建构主义理论指导下独立学院非英语专业学生阅读策略的培养

培养和加强学生的阅读能力是大学英语教学改革的重心之一,在新的教学目标指导下,大学英语阅读教学也面临着新的挑战。新的教学目标要求大学英语教学要培养学生的学习策略,而学习策略的培养必须以学生为中心,这就是建构主义所强调的。本文以构建主义理论为指导,对独立学院非英语专业学生阅读策略的培养进行了阐述。     

档案袋评价与英语专业阅读教学

档案袋是西方评价改革运动中形成和发展起来的一种新的评价方式。把档案袋评价应用于英语专业阅读教学,可以摆脱以往的传统的评价方式,提高学生进行英语阅读的兴趣,加强师生之间的交流。本文结合英语专业阅读教学实践,探讨了档案袋评价的定义、特点、作用以及在英语专业阅读教学中的应用。     

高校英语专业阅读教学的现状及改进

对于英语专业的学生来说,阅读一直是教学中的重要部分,无论是精读还是泛读,都是提高学生语言综合运用能力的重要途径。然而,现今的阅读教学现状并不令人满意。本文分析了高校英语专业阅读教学现状,并有针对性地提出了一些对策,以期对阅读教学的不足之处有所改进。     

独立学院英语专业四级考试对教学的反拨作用

独立学院是中国教育发展的重要组成部分,对缓解我国高等教育发展所面临的巨大压力具有深远意义。独立学院的教育最终目标是培养应用型人才,而独立学院的学生相对具有基础知识不扎实、缺乏良好的学习习惯、目标不明确等特点。考试是教育的一个重要环节,对教学有一定的反拨作用。本文探析英语专业四级考试对独立学院英语专业教与学的反拨作用,目的是提高测试质量,促进教学。     

对非英语专业大学英语阅读教学的思考

阅读是语言输入和积累的主要来源,是语言学习最根本有效的方式,阅读一直受教师学生的广泛重视,是大学英语教学的重要内容。作为一线教师,在观察以及亲身体会阅读教学的过程中,笔者发现,很多非英语专业的学生尤其是一年级新生表露出对大学英语教学的不适应。如何衔接高中英语阅读教学和大学英语阅读教学?如何教会学生阅读,提高学生的阅读兴趣和综合语言运用能力?笔者认为,教师可在有限的阅读教学课堂上注重教学设计,最根本的方法是回归到教材文本本身进行多方面的挖掘解读,充分发挥阅读文本的内涵和魅力,赋予教材以全新的生命,使阅读教学更加立体、更加多元、更加综合,从而提高学生英语学习的兴趣和综合语言运用的能力。     

高校英语专业泛读课程教学的问题与对策

英语专业泛读课程在提高学生阅读能力、语言能力、独立思考能力等方面起着重要作用,但泛读教学却存在诸多问题。本文分析了目前高校英语专业泛读教学中存在的障碍,并探讨了促进泛读教学改革、提高阅读教学效果的几点建议。     

档案袋在英语专业阅读教学中的应用研究

档案袋是西方评价改革运动中形成和发展起来的一种新的评价方式．本研究将学习档案袋应用于英语专业学生的评价体系．探求档案袋评价在英语阅读中起到的作用以及该评价能否提高英语专业学生阅读能力．以便于教师调整英语专业阅读课教学方法．达到提高学生阅读能力 的目的。通过研究发现．把档案袋评价应用于英语专业阅读教学．可以摆脱以往单一的传统的终结性评价方式．加强自评、互评：同时能够激发学生的阅读兴趣,提高阅读能力,扩大词汇量．而且有益于师生、生生之间的交流。‘     

大学生英语阅读理解监控能力的现状与培养对策

本文采用问卷调查的形式抽样调查了大学英语专业和非英语专业学生在阅读理解中使用元认知策略的情况,调查结果显示多数大学生在英语阅读理解过程中仍不具备自主运用元认知的能力。本文在实证研究的基础上提出一些在元认知策略方面培养大学生英语阅读监控能力的对策,以期提高大学英语阅读教学效果和学生的自主学习能力。     

对商务英语阅读教学的几点思考

商务英语阅读课程的实用性特点,使得它成为一门颇受高校英语专业学生欢迎的课程.但在实际教学中,商务英语阅读课基本沿用的还是基础阶段英语精读或泛读的教学思路--即以积累语言知识、提高阅读技能为主,没有兼顾其作为专门用途英语(ESP)所具有的特殊性和学生对通过语言掌握商务知识的欲求.本文从对商务英语阅读教学的特点、学生的需求和阅读障碍的分析入手,论述商务英语阅读教学如何取得专业知识和语言知识教学的相互融通.     

针对大学英语阅读策略使用的调查研究

采用定量研究方法,调查了南京工业大学112名非英语专业学生英语阅读策略使用情况。结果显示:元认知,认知策略均与英语阅读成绩呈正相关。研究结果对于大学英语阅读教学具有一定指导意义。     

Students' Reactions to the Introduction of Videoconferencing for Classroom Instruction

This study examined how students who had no prior experience with videoconferencing would react to the use of videoconferencing as an instructional medium. Students enrolled in seven different courses completed a questionnaire at the beginning of the semester and again at the end of the semester. Students at the origination and remote sites did not differ in their reactions toward videoconferencing but there was a significant difference for gender. Women reacted less favorably to videoconferencing. Compared to the beginning of the semester, students reported significantly less positive attitudes toward taking a course through videoconferencing at the end of the semester. There were no significant differences in students' attitudes toward videoconferencing across courses at the beginning of the semester but there were significant differences across the courses at the end of the semester. The results suggest the need for better preparation for both students and instructors.     

Cooler temperatures inductive to locust outbreaks

Ajoint study by Prof. ZHANG Zhibin from the CAS Institute of Zoology and his co-workers from Norway, US and Swiss have indicated that historical outbreaks of migratory locusts in China were associated with cold spells, suggesting that China＇s projected climate warming could decrease the pest＇s numbers. The study was published in Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences on 17 September, 2007.     

Exploring Multiplexity: Social Network Structures in a Computer-Supported Distance Learning Class

A computer-mediated group is a complex entity whose members exchange many types of information via multiple means of communication in pursuit of goals specific to their environment. Over time, they coordinate technical features of media with locally enacted use to achieve a viable working arrangement. To explore this complex interaction, a case study is presented of the social networks of interactions and media use among members of a class of computer-supported distance learners. Results show how group structures associated with project teams dominated who communicated with whom, about what, and via which media over the term, and how media came to occupy their own communication niches: Webboard for diffuse class-wide communication; Internet Relay Chat more to named others but still for general communication across the class; and e-mail primarily for intrateam communication. Face-to-face interaction, occurring only during a short on-campus session, appears to have had a catalytic effect on social and emotional exchanges. Results suggest the need to structure exchanges to balance class-wide sharing of ideas with subgroup interactions that facilitate project completion, and to provide media that support these two modes of interaction.     

Low doses of a red wine ingredient figh diabetes in mice

Aresearch group led by Prof. ZHAI Qiwei from the Institute for Nutritional Sciences under the CAS Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences has discovered that even relatively low doses of resveratrol--a chemical found in the skins of red grapes and in red wine--can improve the sensitivity of mice to the hormone insulin, according to a report in the October,2007 issue of Cell Metabolism. As insulin resistance is often characterized as the most critical factor contributing to the development of Type 2 diabetes, the findings“provide a potential new therapeutic approach for preventing or treating” both conditions, the researchers said.     

The Role of Intermediating Institutions in the Diffusion of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI): How Industry Associations Intervened in Denmark, Finland, and Hong Kong

Electronic data interchange (EDI) provides means for interorganizational communication, creates network externalities, requires an advanced information technology (IT) infrastructure, and relies on standards. In the diffusion of such innovations, institutional involvement is imperative. Such institutions contain governmental agencies, national and global standardization organizations, local government, and nonprofit private organizations like industry associations. The last type of organizations we call intermediating institutions. They intermediate or coordinate ("inscribe") the activities of a group of would-be adopters. Unfortunately, little is known of how these organizations shape the EDI diffusion trajectory. In this article we examine one specific type of intermediating organizations?industry associations?and how they advanced the EDI diffusion process in the grocery sectors of Hong Kong, Denmark and Finland. We identify six institutional measures, placed into a matrix formed by the mode of involvement (influence vs. regulation) and the type of diffusion force (supply push vs. demand pull), that can be mobilized to further the EDI diffusion. Industry associations were found to be active users of all these measures to varying degrees. Their role was critical especially in knowledge building, knowledge deployment, and standard setting. Furthermore, institutional involvement varied due to policy and cultural contingencies and power dependencies.     

How Electronic Publishers are Protecting Against Piracy: Doubts About Technical Systems of Protection

The increasing prospects of digital piracy has prompted the perceived need by electronic publishers to adopt technical systems of protection, and governments to reform their copyright laws. This article is a preliminary study of the management of intellectual property by electronic publishers, defined as those involved in the production of online databases, and CD-ROMs. It focuses on three main issues: (1) how electronic publishers view the increasing threat of piracy; (2) the methods of protection employed to protect intellectual property in digital format; and (3) the importance of technological protection of intellectual property in electronic publications. The analysis is based on a sample of 23 UK electronic publishers. The interviews revealed an interesting assortment of protection methods and did not show that technological protection was a preferred way. Instead, the means of protection, in addition to copyright law, comprised niche markets, pricing, trust, bad publicity, and nontechnical and technical means.     

Rough Justice: A Statistical Assessment of ICANN's Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy

Long-standing conflict between domain name registrants and trademark holders prompted the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to create a global, mandatory arbitration procedure known as the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). The UDRP has been used in 2166 cases involving 3938 domain names as of 1 November 2000. The policy gives the initiator of a complaint, generally a trademark holder, the right to choose which ICANN-accredited dispute resolution service provider (RSP) will handle the case. During the preparation of the UDRP,some feared that complainant selection would lead to "forum shopping" that might bias the results. This article performs a statistical assessment of the forum-shopping thesis and finds support for it. There are statistically significant differences in the various RSPs' propensity to take away names from defendants; there are also major differences in the number of cases brought to each RSP. RSPs who take away names have the larger share of cases. The study examines other variables that might explain differences in market share, such as price, the plaintiff's nationality, or the time taken to decide a case. It finds that nationality and time also are correlated with market share. The study concludes that shopping for a favorable outcome is an important factor in the UDRP.     

Prevalence of soft neurological signs in Chinese people

Prof. Raymond C.K. Chen, a neuropsychologist with the CAS Institute of Psychology, has made novel progress in his studies of schizophrenia. His work has been reported by a recent issue of Behavioural Neurology.     

Molecular motor assembly of a biomimetic system

Active biological molecules and functional structures can be fabricated into a bio-mimetic system by using molecular assembly method. Such materials can be used for the drug delivery, disease diagnosis and therapy, and new nanodevice construction.     

Our Own Devices: Heterotopic Communication, Discourse, and Culture in the Information Society 1

The main premise of this article is that in information societies generally, and in virtual social contexts particularly, a distinctive style of interaction to facilitate the communication of difference, heterotopic communication , has emerged. It rests on two cultural foundations: an ideological belief in the positive, socially integrating power of communication, and a prevailing ethic of instrumental rationality, subjective individualism, and strategically practiced self-interest. The former is demonstrated by the use of simulation and spectacle as sources of information; exhibitionism/voyeurism as a communicative style; and the awareness of surveillance. The latter is seen in the competitive use of knowledge as a commodity; a surface globalism masking deep parochialism; lateral as well as vertical information inequity; and the use of public versus private as strategies for engagement rather than as spaces. Those who engage in heterotopic communication resort to their 'own devices' both in the sense of personal agendas, strategies, interests, and interpretations, and in the form of the telecommunication tools that help realize them. These personal and technological devices allow individuals with the right educational and technical resources to avoid exposure to disagreement, difference, or other information that does not serve their direct purposes or reflect their particular views of the world; yet they also help convey the appearance of openness, availability, and cooperation. This style of interaction is used strategically in combination with information and communication technologies to gain social or economic advantages, but it may encourage social separatism and parochialism, inhibit the negotiation of disputes, and emphasize competing interests.