EFL teachers’ conceptions of speaking competence in English

The present article lies at the intersection of research on teacher cognition and speaking competence in a second language. It is a qualitative analysis of teacher accounts of speaking in the context of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Iran. More specifically, the study is an exploration of three EFL teachers’ conceptions of learning and teaching the speaking skill in English. The teachers represented varying levels of experience and education and were classified as experts and novices. Through juxtaposing teachers’ views of how students should learn to speak and how the teachers themselves learned to speak English, the research study uncovers the interwoven nature of learning experience with teaching conceptions. It also unveils the images underpinning their conceptions of how to learn and teach speaking in an EFL context. The results also portray teachers as having unique ways of thinking of speaking while at the same time sharing certain patterns.     

On Gender Differences in Language Learning Styles

Language learning style, serving as one of the elements of individual differences in foreign language learning, has substantial significance of research for EFL teaching. Males' and females' language learning styles are quite different. This paper illustrates the gender differences in language learning styles from sensory, cognitive and personality perspectives, and offers some suggestions for EFL teaching.     

论认知语境视角下英语思维方式对EFL学习者的重要性

思维与语言密切相关,思维对人类的语言形式具有重要的影响。思维支配语言,并且不同民族有着不同的语言文化和思维方式。而在EFL学习过程中,英语思维方式却常常被忽略,因此造成了学习过程中的诸多困难。本文以关联理论的语境观——"认知语境"为基础,通过对EFL学习者认知语境的分析,阐明了EFL学习者认知语境的主要来源,并通过英汉思维方式的对比揭示了英语思维方式在EFL学习过程中的重要性。最后,本文就如何在EFL学习者的认知语境中建构完善的英语思维方式提出了若干建议,旨在帮助学习者们更好地掌握并运用英语这门语言。     

英语教学中的ESL与EFL的差异

英语教学在我国受到越来越多的重视,很多语言学家和教育工作者为选取适合我国国情的英语教学模式进行了诸多探讨,ESL和EFL成了主要研究课题。就其本质来说,ESL和EFL是两种截然不同的英语教学模式。     

高职非英语专业学生英语语言焦虑研究——以广东轻工职业技术学院学生为研究对象

作者通过基于FLCAS的问卷调查和三次英语水平测试,考察了高职非英语专业学生的不同语言焦虑度和不同性别与语言学习成就之间的关系。实验结果显示:不同的语言焦虑度均能影响学生的学习成就,呈现负相关关系;不同性别的学生其语言学习成就均受到语言焦虑的影响,其程度为女性明显高于男性。本文的研究结论有助于英文教师加深对语言焦虑负面影响的了解,并对汉语环境下的英语教学潜在的焦虑来源提出了警示。     

中国EFL语境下伦理语言观念的转变——英语教材内容纯净化之伦理思考

英语学习在我国的国情决定了英语对大多数学习者来说只能是外语（EFL）,而不是二语（ESL）,二语习得的某些理论是不适合这种外语学习的。文章以英语粗话作为例证,认为英语粗话是人们创造和运用语言的一种社会行为,它在日常交际中扮演着情感宣泄的重要作用,理应在我们的英语教材中占有一席之地。可是我们目前的英语教材中都是被过滤的语言,其内容的纯净化使得它们远离世俗生活,书卷气十足,这也是造成我国学生英语交际能力不高的部分原因。这就要求我们适当改变伦理语言观念,改革教材编写规范,合理把握教学尺度,从而提高学生的语言交际能力。     

Redefining the Role of English as a Foreign Language in the Curriculum in the Global Context

The English language has become a global language, a development which has influenced English language teaching and learning throughout the world. This influence has occurred more impressively in China than in other parts of the world as a result of the breathtaking pace at which China has integrated with global economies. Increasing industrial, economic and multicultural development has spurred language educators in China to question the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum in relation to the role of English, particularly in secondary schools. In this paper we present a brief review of the role of English as a global language in the Chinese context, a context which is now to be seen as a global one. The new curriculum has been progressively rolled out in Chinese schools since 2001. We highlight the redefinition of the role of English in the new EFL curriculum in Chinese secondary schools in particular and the significance of this as it presents new features of the new EFL curriculum as part of a developing research field, based on a comparison with the 1993 EFL curriculum. In this study, we focus on policy statements and curriculum documents as well as published previous research in order to understand the redefining of the role of English as a foreign language in the new EFL curriculum.     

Connections between learning and teaching: EFL teachers’ reflective practice

This study explores six Vietnamese, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ reflections on their experiences of English language learning during the early 1980s to the late 1990s. Data collected in narrative interviews with the participating teachers revealed a wide range of issues that arose during their EFL learning, central to which was the prevalence of grammar-focused practices in all EFL classes. From their perspectives as EFL teachers today, the participants see their learning experience as a way of learning to teach. In particular, they pinpoint the negative aspects of language teaching at that time in the hope that their teaching practice today will not repeat the same mistakes. However, they also reflect on positive aspects, especially their influential teachers, to inform their teaching. Based on the findings, the study suggests that language teachers’ experience of language learning should be considered part of reflective teaching as well as of teachers’ trajectories of learning to teach.     

The association between teacher-student relationship and academic achievement in Chinese EFL context: a serial multiple mediation model

The present study examined the link between teacher–student relationship at the class level and academic achievement via the serial multiple mediation effect of self-efficacy and learning strategy in Chinese EFL context with 11,036 eighth graders. Student-reported measures of teacher–student relationship, English self-efficacy, learning strategy and curriculum-based measures of English achievement were collected in fall 2015. Multilevel mediation model revealed that the positive relationship between teacher–student relationship at the class level and English achievement was partially mediated by self-efficacy, cognitive and metacognitive strategy, and serially mediated by self-efficacy and then learning strategy in Chinese EFL context, controlling for SES and gender. The findings suggest that positive teacher–student relationship can help students to develop English proficiency by fostering their English self-efficacy and use of learning strategy. The results of the present study extend our understanding of influential factors in foreign language learning processes and hold substantive theoretical and practical implications for educational researchers as well as teachers.     

‘We are more than EFL teachers – we are educators’: emancipating EFL student-teachers through photovoice

The prevailing pedagogical orientations of English as a foreign language (EFL) education in Spain oppress learners intellectually in ways that are counterproductive to their learning. As a reaction to this, 129 EFL student-teachers (STs) took part during the 2013/14, 2014/15, and 2015/16 academic years in a workshop which drew on the methodology of participatory action research and on photovoice as a data-creating strategy, in order to emancipate these STs intellectually, boost their EFL development, and offer an alternative critical model for their future EFL teaching. The research was assessed collectively through a variety of qualitative strategies. Results showed that the photovoice workshop created a rich and meaningful context for EFL learning, one which enabled the STs to fully actualize their intellectual potential by producing knowledge collectively, thereby setting a memorable educational example for their own future teaching.     

从语法范畴视角解释日本学生英语书面语错误

本文在语言学研究理论基础上,通过分析日本英语学习者书面语中的典型错误,从数、性、格、人称、时态和词序六个方面重点讨论了由于语法范畴的差异性导致的语言错误,呈现了日本英语学习者在语言学习过程中的中介语发展进程,解释了他们的中介语特征。研究结果为进一步的语言研究提供了语言事实材料,同时也加深了外语教师对语言内部结构的理解,从而探寻有效的外语教学途径。     

网络环境下混合式教学法在高职高专学生英语写作教学中的应用

基于建构主义学习理论、社会文化学习理论和认知理论的混合式学习方法正日益受国内外教育的关注,混合式学习方法(Blended Learning)结合了基于网络平台的自主学习和以教师为协助者的课堂教学的优势。该文通过教学实践来探究写作教学中应用混合式教学模式的可行性和有效性。此次研究通过测试收集数据,采用SPSS统计软件进行数据分析,分析结果表明接受混合式教学模式的学生通过写作课堂教学后在认知学术语言水平(CALP)方面优于接受传统教学法的学生。笔者期望本研究能对教师在日常写作教学中设计和使用混合式教学模式有所启示。     

中国英语教学与研究的新构架：感知、实践与范式

本文通过对英语教学与研究相关文献的审视,指出了当前中国英语教学与研究所存在的误区,即忽视或摒弃自身语言文化和身份特性。在教学中,刻意模仿第一语言英语,试图达到英语为母语说话者准确、流利、自如地使用英语的程度。在科研中,一味效仿西方英语研究模式,其关注点往往是有待完善的学生英语。与此同时,本文结合中国英语教学与实践的现状,对中国式英语进行反思,在此基础上,对中国式英语重新定义。运用传统的中国儒学原理,并融入相应的西方学习理论和语言学习理论,笔者提出了全新的中国式英语教学模式,旨在于帮助中国英语学习者在本土化双语学习语境中更有效地掌握和运用语言知识,提高语言能力,达到最大的学习效果。更重要的是,以儒学原理为指导的教学模式,将使我们在教学和科研过程中进一步完善自我,不失民族及文化特征,对学生和教师都提出了一个明确可达到的学习和培养目标。     

合作学习对EFL学习者非语言沟通能力的影响

作为一种有效的学习模式,合作学习在英语课堂中发挥着极其重要的作用。基于此,通过对合作学习、第二语言习得以及外语教学理论的探讨,强调了合作学习对非语言沟通能力的重要影响。     

“补缺假说”视角下的高职高专英语文化语境教学研究

“补缺假说”理论强调语言学习与语境的密切关系。通过问卷调查和文化知识测试,发现高职学生英语文化语境缺失,易形成“汉式英语”和跨文化语用失误。因此在高职英语教学中,可充分利用教材和真实语料,构建学习者心理文化语境,实现英语文化语境的补缺。     

Discussing Gender and Sexuality in a Context-Appropriate Way: Queer Narratives in an EFL College Classroom in Japan

This article recounts my search for a context-appropriate way of exploring gender and sexuality issues in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. The first half of the article explains why and how I sought a pedagogic strategy that would be educationally effective, institutionally viable, and culturally appropriate-in my case, for EFL students in a cultural studies course at a Christian women's college in western Japan. I sought an approach that would harmonize with the sociocultural context and with principles of effective language learning, as well as affirm the identities and rights of queer-identifying individuals but without reinforcing static sexual-identity stereotypes. The second half of the article illustrates how I used life-history narratives of local Japanese individuals to generate classroom inquiry about issues of gender and sexuality. It presents excerpts from audio-taped class discussions about the experiences of a lesbian university student (Naomi), a gay high school teacher (Kaito), and a transgender schoolmate of one of my students (Reiko). These class discussions indicate that using local queer narratives as teaching material may prove an effective way of exploring issues of sexuality, gender, and language, especially within institutional or regional contexts in which open discussion of sexuality may seem challenging or unfamiliar.     

英语写作中母语负迁移现象的实证探析

文章对EFL学习者英语写作里使用时间状语时出现的母语负迁移作了实证研究,分析了英语写作中存在的母语负迁移现象和造成负迁移的因素,提出了英语学习中应该采用恰当的教学方式,创设真实情境下的英语语言环境,利用语言的迁移规律,帮助学生克服干扰,减少负迁移,促进正迁移,提高英语学习成效。     

探讨交流:驾驭交际语言课堂活动的有效形式

语言最本质的社会功能是交际功能，培养学生的实际言语交际能力，是外语教学的出发点和归宿。因此，强调以学生为中心的交际教学法近年来在高校外语教学中得到大力提倡。探讨交流作为交际英语教学课堂的主要教学模式之一，对学习者个体学习行为的发展和言语交际能力的培养，都有积极的作用。教无定法，学无止境，本文试从传统英语教学与交际英语教学的比较中，来认识探讨交流在英语教学中的积极作用，以提高英语语言教学的实际效益。     

Contemporary Development in English Listening Instruction

Listening is an essential communication skill which occupies a significant position in most language tests in China which are intended for EFL(English as foreign language) learners,from children to adults.Consequently,how to make people in ESL(English as a second language) or EFL context be active learners especially for the language beginners is not always an easy work.This paper is an attempt at introducing a new development in listening instruction along with evaluating whether this new approach can be applied in daily teaching in China.