In the activity of English teaching, how to improve students' communicative competence is always deemed as an important factor on which English teaching hinges. This paper starts from the idea of communicative compet...In the activity of English teaching, how to improve students' communicative competence is always deemed as an important factor on which English teaching hinges. This paper starts from the idea of communicative competence proposed by linguist Dwell Hymes and then goes deep to find out 4 ways to apply the ideas to spoken English teaching, namely: strengthening students' linguistic input through comprehensible listening; getting a feel of how English is spoken idiomatically; administering the teaching materials according to students' current linguistic capacity and finally exposing students massively to the target culture. Since this paper is about teaching, the discussion of teacher's role will be dealt with at the last part.展开更多
Problems in generating and organizing ideas, in coherence and language competence are common in non-English majors' writings. To improve their writing proficiency, the writing course should have real-life purposes, b...Problems in generating and organizing ideas, in coherence and language competence are common in non-English majors' writings. To improve their writing proficiency, the writing course should have real-life purposes, balance between real and display writing, between product and process approaches, vary writing activities, train strategies in improving coherence, balance the content of feedback and use various forms of feedback.展开更多
In the domain of teaching reading of college English in China, to some extent, the words "teacher control" and "learner autonomy" have been miscomprehended by some teachers. This article argues that both teacher c...In the domain of teaching reading of college English in China, to some extent, the words "teacher control" and "learner autonomy" have been miscomprehended by some teachers. This article argues that both teacher control and learner autonomy play an important role in the process of foreign language learning. Too much or too little control may lead to the failure of learning effectively. Tasks can be accomplished effectively through teacher's balancing teacher control and learner autonomy. A teacher can play different roles in the process of teaching reading to balance teacher control and learner autonomy. In this way, teacher's proper control and learner freedom occur and language learning may be more effective.展开更多
Speech or Natural language contents are major tools of communication. This research paper presents a natural language processing based automated system for understanding speech language text. A new rule based model ha...Speech or Natural language contents are major tools of communication. This research paper presents a natural language processing based automated system for understanding speech language text. A new rule based model has been presented for analyzing the natural languages and extracting the relative meanings from the given text. User writes the natural language text in simple English in a few paragraphs and the designed system has a sound ability of analyzing the given script by the user. After composite analysis and extraction of associated information, the designed system gives particular meanings to an assortment of speech language text on the basis of its context. The designed system uses standard speech language rules that are clearly defined for all speech languages as English, Urdu, Chinese, Arabic, French, etc. The designed system provides a quick and reliable way to comprehend speech language context and generate respective meanings.展开更多
This paper discusses the lexical approach in college English teaching and learning. The lexical approach can help students learn to use English in an idiomatic way rather than in a Chinese way which may cause misunder...This paper discusses the lexical approach in college English teaching and learning. The lexical approach can help students learn to use English in an idiomatic way rather than in a Chinese way which may cause misunderstanding or confusion of native English speakers. As for the college English Teaching in China, the lexical approach works better than the traditional word-based teaching and learning. It can help students to learn "real" or "authentic" English and improve the students' ability to use English in all-around way.展开更多
Understanding discipline-specific texts in English is a basic requirement for science students, who must develop their content knowledge and language skills. Particularly, interesting is the fact that the language of ...Understanding discipline-specific texts in English is a basic requirement for science students, who must develop their content knowledge and language skills. Particularly, interesting is the fact that the language of science is characterized by the use of figurative language, which appeals to the common knowledge of the world, mainly to explain, clarify, and describe intricate concepts. Metaphors are helpful for lexicalizing new concepts and meanings or extending the meanings of pre-existing words. The analysis of tropes as a means to improve foreign language learners' reading competence is a rather novel teaching practice in ESP (English for Specific Purposes), implemented at the University of Rio Cuarto, Argentina. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explain the theoretical basis for teaching and developing metaphorical competence in ESP classes as a means of providing an intellectually stimulating alternative approach, and to present some teaching ideas and activities designed to familiarize students with the use of metaphorical language in scientific discourse in order to enhance their reading competence.展开更多
What language competence a learner has can she/he achieve an effective communication? This question is the main concern for applied linguists and English teachers in TEFL, for the recognition of language competence d...What language competence a learner has can she/he achieve an effective communication? This question is the main concern for applied linguists and English teachers in TEFL, for the recognition of language competence directly influences the goal of teaching, curriculum design, textbook writing and classroom practice. This paper discusses the various points of views on language competence and explores its characteristics which, the author believes, will shed some light on foreign language teaching.展开更多
This thesis is intended to give a contrastive study of the notional passive in English and Chinese, not merely analyzing the relationship between notional passive and passive voice, but summarizing the features and st...This thesis is intended to give a contrastive study of the notional passive in English and Chinese, not merely analyzing the relationship between notional passive and passive voice, but summarizing the features and status of the notional passives in English and Chinese, with an aim to cast some light on the main differences between English and Chinese concerning passive, and giving some insights to better understanding and bilingual transference between English and Chinese where the notional passive is involved.展开更多
In today' s society, there are increasingly more new requirements on English education in local colleges and universities, and also there are some problems to be exposed. A great difference exists between the languag...In today' s society, there are increasingly more new requirements on English education in local colleges and universities, and also there are some problems to be exposed. A great difference exists between the language application ability of learners and the actual conditions of teaching; great investments are put by both schools and teachers into teaching, but the teaching quality is not improved and also the teaching effect is not very ideal; the pass rate and excellent rate of CET4 and CET6 are pursued by many Chinese colleges and universities, and the strategy with an ocean of paper and examination-oriented intensive training methods are even applied, so that the internal rules of language teaching are seriously damaged.展开更多
Traditional grammar-translation :method in China's English teaching has long been putting emphasis on the teaching of linguistic knowledge. It is no doubt that it has got many achievements. However, it has produced ...Traditional grammar-translation :method in China's English teaching has long been putting emphasis on the teaching of linguistic knowledge. It is no doubt that it has got many achievements. However, it has produced many bad byproducts as well. For instance, it may produce some students who are good in grammatical achievements but lacking in responding to the actual situation. Therefore linguistic knowledge is not the whole field that English teaching should touch upon. Inducing from two instances, this article presents the importance of communicative ability and cross-cultural competence in China's English teaching, together with proper solutions.展开更多
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
English is used an important course of higher vocational colleges, which can greatly improve stuctents" language application ability to a great extent and it can also make students understand western culture knowledg...English is used an important course of higher vocational colleges, which can greatly improve stuctents" language application ability to a great extent and it can also make students understand western culture knowledge through foreign language learning. But in current higher vocational colleges, it faces many dilemmas. Only by correctly analyzing these dilemmas will it propose corresponding reasonab!e solutions, which is good for English education development of higher vocational colleges and improving English level of higher vocational college students.展开更多
The ability to communicate effectively in English is increasingly being viewed as an expectation of individuals who wish to engage with the global community. Mindful of these needs, the goals of the Global Citizenship...The ability to communicate effectively in English is increasingly being viewed as an expectation of individuals who wish to engage with the global community. Mindful of these needs, the goals of the Global Citizenship Program (GCP) at Soka University, Tokyo, Japan, focus not only on increasing English proficiency, but also on developing independent study skills, raising awareness of global issues, and enhancing the abilities of students to integrate information from multiple sources in meaningful ways. In the GCP, students enroll in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses which focus on developing critical thinking and research skills as well as English fluency. Through activities that require students to critically evaluate and synthesize information, opportunities are provided to engage in independent research focusing on the development process and global initiatives. This paper describes how the GCP curriculum develops academic skills and English proficiency, incorporates critical thinking activities, emphasizes global awareness, and integrates content-knowledge in order to equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary to interact successfully in the global community.展开更多
This paper focuses on the influence of linguistic theories on the teaching of English as a foreign language and discusses how language teachers can benefit from different branches of linguistics.
Starting from presenting and analyzing some information gap activities during the previous teaching experience, this article has inferred the major roles of information gap activities. Some strategies to implement the...Starting from presenting and analyzing some information gap activities during the previous teaching experience, this article has inferred the major roles of information gap activities. Some strategies to implement the information gap activities are also recommended together with the functions of the instructors via these activities. What information gap activities can teach us in TESOL (teaching English for speakers of other languages) is that information gap activities contribute to setting up a climate of a mutual autonomous learning style both for the learners and the instructors, and these activities activate a diversity in the learning atmosphere.展开更多
This paper first relates the problem concerning the cultivation of foreign language talents in foreign language education, and then puts forward some suggestions to its resolution. This paper intends to contribute a l...This paper first relates the problem concerning the cultivation of foreign language talents in foreign language education, and then puts forward some suggestions to its resolution. This paper intends to contribute a little to the improvement on the mode of cultivating foreign language talents.展开更多
English for Science and Technology (EST), as one branch of English for Special Purposes, has its own distinctive features and plays a significant role in today's English education. In language teaching, teaching ma...English for Science and Technology (EST), as one branch of English for Special Purposes, has its own distinctive features and plays a significant role in today's English education. In language teaching, teaching materials play an important role. To a great extent, they determine the content and approaches of teaching and learning and affect the quality of language education. The author of this paper makes a tentative analysis of the compilation principles of EST teaching materials, from the perspective of students, scientific and technological discipline, and the English language, highlighting the content of teaching and the motivation of students. This paper proposes the Principles of Interest, Life-Long Development, Appropriateness, Systematization, Cognitive Scientificalness, Illumination, Integration of Abstract Knowledge and Specific Cases, Authenticity, Timeliness, and Comprehensive Improvement, so as to improve both subject competence and linguistic ability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
In the current debates over Saussure's principle of arbitrariness, there have occurred some confusions and misunderstandings, especially in the equation of Saussure's notion of arbitrariness with the classical notio...In the current debates over Saussure's principle of arbitrariness, there have occurred some confusions and misunderstandings, especially in the equation of Saussure's notion of arbitrariness with the classical notion of arbitrariness. In this article, the uniqueness of Saussure's arbitrariness is illustrated in, relation to the classical arbitrariness.展开更多
文摘In the activity of English teaching, how to improve students' communicative competence is always deemed as an important factor on which English teaching hinges. This paper starts from the idea of communicative competence proposed by linguist Dwell Hymes and then goes deep to find out 4 ways to apply the ideas to spoken English teaching, namely: strengthening students' linguistic input through comprehensible listening; getting a feel of how English is spoken idiomatically; administering the teaching materials according to students' current linguistic capacity and finally exposing students massively to the target culture. Since this paper is about teaching, the discussion of teacher's role will be dealt with at the last part.
文摘Problems in generating and organizing ideas, in coherence and language competence are common in non-English majors' writings. To improve their writing proficiency, the writing course should have real-life purposes, balance between real and display writing, between product and process approaches, vary writing activities, train strategies in improving coherence, balance the content of feedback and use various forms of feedback.
文摘In the domain of teaching reading of college English in China, to some extent, the words "teacher control" and "learner autonomy" have been miscomprehended by some teachers. This article argues that both teacher control and learner autonomy play an important role in the process of foreign language learning. Too much or too little control may lead to the failure of learning effectively. Tasks can be accomplished effectively through teacher's balancing teacher control and learner autonomy. A teacher can play different roles in the process of teaching reading to balance teacher control and learner autonomy. In this way, teacher's proper control and learner freedom occur and language learning may be more effective.
文摘Speech or Natural language contents are major tools of communication. This research paper presents a natural language processing based automated system for understanding speech language text. A new rule based model has been presented for analyzing the natural languages and extracting the relative meanings from the given text. User writes the natural language text in simple English in a few paragraphs and the designed system has a sound ability of analyzing the given script by the user. After composite analysis and extraction of associated information, the designed system gives particular meanings to an assortment of speech language text on the basis of its context. The designed system uses standard speech language rules that are clearly defined for all speech languages as English, Urdu, Chinese, Arabic, French, etc. The designed system provides a quick and reliable way to comprehend speech language context and generate respective meanings.
文摘This paper discusses the lexical approach in college English teaching and learning. The lexical approach can help students learn to use English in an idiomatic way rather than in a Chinese way which may cause misunderstanding or confusion of native English speakers. As for the college English Teaching in China, the lexical approach works better than the traditional word-based teaching and learning. It can help students to learn "real" or "authentic" English and improve the students' ability to use English in all-around way.
文摘Understanding discipline-specific texts in English is a basic requirement for science students, who must develop their content knowledge and language skills. Particularly, interesting is the fact that the language of science is characterized by the use of figurative language, which appeals to the common knowledge of the world, mainly to explain, clarify, and describe intricate concepts. Metaphors are helpful for lexicalizing new concepts and meanings or extending the meanings of pre-existing words. The analysis of tropes as a means to improve foreign language learners' reading competence is a rather novel teaching practice in ESP (English for Specific Purposes), implemented at the University of Rio Cuarto, Argentina. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explain the theoretical basis for teaching and developing metaphorical competence in ESP classes as a means of providing an intellectually stimulating alternative approach, and to present some teaching ideas and activities designed to familiarize students with the use of metaphorical language in scientific discourse in order to enhance their reading competence.
文摘What language competence a learner has can she/he achieve an effective communication? This question is the main concern for applied linguists and English teachers in TEFL, for the recognition of language competence directly influences the goal of teaching, curriculum design, textbook writing and classroom practice. This paper discusses the various points of views on language competence and explores its characteristics which, the author believes, will shed some light on foreign language teaching.
文摘This thesis is intended to give a contrastive study of the notional passive in English and Chinese, not merely analyzing the relationship between notional passive and passive voice, but summarizing the features and status of the notional passives in English and Chinese, with an aim to cast some light on the main differences between English and Chinese concerning passive, and giving some insights to better understanding and bilingual transference between English and Chinese where the notional passive is involved.
文摘In today' s society, there are increasingly more new requirements on English education in local colleges and universities, and also there are some problems to be exposed. A great difference exists between the language application ability of learners and the actual conditions of teaching; great investments are put by both schools and teachers into teaching, but the teaching quality is not improved and also the teaching effect is not very ideal; the pass rate and excellent rate of CET4 and CET6 are pursued by many Chinese colleges and universities, and the strategy with an ocean of paper and examination-oriented intensive training methods are even applied, so that the internal rules of language teaching are seriously damaged.
文摘Traditional grammar-translation :method in China's English teaching has long been putting emphasis on the teaching of linguistic knowledge. It is no doubt that it has got many achievements. However, it has produced many bad byproducts as well. For instance, it may produce some students who are good in grammatical achievements but lacking in responding to the actual situation. Therefore linguistic knowledge is not the whole field that English teaching should touch upon. Inducing from two instances, this article presents the importance of communicative ability and cross-cultural competence in China's English teaching, together with proper solutions.
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English is used an important course of higher vocational colleges, which can greatly improve stuctents" language application ability to a great extent and it can also make students understand western culture knowledge through foreign language learning. But in current higher vocational colleges, it faces many dilemmas. Only by correctly analyzing these dilemmas will it propose corresponding reasonab!e solutions, which is good for English education development of higher vocational colleges and improving English level of higher vocational college students.
文摘The ability to communicate effectively in English is increasingly being viewed as an expectation of individuals who wish to engage with the global community. Mindful of these needs, the goals of the Global Citizenship Program (GCP) at Soka University, Tokyo, Japan, focus not only on increasing English proficiency, but also on developing independent study skills, raising awareness of global issues, and enhancing the abilities of students to integrate information from multiple sources in meaningful ways. In the GCP, students enroll in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses which focus on developing critical thinking and research skills as well as English fluency. Through activities that require students to critically evaluate and synthesize information, opportunities are provided to engage in independent research focusing on the development process and global initiatives. This paper describes how the GCP curriculum develops academic skills and English proficiency, incorporates critical thinking activities, emphasizes global awareness, and integrates content-knowledge in order to equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary to interact successfully in the global community.
文摘This paper focuses on the influence of linguistic theories on the teaching of English as a foreign language and discusses how language teachers can benefit from different branches of linguistics.
文摘Starting from presenting and analyzing some information gap activities during the previous teaching experience, this article has inferred the major roles of information gap activities. Some strategies to implement the information gap activities are also recommended together with the functions of the instructors via these activities. What information gap activities can teach us in TESOL (teaching English for speakers of other languages) is that information gap activities contribute to setting up a climate of a mutual autonomous learning style both for the learners and the instructors, and these activities activate a diversity in the learning atmosphere.
文摘This paper first relates the problem concerning the cultivation of foreign language talents in foreign language education, and then puts forward some suggestions to its resolution. This paper intends to contribute a little to the improvement on the mode of cultivating foreign language talents.
文摘English for Science and Technology (EST), as one branch of English for Special Purposes, has its own distinctive features and plays a significant role in today's English education. In language teaching, teaching materials play an important role. To a great extent, they determine the content and approaches of teaching and learning and affect the quality of language education. The author of this paper makes a tentative analysis of the compilation principles of EST teaching materials, from the perspective of students, scientific and technological discipline, and the English language, highlighting the content of teaching and the motivation of students. This paper proposes the Principles of Interest, Life-Long Development, Appropriateness, Systematization, Cognitive Scientificalness, Illumination, Integration of Abstract Knowledge and Specific Cases, Authenticity, Timeliness, and Comprehensive Improvement, so as to improve both subject competence and linguistic ability
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In the current debates over Saussure's principle of arbitrariness, there have occurred some confusions and misunderstandings, especially in the equation of Saussure's notion of arbitrariness with the classical notion of arbitrariness. In this article, the uniqueness of Saussure's arbitrariness is illustrated in, relation to the classical arbitrariness.