LuShiting LiXinyi

【Abstract】Currently， colleges in China regard English as a compulsory course. It is necessary for both teachers and students to make efforts to develop their skills of English， such as paraphrase abilities during the teaching and learning of English.

【Key words】teaching method； paraphrase practice； time allocation

Paraphrase plays an indispensable role in English-Chinese translation， which accounts a great deal in second language learning. In 21st century colleges in China， either English majors or non-English majors are required to have a good command of English.

Since translation serves as the bridge of cultural communication， outstanding ability of paraphrase， which links to the ability of translation， is regarded as an effective way to improve ones English skills. However， most college teachers and students in Zhejiang pay quite little attention to this useful approach. Weve made a questionnaire of 200 college students from different grades and colleges in Zhejiang and picked some typical data from the questionnaire.

According to our survey， the practice of paraphrase in college English courses can be described as rare. Half of the respondents admitted that there was little chance for them to do such practice in their limited class time. Even English majors claimed that teachers spend less than one hour on paraphrase in the Integrated English Course.

Our survey demonstrated that only 17% teachers would provide students with exercise about paraphrase. And 58% students said that they would like some other ways to enhance the ability of paraphrasing instead of the current one. Although 93% students said exercise on paraphrase is important， only 5% of them do regular paraphrase exercise after class. It is illustrated that students failed to give due attention to paraphrase.

Only 43.33% respondents believed paraphrase is necessary in our English lessons. Fortunately， there were still 70% students who recognized the essentiality of improving paraphrasing abilities. But it is still a demanding job to improve the students skills. Here we offered two underlying strategies.

Our research demonstrated that most students admitted that they have little interest in paraphrase because of the dull repetition of the exercise. To raise students interest is primary.

Firstly， teachers should select the exercise according to students English proficiency. The aim of the paraphrase exercise for freshmen is to help learners to get familiar with the usage of the word， using antonyms or synonyms to replace words which hinder the reader from understanding the passage. For the sophomore students or junior students， teachers should teach students how to paraphrase complex sentences which require diversified techniques.

Lack of exercise is the stumbling obstacle of the improvement of their paraphrasing skills. Respondents in our survey admitted that they scarcely did any practice related to paraphrase after class. Teachers can offer assignments about translation and paraphrase for students to accomplish in order to ensure their exercise in free time. If they are willing to do such practice of their own accord， they are bound to benefit much more from it. There are several effective steps to paraphrasing we advocate. Read the entire text， noting the key points and main ideas. Then summarize in ones own words what the single main idea of the essay is. Afterwards， paraphrase important supporting points that come up in the essay. At last， consider any words， phrases， or brief passages that you believe should be quoted directly.

Paraphrase not only applied for students major in English， but also the students who learned the language and its practical significance are well worth studying. Moreover， the paraphrase exercise should not come along； it should coordinate with other aspects of English learning， for instance， culture， political system and big events. In this way， students could improve the ability in English reading comprehension and communication skills.

As the current situation in Zhejiang Province is of no optimism， that paraphrase is likely to be ignored in college English courses； measures should be taken to solve the problem. To raise students interest and ensure the amount of exercise are the two effective ways to improve students abilities of paraphrase and change the current condition.

*杭州师范大学2015 “星光计划”项目（项目编号：YS01022010003）。