“It Was Because I Could Speak English That I Got the Job”: Neoliberal Discourse in a Chinese English Textbook Series

The issue of neoliberalism has aroused sustained interest among English language teaching (ELT) and applied linguistic researchers who are politically minded. Neoliberalism is a dominant rationality with immense economic, political and ideological consequences in all aspects of social and institutional life in globalization, including foreign language education. This article presents a critical analysis of the neoliberal discourse on English language learning in the Chinese context with a special focus on teaching materials. Informed by a political economy perspective on English language education, the study employs critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a methodological principle. Specifically, it examines the way (a) competence in English is commodified as a desirable linguistic cultural capital, (b) English learning is portrayed as an individualized and asocial undertaking, and (c) a monolingual and monocultural dream is built to include learners in an imagined homogeneous discourse community. Implications for ELT pedagogy and curriculum are discussed.     

英语国际语的教学框架

从教师视角研究英语国际语的教学框架,以应对当前全世界非英语国家英语教学所面临的挑战,对我国基础教育英语教学具有重要意义。该框架包括英语国际语体系、教学内容与预期教学结果。笔者全面阐述了在全球化背景下如何界定与区分教学内容与教学预期结果,为大纲的设计者与教材编写者提供了一个尝试性方案及其理据。     

作为应用语言学分支的对外汉语教学

对外汉语教学作为语言应用学科之一 ,是应用语言学的一个分支。因为都是新兴学科 ,二者关系过去在概念上不甚密切。学科成熟 ,是对外汉语教学并入应用语言学的基础。改革开放以来 ,汉语作为第二语言教学的理论研究促进了这一学科理论的建设 ,形成若干研究领域。可归纳为八个方面 :汉语本体研究、汉字教学研究、第二语言学习与习得研究、汉外语言与文化对比、汉语教学法研究、教学大纲与课程设计及教材编写、语言水平与能力测试、多媒体网络汉语教学     

1998-2008十年对外汉语教材述评

1998-2008这十年出版的教材在总体框架、内容设计和形式设计等方面都有了较大的变化:关注交际技能教学的系列教材正在成为教材的主流;在内容方面,教材的话题广泛,涉及社会生活的各个方面,语料在取舍时考虑到了语言表达的系统性与交际能力培养结合,练习题型出现了"要素型"与"技能型"数量相当的趋势,文化呈现方式也多样化了;在形式方面,其版面和装帧设计都开始向关注学习者、为内容服务发展。这些变化表现出对外汉语教学近十年在教学理念上的转变:关注学习者,关注交际能力的培养。不过,如果进一步深入分析,也不难发现,对外汉语教材在课文的话题排序、语言结构与语言表达功能之间的关系等方面还有继续努力的空间。     

Perceptions About the Dominance of English as a Global Language: Impact on Foreign-Language Teachers’ Professional Identity

Using a novel theoretical framework that incorporates teacher identity, a school as community of practice, and English as a global language from a linguistic-imperialism perspective, this qualitative interview study with foreign-language teachers in Scotland, France, and Germany (N = 13) explores connections between foreign-language-learning decline and the impact of this decline on teachers’ identity across the three countries. Findings indicate similar trends across contexts in the dominance of English over other languages (and the identities of those who teach them) and support previous research on the importance of considering subject area, and its valuing by a range of stakeholders, as fundamental to teacher identity. Directions are proposed for future research and practice that emphasise taking an interdisciplinary approach to the notion of a subject area’s decline.     

English as an additional language (EAL) viva voce: the EAL doctoral oral examination experience

Is the doctoral viva voce a reasonable method of examination? This exploratory paper proposes that the doctoral viva voce (oral examination) is a slightly different hurdle for doctoral candidates for whom English is an additional language (EAL, also termed ESL) than for those whose first language is English. It investigates the experience of 11 EAL candidates at a New Zealand university to provide phenomenographical insight to the viva voce as an assessment process. Their additional anxiety about language highlights the problematic side of internationalisation: the need to maintain fairness, equity and impartiality in the face of diversity. What is somewhat glibly called ‘best practice’ must accommodate the tension between institutional practice, desirably consistent and fair, and individual experience of that practice, experience that is unavoidably diverse. Unexpectedly, however, the EAL candidates critiqued the viva voce evaluation practice itself, endorsing it as a final confirmation of doctoral success in the English language.     

Towards a More Appropriate University English Curriculum in China in the Context of English as an International Language

The rapid and wide spread of English has given rise to its lingua franca status, which in turn, changes the nature of English and English teaching at the tertiary level. This paper, based on a survey, discusses some of the problems with the current English curriculum used in Chinese universities and proceeds to offer some suggestions for a more appropriate university English curriculum in China in the context of English as an international language.     

Metaphors used by pre-service teachers of Chinese as an international language

This inquiry explored 68 pre-service perceptions and aspirations of Teaching Chinese as an International Language (TCIL) teachers by analysing the metaphors they used to describe themselves as teachers. The inquiry revealed that the participants used a variety of metaphors to project the images of themselves as pre-service TCIL teachers. The results also confirm that the participants’ use of metaphors, as powerful tools to understand the complexity of teaching, reflects the mediation of cultural, historical and sociopolitical conditions. These findings help teacher educators to support TCIL teachers’ professional development by engaging them in critical dialogues about the metaphors they use to perceive themselves as TCIL teachers. They also help teacher educators to adopt tailor-made pedagogical content to address their development needs.     

环境即课程——以英语教学为例

在英语教学中,环境是一种不可或缺的发展性资源。课程从本质上说也是一种发展性资源,所以环境也就成为一种课程。我们应该通过充分发挥环境的作用来设计和实施课程从而实现课程的育人价值。本文以外语教学为例,对环境进行了分类和意义总结,从新的视角阐述了环境作为课程,并在教学实践环节中印证了这一观点。     

反思本族语言范式与英语教学

随着全球一体化和英语成为世界语（EIL）或通用语（ELF）新形势的到来,学界认为对英语的态度、实证研究的重心、以及英语教学实践都应有新的变革。针对这些新主张,中国英语教育应从教师聘任制度、教师培训制度以及英语教学大纲等三方面进行改革;力求打破非本族英语教师面临的聘任歧视,提升教师对自己角色变化的认知,培养教师对多种文化的敏感度,增强教师对亚种类英语的了解,并从教学目标、教学内容、教学方法、考核制度等方面对教学大纲进行完善。     

Collaboration to teach English language learners: opportunities for shared teacher learning

This study examines collaboration between English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teachers and content-area elementary school teachers, and makes the case for conceptualising teacher collaboration as an opportunity for shared teacher learning. Using a sociocultural theoretical lens, this study examines how three pairs of elementary teachers and ESOL specialists used and constructed tools for collaboration, which mediated and made visible teachers’ learning processes. Employing interpretive enquiry and cross-case analysis, we examined data from classroom observations, teacher co-planning sessions and interviews with teachers. Findings demonstrated that collaborating teachers used tools to articulate and reconceptualise teaching goals, co-construct knowledge and ultimately transform teaching practices to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students. This study has implications for teacher education and ongoing professional development, by shedding light on the potential affordances of collaborative tools for teacher learning. Findings suggest that teacher education could harness these opportunities for learning by incorporating collaboration between ESOL specialists and content-area teachers as an integral part of preparing more qualified teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse students.     

以学生为主体进行大学英语自主学习资源开发的可行性研究

学习者是语言自主学习资源开发的重要力量。文章分析、论述了以学生为主体进行大学英语自主学习资源开发的必要性、可行性和效益性,并提出了相关的原则和注意事项。     

基于素质教育视角的对外汉语教学改革探索

素质教育的核心是解决培养什么人,怎样培养人的重大问题。根据对外汉语专业的特殊性,结合素质教育关注的核心问题,对外汉语教学需要构建的是一个重在累积汉语文化知识、有积极的传播意识和能力、有现代的教育理念、掌握现代教育技术的多元教育体系,从而能够德行言语、敦睦天下。     

Cultural dimensions of feedback at an Australian university: a study of international students with English as an additional language

International students with English as an additional language face transitional challenges when entering a new academic culture. One such challenge involves optimising feedback to help foster their academic development, bearing in mind that feedback is not a culturally neutral entity (Nazif, A., Biswas, D., &; Hilbig, R. (2004–2005). Towards an understanding of student perceptions of feedback. Carleton Papers in Applied Language Studies, 21/22, 166–192). The current study of 134 postgraduate international students examines pre-course and in-course perceptions, experiences and expectations of feedback at university in Australia. Responses to questionnaires and in focus groups revealed that students’ previous feedback experiences had largely been summative, with an emphasis on error correction, but they expected to receive more feedback, particularly formative, throughout their courses. They also had concerns about understanding feedback, and about potentially negative remarks. These concerns were partially borne out by a follow-up survey (n?=?43) in which only 29% said they understood everything their lecturers said. Teachers giving feedback to international students may, therefore, need to consider the nature of their comments, their method of delivery and how their feedback affects student development.     

African international doctoral students in New Zealand: Englishes,doctoral writing and intercultural supervision

While the experiences of international doctoral students, especially those from Asian countries, have been well researched, fewer studies have explored the experiences of African students in Southern countries like Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. This article reports on doctoral writing and student and supervisor perspectives on English languages in a small study of supervisors and African students in New Zealand. It challenges deficit constructions of African students and illustrates how the growing internationalisation of higher education is adding to the complexities of doctoral writing, raising questions as to how students and supervisors recognise and navigate differences in Englishes and doctoral writing. It makes a number of recommendations about how supervisors might work effectively with African and other doctoral students.     

Narrative inquiry for teacher education and development: Focus on English as a foreign language in China

Teacher education and development takes place within an encompassing local system of education and ongoing forms of school improvement. Critical to successful teacher development when Western ideas are being adopted in other cultures is narratively linking development programmes to this local education system, such as in China, and to its culturally established ways of knowing and being. This paper presents a narrative inquiry approach to teacher development that builds on the existing educational system, ongoing school reforms, and culturally established ways of knowing and being. The paper concludes with the potential of teacher development to shape global values that may be shared among cultures.     

English language teaching in public primary schools in Mexico: the practices and challenges of implementing a national language education program

Over the past 15?years, many state governments in Mexico have initiated local programs to introduce English at the primary school level. In 2009, the Mexican Ministry of Education formalized the Programa Nacional de Inglés en Educación Básica (PNIEB) as part of the national curriculum, based on the argument that increasing the number of English speakers in Mexico is necessary for the country to be globally competitive and to follow the trend in other developing economies of augmenting English instruction in public education. This paper focuses on the implementation of PNIEB and the state programs that preceded it. The authors document the practices and challenges associated with the program based on data collected from interviews with the main stakeholders involved (students and parents, teachers, school principals, and program coordinators) and from classroom observations. The total data-set consisted of over 200 interviews and classroom observations spread over several years from 2008 to 2012. Several challenges are described, including the development of materials, the role of English in relation to other subject areas, and the training of teachers who often speak English but have uneven formal preparation. The status of the teachers, both as second-class citizens within the schools and the instability and irregularities with their contracts, was identified as the most significant challenge to the successful implementation of the programs.     

English as a Site of Evangelical Contact: A Critical Ethnography of Missionary English Teaching between South and North Koreans

ABSTRACT

Drawing from a larger ethnography of North Korean young adults learning English in Christian educational programs in South Korea, this article explores the power relations between evangelicals and minority people and the political economy of missionary English teaching. This article follows Christian educational programs that provided various forms of resources—including English teaching—to North Korean young adults to examine how access to resources was regulated in relation to learner identity. Building on the sociolinguistic framework of political economy of language and emerging research on religion and second language learning, this study illustrates the integration of Christianity and English, and the intersection of religion, nationalism, and neoliberalism. The findings elucidate how English works as a secular resource in religious spaces, thus serving as a site of religious contact between people of divergent goals. Issues of professional ethics are also discussed.     

现代教学论学科发展:研究规范与生长点

现代教学论研究规范包括五个基本构件,它们分别是教学论的学科定义和研究对象、教学论学科的理论基础和结构框架,教学论学科的概念范畴和理论体系、现代教学论的学科创始人、代表作、基本研究方向和基本问题以及教学论的科学研究方法。在教学研究的过程中,其研究规范的功能主要表现为倡导、限制和排斥三者的辩证统一。现代教学论学科发展的生长点包括元教学论研究、教学研究方法论的变革和教学实验三个方面。     

TRIZ理论视域下新教师专业成长——基于地方教学型本科院校

TRIZ理论主要应用于理工类的应用与创新,同时,TRIZ理论具有普遍的创新方法和规律。新教师专业成长是地方教学型本科院校的突出特点之一。影响新教师专业成长的因素很多,高校文化、网络资源、实习基地这三个“场”对新教师的专业成长影响最大,主要表现在它们对新教师研究方向思考及确立、专业理论体系确立及发展、实践技能形成及提高三个方面起重要作用。