4.3.3 Cultivating the Students’ Thinking in English14
V. Conclusion    15
Bibliography    16The Present Situation and Countermeasures of English Education in Rural Middle Schools
 
I. Introduction

With the development of society and globalization of economy, English becomes an important way that open to the outside world, and learning English is the basic requirement to be a twenty-first century citizen. The Minister of Education has decided to set up English classes in rural middle schools in order to promote the development of society. English teaching in rural areas becomes more and more important. Since the Reform and Opening, the foreign language education in rural area has improved a lot and it has made a lot of achievements. However, because of geography and culture, there are many differences among education between regions. In recent years, the English education in rural areas has become more and more attractive for most people, so many scholars have been discussing the current situation of English teaching in rural areas from different aspects and it has made some achievements. However, there are also many problems in the process of setting up classes in rural middle schools, such as the problems of students and shortage of teaching resources. These problems lead to the students’ failing to form the good English learning habits and make them have a low jumping-off point. This paper analyses the problems, causes, and solutions existing in rural schools, and gives some suggestions and explores the advisable teaching methods for improving the English level of the whole countryside.

II. The Problems of English Education in Rural Middle Schools

    In recent years, the English education in rural areas grabs more and more people’s eyeballs. English education in rural areas is an important factor in the level of our country’s English education. However, English teaching level of rural middle schools is not high. There are some serious problems in English education. This paper analyzes the problems, such as, the problems of teachers, the problems of teaching equipments, the problems of environment and the problems of students. Even some teachers have no sense of regarding it as a main subject. Some students can’t identify the twenty six letters integrated after graduation. Most of them are new teachers or moving from high grade English teaching, so they can’t give normal English classes. Therefore, the level of English education middle schools in rural area leaves much to be desired.
2.1 The Problems of Students
The students’ problem is an important reason to hold back the development of English teaching in rural middle schools. They have different language abilities in the English teaching. The Minister of Education states that from the autumn in 2002, English teaching should be gradually employed in primary schools, and generally it should begin at Grade Three. However, the teaching circumstance in our countryside is different. Most students perform terribly in English learning. They are also limited by poor communication skills, such as, speaking and listening. Because of geography and culture factor, the countryside students pay less attention to the importance of English knowledge.
2.1.1 The Students’ Poor Speaking and Listening Skill
Listening and speaking play important roles in English teaching in middle schools. In daily life, speaking is the most convenient way to communicate. So it is essential for the students to improve the skill of speaking. To be able to have a good pronunciation and tone, speaking English well can give you confidence. English oral teaching in rural middle schools is gradually put into effect. However, there are a lot of problems in English oral teaching in rural middle schools. For the reason of practical teaching problems and local condition, students don’t have a specific attitude and motivation, and teachers have unreasonable age structure. Although the government has done much on the English teaching in the countryside, some problems still remain. Because the best age of learning English is formed between 4-5 years old. In traditional English teaching, there is a fixed teaching pattern, such as, the students just recite the words, read the texts, and do some exercises. The teachers pay less attention to oral teaching. Their main purpose is to pursuit good mark but not to emphasize the phonetic competence. Their English phonetic foundation is unstable. Interest is the important way to succeed, which plays an important role in learning foreign language. With the development of international exchange and economic development, the educational system has changed a lot for catering to the fierce competition between countries. But in rural area, because of their short-sightedness, many people think it is unnecessary to learn oral English and pay attention to their poor pronunciation. As we all know, to speak English well，a good language context should be created. There are no such chances to practice oral English in rural areas. 农村中学英语教育现状及对策(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_8427.html