An Evaluation on Coursebook (Cambridge English for the Media):A Case Study

Coursebook is an essential part in English language teaching. Evaluating a coursebook is very helpful task for teachers’ development. This paper reviews three methods of evaluating coursebook, which are the impressionistic method, the checklist method, and the in-depth method. Then the author adopts the hybrid of these three methods mentioned to evaluate a coursebook - Cambridge English for the Media - used by some Chinese students in a one-year exchange programme in UK. Questionnaire and semi- structured interviews are carried out with the students to get their views about the coursebook. At the end, this paper compares teacher’s view with the learners’based on the data from the questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The results of this study show that there are conflicts between the teacher’s views and the students’on the coursebook.     

A Comparative Study on P. Grice＇s and Sperber / Wilson＇s Approach to Euphemism

Euphemism is a way to express polite, comforting, mild and less distasteful ideas, which is often used by nearly anyone in the speech community. However, how is euphemism interpreted ？ There are two theories providing the explanations： one is CP and the other is Relevance Theory. CP focuses on deliberate floutings of maxims of conversation, giving rise to implicature while Relevance helps euphemism comprehension through optimal relevance by using explicating strategies.     

Analysis of Humor in The Big Bang Theory Based on the Conversational Relevance

Humor is the life buoy in waves of life.Pragmatics and humor are closely linked.Relevance is one of the important topics of Pragmatics.This paper takes the lines from The Big Bang Theory as a case study and analyzes the humorous effect from the perspective of Principle of Relevance and Conversational Relevance,hoping to help people deepen the appreciation and understanding of humor.     

The Contrastive Study on the Use of Politeness in Chinese Preface and English Preface

Based on Leech’s maxims of politeness, this paper conducts a contrastive study between the use of politeness strategies in 30 Chinese prefaces and that in 30 English prefaces which are published about English study.     

A Study on the Implicatures in Chinese Advertising from the Perspective of Flouting the Maxims of Cooperative Principle

Advertising language is very critical in advertising and also contributes much to producing advertising effect. As one of the most important pragmatic principles, the Cooperative Principle (CP) is adopted much in linguistic researches. Also, by analyzing a large number of Chinese advertisements with CP, the author finds that it is common that advertisers try to generate implicatures by flouting the maxims of CP. This paper brings a clear look of the Cooperative Principle and its maxims. It also sheds new light on the interpretation of Chinese advertisements.     

The Role of Social Capital/Guanxi in Students’ Decision-Making about Postgraduate Education in China: An Explorative Case Study

This paper explores how the concept of social capital developed by Bourdieu and Coleman as well as the Chinese concept of guanxi (关系) or relationships facilitates students’ access to postgraduate education in a case study of a university in southeast China. The study comprises an initial survey of 381 first-year postgraduate students and a series of interviews with 30 participants. Social capital and guanxi inform analysis of the data. The results reveal that students from different social backgrounds employ different forms of social capital and guanxi networks in their decision-making about postgraduate education. They contribute to conceptualizations of how social capital is generated through guanxi in the Chinese educational context.     

A Case Study of Incorporating Sheltered Instruction into ESP Courses in China

The study describes the improvements of the participants in ESP course incorporating Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol(SIOP) instruction in China. It aims to investigate whether or not it is effective to incorporate the sheltered instruction into ESP course and whether or not the participants will be motivated to improve their English skills for professional purposes. Quantitative and qualitative data sources were employed, including English language tests, questionnaires, and interviews.Findings reveal that the sheltered instruction was helpful to ESP course and produced significant achievements in participants’ English vocabulary and skills. The most interesting result is that the participants’ confidence and interest in learning professional English for future jobs has been improved much.     

Telephone Interview-One of the Key Research Methods in Education

Telephone interviewing is a crucial but not well-documented qualitative research method in sociology.Such aspects as how to conduct a telephone interview and by whom such a method is best used,are illustrated specifically.More importantly,the advantages and disadvantages of telephone interviews are critically exploited.As a relatively cheap,flexible and reliable means of gathering data,telephone interview deserves more attention.Moreover,due to such obstacles as sampling,establishing rapport and recognizing the limitations of data generated,it is best to use telephone interviewing for educational research in conjunction with other data collection methods.     

The Role and Activities of NGOs on Young Faculty Development in Teachers College at Chinese Impoverished Region

This paper presents the results of a formative evaluation of young faculty development scholarship program conducted in teachers colleges at Chinese impoverished areas. In the paper we describe the implementation of the program, the utilization of scholarship by recipients, recipients＇ satisfaction, and outcome data. Based on these data we discuss the successes and barriers of the program thus far. Several data collection methods were used in the evaluation： a longitudinal random survey of recipients, group interviews with their students, directors and colleagues, in-person interviews with individual recipient, interviews with representatives of provider agencies, and the data base in provider agency. The findings reported in this paper are primarily from the recipients＇ survey. Key findings from the group interviews and representatives＇ interviews are also included. As a whole, the findings suggest success in terms of recipients＇ knowledge and use of advanced training, and high levels of satisfaction with individual development and the organization level. Continuing challenges to the faculty training and development program include long-standing barrier to recipients＇ involvement （e.g. low levels of networking） and resident uncertainty to retain in the colleges to take the social role that the program framed.     

Group Dynamics and Willingness to Communicate in EFL Classrooms

This study explores how group dynamics(such as group cohesiveness and group norms)influence learners’willingness to communicate(WTC)in an EFL classroom.The results from the 236 questionnaires showed that there was a significant correlation between group dynamics and WTC in an EFL classroom.A dozen students who participated in this study were interviewed for more in-depth information and the data revealed that most interviewees acknowledged the importance of the class group.The qualitative data also showed the importance of their own determination to learn in establishing their WTC.     

Logistic Regression Analysis of Employment Behavior Data Using Randomized Response Technique

Direct survey techniques deal with collecting information on sensitive issues data, such as induced abortion, drug addiction, and so on. RR （randomized response） techniques are available for many interviewees, who do not feel comfortable to disclose their personal data due to privacy risks. RR techniques are used in the estimation of the number of people having a sensitive attribute say A. When the research is conducted on the disgraceful or ignominious characteristics of persons like rash driving, tax elusion, induced abortion, testing HIV （human immunodeficiency virus） positive etc., RR techniques are used to make sure that the estimates obtained are efficient and unbiased. During these types of surveys, privacy of the respondent is also managed. Among others, the conflict between efficiency and protection of privacy was also discussed by Nayak in 1994. In RR-related techniques, the SRS （simple random sampling） is statistically used in the sample selection. In this paper, RR procedure is used that allows us to estimate the population proportion in addition to the probability of providing a truthful answer. This study also quantifies a method for the estimation of the model having one variable （univariate） while studying logistic regression, where the dependent variables are subject to RR. In addition, an efficiency comparison is carried out to investigate the performance of the proposed technique. It is also assumed that during the study, the respondents will respond keeping in view the instructions of the RR design. The general idea about findings of current study, though, is so as to perform RR techniques comparatively fine.     

Robert Burns’ Love and Hatred

Robert Burns is the very pioneer of the English Romantic poetry.As the starter of the poetry of 18th century in British,Burns wrote a large number of famous poems.In Burns’ love poetry,he wrote the lovers’ feelings deliberately;In the political poems,Burns depicted the gentlemen’ s hypocrisy with much humor and satire.The author will take the themes of the poetry of Robert Burns as the standing point to study them systematically.     

Characteristics of electricity consumption of different industry types considering atmospheric condition

Reducing greenhouse gases (RHG) is going on actively in the international movement. In the field of architecture, RHG is an inevitable work. To establish a plan for RHG, firstly we need to reduce energy consumption. Greenhouse gas generated by energy consumption is the main cause of global warming. For this we should know that how much electricity consumption we use. The research targets of this study are commercial buildings with various businesses. Their electricity consumption was analyzed by business units rather than buildings. Each business was divided into 13 sectors according to industrial classification and electricity consumption was analyzed for each industry. For commercial buildings, the electricity consumption is done by the private sector and construction management is an autonomy system in private instead of an integrated management system. In this study, we classified and analyzed the electricity consumption characteristics according to collected data, analyzed the relationship between the electricity consumption with atmospheric temperature through SPSS, and developed an electricity prediction model.     

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.     

Introduction to an Interlanguage Corpus-WECCL 2.0

Authentic and objective material with regard to a certain language is the bare necessity and premise of any kind of linguistic research and then on the basis of the data, corpus-based approach, which is also addressed as a performance-based approach, has been involved in almost every corner of linguistics. Thus far, it is hardly surprising that some typical Corpora are essential for contemporary Chinese EFL’s study. WECCL 2.0, as a representative of interlanguage corpus, is introduced in this paper.     

On the Application of Relevance Theory to Reading Comprehension Test in PRETCO-A

Reading is a complex process of communication between writer and reader.Relevance theory proposes that communication is an ostensive-inferential process from the cognitive perspective.The thesis studies the English reading teaching approach for higher vocational students and applies it to the question type of reading comprehension test in PRETCO-A.It proposes three research questions in view of actual condition of teaching English reading.By the questionnaires and tests,the relevant data are collected,analyzed and discussed.Three research results are proved to be effective in reading teaching.     

Conversational Principles under Cultural Factors

There are soma conversational principles necessary for a successful conversation. One is the Cooperative Principle of four maxims. Violating any one of the four maxims will give rise to conversational implicatures; the other is the Politeness Principle, proposed to rescue the Cooperative Principle. To draw pragmatic implications from the violation of the Cooperative Principle is of no difference between the west and the east. What are different lies in people＇s choice of the maxims of the Cooperative Principle and this is due to different cultural background. Chinese-styled politeness is characterized by four aspects： respectfulness, modesty, attitudinal warmth and refinement. Language, as a special form of communication, may be viewed as a system, as a vehicle for cultural transmission. It does not exist apart from culture. Thus, language and cultural ore Interactive and understanding of one requires understanding of the other. To better achieve the communicative goal, it is necessary to choose the appreciate way of expression under certain circumstances and cultural factors plays an important role in using language effectively.     

Policy Metamorphosis in China: A Case Study of Minban Education in Shanghai

This is a book on policy study in the Chinese mainland by an insider with an outsider perspective.With contemporary policies on minban schooling in Shanghai as a case study,Ding illustrates and analyzes a case of policy metamorphosis in the contemporary Chinese mainland. The book is based on a well-designed qualitative study with 65 in-depth interviews in 2001 and 2004.Ding tries to figure out the logic of policy implementation in Shanghai as an "insider" while having a clear awareness of the dilemma of studying a policy issue in her own culture.She makes the best use of her identity as an insider,not only as a Chinese but as someone who knows some "inside" stories concerning the issue interviewed.As Ding pointed out,"I had obtained some firsthand information about minban education in Shanghai,so that when I sensed that the informants were talking superficially,I let them know that I had heard some inside stories (which usually had very different versions).In this way,sensitive data emerged." (Ding,2011,p.145).This is true,since the views expressed in most interview data Ding collected cannot be found in public or official documents,and are also rarely found in the academic literature.     

Analysis of the dynamics of the sharing knowledge between cooperating teacher and teacher-in-training： The partners＇ respective roles

Collaboration is becoming increasingly important in the realm of education （Novoa, 2004）. For instance, as soon as training is undertaken, the future teacher must develop an ability to cooperate in a pedagogical context. However, in order to learn to make a relevant contribution to a teaching team＇s undertakings and to provide innovative suggestions in pedagogical matters （Gouvernement du Quebec, 2001）, the student teacher needs solid backing from the cooperating teacher. A student teacher＇s willingness to reflect on and to question his own teaching practices will create a much more promising learning context （Portelance ＆ Durand, 2006）. Reciprocally, the cooperating teacher will make a positive contribution to the student teacher by accepting that his positions be questioned and even altered （Johnston, Wetherill ＆ Greenebaum, 2002）. It is the dynamics of sharing of knowledge and know-how in this partnership that retains our interest. From 2004 to 2007, the researchers carried out a study of the subject by examining four practicum sessions at high school level in a number of Quebec schools. To gather data, the researchers used written questionnaires, individual interviews, as well as recordings of conversations between student teachers and their cooperating teachers. These conversations pertain to the conception and to the execution, by the student teacher, of teaching-learning situations. These dialogues were integrally transcribed and processed by N＇vivo, software designed to analyze qualitative data. the researchers present a typology of the respective roles taken on by the two partners in their discussions. The cooperating teacher reveals himself to be an advisor, a transmitter of information and a teacher. The student teacher also takes on the role of transmitter of information, as well as that of reflective practitioner, among others, the researchers observed that the conversations are usually carried out in an egalitarian spirit and, in some cases, give rise to co-construction of practical knowledge.     

An Analysis of Student Anxiety in English Listening

Listening has been playing a key role in daily communication and ELT.However,it’s an obstacle for most non-English majors.Among affective factors the students encounter in listening,anxiety is the most usual one.In this paper,I will analyze the situation based on my observations on listening class and interviews with some students in terms of the relationship between students’ anxiety and their listening performance and the characteristics of the listening materials.Subsequently,with the interviews with some students,some possible ways of improving listening ability are discussed.