浅析“情景法”教学与“语法法”教学

“情景法”教学让学生如身临其境 ,全方位、多感官体会英语语言 ,“语法法”教学又可让学生在现有的母语语言基础上理解英语语言 ,笔者以为 ,在英语新教材中应当“情景法”为主 ,“语法法”为枝 ,互相结合 ,再加上教师的勤奋努力 ,一定会产生突出的教学效果。

Inspiration of cognitive approach on foreign language teaching

In recent years, the college English teaching reform has been increasingly deepened. The study of the relationship between cognitive approach and foreign language teaching is undoubtedly instructive not only to guarantee the quality of foreign language teaching but also to improve learners＇ foreign language proficiency. In this essay, the author expounds the development of cognitive approach and some relative teaching principles, on which basis the author puts forward some specific practices in foreign language teaching.

Narrating the Past in Different Contexts:C-BI Approach to the Present Perfect and Past Simple

Concept-based instruction(C-BI)has proven to be effective in improving students’command of grammar items used out of context by offering the students revision lessons,but its effect in teaching newly-introduced grammar items in a complex context of a specific genre remains unclear.To probe C-BI’s effect on students’use of the past simple and present perfect tenses out of context and in the context of a narrative by its description of the grammar concept in its materialization,that is,the Schemas of a Complete Orienting Basis of an Action(SCOBAs),we taught the two tenses to 40 eighth-graders in a Chinese middle school in our three-week teaching experiment.The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results shows that i)in both out-ofcontext use and in-context use,accuracy of using the target tenses is higher after C-BI intervention;ii)by improving their conceptual knowledge through C-BI,the students are helped to pin down reference time and are hence more certain in using the target tenses.Moreover,they are encouraged to use the newly-introduced tenses in the complex context of the narrative genre;iii)both in simple contexts or complex contexts,the SCOBAs are effective in helping students navigate the learning task and determine their intended meaning by establishing temporal reference in the context.

On gender differences in language acquisition

English learning is influenced by many factors which affect directly or indirectly the students＇ English acquirement. Among these, the learner himself or herself is the most direct and important. This passage emphasizes the point of English educational psychology and from it we can see that the motivation factor, ability factor and intellect factor affect the students＇ English learning most. Girls＇ internal motivation is stronger than boys＇ in the foreign language studying and most of the girls aim at gaining English knowledge. The process of English learning itself can make them contented and basically they will not be interrupted by the external factors.

Promoting language Learners＇ Autonomy in Cooperative Learning

Learner Autonomy （LA） is the desirable goal of the education. To date, many Learner Autonomy training programs have been carried out in foreign language teaching. Cooperative Learning （CL） is a language teaching and learning strategy which gets learners actively and cooperatively involved in learning a foreign language in groups. Both of them have been respectively advocated from pedagogical point of view and from the perspective of philosophy. However, being autonomous does not necessarily mean learning alone. Language learners should learn cooperatively and autonomously. It is the author＇s contention that CL is a good method to promote LA. CL has positive effects on both students＇ readiness and their ability to be more autonomous. CL enhances self-esteem and self-confidence, increases high motivation, encourages learners＇ responsibility for learning, enhances self-management skills, increases support for language learners to move from interdependence to independence. The paper stresses in the end that promoting LA is the teacher＇s long-term pedagogic goal.

Teaching English to students of science and technology

The teaching of English for Science and Technology （EST） is generally regarded as one of the most significant developments in English language pedagogy in recent years. EST is concerned with meeting the specific language needs of learners in various scientific and technological fields. These needs should be taken into consideration when planning and implementing English language courses or specialized courses to students of science and technology. This research is an attempt to investigate some of the problems involved in the teaching and learning of EST and suggest possible solutions. The research will focus on the reading comprehension of scientific and technical texts written in English, the teaching and learning of functional grammar, and the teaching and learning of lexis. These are regarded as some of the most important skills and sub-skills to be acquired by the students of science and technology to help them gain scientific information in English and reach a satisfactory level of achievement in their academic studies. The contention here is that it is in need to adopt a new set of assumptions and criteria specifically relevant to EST instead of employing those of General-English courses being used in the foundation and non-foundation years. This is in line with the basic premise of ESP （English for Special Purpose） and foundation courses which are supposed to prepare students for longer and more difficult tasks in their relevant fields of study. It is hoped that the findings of this research paper will be fruitful and relevant to other ESP courses in addition to those of EST.

To what extent should grammar be taught for the students of English majors in China？

The purpose of this paper is to show the importance of grammar teaching for the students of English majors in China and to provide an integrated teaching method for the teachers of English in China and colleagues in similar situations outside of China, through the analysis of the nature and role of grammar, of the importance of form depending upon the students＇ and instructional variables, and of using texts communicatively, in English teaching.

The constructivist educational effectiveness of TM-aided specialized translation

This article evaluated the constructivist pedagogical effectiveness of a TM-aided specialized translation project tested on 16 undergraduates at a technological university using student reflections and the questionnaire for qualitative analysis. The results showed that TMs-students-instructor interaction facilitated the learning of specialized translation strategies, meeting the constructivist educational principle of ＂interaction＂. In addition, students effectively constructed new translation knowledge through the negotiation of the differences between student and professional translators＇ translations, concurring with the constructivist educational principle of ＂conflict resolution＂. Finally, students successfully learned technical skills of the Trados tool through hands-on practice, and cognitively acquired specialized translation knowledge through reflections writing and oral presentations, fitting the constructivist educational principle of ＂active participation＂. Overall, most students＇ positive responses justified the constructive educational effectiveness of TM-aided specialized translation through TMs consultation, peer help and the instructor support in the self-paced and student-centered learning environment.

On multi-dimensional vocabulary teaching mode for college English teaching

This paper analyses the major approaches in EFL （English as a Foreign Language） vocabulary teaching from historical perspective and puts forward multi-dimensional vocabulary teaching mode for college English. The author stresses that multi-dimensional approaches of communicative vocabulary teaching, lexical phrase teaching method, the grammar translation approach as well as audio-lingual method should be adopted, tasks should be designed and context be constructed to improve learners＇ vocabulary acquiring competence and language competence.

Systemic Functional Grammar and its pedagogical implications

This paper focuses on the application of systemic Functional Grammar （SFG） to language study. By providing a sample of text analysis from the systemic functional point of view, the paper illustrates how this approach can be helpful to language teaching.

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.

Situation, problems and approaches to medical English teaching

With a brief review of the ESP （English for Special Purpose） teaching in Medical Schools over the past 30 years, this paper elaborates on the changes and situation of English teaching and leaming in some Medical Schools. Through a survey which throws light on the importance of ESP, the paper analyzes the problems facing Medical Schools, such as materials suitable for medical students who want to cultivate their ability in listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating in their own field and teachers who are supposed to be qualified for medical English teaching, and then discusses the top priorities in these Medical Schools and examines what has been done and will be done in order to work out practicable approaches to meet the requirements of medical students.

Writing review articles as means to develop ESP writing skills

The present paper summarizes the current learning and teaching of ESP in higher medical education in China and suggests that some writing programs may help students of medical major writer better. Considering the multi-disciplinary characteristics of the class, the author has focused the writing lessons on review articles and received satisfactory outcomes.

The effects of anxiety and gender on students＇ speaking performance

In this study, the relationship between anxiety and the speaking performance of Iranian EFL （English as a Foreign Language） learners is investigated. The effects of gender and anxiety on the students＇ speaking performance are also examined. Through Oxford Placement Test, 43 students （10 male and 33 female students） of English in Shiraz University were selected out of 63 initial participants. In order to measure the students＇ anxiety level, the FLCAS （Foreign Language Class Anxiety Scale） was administered. The means of the students＇ scores on the two courses of Conversations 1 ＆ 2 taken in the first year were used to represent their speaking skill. The results of Pearson product-moment correlation revealed a moderate negative correlation between the anxiety and the speaking scores （r=-0.54）. The 2-way ANOVA （Analysis of Variance） analysis showed that the anxiety had a significant effect on the speaking grades, but the gender and the interaction of the gender and anxiety did not. This study suggests some pedagogical implications that EFL teachers and advisers could use it to help their students overcome the anxiety of speaking oerformance.

Facilitating learning together in Iranian context： Three collaborative oral feedback models in EFL writing classes

Peer response activities take place in different modes, and the different modes affect the roles participants play. These modes can be written, oral, or a combination of both. The purpose of this study is to see how teacher-response, peer-response, and a combination of both in oral mode can be effective in accomplishing the learning/teaching goals of both the students and the teachers in a collaborative Iranian setting to achieve this goal, the researcher chose 60 students as the eligible members of the sample participating in this study. The participants--15 males and 45 females--were all Iranian Persian native speakers aged between 22 and 25 majoring in English translation at university level. They were assigned to three homogeneous groups based on the obtained scores on Oxford Placement Test and a sample paragraph on a given topic, emphasizing the expository genre. They covered five topics in a sequence of ten written texts--before and after receiving feedback--over a 15-week semester. All the written tasks were collected and scored analytically to track any improvement and assay the effects of different feedback sources on students＇ writing performances. The results revealed that： First, oral feedback had a significant effect on students＇ revised drafts and students incorporated the comments provided by the teacher, peers, or both in the process of draft editing; Second, of the three feedback sources the students benefited from teacher＇s feedback more than peers＇ feedback; and finally, the collaborative oral feedback model had a significant effect on students＇ writing. In addition, this method provided a practical foreign-language-learning experience for the Iranian students to share their common linguistic goals and gave a new sense to collaborative learning tasks in EFL writing classes.

Transitional methodologies of the second language grammar teaching in middle schools

Grammar teaching recently faces lots of problems not only in the teaching methods but also in its position it deserves. Through analyzing the importance and the confronting problems of grammar teaching in middle schools, the paper will do the further research on the methodologies in the transitional time and will surely conclude the theories that can direct teaching process.

The comparison between written DCT and oral role-plays in investigation upon English refusal strategies by Chinese EFL students

The present study is a comparison study of research instrument in the field of interlanguage pragmatics. Sixty-two Chinese EFL university students participated in the study. Written DCT and oral role-plays were designed in four stimulus types of refusal strategies--refusals to invitations, suggestions, offers and requests. Chi-square test and frequency were used for quantitative data and transcription of the tests was used for the qualitative data. The results show that there is no significant difference between the two tests in terms of strategies choices, but written DCT can produce a longer sentence while oral role-plays can yield a more natural expression.

Negative effect of instruction on L2 learners＇ pragmatic development

The present paper discusses three major sources of negative effect of classroom instruction on L2 learners＇ pragmatic development： inadequate or inappropriate metapragmatic input, non-authentic classroom discourse and grammar-oriented pedagogy, then proposes some pedagogical suggestions on developing pragmatic competence.

Practical use of task design in oral English teaching： Focus on task types

The implication of Task-Based Language Teaching （TBLT） in oral English teaching continues to draw attention of language teachers and researchers. This paper will survey issues at the core of TBLT, with particular emphasis on the six task types in Jane Willis＇ theory. Following a brief introduction of TBLT, the six types of task will be reviewed and its practical use in oral English teaching will be explored. Finally, the paper will point out some problems in TBLT, mainly focus on task and its design.

A multifaceted female image： An analysis of the heroine in The Scarlet Letter

This paper deals with the main characteristics of the heroine in Tke Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne. She was firm and kind-hearted. She was punished severely for adultery. However, she endured all miseries and insults bravely, and fostered her daughter alone. Meanwhile, she helped others without any resentment or desire for repayment. Being isolated and outlawed, she got more acute than the others, and became contemplative gradually, speculating on some serious and complex problems. The particular circumstances mainly created her from a common woman to be an important one who had multi-tudinous characteristics. In fact, the sin she had committed was not unforgivable. She was punished severely just because she had defied the Puritan, whose society was filled with cruelty and deceit. Furthermore, Hester＇s unsatisfaction with the life, Dimmesdale＇s weakness and hypocrisy, and the isolation by the society were all the reasons of creating those characteristics. Finally, Hester dominated over her own identity, and thus, became an example for others.