international celebrities about maternal love through the Internet, and it was accompanied by a recording of the song "Only mothers are good in the world". In this teacher's view, the greatness of maternal love is spoken, and students don't need to explore how words are expressed through language. This will turn the Chinese class into an ideological and moral class.
In fact, the teacher didn't fully understand the text. Of course, the text contains maternal love, but not all. First of all, she didn't understand the topic. Miss in autumn, whose miss is this? It is the child's memory, and it is the memory of Shi Tiesheng and his sister to their mother. Therefore, the mother-child relationship described in this paper is a two-way relationship, not a single maternal love. Secondly, why do you miss autumn, not winter or other seasons? Because all the stories written in the article happened in autumn, and my mother died in autumn. Finally, how does the son express his nostalgia? From "I never knew her illness had reached that stage" to "I didn't expect her to be so ill" and then to "I never thought it was a farewell when the tricycle was gone", these three unexpected thoughts expressed my son's infinite regret, guilt and incomparable sadness, and the author's feelings were also experienced from the beginning. This emotional transformation and development process is precisely because the mother has only children in her heart, but not her own simple, selfless, persistent and considerate maternal love. This kind of maternal love is concrete in the text, which is reflected in many details. Teachers need to lead students to discover, think, experience and taste through reading, writing, listening, speaking and practice activities: when my angry and willful son hits and throws things, "mom will quietly hide out and listen to my movements in places I can't see." When everything was calm again, she came in quietly, her eyes were red and she looked at me "; In the face of shouting "I am still alive!" Desperate son, the mother came over and grabbed her son's hand, holding back tears and said, "Let's live together, let's live well ..."; When my son was sitting alone in the house, watching the leaves falling outside the window, my mother came in and stood by the window ... When her son promised to enjoy the chrysanthemums, her mother was overjoyed. She didn't say sensitive words like "run" and "step". The last sentence before she fainted was: "My sick son and that underage daughter.
Only by grasping these language factors and guiding students to carry out speech practice activities in Chinese teaching can we put maternal education into practice and truly integrate it into children's hearts, so that students can understand what maternal love is and what love is. It turns out that maternal love is those seemingly casual, unremarkable and very trivial bits and pieces in daily life; It is the burden of life and the persistence of life confidence; It is considerate and unpretentious care for children; It is to pay without regrets, and it is to persist in not giving up; I only have children in my heart, not myself ... if I expand it and let students write "looking for maternal love in life", I believe that the "maternal love" education that students receive will be more specific and profound; As a result of instilling famous sayings, students can only obtain abstract dogma.
The above cases fully show that Chinese textbooks with both literary and aesthetic qualities are always formed on the basis of language forms in terms of ideology, humanity and knowledge. This also determines that a good Chinese class, ideological and moral education and humanistic edification must be carried out on the basis of Chinese teaching and completed through verbal practice of reading, writing, listening and speaking. This is the biggest feature that distinguishes Chinese from politics, history and other humanities. This kind of "moisten things quietly" education is the most ideal realm of Chinese education.
What needs to be further emphasized is that language needs training and language ability is "practiced", which is common sense. The importance of language training lies not only in the fact that the development of language ability is inseparable from training, but also in the fact that people's thinking mainly depends on language, so language training is also thinking training. The training here is the Chinese practice of reading, writing, listening and speaking in Chinese class. Now some people put training and perception in opposition, which is wrong. Reading the same language material, some people can understand it, some people can't understand it, or they can only partially understand it, which is related to their original knowledge level and ability. We can't let students feel out of thin air, and they will feel it when they pat their heads; On the contrary, in Chinese learning, teaching basic knowledge and training basic ability are still indispensable for students to learn to feel. The basic task of basic education is to lay a good foundation for the development of each student, and the development of human language is the foundation of all human development. As long as the development of students' language practical ability is placed in the central position, Chinese training is also the responsibility of Chinese teaching.
Third, how is teaching?
How is teaching? This is from the level of teaching effect, mainly by examining the performance of students, analyzing and evaluating the teaching effect of teachers. Why should teachers be evaluated by students' performance? Because students are not only the object of Chinese education, but also the subject of Chinese learning. This common sense tells us that teaching is only a means, learning is the purpose, and all activities of Chinese teaching must be carried out on students' "learning", student-oriented, for students and for their development. Class evaluation is no exception, and it should be based on whether it promotes students' development. In other words, Chinese teaching can make students develop in knowledge and ability, process and method, emotional attitude and values. This kind of Chinese teaching is effective, otherwise it is inefficient or ineffective.
Chinese learning is a series of complicated psychological activities and emotional experiences of students. Being student-oriented means admitting that they are "living" thinkers, not "dead" imitators. In the whole Chinese teaching activities, students should be active participants and explorers, not passive recipients and collaborators. For example, reading teaching, whether it is the teaching text or the teacher's explanation, without students' participation and exploration, the text will still be a pile of dead words, and the teacher's teaching language will still be the discourse system outside the students' hearts, which will not be transformed into the students' language, and will not enrich their feelings and understanding of the text. Therefore, in a good Chinese class, teachers will inevitably establish students' subjectivity, mobilize students' participation spirit, and make students feel independent and active in the whole teaching activities; The Chinese class that the teacher teaches for the sake of teaching is not a good class.
Another important connotation of "student development" is to design and organize teaching content according to students' acceptance and psychological characteristics. This is actually a scientific requirement for Chinese teaching. As we all know, the scientific nature of education not only refers to the scientific nature of educational content, but also includes many factors such as arranging teaching content according to the acceptance ability and psychological laws of students of different classes and ages, using scientific teaching methods and so on. A fundamental difference between modern education and traditional education is that the organization of teaching content is more based on scientific principles such as pedagogy and psychology, and on the psychological characteristics and development laws of students' learning. Therefore, the pursuit of science is the inevitable requirement of all education, including Chinese teaching, otherwise the rationality of modern education will lose its foundation.
Of course, Chinese teaching evaluation often involves a problem of teaching innovation. In fact, innovation must be based on effectiveness, and a good Chinese class rejects any "innovation" that lacks teaching effectiveness. This is just as teacher Qian Menglong pointed out in the academic lecture "Innovation and Correctness-An Example of Chinese Classroom Teaching": "Chinese classroom must be innovative, and innovative Chinese classroom will have vitality; However, the innovation of Chinese classroom must be restricted by the nature and characteristics of the curriculum, which does not mean that everything that is' new' must be' good'. This requires Chinese teachers to carefully handle the relationship between' innovation' and' keeping right', so as to innovate in keeping right and keep right in innovation. "
In short, from the qualitative evaluation, "what has been taught" focuses on whether teachers can base themselves on language teaching, guide students to accurately interpret the text and grasp the language of the text; "How to teach" depends on whether teachers can guide students to carry out verbal practice activities of reading, writing, listening and speaking, whether they can promote knowledge teaching, literature teaching and ideological education on the basis of language teaching, and whether the teaching methods follow students' psychological characteristics and cognitive laws. "How to teach" is a test of teaching effectiveness. By investigating students' specific performance in language accumulation, understanding, appreciation and application, we can evaluate the role of teachers' teaching behavior in promoting students' language understanding and application, in developing and promoting thinking, in discovering and appreciating aesthetics, and in inheriting and innovating culture.