Correlation between Chinese learners＇ tolerance of ambiguity and their English achievement

Tolerance of ambiguity, an important emotional factor, imposes vital influence on second language acquisition. In this study, questionnaires are adopted to investigate the correlation between non-English major＇s tolerance of ambiguity and their English achievement. The result shows that students with different degrees of tolerance of ambiguity can be significantly different in their language performance. Based on the analysis, this article proposes some effective measures to improve the degree of tolerance of ambiguity in English teaching.

Tolerance of Ambiguity in Culture Acquisition ——Based on Differences in Cultural Perception

This paper probes into a psychological construct named Tolerance of Ambiguity （TOA） to find out how well Chinese college students psychologically tolerate cultural differences between China and Britain. Term papers written by 71 students expressing their opinions on BBC＇s behavior （rehearsing announcement of the queen＇s death while she is alive） were used as data to identify them either as tolerant learners of culture or intolerant learners of culture according to their psychological state concerning perception of death and attitude to cultural differences. Opinions gathered from the data show great differences between two cultures in terms of the concept of death and also great differences between two types of learners in terms of their degree of tolerance. This paper is a qualitative analysis of the data about the students＇ cultural opinions and psychological tolerance. The analysis of the data sheds light on the existence of TOA ＆ ITOA （Intolerance of Ambiguity） in the process of culture acquisition and shows that a certain degree of TOA is needed for better adaptation to an unfamiliar culture in case the students go abroad for further study in the future. It is concluded that fostering higher degree of TOA should be taken into consideration not only by language teachers but also by teachers of culture courses because TOA is crucial for acculturation in this era of globalization. A few strategies are suggested at the end of the paper for teachers to raise intercultural awareness and boost tolerance of differences among students who take culture courses.

Creativity in ArchitecturemA Review on Effective Parameters Correlated with Creativity in Architectural Design

Human civilization can be ameliorated by human creativity. Innovation and progress of human civilization result from a change in our thinking patterns, thus, potentially transforming the present into a creative future. Accentuating the role of creativity in design even more than other disciplines pushes one to underpin the understanding of creativity as a key role player in architecture. Furthermore, by identifying the basic principles of our ingenuity/creativity, researchers might be able to enhance this ability in the future. A key point in ＂creativity＂ is the role of previously gained experiences, which cause expanding the inventory of experiences. According to accepted def＇mition in different disciplines, creativity is no more than new combinations of previous ideas. The paper explores different effectual parameters correlated with creativity in architectural design including notion of conceptual blending, improbabilist and impossibilist creativity, tolerance of ambiguity and its correlation with creativity and creativity aided tools and interfaces. At the end, we suggest necessary experiments to obtain empirical results for some speculations that are discussed in the paper. Also, practical approaches will be suggested to apply the results in pedagogy of architecture.