Studying abroad （SA） is an important means for EFL teachers to develop their professional competence. This paper reports on an enquiry in Shandong Province, China, into a SA program for a group of 103 secondary scho...Studying abroad （SA） is an important means for EFL teachers to develop their professional competence. This paper reports on an enquiry in Shandong Province, China, into a SA program for a group of 103 secondary school English teachers. Drawing on questionnaire data and teachers＇ interview narratives, the paper examines how the SA experience influenced their self-perceptions of EFL teaching in three aspects, namely, language proficiency, teaching ideology and the comparison of native speaking and non-native speaking English teachers. The enquiry revealed that the length of SA was a powerful factor in determining teachers＇ attitudes toward their jobs and their own capacities to perform them successfully. These findings are discussed with suggestions for making SA experience an effective, sustainable path for secondary school English teachers＇ professional development.展开更多
The capacity to adapt to resource distributions by modulating the frequency of exploratory and exploitative behaviors is common across metazoans and is arguably a principal selective force in the evolution of cognitio...The capacity to adapt to resource distributions by modulating the frequency of exploratory and exploitative behaviors is common across metazoans and is arguably a principal selective force in the evolution of cognition. Here we （I） review recent work investigating behavioral and biological commonalities between external foraging in space and internal foraging over envi- ronments specified by cognitive representations, and （2） explore the implications of these commonalities for understanding the origins of the self. Behavioural commonalities include the capacity for what is known as area-restricted search in the ecological literature： this is search focussed around locations where resources have been found in the past, but moving away from locations where few resources arc found, and capable of producing movement pattems mimicking L6vy flights. Area-restricted search shares a neural basis across metazoans, and these biological commonalities in vertebrates suggest an evolutionary homology be- tween external and internal foraging. Internal foraging, and in particular a form we call embodied prospective foraging, makes available additional capacities for prediction based on search through a cognitive representation of the external environment, and allows predictions about outcomes of possible future actions. We demonstrate that cognitive systems that use embodied prospec- tive foraging require a primitive sense of self, needed to distinguish actual from simulated action. This relationship has implica- tions for understanding the evolution of autonoetic consciousness and self-awareness.展开更多
The existing literature has revealed that Problem-based Learning （PBL） can improve the cognitive competence of learners, but few studies focus on L2 learning from the perspective of students, or on the relationship ...The existing literature has revealed that Problem-based Learning （PBL） can improve the cognitive competence of learners, but few studies focus on L2 learning from the perspective of students, or on the relationship between PBL and linguistic cognition. Based on students＇ reflective journals, the researcher＇s observation notes, and interviews with teachers and students, this case study describes the individual and collective self-negotiations during a Problem-Based L2 Learning （PBLL） practice of 157 non-English majors at three universities in Beijing. The current study makes a distinction between surface and deep self-negotiations, and confirms the conception of the self-negotiated L2 cognition of PBLL learners. The research results show （1） that the self-negotiation is a consistent feature of PBLL because the whole PBLL process comprises the cyclic intertwining of individual and collective self-negotiations, （2） that L2 learners manage to achieve individual and collective self-negotiations through cognitive mechanisms of linking, riffling and converging, and （3） that deep self-negotiations in PBLL are more dynamic, interactive, and generative. Pedagogical implications, research limitations, and future directions are also discussed.展开更多
基金provided in part through the Foundation of Humanities and Social Science by the Chinese Ministry of Education(14YJA740013)
文摘Studying abroad （SA） is an important means for EFL teachers to develop their professional competence. This paper reports on an enquiry in Shandong Province, China, into a SA program for a group of 103 secondary school English teachers. Drawing on questionnaire data and teachers＇ interview narratives, the paper examines how the SA experience influenced their self-perceptions of EFL teaching in three aspects, namely, language proficiency, teaching ideology and the comparison of native speaking and non-native speaking English teachers. The enquiry revealed that the length of SA was a powerful factor in determining teachers＇ attitudes toward their jobs and their own capacities to perform them successfully. These findings are discussed with suggestions for making SA experience an effective, sustainable path for secondary school English teachers＇ professional development.
文摘The capacity to adapt to resource distributions by modulating the frequency of exploratory and exploitative behaviors is common across metazoans and is arguably a principal selective force in the evolution of cognition. Here we （I） review recent work investigating behavioral and biological commonalities between external foraging in space and internal foraging over envi- ronments specified by cognitive representations, and （2） explore the implications of these commonalities for understanding the origins of the self. Behavioural commonalities include the capacity for what is known as area-restricted search in the ecological literature： this is search focussed around locations where resources have been found in the past, but moving away from locations where few resources arc found, and capable of producing movement pattems mimicking L6vy flights. Area-restricted search shares a neural basis across metazoans, and these biological commonalities in vertebrates suggest an evolutionary homology be- tween external and internal foraging. Internal foraging, and in particular a form we call embodied prospective foraging, makes available additional capacities for prediction based on search through a cognitive representation of the external environment, and allows predictions about outcomes of possible future actions. We demonstrate that cognitive systems that use embodied prospec- tive foraging require a primitive sense of self, needed to distinguish actual from simulated action. This relationship has implica- tions for understanding the evolution of autonoetic consciousness and self-awareness.
基金sponsored by the Program in Social Sciences of Beijing Municipal Commission of Education (SM201511232008)
文摘The existing literature has revealed that Problem-based Learning （PBL） can improve the cognitive competence of learners, but few studies focus on L2 learning from the perspective of students, or on the relationship between PBL and linguistic cognition. Based on students＇ reflective journals, the researcher＇s observation notes, and interviews with teachers and students, this case study describes the individual and collective self-negotiations during a Problem-Based L2 Learning （PBLL） practice of 157 non-English majors at three universities in Beijing. The current study makes a distinction between surface and deep self-negotiations, and confirms the conception of the self-negotiated L2 cognition of PBLL learners. The research results show （1） that the self-negotiation is a consistent feature of PBLL because the whole PBLL process comprises the cyclic intertwining of individual and collective self-negotiations, （2） that L2 learners manage to achieve individual and collective self-negotiations through cognitive mechanisms of linking, riffling and converging, and （3） that deep self-negotiations in PBLL are more dynamic, interactive, and generative. Pedagogical implications, research limitations, and future directions are also discussed.
