莓喵英文Fun

Topic: It has been suggested that natural texts be used in the classroom. Comment on the advisability and/or feasibility of using natural texts.

In the past years, English journal pages have reports teacher who use natural texts which is an umbrella that contains anything from photographs to web sites, TV show to popular music such as popular films, advertisement, music lyrics, cartoons, magazine photographs and newspapers. In order to stimulate students’ speaking, writing, listening, communication skills and critical thinking skills, there are abundant reasons to urge teachers using natural texts to teach their students.

The following are reasons that why ambitious teachers always make use of natural texts in order to improve their students’ level and learning. First, natural texts include interest, delight and taste that enhance learning motivation of students. Therefore, teachers all the time views natural texts as a stimulus so as to help students pay attention to the class and involves in the process of class. Take popular music for example, if teachers were taught students speaking or listening ability by using ordinary textbook, students will feel bored in the class. On the contrary, as teachers apply popular music to the class, students feel more comfortable and relaxed to follow teacher’s steps of their own accord. Besides, students can easy learn the pronunciation or comprehension by repeating with music by themselves. Second, encouraging students to notice grammar patterns in a natural text can help them to understand how the patterns are used, and also create a better memory of words that go together. For example, cartoons and photographs assist students to realize the key point of class or article and reinforce the memory by imagery. Third, on the one hand teachers take advantages of TV commercial can aid students realize the main ideal of texts, and on the other hand with the help of advertisements, students apply their learning to daily life. Thus, students can put into practice what has been learned such as daily communication ability.

The most important merit of natural texts is to train students possessing critical thinking, remarkable creativity and sophisticated reasoning. It’s a strategy which invites students to consider the classification of texts into high and low culture, and helps students build media knowledge by applying tools of textual analysis to a popular program. Most students can vividly describe the characters, the plot lines, and the controversies associated with the program, because students have background knowledge about the natural texts which maybe a TV shows or commercials. Therefore, teachers can easily lead students to analysis program to create students’ imaginative power. Finally, Students can write short paragraphs about the character’s personalities are suggested by these brief visual fragments which serve as character introductions, and then students have abundant material to create their own article through they can combine the media information with textbooks ideals by critical thinking. 

 To sum up, natural texts is a useful, convenient and practical material in classroom. Natural texts help teachers and students in teaching and learning, leading they get out of tradition ways to create a newly various learning and teaching ways. Although natural texts are rich in feasibility of teaching ways, teachers ought to consider how to get balance and moderate between textbook and natural texts. Therefore, teachers must strike a balance in how to use natural texts and how to plan it in classroom. If teachers use a right way to teach students, natural texts will be the best texts in teaching.