Using the known to chart the unknown: A review of first-language influence on the development of English-as-a-second-language spelling skill

Currently, there is a practical demand and necessity for research on how English-as-a-second language (ESL) learners acquire literacy skills, such as spelling. One important issue of this research agenda is how ESL learners apply first-language knowledge to learning to spell in English. Twenty-seven studies were reviewed that investigated the influence of the first language on ESL learners’ development of English spelling skill. Evidence was found for both positive and negative transfer of first-language knowledge and processes to ESL learners’ English spelling. These results are in agreement with theoretical propositions about the interdependence between first- and second-language academic skills [e.g., Cummins, J. (1981). In California State Department of Education (Ed.), Schooling and language minority students: A theoretical framework (pp. 3–49). Los Angeles: Evaluation, Dissemination, and Assessment Center, California State University, Los Angeles]. The findings are discussed in relation to the ESL learner’s first-language proficiency level and distance between first language and English. Comparisons are drawn between ESL learners’ and English monolinguals’ spelling development and suggestions for future research are provided.     

从顺应论视角看外交语言中的语用含糊

在外交活动中人们经常会使用语用含糊这一语言策略,通过含糊的语言形式传达某种言外之力。顺应论指出语言使用者应当顺应语境做出恰当的语言选择,这为理解语用含糊提供了新的理论视角。外交活动中的各种语用含糊策略顺应了交际语境,体现了使用者高度的政治智慧和语言技巧。     

解读低幼绘本读物

绘本读物是低幼儿童阅读学习的主要对象，它所表现出来的内容需要同低幼儿童的接受视野相融合，它所呈现的形式是语码和图码的有机结合，它所具有的价值是在接受主体阅读过程中生成的意义显现。深入解读低幼绘本读物的内容、形式及其价值，有利于绘本读物更好地发挥其促进低幼儿童发展的作用。     

论直觉思维与语感教学

直觉思维就是在早已获得的经验、知识的基础上，凭借思维的“感觉”直觉地把握事物的本质及其规律的心理过程。其特点表现为：依附性；非逻辑性；潜意识性；创造性。语感教学的功能既体现了语文教学改革的方向，又是语文能力的核心，语文教学必须重视对学生语感的培养，其途径与方法多种多样，而通过直觉思维训练来培养语感则是一个行之有效不可忽视的重要环节。     

跨文化交际中的语言因素研究——词汇、语义对跨文化交际的影响

语言与跨文化交流的关系成为跨文化交际学重要的研究对象。语言作为一个整体与文化发生关系,无论是文化对语言的影响,还是语言对文化的承载,两者之间的相互作用都是发生在语音、词汇及语义、语法、语用、文字等几个方面,而其中与文化关系最为密切、反映最直接的是词汇及语义。     

语言接触下的“广式普通话”分析

改革开放以来,广州话和普通话的接触日益加强,产生了一种由广州话向普通话过渡的过渡语——“广式普通话”,即带有广州话特点的普通话。语言接触对语言的语音、词汇和语法的演变有一定的影响,“广式普通话”在词汇语法方面受到的影响尤为明显,而对受到广州话干扰而产生的“广式普通话”的分析,对语言规范工作意义重大。     

汉语教学中汉语语感的培养

语言教学的目的是培养学生的语言能力,尤其是语言交际能力,而对于汉语教学来说,语感教学和语感的培养是非常重要的内容,因为学生只有有了较强的语感才能对语言的输入有准确、敏锐的理解能力,才能使汉语学习者有正确、熟练的言语输出能力,因此说语言能力的核心是语感能力,语言教学的根本任务是语感教学．笔者试图从语音、语调等方面谈谈在实际教学中学生汉语语感的培养。     

《庄子》外篇疏解

《庄子》33篇,一般都认为内7篇为庄子所作,外15篇、杂11篇则观点不一。古代注家曾指出其中有些作品并非庄子所作。近些年有不少论述庄子或涉及庄子的著作,不分真伪,将外、杂中部分词句当作庄子之文加以引用并大肆发挥,这种作法很不妥当。本文根据思想内容、语言风格对《庄子》外篇进行了全面的疏理。     

Oral reading fluency as a screening tool with English learners: A systematic review

Students learning to read in more than one language are a growing population in schools. Early screening and identification of reading difficulties may lead to better outcomes for all students. Oral reading fluency (ORF) is one tool shown to be both a reliable measure of reading and an accurate method to identify students at risk for poor reading outcomes. This study synthesized available validity evidence for ORF with biliterates. All included studies (n = 31) were conducted with English language learners in grades K–8. Results suggested that although ORF is correlated with reading outcomes, the accuracy of ORF to identify English learners at risk of poor reading outcomes does not meet criteria. The strength of validity evidence differed by language proficiency of participants. Finally, the quality of the reviewed studies was low in critical areas.     

Testing and ideology: policy debates about literacy assessments for Colorado’s bilingual students

ABSTRACT

The Colorado Reading to Ensure Academic Development Act requires grade-level attainment in literacy in English for students in grades K-3. Its practical outcome, however, has been to pressure schools with bilingual programs to shift their instructional language allocations towards more English in the early grades. Proposed rule revisions debated by the state Board of Education sought to facilitate testing in students’ language of instruction for those in bilingual programs. Analysis of written and verbal opposition to the proposed rule revisions demonstrates the persistence of insidious ethnoculturalist discourses opposing bilingual education as well as the cooptation of liberal multiculturalist discourses that, while framing bilingualism as an asset, argue that it is underdeveloped in bilingual programs that do not include English instruction from the outset. Given that bilingual instruction has demonstrated time and again that it benefits students acquiring English in schools, such new discursive turns pose a threat that must be recognized to fend off further legislative and regulatory attempts against bilingual education.