The IEA Studies of Reading and Writing Literacy: a 1996 perspective

The paper reviews IEA literacy studies. It analyses them in the light of theories of literacy, cross‐cultural perspectives, and their practical and theoretical value. It points out that, despite some well‐grounded theoretical perspectives, in reality, the IEA instruments test only certain aspects of ‘formal’ literacy. The paper explores the cultural colonisation of IEA instruments by ‘Western’ literacy forms, expressed partly through the training and administrative structures of the IEA and partly through the existing international dominance of such forms. It looks at the implicit assumptions made about literacy through the use of particular statistical item response models and suggests that there are important lessons to be learnt from the IEA experience. It concludes with some suggestions for future work.     

认知与二语习得理论国内外发展趋势研究

对认知理论和二语习得理论重要内容和观点进行了总结和分析,并探讨两种理论的国内外发展趋势,以及其在二语学习中的作用。     

Emotion recognition and communication for reducing second‐language speaking anxiety in a web‐based one‐to‐one synchronous learning environment

e‐Learning is becoming an increasingly popular educational paradigm because of the rapid growth of the Internet. Recent studies have argued that affective modelling (ie, considering a learner's emotional or motivational state) should also be considered while designing learning activities. Many studies indicated that various learning emotions markedly impact learning outcomes. In the language education field, many studies have investigated anxiety associated with learning a second language, noting that anxiety has an adverse effect on the performance of those speaking English as a second language. Therefore, how to reduce anxiety associated with learning a second language to increase learning performance is an important research issue in the language education field. Accordingly, this study employed a sensor, signal processing, wireless communication, system‐on‐chip and machine‐learning techniques in developing an embedded human emotion recognition system based on human pulse signals for detecting three human emotions—nervousness, peace and joy—to help teachers reduce language‐learning anxiety of individual learners in a web‐based one‐to‐one synchronous learning environment. The accuracy rate of the proposed emotion recognition model evaluated by cross‐validation is as high as 79.7136% when filtering out human pulse signals that have bias. Moreover, this study applied the embedded emotion recognition system to assist instructor's teaching in a synchronous English conversation environment by immediately reporting variations in individual learner emotions to the teacher during learning. In this instructional experiment, the teacher can give appropriate learning assistance or guidance based on the emotion states of individual learners. Experimental results indicate that the proposed embedded human emotion recognition system is helpful in reducing language‐based anxiety, thus promoting instruction effectiveness in English conversation classes.     

Interpretations of literacy

The National Literacy Strategy (NLS) was introduced into schools in England in 1998 with the aim of raising the literacy attainments of primary‐aged children. The Framework for Teaching the Literacy Hour, a key component of the NLS, proposes an interpretation of literacy that emphasises reading, writing and spelling skills. An investigation of the Literacy Hour for pupils with a range of special needs raised questions about teachers' interpretation of literacy when children have severe and complex learning needs. The research suggested that a skill‐based view of literacy is limited and has the potential to exclude pupils who cannot access or produce written material by conventional means. These issues are discussed within the context of views drawn from contemporary literature. Implications for further research are identified.     

隐喻能力在二语文化习得中的作用

隐喻能力作为二语习得过程中对学习者更高的要求,是语言能力和交际能力的有益补充。文章采纳现代隐喻认知理论观点,从应用语言学的角度,结合隐喻与文化及隐喻与二语习得的关系,指出隐喻影响着我们的思维,是语言与文化联系最紧密的部分,二语教学要注意文化的导入,提高学生对隐喻的领悟能力。隐喻能力能够促进二语学习者的学习,用现代隐喻理论指导二语语言与文化习得是十分重要的,以达到用现代隐喻理论指导二语语言与文化习得的目的。     

IEA Studies and Educational Policy

IEA studies hold the promise of meeting governments’ needs to obtain information on how their educational system operates relative to other systems, which may help to identify deficiencies and strengths. In this paper, ways in which this information might influence policy and decision‐making are described and examples are provided of cases in which the findings of IEA studies have been reported to have influenced policy. Problems in interpreting and applying IEA findings are considered. Finally, nine conditions are outlined which international studies should meet if their findings are to satisfy the currently expressed needs of educational policy‐makers and decision‐makers.     

English Teachers and the Cox Models

The introductory section of the Cox Report describes five models of English teaching. Together, it seems, these constitute a broad map of current thinking:
It is possible to identify within the English teaching profession a number of different views on the subject. We list them here, though we stress that they are not the only possible views, they are not sharply distinguishable, and they are certainly not mutually exclusive .
1. A 'personal growth' view focuses on the child: it emphasises the relationship between language and learning in the individual child, and the role of literature in developing children's imaginative and aesthetic lives .
2. A 'cross-curricular' view focuses on the school: it emphasises that all teachers have a responsibility to help children with the language demands of different subjects on the school curriculum
3. An 'adult needs' view focuses on communication outside the school: it emphasises the responsibility of English teachers to prepare children for the language demands of adult life, including the workplace, in a fast-changing world
4. A 'cultural heritage' view emphasises the responsibility of schools to lead children to an appreciation of those works of literature that have been widely regarded as amongst the finest in the language .
5. A 'cultural analysis' view emphasises the role of English in helping children towards a critical understanding of the world and cultural environment in which they live. Children should know abou t the processes by which meanings are conveyed, and about the ways in which print and other media carry values . (DES/WO, 1989)     

Motivation and Second Language Acquisition

In this paper,first the author provides a brief review of contemporary psychological views on motivation and motivation in SLL.The author then discusses Williams and Burden’ s (1997) cognitive model of motivation,which suggests that both internal and external factors are significant in motivation.And next the author selects two internal factors (attitudes to language learning in general and attitudes to target language community and culture) and two external factors (parents and teachers),discussing their relevance to motivation in language learning.After that the author refers in her answer both to the wider literature on motivation and her own experience of motivation as a language teacher and learner.The author concludes the paper by drawing some practical implications from employing this model.     

再论语言学习观念与学习策略相关性

语言学习观念和学习策略都是影响外语学习效率的重要因素。随着二语习得研究的深入,一些研究者对二者之间的相关性也越来越关注。本文简要概述国内外对学习观念和学习策略的研究,就观念和策略的关系进行探讨,认为学习观念影响学习策略的选择,最终作用于学习结果;学习策略的使用也能够引起学习观念的变化。在此基础上提出,把观念和策略结合起来进行研究,并应用于外语教学过程,例如在策略研究和培训中,以期有效地提高学习效果。     

Native Speaker and L2 User in Language Teaching

The target of much language teaching and learning is to make students approximate to native speakers.The only rightful speak ers of a language are its native speakers.Contrary to these contemporary views,however,this paper argues that the obligation of the lan guage teacher is to help students to use L2 effectively not to simply imitate native speaker.A successful L2 user who comes from the group of L2 learners can be a model for students.Therefore,non-native teachers with a high degree of language proficiency and good teaching skills can be ideal and qualified language teachers.     

英语网络学历教育优秀辅导教师专业能力探究

研究旨在从师生双方的认知角度探究优秀英语网络学历教育辅导教师的专业能力构成。问卷调查、访谈和统计分析发现,师生的认知具有广泛的一致性,但对部分能力构成的侧重有所差异;学生的年龄和学习阶段也影响其对教师专业能力的倾向。研究并为提升英语网络教学效果及促进英语网络辅导教师队伍的专业化发展提出建议。     

论第二语言习得中的过渡语错误

过渡语是第二语言或外语学习过程中,学习者使用的介于母语和目的语之间的过渡性语言;传统的二语学习理论过分强调其错误的负面作用。本文依据错误分析理论．重新探讨了第二语言习得过程中过渡语错误的性质极其重要意义,并分析了过渡语与语言错误之间的关系,指出它在第二语言习得过程中举足轻重的地位和由此给外语教学带来的启示。     

Preservice elementary teachers' views of their students' prior knowledge of science

Pre‐service teachers face many challenges as they learn to teach in ways that are different from their own educational experiences. Pre‐service teachers often enter teacher education courses with pre‐conceptions about teaching and learning that may or may not be consistent with contemporary learning theory. To build on preservice teachers' prior knowledge, we need to identify the types of views they have when entering teacher education courses and the views they develop throughout these courses. The study reported here focuses specifically on preservice teachers' views of their own students' prior knowledge and the implications these views have on their understanding of the formative assessment process. Sixty‐one preservice teachers were studied from three sections of a science methods course. Results indicate that preservice teachers exhibited a limited number of views about students' prior knowledge. These views tended to privilege either academic or experience‐based concepts for different aspects of formative assessment, in contrast to contemporary perspectives on teaching for understanding. Rather than considering these views as misconceptions, it is argued that it is more useful to consider them as resources for further development of a more flexible concept of formative assessment. Four common views are discussed in detail and applied to science teacher education. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 497–523, 2008     

英汉成语的对比研究

通过英汉两种语言中成语的比较 ,从各自语言的特色 ,文化的内涵分析两种语言之间的文化异同 ,有助于了解英语所载的文化意蕴及其多层面背景 ,是学习该语言并运用其进行跨文化交际的有效方法 ,也是在英语学习和教学中应注意的问题。     

高等师范院校语言学概论教学改革谫议——兼谈语言学概论与现代汉语的关系

本文就高等师范院校语言学概论的教学改革提出了一些看法,认为语言学概论教学应当突出课程的普通语言学性质、提升课程的语言学习指导作用、联系现实的语文生活、强化课程的语言教学指导作用和正确处理语言学概论与现代汉语的关系。     

The Understanding and Comment of Individual Learner Difference

Language learning is a constructive process,in which learners construe the target language based on the acquired rules of grammar and syntax.However,the language that learners produce at early or later stages of the acquisition is different from the standard norms or in other words deviant form the target language from the socio-linguistic,psycho-linguistic and pragmatic points of views.Different learner lead to different learning effects.There are many factors influenced learners.     

A Brief Review of Motivation for Second Language Learning

It is an increasingly popular trend in the language field that people become bilingual or even multilingual,which exposes the fact that people are strongly motivated to learn another language in addition to their mother tongue.A large-scale of research has confirmed that motivation,serving as the internal impulse and initiative taste for second language learning,is among on of the key factors in second language acquisition and learning.The paper reviews the recent available literature on motivation of second language learning from both theoretical and empirical perspectives,with the purpose of neatening the important theories and relevant empirical studies in the field of second language motivation.     

Reciprocal and Transmission Models of Teaching in E2L with Young Learners

An activity‐oriented approach to learning has frequently been advocated for teaching young learners. Hardly any studies have considered how this approach affects second language learning. Through a longitudinal study, a methods experiment was conducted with 156 5‐year‐old children from one large Maltese school. The effects of a reciprocal model (exemplified through an activity‐oriented approach) were compared with a transmission model of teaching (exemplified through a skills‐oriented approach) on the learning of English as a second language when introduced to young children. Multiple analyses of variance were used to analyse the effects of sex, age, teacher training and occasions of testing on five developing language skills: receptive vocabulary (assessed using British Picture Vocabulary Scales); receptive language (sentence comprehension test); reading accuracy and comprehension (Macmillan's Individual Reading Analysis); recall of information; sentence length (The Bus Story) and accuracy of word‐reading (The Keywords Reading List). The pattern of results obtained is discussed along with implications for classroom practices.