The Role and Value of Sociolinguistics in English Language Teaching

This paper aims to explore how the study of sociolinguistics can benefit teachers,particularly in the context of teaching English as a Foreign Language(EFL)in China.The article will first examine how sociolinguistic knowledge can reshape teachers’perceptions of“English,”focusing on aspects such as English varieties,World Englishes,and Chinese English.Following that,the article discusses the necessity of rethinking current practices in English language teaching,including the nativeness paradigm and the concept of communicative competence based on a reconceptualized view of“English.”Additionally,the discussion will focus on how teachers,informed by sociolinguistic awareness of non-native teachers’identities and teacher agency,can address and resolve existing challenges in EFL teaching.Finally,the article will conclude by summarizing the key issues discussed and highlighting the significance of studying sociolinguistics for language practitioners in China.

Study of Jargon in English language

Jargon in English language, part of culture, is a sub-culture. This paper illustrates its connotation, original facts, constructions, functions and characteristics. This study helps us fully recognize British and American societies from another angle, and understand diversity of their cultures to benefit English teaching and intercultural communication.

Authenticity in English Language Teaching

Based on an analysis of the deficiency of the traditional ELT in authenticity, this paper puts forward some sug-gestions about how to make our ELT classroom more authentic.

The Effect of Using L1 （Arabic Language） in the L2 （English Language） Classroom on the Achievement in General English of Foundation Year Students in King Abdulaziz University

This study aims at investigating the effect of using L 1 （Arabic Language） while teaching a target language （English Language） on the achievement in General English of foundation year students in King Abdulaziz University. To achieve the purpose of the study, the researcher used an experimental design： an experimental group and a control group. The independent variable is using L1 while teaching English in very limited and specified areas. The dependent variable is students＇ achievement in general English. The statistics used is the t-test. The population of the study was all students enrolled in the foundation year 1431/1432 in the ELI （English Language Institute） at King Abdulaziz University. The sample of the study consisted of 50 students taking North Star in the sections A and B as a university requirement in the foundation year 1431/1432 in King Abdulaziz University. The results of the study were in favor of banning Arabic in the English language classroom as shown in the mean scores of the control and experimental groups in the tables. It is recommended that teachers and instructors should be trained to use teaching strategies that help them use English only in the English language classroom.

An Introduction of English Language Education in China:from Theory to Practice

English language teaching and learning in China has achieved enormous prosperity in recent years.It is said that the number of people learning and speaking English in China possibly exceeds the total population of the United States and Britain combined.However,the development of English language education in China has experienced several diverse phases and problems and controversies kept emerging especially when a new teaching approach was introduced.Based on the current situation,this paper tries to provide a comprehensive and in-depth overview on English language education in China.This paper is generally divided into two parts.Part one outlines the development of English language education in China with regard to the place of English and the development of teaching approaches.Part two discusses the recent teaching approach promoted official,its progress as well as problems.The focus of the whole paper is on secondary-level education as this is the stage when most students study English.

The Construct of the Story Continuation Writing Task: Insights From the China’s Standards of English Language Ability

Although the story continuation writing task(SCWT) has attracted much research attention, few studies have investigated the construct of the task, particularly with respect to which language competence it focuses on. In addition, although some studies have demonstrated that China’s Standards of English Language Ability(CSE) provides comprehensive insights into the development of Chinese learners’ English language proficiency, little research has investigated the relationship between CSE and SCWT. This study drew upon the CSE to develop an SCWT language use inventory to address the above research gaps. A total of 358 high school students were asked to complete the questionnaire, of which 277 valid responses were analyzed. Exploratory factor analysis(EFA) on the CSE-based questionnaire revealed the presence of six factors, namely language correctness, language variety, task planning, connecting-and-generating, selecting-andmining, and organizing. The strategy of connecting-and-generating was the only significant predictor of the learners’ SCWT scores. The paper also discusses the findings relating to the SCWT rating and other integrated writing tasks.

Learner Autonomy in the National English Language Curricula for Chinese Universities 1978-2007:A Historical Analysis

This historical study investigates the concept of learner autonomy in the national English language curricula for Chinese universities.It seeks to understand the meaning of learner autonomy in China and the intentionality of promoting this concept through the curricula from 1978 to 2007.By adopting Quentin Skinner’s intentionalist approach to analyzing the history of ideas,this study conducted a systematic document analysis of three national curricula in relation to their linguistic and practical contexts constituted of 169 Chinese academic articles in total.The study revealed that learner autonomy mainly referred to students’motivation and ability to work hard on their own outside the classroom in the Chinese context.Importing this concept,however,caused ideological confusion and exacerbated the disempowerment of teachers within the dynamics of China’s English language education at the tertiary level.The study raises awareness for borrowing concepts across different cultural contexts and has implications for research,policymaking,teacher development,and pedagogical practice in second language education in China.

The Perceptions of Chinese ELT Stakeholders on the Employment of Foreign English Language Teachers

This article reports on part of the findings of an investigation into the perceptions of Chinese English as a foreign language(EFL)education stakeholders on native-speakerism.Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with 26 students,14 teachers and eight EFL program administrators from six Chinese universities.The analysis of data reveals that the three groups of participants as an entirety expected their universities to hire native English speaker teachers(NESTs),particularly those from Britain and/or America and a certain proportion of them expressed preference for white native English speaker(NES)teachers.The vast majority of the students and teachers were also found to be unaware of workplace inequalities between NNESTs and local Chinese EFL teachers,contending that NESTs deserve better treatment.Although many administrators displayed critical awareness on this issue,they argued that the inequalities need tolerating for the well-being of their EFL programs.All these findings are indicative of the persistence of native-speakerism among Chinese ELT stakeholders and by extension the tenacity of this chauvinistic ideology across the terrain of EFL education in China.

World Englishes and English language teaching

English, as a language of wide communication, is an international language in both a global and local sense. Its global spread and evolution have been topics of heated discussion. This paper reviews briefly the history and relevant literature of the globalization of English, and explores its implications in English language teaching, especially in the Chinese context.

Cross-Cultural Competence and English Language Teaching

Language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it. Learning a language is inseparable from learning its culture.So, we should stick to integrate culture teaching with English teaching and try to improve the student’s cultural awareness so that they can know how to communicate appropriately during the cross cultural communication.

Teachers’Characteristics and Teaching Styles as Determinants of Students’Achievement in Senior Secondary Schools Civics and English Language in Osun State,Nigeria

The study examined the status of senior secondary schools’students’achievement in Civic Education and English Language in Osun State.It also investigated the Civic Education and English Language teachers’characteristics in the state and determined the teaching styles of Civic Education and English Language teachers in the study areas and finally assessed the influence of teachers’characteristics and teaching styles on students’achievement in secondary schools Civic Education and English Language.The study adopted Discriminant Analysis.The study sample consisted of 600 senior secondary school students,30 Civics teachers,and 30 English Language teachers that were selected using multi-stage sampling procedure.Four instruments were constructed and validated before use.Three research questions were asked and answered while one hypothesis was tested and verified.The results among others showed that more than 50%of the students that participated in the study had high status of achievement in Civic Education while more than 40%of English Language students that participated in the study had low status of achievement.The study also showed that teachers’characteristics pertinent to both Civic Education teachers and English Language teachers were,effective discipline skills(Civics,M=1.20,SD=0.407;English,M=1.40,SD=0.498)and good communication with parents(Civics,M=1.43,SD=0.504;English,M=1.40,SD=0.498).In addition,there was significant influence of teachers’characteristics and teaching styles on students’achievement in Civics and English Language in senior secondary schools(X^2(2)=16.37,p<0.05).The study concluded that teachers’characteristics and teaching styles are major determinants of students’achievement in Civic Education and English Language.

English Language Education in China： Progress, Problems and Reflections

The thesis is aimed at putting forward to some problems existing in contemporary China＇s English teaching by showing progress made in recent years. Reflections have formed by contemplating the gaps of English teaching with that of Asian ＆ European countries. This thesis, through a general perspective, outlines what English teachers will do to push Chinese English learning to a new level.

Non-neutrality of English and English language teaching

Due to the popularity of English, English language teaching has taken up an important position in China＇s education. Teachers of English may seldom consider the power behind this widely-used language during the teaching process. This article starts with revealing the power behind language so as to let teachers be aware of the hidden power behind English language and be conscious that English language is not neutral. At the same time, it reminds teachers of English to have a critical attitude on their teaching practice and help students to balance the study of Chinese and English.

Modern CMC Technology for English Language Learning： Blessing or Nightmare？

Since the last two decades of the past century, technology, more specifically computers, have developed so impressively that it has dramatically changed every aspect of society, especially education. The Computer Mediated Communication （CMC） technology is therefore radically discussed by researchers for its great impacts on English language learning. Based upon thorough literature review and practical survey, this paper demonstrates modem CMC technology and textism phenomenon and makes an analysis of its significant impacts on English language learning. It aims to answer the typical blessing-or-nightmare question, and shed some light on the research of modern information communication technolo^v in lanwaa^e education.

The Culture Importing In English Language Teaching

With the advancement of economic globalization, our country needs more and more English talents with international vision. University English Language Teaching is not just limited to listening, speaking, reading and writing, but also develops students ＇intercultural communicative competence, so it requires teachers to import culture in the teaching process and cultivate the students＇ cultural awareness.

Self-Efficacy of the Learners:On the Road to English Language Learning

Poor student achievement is often attributed to a lack of motivation and rewards.Students with learning disabilities are very often unmotivated because school is one failure after another to them.Teachers are having a hard time assessing what could be the aid for language learning.This study used the descriptive-survey research method.It is arranged to gather information about the present existing condition.The participants of this study consisted of 40 grade nine students from Mariveles National High School-Sisiman II S.Y.2016-2017.The questionnaire was divided into five parts—(A)Self Efficacy,(B)Intrinsic Motivation,(C)English Learning Value,(D)Performance Goal,and(E)Achievement Goal.Based on this study’s findings,some relevant and useful motivational learning implications are recommended for enhancement and improvement of the students’motivation.Relevant language improvement programs and activities are also discussed in accordance with the students’language difficulties as communicated in the open-ended questions to increase their motivation in English language learning.

Research on the New English Language Teaching Approach based on Sharing of the Knowledge Economy under the MOOCs Background

In this paper, we conduct research on the new English language teaching approach based on sharing of the knowledge economy under the MOOC background. College English teaching is the core part of education in colleges and universities that are leading an indicator of college teaching can reveal most times the imprinting to teaching in colleges and universities. College English teaching from scratch, since the childhood, beyond the difficulty of the teaching area, through the teaching of confusion, but always insist on teaching idea of development as the center, continuously innovative fusion of gesture to the new development of English teaching to maximize the realization of the value of English teaching and cultivate highly qualified English talents for the society. Our research uses the MOOC platform to optimize the traditional education pattern which is innovative.

An Investigation into Typical English Language Use Tasks across Jobs by International Talents

Along with the progress of economic globalization and the Belt and Road Initiative,there is a great need for international talents with global vision,knowledge of international rules and regulations,English language proficiency,and the ability to participate in international affairs and competitions.Through text analysis and interviews,this study collects typical English language use tasks in the workplace,and uses questionnaires to investigate the importance and difficulty of different tasks for English language users in different industries,positions and ranks,hence providing references for the design of English training and assessment tasks for international talents.

POLITENESS RANKING IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE USE

The politeness ranking is thought to be one of the features of the Politeness Principle (PP) (He Ziran 1988 P. 102). In the views of Leech, Brown and Levinsodn, speakers, when obeying the PP may choose appropriate politeness ranking according to contextual factors——social distance and status,age,sex,the ranking of impositions, the formality of the occasion and so on and the extent that a given act benefits or costs the addressee in a given situation.

The Impact of World English Paradigm on English Language Teaching

With the development of internationalization,English has gradually become the medium of international communication.As English is learned and used as a second language by people from different countries,nationalities and cultures,English teachers pay more and more attention to the communication and interaction of language users around the world,and World English paradigm is noticed in the classroom.This paper introduces the attitudes of different countries towards the learning and use of different English variants in the Three Circle Model,and briefly describes the formation and development of Chinglish in China,and discusses the influence of the application of World English paradigm in English teaching from both positive and negative aspects.The use of World English paradigm in English classroom is conducive to learners'development of their communicative competence and cultural identity.However,using World English paradigm will also affect teachers'ability to distinguish English variants and errors in the sense of SLA.In English classroom,teachers should choose teaching materials from the perspective of multiculturalism and receive corresponding training to avoid the risk of using World English paradigm and effectively improve students'English communication level.