“基因”教学中面向未来的教育观

人类基因组研究的快速进展,极大地推动了医学与医学遗传学的发展,为人类认识自身、防病治病提供了广阔的前景。面对21世纪这一高度信息化时代的来临,医学基础课程的教育不能落后于时代发展的步伐,因此,只有将有关基因的基础知识与基因研究最新成果融会贯通,才能真正体现教育要面向现代化、面向世界、面向未来的现代教育观,培养高水平、高素质,有强烈进取心、责任心的实用人才。并通过让学生了解我国科学家对基因研究的艰苦历程以及参与研究的意义,激发他们爱祖国、爱人民的思想感情,从而,树立崇高的职业理想。

An Ecological Exploration of the Culture of English as an International Language Among Iranian English Language Teachers in Light of Vygotsky＇s Genotypic Approach

Language ecology is defined as the study of the interactions between any given language and its environment. It is primarily determined by the people who learn it, who use it, and more important than the previous ones by the people who transmit it to the others; that is, language teachers. English language is used as an additional language almost all over the world and an indispensable part of the ecology of this international language is culture. Thus, an ecological perspective demands a particular view of the practice of the culture of English language as situated and localized. Exploring such practice within the diverse contexts of the use of English language should be based on the genesis underpinning English language teachers＇ thoughts and practice. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to explore Iranian English language teachers＇ attitudes, knowledge, and skills of teaching culture in light of Vygotsky＇s genotypic approach. To do so, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 35 English language teachers in Iran. Their records were analyzed and discussed in terms of four different and interrelated spans, namely phylogenetic, cultural-historic, ontogenetic, and microgenetic. Phylogenetic span focuses on the development of language teachers as natural species and their physical evolution. The cultural historic span concerns the development of language teachers based on social, cultural, and historic bases. Ontogenetic domain investigates the role of language teachers across their human life span. Microgenetic span is related to a set of roles, activities, and interpersonal relations experienced by the developing person in a given setting. The findings of the study have indicated that there is a sharp contrast between Iranian English language teachers＇ attitudes towards teaching culture and their practice in the classroom which is due to the divergence between the their ontogenetic development of culture teaching on one hand and the policies of the English language institutes develop within the cultural historic span on the other hand.

A Probe on the Influential Factors in Content-Based ESP Courses Design

Recent years, problems of the current college English courses, such as test-oriented teaching, wasteful duplication of language skills teaching, etc., have been criticized by educators and students in China. Thus, turning skill-based English courses into content-based ESP （English for Special Purposes） courses has become a tendency at colleges and universities in China. The purpose of this paper is to analyze factors influencing the design of such courses through the means of questionnaire, individual interviews, data survey （e.g., educational plans） etc.. We found the following factors throw light on the questions relating to curriculum design of ESP courses： （1） the learners＇ learning needs; （2） the social needs （esp. labor market needs）; and （3） the academic needs from the university. The analysis serves to reveal the gap between the school system and actual social and students needs. With these factors in mind, designers of such courses can adjust goals, contents, approaches, and assessments in the practical teaching. And thus these factors would enable content-based ESP courses to reflect learners＇ needs better and lead to more effective langrage learning in college English teaching field.