Towards Lessening Learners’Aversive Emotions and Promoting Their Mental Health:Developing and Validating a Measurement of English Speaking Demotivation in the Chinese EFL Context

While a plethora of studies has been conducted to explore demotivation and its impact on mental health in second language(L2)education,scanty research focuses on demotivation in L2 speaking learning.Particularly,little research explores the measures to quantify L2 speaking demotivation.The present two-phase study attempts to develop and validate an English Speaking Demotivation Scale(ESDS).To this end,an independent sample of 207 Chinese tertiary learners of English as a Foreign Language(EFL)participated in the development phase,and another group of 188 Chinese EFL learners was recruited for the validation of the scale.Exploratory Factor Analysis(EFA)and Confirmatory Factor Analysis(CFA)were employed to determine the factor structure of the scale.The EFA results revealed a six-factor solution with Teacher-related Factors in Learning Spoken English(TFLSE),Interest and Valence in Learning Spoken English(IVLSE),Self-efficacy in Learning Spoken English(SELSE),Negative Peer Influence in Learning Spoken English(NPILSE),Undesirable Environment for Learning Spoken English(UELSE),and Negative Influence of Assessment and Learning Materials in speaking class(NIALM).In the validation phase,Confirmatory Factor Analysis(CFA)was performed to validate the internal structure of the scale.The CFA results showed that the model fits the data well.Overall,the ESDS is a robust and trustworthy psychometric tool that could be utilized to examine L2 speaking demotivation.Implications for diminishing EFL learners’demotivation,lessening their aversive emotions and promoting their mental health are also discussed.

Effect of Addition of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfite on Physical Properties of Wheat Gluten Films

Films were made from the wheat glutens treated with 5%,10%,15%,20%,25% and 30%(wt% of gluten) of sodium dodecyl sulfite (SDS) in order to improve the properties of the films. Glycerol was used as a plasticizer.An addition of SDS in wheat glutens prior to forming films significantly increased the elongation at break(E) (P<0.05) and reduced notably the water vapor permeability(WVP) (P<0.05). In contrast,a decrease in the tensile strength(TS) of the films from gluten containing-SDS was found.Moreover,a significant decrease in P_(O_2) and P_(CO_2) of films from gluten treated with SDS was noticed. Although SDS-treated gluten film was slightly more yellow and darker than control one, it was not visually detrimental. It is indicated that the treatment with SDS prior to forming films greatly enhances the mechanical properties of wheat gluten films.The obivous improvement in water vapor permeability and extensibility of gluten films means that the use of SDS is a potential choice for improving properties of gluten films. The edible film was used to preserve tomatoes. The experimental results show that the shelf life of tomatoes coated with the edible film is extended, and the nutritional quality is kept well.

An Analysis of Pre -Qin Confucian Ecological Thoughts A Perspective from Ecological Civilization

Pre-Qin dynasty Confucianism is famous and rich in ecological thoughts,which include the holistic thought of "harmony between man and nature"; the thought of"benevolence for people and caring for animals and plants" and "ecological ethics of respecting nature"; the thought of "conforming to natural environment and its protection". Ecological civilization,as a forthcoming civilization form,highlights the sustainable development and the pursuit of harmony between man and nature. Pre-Qin Confucian ecological thought can provide useful ideological resources for the cultivation of ecological consciousness and the construction of ecological civilization.

On the Cultural Protection and Renaissance Project of the Large-area Eco-activities

The cultural protection and renaissance project of the large- area eco- activities is the exploitation among different areas,attaching importance to national ecology and different nationalities of China,such as King Yu taming the flood,canal being cut,south- to-north water diversion and so on. As a result,the large- area exploitation embodies the ethnic culture of the peaceful rise of China,which inherits the national environment,ethnic group and the opening- up principle of the society. The basic level of the large- area ecological ethics covers environmental ecological ethics,ethnic value ethics and social custom ethics. As far as the government and modern ethics is concerned,the Chinese value and the development view of China show the cultural renaissance of the unique populace of the Chinese nation.

A Tentative Analysis on Non-interrogative use in Interrogative Sentence Patterns between Chinese and English Language

There are many interrogative sentences in both modern Chinese and English languages,but they are frequently used in non-interrogative ways,their meanings are more than meets the eye.Some people put such kind of non-interrogative sentence pattern into rhetoric question category,it is not right.Its meaning is beyond the boundary of rhetoric question pattern.Moreover,in both Chinese and English languages,there are similarities and differencialities in non-interrogative use in interrogative sentence patterns.This paper deals with the non-interrogative use in interrogative sentence patterns in a pragmatic analysis perspective,so as to give a deep understanding of it.

Fostering Learning Autonomy in Teacher-Student Co-Constructive Dialogue:An Example from a Chinese Language Class for International Students in China

'Learner autonomy is an achievement,attained inter-relationally between the learner and the teacher'(1)Therefore,the role of the instructor often plays a crucial role in fostering autonomous learning regarding the teachers’ instructive language,activity design,choice of material, etc. However, mismatched philosophy of language learning often exists among students and instructors,which hinders the success of promoting learning autonomy.This paper looks at learning activities in a Chinese language class for international students in a Chinese university,and the formation of the students’ autonomous learning. It examines the problems that occurred during class,and the teacher’s later modification of activities. Based on the student-student and student-teacher interactions during the class,the paper touches upon issues arising from the observation of class activities, which include self-perception of identity in the target language speech communities,learning motivation,and effective language learning strategies. These issues all contribute to the formation of learner autonomy.The paper concludes that as a co-collaborator in the process of autonomous learning,the role of teacher in fostering learner autonomy is to implement a teacher-learner co-constructive dialogue to approach learners’ perception of who they are in the speech community of the target language, why learning the language, and what constitutes good language learning.