Photographic Illustrations in Chinese College English Textbooks: A Semiotic Analysis

In recent years, the curriculum of College English(CE) in China has seen a trend that veers away from pure language-oriented teaching toward an emphasis on the cultivation of students' cultural or intercultural competence. In this context, the CE textbooks have been highly responsiblized in the transformative agenda, and the use of photographic illustrations in the textbooks has been increasingly valued as a way to include culture carriers. Our study draws perspectives from communicative semiotics and visual semiotics to investigate the way in which photographic illustrations have been involved in the learning process in order to find out whether and how they promote students' cultural and intercultural acquisition. We focus on the semiosis process engendered by the photos as signs and their modes of representation, which largely determines the process and result of cultural acquisition. Our analysis demonstrates that while the photographic illustrations have been designed to enhance cultural learning in hypothetical situations, when placed in a real learning context together with the texts and learning tasks, some of the photos may not successfully promote the process of cultural acquisition, since learners' interpretation of the photos can be diverted or limited by other aspects of the learning context.

Linguistic Insights into the Teaching of English Composition to Chinese College Students

How does one teach composition to Chinese college students of English? How does one teach thera to discover ideas for themselves and to put these into English patterns of thought and organization? Can the discovery of ideas really be taught? Is there a method of teaching whereby the scientific process of writing can be cornbined with the creative art of composition?

Understanding the PAD-Based Class Acceptance among Modern Chinese College Students’English Learning

This paper gives an understanding of PAD-based class acceptance among modern Chinese college students’English learning.It first introduces the brief definition of what the PAD-based class is,as well as the situation of English language learning in present China,especially the learning amongst Chinese college students.And then it focuses on the acceptance of the PADbased class in the English learning of Chinese college students,including the breakthrough of the traditional Chinese classroom teaching mode and the innovation of the PAD-based class among Chinese college students’English learning.

An Empirical Study on the Relationship Between Chinese Teachers' Attitudes Toward Identity and Teacher Autonomy

Teacher identity formation provides a direction for the development of autonomy(Huang&Benson,2013).However,the process of identity formation is complex and how this process influences teacher autonomy has not been sufficiently studied.To contribute to knowledge in this field,the present study investigated the relationship between teachers’attitudes toward teacher identity and teacher autonomy.We first observed 14 Chinese College English teachers’classroom teaching.Following that,we conducted stimulated recall interviews with all the teachers to pinpoint their autonomous practices.Finally,we conducted semi-structured interviews to investigate these teachers’attitudes toward their identities.One of the main findings was that the teachers who held a positive attitude toward their professional identity were more autonomous in their teaching practices than those with a negative attitude.The findings invite us to conclude that teachers’attitudes toward their professional identity are positively associated with teacher autonomy.