Green contents in English language textbooks in Pakistan: An ecolinguistic and ecopedagogical appraisal

The belief that English language teaching (ELT), for its global scope, should not only focus on furnishing learners’ language skills but also on raising their awareness about critical global issues, like environmental crises, led to the ‘greening’ of ELT textbooks. However, the ecopedagogical import of the green contents in ELT textbooks has a bearing on the linguistic/discursive representation of nature and the human–nature relationship in them as it conditions the way we humans perceive and treat the natural environment. Ecolinguistics, an emerging paradigm in linguistic research, offers the premise to analyse the construction of ecology in texts. This study conducted an ecolinguistic and ecopedagogical appraisal of the environmental texts in English language textbooks used in Pakistani schools at primary level, adapting Gaard’s ecopedagogical framework for children’s texts and Halliday’s transitivity analysis model. The study found that the construction of nature and the human–nature relationship in the selected textbooks principally propagated an anthropocentric worldview, thus lacking in ecopedagogical import.     

科学教材中阅读材料的特点和功能--对美国初中科学教材《物质的特性》、《人体系统》的分析

在美国的初中科学教材中,阅读材料与正文的关系是相辅相成的。阅读材料能使得教材在内容的深度和广度、时间和空间上得到扩展,能渗透科学技术与社会和科学发展史的内容,有利于学生开展研究性学习,所以阅读材料具有使科学教材在内容上综合化、弹性化、补充正文、培养学生的各种能力和激发学生对科学的学习兴趣的功能。其他国家编写科学教材的成功经验对我们有很好的借鉴和启发作用。     

重视文学文本在大学英语教学中的作用

通过鼓励真实交际,提高学习动机,促进个人成长等三方面强调了文学文本在第二语言学习中的重要性。同时,对国内公开出版发行的针对大学非英语专业学生的读写、综合教材进行随机抽样分析,发现近年出版的教材文学文本占所选文本的比例普遍较低,提出部分语言教材的编写人员对文学文本在大学英语教学中的作用未能引起足够的重视。     

从批判性思维培养的视角看中美语文教材的差异——PISA测试结果的启示

批判性思维是语文素养的重要能力,而阅读是语文教学的核心。国际能力测试PISA显示,我国学生阅读总体水平世界第一,但与批判性思维相关的部分成绩较低。这种现象引起了学界的广泛重视。我国教材在自然描写、情感道德、历史文化传统、爱国主义、生活知识与技能等方面的比例与美国的教材显著不同;在连续性文本和非连续性文本比例上也与美国差异巨大。阅读内容及其文本形式关乎我国学生阅读能力中批判性思维的培养。建议教材中增加与学生生活、社会现实问题联系密切的以非连续性文本形式呈现的内容。     

基于叙事文本特质构建阅读教学基模——以《一枚金币》为例

叙事类文本在小学语文教材中占比很重,掌握叙事类作品的阅读密码,就能快速提高阅读此类文本的能力。破解叙事类文本的阅读奥秘,关键在于筛选学生易于理解的该类文本的特质作为突破口,选用适切的阅读策略,构建对接阅读能力层级的阅读基本模式,以程序性和策略性知识为支架,以一篇带动一类文本的阅读教与学,从而快速发展学生的阅读技能。     

试论语文“丑形象文本”的美育价值

审丑教育是审美教育的一个重要分支。对语文课本及其读物所呈现出来的“丑形象”描写进行美学阐释,无疑地有助于提高学生识丑与辨丑的能力,只有通过对语文“丑形象文本”的不断阅读,才能在真正意义上为学生培养良好的审美素质打下坚实的基础。文章一方面通过对“丑形象”研究的历史回顾,分析“丑形象文本”所具有的特定内涵;另一方面从创作学、接受关学和审美本体论等角度出发,对语文“丑形象文本”的美育价值进行多视角的探讨。     

现行高中英语教材中的文化内容初探

语言作为一种符号系统在其具体应用中,因不同的情景和文化而产生不同的言语行为,具有不同的文化意义。在现行高中英语教材中,“大文化”语篇多于“小文化”语篇,目标语（英语）文化语篇多于中国文化语篇。因此,培养学生在语言学习中的跨文化意识及其对中外文化的学得途径应该是：在教材中增加“小文化”和中国文化的内容;文化内容应纳入考试范围;补充有关文化内容的阅读材料,观看影片,听专题讲座。     

“用”还是“不用”语料库——语料库在中国特定的ELT环境中的角色(英文)

该文通过简要评论McEnery和Wilson关于"课本上的ELT材料和语料库里呈现的现实生活英语有很大差别"开篇,进而分析英语语言教学(ELT)中"教学材料真实性"和"英语为母语教学者"这两个方面及其对"使用"语料库的肯定。但"学生使用语料库的各种障碍"和"语料库资源与教学材料的区别"又支持"不用"语料库进行教学的观点。作者继续分析语料库和实际教学的关联,引入"教学用语料库"和"学习者语料库",最终以分析如何在中国特定的ELT环境中使用语料库作结。     

Upper Secondary Students’ Understanding of the Use of Multiple Models in Biology Textbooks—The Importance of Conceptual Variation and Incommensurability

In this study we investigate students’ ability to discern conceptual variation and the use of multiple models in genetics when reading content-specific excerpts from biology textbooks. Using the history and philosophy of science as our reference, we were able to develop a research instrument allowing students themselves to investigate the occurrence of multiple models and conceptual variation in Swedish upper secondary textbooks. Two excerpts using different models of gene function were selected from authentic textbooks. Students were given the same questionnaire-instrument after reading the two texts, and the results were compared. In this way the students themselves made a classification of the texts which could then be compared with the researchers’ classification of the texts. Forty-one upper secondary students aged 18–19 participated in the study. Nine of the students also participated in semi-structured interviews. Students recognized the existence of multiple models in a general way, but had difficulty discerning the different models and the conceptual variation that occurs between them in the texts. Further they did not recognize the occurrence of incommensurability between multiple models. Students had difficulty in transforming their general knowledge of multiple models into an understanding of content specific models of gene function in the textbooks. These findings may have implications for students’ understanding of conceptual knowledge because research has established textbooks as one of the most influential aspects in the planning and execution of biology lessons, and teachers commonly assign reading passages to their students without further explanation.     

对外汉语中级阅读教材的语体分布

中级对外汉语阅读教材的语体具有多样性特点,科学、艺术、报道、事务、广告、法律、政论等主要领域语体都有分布,但各体分布很不均衡,数量上存在3个梯级;阅读材料的主题、题材、内容与语体典型性有着密切的关联。     

Understanding children's reading activities: Reading motivation,skill and child characteristics as predictors

This study examined the extent to which a range of child characteristics (sex, age, socioeconomic status, reading skill and intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation) predicted engagement (i.e., time spent) in different reading activities (fiction books, factual books, school textbooks, comics, magazines and digital texts). In total, 791 children (aged 8–11 years) participated. There was considerable variation in the factors predicting engagement in different reading activities. Although intrinsic reading motivation was a good predictor of recreational book reading, age was a stronger predictor of engagement with digital texts. Furthermore, specific dimensions of motivation predicted engagement in different reading activities; being motivated to read challenging texts predicted recreational book reading, whereas being motivated to achieve good grades predicted schoolbook reading. On the other hand, social reasons predicted engagement with magazines and comics. Implications for education and the relationship between child characteristics and choice of reading activities are discussed.     

Investigating effects of reading medium and reading purpose on behavioral engagement and textual integration in a multiple text context

The study addressed to what extent behavioral engagement and textual integration may differ when undergraduate readers work with identical printed versus digital texts in preparation for an exam versus for pleasure. We expected that working with printed texts would lead to greater engagement and better integration than working with digital texts, but that reading purpose would moderate this effect of reading medium because those reading in preparation for an exam would display greater engagement and better integration regardless of reading medium. Results showed interaction effects of reading medium with reading purpose on the behavioral engagement indicators of reading time and the length of the post-reading written products. For reading time, the interaction involved that students used longer time when reading digital and mixed texts for an exam, compared to reading for pleasure, whereas there were no difference between exam and pleasure oriented reading when reading printed texts. For the length of the written responses, students produced more text when reading printed texts for an exam than when reading printed texts for pleasure, whereas there were no differences in text production between reading for an exam and reading for pleasure when reading digital or mixed texts. Finally, there was an indirect effect of reading purpose on textual integration via text production when students read printed texts: students who read printed texts in preparation for an exam produced longer written responses compared to those who read for pleasure and, in turn, gained a more integrated understanding of the issue in question. These results are discussed in terms of the implications they offer and the avenues they suggest for future research.     

初中语文教科书的形象助读系统——关于插图功能及其利用探讨

作为初中语文教科书中的一个重要组成部分 ,插图在激发学生阅读兴趣、帮助学生加深对课文的理解与记忆、培养审美情趣、影响情感态度等方面发挥着重要的作用。本文回顾了初中语文教科书插图编绘的概况 ,同时对插图教学的现状进行了调查 ,发现目前初中语文教科书中的插图仍存在一些问题。由此 ,笔者提出如下建议 :在编绘方面 ,应立足学生 ,结合教学 ,重在引导 ;在教学中 ,应指导学生读图 ,组织教学用图 ,根据需要配图     

大学英语精读课中的主体间性和教学模式探讨

主体间性(Intersubjectivity)有其在哲学发展上的合理性和必然性。从主体间性视角看课堂中的主体关系有一定的实践意义。文章描述课堂中的各种主体间性,并受到文学中的主体间性启发,提出在大学英语精读课中课文与课文作者应被视为主体,阐述教师在各主体中应充当的角色。     

小学英语教科书中阅读语篇的多维对比与分析——以人教版、外研社、科普版小学英语教材为例

小学英语教科书中的阅读语篇在总体上呈现出题材的多样性、体裁的多样性和教育功能的多样性。从教育学视角对各套教材中的阅读语篇进行多维分析可知,阅读语篇的编写和设计质量还有提升的空间。需要进一步增强阅读材料的多学科联系,进一步丰富阅读材料的体裁,对阅读语篇进行总体设计,重视阅读策略的引导。     

让语文教学插上想象的翅膀

想象力的培养是语文教学的灵魂。选编语文教材除增大文学作品的分量之外，最好配备相应的辅助读物，从而扩大视野，刺激想象；教师对课文的讲解要注重启发以激活想象；作文教学要能响起学生的动情点、兴奋点，鼓励学生张扬个性，精心制造想象环境；语文考试要多层次、多方位地给学生以运用想象的空间。     

The effects of formative reading assessments closely linked to classroom texts on high school reading comprehension

Older student reading of informational texts like those found in most high school classrooms continue to be a concern. College entrance exams scores attest to the fact that this age group of readers remain largely unprepared for the rigorous, discipline area reading and comprehension demands of higher education. In response to this issue content area teachers have been encouraged to teach reading skills for their subject matter. Standard reading instruction tools have included reading guides and summative reading assessments. This study sought to compare the effects of standard reading pedagogy with computerized, formative reading assessments given to students as they read. The largest publisher of high school textbooks, Pearson Prentice-Hall, and the publisher of the high school government text used in this study currently does not have in place digital, formative reading assessments tracking section by chapter section. High school seniors in nine sections of American Government under two different instructors participated in this mixed method, quasiexperimental study. Results indicate a significant difference in content comprehension with the formative assessment pedagogy. Survey and questionnaire responses suggest students thought they read better and were more motivated to read responding to computerized formative assessments (CBA’s) that closely tracked their subject matter textbooks.     

平等对话和教师心理图式的深化

我们理解的阅读理论,具有以读者主体离开文本主体的倾向。阅读的过程,是阅读主体和文本主体同化和调节的过程,其间充斥着相互排斥,相互搏斗,相互交流,相互征服。教学水平的提高,关键不在于课堂热闹的对话。有效的深邃的对话的条件是,其中一方超越另一方的理解的水准。中学语文课文大都是经典,经过一代又一代的解读,积累了历史的智慧,同时又留下历史的局限。教师要借助历史的积累、批判和深化,丰富自己的认知图式,才能有足够对话的本钱。     

Learning for Life or Learning from Books: Reading Practices in Mexican Rural Schools (1900 to 1935)

This article furthers our understanding of the uses of textbooks within the complex social history of school cultures. It focuses on rural schools in an indigenous region of central Mexico, before and after the Mexican revolution (1910‐1921). Two contextual factors are highlighted. First, the gradual displacement of the native language by the dominant Spanish used in schools. Secondly, the pedagogical discourses that discouraged the use of textbooks in teaching and stressed ‘learning for life’. These circumstances shed light on the fragmentary evidence of available textbooks and actual classroom practice. I suggest that the period witnessed a shift in classroom cultures, from the intensive reading of religious and moral texts that were possibly familiar to the children, towards the extensive, silent reading of textbooks on a variety of subjects. However, native children had still to bridge a considerable gap between their own life and language and the printed Spanish they encountered in schools.