A Study Of Problems In Literacy Teaching In Lower Grades Of Primary Schools And Countermeasures

As treasures of Chinese culture,Chinese characters are ideograms that are still in use in the world today.The vivid psychological mechanisms of formation,the text information kept in continuous use,and the concepts,mentalities and old memories shown in different aspects all determine the importance of literacy teaching in basic education in China.As the saying goes,“intelligence begins with literacy”.To be intelligent,one should learn characters first,which lays a foundation.In other words,we must start with learning of characters to study culture.Without learning characters,cultural learning will be not so different from climbing a tree to catch fish.Curriculum Standards for Chinese in Compulsory Education(2011)explicitly stipulates the fundamental position of literacy teaching in primary schools,“literacy and handwriting are the basis of reading and writing,the key points of teaching in the initial stage of learning,and important teaching contents throughout the whole stage of compulsory education.” There are 1600-1800 characters to be learned in total in lower grades of primary schools,accounting for over a half of the total number of characters to be learned in the whole stage of primary school.This is a hard task for children who just start their school life.In September 2016,textbooks for grade 1 of primary schools compiled by the Ministry of Education started to be used across China,in which requirements for literacy teaching in lower grades are presented.Itadvocates literacy teaching in lower grades in diversified ways and in specific contexts,encouraging students to learn characters in daily life;literacy teaching in lower grades should attach importance to the use of diversified methods and cultivation of literacy of students;earnest instruction should be given to students in lower grades;literacy teaching should be combined with reading in lower grades.It is urgent for teachers to study how to help students in lower grades learn Chinese characters happily,write them correctly,use them accurately,feel their charm while learning,and inherit and carry forward Chinese culture.Since the 1950 s,various methods of literacy teaching have emerged,with a growing trend of experimental research.There are two most influential schools.One is intensive literacy teaching,which originated from Liaoning Heishan Beiguan Experimental School and was led by Mr.Zhang Tianruo of China National Institute for Educational Research.This method emphasizes the morphology of Chinese characters.Mainly by “teaching new characters based on basic characters”,teachers can help students know some characters before reading some text,to improve their literacy by means of laws of characters.The other is extensive literacy teaching,also known as text-based literacy teaching,with Si Xia in Jiangsu as a representative.This method advocates the emergence and interpretation of new characters and words both in specific contexts,that is,“no separation between characters and words,between words and sentences,between sentences and text”,guiding students in learning characters in specific contexts.Besides,other methods of literacy teaching based on“pronunciation”,“verses”,“character families” and “etymology” all have a far-reaching influence on literacy teaching.However,through sampling and a questionnaire survey in the school where the author works,it is found that literacy teaching in lower grades is inefficient.Most of the teachers of students in lower grades adopt undiversified and rigid methods for literacy teaching,preferring to use the method of intensive literacy teaching rather than apply the currently popular methods of literacy teaching based on text and etymology.When teaching characters to students,they generally focus on correction of pronunciation,order of strokes,strokes and radicals,or just let students learn characters mechanically by “adding”,“cutting” and “changing” radicals.In terms of morphology and semantics,teachers fail to give enough instruction or guide students in learning characters based on etymology and in daily life;in light of handwriting,they also fail to demonstrate sufficiently the standard way of writing or let studentsenjoy the morphological beauty of Chinese characters in a good way.Such literacy teaching will result in that students lose interest in learning characters and have a low sense of self-efficacy in the long run.In combination with requirements for literacy and handwriting in the <<Chinese Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2011 Edition)>> and the intention of editors of Chinese textbooks for lower grades,the author holds that the following strategies can be used for literacy teaching in lower grades.Literacy teaching based on etymology should be used skillfully to stimulate the interest of students in learning characters;students should be guided in paying attention to their life,to learn characters easily;teaching of handwriting should be standardized,to enhance students’ aesthetic taste of Chinese characters;the literacy taste of students should be improved by reading classic literacy teaching materials on traditional Chinese culture;extracurricular reading should be emphasized to effectively deepen students’ impression of characters.