Towards Lessening Learners’Aversive Emotions and Promoting Their Mental Health:Developing and Validating a Measurement of English Speaking Demotivation in the Chinese EFL Context

While a plethora of studies has been conducted to explore demotivation and its impact on mental health in second language(L2)education,scanty research focuses on demotivation in L2 speaking learning.Particularly,little research explores the measures to quantify L2 speaking demotivation.The present two-phase study attempts to develop and validate an English Speaking Demotivation Scale(ESDS).To this end,an independent sample of 207 Chinese tertiary learners of English as a Foreign Language(EFL)participated in the development phase,and another group of 188 Chinese EFL learners was recruited for the validation of the scale.Exploratory Factor Analysis(EFA)and Confirmatory Factor Analysis(CFA)were employed to determine the factor structure of the scale.The EFA results revealed a six-factor solution with Teacher-related Factors in Learning Spoken English(TFLSE),Interest and Valence in Learning Spoken English(IVLSE),Self-efficacy in Learning Spoken English(SELSE),Negative Peer Influence in Learning Spoken English(NPILSE),Undesirable Environment for Learning Spoken English(UELSE),and Negative Influence of Assessment and Learning Materials in speaking class(NIALM).In the validation phase,Confirmatory Factor Analysis(CFA)was performed to validate the internal structure of the scale.The CFA results showed that the model fits the data well.Overall,the ESDS is a robust and trustworthy psychometric tool that could be utilized to examine L2 speaking demotivation.Implications for diminishing EFL learners’demotivation,lessening their aversive emotions and promoting their mental health are also discussed.

Relationships Between Chinese EFL Learners’IELTS Band Score and Motivated Strategies for Learning

EFL learners,who study English as a foreign language,often use different learning strategies in the learning process,with positive and negative results in their academic performance.Whether these learning strategies are effective or not are questions to be explored.So,the author examined the relationship between Chinese EFL learners’test results and the use of motivated strategies for learning in English learning.Participants are students who have taken a high-stake standardized English proficiency test:IELTS(International English Language Testing System)with band score obtained.The results show that students’performance on high-stakes assessment is significantly associated with the use of motivated learning strategies like internal value in sharp contrast to test anxiety,which bears no relevance.Interviews are then implemented to candidates with different levels of English proficiency to figure out other related factors contributing to the test results.

Language Transfer Manifested in English Idiom Acquisition by Chinese EFL Learners

Idiom acquisition plays an important role in the process of second language learning and acquisition.Proper understanding of linguistic transfer in terms of English idiom acquisition is helpful for EFL learners to improve the efficiency of learning English and also facilitates the process of English teaching.This study examines the Chinese learner’s language transfer features manifested in their understanding of English idioms which are classified into five different types according to their linguistic forms and conceptual bases.The results suggest that equivalent linguistic forms and equivalent conceptual bases of idioms are helpful to cause positive transfer while different conceptual bases of idioms may result in negative cross-linguistic transfer.This article may contribute to the development of language transfer theory and provide pedagogical implications of how English idioms should be learned by students and taught by English teachers.

A Comparative Study on Verb-Noun Collocation Errors of Chinese EFL Learners with Different Language Proficiency

This study presents a comparative analysis of verb-noun collocation errors made by Chinese EFL learners with different language proficiency.Linguistic data from two sub-corpora of CLEC(Chinese Learner English Corpus,Gui&Yang,1999)consist of the compositions written freely by Chinese senior high school students(ST2)and the 3rd-and 4th-year English majors of Chinese universities(ST6).The study results show that four types of verb-noun collocation errors are frequently made due to incorrect L1 translation,misuse of relative synonyms,misuse of delexical verbs,and misuse of part of speech;the number of errors decreases with the development of language proficiency,especially errors by incorrect L1 translation and relative synonyms.And for both ST2 and ST6 EFL learners,errors resulted from incorrect L1 translation account for nearly a half with the same high-frequency words.It is also found that ST6 learners’competence in collocation and synonym identification doesn’t grow with the increase of their vocabulary,as is shown in the case of overusing delexical verbs in collocation,the same error made by ST2 learners,who have a significantly weaker command of delexical verbs.Implications of the findings are also discussed with the purpose of raising the awareness of collocation pedagogy and enhancing EFL learners’collocation competence.

EFL学习者跨语境写作中的语用能力研究

在英语作为外语(EFL)教学研究领域,语用能力是备受关注的焦点,但以往研究多评估学习者的口语语用表现,其语用能力在书面语体中的研究尚显不足。以74名英语专业学生为研究对象,通过分析他们在不同语境下撰写的请求信来深入探究其书面语用能力,并特别关注语用能力与英语语言水平之间的关联性。实验采用Kruskal-Wallis检验和Wilcoxon Signed-Rank检验方法进行数据分析。结果显示,尽管语言水平与语用能力之间存在一定程度的正相关关系,但在实际交际情境中,学习者在选择恰当的语用策略以实现礼貌且得体交流时仍面临挑战。

English Language Attrition Among EFL Learners in Terms of Writing Skills

This study aims to identify if participants experience attrition in writing skills after two years' nonuse of English.70 participants took the tests of writing.A questionnaire was administered to the 70 participants and it included numerous variables that relate to language attrition such as motivation and social activities.The data collected from the tests and questionnaire were analyzed via SPSS.Cronbach's alpha and Many Facets Rasch Model were used to validate the construct and external reliability.The findings showed that participants experienced an overall statistically significant level of attrition in writing skills.Additionally,the specific skills of pertinence,coherence,clarity but excluding grammar,were seen to experience significant attrition over the two years' period.Participants showed a lower level of positive motivation and less social activities for learning English language during the two years' nonuse than before the two years' nonuse of English and this could have contributed to the writing attrition.

How to Create a Low-anxiety Environment for Chinese Learners of EFL to Enhance Oral Proficiency in Speaking Lessons

The goal of teaching English speaking is to improve students' communicative efficiency, or make students speak the target language clearly, coherently, accurately and fluently (Xu, 2005). However, in China, a number of students in an English speaking class tend to be passive and reluctant to speak out or be singled out publicly mainly due to their high anxiety, which, of course, becomes a significant constraint on improving their English proficiency. Therefore, how to create a relaxed atmosphere with a sense of security in the English speaking class to alleviate Chinese learners' anxiety and to provide them with as many opportunities as possible to practice speaking English and improve their English proficiency is one of the central tasks for language teachers.his paper will firstly outline my teaching context in China in physical, pedagogical, institutional and personal aspects. This will be followed by the definition and classification of language learning anxiety, and the analysis of various factors contributing to foreign language learners' anxiety as well as some suggestions of how to reduce the learners' anxiety in the oral class according to the current literature. Finally, some applications will be presented in my teaching context in the hope of decreasing Chinese students' anxiety to enhance their English speaking proficiency.

A Comparative Study on English Pronunciation and Phonology of Chinese EFL Learners

Pronunciation often gets ignored over grammar and vocabulary in EFL programs.However,words stressed incorrectly or with inappropriate pitch or intonation will impede the learner in getting the intended message across.Phonology,then,should be an integral part of any EFL lesson.This paper examines the current situation of English pronunciation of Chinese students and aiming to present a procedural approach for incorporating phonological elements into an EFL syllabus.

A Study on the Communication Strategies used by the Oversea EFL Learners

In China,English language skills learned in high school make students very incapable of universy's oral English course,especially for those who want to study abroad to further their education. The data collection procedure of this study was carried out during my one year study in Canada. This study conducted the method of interview to the oversea students from Saint Mary's University in order to provide some useful suggestions for the EFL learners who are planning to study abroad or want to improve their English speaking skill.

Strategies of More and Less Successful Bai High School EFL Learners

This study aims to explore the choice of language learning strategies between more and less successful Bai high school EFL learners for whom English is learned as a third language.Sixteen Bai EFL learners were involved in the current study.A background questionnaire and the Oxford’s SILL Questionˉnaire were administered to the participants,and semi-structured interviews were conducted.The reported data indicate that successful learners employed more strategies than less successful ones did and metacogˉnitive strategies best predicted learning success.Individual strategies used by both successful and less successful Bai EFLlearners were outlined and discussed.The paper concludes with implications of the study and recommendations for the extension of research in this area.

Promoting EFL Learner Autonomy

This paper explores some of the key concepts of learner autonomy and considers their implications in Chinese EFL contexts. Starting with some definitions of learner autonomy, the paper puts forward the reasons for promoting it and argues for it to be cultivated in EFL learners. The paper points out proper conditions for learner autonomy and suggests means of implementing it by giving some concrete examples of various activities that teachers can design and organize. The writer hopes that more interest will be aroused and more efforts will be made in developing and promoting learner autonomy in Chinese EFL learning.

The Motivations of Chinese EFL Learners

English is regarded as the international language,which makes it the most popular language to learn around the world.Among the many factors that affect the learning outcomes of English language,motivation is broadly considered as one of the most important ones.This paper presents a general review on types of motivation as well as the factors that are linked to motivation.This paper also touches upon some critical issues that Chinese EFL learners face in terms of motivation in English learning.

A Discussion of Foreign Language Listening Problems and Their Causes among Intermediate EFL learners in Chinese universities

Listening has been considered as the most important language skill by many researchers but in Chinese context it has been overlooked for years.The Foreign Language(FL)listening problems gradually reveal when students attend to the Listening Course in universities or colleges.This paper at first illustrates the importance of listening in foreign language learning and provides a discussion on the top-down and bottom-up processes with the analysis of Anderson's three-model of language comprehension[9]as well as the factors affecting listening comprehension in Foreign Language in general,aiming at the illustration of the necessity on one of the bottom-up processes-the Spoken Word Recognition(SWR).The analysis of two issued official guiding documents for Chinese university students and the current situation of English listening teaching in Chinese universities are followed,providing a general background on English listening teaching in Chinese context.Three possible foreign language listening problems and their causes are proposed,followed by the pedagogical suggestions to EFL learners who are improving their listening skills and instructors who are advancing their teaching procedures.

An Investigation on Willingness to Communicate of Chinese EFL Learners in a Study Abroad Context

As increasingly large number of Chinese students study abroad,Chinese students'classrooms behavious have captured attention.In addition to analyzing the factors affecting the learners'willingness to communicate(WTC) in second language(L2),the paper also aims to examine validity of the heuristic model of MacIntyre et al.(1998) in this particular context.Results show that interlocutor,topic and conversational context are the three main situational variables found to affect the Chinese learners'L2 WTC.

Cultivation of EFL Learners’Intercultural Competence

Nowadays, educators from home and abroad believe that learning a foreign language means learning a great deal of the foreign civilization and culture. And the utmost goal of language teaching is to cultivate EFL learners'communicative competence, but not merely the linguistic knowledge. Thus, teaching a foreign language is more than teaching new words, expressions and grammar rules, but should also incorporate the target culture elements into language knowledge. In order to improve EFL learners'English proficiency, teachers must make efforts to cultivate EFL learners'intercultural competence and promote their sensibility and adaptability to the differences between Chinese culture and the Western culture. Only by doing so, can EFL learners communicate with native speakers appropriately and smoothly. This paper proposes some effective teaching techniques and methods that can be applied in English classroom to cultivate Chinese EFL learners'intercultural competence.

A Development Study on the Ordering Distribution of Temporal Adverbial Clauses by Chinese EFL Learners Based on Dependency Treebank

Temporal adverbial clause is an important language structure and exhibits different features in English and Chinese,which brings about difficulties for Chinese EFL learners.Based on the theory of Dependency Grammar,the study attempts to investigate the ordering distribution of temporal adverbial clauses by Chinese EFL learners at the beginning,intermediate and advanced levels.The results show that:1)Chinese EFL learners at different proficiencies tend to precede temporal adverbial clause to main clause.With the increase of proficiency,the postposition of temporal adverbial clauses by learners increases and is approaching to the ordering preference of target language.2)The ordering distribution of subordinators for temporal adverbial clauses by Chinese EFL learners is consistent with native English,showing a tendency of 100%preposition,which ascribes to the high frequency and salience of subordinators in English.3)MDD is one of the significant motivations that cause the preference of prepositional temporal adverbial clauses by Chinese EFL learners.As a kind of natural language,interlanguage has a unique cognitive mechanism which distinguishes from both native and target language.This study provides a more comprehensive theoretical reference for learners at different proficiencies to understand and learn temporal adverbial clauses,as well as data support from empirical research for language teaching.

Dynamic Assessment of College EFL Learners’Speaking Proficiency:A Case Study

To investigate the impact of dynamic assessment(DA)on the development of speaking skills,a case study was conducted,recruiting a non-English major undergraduate.DA was constructed following the design combining sandwich and cake format with an interactionist approach.To collect data,a profile was designed in accordance with the China’s Standards of English Language Ability(CSE)to record the learner’s changes.A semi-structured interview was conducted to reveal his perspectives on DA.The generated profile with specific mediator-learner’s moves revealed the learner’s microgenetic development in both organizational knowledge and oral expression strategy ability.The thematic analysis of the interview demonstrated the learner’s positive experience with DA,while also unveiling the weak points of DA.Finally,the operational framework for applying interactionist DA in the oral classroom was discussed,and the complementary relationship between DA and traditional teaching and testing practices was highlighted.

Teaching Writing to EFL/ESP Arab Learners： A Socioculturally Based Approach

Teaching writing to Arab EFL learners in general, and to students who have never been exposed to an Anglo-Saxon foreign language in particular in institutions of higher education, through incorporating culturally meaningful learning materials, can actually be enjoyable and fruitful. However, it can also be very challenging given the sociocultural and linguistic background of the learners as well as other factors related to the nature of the imported teaching materials from overseas. The challenge then is identifying and selecting materials for each particular class, as well as how to get students motivated and successfully engaged in the process of writing. This paper enlightens educators and language programs managers and planners about the mechanism of the writing process while incorporating the cultural components relevant to the learner, as well as drawing their attention to the benefits of engaging students in the actual process of writing and boosting their motivation via a meaningful socioculturally based approach.

A Study of EFL Learners＇ Receptive and Productive Knowledge of SP： With Implications for Vocabulary Teaching

This study attempts to see whether there are any differences between L2 （Second Language） learners＇ receptive and productive knowledge of SP （Semantic Prosody）. SP is defined as the tendency of the use of some words to occur in a certain semantic environment. For example, the verb ＂cause＂ is associated with unpleasant things-death, problem and the like. The study is based on a random sampling of subjects （N = 60） drawn from 180 EFL （English as a Foreign Language） learners taking English classes at different language institutes in Khorramabad, Iran. A test of SP as a task of elicitation was constructed, validated and used to measure the learners＇ knowledge of both productive and receptive SP. A matched t-test was used to compare the mean differences between receptive and productive SP measures. The results showed significant difference between EFL learners＇ knowledge of receptive and productive SP, EFL learners perform better in receptive SP measures than in productive ones. Possible imolications of the findings for teaching vocabularv to EFL learners will be discussed.

The Effects of Pragmatics Competence in EFL University Learners

As we know, Pragmatics is the way we convey meaning through communication, so the study aims at student’s opinions on the use of English language as a means of communication and to show the significance of language function, context, and authentic situations to develop pragmatic competence in Sudanese English Language university learners. To achieve the objectives, the study used a questionnaire to address the study questions and objectives. 150 employed students participated in the questionnaire. The study found that the students have positive views toward the using of the language as communicative means in various, functions, contexts, and authentic situations inside and outside the classroom to enhance the student’s fluency in using the target language as well as the take care about the language forms to avoid imperfect using of the language.