I came away from my years of teaching on the college and university level with a convictio
Since, we are told, 80 to 90 percent of all instruction in the typical university is by the lecture method, we should give close attention to this form. of education. There is, I think, much truth in Patricia Nelson Limerick's observation that "lecturing is an unnatural act, an act for which God did not design humans. It is perfectly all right, now and then, for a human to be possessed by the urge to speak, and to speak while others remain silent. But to do this regularly, one hour and 15 minutes at a time.., for one person to drag on while others sit in silence? ... I do not believe that this is what the Creator.., designed humans to do".
The strange, almost incomprehensible fact is that many professors, just as they feel obliged to write dully, believe that they should lecture dully. To show enthusiasm is to risk appearing unscientific, un-objective; it is to appeal to the students' emotions rather than their intellect. Thus the ideal lecture is one filled with facts and read in an unchanged monotone.
The cult (推崇) of lecturing dully, like the cult of writing dully, goes back, of course, some years. Edward Shils, professor of sociology, recalls the professors he encountered at the University of Pennsylvania in his youth. They seemed "a priesthood, rather uneven in their merits but uniform. in their bearing; they never referred to anything personal. Some read from old lecture notes and then haltingly explained the thumb-worn last lines. Others lectured from cards that had served for years, to judge by the worn edges... The teachers began on time, ended on time, and left the room without saying a word more to their students, very seldom being detained by questioners... The classes were not large, yet there was no discussion. No questions were raised in class, and there were no office hours" .
The author believes that a successful teacher should be able to______.
A.make study just as easy as play
B.improve students' learning performance
C.make inspired play an integral part of the learning process
D.make dramatization an important aspect of students' learning