A comparative study of history interests between American and Chinese college students

The purpose of this study was to compare the history interests between American and Chinese college students. Research studies have consistently shown that American students have very limited knowledge on their country＇s history. American college students usually do better than K-12 students, but their scores are still low. To address the issue, it is important to understand their history interest. By conducting a cross-nation comparison between American and Chinese college students, the authors found that American students had lower history interest than their Chinese cotmterparts, but the difference only existed on their positive feeling toward history. Suggestions have been made on how to increase American students＇ involvement in the history subject.     

Parents＇ Perception on De La Salle University-Dasmarinas Services

The study was conducted to find out the parents＇ perception on the De La Salle University-Dasmarifias services which are grouped as follows： （1） Academic instruction factor; （2） Quality of human ware （includes faculty, administration, staff support through medical services, guidance and discipline）; （3） Quality of hardware （dorm facilities, transportation, canteens and security services）; and （4） Expectations （graduates＇ job placement）. Likewise, this study was conducted to echo out the perception to the university officials for possible improvement and to share these observations with other sister La Salle schools, thus possibly enhancing better educational management based on an actual review from the parents, the ＂clients＂ and major stakeholders of the school. POLCA （Parents＇ Organization of La Salle Cavite）, the legitimate parents＇ organization of DLSU-D （De La Salle University-Dasmarinas）, a tertiary university finds the study significant： （1） in being able to verbalize its concerns on the academic instruction factor, quality of human ware, quality of hardware and expectations on graduates＇ job placement; （2） for university officials＇ awareness of the parents＇ perception; and （3） for considering the results of this study as eye openers for improvements and development of their services. Lastly, this study hopes to find answers to the perennial question of why the choice of DLSU-D for their children. The findings reveal that the overall rating of the services of the university to the students is satisfactory. Breaking down the services into 4 groups： academic instruction, quality of human ware, quality of hardware and expectations, that highlight the graduates＇ employability after graduation, the biggest number of parent respondents agreed on the perception that academic instruction factor ranked first, followed by expectations/graduates＇ employability after graduation as second, and quality of human ware and quality of hardware as th     

First-year Students＇ Psychological and Behavior Adaptation to College： The Role of Coping Strategies and Social Support

This study investigates 311 first-year students＇ psychological and behavior adaptation to college and the mediate role of coping strategies and social support. The investigates reveal that： （1） first-year students who are from countryside, live in poor families, speak in dialects or major in science and engineering have poorer adaptation to college than their counterparts; （2） first-year students＇ psychological and behavior adaptation to college was influenced by not only directly coping strategies, but also indirectly social supports. Positive coping strategies maybe make students＇ adaptation to college better.     

Implications of Output Hypothesis on College English Writing

With the reform of college English course,the objectives,philosophy and models of Chinese EFL teaching have been deeply changed.So college students are required to have higher language proficiency;it is also a challenge for the English teachers in our country.The traditional teaching mode should be changed.College English teaching is not only to input knowledge to students,but also to foster their skills on the application of knowledge,and excavate their potential in order to promote their language proficiency.Writing,as one of the efficient ways to measure students’comprehensive English ability,has attracted more attention in the field of English researches,which,however,got little improvement so far.What we can see from the requirements is that college students and teachers should put more attention on their output instead of input alone.Therefore,this paper intends to apply Swain’s "Output Hypothesis" to the college English teaching of non-English major students in China,and make some teaching suggestions based on the three functions of the "Output Hypothesis".     

A Probe into the Relationship between Native Language Thinking and the Oral English Output Process of the College Students

Scholars have used the method of thinking aloud to conduct experiments on the relationship between mother tongue thinking and college students’ spoken English output process.Referring to the experimental data,this essay try to do a further study on mother tongue thinking’ function of each oral output process,especially the function of the idea-organizing.It is designed to enable non-English major college students consciously to take advantage of the positive transfer of mother tongue thinking and take the initiative to adapt to the English thinking pattern in order to achieve the objective of improving their English oral communication skills and ensure the effectiveness of language learning.     

Contextualized Grammar Pedagogy： Integrating Grammar Into Writing Instruction

Grammar is an important aspect of English language pedagogy in China and is taught as a subject of study in Chinese primary and high schools. Despite studying grammar for several years, however, high school graduates find it difficult to express their ideas in English especially when they are asked to write essays at university. This article reports a study that investigates students＇ views regarding the study of grammar when contextualized to their writing courses. It was found that students appreciate contextualized study of grammar as opposed to isolated learning of grammar using memorization, drills, and practices. The study suggests that a shift in the aims and methods of teaching English in high schools is necessary if students＇ preferences, which are consistent with research literature in second language teaching, are to be taken into consideration.     

Job skills： What gender are they？

The purpose of the research is to find out which job skills Greek graduate students of high school and their parents consider as important qualifications for the youngsters＇ entry into the active working life with regard to their gender. The sample, consisting of 215 graduate students of high school and their parents （210）, evaluated the importance they think the examined job skills have for the students＇ future entry into the labor market and also the extend to which the youngsters possess these skills. Results have shown that there were significant differences between students＇ and their parents＇ opinions with regard to gender concerning job skills that are considered as important for finding a job. This was also confirmed by the factor analysis applied. Significant gender differences were also found concerning the degree to which teenagers possess the examined skills. In concluding, male young students and their fathers believe that skills related to self-management, self-discipline and the use of technological means are more important for finding a job, whilst female young students and their mothers outline a more positive and social profile, confirming typical and stereotypical attitudes and vocational choices.     

A Positive Research on Undergraduate Curriculum

The main reason for the gap between the graduates＇ capability and employment requirement lies in the lagging behind the social needs in curriculum management, specialty layout, knowledge transmission and students＇ capability training in universities. Based on the statistics of the case study, this thesis carries on a positive research on the layout of undergraduate curriculum, contents, teaching, textbooks and other problems, therefore gives some proposals on curriculum management.     

A Study on Oral English Learning Strategies of Non-English Majors and Their Oral English Competence

In China,a lot of studies have been carried out to investigate the college students’ learning strategies and their relationship to learning achievement mainly in the aspect of reading,writing,listening and vocabulary learning.But in the area of speaking,not many researches have been conducted due to this or that reason.Moreover,the subjects under these studies were mostly English majors and non-English majors of the common universities or colleges.There are few studies that focus on the use of the strategies of the non-English major students from independent colleges.This study was conducted by means of questionnaire and oral test among 90 first-year non-English major students from an independent college.     

A Study of Chinese College Students’ Face Needs in EFL Class

Based on Brown &Levinson’s Face Threatening Acts and Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions,this study is an analysis of Chinese college students’ face needs in EFL class.In this study,the subjects are 116 freshmen,non-English majors.Selecting totally 60 students from them and dividing them into two groups according to their scores of College English Entrance Examination.The collected data from questionnaire are analyzed by statistical software SPSS16.0 version.The major findings from the analysis include the following:1) high-scored students and low-scored students have similar positive face needs;2) Weight of imposition,group tendency and uncertainty avoidance are used to exam students’ negative face needs.According to the data in SPSS16.0,there is a difference between the two groups in terms of the weight of imposition.But the Independent-Samples T test of Sum of Questionnaire indicates that there is no distinct difference in the negative face needs between the two groups.     

An Analysis of the Correlation between English Reading Strategies and English Proficiency of Art Major

Many researchers show their interest in reading strategies which have a great influence on English reading achievement.However,less researches have been done with Art major as a subject.Therefore,the present study makes a research on the correlation between English reading strategies and reading proficiency of Art major,in hope of making some suggestions for college teaching and learning.     

Students＇ approaches to Project Work： Self-regulated learning in Swedish upper secondary school

Individualized schoolwork and self-regulated learning has expanded in Sweden during the last decades. Such teaching methods affect the roles of teachers and students, and the demand for student responsibility increases. Upper secondary school in Sweden includes vocational and study preparation programmes, which both give general access to higher education. Since 2000 all students entering upper secondary school have to take a course called Project Work （100 credits）. The preceding course Special Work （20 credits） was only part of the study preparation programmes. This expansion from 20 to 100 credits and from a few to all study programmes was a considerable change. The study is built on data from interviews with upper secondary school students about their approaches to Project Work, as an example of self-regulated learning practices. Qualitative analyse and classification is based on earlier developed categories, and to some extent tendencies in students＇ development over time are explored. The results throw light on the relationship between different types of projects, grades and students＇ approaches to Project Work. Special interest is given to approaches considered as problematic from an educational point of view. Socio-cultural aspects show some impact, although the students＇ difficulties turn out to be more of an educational challenge.     

英文摘要

Giving Full Play to the Leading Role of Ideology is the Responsibility of the College Youth League in the New Era ZHENG Chang-jiang （Zhangzhou Health Vocational College, Zhangzhou 363000, China） Abstract：College Youth League is the bridge between College Party Committee and the students. In the current rapidly changing age of information, it isnecessary not only to cooperate with the institutions to achieve the overall goal of education, but also to guide the students to establish a correct outlook on life and values, which is the main job and fundamental task of the Youth League. This article makes a survey of how the College Youth League could do a good job in the new situations by making use of the features of the college students＇ ideology and behavior and giving full play to the advantages of the Youth League, and discusses the approaches and methods used by College Youth Leagues to give ideological guidance, with a view to providing reference for the work of College Youth Leagues. Key words： college students; Youth League; ideological guidance     

Turkish students＇ perceptions regarding their mathematics teachers＇ classroom practices

Mathematics teaching is a complex process being influenced by several factors. Mathematics teachers play crucially important role in the process. Therefore, their classroom practices can influence students＇ learning. The purpose of the present study was to examine Turkish students＇ perceptions of their mathematics teachers＇ classroom practices. A 5-point likert-type scale developed by the author was used for data collection. Exploratory factor analysis showed 3 construct, all of which together explain the 62.23% of the total variance. Cronbach＇s alpha correlation coefficient of the instrument was found 0.76. The sample of the study constituted a total number of 1,024, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students selected randomly from 12 primary schools in the different districts of Sivas, Turkey. It seems clear from the results of the study that, there are no grade level differences in the students＇ perceptions of the entire scale and its sub-factors.     

Literature Review of Oral English Teaching

Under the present situations in China, more and more graduates with higher proficiency in oral English are required. However, the author learned that students in most universities are lack of this ability. It’s the urgent task for college English teachers to help students improve their oral English to the required level. The author of this paper will review the literature of foreign langue teaching in relation to oral English teaching in college, hence leading more English teachers to reflect on new and effective ways of oral English teaching.     

英文摘要

A Study on the Relationship between Physical Educational Majors＇ English Classroom Anxiety and English Classroom Willingness to Communicate, by SHI Yu ＆ FAN Weiwei, p.4 This empirical study aims to explore the relationship between English classroom anxiety and English classroom willingness to communicate by using questionnaires and interviews with 218 college physical educational majors. It is found that the physical educational majors have experienced the high level classroom anxiety and low to medium level willingness to communicate. Moreover, students＇ anxieties are negatively correlated with their willingness to communicate.     

A Survey on the Relationship between Learning Beliefs and Learning Strategies

With the shift of the concept of English teaching, learning beliefs and learning strategies are increasingly attracting researchers＇ attention. This study, based on a questionnaire, centered on the current situation of learning beliefs and learning strategies used by three-year college students. The result shows： （1） the students have the strongest form-focused beliefs and most disagree with using-mother tongue beliefs. （2） In the practical learning activities, using-mother tongue strategies are most frequently used by students and the frequency of meaning-focused strategies is the lowest. （3） There are significant correlations between belief variables and strategy variables.     

The Connection between Self-construal and Social Media about Chinese College Students

This paper focuses on the connection between self-construal and social media about Chinese college students and explores how and what the connections are between independent self-construal or interdependent self-construal and social media.The research begins at the differences of self-construal,and the connections between different self-construal.Based on the data analysis and interviews,five themes are developed.     

A Study of Non-English Majors’Errors in English Writing

Researchers in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) have long held the interest towards the teaching of college English writing. Their research topics, range from how to improve college students’ability to write with English as their second language, to how to correct their wrong expressions in their writing. This article mainly aims at exploring college students’ various writing errors and mistakes,trying to provide some hints for college students and teachers about English writing. Such studies are abundant.