Beginning with a introduction of the background and main contents of the paper ’Meaning in Language and How it is Acquired’ written by ZHAO Yuanren, we give an overview of Cybernetics and the background of the confe...Beginning with a introduction of the background and main contents of the paper ’Meaning in Language and How it is Acquired’ written by ZHAO Yuanren, we give an overview of Cybernetics and the background of the conference of Cybernetics, and how the relevant viewpoints in the great linguist’s paper could inspire the linguistic work today.展开更多
Preceding works tend to explicate affordance through supposing what is happening here and now.They seldom relate it to actual social,diachronic activities,such as foreign language learning.To tackle this issue,this st...Preceding works tend to explicate affordance through supposing what is happening here and now.They seldom relate it to actual social,diachronic activities,such as foreign language learning.To tackle this issue,this study explores how students actualize affordances in technology-enriched language learning environment(TELLE)by examining their perezhivanija(lived and emotional experience),a term borrowed from sociocultural theory.Because an individual’s social life is a developing process or a perezhivanie2,it is necessary to base the research in a dynamic development of language learning to figure out how the affordances are actualized.Narrative interviews were adopted to collect data from three Chinese college students who learn English as a foreign language in a Northeastern university in China.The results showed that due to the students’different past perezhivanija in English learning,their present interpretations of the perceived affordances in TELLE varied.This influenced hugely in their actions taken during their English learning in college to actualize the affordances.The findings indicated that the actualization of affordances is historical,dynamic and developmental instead of static.It does not lie in the autonomy of the students or the teachers,but in the institutional and cultural legitimacy of technology use in student’s social life.The paper contributes to the application of affordance theory in foreign language learning and provides implications to language teaching practice in TELLE.展开更多
This study explores how overseas exchange opportunities might influence Chinese students ’engagement in L2 learning activities and how far such opportunities may satisfy their motivation to study abroad. The analysis...This study explores how overseas exchange opportunities might influence Chinese students ’engagement in L2 learning activities and how far such opportunities may satisfy their motivation to study abroad. The analysis of the data, collected and filtered from carefully designed questionnaires and interviews, showed that students ’ L2 learning activities and study-abroad motivations underwent changes after their overseas experiences. Regarding the former, the overseas environment was the cause of the change because it provided students with more chances to talk with native speakers and increased the frequency of their using L2 in their daily life. Regarding the latter, the decline of the students ’ major study-abroad motivations was partly because they tended to treat L2 learning as a tool for realizing other goals and partly because the students had got other important motivations. In view of these findings, suggestions were raised to help future students get better prepared for their overseas study or short-term exchange life.展开更多
This paper systematically reviews factors related to the use of reading strategies among college-level learners of English as a foreign/second language(EFL/ESL).The author examines empirical studies published from 200...This paper systematically reviews factors related to the use of reading strategies among college-level learners of English as a foreign/second language(EFL/ESL).The author examines empirical studies published from 2000 to 2017 in order to answer two research questions:(a)What factors relate to the college-level EFL/ESL learners’use of reading strategies?(b)How do these factors relate to college-level EFL/ESL learners’use of reading strategies?An initial review of the literature identifies four factors related to EFL/ESL learners’reading strategy use:English proficiency,first language(L1)literacy experience,gender,and motivation.For reasons of space,this article only reports and discusses findings on the first two factors.(1)English proficiency:High-proficiency readers use more metacognitive,support,global,and problem-solving strategies and have more metacognitive knowledge of strategy use than low-proficiency readers.They also differ from low-proficiency readers in learning reading strategies.(2)L1 literacy experience:EFL/ESL readers’L1 linguistic features and L1 reading experience shape their strategy use when they read English.展开更多
文摘Beginning with a introduction of the background and main contents of the paper ’Meaning in Language and How it is Acquired’ written by ZHAO Yuanren, we give an overview of Cybernetics and the background of the conference of Cybernetics, and how the relevant viewpoints in the great linguist’s paper could inspire the linguistic work today.
基金part of the work for the National Project on Social Sciences“Efficacy of Ecological Affordances Actualization in Language Learning Environment in China in the Technology Era”(16BYY093)
文摘Preceding works tend to explicate affordance through supposing what is happening here and now.They seldom relate it to actual social,diachronic activities,such as foreign language learning.To tackle this issue,this study explores how students actualize affordances in technology-enriched language learning environment(TELLE)by examining their perezhivanija(lived and emotional experience),a term borrowed from sociocultural theory.Because an individual’s social life is a developing process or a perezhivanie2,it is necessary to base the research in a dynamic development of language learning to figure out how the affordances are actualized.Narrative interviews were adopted to collect data from three Chinese college students who learn English as a foreign language in a Northeastern university in China.The results showed that due to the students’different past perezhivanija in English learning,their present interpretations of the perceived affordances in TELLE varied.This influenced hugely in their actions taken during their English learning in college to actualize the affordances.The findings indicated that the actualization of affordances is historical,dynamic and developmental instead of static.It does not lie in the autonomy of the students or the teachers,but in the institutional and cultural legitimacy of technology use in student’s social life.The paper contributes to the application of affordance theory in foreign language learning and provides implications to language teaching practice in TELLE.
基金supported by a General Research Fund (#4440713) from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong。
文摘This study explores how overseas exchange opportunities might influence Chinese students ’engagement in L2 learning activities and how far such opportunities may satisfy their motivation to study abroad. The analysis of the data, collected and filtered from carefully designed questionnaires and interviews, showed that students ’ L2 learning activities and study-abroad motivations underwent changes after their overseas experiences. Regarding the former, the overseas environment was the cause of the change because it provided students with more chances to talk with native speakers and increased the frequency of their using L2 in their daily life. Regarding the latter, the decline of the students ’ major study-abroad motivations was partly because they tended to treat L2 learning as a tool for realizing other goals and partly because the students had got other important motivations. In view of these findings, suggestions were raised to help future students get better prepared for their overseas study or short-term exchange life.
文摘This paper systematically reviews factors related to the use of reading strategies among college-level learners of English as a foreign/second language(EFL/ESL).The author examines empirical studies published from 2000 to 2017 in order to answer two research questions:(a)What factors relate to the college-level EFL/ESL learners’use of reading strategies?(b)How do these factors relate to college-level EFL/ESL learners’use of reading strategies?An initial review of the literature identifies four factors related to EFL/ESL learners’reading strategy use:English proficiency,first language(L1)literacy experience,gender,and motivation.For reasons of space,this article only reports and discusses findings on the first two factors.(1)English proficiency:High-proficiency readers use more metacognitive,support,global,and problem-solving strategies and have more metacognitive knowledge of strategy use than low-proficiency readers.They also differ from low-proficiency readers in learning reading strategies.(2)L1 literacy experience:EFL/ESL readers’L1 linguistic features and L1 reading experience shape their strategy use when they read English.
