Research on the Status Quo and Improvement Needs of Foreign Language Teachers’ Teaching Competence in Curriculum-Based Ideological Education in Xinjiang Colleges and Universities

This study investigated the status quo and further improvement needs of foreign language teachers’teaching competence in curriculum-based ideological education(CIE)in Xinjiang colleges and universities.The results show that the teachers’teaching competence in CIE is generally good,with the“cultivating quality”being the highest and the“scientific research quality”the lowest;there still exist several problems,such as teachers’lack of theoretical knowledge in CIE,lack of teaching resources,and insufficient abilities in teaching design and research.It is hoped that with the support and efforts from university administrations,teachers can improve their teaching competence in CIE through various approaches adopted and multiple measures taken,thus optimizing their teaching effectiveness,promoting the construction of CIE in Xinjiang colleges and universities in the new era,and contributing to Xinjiang’s high-quality development.

Beliefs about Language Learning Held by Pre-service Teachers:A case study

Language learning beliefs play a very important role in influencing learners' attitudes,motivations and also shape their experiences and actions in classroom.Successful learners develop insightful beliefs about language learning process,their own abilities and the use of effective strategies.However language learning beliefs can be different because of individual learner differences and contextual diversity.This study aimed at exploring beliefs about language learning held by pre-service teachers.159 pre-service teachers majoring in English at Qianan Normal College for Nationalities participated in the study.A 34-item questionnaire adapted from Horwitz's(1987) BALLI was used to collect the data.The results were reported and discussed from the following five aspects:1) beliefs about foreign language aptitude,2) beliefs about difficulty of language learning,3) beliefs about nature of language learning,4) beliefs about learning and communication strategies,and 5) beliefs about motivation and expectations.Suggestions on pedagogical implications and for future research were also indicated.

Systematizing Teacher Development:A Review of Foreign Language Teacher Learning

Foreign language teaching practice is developing rapidly,but research on foreign language teacher learning is currently relatively fragmented and unstructured.The book Foreign Language Teacher Learning,written by Professor Kang Yan from Capital Normal University,published in September 2022,makes a systematic introduction to foreign language teacher learning,which to some extent makes up for this shortcoming.Her book presents the lineage of foreign language teacher learning research at home and abroad,analyzes both theoretical and practical aspects,reviews the cuttingedge research results,and foresees the future development trend,painting a complete research picture for researchers in the field of foreign language teaching and teacher education as well as front-line teachers interested in foreign language teacher learning.This is an important inspiration for conducting foreign language teacher learning research in the future.And this paper makes a review of the book from aspects such as its content,major characteristics,contributions and limitations.

Critically Evaluate Foreign Language Teachers Training in Culture and Intercultural Communication

The aim of foreign language teaching in the contemporary is to develop foreign language talents who own intercultural competence.Thus,it is necessary to improve teachers’cultural quality and intercultural awareness.The paper explores some relevant training courses on culture and intercultural awareness,and discusses the deficiency of these courses.

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.

Curriculum Discourse and Foreign Language Teachers'Professional Development

The significance and status of the teachers'professional development make the education system and the society pay more and more attentions.The article elaborates the internal contact of curriculum discourse and teachers'professional development from a few respects such as the rationality of curriculum discourse,the long-term nature of the teachers'professional development and many factors affecting the teachers'professional development.The article also analyzes the external and internal factors influencing Tibet foreign language teachers'professional development,and puts forward the corresponding countermeasures in the light of these problems.

The Forming Mechanism of Foreign language Teachers＇ Professional Development Community

Learning community is an important approach to the professional development of foreign language teachers in colleges and universities. Based on the concept of professional development community, this paper analyzes the common connotation and classification of foreign language teachers＇ professional development community, and constructs the model and forming mechanism of foreign language teachers＇ professional development community, aiming at providing enlightenment and reference for the professional development of foreign language teachers in colleges and universities

Self-improvement of Teachers of Foreign Languages

The author points out that the foreign language teacher’s role as a best organizer in students’ study of foreign languages requires that teachers of foreign languages should have the good language teaching characteristics mentioned in this essay. At the same time, the ways for foreign language teachers to realize self improvement are introduced with some necessary examples.

外语教师发展的有效策略——评介Jack C.Richards所著Professional Development for Language Teachers:Strategies for Teacher Learning

J.C.Richards教授在英语语言教学和教师培训领域的实践经历与理论研究,对其本人关于"语言教师发展"思想体系的构建起到了积极的促进作用。他于2005年出版的Professional Development for Language Teachers:Strategies for Teacher Learning(《语言教师专业发展:教师学习策略》)一书论述了"教师教育"的本质,分析了关于"教师发展"的六个重要观点,尤其是对语言教师发展策略进行系统性阐述,以章节形式对十一种发展策略进行全面细致的介绍,并附有具体事例、教师反思、参考书目等。该书是作者对英语语言教师发展领域的理论研究及实践经验的总结,其内容及框架在注重理论知识的科学性和系统性的同时,也突出了实践操作的必要性和可行性,可以作为我国外语教师开展职业发展、提升职业素质的有益参考。

Curriculum Innovation in Language Teacher Education:Reflections on the PGDELT Program’s Contributions to EFL Teachers’Continuing Professional Development

Initial teacher preparation and teachers’ continuing professional development are two significant pillars of the teacher education enterprise. The former encompasses a wide range of teachereducation initiatives at the levels of diploma, bachelor’s degree, postgraduate diploma, and even master’s degree for teacher licensure purposes. These are widely documented in the literature.What is important is how teacher professional development contributes to bolstering the teachereducator force, which is relatively insufficiently documented due to the very fact that different educational systems have somewhat different expectations of such programs in relation to the ideologies and theories underpinning the teacher professional development program design and curriculum offering. Taking stock of a postgraduate diploma program in English language teaching(PGDELT) for teachers’ continuing professional development with a 31-year history housed at a premier teacher education institution in Singapore, which has successfully graduated over 1, 000 English language teachers for colleges and universities in China, I intend to highlight some of its key features, as a former student and then a lecturer on the program, in order to draw implications for sustainable growth of language teacher education programs, especially those whose main purposes are to prepare teachers of English as a second or foreign language(ESL/EFL) and provide continuing professional development opportunities for such inservice teachers.

Foreign Language Enjoyment and Anxiety: The effect of teacher and learner variables (Ⅰ)

Positive psychology has boosted interest in the positive as well as the negative emotions that Foreign Language learners experience. The present study examines whether -and to what extent -foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and FL classroom anxiety (FLCA) are linked to a range of learner-internal variables and teacher/classroom-specific variables within one specific educational context. Participants were 189 British high school students learning various FLs. Levels of FLE were linked to higher scores on attitudes towards the FL, the FL teacher, FL use in class, proportion of time spent on speaking, relative standing and stage of development. Lower levels FLCA were linked to higher scores on attitudes towards the FL, relative standing and stage of development. FLCA thus seems less related to teacher and teacher practices than FLE. The pedagogical implication is that teachers should strive to boost FLE rather than worry too much about students' FLCA.

（Re）Constructing Pedagogical Knowledge in English as a Foreign Language Teacher Education Courses

English language teaching in the post-method condition demands the preparation of critical professionals capable of developing their teaching practice to enhance their pupils＇ language learning process. These professionals should also be able to recognize their prior knowledge as a potential tool to teach and to act autonomously in different educational contexts. Therefore, pre-service teacher education courses need to provide favorable conditions for teacher candidates to engage in reflective practice in order to foster continuous professional development. The main goal of this paper is to discuss the complexity of the pedagogical knowledge （re）construction process in an English as a foreign language （EFL） teacher education course, attempting to understand prospective teachers＇ pedagogical actions and strategies used to cope with classroom problems in their teaching practice. For this reason, some examples of this dynamic process, obtained by class recordings and reflective sessions with future teachers were examined. Results indicated that through self-assessment and reflection, stimulated by these sessions, student-teachers were able to recognize problems in their teaching procedures, as well as analyze their teaching practice and （re）construct their pedagogical knowledge, favoring their students＇ language learning process and their own teaching approach.

Teacher' s Expected Role in Applying TBLT Method to Foreign Language Teaching

TBLT method is an influential approach which is based on the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language and teaching,.Thus it calls for teachers expected responsibility in order to be applied well in foreign language teaching.Here based on the principles of TBLT,teachers' expected roles are discussed.

On Learner Autonomy in Foreign Language Education

Previous studies abroad and at home on learner autonomy have provided a variety of definitions from different perspectives as a framework of reference for the essence of LA. Therefore, based on the characteristics of LA, ways such as cultivation of LA beliefs and learning strategies, construction of a favorable LA environment and promotion of learner autonomy through teacher autonomy can be employed to foster students'autonomous learning ability.

Foreign Language Classroom Discourse Analysis

This paper reviews some works done to classroom discourse analysis and summaries some peculiarities of foreign language classroom discourse.Some strategies are proposed for the teachers to activate students into communicative teaching activities in classroom for the purpose of improving college English teaching and learning.

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.

University Students＇ Perceptions of English Teachers＇ Codeswitching in Class

Foreign language teachers＇ codeswitching （CS） between Foreign Language （FL） and Mother Tongue （MT） in class has been under discussion for years. Out of the pedagogical concern, many teaching practitioners conducted various studies in different contexts aiming at describing, quantifying, and interpreting teachers＇ CS between FL and MT in class. However, up till now little attention is paid to students＇ perceptions and understandings of teachers＇ CS, which may help improve educators＇ understanding of the phenomenon in FL classrooms. This paper presents the result of two focus group interviews with groups of Chinese university students at their third and fourth year of college. Following a formal interview outline, issues on students＇ recall, understanding and evaluation of teachers＇ CS are addressed in the interview. Based on the analysis of the interviews, a better understanding on foreign language teachers＇ CS is gained, and students＇ perceptions on teachers＇ purposes and reasons for CS are drawn. A framework for investigating foreign language teachers＇ CS in Chinese universities is proposed with two hypotheses generated.

Research Methodology and the Foreign Language Teacher

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On Teacher Talk in ELT Classroom Teaching

Teacher talk (TT for short) in China's ELT (English as Foreign Language Teaching) classroom teaching refers to the speech that the teacher uses to speak to students when the teacher undertakes teaching tasks and spread knowledge. This article will firstly introduce teacher talk briefly and then analyze some strategies with regard to TT with the ultimate purposes of illustrating how effective teacher talk contributes to the good relationship between teacher and students in ELT classroom.