Revisiting the Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Writing Instruction in a Multicultural Context

Given the multimodal and multicultural character of modern English, English Language Teaching should meaningfully reflect this. Although some attempts have been made, adequate attention has not been paid to reforming writing pedagogy. This paper presents the findings of a two-year research project on writing instruction in the Singapore English Language classroom, which caters for a mixture of EFL (English as a foreign language), L2 (second language) and L1 (first language) learners. Data were gathered from six secondary school teachers via observations and interviews through which their common practices and beliefs were established. Our findings revealed an extensive use of examination-centred practices based on functional literacy, routine procedures and standardisation, rather than a pedagogy that promotes social equity and cultural and linguistic diversity as advocated by the New London Group. Following their work, we argue that student agency, critical literacy, and socially and culturally situated learning should be integrated into all writing classrooms for effective learning to take place.     

高校体育教育与学生体育意识的培养

培养大学生的体育意识是奠定其终身体育的基础,只有使学生真正具有了体育意识,才能实现大学体育与社会体育接轨和<全民健身计划>提出的奋斗目标.本文论述了体育意识的函义和培养学生体育意识的途径与方法等.希望能为高校体育教学改革的深入发展提供一些有价值的参考.     

Archaeology Reports: When Context Becomes an Active Agent in the Rhetorical Process

This article explores the writing of archaeologists to argue that the metaphor of context-as-rhetorical-situation may understate the power that context has to shape scientific discourse. The author offers instead the metaphor of context-as-active-agent in the rhetorical situation—one that sometimes reifies values that are dangerous to the archaeologists' belief systems. As scholars of technical writing, we must develop a greater understanding of the subtle but powerful influences that context wields on the writing we read and help to produce.     

The Development of the Ecosystemic Approach as a Humanistic Educational Psychology

This article is a response to the call for further discussion which was recently made in an important paper on the ecosystemic approach to emotional and behavioural difficulties in school (Cooper and Upton, 1990a). It is of a primarily theoretical nature and presents some further perspectives on the development of the ecosystemic approach. Specifically, it shows that ecosystemics has arisen from the need to develop a systems theory which does not contradict the tradition of a humanistic educational psychology.     

Economic Demand for Higher Education—A Sound Foundation for Further Expansion?

Submissions by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and others to the government's review of higher education suggest yet further expansion of undergraduate provision. This article examines the economic rationale for an additional increase in graduate output, and suggests that the economic case may be poor. Data on the employment of the current graduate labour force indicates some under-utilisation, and there is reason to expect that simply boosting the supply of graduates will not, of itself, transform employers'competitive strategies. It is therefore possible that the social, as opposed to private, rate of return on investment in such expansion could well prove disappointing. The use of graduates to fill the'technician gap'is also reviewed. The authors suggest alternative areas of educational provision, such as basic literacy and numeracy support, which might show a more positive cost/benefit than further publicly-funded expansion of undergraduate education.