USING AUTHENTIC LISTENING MATERIALS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS

This paper argues for the need for authentic listening materials in the ELT classroom in China,discussing the selection of those materials,and their adaptation for classroom use,whilst outlinig theirconstraints.

Foreign Language Enjoyment and Anxiety:Associations With General and Domain-Specific English Achievement

Recent research has confirmed the predictive effect of general foreign language(FL) achievement on Foreign Language Enjoyment(FLE) and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety(FLCA).However,few studies have examined the effect of domain-specific language achievement in shaping FL learning emotions.The present study thus aims to examine how FLE and FLCA are linked to overall FL achievement and self-perceived achievement in six different domains across listening,speaking,reading,writing,vocabulary,and grammar.A total of 1,415 Chinese senior secondary students participated in the questionnaire survey.Regression analyses showed that 1) both FLE and FLCA were predicted more by self-perceived general English proficiency,while less by actual English achievement;2) perceptions of speaking and grammar competence were significant predictors of both emotions;3) perceived reading competence predicted FLE significantly but not FLCA;and that 4) perceptions of listening,writing,and vocabulary competence predicted neither FLE nor FLCA.The implication is that domain-specificity should be taken into consideration in future explorations of FL emotions.

A Brief Analysis About the Function of the Communicative Approach -- It Can Lighten Classroom Anxiety in Foreign Language Teaching

Classroom Anxiety is very common and to some extent it influences students＇ achievements in foreign language learning. So, how to solve this problem in order to help students have a good performance in foreign language learning is a very urgent issue. According to the writer＇s study, communicative approach is an effective method to deal with it.

Speaking Anxiety in a Kazakhstani Foreign Language Classroom

The present study aimed to contribute to our understanding of foreign language anxiety, in general, and in particular speaking anxiety in Kazakhstani environment. It was the first attempt to fill this gap and reveal more about the speaking anxiety in the Elementary level of Kazakh students group, having considered how anxiety might have affected speaking and overall classroom performance. This study addressed the issue of identifying foreign language speaking anxiety and the major consequences of language speaking anxiety reported by students learning English in the evaluation of the foreign language classroom. Anxiety levels in Kazakh students of English were studied through self-evaluation using a scale adapted from the FLCAS （Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale） developed by E. K. Horwitz, M. B. Horwitz, and Cope （1986）. As revealed by the results of this study, English language speaking anxiety does exist among the Kazakh second-year university students who participated in this study. And too, the study revealed that these students have had a number of negative experiences with speaking activities in a foreign language class.

A Case Study on the Pattern of Classroom Discourse in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language

Based on the IRF(initiation,response,and feedback)classroom discourse structure model proposed by Sinclair and Coulthard,this research analyzes and studies the actual corpus of Chinese classroom teaching in Thailand,focusing on the structural model of teacher-student communication discourse,mainly from two aspects of teachers'feedback.On the one hand,it investigates whether IRF is fully applicable to Chinese classroom teaching and whether there are special situations to it.On the other hand,it attempts to summarize the discourse structure model of Chinese classroom teaching and explores the application of the research results in helping Chinese teachers improve their teaching quality in hope that constructive suggestions can be proposed for teaching Chinese as a foreign language.

OPTIONS IN COPING WITH FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM ANXIETY

This thesis is a project on foreign language classroom anxiety. Since Krashen put forward the affective filter hypothesis, more and more concern has been paid to the anxiety problem by foreign language educators and researchers at home and aboard. Among them, one qualitative research in Reticence and Anxiety in Second Language Learning by Amy B. M. Tusi stood out and received much attention. My project intends to justify the causes for foreign language classroom anxiety and corresponding strategies, based on the research of Amy B. M. Tusi (1985). The subjects in Tsui's project are English teachers in secondary school. Little research has been done on non-English-major students in the general university of technology in mainland of China. Therefore, this thesis will provide some practical data and suggestions for the research in this field. The whole thesis consists of five chapters. The first two chapters mainly discuss the definition, the causes of foreign language classroom anxiety and current research in this field. The third and the fourth parts focus on the research in this thesis: objects, subjects, instruments, methodology and data results and analysis. The study shows that because of the difference in English proficiency level, style of cognition, culture, and educational background among students, five factors and five strategies for foreign language classroom anxiety proposed by Amy B. M. Tusi only fit some students in college English class. Based on the data results, five personal proposals are put forward, and I hope these proposals will provide some options for practicing English teachers of non-English-major instruction in the general university technology to cope with foreign language anxiety.

CULTURE LEARNING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

Ⅰ. Introduction Foreign language teachers in China nowadays are well aware that language learning cannot be separated from cultural learning. They start to deal with intercultural communication in the classroom and have undergone significant progress in the past two decades. A lot of excellent work has been done (see Hu Wenzhong 1990, 1997) on raising cultural awareness and pragmatic insights.

REPAIR MECHANISM IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM INTERACTION

This paper presents practical research on repair mechanismand its four repair trajectories in FL classroom interaction. Thisshows that it is effective and efficient in assisting FL learners todevelop their communicative competence and understand theprocess of language acquisition. Repair strategies that are ofgreat value to FL teachers in FL classroom teaching are also ex-pounded.

ANXIETY IN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

Introduction With the rapid growth in international communication, English is becoming more and more important. The urgent task for English teachers, is to apply knowledge gained from educational psychology research to make teaching more efficient. For this purpose, anxiety, an important psychological phenomenon in foreign language learning, is discussed in this article. First anxiety will be defined to build up a clear concept of its origin and its nature. Then its effect on foreign language learning will be analysed. A few suggestions for teachers will be presented at the end.

CREATING A LOW-ANXIETY FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT

Anxiety plays a significant role in language learning. This article analyzes the negative effects of anxiety, explores its sources, and proposes a number of strategies for reducing learner anxiety in the language classroom.