How to set the language context

A.Use all kinds of teaching aids In the classroom,students should be provided with a chance to experience the language in meaningful ways and try out their skills,so the teachers should try to use all kinds of teaching aids to set the language context for the students.And we should not only be acquainted with the use of flash cards and wall pictures,but also we need to learn to collect and make visual aids,such as pictures from magazines,used objects like can and boxes,flannel board,and stick-figures.So with a piece of chalk,objects,people,animals,settings are created on the blackboard and the students'interest and attention are aroused.     

Why does language matter to education?

Discussions concerning ??literacy?? make it clear that the domain of language has become a focal point for educational policy. In such discussions, language is primarily treated as a basic communication tool. This paper examines, from a philosophical perspective, how appropriate this approach to language is. The philosophical validity of this dominant tendency is analyzed with reference to the work of Wilhelm von Humboldt, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein. Once the stable relationship conceived by Humboldt among the individual, language, and the world is lost, education displays its more distinctive features, which we see clearly in Nietzsche and Wittgenstein. Both of these philosophers focused their investigation on the rhetorical or performative aspects of language. In contrast to Nietzsche, however, Wittgenstein did not abandon the hope of finding in language the function of showing reality, even if what is said and what is shown remain incongruent. This perspective in Wittgenstein is salient against the dominant tendency, in which the mediating function of language is sought in the dimension of conformity and usefulness.     

Informal and formal approaches to communicative language teaching

The main purpose of this article is to give some clarity to the use of the term "communicative" in describing approaches to foreign or second language teaching. It is suggested that a distinction be drawn between "informal" communicative approaches which promote second language "acquisition", and "formal" communicative approaches which promote "learning". This distinction between "acquisition" and "learning", which is taken from the work of Stephen Krashen, is carefully explained and the conditions for achieving both in the classroom considered. In addition it is suggested that there is a need actively to teach pupils how to make use of conscious "learnt" knowledge in order to "monitor" their performance in a second language appropriately.     

Grammatical Consciousness-Raising——Six steps to language learning

Even in classes which stress oral practice, the explicit teaching of grammar still has a role to play. Evelyn Doman explains why and presents some practical activities which integrate grammar teaching with communicative tasks in the grammatical consciousness-raising approach. Introduction The role of grammar in the foreign language classroom has been debated both long and hard. Theories about teaching grammar have covered all ranges of the spectrum, going from playing a major role to basically playing no role at all. Today, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is the forerunner in the TESL/TEFL community. Yet, even within the CLT framework, the controversy over the teaching of grammar continues. Many people still assert that grammar be given its place. I too am among these people, especially in EFL environments, such as in my previous teaching situations in South Korea.     

Educators’ use of commanding language to direct infants’ behaviour: relationship to educators’ qualifications and implications for language learning opportunities

This study investigated the manner in which 56 infant educators used language to direct the behaviour of infants (defined as children aged birth to two years), on the basis that the ways in which educators frame their commands represent an important component of young children’s learning experiences. Underpinned by systemic functional linguistic theory, the study analysed the frequency and type of command produced by educators with university, diploma and certificate qualifications. Suggestive and indirect commands convey a sense of negotiation, as if the addressees’ subjective opinions and thoughts are considered, while nonsuggestive and direct commands foreground the speakers’ power and authority. The findings demonstrate that commands feature frequently in educators’ talk to infants, with nonsuggestive and direct commands being most commonly used. Individual differences were related to the qualifications of staff. University-qualified early childhood teachers used significantly fewer nonsuggestive and direct commands than did diploma and certificate-qualified educators, and they were more likely to provide infants with a reason for the command. These findings have implications for the way in which learning opportunities are created by the language that educators use, and for the overall quality of infant early childhood programmes.     

Which is the best way to learn a language?

In schools, boys and girls are learning foreign languages. Do you know how many languages there are in the world? There are about one thousand and five hundred. English is one of the most important languages because so many people use it, not only in England and America, but also in other countries of     

Critical language awareness and English language teaching

Critical Language Awareness （CLA） is an approach to language teaching based on a critical sociocultural theory of language and critical discourse analysis. CLA has a great relationship with English language teaching, but there are few articles talking about it. So the author here will present her understanding of the relationship between CLA and English language.     

Parental contribution to child’s early language and interest in books

The relationships between parents’ age, education, literacy activities and shared reading with the child and children’s language skills and early interest in books were examined in a longitudinal study of 108 children. Parents reported on their children’s lexical and grammatical development by using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (the CDIs) at the ages of 14 and 24 months. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development were administered to the children in a laboratory setting at 24 months. Information on parental background variables was obtained through a questionnaire before the children’s birth. Book reading habits were inquired when the children were 2 years of age. Mothers’ education, literacy activities and shared reading with the child were shown to be more strongly associated with the 2-year-olds’ lexical and grammatical skills than were those of father. A corresponding association to parental background variables emerged regardless of whether parental report data or scores on the structured test were employed as the child language measure. Shared reading with the father was found to be linked to children’s early interest in books. The children who exhibited greater interest in books were likely to be read to by mothers and fathers more frequently than other children. These children also had larger vocabularies than did children with low interest in books. The role of endogenous and exogenous variables in explaining children’s language skills and early book reading interest are discussed.     

浅谈Body language

语言一般分为书面语言(the written language)和口头语言(the spoken language).但是,在人们日常交流中或在许多场合下,还有一种重要的交流方式往往被人们所忽视,这就是身势语言(the body language),即各种手势、姿势和身势.……     

Natural language learning

适用对象大、中学英语教师如果语法和词汇是难以消化的英语大餐,而natural language则是易消化、又易于掌握的语言小甜饼。其实natural language也就是高频词重新组合而成的日常短语。它是语法和词汇之间的衔接部分,也是英语教学中应该引起关注的部分。     

浅谈Body language

语言一般分为书面语言（thewritten language）和口头语言（the spoken language）。但是，在人们曰常交流中或在许多场合下，还有一种重要的交流方式往往被人们所忽视，这就是身势语言（the body language），即各种手势、姿势和身势。     

Are Australian fans of anime and manga motivated to learn Japanese language?

Recent research into Japanese as a foreign language education has strongly emphasized the link between Japanese popular culture and learning Japanese. However, these studies have only targeted Japanese language learners in formal education contexts and have largely ignored those who are not studying Japanese or studying Japanese informally. This present study claims that it is premature to link the two in this way. Using the notions of public pedagogy, the continuum of informal–formal learning, and out-of-school curriculum as our theoretical underpinnings, we examine how a cohort of fans deals with learning Japanese and about Japan in relation to their consumption of Japanese manga and anime. The results of an online survey of 451 Australia based manga and anime fans reveal that their interest in and motivation to consume these media may not necessarily lead them to enter into formal Japanese language education.     

Identifying students likely to benefit from language support in first‐year Law

As writing skills have a significant impact on a Law student’s ability to successfully complete assessment tasks, it is important to identify early, and refer to appropriate programs, students likely to benefit from language and writing skills support. This article describes in‐class exercises developed in the Law School at the University of Melbourne to identify students with writing ‘difficulties’. Analysis of students’ first semester results confirmed that the exercises were effective in identifying a group of students who may underachieve. Importantly, in both 2005 and 2006 almost half the first‐year Law students referred to support through the exercises were domestic students. Thus, we caution that English language testing of international students is not sufficient to identify all students likely to need or benefit from support programs. We recommend measures such as the exercises described in this paper as a quick and effective means of screening the entire commencing cohort.     

Young Spanish-English speaking children’s reading attitudes in relation to language skills

Background: Reading attitudes are recognised as an influencing factor on the language and literacy achievement of school age monolingual English-speaking children. The relationship between reading attitudes and achievement in young Spanish-speaking English Learners (ELs) remains understudied.

Purpose: The aim of the current study was to describe reading attitudes of young Spanish-speaking ELs and to examine the relationship between attitudes and language performance.

Method: The investigators utilised the Elementary Reading Attitudes Survey (ERAS) with 204 participants: 100 ELs in kindergarten and 104 in first grade. Investigators administered standardised measures of language and literacy performance. Correlational analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between attitudes and performance on language assessments.

Findings: Significant mean differences were observed between girls and boys, with girls showing more positive attitudes towards recreational reading. Phonological awareness skills showed a significant strong correlation with academic reading attitudes for children in kindergarten. Spanish receptive vocabulary showed significant positive correlation with reading attitudes. No significant grade differences were found in overall mean reading attitudes.

Conclusions: Overall, students in both grades demonstrated generally positive attitudes towards reading, despite potential language barriers. Findings substantiate a positive relationship between reading attitudes and receptive vocabulary, and phonological awareness skills in young children.     

On the appropriateness of language teaching methods in language and development

Introduction The topic of this paper is language teaching methodology—and the matter of its appropriateness. A number of writers in our field have criticized language teaching methods during the last decade. Some have noted that the search for the best method is ill-advised (see, for example, Bartolome, 1994). They say that there can be no one best method. Others have     

Teachers’ perceptions of a mentoring cohort model in a program leading to certification to teach English language learners

This study focused on the perceptions of in-service general education teachers who completed a cohort mentoring program leading to certification in English as a Second Language (ESL) at a large, urban university. Based on interviews with 19 members of a cohort of 28, participants valued both the support and augmented skills-development the mentoring element afforded and the supportive, collaborative environment provided by the cohort model. Many also reported that the ESL-targeted strategies they learned were helpful in teaching all student populations and that program participation contributed to their increased involvement in leading professional development and, for some, to their intention to seek administrative roles. Based on these findings and the literature reviewed, the program examined may represent a model that can help to meet the demonstrated need for more trained ESL teachers in U.S. schools and can contribute to developing school leaders.     

Conceptions over time: Are language and the here-and-now up to the task?

Is it possible to explain students’ conceptions of natural phenomena purely in terms of the interactions between two people and the language they use during an interview? I argue that this hypothesis cannot be accepted on several grounds. First, contextual factors prior to the interview influence the course of its events, and that these in turn influence future events. Second, people have agency over their interactions and the ability to use language creatively in ways that a strong version of language preordination inherent in this hypothesis would not permit. Third, people bring language fluency and ideas to an interview that allow them to grapple with phenomena and issues they might not have previously considered, and formulate conceptions that they can and do use in future interactions. In addition, I argue that the field of science education is able to consider curricular and instructional issues relating to students’ conceptions without resorting to the extremes of cultural relativism or intellectual imperialism, and that conceptual change theory addresses both the processes and outcomes of students’ interactions.     

Effective practices to enhance immigrant kindergarteners’ second language vocabulary learning through storybook reading

This study examined the impact of direct instruction and interactive instruction on immigrant kindergarten children’s vocabulary learning during storybook reading. (In the present study the terms “immigrants” and “second language learners” are used alternatively meaning kindergarteners from immigrant families who are in the process of acquiring a second language besides their mother tongue.) Eighty seven immigrant kindergarten children, aged 4–6 years old (mean = 61.68 months, standard deviations = .51) were recruited from 12 public kindergarten classrooms located in Crete. Children were acquiring Greek as a second language. The immigrant children of the 12 kindergarten classrooms were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. During the intervention phase, six stories were read twice in whole group settings. Target and non-target words were assessed by multiple choice vocabulary measure before and after the storybook readings. In the first experimental group, children were provided brief explanations of target words by direct instruction. In the second experimental group, children were involved actively in discussing target words according to interactive instruction techniques. In the control group stories were read without any explanation of target vocabulary. Results showed that interactive instruction was more beneficial on target vocabulary learning than direct instruction and the impact was greater for instructed words than for uninstructed ones. In addition, results showed that boys and girls responded differently to the teaching procedures. Specifically, in both conditions where teaching procedures were implemented, girls outperformed boys on instructed words. Furthermore, children’s initial level in Greek receptive vocabulary and target word knowledge had a significant impact on target word learning.     

A passage from linguistics to English language teaching： Students＇ experiences and expectations

Linguistic courses in ELT （English Language Teaching） departments, in some ways, may create obstacles due to their firm theoretical framework. Therefore, this study is concerned with the main problems for the students taking linguistic courses in ELT Department at Trakya University in Turkey. The purpose of the study is to investigate the attitudes of the students in ELT departments towards attending linguistic courses. The survey was carried out with 21-item likert type scale designed by the researcher. The results specify that, the students at Trakya University admit the effectiveness of linguistic courses and have found a way to applied linguistics from theoretical linguistics.     

Teachers’ beliefs about feedback practice as related to student self-regulation,self-efficacy,and language skills in teaching English as a foreign language

This study examines lower-secondary teachers’ beliefs about feedback practice as related to beliefs about student self-regulation, self-efficacy, and language skills while teaching English as a foreign language. Data analysis of ten individual interviews was carried out using the constant comparative method. Most of the teachers connected own feedback practice to an awareness of assessment for learning through the teaching of language skills. However, a hidden accountability system seemed to overshadow the full potential of assessment for learning for the teachers with its emphasis on testing. Aspects of marking, student involvement, and dialogic feedback were considered challenging to the feedback practice of half of the teachers. The teachers were further divided as to the relevance of feedback for self-regulation and strategy training. Although most teachers discussed feedback as important for students’ self-efficacy, unrealistic expectations and marks were considered impediments to student learning. Implications for teaching and professional learning are discussed.