How Should Introverted EFL Teachers Survive Communication in Class ？

I, an introvert, have observed the introverted EFL teachers in my work place in terms of the characteristics of communica-tion in class since I felt some of my personality traits get in the way in my class. The findings correspond to Brian R. Little's per-sonality psychology.Brian Little has revealed that introverted people lack mutual gazes and tend to talk past each other, and intro-verted EFL teachers are no exception according to my study. In the perspective of personality psychology, avoiding too much eyecontact is not because of a lack of confidence, but a way for introverts to reduce the outside stimulation. This explanation is reason-able but not good for communication in EFL teaching. In fact it is contradicted with the notion that language teachers should be amaster of communication themselves. Then I managed to identify these seemingly anti-social characteristics of communication andseek for some other means to compensate for what might be missed out in class communication. Brian Little clarifies the relation-ship between free trait, core projects and acting out of character. I conduct an empirical study by using questionnaires in which tenhigh-achieving university introverted English teachers with ten-year teaching experiences illustrates their initial problems in EFLteaching as well as their possible solutions. By collecting some characteristics of communication in class, I provide a three-stepcounter strategy for introverted EFL teachers to survive language class communication. First, accept the"weakness"and feel com-fortable with it. Second, set goals to practice it. Third, look for other means to compensate for it. This counter measure conforms toBrain Little's theory on the relationship between"free trait","core project "and"acting out of character". It is expected that thethree-step counter strategy is useful in introverted EFL teacher's pedagogical practice.

A Study on the Communication Strategies used by the Oversea EFL Learners

In China,English language skills learned in high school make students very incapable of universy's oral English course,especially for those who want to study abroad to further their education. The data collection procedure of this study was carried out during my one year study in Canada. This study conducted the method of interview to the oversea students from Saint Mary's University in order to provide some useful suggestions for the EFL learners who are planning to study abroad or want to improve their English speaking skill.

The Effects of Nonverbal Communication on EFL Classroom Teaching

Based on the concept of communication and the five fundamental communication principles, this article discusses the defi-nition of nonverbal communication and its uses in EFL classroom teaching. Finally the effects of nonverbal communication on EFLclassroom teaching are emphasized from five aspects.

Potential Application of Communicative Approach in EFL Education in Inner Mongolia

This paper provides an overview of the present practice in EFL(English as a Foreign Language) teaching in Inner Mongolia, and considers the implications of the popular Communicative Approach in the Western world. Besides the several sources drawn in this article, I have also added my own experience in EFL learning and teaching, first as a student for four years and then as a teacher of English. for 11 years in Inner Mongolia Teachers’ University (IMTU). The possible application of the Communicative Approach in EFL teaching in Inner Mongolia is to be discussed.

Influencing Factors of Communicative Language Teaching:A Student Perspective from English Majors

Nowadays,the Communicative Language Teaching Approach has gained significant popularity in the field of foreign language teaching.However,there appears to be a stagnation in its application effects.Therefore,this thesis aims to investigate the present state of CLT implementation and identify the factors influencing its execution within English major classrooms at Chinese universities from a student perspective.30 students responded to the questionnaire and 5 students participated in interviews to provide detailed insights.Through analysis,it was observed that CLT has been widely used in English classes and received positive feedback from students.Factors including the Test-oriented Educational system,teacher factors,student factors,and the Chinese traditional Confucius idea about teaching have an important impact on its implementation.Additionally,this article offers potential recommendations aimed at reconciling the CLT Approach with the Chinese educational context.

How to Teach Target Culture in EFL Classrooms More Effectively

Teaching culture in foreign language class is already a concept accepted by language teachers all over the world since language and culture are closely connected and inseparable,and this concept has been put into practice for a long time.However,the application of integrating the target culture teaching into EFL classrooms is far from being satisfactory.Therefore,how to incorporate culture into the foreign language classroom and how to teach culture for effective language learning has become a top priority for language teachers.This paper attempts to explore how to teach target culture effectively in EFL classrooms from multiple perspectives in the hope of helping students grasp cultural knowledge,improve their communicative competence,and enrich their linguistic knowledge as well.

Encouraging Active Learning Method in EFL Classroom

In active-learning classroom,the students play an active role in learning,and they are not only actively participating in classroom activities,but are interacting with the teacher and their peers.The teachers shoul try to avoid a noisy class with no real effects at all and they should help those who are poor at expressing in English.They should be encouraged to express themselves.To conclude,active-study method has brought us reward.

Using Oral Communicative Activities to Promote Interaction in EFL Classroom

Those monotonous exercises manipulated in EFL classroom,although labeled as'communicative', often result in predictable outcomes:student boredom,frustration,and even very limited progress toward mastery of the foreign language.This paper will introduce some oral communicative activities that can motivate students to practice conversation skills and promote interaction.

An Investigation on Willingness to Communicate of Chinese EFL Learners in a Study Abroad Context

As increasingly large number of Chinese students study abroad,Chinese students'classrooms behavious have captured attention.In addition to analyzing the factors affecting the learners'willingness to communicate(WTC) in second language(L2),the paper also aims to examine validity of the heuristic model of MacIntyre et al.(1998) in this particular context.Results show that interlocutor,topic and conversational context are the three main situational variables found to affect the Chinese learners'L2 WTC.

Communicative Approach in Teaching Reading in Chinese EFL Classrooms

How to teach reading has become a cornerstone of teachers in China as they develop overall teaching strategies in EFL classrooms.In this paper,firstly the author will introduce the context of teaching reading;thereafter clarify the concept of communicative language teaching(CLT) and its implications in EFL teaching;next illustrate the teaching context in China where CLT is encouraged to be implemented in classrooms;furthermore,reading with a purpose and the relevant teaching techniques will be introduced,in line with the important characteristics of communicative tasks.Finally the author will demonstrate some communicative tasks for purposeful reading in the EFL classroom of a senior high school in China.

Strategies to Promote Intercultural Communicative Competence in EFL Teaching

With the acceleration of globalization and internationalization, the demand for multilingual speakers is urgent, which promotes the development of foreign language teaching and learning especially English. Consequently, the English as a Foreign Language （EFL） teaching is paid great attention to in China. Many previous studies show the connection of EFL teaching and teachers＇ intercultural communicative competence （ICC）. Although it is presumed that teachers＇ ICC at this stage is a prerequisite to raise students＇ ICC, the specific strategies to promote teachers＇ intercultural skills in EFL teaching have not yet been empirically demonstrated. The goal of the present study is to put forward some specific strategies to promote teachers＇ ICC in EFL teaching. Two cases including interview and teaching plans, were administered in high school teachers. Sample analysis demonstrated teachers＇ current problems in ICC and in Chinese EFL teaching as well as the necessity for teachers to acquire the specific teaching strategies. These findings seem to suggest that specific strategies are indeed essential to promote teachers＇ ICC in EFL teaching.

A content analysis related to the cross-cultural/intercultural elements used in EFL coursebooks

This study aimed to examine some coursebooks of English as a Foreign Language （EFL） to see whether they involve any cross-cultural topics belonging to different cultures from different countries in the world. Assuming that EFL coursebooks written after the communicative movements in foreign language teaching and learning in the 1970s and the 1980s would have a plenty of cross-cultural elements, it was expected to see these coursebooks would also have a lot of cross-cultural elements, especially regarding their publication dates. This study aimed to investigate to what extent teaching materials used in EFL setting involve intercultural elements. Accordingly, 5 coursebooks were evaluated, and topics and number of cross-cultural elements were presented. The coursebooks used in the study were published in 1998, 1999, 1999, 2001 and 2006 namely. However, as the results displayed, the frequency of cross-cultural elements were not mutually related to their publication dates. The distribution and frequency of cross-cultural elements were not balanced with the dates chronologically.

The Application of Blended Learning Approach in EFL Teaching

Blended learning(BL)has been recognized as one of the most promising directions in education development in the modern world as it combines the strengths of traditional educational methods and benefits of online learning technologies.This paper starts with an exploration of BL as a concept,models and its application in language teaching and then probe into the effectiveness of BL approach in English as Foreign Language(EFL)Teaching especially to boost students speaking and listening competence,via a comparative study.With 50 in control group taught through traditional face-to-face instructions and 58 in experiment group through BL method,108 students are involved to find out that BL is conducive to promote students’motivation,self-study as well as activity and also to enhance their speaking and listening skills.

Rethinking Speaking Skills in EFL （English as a Foreign Language） Settings

The teaching of speaking has been neglected in EFL （English as a Foreign Language） settings throughout language history which led to negative effects on EFL teachers＇ and learners＇ attitudes. While teachers exhibit hesitation having no preset teaching paradigms at their disposal, learners experience withdrawal in speaking situations that demand interactional ease and socio-pragmatic awareness. Indeed, both the type of instruction and the complexity of this skill make of the teaching of spoken language a highly controversial issue especially with the implicit dichotomy that speaking entails and which opposes accurate mastery of linguistic patterns to ease or facility in meaning transmission. This paper aims at reconsidering the way this dormant skill has been tackled and the interfering variables that should be rethought and revisited while dealing with it.

Teaching Grammar in a Communicative Framework in the Chinese EFL Context

Communicative language teaching(CLT) has been introduced to the English-as-a-foreign-language(EFL) context in China for four decades.One of the most significant remaining issues is related to whether this approach to grammar teaching is more effective and efficient than traditional ones.Based on an overview of trends in approaches to grammar instruction,discussion on both advantages of teaching grammar communicatively and the challenges posed by the Chinese EFL context are provided.It is proposed that grammar instruction should be integrated into a communicative framework and this would be the optimal approach to grammar teaching on condition that some constraints in the EFL context in China are dealt with carefully.Teaching implications conclude this paper.

Communicative Testing:A Trend of Modern EFL Testing

Communicative testing, with its purpose of measuring communicative competence, has brought changes to the current EFL tests in content and format and produced a widespread and profound influence on modern language testing models in the two decades. This paper gives a brief introduction to the development of communicative testing, and presents the trend of modern EFL testing in the aspects of oral test, proportion of subjective and objective items, content, context, incorporation of skills as well as criteria of assessment, which is the result of enlightenment of communicative testing theories.

Obstacles for Chinese EFL Learners to Improve Speech Intelligibility

As the primary means of communication,speech is an essential aspect for humans to interact and build connections in the social world.Speech intelligibility is critical in social communication;unintelligibility may lead to confusion,misunderstanding,and frustration.Many Chinese learners of English find it challenging to apply English into social interaction and reach mutual intelligibility with international communicators.This article analyzes the obstacles impeding Chinese EFL learners’speech intelligibility development,from the aspects of phonology(segmental and suprasegmental features)and pragmatics.Some strategies are proposed to help Chinese learners ameliorate phonology and pragmatics problems and improve speech intelligibility in English communication.

对中国英语学习者口语交际中语用移情能力的研究(英文)

语用移情能力是口语交际中的一项重要能力,这项能力能够体现在语言交际上。该文旨在从间接言语,模糊语和情态动词三个方面对一组中国英语学习者的语用移情能力进行调查。希望该研究成果能够对中国的英语教学有一定启示。

Chinese EFL Learners' Public Speaking Skills: An Investigation of Impromptu Speeches at the “FLTRP Cup” English Speaking Contest in the Light of Communication Models

The current study applied classic communication models to investigating 34 laureate impromptu speeches at the 2010 and 2011 ＂FLTRP （Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press） Cup＂ English Speaking Contest, one of the most influential of its kind in China, to identify the features of public speaking skills of Advanced Chinese EFL learners. The speech scripts and video excerpts from the subsequent manuscript collection with the CD-Rom published by FLTRP were studied. Lucas＇ framework of speech communication process was borrowed to bridge elements of the communication models and speech delivery process. Three key aspects of the speakers＇ encoding endeavors were under close examination： the verbal preferences, the non-verbal preferences, and the topic selection for exemplification. It was found that successful speakers demonstrated a clear and strong audience orientation. They chose more first person pronouns, fewer abstract words, a controlled number of dependent clauses, clear transition words, and limited figures of speech. They used very few verbal fillers, slips of tongue, a moderate speech rate and varied tone inflections. The speakers also showed distinctive features in gestures, eye contact and facial expressions. They employed anecdotes which shared a common field of experience. Pedagogical implications on the teaching of public speaking were discussed.

A Comparison Between Male and Female in Their Willingness to Communicate and Use of Socio-cognitive Strategies

Willingness to communicate illustrates anyone’s tendency and wish to commence a communication.Besides,socio-cognitive strategies are used when people want to interact with others and face some difficulties.The aim of this study was twofold.The first aim was to investigate the difference in willingness to communicate between Iranian male and female.The second aim was to distinguish the frequency of socio-cognitive strategies used by Iranian advance students based on their gender.To these ends,32 advance learners(16 males and 16 females)were given the willingness to communicate questionnaire developed by MacIntyre,Baker,Clément,and Conrod(2001)and the socio-cognitive strategy use questionnaire.The range of the participants’age was 17-23 in both males and females.To analyze the result of the socio-cognitive strategies use,frequencies were counted.The result showed that although there were some similarities and differences between males and females while using socio-cognitive strategies,the differences were more in social strategies than cognitive ones.After collecting the data from the questionnaires and calculating the means of the two groups,an independent sample T-test was run to compute the significant differences between the two groups.The result of the willingness to communicate questionnaire revealed that males had more tendency in communication than females.Also,the result of the socio-cognitive strategy questionnaire showed that both groups are similar in cognitive strategy use,but they are different in social strategy use.