American English is predominantly prescribed as the primary English learning model at every educational level in Taiwan and limited attention is paid to other accents of English. It is therefore the intention of this ...American English is predominantly prescribed as the primary English learning model at every educational level in Taiwan and limited attention is paid to other accents of English. It is therefore the intention of this paper to investigate whether Taiwan Residents EFL learners have difficulties understanding British English after years of instruction in American English, and to identify differences between learners＇ attitudes towards these two varieties of English. EFL learners from two universities were randomly assigned to American and British English groups and required to listen to short texts recorded with either American or British accent. An independent simple t-test showed that no significant differences were found in listening comprehension scores, but responses on questionnaires revealed significant differences in attitudes towards American and British English. The influence of long-term instruction in American English was evidenced. Based on these findings, suggestions are provided for English language teaching in Taiwan and implications are drawn for the concept of English as an International Language （ELL）, that in order to pursue successful international communication with people of various native languages, EFL learners need to experience various accents of English.展开更多
Listening is one of the fundamental language skills. However for many students, it is the most demanding and is therefore a skill that needs a considerable amount of practice and training. This paper is meant to deal ...Listening is one of the fundamental language skills. However for many students, it is the most demanding and is therefore a skill that needs a considerable amount of practice and training. This paper is meant to deal with listening comprehension from the viewpoint of relevance theory due to its powerful explanation for the nature of listening and its practical application of some relevance-based strategies. It is aiming to establish a strong linkage between theory and practice by illustrating how an instructional model can originate in theory and research and move toward classroom practices that are useful, understandable, and effective for teachers and for students. In the suggested relevance-based strategic model, a number of positive strategies are approached, ranging from linguistic to non-linguistic strategies, which are important in helping students become better language learners and in improving listening teaching.展开更多
文摘American English is predominantly prescribed as the primary English learning model at every educational level in Taiwan and limited attention is paid to other accents of English. It is therefore the intention of this paper to investigate whether Taiwan Residents EFL learners have difficulties understanding British English after years of instruction in American English, and to identify differences between learners＇ attitudes towards these two varieties of English. EFL learners from two universities were randomly assigned to American and British English groups and required to listen to short texts recorded with either American or British accent. An independent simple t-test showed that no significant differences were found in listening comprehension scores, but responses on questionnaires revealed significant differences in attitudes towards American and British English. The influence of long-term instruction in American English was evidenced. Based on these findings, suggestions are provided for English language teaching in Taiwan and implications are drawn for the concept of English as an International Language （ELL）, that in order to pursue successful international communication with people of various native languages, EFL learners need to experience various accents of English.
文摘Listening is one of the fundamental language skills. However for many students, it is the most demanding and is therefore a skill that needs a considerable amount of practice and training. This paper is meant to deal with listening comprehension from the viewpoint of relevance theory due to its powerful explanation for the nature of listening and its practical application of some relevance-based strategies. It is aiming to establish a strong linkage between theory and practice by illustrating how an instructional model can originate in theory and research and move toward classroom practices that are useful, understandable, and effective for teachers and for students. In the suggested relevance-based strategic model, a number of positive strategies are approached, ranging from linguistic to non-linguistic strategies, which are important in helping students become better language learners and in improving listening teaching.
