朱靖濤
摘 要:英語學習離不開詞匯教學,然而盡管諸多教學方法已付諸實踐,詞匯教學仍然需要更新的方法。首字母縮略詞(acronym)在生活中應(yīng)用越來越廣泛,如果能夠巧妙選取首字母縮略詞并融入詞匯教學,學生的學習效果將得到有效的提高。
關(guān)鍵詞:縮略詞 高中英語 詞匯教學
一、縮略語對詞匯教學的意義
詞匯教學是英語教學的基礎(chǔ),必須不斷完善詞匯教學方法。目前詞匯教學方法種類多樣,但是首字母縮略詞在教學中卻應(yīng)用較少。首字母縮略詞(acronym)的使用越來越普遍,涉及政治、經(jīng)濟、軍事、文化、科技、地名、人名、度量單位、計算機語言和一般行文等各個方面。[1]
人在記憶事物的時候,是有規(guī)律可循的,如時間規(guī)律、數(shù)量規(guī)律、聯(lián)系規(guī)律、轉(zhuǎn)化規(guī)律、干涉規(guī)律和強化規(guī)律等。聯(lián)系規(guī)律就是了解了事物之間的聯(lián)系后對新了解事物的記憶;強化規(guī)律就是需要記憶的內(nèi)容能夠強烈地激起興趣,讓人的感受較為深刻。[2]
利用首字母縮略詞進行詞匯教學包含新舊事物的聯(lián)系,舊事物為已知的縮略詞,新事物為縮略詞的全稱,這符合記憶的聯(lián)系規(guī)律。同時,利用首字母縮略詞進行詞匯教學能夠極大地激發(fā)學生興趣,這符合記憶的強化規(guī)律。
二、首字母縮略詞教學案例
《牛津高階英漢雙解詞典》(第十版)共收錄首字母縮略490個,其中適合高中詞匯教學的包括三類:1. 新出現(xiàn)的縮略詞 2. 學生普遍感興趣的縮略詞 3. 高頻使用的縮略詞。
1.新出現(xiàn)的首字母縮略詞
社會發(fā)展推動語言發(fā)展,縮略詞詞庫也不斷擴大。出現(xiàn)新的高頻縮略詞時,教師如果能抓住時機對學生進行講解,那么學生對新事物的濃厚興趣能有效提高詞匯掌握效果。如2020年初的新詞匯NCP(Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia,新型冠狀病毒肺炎)就是很好的講解novel(新穎的)的范例,教學案例如下:
T: Do you know the full name of the current disease NCP?
S: No, I dont.
T: Actually the three letters respectively stand for “Novel”, “Coronavirus” and “Pneumonia”. And when we compare it with its Chinese name, we will find “novel”, in this context, means “新型的” in Chinese, rather than “小說”.
S: Then, why dont we just use “new”, which we have long learned before?
T: Its a good question, and there exist some differences between “novel” and “new”. “Novel” is used to emphasize something has never been seen before, while “new” indicates something is not used before, which is in contrast of “old”.
2.學生感興趣的首字母縮略詞
高中階段,很多學生對NBA非常感興趣,但大多同學并不清楚NBA的全稱是什么,這就是一個教學契機。通過講解National Basketball Association (美國籃球協(xié)會),能讓學生很快掌握association作為“協(xié)會”的意項。再由此出發(fā),可以聯(lián)系到associate 這個動詞的用法上,講解be associated with這樣的高中核心短語。教學案例如下:
T: I know that many of you are NBA fans, but have you thought about the full name for NBA?
S: No, we just know the short name.
T: Well, actually the full name for this abbreviation is National Basketball Association. So association means a group of people who have joined together for a particularpurpose. Similarly, we have “the Football Association”, “a residents association” and so on.
S: Is this word related to “associate”?
T: Yes, exactly. “Association” is the noun form of “associate”. “Be associated with” means “be connected with”, and in fact, speaking of “association”, it just means a group of people who are connected with each other.
3.高頻使用的首字母縮略詞
這類縮略語雖然不一定是學生的興趣所在,但使用頻率很高,如GDP。GDP幾乎是使用最多的經(jīng)濟術(shù)語,為所有學生熟悉。如果教師向?qū)W生提問GDP三個字母代表什么,學生一定會絞盡腦汁去思考對應(yīng)的三個單詞,這本身是對學生詞匯儲備的一個積極調(diào)動。不論學生是否成功找出對應(yīng)的三個詞,教師在講解“Gross Domestic Product”的時候,學生都能有良好的掌握。教學案例如下:
T: I heard that you learned a new term in your geography class, GDP, right?
S: Yes, we all know this economic term.
T: But who can tell me what the three letters stand for?
S: I only know the Chinese name is “國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值”.
T: Well, then, can you do a matching work between the Chinese and the English? Which letter stands for “國內(nèi)”, which for “生產(chǎn)” and which for “總值”?
S: I guess “G” stands for “總值”,“D” for “國內(nèi)” and “P” for “生產(chǎn)”, but I dont know the corresponding words.
T: Good job! You did a correct matching work. “G” is the initial letter of “Gross”, “P” of “Product” and “D”, most importantly, stands for “Domestic”, which is one of the key words in our text as well. Besides, we can use “domestic market”, “domestic tourism” and so on as a contrast to “overseas market”, “overseas tourism” and so forth.
結(jié)語
首字母縮略詞形式簡單、容易記憶、含義豐富、關(guān)聯(lián)生活。將首字母縮略詞融入詞匯教學完全符合記憶的核心規(guī)律。因此,高中英語教師應(yīng)該具備足夠的敏感性,巧妙地利用新穎的、學生感興趣的首字母縮略詞提升詞匯教學。
參考文獻
[1]賈桂華.英語縮略語的讀法[J].鎮(zhèn)江師專學報(社會科學版),1991(2):57-60.
[2]馮愛瓊.淺析記憶規(guī)律在高中英語詞匯教學中的應(yīng)用[J].課程教育研究,2017(11):138-139.