Reading English newspapers and magazines is an effective way to help the students get the latest information worldwide and improve English levels. The present article first analyzes the features of the English newspap...Reading English newspapers and magazines is an effective way to help the students get the latest information worldwide and improve English levels. The present article first analyzes the features of the English newspapers and magazines and then proposes making good use of them through such classroom activities as discussing the hot issue and role-playing to provide more authentic situations in which the students can have chances to practice four English skills, achieving the ideal teaching result.展开更多
Contextual Cognitive Theory （CCT） is the latest teaching and learning theory in west countries, which reveals the nature of knowledge in a new perspective as well as the conditions of meaningful learning. The concep...Contextual Cognitive Theory （CCT） is the latest teaching and learning theory in west countries, which reveals the nature of knowledge in a new perspective as well as the conditions of meaningful learning. The concept based on CCT corresponds to the principles proposed by the new curriculum standard for English. Therefore, it has great implications for the reform of English teaching in the classroom. In this paper, the author gives a brief account of the main points of CCT, and then, she discusses its pedagogical implications for the construction of new teaching strategies in the classroom through designing and analyzing teaching cases.展开更多
With the rapid development and furthering of higher education, most Chinese colleges have carried out large-scale enrollment program, which is a necessary improvement toward higher education reform. Meanwhile, the inc...With the rapid development and furthering of higher education, most Chinese colleges have carried out large-scale enrollment program, which is a necessary improvement toward higher education reform. Meanwhile, the increasing number of students has posed new problems and requirements for the old teaching method： the English teachers are facing more students and larger classes. In Zhejiang University, City College （ZUCC） the credit system and course selection has challenged the English teachers on a higher level. Every English teacher is facing classes of more than 40 students from various departments with sharp contrast among individual students in their English proficiency level and local background. How can every student actively participate in teaching activity so as to achieve better performance in English class？ Many teachers, therefore, have adopted team activity and cooperative teaching method to stimulate student participation in class. Inspired by the management theory to optimize student groups into independent teams, the concept of team construction and team management has been introduced into College English Teaching in ZUCC, which has given new meaning to team activity--it will become an interdisciplinary teaching method with its own feature.展开更多
The present study aimed to contribute to our understanding of foreign language anxiety, in general, and in particular speaking anxiety in Kazakhstani environment. It was the first attempt to fill this gap and reveal m...The present study aimed to contribute to our understanding of foreign language anxiety, in general, and in particular speaking anxiety in Kazakhstani environment. It was the first attempt to fill this gap and reveal more about the speaking anxiety in the Elementary level of Kazakh students group, having considered how anxiety might have affected speaking and overall classroom performance. This study addressed the issue of identifying foreign language speaking anxiety and the major consequences of language speaking anxiety reported by students learning English in the evaluation of the foreign language classroom. Anxiety levels in Kazakh students of English were studied through self-evaluation using a scale adapted from the FLCAS （Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale） developed by E. K. Horwitz, M. B. Horwitz, and Cope （1986）. As revealed by the results of this study, English language speaking anxiety does exist among the Kazakh second-year university students who participated in this study. And too, the study revealed that these students have had a number of negative experiences with speaking activities in a foreign language class.展开更多
Following Dornyei and Csize r＇s （1998） theoretical hamework of motivational strategies in the L2 classroom, this paper, through a case study, looks into the common use of motivational strategies in Chinese middle s...Following Dornyei and Csize r＇s （1998） theoretical hamework of motivational strategies in the L2 classroom, this paper, through a case study, looks into the common use of motivational strategies in Chinese middle school EFL classroom.展开更多
This article makes an investigation of 114 English majors＇ level of a particular communicative performance and the general ability to perform in small-group conversations in their conversation class, and thereafter e...This article makes an investigation of 114 English majors＇ level of a particular communicative performance and the general ability to perform in small-group conversations in their conversation class, and thereafter explores the reasons for their current level with the aid of questionnaire based on a rating scale, together with observation and interviews. Some countermeasures are provided to call for teachers＇ attention in their teaching practice.展开更多
Classroom instruction is mainly the form of implementation of quality education in schools, the main venue of the teachers and students bilateral activities. The students in school spent most of their time in the clas...Classroom instruction is mainly the form of implementation of quality education in schools, the main venue of the teachers and students bilateral activities. The students in school spent most of their time in the classroom teaching. Therefore, it is the main front of the school education and students healthy growth. Instead of traditional classroom teaching in the new curriculum reform today, it is the learning being full of joy, independent, cooperate, and exploratory ways of learning, experience of the joy of success, positive evaluation to the diversification students. Vigorous and harmonious classroom learning atmosphere stimulates the students to actively participate in classroom, explore, and apply knowledge to solve problems. In this case, students can gain self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-belief, the courage to cynically express them and to express their unique insight. Therefore, a harmonious classroom teaching can benefit for students.展开更多
In recent years, the choice of the classroom language has been developed. It has been proposed that English as a TL should be used exclusively in order to facilitate the learners＇ progress in English language acquisi...In recent years, the choice of the classroom language has been developed. It has been proposed that English as a TL should be used exclusively in order to facilitate the learners＇ progress in English language acquisition. However it is unrealistic and undesirable to expect a generalist elementary school teacher to teach exclusively in English considering some settings which are shown in this paper. The paper concludes that both English and mother tongue can be used as CL.展开更多
Error correction, in recent times, is seen as one of the important teaching processes in L2 （second language） learning, because comprehensible inputs alone is insufficient for acquisition of language. However, few L...Error correction, in recent times, is seen as one of the important teaching processes in L2 （second language） learning, because comprehensible inputs alone is insufficient for acquisition of language. However, few L2 teachers know much about error analysis and how to correct errors in the L2 classroom. Error correction is a very complicated and a thorny issue in L2 teaching and learning. L2 teachers, therefore, need to be armed with ways in which errors can be treated to ensure maximum effect yet with less harm to learners. Identifying learners＇ errors is very important in L2 learning, but how to correct them to give the desired effect is equally important and very challenging to L2 teachers. It is therefore crucial to initiate a study in Ghana to find out how errors are corrected in the Ghanaian English language classroom. This case study used complete observation and semi-structured interview as data collection strategies to identify error correction strategies/types English teachers use in the Ghanaian JHS （Junior High School） classroom and how error correction/treatment can be improved to facilitate English language teaching and learning. The findings of the study showed that explicit error correction technique was the most commonly used followed by recast, elicitation, metalinguistic clues, clarification request, repetition, and cues. It was also found that the causes of the disparity in the use of the various error correction types were inadequate teacher preparation, incompetence in English language, limited knowledge in error correction, caliber of students, and insufficient teaching time. This study identified that the situation can be improved through effective teacher training, in-service training, learner involvement, and effective planning.展开更多
Emotional teaching is an important part of language teaching. In the teaching activities, teachers should exploit and make full use of students＇ emotional factors to arouse their learning interest and motivation and ...Emotional teaching is an important part of language teaching. In the teaching activities, teachers should exploit and make full use of students＇ emotional factors to arouse their learning interest and motivation and therefore to improve students＇ English level. The author proposes a teaching concept of happy learning method in college English classroom teaching according to their own teaching practice, the concrete implementation measures of happy learning method include： encourage students to take the group cooperative learning method, establish good emotional communication relations between teachers and encourage students to correct each other by inquiry discussion and so on.展开更多
English is widely taught as a foreign language in China. However, the current situation of English teaching cannot keep pace with the requirements of the Senior High School Standards. The improvement of teaching quali...English is widely taught as a foreign language in China. However, the current situation of English teaching cannot keep pace with the requirements of the Senior High School Standards. The improvement of teaching quality has become the focus in the new era. This paper analyzes the situation of English teaching in Southwest China. A questionnaire-based survey indicates the typical problems, such as silent classes, lack of student-student interaction, and low quality of teacher-student interaction, which will impede the improvement of English teaching quality and hinder students to develop. The author suggests using interactive teaching in senior schools in China.展开更多
Teacher autonomy has become a popular focus in the field of teacher education at present. The development of learner autonomy depends largely on teacher autonomy. Teacher autonomy is also one of the most effective way...Teacher autonomy has become a popular focus in the field of teacher education at present. The development of learner autonomy depends largely on teacher autonomy. Teacher autonomy is also one of the most effective ways to support teachers in their classroom practice, as well as to improve and expand their professional preparation and practices. Apart from that, the research of teacher autonomy at different phases of teachers＇ professional development may provide insight into how to strengthen their autonomy capability and to better understand the differences in teachers＇ development at different stages. The current study aims to explore the different level of how university novice and proficient English teachers see themselves as autonomous practitioners on the five dimensions of teacher autonomy： teaching autonomy, assessment autonomy, school management autonomy, professional development autonomy, and curriculum development autonomy. In addition, it proposes coping strategies to facilitate the development of teacher autonomy, which may shed some light on cultivating teacher autonomy for teachers at different developing stages, development of expertise, and teacher education.展开更多
Greek schools are witnessing widening gaps between traditional definitions and applications of literacy, which include reading, writing and speaking in terms of exercises from school textbooks and contemporary literac...Greek schools are witnessing widening gaps between traditional definitions and applications of literacy, which include reading, writing and speaking in terms of exercises from school textbooks and contemporary literacy practices like digital storytelling, interactive multimedia use and online communications. Language and literacy teachers of primary education are called upon daily to bridge these contradictions through pedagogical and textual choices they make in classroom teaching. This paper reports an experimental study with children of the fifth grade at public Greek schools to apply modernist literacy approaches involving digital storytelling and online communication in improving language skills. The paper analytically presents the didactic examples of a thematic union within the framework of the Greek curriculum and the alternative assessment for the experimental teaching on digital technologies among mother tongue learners. The findings have implications for teacher＇s and student＇s education and also for the integration of a pedagogical-technological content of curriculum within the continuing debate of being culturally and equally literate in today＇s education.展开更多
As a teaching aid, games are vital to facilitate every part in learning process. They are easy to arouse learners＇ attention and are accessible to achieve teaching objectives compared with traditional teaching. The a...As a teaching aid, games are vital to facilitate every part in learning process. They are easy to arouse learners＇ attention and are accessible to achieve teaching objectives compared with traditional teaching. The author did two-month classroom observations in Education First Training School in Ningbo. This paper discusses and shares useful and effective games provided in English class.展开更多
文摘Reading English newspapers and magazines is an effective way to help the students get the latest information worldwide and improve English levels. The present article first analyzes the features of the English newspapers and magazines and then proposes making good use of them through such classroom activities as discussing the hot issue and role-playing to provide more authentic situations in which the students can have chances to practice four English skills, achieving the ideal teaching result.
文摘Contextual Cognitive Theory （CCT） is the latest teaching and learning theory in west countries, which reveals the nature of knowledge in a new perspective as well as the conditions of meaningful learning. The concept based on CCT corresponds to the principles proposed by the new curriculum standard for English. Therefore, it has great implications for the reform of English teaching in the classroom. In this paper, the author gives a brief account of the main points of CCT, and then, she discusses its pedagogical implications for the construction of new teaching strategies in the classroom through designing and analyzing teaching cases.
文摘With the rapid development and furthering of higher education, most Chinese colleges have carried out large-scale enrollment program, which is a necessary improvement toward higher education reform. Meanwhile, the increasing number of students has posed new problems and requirements for the old teaching method： the English teachers are facing more students and larger classes. In Zhejiang University, City College （ZUCC） the credit system and course selection has challenged the English teachers on a higher level. Every English teacher is facing classes of more than 40 students from various departments with sharp contrast among individual students in their English proficiency level and local background. How can every student actively participate in teaching activity so as to achieve better performance in English class？ Many teachers, therefore, have adopted team activity and cooperative teaching method to stimulate student participation in class. Inspired by the management theory to optimize student groups into independent teams, the concept of team construction and team management has been introduced into College English Teaching in ZUCC, which has given new meaning to team activity--it will become an interdisciplinary teaching method with its own feature.
文摘The present study aimed to contribute to our understanding of foreign language anxiety, in general, and in particular speaking anxiety in Kazakhstani environment. It was the first attempt to fill this gap and reveal more about the speaking anxiety in the Elementary level of Kazakh students group, having considered how anxiety might have affected speaking and overall classroom performance. This study addressed the issue of identifying foreign language speaking anxiety and the major consequences of language speaking anxiety reported by students learning English in the evaluation of the foreign language classroom. Anxiety levels in Kazakh students of English were studied through self-evaluation using a scale adapted from the FLCAS （Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale） developed by E. K. Horwitz, M. B. Horwitz, and Cope （1986）. As revealed by the results of this study, English language speaking anxiety does exist among the Kazakh second-year university students who participated in this study. And too, the study revealed that these students have had a number of negative experiences with speaking activities in a foreign language class.
文摘Following Dornyei and Csize r＇s （1998） theoretical hamework of motivational strategies in the L2 classroom, this paper, through a case study, looks into the common use of motivational strategies in Chinese middle school EFL classroom.
文摘This article makes an investigation of 114 English majors＇ level of a particular communicative performance and the general ability to perform in small-group conversations in their conversation class, and thereafter explores the reasons for their current level with the aid of questionnaire based on a rating scale, together with observation and interviews. Some countermeasures are provided to call for teachers＇ attention in their teaching practice.
文摘Classroom instruction is mainly the form of implementation of quality education in schools, the main venue of the teachers and students bilateral activities. The students in school spent most of their time in the classroom teaching. Therefore, it is the main front of the school education and students healthy growth. Instead of traditional classroom teaching in the new curriculum reform today, it is the learning being full of joy, independent, cooperate, and exploratory ways of learning, experience of the joy of success, positive evaluation to the diversification students. Vigorous and harmonious classroom learning atmosphere stimulates the students to actively participate in classroom, explore, and apply knowledge to solve problems. In this case, students can gain self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-belief, the courage to cynically express them and to express their unique insight. Therefore, a harmonious classroom teaching can benefit for students.
文摘In recent years, the choice of the classroom language has been developed. It has been proposed that English as a TL should be used exclusively in order to facilitate the learners＇ progress in English language acquisition. However it is unrealistic and undesirable to expect a generalist elementary school teacher to teach exclusively in English considering some settings which are shown in this paper. The paper concludes that both English and mother tongue can be used as CL.
文摘Error correction, in recent times, is seen as one of the important teaching processes in L2 （second language） learning, because comprehensible inputs alone is insufficient for acquisition of language. However, few L2 teachers know much about error analysis and how to correct errors in the L2 classroom. Error correction is a very complicated and a thorny issue in L2 teaching and learning. L2 teachers, therefore, need to be armed with ways in which errors can be treated to ensure maximum effect yet with less harm to learners. Identifying learners＇ errors is very important in L2 learning, but how to correct them to give the desired effect is equally important and very challenging to L2 teachers. It is therefore crucial to initiate a study in Ghana to find out how errors are corrected in the Ghanaian English language classroom. This case study used complete observation and semi-structured interview as data collection strategies to identify error correction strategies/types English teachers use in the Ghanaian JHS （Junior High School） classroom and how error correction/treatment can be improved to facilitate English language teaching and learning. The findings of the study showed that explicit error correction technique was the most commonly used followed by recast, elicitation, metalinguistic clues, clarification request, repetition, and cues. It was also found that the causes of the disparity in the use of the various error correction types were inadequate teacher preparation, incompetence in English language, limited knowledge in error correction, caliber of students, and insufficient teaching time. This study identified that the situation can be improved through effective teacher training, in-service training, learner involvement, and effective planning.
文摘Emotional teaching is an important part of language teaching. In the teaching activities, teachers should exploit and make full use of students＇ emotional factors to arouse their learning interest and motivation and therefore to improve students＇ English level. The author proposes a teaching concept of happy learning method in college English classroom teaching according to their own teaching practice, the concrete implementation measures of happy learning method include： encourage students to take the group cooperative learning method, establish good emotional communication relations between teachers and encourage students to correct each other by inquiry discussion and so on.
文摘English is widely taught as a foreign language in China. However, the current situation of English teaching cannot keep pace with the requirements of the Senior High School Standards. The improvement of teaching quality has become the focus in the new era. This paper analyzes the situation of English teaching in Southwest China. A questionnaire-based survey indicates the typical problems, such as silent classes, lack of student-student interaction, and low quality of teacher-student interaction, which will impede the improvement of English teaching quality and hinder students to develop. The author suggests using interactive teaching in senior schools in China.
文摘Teacher autonomy has become a popular focus in the field of teacher education at present. The development of learner autonomy depends largely on teacher autonomy. Teacher autonomy is also one of the most effective ways to support teachers in their classroom practice, as well as to improve and expand their professional preparation and practices. Apart from that, the research of teacher autonomy at different phases of teachers＇ professional development may provide insight into how to strengthen their autonomy capability and to better understand the differences in teachers＇ development at different stages. The current study aims to explore the different level of how university novice and proficient English teachers see themselves as autonomous practitioners on the five dimensions of teacher autonomy： teaching autonomy, assessment autonomy, school management autonomy, professional development autonomy, and curriculum development autonomy. In addition, it proposes coping strategies to facilitate the development of teacher autonomy, which may shed some light on cultivating teacher autonomy for teachers at different developing stages, development of expertise, and teacher education.
文摘Greek schools are witnessing widening gaps between traditional definitions and applications of literacy, which include reading, writing and speaking in terms of exercises from school textbooks and contemporary literacy practices like digital storytelling, interactive multimedia use and online communications. Language and literacy teachers of primary education are called upon daily to bridge these contradictions through pedagogical and textual choices they make in classroom teaching. This paper reports an experimental study with children of the fifth grade at public Greek schools to apply modernist literacy approaches involving digital storytelling and online communication in improving language skills. The paper analytically presents the didactic examples of a thematic union within the framework of the Greek curriculum and the alternative assessment for the experimental teaching on digital technologies among mother tongue learners. The findings have implications for teacher＇s and student＇s education and also for the integration of a pedagogical-technological content of curriculum within the continuing debate of being culturally and equally literate in today＇s education.
文摘As a teaching aid, games are vital to facilitate every part in learning process. They are easy to arouse learners＇ attention and are accessible to achieve teaching objectives compared with traditional teaching. The author did two-month classroom observations in Education First Training School in Ningbo. This paper discusses and shares useful and effective games provided in English class.
