Adapting Grice’s maxims in the teaching of writing

Grice’s maxims,which define the conditions for efficient spoken communication,can be adapted to the teaching of writing by providing both teachers and writers with a way of understanding successful and unsuccessful written correspondence in mono-and cross-cultural settings.A survey of lay readers’ responses to a sample letter which show that,while there are individual differences in the way these maxims are interpreted,readers expect clarity,brevity,and sincerity,and writing which fails to meet these expectations will be unfavorably received.Also discussed are the issues of contrastive rhetoric,and ways of helping writers to position themselves in relation to their real or imagined reader.     

On the Application of Drama Teaching Method in Preschool Children’s English Enlightenment Activities

with the rapid development of English education, children’s teaching is becoming more and more important in the edu-cation system. Children’s English has the characteristics of enlightenment. The application of drama teaching method can makethe abstract knowledge vivid, which is helpful to arouse students’ enthusiasm and better understand knowledge. Therefore, teach-ers should follow the principles of English drama teaching, make clear the teaching purpose, and design targeted drama links to pro-mote the rational application of drama teaching method in English classroom.     

Golding’s Language View in Lord of the Flies and Darkness Visible

Beyond the stories,Golding spends much effort on an issue called"impotence of language"in his works,especially Lord of the Flies and Darkness Visible.Thus Golding’s language view is worthwhile to research.With help of Lacan’s theory of signifier and signified,this paper made a primary glance about Golding’s language view within the two novels.     

The “Modern Man” in predicament—The Art, the Mood and the Theme of T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", commonly known as"Prufrock", is a poem by T. S. Eliot, Published in Chicago in June 1915, it presents a stream of consciousness in the form of a dramatic monologue, and marked the beginning of Eliot’s career as an in fluential poet. This paper aims at exploring its theme of modern people’s predicament through a detailed analysis of the imagery and fig ures of speech used in the poem. Also, a moderate part will also be given to its stream of consciousness skill in the poem and its contribu tion to the theme of the poem.     

A Simple Analysis of Elizabeth and Darcy’s Marriage in Pride and Prejudice

Marriage is the main idea of Jane Austen’s novels. The novel reflects the ideal marriage views by describing several different marriages. It reveals a real marriage should be based on love, actual need, morality and equality. It creates a contrast between a successful marriage and an unsuccessful one. Elizabeth and Darcy’s marriage is considered as a successful one. In fact it embodies the author’s own concept of marriage, it is a fault to get married for only money and social status, but it is also foolish without thinking of these factors.     

New Understanding of Henchard’s Tragedy in “The Mayor of Casterbridge”

No masterpiece by great writers is single-sided.It is always polyhedron and is bound to show new sides if we read it in a different perspective.Traditionally,"the Mayor of Casterbridge",one of the important novels by Thomas Hardy,is an illustration of the inevitable doom of the patriarchal economy in the English countryside in the 19th century England due to the merciless squeeze by industrial expansion.However,considering the widespread accepted theory of Adam Smith’s economic man and moral man,we could find that man are always in conflict between the two.Someone who are very rational and perfectly informed to pursue their own profits and wealth regardless of others’ interests could always successfully gain their wealth with the cost of losing their own happiness,while others who always care about someone else,put themselves in someone else’s places,and regard someone else’s happiness as their concerns could eventually get their real happiness and sweet life with a sympathetic heart.Adam Smith thinks that the egoism(economic man) and the altruism(moral man) are both human’s natural instincts.Only a moderately prudent balance and union between the two could both develop the economy and gain the happiness.In "The Mayor of Casterbridge",Henchard’s tragedy just lies in the abundance of egoism but the shortage of altruism.That’s to say,he possesses too many characteristics of economic man but too little of moral man.Then Henchard inevitably begins his tragic way with no repentance.     

On the Pilgrim to “A Room of One’s Own” in The Hours

In A Room of One’s Own,Virginia Woolf argued her famous proposition that a woman needed to have a room of her own to achieve literary autonomy,and laid the foundation for present-day feminist criticism.Yet the author believes that economic independent does not foster women’s identity with certainty.In this thesis,the author explores the crucial place of spiritual and economic independence in building up women’s autonomy through analyzing Michael Cunningham Pulitzerwinning work The Hours,which he draws inventively on the life of Virginia Woolf and her work Mrs.Dalloway.     

On the Symbolic Meaning of Imaginary Son in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

According to the relationship between symbol and meaning in semiotics,this paper analyzes the symbolic meaning of the imaginary son and the meaning of killing him in Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,and concludes that killing the imaginary son is the only way to escape the bondage of rigid social morality and come back to the reality.     

An Analysis of Jane Austen’s view of Marriage in Her Book Sense and Sensibility

In this paper,I focus on Jane Austen’s book Sense and Sensibility,discuss characters and views of marriage of Elinor and Marianne in this book.Consequently,that leads to the conclusion of Jane Austen’s view of marriage.     

On the Points of View Used in Mansfield’ s “Miss Brill”

Point of view has been a big playground for study in fiction for about a century.Mansfield’ s "Miss Brill" is featured by its successful use of points of view.This paper will discuss how Mansfield’ s choice of a particular point of view helps to communicate the central theme of the story.     

An Analysis of “Menace” in Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter

This paper sets out to analyze the menace of Harold Pinter’s play,The Dumb Waiter,from the following aspects,the ar rangement of the plot,the language,and the portrayal of characters.Further,through the contrast between the closed room and outside intrusion,between the language of violence and the language of silence,between Ben and Gus’s shared threat and Ben’s menace to Gus,it’s expected to reveal the omnipresent threat to readers through and through.     

Development and validation of students’ attitudes towards teacher’s pet phenomenon scale in the higher education setting: Differences by levels of study and Grade-Point-Average

An in-depth review of the related literature shows that no scales or questionnaires have yet been designed on students’ attitudes towards Teacher’s Pet Phenomenon (TPP). To address this gap, this research aims to devise an instrument of students’ attitudes towards TPP and examines the role of students’ levels of study and Grade-Point-Average in their scores on the newly-designed scale. To this end, first, 30 graduate- and undergraduate students along with 15 university instructors were interviewed. Then, based on the identified themes, a scale was designed and 476 English language students participated in the quantitative phase. The findings demonstrated that the scale was reliable and valid, and the higher a student’s level of study and GPA, the more pet-prone s/he became, the more negative attitude s/he held, and the less probable it would be for him/her to be influenced by the unpleasant effects of TPP.     

A primary teacher’s mathematics teaching: the development of beliefs and practice in different “supportive” contexts

This article refers to a longitudinal case study of a primary school teacher over a period of 4 years. The focus is on the development of the teacher’s beliefs regarding mathematics teaching and learning from the last year of her university studies up to the third year of teaching mathematics in school. This development has been investigated within three different contexts, which have been distinguished in terms of the kind of support provided to this teacher. Two dominant beliefs emerged which have been traced through the period of the study from both the teacher’s reflections and actions. The first belief drew on the idea that what was considered an easy mathematical task by an adult could also be easily understood by children, while the second was that children learn mathematics through their actual involvement in a variety of teaching activities. The results indicate the way that teacher’s experiences from her university studies, actual classroom practice and inservice education interact and influence her beliefs and professional development.     

“1+X”实用英语交际证书（VETS）“课证融通”实施路径探究——以“What’s in a name?”单元教学设计为例

“1+X”证书制度是“职教20条”确定的一项重要改革举措与制度创新,实用英语交际职业技能等级证书被纳入教育部第四批“1+X”证书改革试点,书证融通是其精髓所在。笔者从高职院校外语教学推进“课证融通”的必要性出发,先阐述了“课证融通”的设计路径,然后以教材《THINK 3》第三单元的教学为例,具体实施课程内容融入VETS典型工作任务,课程教学设计融合VETS“突出应用,服务职场,驱动发展”的设计理念,为“课证融通”打下坚实的基础。     

Looking “outward and onward” in the outback: Regional Australian students’ aspirations and expectations for their future as framed by dominant discourses of further education and training

This paper investigates regional Australian students’ aspirations and expectations for their future and, more specifically, the manner in which these are formulated around a view to move outward — that is, away from regional, remote and rural communities — and onward — that is, to make something of their lives. Drawing upon interview data, the paper highlights the ways in which rural students from across Australia expressed high-level aspirations, most of which centred on future careers. It explores features of student talk which demonstrates that many of them had thought about their futures in detailed ways and had accumulated knowledge and “street savvy” that would assist them in steering their futures. The paper also examines the ways in which student talk about the changing context of the world of work and the inescapability of further education emerge as a naturalised discourse in justifying their future plans. Finally, the paper explores the implications of such research findings for career advisers and teachers working in regional areas of Australia.     

“When I’m drawing,I see pictures in my head.”: secondary school students constructing an image of the past by means of a drawing task and a writing task

The past is not in the classroom to observe and study. Thus, creating a lively and understandable image of a past period or situation is an achievement to be learned. A variety of tasks can be used to stimulate students to create an image of the past. In this experimental study, 151 grade 9 students (14–16 years old) participated by completing a drawing task or a writing task on the Roman Forum in Ancient Rome. Their products were compared. Additionally, the students’ perceptions of the tasks were explored by means of a questionnaire and an interview. The findings show that the written products contained more information elements than the drawings. However, in terms of the historical plausibility of the product, the drawn products and written products were comparable. Students who made a drawing reported higher situational interest than students who wrote a text.