Motivating the Students through Brief Drawings
1. Introduction As is commonly accepted, motivation is the key to success, and interest is the best teacher.（1） What the teacher is to do in class is to provide conditions for learning to take place. I am now teaching junior grade one students. After one semester, I found that the classroom atmosphere was getting less and less active. A quite part of students idled in class. They were taking a less active role in classroom activities. A few students even dropped out.（2） Based on some approaches that I have learned form “English Language Teaching Methodology”, and considering the characteristics of my students, I decided to adopt brief drawings in my lessons to motivate the learners, and help them keep up their English learning.（3） 2. Problem Analysis Teaching which appeals to learners? needs can facilitate learning. It is necessary to investigate why the students were showing less and less interested, and devoting less and less effort. So interviews were held and questionnaires were issued.（1） It is found that: a. Those poor learners report that, due to their lack of vocabulary， cannot follow the teacher in class, and
该部分一般应包括三项内容：与所研究问题相关理论陈述，自己课堂上出现的问题，对研究的简单介绍。 （1） 引言开始应介绍相关支撑理论。如，本篇研究题为通过简笔画激发学生动机，所以引言部分以动机理论入手。这样研究的着眼点就开门见山地展示在读者面前。此乃“行动研究报告”的一般开篇方式。 （2） 对自己任教的班级做一简单介绍，介绍学生在学习动机方面的表现，如自己班内出现的学生不积极参与课堂活动，有的同学厌学、休学等现象。 （3） 简单介绍针对问题自己所采取的措施，从而引出自己所做的研究。 注：本部分不要写成自我简介，也不要写与研究无关的东西，从理论到问题，到研究都必须与自己的研究紧密相连。也没有必要介绍什么是行动研究，以及行动研究的重要性。 本部分主要介绍所发现的问题，以及导致问题的原因，至于通过什么样的方式手段找到的原因，没有必要十分仔细地叙述。以往的学生报告中常有把教材中的两种反思手段进行详细叙述的，其实没有必要将自己反思的过程写出来。 （1） 只一句就可以概述分析问题所采用的手段或方式，这里清楚表明是通过座谈和调查问卷的方6
many times can?t complete the tasks. b. Some good students report that vocabulary instruction tends to be so mechanical. And it is this mechanical practice, in which the students were asked to read and re-read, write and re-write the new words and expressions that deprived the students of their motivation. c. Quite a number of students report that they are afraid of being criticized and thus withdraw from classroom activities. d. The teacher?s methods lack variety. （2） 式发现问题。也可以把这作为起始研究，对调查的具体情况做一简单分析，其具体数据可做附录展示。 （2） a,b,c列举所发现的问题，同时也介绍的问题产生的原因，如词汇教学的单调机械，学生没有安全感，害怕受批评以及教学授课手段缺少变化等。 访谈结果是描述性的，可以只做语言叙述，但问卷调查可以做定量分析。这里也可以展示具体数据，说明有多少学生学习动机比较低。
3. Possible Solutions Taking the above factors into consideration, the following solutions were proposed: a. Employing interesting brief drawings to help the students understand and learn new knowledge. b. Organizing interesting activities to motivate the students to memorize the words and review the texts. c. Creating the comfortable safe classroom atmosphere and a good teacher-student relationship. 本部分所采取的措施必须与前面所叙述的问题相符合，措施叙述要具体。该范文的三点集中在活动的趣味性，活动的参与性和课堂气氛的安全性，与所发现的问题正好对应。 所列举各措施表达方式要一致。可以都采用动名词的表达方式，也可以都采用不定式的表达方式。 4. Project Objective This project is aimed to motivate the 研究的目的一般采用不定式表达，students in English learning through the brief 可以采用be aimed to do something, be drawings. aimed at (doing) something, the purpose
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of等。如果目的不只一个，并列即可。
5. Project Hypotheses Considering the age factors of the students, brief drawings can help students understand teaching materials quickly and easily and thus motivate the students to learn English happily. 假说中应交代清楚自变量和它变量，以及两者之间的关系，就行动研究而言，一般采用“采用什么方式可以达到什么目的”。 的表达方式。假说中不能列举如何去做，否则就成了解决方式，往届学生中常有把假说与解决措施相混淆的同学。
6. Project Rationale According to Williams and Robert Burden, motivation refers to “a state of longitude and emotional arousal which leads to a conscious decision to act, and which gives rise to a period of sustained intellectual and physical effort in order to attain a previously set goal.” （1）Motivation is one of the most important factors in learning a foreign language. As Darwin said “Just as eating without liking does harm to one’s health, learning without liking harms memory and retains nothing it takes in.”(2) Former experiments show that among the factors contributing to success of learners, motivation accounts for about 35%. (3) Psychological studies （4）indicated that human beings mainly depend on eyes and ears to obtain information. Experiments indicate that the information received by ear will remain 60% in memory after 3 hours and only 40% after 3 days, while the information obtained both by ear and eye will remain 90% in memory after 3 hours and still 75% after 3 days. Another study（5） indicated that the development of human?s ideation is a process from thinking in images to abstraction. The teenagers in middle school have developed thinking more in images than in abstraction.（6） Application of brief drawings in English teaching will create language circumstances for students and mobilize their enthusiasm in thinking in images, for the abstract language materials to turn into concrete images.（7） Hence the brief drawings are suitable for the
该部分主要任务是论证自己的解决方案和假说，引用的理论必须能够说明自己措施的得当性，合理性与可操作性。 （1） 由于研究的目的是激发学生的学习动机，所以理论部分从“动机”的定义入手比较合适。 （2） 再次引用名人引语，阐述动机的重要性。 （3） 运用以往的研究论证动机的必要性。 （4） 从心理学的角度入手，利用心理学研究成果，说明采用简笔画的有效性与可行性。 （5） 再次用以往研究论证图象在记忆中的作用。 （6） 介绍中学生的年龄特点。 8
psychological development of teenagers. It is （7） 与简笔画相联系。 not only a better way to motivate the students, （8） 自然结论，说明自己所采用措施的but also helpful to their memory. （8） 正确与得当。 7. Research Design
方案设计部分是报告中不可缺少的一部分，其中应包括“研究目的”、“被试”，“研究过程”，“数据收集与分析方式”等。以往常有学生漏掉这一部分，应引起注意。
7.1 Subjects 是否For this research, I chose the two 被试部分应交代清楚被试的选择方式，classes of my students as subjects, one as 有控制组，研究中各小组如何操作。有必要the Experimental Group, the other as the 的话，可以详细介绍两个小组的具体情况，Control Group. The experimental and 可控变量是否一致，以增加研究的信度。 control groups were randomly selected （1） 介绍研究组和控制组的选择方式。 by drawing lots.（1） Throughout the （2） 介绍两个小组各自要接受的教学方式。 project, the Experimental Group will receive special designed brief drawing 该部分如果能把两个班级参与研究前的动instruction, while the control group goes 机表现和学习成绩介绍一下会更好。 on with its routine instruction. （2）
7.2 Procedure 该部分只介绍了研究起止时间。就研究 This project lasted two months from 过程而言，根据研究的不同要求，有时可以介绍一下课堂操作程序。以往研究March to May. 中，有的同学把8周的具体教学研究内容列表展示，也是比较可取的一种方式。 7.3 Principles to follow a. Accord the students? interest and practicability with the contents of the teaching materials and the age of the students. b. Adapt the brief drawings to student?s range of knowledge. c. Create a good teacher-student relationship, motivate and encourage them without forcing. d. Provide a ?stress-free? and ?learner-centered? environment.
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视研究的课题，本部分可有可无。 但是，这里所介绍的几个原则，使动机的研究更具理论的指导，也与所采取的措施相配套。
7.4 Techniques for Data Collection During this research two techniques were adopted, namely questionnaire and test.（1） To gather information for the design of the research and to test whether the research is effective, two questionnaires will be issued, one at the beginning of the research and the other at the end.（2） Two tests will be included (one as the pretest, the other as the post test for comparison) to test the co-efficiency between motivation and school recording.（3） 8. Project Implementation
该部分应该介绍清楚研究中收集数据以及分析数据将要采用的手段，并介绍各手段将如何使用。 (1)介绍采用的两种手段。 （2） 介绍两次问卷调查的执行时间和目的。 （3） 介绍采用测试手段的目的。实验前后两次测试作为对比，有利于分析实验的效果。 视情况，可以适当介绍以下问卷的设计，包含什么样的内容。 该部分要具体，真正展示出项目实施的具体过程。让阅读报告者能够清楚如何操作。
8.1 Demonstrate the pronunciation essentials by brief drawings The students always feel dull and （1） 对自己的所做有一定的论证，difficult when they first learn the phonetic 这是可取的。 symbols. （1）This time, I gave students some example of antithesis, and let them realize the （2） 介绍研究中的操作。 characteristic of the pronunciations. （2）
Example 1: Use a pair of profiles on blackboard to demonstrate the shape of the mouth when rpouncing [m] and [n].
From the profiles the students can see clearly how [m] and [n] is produced, which saves much effort on the part of the teacher to explain.
Example 2: Many students sound [v] as [w]. A pair of profiles on blackboard will help them distinguish between [v] and [w].
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