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.

Techno-constructivism in EFL Teaching

With the explosion of information technology, many foreign language teachers are concerned that technology will impose distance in the student-teacher relationship and both teaching and learning will suffer. To make full use of information technology without loss of social interaction in classroom, techno-constructivism is recommended. Examples of effective implementation of techno-constructivist pedagogy in EFL teaching are given to demonstrate how to ensure effective learning.

A Brief Analysis of Features of Authentic Listening in EFL Teaching

In recent decades, there is an increasing awareness among EFL teachers that listening is no longer being regarded as a receptive skill to assist other language skills. Instead, listening itself is viewed as an important communicative skill that is urgently required in the real- world communication. This project aims to identify the main features of authentic listening that are required in EFL teaching which are Purpose and Expectation, Environmental Background Clues and Informal Speech.

EFL teaching:its goals and basic requirements

In choosing the subject matter for the EFL teaching course,we should keep in mind the fact that the purpose is to provide knowledge of the world and specifically of the relevant cultures.Usefulness is usually the first feature in EFL teaching.That does not mean we could neglect the interest of the lessons.

A Comparison between Deductive and Inductive Approaches for Teaching EFL Grammar to High School Students

This study had the purpose of testingtwo methods for teaching grammar in Englishasa Foreign Language(EFL)class:the deductive and inductive approaches in terms of effectiveness and rapport.This research was conducted in a public high school in Ecuador.Seventy students enrolled in the second year of senior high school participated.One in-service teacher taught the EFL classes during the process of intervention(10 weeks),and two EFL teachers observed all of these classes and recorded the information by filling in observation sheets.The students were administered grammar pretests and post-tests in order to assess their grammar knowledge.The results of the tests showed a significant difference in the scores in favor of the inductive approach.After the statistical analysis of the data obtained from the tests and observation sheets,we concluded that the inductive approach is more effective for teaching grammar in the EFL classroom in terms of instruction and rapport.

EXPLOITING VIDEO FILMS FOR EFL TEACHING PURPOSES

Using video films can be a very effective way of teaching and learning English only when the films areproperly selected and some activities are organized around them.This paper offers the criteria forchoosing films and suggests some activities for a variety of language teaching purposes.As video units and video films in English are now more easily available,the use of video films has becomean increasingly important component of teaching English as a foreign language.Here I use the term"video film"in a loose sense to mean"feature film on video".In recent years,textbooks have appeared inChina,such as English Through Films(Wu Qing,Yang Limin 1993)and English and American

Investigating Learner Engagement in Flipped English as a Foreign Language Classroom

Flipped classroom is an innovative instructional method. Recenttechnological developments have given rise to the popularity of flippedclassroom. This study reports the findings of a questionnaire survey thatinvestigates learners’ perceptions of flipped EFL (English as a ForeignLanguage) classroom, with a particular focus on their self-perceived learnerengagement. The results of the study indicate that the learners generallyhave positive and favorable attitudes toward flipped classroom. Seventyfivepercent of them consider flipped classroom useful in boosting theirconfidence in learning English and 50.6% think that they have becomemore interested in the course. Yet, it is also found that only 30.1% agreethat flipped method has helped them to understand the course content moreclearly. In addition, as high as 71.6% of the respondents agree that theflipped method can increase their motivation to participate in classroomlearning activities, but only 44.9% believe that their engagement hasbeen raised. While the results show that the students tend to accept thisnew teaching method, their evaluation of the actual effects of it is notas expected, which may be due to the lack of guidance and the weakconnection between online self-study and classroom activities. Futurestudies are needed to explore how to strengthen these areas.

Investigation on the Intercultural Sensitivity of English Teachers in Chinese Elementary Schools

The development of technology has driven human beings into a globalized world,which requires intercultural communication competence(ICC).As its affective aspect,the subject of intercultural sensitivity(IS)is being heatedly discussed nowadays.This study focuses on the importance of intercultural sensitivity(IS)among Chinese EFL teachers and attempts to explore their current level and the possible reasons for it.For this purpose,questionnaires were distributed to 29 Chinese elementary school English teachers,and the results from the questionnaire showed that the IS level of these teachers is satisfactory,scoring high in five dimensions:interaction engagement,respect for cultural differences,interaction confidence,interaction attentiveness,and interaction enjoyment.The follow-up interview suggested that the high IS level may be a result from intercultural communication training.Moreover,this research found that Chinese teachers were more engaged and enjoyed less in view of scarce opportunities for communication in authentic cross-cultural contexts.Several suggestions and implications for further research have also been included in this article.

INNOVATION IN TEACHING ADVANCED WRITING TO EFL TEACHERS

1.IntroductionWriting is a productive skill of the language,which usually comes at the end of the four languageskills.Many learners find it difficult when they writeeither because they don’t have anything to writeabout or because they don’t know how to write.As aresult,they are daunted by any writing tasks.Teach-ers also find it difficult when they teach the writingcourse either because there aren’t enough teaching re-sources to go to or because the sheer marking of thecomposition poses as a monster of some sort.Theseproblems have hindered the effective teaching andlearning of writing.

TOWARDS A REALIZATION OF AN HOLISTIC MODEL OF TEACHING READING IN THE EFL CLASS IN CHINA

The teaching of reading in the EFL class in China is supposed to be the most important course forEnglish learners in colleges and universities because it is expected to fulfil two tasks:the develop-ment of reading skills and the development of language skills.The former set of skills is assigned tothe course called Extensive Reading,which is top-down oriented,and,like the top-down model be-fore 1980’s,its emphasis on the language competence such as syntax and vocabulary often leads to"wild guessing"and misunderstanding.Another reading course,Intensive Reading,is supposed to beresponsible for the latter set of skills.This bottom-up manner of reading often results in word-to-word reading and also causes miscomprehension.The Holistic Model of Reading,as developed on thebasis of interactive models with particular concern over the Chinese learning environment,attemptsto combine the two courses into one and the result,as our studies show,turns out to be promising.

INTEGRATION OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE WRITING AND PROCESS WRITING APPROACHES IN TEACHING EFL WRITING

This paper adopts a pedagogical approach to theteaching of English writing to EFL learners of interme-diate or advanced level in China.The teaching ofwriting has been a problem to Chinese EFL teachers fora long time.On the one hand,they want to make anattempt to adopt fashionable and effective Englishwriting approaches,like process writing.On the otherhand,they are frustrated by the traditional Chinesewriting method.Some of our language educators arealways struggling against the influence of our tradi-tional Chinese writing method.A negative attitudetowards our mother tongue writing approach has beenestablished or accepted by most of our EFL teachers,which result in the EFL learners’panic in their Eng-lish writing course because they are afraid of being ac-cused of writing a Chinese composition in Englishwords.Needless to say,this kind of teaching stylecannot be effective and is frustrating instead.The au-thor presents an integrated and practical solution tothis problem and discusses the applicability of the ap-proach.The author discusses how we can effectivelyintegrate the traditional Chinese writing method andthe popular process writing approach in teaching Eng-lish writing.

CULTURE: WHAT TO TEACH AND HOW TO TEACH IT IN AN EFL CLASS

This paper discusses the question of the teaching of culturein a EFL class. With the open door policy, more and morepeople in China are learning English or some other language forvarious purposes. However, they often experience the frustrationof failure in communication with foreigners which can sourrelationships or business due to their ignorance of the targetculture associated with the language they are learning or havelearned. Therefore, Teach culture in foreign language classesand Learn a second culture while learning a second languagehave become new slogans, or to be exact, new tasks in the fieldof English language teaching in China. But how to teach andwhat to teach remain problematic. I hold that "central code" ofa culture i. e. people’s way of life should be the focus in EFLteaching. Then choosing appropriate and authentic materialcontaining aspects of culture is of great importance. We shouldtake full advantage of mass media and multimedia materials andapproaches. At the same time we should also pay attention tothe cultural behaviour or belief of EFL teachers so as to makemore effective teaching.