On Transition Of English Teaching From Junior To Senior

As the development of economic globalization, English is becoming more and more important as a tool of communication. Thus English has become one of the three main courses in middle schools. English teaching and learning have a great influence upon the students in the results of graduation and admission.English teaching process is the whole of an organism, in which different parts of the organism develop balancedly, though there are different teaching stresses in different stages of the process.From the angle of cognition theory, any cognition of new things is based on and developed from the jet-known knowledge. According to Jean Piaget, new experience inter-works on the previous existing cognition structure and makes some changes to the structure so as to adapt to some more new things. Thus English teaching procedure is one in which the previous-existing cognition structures are based on and constantly changed by new things.And according to the principle of proceeding in an orderly way and step by step in English teaching, the laws of the language itself and of cognition of the students should be observed: Advance the teaching step by step, from simple to complex, easy to difficult. And during the procedure of proceeding step by step, if there emerges a gap, the gap will surely spread its influence, thus influence the whole English course. So studying the transition means to ensure a smooth learning course, so as to improve the students in English.The existing poor transition from junior middle schools to senior ones in English teaching and learning is a problem challenging all the English teachers.In 2002,Cheng Shiyin published a researching report on the transition of English teaching from primary schools to middle schools. And in 1988, Zhang Junyu published an article on the transition ofEnglish teaching from middle schools to universities. But no one has written about the transition of English teaching from Junior English teaching to Senior English teaching. In fact,English teaching in middle schools means more than that in universities, because it is time for the students to lay their foundations of the course.In the present education system, junior middle schools are separated from senior middle schools, because junior and senior middle schools are run by different levels of government. The separation prevents teachers in junior middle schools from exchanging their teaching with teachers in senior ones. Also the easy junior Graduation English Test (J.GE.T), which is a baton that all the English teaching in junior middle schools has to conduct to, also has a great influence upon the teaching of English in junior middle schools. Some English teachers in junior middle schools are only after the high markers in the J.GE.T. They often ignore the practice on the integrative use of English, even some teach the new course in Chinese in the old, traditional way. Therefore their students are not up to the level of English demanded by the Curriculum.A high-leveled start in senior English teaching adds to the difficulty with a smooth transition from junior to senior. Influenced by the NMET, teachers in senior middle schools often over-expect their students. Their teaching English in English makes their teaching harder for their students.Meanwhile, the learning strategies of the students in Senior One are often not suitable for their studies.All the factors above are among the causes to a hard transition. To ensure a smooth transition, the following solutions are suggested:1.The compiler of the textbooks should arrange the teaching texts in the right sequence.2.The J.GE.T should be reformed so as to meet the need of English demanded by the society.3.The administration of the schools should offer more chances for English teachers to improve their English and their teaching.4.The students need more help in employing suitable learning strategies.It is believe that, if all work together scientifically, the transition from Junior English to Senior English will be a smooth transition, which wi...