With the development of world globalization, English works as a lingua franca for intercultural communication among different cultures in the world. This shift implies that introducing solely English native speaking c...With the development of world globalization, English works as a lingua franca for intercultural communication among different cultures in the world. This shift implies that introducing solely English native speaking cultures to students is not sufficient for their needs. This paper depicts the reflective teaching process of my ten years of experience of teaching intercultural communication.The paper describes how the teacher systematically reflects on the practice of teaching,continuously revises the curriculum, and finally formulates an efficient model of integrating students’ personal experiences into developing students’ intercultural communicative competence and awareness. This reflective study attempts to provide some pedagogical implications for intercultural communication education.展开更多
If Europe is to achieve the planned transition to a low carbon economy by 2050, succeeding in improving the energy efficiency of the largely inefficient existing building stock will be pivotal. Certain energy efficien...If Europe is to achieve the planned transition to a low carbon economy by 2050, succeeding in improving the energy efficiency of the largely inefficient existing building stock will be pivotal. Certain energy efficiency retrofitting obligations have now emerged as part of the EU＇s Energy Performance in Buildings Directive and the Energy Efficiency Directive. Challenges for retrofitting currently include gaps in technical skills both amongst building trades and professionals, a lack of awareness of building owners and users, concerns about compromising cultural heritage as well as a lack of viable business models, comparatively high cost and resulting long pay-back periods currently hamper the progress. Lessons can be drawn here form the EU-funded initiative CONCERTO, which helped 58 communities in 23 countries to reduce their dependence on conventional energy supply by implementing energy efficiency measures and integrating renewable energy sources not at single building scale but community scale. Almost all of these entailed retrofitting activities bad to find solutions to the issues mentioned. This paper presents a selection of conclusions regarding retrofitting to be drawn from the analysis undertaken under the project CONCERTO premium, which analysed outcomes across the 58 projects on behalf of the European Commission and focuses in particular on the political relevance of outcomes.展开更多
In recent years, the status of leaders has been highlighted and their role has been often overstated. The aim of the contribution is to show that in conditions of the armed forces, the role and the competence of the m...In recent years, the status of leaders has been highlighted and their role has been often overstated. The aim of the contribution is to show that in conditions of the armed forces, the role and the competence of the manager are often more important than competence of a leader. On the basis of the experience of the authors and more experienced officers, and by means of methods of targeted interviews and discussions, the areas have been identified where management capabilities are more important than leadership capabilities. More than 30 experienced officers have contributed their views on the presented results. There are areas, such as strategy, environment, organizational culture, external and internal changes, efficiency, and results and performance. In conclusion, authors suggested solution for nomination of leaders and managers to command positions.展开更多
Most educated Chinese take English as an important communication tool and the language has been increasingly frequently used in all walks of life in the country. This paper is to examine the use of English emotion wor...Most educated Chinese take English as an important communication tool and the language has been increasingly frequently used in all walks of life in the country. This paper is to examine the use of English emotion words on the target group of English learners in China. The study is designed to find out the relationship between the use of emotion words and such relevant variables as language proficiency, gender, and age. The results demonstrate that the use of emotion words is significantly linked to the level of proficiency as well as gender. Age is found to have slight effect on the use of emotion words. The study also reveals that more positive emotion words are produced than negative ones in the speech. Based on the major findings, some implications and suggestions are offered： Firstly, English learners in China are expected to improve their language proficiency, particularly that of listening and speaking. Secondly, they are supposed to enhance their culture awareness of English by means of exposing themselves to as much authentic language as possible.展开更多
South Africa is a country of many cultures. Before the first democratic elections in 1994, people of different cultures found it difficult to interact because of legislated racial segregation, which made it difficult ...South Africa is a country of many cultures. Before the first democratic elections in 1994, people of different cultures found it difficult to interact because of legislated racial segregation, which made it difficult for blacks to mix with whites in almost all spheres of life. The only place interaction could take place was in the workplace. As a result, children from different cultural groups had few opportunities to interact. This made it impossible for South African children to learn about the cultures of other racial groups. With the introduction of a democratic government, all segregation laws were relaxed and people mixed freely in all spheres of life. Intercultural communication became commonplace. This new scenario presented a challenge to many South African children, but despite the limits imposed before 1994, children from all racial groups associated successfully. Their ability to cope with this situation with so much more ease than adults was remarkable. This paper seeks to highlight the communication skills used by South African children from all cultural backgrounds to achieve intercultural competence in a relatively short space of time. The paper will further reflect on the impact made on African children by intercultural interaction and competence.展开更多
Nonhuman culture was first considered in nonhuman primates because they are genetically similar to humans. How- ever, evolution is not progressive and therefore many species may occupy niches that favor socially trans...Nonhuman culture was first considered in nonhuman primates because they are genetically similar to humans. How- ever, evolution is not progressive and therefore many species may occupy niches that favor socially transmitted, group specific behavior. Not surprisingly, evidence for culture has accrued in several taxonomic groups, including cetaceans. If culture is an ada- ptation, it is imperative we understand the factors that favor its formation. Understanding the evolutionary origin of culture will allow for a wider range of species to be studied, including those that are difficult to test in the laboratory. I propose a broad-based functional paradigm for evaluating nonhuman culture; based on the idea that while not all cultural behaviors may garner fitness benefits to the individual, the ecological and social environments in which cultural behaviors evolved must have favored the physical attributes and social learning capabilities that allow for cultural formation. Specifically this framework emphasizes the relationships between social learning, ecology, social systems, and biology in relation to culture. I illustrate the utility of the func- tional paradigm with evidence from the ceteacean group, while setting the stage for a stringent species by species analysis. By means of contextualizing culture, the Functional Paradigm can evaluate a species＇ potential to exhibit culture and can investigate potentially cultural behaviors展开更多
文摘With the development of world globalization, English works as a lingua franca for intercultural communication among different cultures in the world. This shift implies that introducing solely English native speaking cultures to students is not sufficient for their needs. This paper depicts the reflective teaching process of my ten years of experience of teaching intercultural communication.The paper describes how the teacher systematically reflects on the practice of teaching,continuously revises the curriculum, and finally formulates an efficient model of integrating students’ personal experiences into developing students’ intercultural communicative competence and awareness. This reflective study attempts to provide some pedagogical implications for intercultural communication education.
文摘If Europe is to achieve the planned transition to a low carbon economy by 2050, succeeding in improving the energy efficiency of the largely inefficient existing building stock will be pivotal. Certain energy efficiency retrofitting obligations have now emerged as part of the EU＇s Energy Performance in Buildings Directive and the Energy Efficiency Directive. Challenges for retrofitting currently include gaps in technical skills both amongst building trades and professionals, a lack of awareness of building owners and users, concerns about compromising cultural heritage as well as a lack of viable business models, comparatively high cost and resulting long pay-back periods currently hamper the progress. Lessons can be drawn here form the EU-funded initiative CONCERTO, which helped 58 communities in 23 countries to reduce their dependence on conventional energy supply by implementing energy efficiency measures and integrating renewable energy sources not at single building scale but community scale. Almost all of these entailed retrofitting activities bad to find solutions to the issues mentioned. This paper presents a selection of conclusions regarding retrofitting to be drawn from the analysis undertaken under the project CONCERTO premium, which analysed outcomes across the 58 projects on behalf of the European Commission and focuses in particular on the political relevance of outcomes.
文摘In recent years, the status of leaders has been highlighted and their role has been often overstated. The aim of the contribution is to show that in conditions of the armed forces, the role and the competence of the manager are often more important than competence of a leader. On the basis of the experience of the authors and more experienced officers, and by means of methods of targeted interviews and discussions, the areas have been identified where management capabilities are more important than leadership capabilities. More than 30 experienced officers have contributed their views on the presented results. There are areas, such as strategy, environment, organizational culture, external and internal changes, efficiency, and results and performance. In conclusion, authors suggested solution for nomination of leaders and managers to command positions.
文摘Most educated Chinese take English as an important communication tool and the language has been increasingly frequently used in all walks of life in the country. This paper is to examine the use of English emotion words on the target group of English learners in China. The study is designed to find out the relationship between the use of emotion words and such relevant variables as language proficiency, gender, and age. The results demonstrate that the use of emotion words is significantly linked to the level of proficiency as well as gender. Age is found to have slight effect on the use of emotion words. The study also reveals that more positive emotion words are produced than negative ones in the speech. Based on the major findings, some implications and suggestions are offered： Firstly, English learners in China are expected to improve their language proficiency, particularly that of listening and speaking. Secondly, they are supposed to enhance their culture awareness of English by means of exposing themselves to as much authentic language as possible.
文摘South Africa is a country of many cultures. Before the first democratic elections in 1994, people of different cultures found it difficult to interact because of legislated racial segregation, which made it difficult for blacks to mix with whites in almost all spheres of life. The only place interaction could take place was in the workplace. As a result, children from different cultural groups had few opportunities to interact. This made it impossible for South African children to learn about the cultures of other racial groups. With the introduction of a democratic government, all segregation laws were relaxed and people mixed freely in all spheres of life. Intercultural communication became commonplace. This new scenario presented a challenge to many South African children, but despite the limits imposed before 1994, children from all racial groups associated successfully. Their ability to cope with this situation with so much more ease than adults was remarkable. This paper seeks to highlight the communication skills used by South African children from all cultural backgrounds to achieve intercultural competence in a relatively short space of time. The paper will further reflect on the impact made on African children by intercultural interaction and competence.
文摘Nonhuman culture was first considered in nonhuman primates because they are genetically similar to humans. How- ever, evolution is not progressive and therefore many species may occupy niches that favor socially transmitted, group specific behavior. Not surprisingly, evidence for culture has accrued in several taxonomic groups, including cetaceans. If culture is an ada- ptation, it is imperative we understand the factors that favor its formation. Understanding the evolutionary origin of culture will allow for a wider range of species to be studied, including those that are difficult to test in the laboratory. I propose a broad-based functional paradigm for evaluating nonhuman culture; based on the idea that while not all cultural behaviors may garner fitness benefits to the individual, the ecological and social environments in which cultural behaviors evolved must have favored the physical attributes and social learning capabilities that allow for cultural formation. Specifically this framework emphasizes the relationships between social learning, ecology, social systems, and biology in relation to culture. I illustrate the utility of the func- tional paradigm with evidence from the ceteacean group, while setting the stage for a stringent species by species analysis. By means of contextualizing culture, the Functional Paradigm can evaluate a species＇ potential to exhibit culture and can investigate potentially cultural behaviors
