This paper tries to explore the effect of question-generation reading strategy on the reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL （English as a Foreign Language） learners. Since the researchers did not have an...This paper tries to explore the effect of question-generation reading strategy on the reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL （English as a Foreign Language） learners. Since the researchers did not have any control over randomization of students and it was considered as one of the features of experimental method, this study is not a true experimental method. This method is called Intact Group Study. In this research there were experimental and control groups. The age range of the learners in both groups was between 19 to 22; the age range difference was so limited that we could neglect the difference concem. The number of students in both groups was closely the same. One of these groups received question-generation reading strategy instruction and the other group---control group--did not receive this instruction. Participants in both groups studied a task-based course book called New Interchange 3 by Richards （2005）. They studied the last eight units of this book during a whole term. The instruction was the same for both groups except for the reading parts. Participants in experimental group were taught how to generate questions as being linked to the main ideas of the text they were reading. They were also given feedback on the correctness of the questions they generated. Then they answered the follow-up questions However, participants in control group received a traditional method of reading for comprehension; they read the text on their own and answered the follow-up questions. Of course both groups enjoyed a warm-up before reading each text. The statistical independent group T-test of the reading comprehension posttest showed that participants in the experimental group performed better than the students in the control group展开更多
In this essay, the author has endeavored to present a detailed review on Chern＇s article Chinese students＇ word-solving strategies in reading in English from the aspects of research methods, findings and arguments. ...In this essay, the author has endeavored to present a detailed review on Chern＇s article Chinese students＇ word-solving strategies in reading in English from the aspects of research methods, findings and arguments. We generally agree on the results she drew, which were as follows： （1） Chinese EFL learners were similar to learners from other L I language backgrounds in strategies use in reading; （2） Both high proficient learners and low proficient learners made more use of sentence-bound strategies and backward cues; （3） The use of forward cues differentiated the good learners from the poor learners; （4） The use of global cues correlated with subjects＇ proficiency level. However, there are some deficiencies as well. Chern over-emphasized the importance of guessing in reading, forbidding the use of dictionary or skipping. Therefore, she could not show the readers a full picture of how Chinese EFL learners discover meanings of unknown words in reading. Thus the author proposes that a further research should be conducted to see if other strategies will be employed in a real-life reading.展开更多
Acoustic terms are useful academic tools to help EFL （English as a Foreign Language） learners to perceive pronunciation visually. Pratt is worldewide famous free acoustic professional software applied to the articul...Acoustic terms are useful academic tools to help EFL （English as a Foreign Language） learners to perceive pronunciation visually. Pratt is worldewide famous free acoustic professional software applied to the articulation with the help of the graph of ampplitude plotted and spectrogram. The paper will apply the professional acoustic tool Praat to pronunciation pedagogy to facilitate discrimination and articulation and suggests that the program can be adapted for the teaching of pronunciation to Chinese EFL learners.展开更多
The name, ＂Bantu＂, is a classificatory term which refers to a sub-group of the Niger-Congo languages, i.e., the Benue-Congo group of languages, which are spoken extensively in the equatorial and southern part of Afr...The name, ＂Bantu＂, is a classificatory term which refers to a sub-group of the Niger-Congo languages, i.e., the Benue-Congo group of languages, which are spoken extensively in the equatorial and southern part of Africa, as well as the family of peoples speaking these languages. As a result of its association with racism during the Apartheid regime in South Africa, the term was heavily politicized and lost its original meaning to acquire racist connotations. In South Africa, the names ＂African（s）＂ or ＂Black（s）＂ are used as substitutes for the stigmatized name ＂Bantu（s）＂ with reference to the Bantu speaking peoples and their languages. This research investigates the use of the words, ＂Africans＂ and ＂Blacks＂ to assess their suitability as replacements for the word ＂Bantu＂. An intensive outline of the classification of the languages of Africa is given to authenticate the basic meaning of these classificatory terms, especially the term ＂Bantu＂展开更多
This paper examines two postcolonial writings by the Nobel Prize winner Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, The Mimic Men （1969） and In a Free State （1984）. In particular, it studies how Naipaul reflects on the histori...This paper examines two postcolonial writings by the Nobel Prize winner Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, The Mimic Men （1969） and In a Free State （1984）. In particular, it studies how Naipaul reflects on the historical experiences of national nonsense--the seemingly contradictory existence of transnationality in nationality--and how he manages in his writings to keep an ethical distance from both the colonial empires and the nation-states that came up to replace the colonial empires in the postcolonial world.展开更多
Research has been done on the effects of text familiarity on reading comprehension. It has been shown that there is no relationship between familiarity with the content of a passage and better comprehension of that pa...Research has been done on the effects of text familiarity on reading comprehension. It has been shown that there is no relationship between familiarity with the content of a passage and better comprehension of that passage through reading it. More specifically, it has been indicated that students perform better on a passage with an unfamiliar content （Carrel, 1983）. This study focuses on the effect of text familiarity on summary writing skill of foreign language students. In order to achieve this goal, 60 male and female students participated in this study. Four passages were selected from among reading comprehension TOEFL （Test of English as a Foreign Language） texts Two passages were familiar and the other two were unfamiliar. They were given to students for summary writing Through the processes of test administration, each subject was tested on four passages. The subjects performed better on the passage with unfamiliar content.展开更多
ELP （English Language Proficiency） testing is both time-consuming and wasteful if the texts are used merely as tools for assessment. CDA （Critical Discourse Analysis） is an approach that allows for text, processin...ELP （English Language Proficiency） testing is both time-consuming and wasteful if the texts are used merely as tools for assessment. CDA （Critical Discourse Analysis） is an approach that allows for text, processing and social analyses. This paper focuses on the problem-solution discourse pattern in a text selected from the responses of 86 Chinese law school freshmen to a writing test prompt that addressed problems with learning English. The text was compared and contrasted with the response of the same subject as a senior to the identical prompt. The objectives of the CDA were to investigate what constraints were placed on contents, relations and subjects in terms of discourse and to describe, interpret and explain formal features that function to elicit experiential, relational and expressive values simultaneously in the texts. Further analyses of such texts may contribute to ESP （English for Specific Purposes） curriculum and materials development for non-English majors展开更多
文摘This paper tries to explore the effect of question-generation reading strategy on the reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL （English as a Foreign Language） learners. Since the researchers did not have any control over randomization of students and it was considered as one of the features of experimental method, this study is not a true experimental method. This method is called Intact Group Study. In this research there were experimental and control groups. The age range of the learners in both groups was between 19 to 22; the age range difference was so limited that we could neglect the difference concem. The number of students in both groups was closely the same. One of these groups received question-generation reading strategy instruction and the other group---control group--did not receive this instruction. Participants in both groups studied a task-based course book called New Interchange 3 by Richards （2005）. They studied the last eight units of this book during a whole term. The instruction was the same for both groups except for the reading parts. Participants in experimental group were taught how to generate questions as being linked to the main ideas of the text they were reading. They were also given feedback on the correctness of the questions they generated. Then they answered the follow-up questions However, participants in control group received a traditional method of reading for comprehension; they read the text on their own and answered the follow-up questions. Of course both groups enjoyed a warm-up before reading each text. The statistical independent group T-test of the reading comprehension posttest showed that participants in the experimental group performed better than the students in the control group
文摘In this essay, the author has endeavored to present a detailed review on Chern＇s article Chinese students＇ word-solving strategies in reading in English from the aspects of research methods, findings and arguments. We generally agree on the results she drew, which were as follows： （1） Chinese EFL learners were similar to learners from other L I language backgrounds in strategies use in reading; （2） Both high proficient learners and low proficient learners made more use of sentence-bound strategies and backward cues; （3） The use of forward cues differentiated the good learners from the poor learners; （4） The use of global cues correlated with subjects＇ proficiency level. However, there are some deficiencies as well. Chern over-emphasized the importance of guessing in reading, forbidding the use of dictionary or skipping. Therefore, she could not show the readers a full picture of how Chinese EFL learners discover meanings of unknown words in reading. Thus the author proposes that a further research should be conducted to see if other strategies will be employed in a real-life reading.
文摘Acoustic terms are useful academic tools to help EFL （English as a Foreign Language） learners to perceive pronunciation visually. Pratt is worldewide famous free acoustic professional software applied to the articulation with the help of the graph of ampplitude plotted and spectrogram. The paper will apply the professional acoustic tool Praat to pronunciation pedagogy to facilitate discrimination and articulation and suggests that the program can be adapted for the teaching of pronunciation to Chinese EFL learners.
文摘The name, ＂Bantu＂, is a classificatory term which refers to a sub-group of the Niger-Congo languages, i.e., the Benue-Congo group of languages, which are spoken extensively in the equatorial and southern part of Africa, as well as the family of peoples speaking these languages. As a result of its association with racism during the Apartheid regime in South Africa, the term was heavily politicized and lost its original meaning to acquire racist connotations. In South Africa, the names ＂African（s）＂ or ＂Black（s）＂ are used as substitutes for the stigmatized name ＂Bantu（s）＂ with reference to the Bantu speaking peoples and their languages. This research investigates the use of the words, ＂Africans＂ and ＂Blacks＂ to assess their suitability as replacements for the word ＂Bantu＂. An intensive outline of the classification of the languages of Africa is given to authenticate the basic meaning of these classificatory terms, especially the term ＂Bantu＂
文摘This paper examines two postcolonial writings by the Nobel Prize winner Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, The Mimic Men （1969） and In a Free State （1984）. In particular, it studies how Naipaul reflects on the historical experiences of national nonsense--the seemingly contradictory existence of transnationality in nationality--and how he manages in his writings to keep an ethical distance from both the colonial empires and the nation-states that came up to replace the colonial empires in the postcolonial world.
文摘Research has been done on the effects of text familiarity on reading comprehension. It has been shown that there is no relationship between familiarity with the content of a passage and better comprehension of that passage through reading it. More specifically, it has been indicated that students perform better on a passage with an unfamiliar content （Carrel, 1983）. This study focuses on the effect of text familiarity on summary writing skill of foreign language students. In order to achieve this goal, 60 male and female students participated in this study. Four passages were selected from among reading comprehension TOEFL （Test of English as a Foreign Language） texts Two passages were familiar and the other two were unfamiliar. They were given to students for summary writing Through the processes of test administration, each subject was tested on four passages. The subjects performed better on the passage with unfamiliar content.
文摘ELP （English Language Proficiency） testing is both time-consuming and wasteful if the texts are used merely as tools for assessment. CDA （Critical Discourse Analysis） is an approach that allows for text, processing and social analyses. This paper focuses on the problem-solution discourse pattern in a text selected from the responses of 86 Chinese law school freshmen to a writing test prompt that addressed problems with learning English. The text was compared and contrasted with the response of the same subject as a senior to the identical prompt. The objectives of the CDA were to investigate what constraints were placed on contents, relations and subjects in terms of discourse and to describe, interpret and explain formal features that function to elicit experiential, relational and expressive values simultaneously in the texts. Further analyses of such texts may contribute to ESP （English for Specific Purposes） curriculum and materials development for non-English majors
