Discourses of Chinese ELT Stakeholders on Native Speakerism

This paper reports on part of the findings of a large-scale study exploring the viewpoints of Chinese ELT stakeholders(students,teachers and administrators)on native speakerism in order to find out whether current EFL education in China is still affected by this chauvinistic ideology.The analysis of data via a critical lens reveals that the vast majority of the participants conferred upon NS products(teacher,language,culture and teaching methodology)a status superior to that granted to the NNS counterparts and failed to see linguacultural and epistemological inequalities between the English speaking West and traditional NNS countries,inter alia,China.These findings suggest that the three participant groups as an entirety succumb to native speakerism,and by extension that ELT in China is still haunted to a great degree by this ideology.Given that this study treats each participant group separately,future studies are expected to explore inter-group interactions in ideology.

Chinese Native Speakers' Counterfactuals Revisited

This paper examines whether or not Chinese native speakers (CNSs) have difficulties in understanding English counterfactuals, whether CNSs have counterfactual reasoning problems in their own language, what the causes of these difficulties may be, and the problems in teaching English subjunctives. It also proposes on how to improve CNSs’ English counterfactual comprehension.

Native-speakerism in China:An Investigation of Foreign Language Education Policy and Learners’Attitudes

With the development of globalization,the use of English is no longer restricted to native speaker(NS)but also widely spread to non-native speaker(NNS).The importance of English learning is also acknowledged by Expanding and Outer Circle,and English as a foreign language(EFL)education plays a significant role in China’s education.Admitting the fact that non-native English teachers(NNESTs)take up a large proportion of English teachers,English language teaching(ELT)is still greatly influenced by native-speakerism.This research aims to investigate language ideologies reflected in Chinese foreign language education policy(FLEP)at higher education level,and Chinese English learners’attitudes towards native-speakerism and English teachers.A mixed method of policy analysis and survey is adopted in this research.After conducting analysing two FLEPs in higher education level,it is found that linguistic instrumentalism is the prominent language ideology,although native-speakerism and standard English ideology is implicitly demonstrated.Questionnaire is used to investigate 58 Chinese English learners’attitudes,revealing that most participants do not demonstrate bias towards either NESTs or NNESTs.Instead,the strengths and weaknesses of both NEST and NNEST are identified,though participants adhere to native-speakerism in terms of English variety.Overall,English learner’s attitudes are consistent with language ideologies in FLEPs.This research may provide implications for future studies on addressing native-speakerism in Chinese FLEPs,as well as relationship of students’attitudes and language policies.

Native/Non-native English Speakers’Attitudes:Addressing Learners’Goals and Needs Towards Pronunciation Issues

The study attempts to explore native and non-native English speakers’attitudes towards accents and pronunciation-related issues.The sample group surveyed is composed of non-native English speakers,specifically,Italian students studying at the University of Calabria(Italy)and native English speakers from Alberta University(Canada)and Florida Atlantic University(USA).An online link to a questionnaire was sent via email to all participants and was used as a research instrument to collect quantitative data.The research questions will investigate learners’attitudes in relation to the following aspects:accent and identity,beliefs about native/non-native accents,impact of pronunciation on communication,and learners’expectations towards pronunciation teaching.Firstly,mean scores in relation to the aforementioned aspects will be examined.Secondly,differences between native/non-native speakers’responses will be statistically analysed.Thirdly,non-native learners’responses will be correlated with their proficiency level in English to identify the extent to which language competence may affect learners’attitudes.The study aims to gain useful insights that may hopefully raise students and teachers’awareness of what models we expect learners to imitate and attain in the English language classroom,how appropriate and relevant these may be especially in the globalized English world where non-native speakers will increasingly use English in a diversity of forms to achieve their communicative goals.The preliminary results will be presented and pedagogical considerations suggested.

Conversing in Spanish at a Seniors Center： A Brief Experience of Community-Based and Foreign-Language Learning

This pilot study explored the linguistic gains of intermediate level Spanish learners who completed community-based learning at a Spanish-speaking seniors center. Leamers had the opportunity, rare in foreign-language instruction, to discuss topics from their textbook in authentic native/non-native dyads. The interactions also allowed the seniors to fulfill an identified community needed by socializing in Spanish. Analyses of a post-service survey revealed that learners assessed the experience positively, because they spoke Spanish creatively. Seniors were described as cooperative and fun interlocutors, suggesting that age difference minimally affected the interactions. Direct observation revealed that learners managed to produce L2 Spanish output in connected speech for an extended period of time. Likewise, the seniors enjoyed a moment of socialization and first language use while sharing their views on the topics of discussion with the young visitors. Seniors＇ active participation likely encouraged learners to cope with sudden switches of topics that required negotiating for meaning and pushing the still limited interlanguages. A new service leaming study proposes to investigate the use of native/non-native dyads in Spanish in fulfilling a dual function： socialization and first language maintenance for the seniors at the center and language learning for the students.

Academic Writing and the Challenges It Poses to Chinese Students in Anglophone Universities

Academic literacy is the fundamental quality that scholars should possess in order to get socialized in their disciplinary communities, of which academic writing is one of the most important aspects. This article attempts to summarize some common features of academic writing and the skills and background knowledge that are essential for successful writing. The next part focuses on the possible challenges that academic writing may pose on Chinese overseas students as they try to meet the requirements of the Western discourse communities. In the last part, it provides some recommendations to those who intend to study abroad and concludes that for both native and non-native speakers the learning of academic writing is a lifelong process of endless confliction and negotiation.

Unsuccessful letter–sound integration in English reading by native Chinese speakers: evidence from an event related potentials study

Integrating letters and sounds are essential for successful reading in alphabetic languages. It remains unclear if native speakers of non-alphabetic languages integrate letters and sounds in reading an alphabetic lan- guage in the same way as native alphabetic readers do. Chinese is a morpho-syllabic system （each character cor- responds to one syllable） and contrasts sharply with alphabetic languages such as English. Several fMRI studies have shown that native Chinese speakers apply their native language system to read English words. By using the cross- modal mismatch negativity （MMN） paradigm, we directly investigated letter-sound integration for reading in English among native Chinese speakers. To investigate the effect of native language background on letter-sound integration in second language reading, a group of native Korean English learners served as a comparison group. We compared MMN responses between an auditory only condition （only vowels presented） and two audiovisual conditions （AV0, vowel presented synchronously with the corresponding letter; AV200, the letter presented 200 ms before the corresponding vowel） for both native Chinese and native Korean speakers. Native Chinese speakers demonstrated significantly attenuated MMN amplitudes in audiovisual conditions compared with the auditory only condition, regardless of their phonological decoding speed. In con- trast, native Korean speakers showed amplified amplitude MMN in AV200 compared with that in the auditory only condition. The results suggest that native language may shape the brain responses of second language learners to reading a second language in the early stages. Native non- alphabetic language speakers may be unable to use visual information to facilitate their phonological processing in the early stage while naT：lye alphabetic language speakers are capable of integrating letter sounds automatically.

A SURVEY:CHINESE COLLEGE STUDENTS’PERCEPTIONS OF NON-NATIVE ENGLISH TEACHERS

本文是一份调查报告。通过对在校大学生的问卷调查和个别访谈,了解他们对中外英语教师的看法。调查的内容包括中外教师的语言能力、课堂教学能力及教师的人格魅力。结果表明,中外英语教师各有优势。外籍英语教师的语言能力,尤其在口语交际能力和目的语文化方面有较高的认同度。但是,中国英语教师也有他们不可替代的地位。他们更加了解学生的学习策略和风格,能够较准确地预测学生的学习难点,因而能更好地帮助他们解决问题。值得指出的是,高年级的学生更加关注教师的专业水平和人格魅力。

Identity Formation and Cosmopolitan Vision in Asian-American Literature

Asian-American literature is often identified as foreign by Asians and considered inauthentic American literature by the American mainstream.However,this minority group literature is unique in its characteristics so that it cannot be easily judged by either Asian or American norms.In order to better understand Asian-American literature,it is necessary to study how the members of Asian immigrant communities tend to form their own unique identities as Asian-Americans and to examine their literature using a new prism in light of cosmopolitanism,and not with any of the conventional perspectives.Identity formation has never been easy and natural for the bewildered and suffering Asian immigrants in the United States of America,especially for the second generation.Through the study of the Korean American writer Chang-rae Lee’s Native Speaker and the Chinese-American writer Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior,we hope to explore the possibilities and impossibilities in cultural and social identification represented in those works.Our study clearly reveals that the social and psychological conflicts that Asian immigrants experience are frequently projected on the works of the immigrant writers.A cosmopolitan prospect is often envisioned in their works as a way out for both the locals and the diasporas in today’s increasingly globalized world.