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VOA教育报道2024--Study Looks at How 15-year-olds Learn English

时间:2024-04-01 05:27:44

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Study Looks at How 15-year-olds Learn English

  Today's English students have a lot of exposure to the language outside of the classroom. By using the internet, social media, and other digital technologies, they can watch videos, hear music, and play video games in English.

  But teachers are not so sure that digital exposure results in better English-speaking abilities. That is the finding of a new study on how teenagers learn English. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, a group that studies economic activities in large economies, supported the study.

  The study is called "How 15-Year-Olds Learn English." It provides case studies of teaching teenagers English from five countries: Finland, Greece, Israel, the Netherlands and Portugal. The researchers gathered information by visiting schools and observing English lessons in each country. They also interviewed teachers, students and school administrators1.

  The study findings will be used to support the OECD's 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment2 (PISA), said Catalina Covacevich. She was one of the study's main researchers. PISA studies the school systems of about 90 countries by measuring the performance of 15-year-olds in reading, writing and math. In 2025, PISA will aim to measure 22 of those countries' English language skills for the first time.

  "It's an obvious statement that English transcends4 classroom walls," Christa Rawkins told VOA. She was another one of the researchers for the study.

  Teens spoke5 "about the ways they used English with people on those sorts of social networking sites and other media. But it was rarer that they were talking about sitting down to learn English via those platforms."

  Some students in Greece said it is easier to search for English-language information on the internet because more of it is available. In the Netherlands, 15-year-olds described watching English YouTube videos. In a written opinion study, half of students in the Netherlands reported always using English when using digital tools.

  Teachers however are unsure whether digital tools are improving students' English knowledge. While teachers said using English platforms might increase students' motivation to learn and help them get used to the language, the platforms "are not necessarily teaching them English," Rawkins said.

  One teacher in Finland, for example, said students might get the false idea that they do not need to study English because of how often they use English outside of school.

  "They think they know it better than I do because they use it in computer games and it's present in their lives all the time," the teacher said. "They think they don't have to listen to me in English classes, I feel that is a challenge.

  Rawkins said there is a "slight disconnect" between the kind of English students are learning outside of school "and the kind of English they're being asked to learn and study in classrooms." Students might feel that "studying English at school is just about studying grammar whereas6 outside (of) school they can communicate and interact7 in the language," the report said.

  A large part of OECD's work with PISA, the researchers said, is examining inequities in education. Rawkins said there can be large inequities that arise from the kinds of out-of-school exposure kids get to English. Kids from wealthy families are able to travel to English-speaking countries or attend summer camps where they can speak English to international friends, for example. Some students can pay for private lessons.

  "Kids living in cities were more likely to be using English out and about in their daily lives compared to their counterparts8 in more rural areas," Rawkins added.

  There has been a big change in how students are exposed to English outside of school. But within the classroom, things "hadn't really changed." The report noted9 how digital technologies are used within the classroom, but traditional teaching methods, like textbooks, were still used in every school observed.

  Teachers in all five countries said their students struggled the most with writing and speaking English rather than in reading and listening. Researchers noted that students might feel a lack of self-confidence when it comes to speaking. They might also be less likely to speak and write English outside of school.

  "Outside school they're doing a lot of reading and listening to English because that's what the majority of their exposure is, particularly when it comes to digital technologies," Rawkins said. "They're not doing so much speaking or writing."

  Words in This Story

  exposure — n. the act of experiencing or meeting something or someone

  digital –adj. related to computers and computing10

  interview –v. to talk to someone to get information and learn about something they know about

  obvious — adj. something everyone knows

  transcend3 — v. to go beyond or above something

  platform –n. a service or network that distributes information or messages

  challenge –n. something that is done that must be overcome or dealt with using effort

  grammar –n. the rules of language use

  inequity — n.(social) the state of being unequal or unbalanced especially when talking about how people feel about social relationships between groups


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1 administrators d04952b3df94d47c04fc2dc28396a62d     
n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 );有管理(或行政)才能的人;(由遗嘱检验法庭指定的)遗产管理人;奉派暂管主教教区的牧师
参考例句:
  • He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员,但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
  • Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城
2 assessment vO7yu     
n.评价;评估;对财产的估价,被估定的金额
参考例句:
  • This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
  • What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何?
3 transcend qJbzC     
vt.超出,超越(理性等)的范围
参考例句:
  • We can't transcend the limitations of the ego.我们无法超越自我的局限性。
  • Everyone knows that the speed of airplanes transcend that of ships.人人都知道飞机的速度快于轮船的速度。
4 transcends dfa28a18c43373ca174d5387d99aafdf     
超出或超越(经验、信念、描写能力等)的范围( transcend的第三人称单数 ); 优于或胜过…
参考例句:
  • The chemical dilution technique transcends most of the difficulties. 化学稀释法能克服大部分困难。
  • The genius of Shakespeare transcends that of all other English poets. 莎士比亚的才华胜过所有的其他英国诗人。
5 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
6 whereas XgQwB     
conj.而,却,反之
参考例句:
  • They want a house,whereas we would rather live in a flat.他们想要一座房子,而我们宁愿住在一套房间里。
  • Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他,而有些人谴责他。
7 interact w5Ix9     
vi.相互作用,相互影响,互通信息
参考例句:
  • All things are interrelated and interact on each other.一切事物互相联系并相互作用。
  • The policeman advised the criminal to interact with the police.警察劝罪犯与警方合作。
8 counterparts 67cc86339b2654a35fcc57da8fc9d33d     
与对方地位相当的人,与另一方作用相当的物( counterpart的名词复数 ); 同仁
参考例句:
  • Deep-sea valleys are the counterparts of the mountain chains. 深海里的峡谷相当于陆地上的山脉。
  • Many states have enacted their own counterparts to RCRA and CERCLA. 许多州都已经针对《资源保护和恢复法》和《综合性环境反应、赔偿与责任法案》制定了他们各自的实施细则。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
9 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
10 computing tvBzxs     
n.计算
参考例句:
  • to work in computing 从事信息处理
  • Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代(约1980年),他们就创办了软件公司。

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