Abstract

In English teaching, most teachers say “for example, for instance, such as” in everyday class. In fact, using example sentence is one of the basic ways of the second language teaching. As a kind of traditional teaching method, it did not fade out in the teaching process over time and becomes an effective way to help teachers to illustrate language points and help students to gain and understand the knowledge.
Theories of example sentences are various. Firstly, Krashen’s Input Hypothesis is worth mentioning. In his studies, Krashen put forward that learners advance their language learning gradually by receiving “comprehensible input”. Example sentences serve for a language bridge between original language and target language, so using example sentences is a fundamental means to “comprehensible input”. Secondly, Example sentences belong to teacher’s talk, and using example sentences appropriately can not only adjust the atmosphere of the class, change topics, but also criticize learners in some degree. Thirdly, example sentences are related to Constructivism in some degree. Constructivism emphasizes self-construct, self-exploration, self-discovery of the learners. As a result, many teachers provide more opportunities for students to use their positive constructive competence to make sentences and short stories according to their cognitive structure.
Example sentences refer to those representative sentences with relatively easy understanding and appealing information, whose aims are to make it easier for learners to understand and remember vocabulary, grammar, sentence, phrase matching and the sentence structure in the process of teaching the language. An example sentence has all characters of a sentence, but it is a special part of sentences because of its function of pragmatics. In addition, as example sentences are used to illustrate the content that is taught in the class, they should carry different functions. So in terms of the functions, example sentences can be divided into three types, such as sentences to illustrate vocabulary, sentences to clarify grammar and sentences to consolidate structures.
Example sentences play an indispensable role in language teaching and classroom communication. The advantages of example sentences are obvious. On one hand, example sentences are representative, relatively easy understanding and appealing, which help students to better understand and remember vocabulary, grammar, sentence, phrase matching and the sentence structure. On the other hand, it is a very effective and useful method for teachers to employ example sentences in the process of teaching the language, and at the same time, using example sentences can improve the quality of the teaching in the class.
However, there are still mistakes and misunderstanding in using example sentences. These will be extension in the latter part of this thesis, such as the obsolete content, little output after learning, regardless of the attraction of students’ attention and little self-construct of students.
What’s more, a good example sentence should be accurate, classic, appropriate, interesting, educational and relative. It could make it easier for students to understand and remember the language points and create an efficient, relaxed, fun and artistic atmosphere in class.

Key words:  example sentences, English teaching, second language acquisition

摘要

在中学英语课堂中，老师常常把“例如，比方说”挂在嘴边，这都是课堂例句的应用。例句使用是二语习得的基本途径之一。例句作为一种传统的教学方法，并没有随着时间的推移为人们所遗忘，反而在课堂教学中骑着越来越重要的作用，它帮助教师呈现语言点，帮助学生理解和记忆知识。
关于例句的理论研究有很多。首先，克拉申的输入假说值得一提，她提出学习者通过接收“可理解性输入”来逐步推进自己的语言学习。例句是原语和目的语之间的桥梁，运用例句可以有效进行“可理解性输入”。其次，例句是教师课堂话语的一部分，合理使用例句不仅可以改善课堂气氛，转变话题，也可以进行一些适当的批评教育。此外，例句也与建构主义相联系。建构主义提倡学习者自主构建、自主探索、自主发现。因此，教师往往会提供机会让学生结合已有的认知体系锻炼构建能力。
例句是指在语言教学过程中为了使学习者更容易理解或者加强记忆某些词汇、语法、句型、短语搭配等，以相对容易理解的加以吸引人的相关信息作为举例的句子，具有一定的代表性。例句具备一般句子的所有特点，但它也因其语用功能而与众不同。由于例句被用于呈现不同的课堂内容，我们把例句分为三类：用于说明词汇的例句，用于呈现语法的例句和用于巩固结构的例句。
例句在语言教学和课堂交际中，起着不可替代的作用。例句在语言教学中的优势也十分明显：一方面，例句具有代表性，易于理解和趣味性等特点，能够帮助学生更方便的记忆词汇，语法和句型。另一方面，教师使用例句也是一种高效的教学方法，能够提高教学质量。
然而，中学英语课堂中，例句的选用仍然存在误区和不足。如例句内容陈旧、学生学后输出不足、例句对学生的注意力吸引不够、忽略了学生自主构建等等，这些问题笔者将会在文中意义提及。
此外，一个好的例句必须准确、经典、恰当、有趣、有教育意义并且与其他知识相关联。它能帮助学生更好的理解记忆语言点，并且营造一个轻松、有趣、高效且有艺术性的课堂。

关键字：例句，英语教学，二语习得