Abstract

English is the first major foreign language. Down to the children at kindergarten, up to the elderly over sixties, all have tireless enthusiasm in English learning. There already have been a few years since English, as a subject, learned in schools, or even English, as a compulsory subject, tested in the university entrance exams. However, since the original date when English was introduced, the effect of our Chinese English learning is still not satisfied as it is learned as a foreign language. Some unique names in English, such as “Dumb English”, “Chinglish” and so on, have been created because of the result of our Chinese English learning. In spite of the fact that a lot of “Chinglish” have been accepted by the people who regard English as their mother tongue, “dumb English” is still a disadvantage to English learners in our country. One of the reasons to cause the disadvantage is that we are short of the language environment when learning English in our country.
Language environment is a crucial factor during the process of language acquisition and language learning. Good language environment will provide learners superior language learning conditions, and create more possibilities for learners to speak a language well.
Seeing from the basic states of English learning in our country now, out of the school gates, the learners rarely have opportunity to speak English, although there are a variety of English Salons and much more English corners, many learners still regard English classes as the only opportunity to get in touch with English. Especially to these senior high students with a lot of schoolworks in our country, for the reason that they have to make full use of the short forty or forty five minutes' classes, to get hold of listening, speaking, reading and writing, classes are crucial important. Often there are students emphasis on reading and writing while ignoring listening and speaking. It is not their intention to do that, but they are short of time and opportunity to practice. Thus, a good class language environment can provide them with more learning opportunities.
As economy develops into globalization and the status of our China raises in the world, learning English well becomes a necessary work, which is good for both our country and ourselves. Modern senior high English education has encouraged teachers to teach in an English-speaking environment, and teachers have been seriously carrying out the policy. However, the result is not satisfied. This paper tries to find out what class language environment is much better for students' English learning and how to create such class language environment by studying the effects on senior high students’ English learning by class language environment. In other words, my objective is to find out how to balance the relationship between mother tongue and target language, and then to improve the teaching effectiveness of senior high English classes.
After two months of classroom observation, and doing the questionnaire on more than one hundred senior high students , according to the basic states of senior high English classes, the effects of English learning, and students' favourite language environment in different classes, I arrive at a conclusion, which is similar to what Jacobson and Faltis have put forward, that teachers can balance the use of mother tongue and target language in classes in order to achieve better learning results.

Key words:  English classes, language environment, senior high students, effects

摘要

英语是我国第一大外语。下至幼儿园的孩童，上至年过花甲的老人，对英语学习都有着孜孜不倦的热情。英语作为一门课程出现在学校，甚至英语作为一门必考科目出现在中高考中，都已经有数年之久了。但是，从我国初引进英语学习至今，英语作为一门外语被我国人学习的效果却仍不尽如人意。“哑巴英语”、“中式英语”等一些特有的英语名称因我国人的英语学习效果被创造出来。虽然很多中式英语已经被地道的英语使用者接受，但哑巴英语仍是我国英语学习者的一大弊病，而引发这一弊病的原因之一，就是在我国国内学习英语时缺乏相应的英语语言环境。
语言环境是语言习得和语言学习过程中一个至关重要的因素。良好的语言环境可以为学习者提供优越的语言学习条件，为学习者学好说好一门语言创造更多的可能性。
就现在我国英语的基本学习情况来看，出了学校的大门，学习者便很少再有说英语的机会，尽管现在有各式各样的英语沙龙以及越来越多的英语角，但很多学习者仍旧把课堂作为接触英语的唯一机会。尤其对我国课业繁忙的高中生而言，课堂对于他们至关重要，因为他们必须利用课堂短暂的四十或四十五分钟的时间，将英语的听说读写全部掌握。往往有学生偏重读写而忽略听说，不是他们有意如此，而是他们缺少锻炼的时间和机会。如此一来，良好的课堂语言环境，就能为他们提供更多的学习机会。
随着经济全球化的发展及我中国在国际上地位的日益提高，真正掌握好英语对我国人而言已是利国利己的必要内容之一。我国已提倡英语教学多年，各学校虽也认真执行，但英语学习效果仍然令人担忧。本文正是试图通过研究现有的高中英语课堂语言环境对高中生英语学习的影响，来进一步探究为加强高中生英语学习效果所应创造的课堂语言环境，以及如何创造所需的课堂语言环境，即怎样平衡母语与目标语之间的关系，从而提高高中英语课堂的教学效果。
经过两个月的课堂实践观察及对一百多名高中生进行的调查问卷，根据学生所给的英语课堂基本情况，高中英语学习效果及学生所喜爱的不同课堂的语言环境，我个人得出与Jacobson 和Faltis相似的结论，认为教师可以在课堂上平衡母语和目标语的使用，以达到更好的学习效果。

关键字：英语课堂，语言环境，高中生，影响