How to expand the corpus of spoken English

張光華

【Abstract】With the speeding up of economic globalization， English as a global language status is becoming more and more manifest.This article from the spoken corpus concept is introduced， combined with the students' oral English learning methods， guide the students in learning spoken English in different ways to find the effective way to expand the spoken language corpora.

【Keywords】corpora； corpus； methods

In the global economy， English has become an important communication and language， with the rest of the world， fluency in spoken language will become an important key.Therefore， spoken English corpus of the tired is particularly important.So， how to expand corpus？ Here lets introduce several kinds of methods.

Methord 1：Ues simple and useful word

There is a famous saying by the British philosopher Bacon “Reading makes a wise man”.Reading can expand our knowledge and also can make us keep up with the times.Spoken English is a kind of comprehensive ability.We must pay attention to our thoughts and expression.For example， When seeing the delicious food we want to drool， How to say as drooling in English？ Mouth water？ NO， It is not mouth water，It is named saliva.S-A-L-I-V-A， this is a university level 4 words.Thus， I believe you will greatly improve speaking ability.We can express it in such simple English “Your mouth are watering.” It is so easy but most people can't.Why？ Because we always think Chinese most direct translation in learning English， while ignoring the understanding.In fact we don't need so big of English vocabulary to describe many things.Here's a statistical data.3500 words are required in our college entrance examination， while surviving in the United States and living very well， you know？ 2700 words is enough， this is not nonsense.It is from America corpus statistics.So the core of the oral English learning is to use simple and useful word， does not need to be so difficult.Capacity is the key.Oral English practice must follow three principle We should learn to explain， use and replace， rather than blindly memorize a lot of words and do not know how to use it at all.

Method 2 watching original films or watching America TV show

Now， another way to enlarge corpora is watching original films or watching America TV show， It is great fun to watch films and watch TV and the biggest advantage is arouse students' interest.And we say， “Interest is the best teacher”， So watching films or watching TV to learn English is a very good method.I suggest you watch films or watch TV at least three times.the first time the plot is king， Having a rough understanding of the plot is enough； Second time accumulate corpora.This is very important， Prepare a pen and a note， contrast in both Chinese and English subtitles and write down what you think is very practical but you dont know how to express in English.Third combination of just listening and practice，Best memorize some of the lines to act.If you do that，I think your oral ability will improve soon.Here Ill recommend Friends to you.In my eyes， its a most TV series to learn oral English.There are many practical words and sentences.Such as， “Way to go！”你真棒！“Ok， lets bounce！”我們閃吧！ And so on.I hope you may have a look in your spare time.

Method 3： talk to yourself

Finally， lets talk about communication.As we know， communication is the most important thing in our oral practice， Just like learning to swim we have to jump into water， learning oral English we must open our mouth and communicate.Of course in the realm of our non-native environment to speak English is still very limited.So I recommend you a method that is to look for a good listener who can accompany you 24 hours， understand your ideas， know your desire the person is you.Talk to yourself.Learn to communicate with yourself.Then when to say？ when you are alone， both physically and mentally.Being alone for half an hour every day is the best way to talk to you in English.Next， what to say？ Just say what you've done， this is a very simple， very natural， very challenging process.Just like now， You are here to read this， go back to talk to yourself about your feelings.The last， how to say？ You can use new words youve learned.the grammar youve learned.whats more， be sure to speak more slowly， and correct the previous mistakes youve made.Thus， I believe you will greatly improve your speaking ability.

Conclusion

The above three methods to sum up is to through continuous learning， continuous communication， constantly recite to improve oral English.

Reference：

[1]New Oriental Online 38，（2013）.

[2]Modern Linguistics，P17.

[3]Yuan Boping，Foreign language Teaching And Research， July，2003，P261.