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 exhibi...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.展开更多
This paper discusses some of the unfounded beliefs in current foreign language education policy and English language teaching, i.e. learning a foreign language will make a person cleverer; learning a foreign language ...This paper discusses some of the unfounded beliefs in current foreign language education policy and English language teaching, i.e. learning a foreign language will make a person cleverer; learning a foreign language will improve one's potential power and creative ability; the younger the child learns a foreign language, the better he will learn the language. In the light of the problems in current foreign language teaching and foreign language education policy, the paper has put forward some reform proposals including 'differentiating cities from rural areas, stressing teaching efficiency and cutting down class hours, and offering a foreign language in schools either as a compulsory or as a selective course according to different needs of students'. In conclusion, the paper holds that the reform measures will bring benefit to the country as well as to its people and should be a guide to the reform of China's foreign language education.展开更多
文摘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.
文摘This paper discusses some of the unfounded beliefs in current foreign language education policy and English language teaching, i.e. learning a foreign language will make a person cleverer; learning a foreign language will improve one's potential power and creative ability; the younger the child learns a foreign language, the better he will learn the language. In the light of the problems in current foreign language teaching and foreign language education policy, the paper has put forward some reform proposals including 'differentiating cities from rural areas, stressing teaching efficiency and cutting down class hours, and offering a foreign language in schools either as a compulsory or as a selective course according to different needs of students'. In conclusion, the paper holds that the reform measures will bring benefit to the country as well as to its people and should be a guide to the reform of China's foreign language education.
