China, as a developing nation, has therare success of maintaining the balance be-tween its rural and urban population toabout 80% and 20%, although the urbanpopulation has actually increased 130%since 1949, which is g...China, as a developing nation, has therare success of maintaining the balance be-tween its rural and urban population toabout 80% and 20%, although the urbanpopulation has actually increased 130%since 1949, which is greater than the increaseof the national population (Zou, 1986).With its modernization effort and theliberalization of the economy, there aregreat demands for additional and improvedproduction space and efficient productionconditions, as well as demands for a betterliving environment which includes展开更多
Task-based language teaching(TBLT) is an influential approach which prevails and thrives all over the world and is still favored by a number of teachers and researchers for its unparalleled advantages that overshadow ...Task-based language teaching(TBLT) is an influential approach which prevails and thrives all over the world and is still favored by a number of teachers and researchers for its unparalleled advantages that overshadow the traditional ones. However, it still remains a question whether the foreign approach could be imported to China without modification and localized to adapt to Chinese educational background. This paper, aiming at answering this question, investigates the strengths and weaknesses of TBLT in the Chinese context at length.展开更多
In the past few years,group activities have been warmly welcomed by EFL(English as a foreign language)classes in Chi-na,but few studies have discussed it from a critical perspective.Thus,this study explores from stude...In the past few years,group activities have been warmly welcomed by EFL(English as a foreign language)classes in Chi-na,but few studies have discussed it from a critical perspective.Thus,this study explores from students’experiences what and whythe strengths and weaknesses of group work in actual contexts appear.The findings reveal that Chinese learners regard group workas an effective interactive activity for language,personal,and emotional development.However,the possible pitfalls,such as pseu-dogroups,unequal participation,groupthink,L1(first language)influence may prevent learners from obtaining the benefits of CL(collaborative learning).Finally,some suggestions are given,with the purpose of creating a more suitable facilitative EFL classroomenvironment for future Chinese EFL teaching and learning.展开更多
The production-oriented approach （POA） has been developed over a decade. It is driven by the need to improve English classroom instruction for university students in China （Wen, 2016）. It is also motivated by the ...The production-oriented approach （POA） has been developed over a decade. It is driven by the need to improve English classroom instruction for university students in China （Wen, 2016）. It is also motivated by the aspiration to enhance the quality of foreign language education in other similar pedagogical contexts outside China. A volume of research has been done by Wen Qiufang and her research team, to formulate the theory of POA and to test its effectiveness in classroom pedagogy （e.g. Wen, 2016, 2015; Yang, 2015; Zhang, 2015）. At the moment, the POA is still at an early stage of theory building and almost all empirical research is done in the Chinese context. In order to improve the quality of this theory and to make it intelligible to the international academic community, a one-day symposium was held in Beijing Foreign Studies University on May 15, 2017. The symposium was entitled ＇The first international forum on innovative foreign language education in China： Appraisal of the POA＇. In the forum, leading experts in applied linguistics were invited to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the POA and the directions for its future development. The symposium was the first attempt for the POA research team to discuss its latest work with international scholars. This Viewpoint section collects the responses of four experts who participated in the symposium, listed in alphabetical order. The collection of articles covers three topics related to the POA： its pedagogical application, its use for teacher training, and its research. Alister Cumming is Professor Emeritus and the former Head of the Centre for Educational Research on Languages and Literacies, University of Toronto, Canada. His article focuses primarily on POA research as an exemplary case of design-based research. Rod Ellis is Research Professor in the School of Education at Curtin University, Australia. He discusses POA in terms of pedagogy, teacher training and research, with both critiques and constructive suggestions. Paul Kei Matsuda is Professor of English and Director of Second Language Writing at Arizona State University, the writed states. He responds to POA from the perspective of an expert researcher and teacher of L2 writing. Charlene Polio is Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Linguistics ＆ Germanic, Slavic, Asian ＆ African Languages atMichigan State University, the writed states. She conceptualises POA as a useful method to address some issues in pre-service teacher development. Overall, the articles in this section are insightful and reader-friendly. They are not only useful for the development of POA in particular, but may also be valuable to a broad range of researchers as they touch upon pertaining issues, as well as emerging topics, in the field of applied linguistics. We therefore find it necessary to make them accessible to a wide readership.展开更多
文摘China, as a developing nation, has therare success of maintaining the balance be-tween its rural and urban population toabout 80% and 20%, although the urbanpopulation has actually increased 130%since 1949, which is greater than the increaseof the national population (Zou, 1986).With its modernization effort and theliberalization of the economy, there aregreat demands for additional and improvedproduction space and efficient productionconditions, as well as demands for a betterliving environment which includes
文摘Task-based language teaching(TBLT) is an influential approach which prevails and thrives all over the world and is still favored by a number of teachers and researchers for its unparalleled advantages that overshadow the traditional ones. However, it still remains a question whether the foreign approach could be imported to China without modification and localized to adapt to Chinese educational background. This paper, aiming at answering this question, investigates the strengths and weaknesses of TBLT in the Chinese context at length.
文摘In the past few years,group activities have been warmly welcomed by EFL(English as a foreign language)classes in Chi-na,but few studies have discussed it from a critical perspective.Thus,this study explores from students’experiences what and whythe strengths and weaknesses of group work in actual contexts appear.The findings reveal that Chinese learners regard group workas an effective interactive activity for language,personal,and emotional development.However,the possible pitfalls,such as pseu-dogroups,unequal participation,groupthink,L1(first language)influence may prevent learners from obtaining the benefits of CL(collaborative learning).Finally,some suggestions are given,with the purpose of creating a more suitable facilitative EFL classroomenvironment for future Chinese EFL teaching and learning.
文摘The production-oriented approach （POA） has been developed over a decade. It is driven by the need to improve English classroom instruction for university students in China （Wen, 2016）. It is also motivated by the aspiration to enhance the quality of foreign language education in other similar pedagogical contexts outside China. A volume of research has been done by Wen Qiufang and her research team, to formulate the theory of POA and to test its effectiveness in classroom pedagogy （e.g. Wen, 2016, 2015; Yang, 2015; Zhang, 2015）. At the moment, the POA is still at an early stage of theory building and almost all empirical research is done in the Chinese context. In order to improve the quality of this theory and to make it intelligible to the international academic community, a one-day symposium was held in Beijing Foreign Studies University on May 15, 2017. The symposium was entitled ＇The first international forum on innovative foreign language education in China： Appraisal of the POA＇. In the forum, leading experts in applied linguistics were invited to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the POA and the directions for its future development. The symposium was the first attempt for the POA research team to discuss its latest work with international scholars. This Viewpoint section collects the responses of four experts who participated in the symposium, listed in alphabetical order. The collection of articles covers three topics related to the POA： its pedagogical application, its use for teacher training, and its research. Alister Cumming is Professor Emeritus and the former Head of the Centre for Educational Research on Languages and Literacies, University of Toronto, Canada. His article focuses primarily on POA research as an exemplary case of design-based research. Rod Ellis is Research Professor in the School of Education at Curtin University, Australia. He discusses POA in terms of pedagogy, teacher training and research, with both critiques and constructive suggestions. Paul Kei Matsuda is Professor of English and Director of Second Language Writing at Arizona State University, the writed states. He responds to POA from the perspective of an expert researcher and teacher of L2 writing. Charlene Polio is Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Linguistics ＆ Germanic, Slavic, Asian ＆ African Languages atMichigan State University, the writed states. She conceptualises POA as a useful method to address some issues in pre-service teacher development. Overall, the articles in this section are insightful and reader-friendly. They are not only useful for the development of POA in particular, but may also be valuable to a broad range of researchers as they touch upon pertaining issues, as well as emerging topics, in the field of applied linguistics. We therefore find it necessary to make them accessible to a wide readership.
