Idiom Comprehension of Chinese Patients With Aphasia: A Case Study

Previous studies on idiom comprehension of patients with aphasia(PWAs)mainly focused on Indo-European speakers,examining whether PWAs could correctly extract the target meaning of idioms,while among Chinese PWAs,idiom familiarity,context and other variables affecting idiom comprehension were rarely studied.Hence,this study aims to explore whether Chinese PWAs can correctly comprehend the target meaning of idioms,and further investigate the role of familiarity and context.For three Chinese PWAs,this study adopted the string-to-word matching task,taking Chinese four-character idioms as the experimental stimuli,and provided decoy words containing target meaning,literal meaning,unrelated abstract meaning and unrelated concrete meaning as the matching words of idiom items by manipulating the familiarity and contextual presence of idiom items.The results suggested that the PWAs could not correctly extract the target meaning of idioms and presented both the literal meaning tendency and the weak abstract meaning tendency,and the influence of familiarity on the comprehension of idioms was stronger than that of context.These results support the Graded Salience Hypothesis.

Towards Lessening Learners’Aversive Emotions and Promoting Their Mental Health:Developing and Validating a Measurement of English Speaking Demotivation in the Chinese EFL Context

While a plethora of studies has been conducted to explore demotivation and its impact on mental health in second language(L2)education,scanty research focuses on demotivation in L2 speaking learning.Particularly,little research explores the measures to quantify L2 speaking demotivation.The present two-phase study attempts to develop and validate an English Speaking Demotivation Scale(ESDS).To this end,an independent sample of 207 Chinese tertiary learners of English as a Foreign Language(EFL)participated in the development phase,and another group of 188 Chinese EFL learners was recruited for the validation of the scale.Exploratory Factor Analysis(EFA)and Confirmatory Factor Analysis(CFA)were employed to determine the factor structure of the scale.The EFA results revealed a six-factor solution with Teacher-related Factors in Learning Spoken English(TFLSE),Interest and Valence in Learning Spoken English(IVLSE),Self-efficacy in Learning Spoken English(SELSE),Negative Peer Influence in Learning Spoken English(NPILSE),Undesirable Environment for Learning Spoken English(UELSE),and Negative Influence of Assessment and Learning Materials in speaking class(NIALM).In the validation phase,Confirmatory Factor Analysis(CFA)was performed to validate the internal structure of the scale.The CFA results showed that the model fits the data well.Overall,the ESDS is a robust and trustworthy psychometric tool that could be utilized to examine L2 speaking demotivation.Implications for diminishing EFL learners’demotivation,lessening their aversive emotions and promoting their mental health are also discussed.

“Voices of Heaven and Rhymes of God”——My English and Chinese Poetry Written from the Bible in Rhyme and Rhythm is Worth over Fifteen Towns together

Thanks to Heavens bestow me natural gift and literary talent, so that I not only like English and Chinese poems, but also can write poems in English and Chinese. After my 2nd book English Letters and Essays published by Sichuan University Press in March 2016, I began to write my 3rd book Voices of Heaven and Rhymes of God-My English and Chinese poetry written from the Bible in Rhyme and Rhythm. Imitating the most famous British, American and Italian poets, I have written more than one thousand English and Chinese bilingual poems from free poems, prose, addresses and narratives in the nine copies of the Bible in fourteen kinds of English metrical stanzas of poems, such as couplet, tercet, quatrain, cinquain, sixain, septet, octive, Spenserian stanza, ten-line stanza, sonnet, crown sonnet and long-stanzas (12, 13, 18) in rhyme and rhythm, in iambic pentameter and iambic tetrameter. And my Chinese poems in the version are in five, six, seven, eight and nine Chinese characters. We know the story in the Spring and Autumn Dynasty, Bian He’s Jade is the Jade of jades, the Treasure of treasures, and it is worth fifteen towns together. And I think my treasury Voices of Heaven and Rhymes of God is the Gem of jades and treasures, cause it brings us proverbs, wisdom, courage, confidence, strength, lifestyle etc. from the Bible, it really brings us heavenly grace, gift and wisdom. Voices of Heaven and Rhymes of God will be submitted out respectfully to common people;its soul is praising the Heavens sincerely, and hearing a universal singing.

Four Dimensions of Integrating Chinese Culture Into College English Teaching From the Perspective of Tyler’s Basic Principles

Integrating Chinese culture into college English can not only enhance students’humanities literacy and cultivate their cultural confidence,but also facilitate the inheritance and international dissemination of Chinese culture.Taking Tyler’s curriculum framework as the starting point,this paper analyzes some factors that affect the integration of Chinese culture into the college English teaching and proposes some strategies for the integration of Chinese culture into college English teaching by innovating teaching objectives,enriching teaching contents,transforming modes of course delivery,and reconstructing the assessment system.

A Study on the Integration of Chinese Culture in High School English Teaching

The inseparable relationship between language and culture indicates that culture teaching is indispensable in English teaching.The ultimate goal of culture teaching in English teaching is to cultivate learners’cross-cultural communication skills.Cross-cultural communication is a two-way process,which requires not only knowledge of English culture but also the use of English as a medium for disseminating Chinese culture to the outside world.However,in actual English teaching,the teaching of Chinese culture is a mere formality,and the teaching effect is not obvious.Therefore,it is necessary to conduct a survey and research on Chinese culture teaching in high school English classrooms to understand its current situation,existing problems,and their causes,so as to provide suggestions for Chinese culture teaching in high school.

Application of Traditional Chinese Culture in Cross-Cultural English Education:A Case Study of the Maritime Silk Road in Guangdong Province

The phenomenon of aphasia in Chinese culture is serious.The existing English teaching materials emphasize too much Western culture education and lack traditional Chinese cultural elements.Therefore,this paper takes the Guangdong Maritime Silk Road as an example to study the specific application of traditional Chinese culture in cross-cultural English education.This paper first summarizes the significance of cross-cultural integration into college English education and then points out the serious phenomenon of Chinese cultural aphasia.Next,the paper focuses on English education,using English textbooks as a starting point to explore and integrate strategies related to excellent traditional Chinese culture from the Guangdong Maritime Silk Road.By integrating traditional Chinese culture into business English classes(with the Guangdong Maritime Silk Road as an example),the study explores the influence of such cultural integration on students’cross-cultural communication skills,cultural identity,and learning effects.The results showed that the P value of the experimental group and the control group was<0.05,that is,cultural integration had a positive effect on improving the effect of cross-cultural English education.The overall scores and cultural confidence of the experimental group are higher than those of the control group,which proves that cross-cultural teaching has a positive effect on the improvement of students’scores.

An Introduction to the Dissemination of Chinese Culture in English Teaching in Colleges and Universities

Language and culture are closely related,and understanding the cultural knowledge embedded in the process of language learning is an important goal of English teaching in colleges and universities.At present,the dissemination of Chinese culture in English teaching in colleges and universities is lacking,which affects the improvement of students’intercultural communication skills.In order to effectively solve such problems,we need to take effective measures to disseminate Chinese culture by combining teaching content and students’characteristics.This paper summarizes the problems of Chinese culture dissemination in English teaching in colleges and universities,and explores effective countermeasures and teaching considerations,hoping to provide teachers with valuable guidelines.

The Translation and Introduction of Chinese Myth in English World

Different from Greek myth,Chinese myth is scattered among many kinds of ancient books such as The Classic of Mountains and Seas,Chuci,Huainanzi,etc.There is no Chinese classic that records mythology like the Odyssey and Iliad.After the 20th century,Chinese scholars began to collect and study myths.In the English world,missionaries began to translate and introduce Chinese myths from the middle and late 19th century,and then Chinese scholars and sinologists have been translating and introducing Chinese myths.At present,the English translation of Chinese mythology has made a lot of achievements,but there are also many misunderstandings.This paper explores the current situation of the English translation of Chinese mythology by analyzing several well-known translations.

English Writing Autonomy and Literacy among Chinese College Students

The purpose of this study is to examine the current situation of English writing autonomy and literacy among Chinese college students,to analyze their performance,scale,and distribution as well as influencing factors,and to explore the correlation between English writing autonomy and literacy.This study will provide an in-depth analysis of the current situation of Chinese college students’English writing autonomy and literacy,reveal the scale,distribution,and influencing factors,as well as put forward strategies to enhance them,so as to provide a reference for the reform and development of college English education.

Challenges and Countermeasures in Integrating Chinese Traditional Culture into English Listening and Speaking Course

Foreign language education involves not only language education but also cultural education.It is the new mission of today’s foreign language education to integrate Chinese traditional culture into foreign language teaching and cultivate foreign language talents who can tell Chinese stories well and spread Chinese voice.As a basic course for English majors,English Listening and Speaking faces many challenges when it is integrated into Chinese traditional culture,such as complex teaching content,limited teaching resources,insufficient teachers’literacy,and students’listening and speaking difficulties.In order to solve these problems,teachers and universities should work together to sort out the connotation of Chinese traditional culture,develop audio-visual teaching materials,organize teacher training,and innovate teaching methods,so as to effectively promote the connection between Chinese traditional culture and English Listening and Speaking curriculum system.

Promoting the International Dissemination of Chinese Culture Through International Chinese Language Education: A Case Study of Chinese-English Idiomatic Equivalence

One major task of our improvement of China’s international communication capabilities is to tell China’s stories well and make China’s voice heard to communicate a comprehensive,multi-dimensional view of China in the international arena.International Chinese language education bears the dual responsibility of spreading the Chinese language and promoting the Chinese culture.How to shape global narratives for telling China’s stories and improve China’s international communication capabilities has become an important issue that concerns international Chinese language education.Chinese idioms,which are hidden treasures of the Chinese language,can play a unique role in this regard.It is therefore necessary to review the content and methods of including idioms in international Chinese language education.In this paper,instruction in idioms is approached by making a corpus-based comparative analysis from the theoretical perspectives of equivalence,cognitive metaphor,and second language acquisition.Qualitative and quantitative methods are combined to analyze idioms to be added to the vocabulary of international Chinese language education in three dimensions:word frequency,semantic transparency,and functional equivalence.This paper aims to explore a new approach to the dissemination of Chinese culture through instruction in idioms in international Chinese language education.

On Nonce Variant of English Idioms

English idiom variant refers to the form of idiom created by means of altering some original components,structures,or meanings of the former idioms.The nonce variant of English idioms can be analyzed from the following three aspects:reasons for formation of nonce variant,types into which it could be divided,and rhetorical functions it is capable of producing.Through the analysis of these three aspects,it is almost likely for language-users to realize the importance and modes of idiom’s renovation,get a better understanding of English idioms,and thus utilize English idioms more skillfully.

An Analysis of Value Differences in English and Chinese Idioms from the Perspective of Intercultural Communication

Idioms are the essence and gems of human wisdom and an important carrier of national culture. As a special form of language, they play an important role in intercultural communication. Due to the uniqueness of each culture, English and Chinese idioms are different in many aspects, values included. The present paper attempts to analyze the different values in English and Chinese idioms from three aspects: dependence vs independence, past-time orientation vs future-time orientation, and harmony vs competition. And the authors hope that it will be of some practical significance in people's intercultural communication.

The Differences of Cultural Connotations between English and Chinese Idioms

The paper analyses the cultural differences in English and Chinese idioms from three aspects and tries to figures out the underlying reasons of those differences.It is necessary for us to understand and learn about the cultural differences between English and Chinese idioms and a good mastery of those differences can help us get rid of the communicative barriers and understanding barriers.

Cultural Differences between English and Chinese on Idioms Origins

Different people from different cultures may have different understandings of the same sentence because they know little about the target cultures. While the ultimate aim of English teaching as a foreign language is to cultivate students' competence to apply English correctly, fluently, and appropriately in cross-cultural communication. Idioms, a part of language, are the essence of culture in every country. Using language in such communication, we often come across some idioms with distinctive cultural characteristics, so it is a very important and complicated thing for us to understand and use these idioms correctly. Therefore, in this paper, we will discuss the idioms reflecting the differences of Chinese and Western cultures in various levels with many lively, important, and interesting examples of idioms.

A Study on the Different Levels of“Attention”in the Processing of English Subjunctive Mood by Chinese Learners

“Attention”is a very vital cognitive mechanism.Cognitive psychology considers“attention”as the focus of mental activity and consciousness on an object.People engage their senses and memory to actively process the object in front of them.Theories of second language acquisition suggest that a large amount of input is the basis for language acquisition.At the same time,what is actively noticed by the learner can be effectively internalized.Thus,“attention”is also a non-linguistic factor that plays a significant role in language acquisition.The subjunctive mood is a major challenge in the teaching of English grammar.Generally speaking,the verbs in a sentence are used to distinguish between subjunctive and declarative sentences.In this paper,experimental utterances were written based on previous research by using verbs that are easy to cause ambiguity and confusion,and then set up the reinforced and non-reinforced attention conditions with different levels of“attention”to investigate whether there are different results and effects on subjects’comprehension of sentences under different levels of“attention”conditions.Under the different levels of“attention”,the subjects were examined to see whether there were different results in comprehension of the sentences and the impact of the different levels of“attention”.It was found that subjects in the reinforced“attention”condition comprehended sentences better,answered questions faster,and answered questions more correctly than subjects in the non-reinforced condition.This study also shed some light on English second language grammar teaching.

A Comparative Analysis of the Origin and Formation Between Chinese Characters and English Alphabets

This research is based on the framework of social constructivism,utilizing the principle of Human Universals as a methodology to compare the similarities and differences between the ideation and formation methods of Chinese characters and English alphabets.Through comparative analysis of the ideation of English letters(pictogramme)and the origin of Chinese characters,known as the"Six Categories Theory,"we discover their alignment in terms of social,traditional,and cultural aspects.This suggests that different ethnic groups share common features in terms of life experience,learning cognitive development,and thinking habits.This study also finds that the origins of English letters and Chinese characters share similar linguistic features in their methods of constructing letters/characters,such as pictographic,ideographic,and semantic characteristics.Exploring these commonalities contributes to promoting learning and communication between Chinese and English characters.Additionally,by focusing on socio-cultural aspects,traditional customs,and cognitive learning,this study aims to break away from the traditional linguistic research approach that solely focuses on language differences.This provides a broader perspective and richer dimensions for Chinese and English language learning,facilitating the development of cross-linguistic and cross-cultural communication.

On the Translation of English-Chinese Idioms

The idiomatic phrase is equal to the phrase that people use frequently language in the world that had long and splendid history all contains large quantities of idiom. They form regular phrases and short sentences through long use and refinement in the development of language. The idiomatic phrases contain varied cultural information, embody a lot of cultural feature, and cultural background. The idiomatic phrases display distinct image and figure of speech, and they also have bright national characteristic and regional (local) color. The paper includes four parts. The first chapter is to introduce the generalization of idioms and translation, and the second part is to list four different definitions of idiom according to some translational experts, next step leads in classification and sources of idiom. The third chapter introduces some common strategies of idiomatic translation such as literal translation, literal translation plus notes, free translation, and the combination of literal and free translation. At last sum up the paper.

Translation of English Idioms into Chinese

English idioms, as the quintessence of the English language, are vivid, terse and comprehensive expressions refined and sanctified through long time use by the native speakers. The nicety understanding and translation of idioms is the important part in translating. In the thesis, though the discussion of the correspondence between English and Chinese idioms, I summarize some methods of translating English idioms into Chinese.

Cultural Connotations of Chinese and English Idioms Concerning Animal Names and Their Translation

There are lots of idioms concerning animals.These animal idioms have very different culture connotations according to the different features of different kinds of animals.This essay,by consulting the predecessors' achievements and comparing the similarities and differences of cultural connotations of animal images in Chinese and English idioms,approached to deal with translation principles and methods applied to the translation of animal idioms.