小学文言文教学美读启蒙

新编的小学语文教材收录了不少文言文短篇,小学生初步接触文言文感觉枯燥乏味,我们尝试通过美读教学来启蒙学生渐入佳境,帮助学生更好地把握文章主旨和情感。书读百遍,其义自见。认识多读的必要性,会读的重要性,通过美读教学的三重奏,在形式多样的范读、领读、自由读、赛读、分角色读、表演读中逐步理解文意,领会情感,提高文化底蕴。

引领学生在阅读中发现“美”

阅读是人类最普遍和最基础的学习手段,因而阅读教学在小学语文教学中举足轻重。本文立足小学语文的阅读教学,以培养学生的阅读审美能力为主要目标,积极为学生搭建与文本的桥梁,让学生读出节奏美、画面美、情感美和意境美。

Question-Generation Reading Strategy of Iranian EFL Learners

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

American individualism reflected in The last of the Mohicans

The paper explores the theoretical core of American individualism through the analysis of Cooper＇s The last of the Mohicans. It shows the significance of freedom and equality of each individual who may achieve perfection through self-esteem, self-confidence and self-reliance. The portrayal of the main characters indicates the concept of freedom and equality, expressing Cooper＇s expectation to establish an ideal new world. But with the extinction of the Mohicans, Cooper＇s expectation of establishing a beautiful new world is ruined. This dream is not realized in his work due to the conflicts of individualism with race and culture.

Empowering higher order thinking via language and transformative learning

This paper examines how thinking can be shaped via language and transformative learning. It examines four aspects of higher order thinking viz metacognition, locus of control, self-efficacy and intrinsic values. The study involves a teaching intervention to provide empirical evidence to show that higher order thinking is improved when it is in the learning environment： （1） Provides opportunities for negotiation, shared control, critical voice, personal relevance and uncertainty; and （2） encourage language use in interacting, communicating and constructing meanings. The sample consisted of 77 accounting college students in Malaysia, randomly grouped into the traditional lecture style classroom and the transformative classroom. Four self-report questionnaires were used to measure higher order thinking and to assess whether students＇ perceptions of their learning environment. Split Plot Analysis of Variance （SPANOVA） and t-tests were used to test 3 hypotheses formulated for the study. The results show that when learning environment simulate the true arena for transformative learning and provides ample opportunities to use language, higher order thinking can be empowered.

The peculiarities of the newly compiled textbooks for English classrooms in China

Flexible and original thinking is the key to outstanding textbooks design. In order to teach English effectively, this paper discusses the changes, features and the effect of the function of new English textbooks and the strategies of addressing the problems arising between foreign and native English textbooks, and offers a framework for students that is not restrictive but allows them to develop their own individual learning process without the restrictions that teachers encounter so often in prescriptive teaching.

Arsenic effect of English on the Igbo language

Arsenic is a metallic-looking poisonous chemical substance, which is odourless and tasteless. It is used for the manufacture of insecticides and fungicides. Arsenic may be absorbed accidentally through ingestion （food poisoning）, inhalation （toxic air） and permeation of skin. It has been scientifically proved that as little as 20 milligrams of arsenic may be life-threatening. It attacks delicate internal organs of the body, thereby, leading to health disorders and eventual death. On the one hand, this paper is set out to prove that the English language exerts similar killing effects on the Igbo language. On the other hand, the author will suggest ways of salvaging Igbo people＇s mother tongue from such killing effects.

Facilitating Accessibility for EFL Learners to Articulation Through Praat

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.

A study on the effects of formative assessment on College English teaching

Educational assessment as an important criterion to measure students＇ academic achievement has aroused much attention among English teachers and researchers, especially formative assessment due to its feedback in the course of language teaching. This paper conducts an empirical research to investigate the current situation of using formative assessment in College English teaching and its effects on College English teaching via questionnaires and interviews. The subjects of this research are 35 College English teachers and 5 classes of non-English majors in Harbin Engineering University. This paper finds that the use of formative assessment intensifies students＇ interests and develops their learning autonomy as well. Meanwhile, it provides timely feedback to teachers and modifies teachers＇ teaching strategies, which makes College English teaching more effective.

A systemic functional approach to EFL writing assessment

The present study aims to describe theme choices in students＇ writing with a systemic functional approach. The analysis of a student＇s written work chosen at random shows the student writer can apply various theme types in writing after receiving instruction in reading class. The author hopes to propose the pedagogical implication of teaching functional linguistics knowledge to advanced learners, because it gives the view to the students to write cohesive and coherent texts.

A framework of the suggested Meta-cognitive Strategy Training model

It is of great significance to carry out Meta-cognitive Strategy Training （MST） in current college English teaching context. After analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of some sequences and models for strategy training, the authors suggest the Meta-cognitive Strategy Training model which consists of 6 steps with Strategies-Based Instruction （SBI） employed to conduct the concrete strategy training.

An investigation into the 2003 new English curriculum in China through teachers＇ interviews

Interviews are made with 10 middle school English teachers in Guangdong to seek their opinions and discover the implementation of the 2003 new English curriculum. It was agreed that there are many improvements, including the proposal of learning strategies and emotions, and attitudes to learning English. However, few actual measures are carried out in implementation. Lack of support from school, parents and students proves to be a headache for teachers. The problems that hinder Chinese secondary ELT are hence pointed out： the traditional teaching methods, examination means, constraints, teacher quality and lack of support. Compromises should be made between the decision makers, teachers to bring satisfactory results to ELT in China. especially the course planners and the middle school

National Nonsense and V. S. Naipaul＇s Ethical Distance

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.

Are Terms ＂African（s）＂ or ＂Black（s）＂ Appropriate Substitutes for ＂Bantu（s）＂ in the South African Context？

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＂

The Effect of Text Familiarity on Summary Writing Skill

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.

Communicative Approach in College English Teaching

The basic insight of Communicative Language Teaching is that language can be thought of as a tool for communication, and language teaching should be student-centered to cultivate their communicative competence. This paper explains the main methods in Communicative Language Teaching in college integrated English teaching, and elaborates that the teaching methods and classroom activities of the curriculum should be designed to develop students＇ communicative capability.

Applying Consciousness-Raising Method to a Writing Class

C-R （Consciousness-Raising） has been around for some years, and while studies on the effectiveness of C-R have mainly focused on the learning of grammatical features, more attention needs to be paid to the mastery of other language areas. The present study is a small-scale research that explores the impact of C-R technique on the learning of some elements of written business communication. Several intermediate EFL （English as a Foreign Language） learners were exposed to models of good business letters and instructed to notice three elements, namely, the rhetorical moves, the grammatical patterns, and the expressions. Afterwards, they were assigned to write letters on their own. Their mistakes were counted and analyzed for the kinds of mistakes in each of the elements above. The result shows that they did very well in arranging the ideas in correct rhetorical moves but made much more mistakes on grammatical features and appropriateness of expressions. The explanation offered to account for this finding concerns the learners＇ allocation of cognitive capacity to different demands of task complexity. The more complex the task, such as writing in correct grammar or writing appropriate expressions, the less they devote their attention and effort to language formal features. A suggestion concerning focus-on-form activities is then offered to teachers

Analyzing Tests for Curriculum and Materials Development

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