An
investigation of College English teaching in four universities in China
(2002)
H. Du
The author joined an investigation of College English teaching organised
by the Education Department of a province in southern China. Using questionnaires
and interviews with College English teachers and students in the four
universities in the capital city of that province, the author finds that
among the problems existing in College English teaching, teachers' workload
is the key issue. In the light of the analysis of this finding and discussion
of language classroom teaching, suggestions are given for the improvement
of College English teaching in China. (International
Education Journal)
Phonetic
Symbols: A Necessary Stepping Stone for ESL Learners (2002)
Dan Lu
It
is not uncommon to find Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong who have strong
accents when speaking in English. Although the accents are not always
strange to native ears, they can impede communication. English is an official
language here, and there is a favourable environment for learning English
as a second language. So, why don’t Hong Kong learners of ESL have
better English pronunciation? The answer seems to be a lack of knowledge
of English sounds. Because no practice in using phonetic symbols is required
in the curriculum, learners have to facilitate their English pronunciation
by marking English words with Chinese characters that bear similar sounds.
As a result, most Hong Kong students are not sure of the correct pronunciation
of new English words when they come across them. To read the words aloud
they simply rely on their implicit knowledge of English pronunciation,
acquired by comparison to the complex sound system of Cantonese, and struggle
through by reading hesitantly and in a low voice, resulting in distorted
sounds. Moreover, teachers of English do not receive relevant professional
training in the use of phonetics symbols.
This article
discusses why English pronunciation and intonation have been neglected
in Hong Kong ESL lessons, why it is essential to teach English phonetic
symbols, and what remedial measures should be taken to implement this
neglected component of teaching ESL. (Forum)
Using
L1 in the English Classroom (2002)
Jinlan Tang
There
have always been contradicting views about whether to use the mother tongue
of the students in the foreign language classroom. The monolingual approach
suggests that the target language ought to be the sole medium of communication,
implying the prohibition of the native language would maximize the effectiveness
of learning the target language. (Forum)
The
globalisation of the English language: Reflections on the teaching of
English in China (2001)
Du Hui
Using data collection from schools and government documents, the paper
discusses the switch from the teaching of Russian to that of English,
presents a picture of English teaching in China at present, and predicts
some of the changes in the teaching of English in the future in this country.
The paper focuses on the following issues: a) Why has China chosen English
as the foreign language most widely taught in schools? b) What is the
influence of globalisation of the English language in China? c) Why is
the teaching of English important to China? The paper consists of three
parts: Stages of foreign language teaching since 1949; The situation of
English teaching in China; Looking at English teaching from a cultural
perspective. (International
Education Journal)
Information
Gap in Communicative Classrooms (2001)
Xiao Qing Liao
Language
students should be involved in as many situations as possible where one
of them has some information and another doesn't, but has to get it-in
other words, situations containing an information gap between the participants.
Johnson and Morrow recognized the value of information gap activities
in the language classroom 20 years ago, calling the concept "one
of the most fundamental in the whole area of communicative teaching"
(1981:62). Other researchers agreed, including Doughty and Pica (1986)
who noted that information gaps can promote real communication and facilitate
language acquisition. Given the importance of information gaps in communicative
teaching, this article describes how teachers can set up situations in
the language classroom so that information gaps occur and students can
bridge them with genuine communication. (Forum)
Acquiring
Vocabulary through a Context-based Approach (2001)
Yu
Shu Ying
Developing
students’ strategies for handling unknown words has always been
one of the principal challenges of English reading classes. In China,
the usual approach to this challenge is to have students read only passages
in which every word is known, or else allow them to consult a bilingual
dictionary or the teacher for the definition of every new word in the
passage. The drawbacks of this approach are obvious. Too much dictionary
work can kill all interest in reading and even interfere with comprehension,
because readers become more concerned with individual words and less aware
of the context which gives them meaning. It also results in very slow
and inefficient reading (Wallace 1982).
After several
years of teaching, I have found that enabling students to derive meaning
with the help of context clues is an effective approach to increase vocabulary
and reading comprehension. (Forum)
Determining
Students’ Language Needs in a Tertiary Setting (2001)
Victoria Chan
This
article reports on part of the findings of a large-scale investigation
into the English language needs of students at the Hong Kong Polytechnic
University. The three main objectives of the research were to (1) identify
students’ perceptions of their language needs and wants, (2) discover
how students rated their own competence in particular skills in the academic,
professional, and social domains, and (3) determine the extent to which
their opinions matched those of their English teachers. The study is based
on a questionnaire survey of 701 tertiary learners and 47 English teachers
at the university and forms a major part of the continual enquiry into
the specific language needs of the university student population.
This article
describes the research study and reports some of the significant findings.
It concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings in
the dynamic process of English language curriculum planning, syllabus
review, and materials writing. (International
Education Journal)
Changes
in students' achievement in learning the Chinese Language across grades
and over time (2001)
Ruilan Yuan
This paper examines the changes in students' achievement in learning Chinese
as a foreign language across school grades and over a period of a school
year in an Australian school. The Rasch model using the QUEST computer
program (Adams & Khoo, 1993) was employed to calculate appropriate
scores to estimate the difficulty levels of the test items on a scale
that operated across grade levels (Year 4 to Year 12) and across four
school term occasions. This paper also identifies whether the level of
students' achievement in learning the Chinese language is associated with
their proficiency in English word knowledge, as well as the student's
underlying verbal ability in English. (International
Education Journal)
Reading
Activities for Effective Top-down Processing (2001)
Hui-lung Chia
In one current perspective on reading comprehension, the reading process
is an interaction between a reader? prior knowledge and the information
encoded in the text. The interactive model has recently been studied under
the rubric of schema theory. This theoretical framework emphasizes that
the reader is an active participant who can contribute to the construction
of meaning. When reading, students interpret the text in light of their
previous knowledge and simultaneously modify their original schemata as
new information is learned. (Forum)
A
Brief History of English Language Teaching in China (2000)
Joseph Boyle
Among the many different aspects of China which have fascinated the West
are the sheer size of its population, its remote and mysterious culture,
and the intricate difficulty of its language. Equally, the West has always
intrigued China, with its technological advancement despite its 'barbarity',
its cultural diversity within a small space, and the way in which one
of its languages - English - has managed to become the lingua franca of
the world. (IATEFL
Voices)
Learning
Words (2000)
Yang Zhihong
Words are the basic unit of language form. Without a sufficient vocabulary,
one cannot communicate effectively or express ideas. Having a limited
vocabulary is also a barrier that prevents students from learning a foreign
language. If learners do not know how to expand their vocabulary, they
gradually lose interest in learning.
In China, vocabulary is taught mainly through reading. Each course book
has a list of words with translations. Teachers must prepare extensively
to master these words, and students try to memorize these words, unsure
about which meanings should be remembered. The texts seem to be the only
means of providing new vocabulary. As a result, learners forget words
easily. This article discusses techniques learners can use to learn words
in context. (Forum)
How
Communicative Language Teaching Became Acceptable in Secondary Schools
in China (2000)
Xiao Qing Liao
Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an innovation in English language
teaching (ELT). CLT emerged as a new teaching approach in Britain in the
1970s. When it was introduced into China in the 1990s, it met with considerable
resistance. After the efforts of the educational authorities, it was accepted
by many teachers. This essay will briefly describe the measures taken
to overcome the resistance and to ensure CLT was used effectively. (Internet
TESL Journal)
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