Can you really＂speak＂English？

人之间最直接的、最主要的交流方式是口语表达．为了更好地与他人交流．人们不仅学习自己本族的语言．还需学习他国的语言．减少沟通的障碍。换言之．学习语言的最终目的是使用该语言。然而．任何语言口语能力的形成都离不开语言材料大量有效的输人和积累。然而中国学生缺少学习英语的语言环境．在日常生活中听到的和看到的、与人交流的都是汉语,即使学了英语．也是“哑巴英语”。因为平时几乎不说．更谈不上运用．因此中国学生很难从生活中得到输入英语语言材料的机会．     

Should Science be Taught in Early Childhood?

This essay considers the question of why we should teach science to K-2. After initial consideration of two traditional reasons for studying science, six assertions supporting the idea that even small children should be exposed to science are given. These are, in order: (1) Children naturally enjoy observing and thinking about nature. (2) Exposing students to science develops positive attitudes towards science. (3) Early exposure to scientific phenomena leads to better understanding of the scientific concepts studied later in a formal way. (4) The use of scientifically informed language at an early age influences the eventual development of scientific concepts. (5) Children can understand scientific concepts and reason scientifically. (6) Science is an efficient means for developing scientific thinking. Concrete illustrations of some of the ideas discussed in this essay, particularly, how language and prior knowledge may influence the development of scientific concepts, are then provided. The essay concludes by emphasizing that there is a window of opportunity that educators should exploit by presenting science as part of the curriculum in both kindergarten and the first years of primary school.     

Should Creationism be Taught in the Public Schools?

This article discusses philosophicalarguments relevant to the question of teachingcreationism, especially with regard to developments inthe debate since the early 1990s.Section 1 reviews the newfactions within the creationist movement, and theoverlapping views from young earth to intelligentdesign creationism, as well as non-Christianvarieties. It also considers what are the relevantdifferences for the policy question for private,public schools, and for home schoolers, as well aspossible differences in what it means to teachcreationism. Sections 2 & 3 discuss the main legal argumentsthat have ruled in the public school case, as well asarguments from academic freedom, fairness, censorship,parental rights and majority rule. Section 4 evaluates theepistemological issues regarding competing claims oftruth, and the contention that excluding whatChristians know (Alvin Plantinga) amounts toviewpoint discrimination (Phillip Johnson). Section 5argues that religious protection arguments actuallyfavor excluding creationism more than including it. Section 6 considers the goals of education, especiallyDewey's views on science education, and what theseimply regarding the teaching of a theistic science. In Section 7, I review a new argument of Alvin Plantingabased upon a purported Rawlsian basic right of aparent not to have her children taught anything thatviolates her comprehensive beliefs, and show whyRawlsian agents would reject it.     

Can giftedness be taught?

This study investigates the relationship between giftedness and strategic flexibility using cognitive training methodology. The two experiments showed that the metacognitive training influenced strategic flexibility and metacognition of students. The results further showed that it is much easier to enhance performance on closed problems than with open problems which call for creativity.     

Chinese Culture Can’t be Expressed Exactly in English

Culture is itself a most comprehensive metaphor shown by people--different crowd has specific and characteristic culturewhich is a mixture of history and experience. English as a world language Language plays an important role transmitting, but not exactly,different cultures. Thus, Chinese culture can not be expressed in English besides people who use English as Englishes exactly. This paperwill illustrate the fact through introuducing elements of culture, especially from the aspect of the broadening of Little C (behaviour culture),and analyzing the reason from three aspects according to the broadening of Little C, that is, English can not express Chinese products exactly, English can not express Chinese ideas exactly, and English can not express Chinese behaviours exactly.     

Can Pragmatic Competence Be Taught in an EFL Classroom?

An L2 learner’s pragmatic competence is an inseparable part of his communicative competence.Large quantities of aspects of pragmatic competence are teachable.Classroom is the place where an L2 learner’s pragmatic competence can be developed.Though classroom instruction has some negative effect,efforts could be done to arrange relevant awareness-raising and communication-practice activities.     

Can You Understand Australian Spoken English?

Here are some sentences from conversa-tions in Australia.Pay special attention tothe underlined words or phrases in thesentences.     

Can Listening Comprehension Strategies Assist ESL/EFL Learners?

Listening strategies are important in English learning and teaching. They are highly effective in developing learners’ listening comprehension ability. This paper firstly examines the theories of learning strategies and the uses of them in second language acquisition (SLA) and then reviews various research findings on strategy usage, such as the types of learning strategies used by good listeners, effective strategy training, and the teaching of strategies explicitly. The paper goes on to illustrate listening comprehension strategies involving top-down and bottom-up processes and provide with research evidence showing that using listening strategies can improve listening comprehension. Finally, the paper offers suggestions and principles for language teachers about how to teach listening strategies in second language classrooms.     

TheSignificanceofBackground Knowledge onStudents’English Listening Comprehension

The background knowledge has the stimulating function in English listening comprehension; it can reduce the psychological pressure before listening, strengthen the confidence and enhance the predictive ability. Therefore, the paper mainly discusses the importance and influences of linguistic background knowledge and non-linguistic background knowledge in listening comprehension. The author also gives some suggestions on teaching English listening according to the analysis of significances of background knowledge in the paper.     

Should Intelligent Design be Taught in Public School Science Classrooms?

A variety of different arguments have been offered for teaching “both sides” of the evolution/ID debate in public schools. This article reviews five of the most common types of arguments advanced by proponents of Intelligent Design and demonstrates how and why they are founded on confusion and misunderstanding. It argues on behalf of teaching evolution, and relegating discussion of ID to philosophy or history courses.     

Creativity: Can It Be Taught? The Case of Engineering Education

Creativity in higher education is analyzed as an intentional act and related to a number of ideas from cognitive psychology. It is claimed that the culture of engineering education entails a too narrow view on creativity and is based on outdated learning theories. The deeper philosophical implications of creativity, i.e. the quest for meaning, will have to be readdressed if engineering education is to prepare its graduates for future tasks.     

What Can We Do to Improve English?

This morning, I asked some of my classmates what they do to improve their English. Gretel said, reading English newspaper can improve her English. Linda said that watching English programs is very good for her English. Jack and Bill think playing English games is the best way to improve their English. And I think reading English books is very improtant to our English study. Books are our greatest friends.Most students choose reading Englishbooks,writing English articles to improvethei…     

Some Thoughts on Improvement of English Listening Instruction

The teaching of English listening has long been limited to the textbooks and tapes,which has surely led to a lot of demerits in teaching listening up to now.So at present,it's very important to improve the following eight aspects of teaching listening:teachers,textbooks,relationship between teachers and students,equipments,application of schematic theory,combination of listening and speaking,listening tests and teaching English listening through movies for the purpose of maximizing the efficiency of listening teaching.Among them,the last aspect,namely,teaching English listening through movies is emphasized.     

Can Educationally Significant Learning be Assessed?

Abstract

This article argues that assessment is a central feature of teaching, particularly as a means to determine whether what has been taught has been learnt. However, I take issue with the current trend in education which places a significant amount of emphasis upon large-scale public testing, which in turn has exacerbated the ‘teaching-to-the-test’ syndrome, not to mention distorting teaching decisions that are detrimental to the overall development of student knowledge and understanding. Part of the problem with assessment in education seems to revolve around the nature of knowledge and how best to assess human knowledge and understanding. Although much philosophical uncertainty and disagreement exists surrounding the nature of knowledge, I argue that coming to know something is a sine qua non of any education. In saying this, I highlight the limits of assessment by demonstrating how certain activities are resistant to large-scale public testing because they are not easily reducible to facts which can be tested for, or at least in the same way as propositional forms of knowledge. Consequently, my argument is a philosophical one to the effect that assessment, particularly large-scale public testing is incapable of assessing all forms of learning, or even the quality of student understanding because the instruments available are both too blunt and tend to capture a certain kind of knowledge that privileges theory over practice, and mental skills over physical skills.     

How to Improve Students’ English Listening Ability

Listening plays a fundamental role in foreign language acquisition. Though most schools have offered listening class, the effect is rather poor. This thesis will analyse some reasons that cause students weak ability in listening and explore some effective strategies to solve some issues.     

Should Homosexuality be Taught as an Acceptable Alternative Lifestyle? A Muslim perspective

In most western countries homosexuality is gaining growing support as an alternative lifestyle and, being a part of sex education in schools, is presented to children as a positive image. The first section of the paper summarises the current political and social aspirations of the gay and lesbian movement and examines the underlying values and assumptions in this position as well as its educational implications. The second section considers evidence of the extent to which the gay and lesbian aspirations are receiving a sympathetic hearing from liberals, sex education specialists, Christians, members of other world religions and the population at large. The third section develops a Muslim perspective on (male) homosexuality, based mainly on Islamic teaching but also referring where appropriate to practices in Muslim countries. Muslims oppose the teaching of homosexuality not only because Islam proclaims homosexual practices to be an ‘abomination’, but also because the notion of homosexuality as a lifestyle at all, let alone a natural and equally valid one, is itself incoherent from a Muslim perspective. The paper concludes with some suggestions about the educational implications of the Muslim perspective.     

How We Taught English Grammar at a Junior Teachers college

高等院校英语语法课常被认为是一门枯燥乏味的课程,教师对之往往视为畏途.本文认为在教授语法时应同时注意学生语言的运用与提高.通过语法教学可以扩大学生知识面,启发学生进行独立思考.课堂方式应富于变化,使之丰富多采,从而收到良好教学效果.本文为作者于一九八四年五月在厦门举行的中国英语教学研究会浙沪闽赣地区年会上宣读的论文.