Bilingual education has more than 50-years' history in the world.It has gained the attention from the world since 1960s in some western countries,such as the USA and Canada.With the growth of international busines...Bilingual education has more than 50-years' history in the world.It has gained the attention from the world since 1960s in some western countries,such as the USA and Canada.With the growth of international business and the appearance of the global village,bilingual education has become a hot issue in China.This article generally outlines the picture of bilingual education in the world.Then,it describes the development of bilingualism under Chinese contexts.Above all,the models of the bilingual education have been explicitly introduced to build up the basis for further investigation.Besides,the two main periods of the bilingual education in China have been described based on the empirical literature.In the end,the influential factors of the development of bilingual education have been discussed from five main perspectives:economic,social,educational,cultural and political framework.However,there is a lack of documentary resources and experimental materials for the scaffolding of bilingual education in China,which requires further investigation.展开更多
Negation is a grammatical phenomenon and often explored and explained from the formal perspective. In this thesis,negation itself can constitute sort of force, which is closely linked to politeness in communication. I...Negation is a grammatical phenomenon and often explored and explained from the formal perspective. In this thesis,negation itself can constitute sort of force, which is closely linked to politeness in communication. It is the interaction between negation and politeness that determines the negation structure, that is, the meaning of negation is expressed in other structures such as interrogative sentences than the mere negation structure. Here it is argued that these interrogatives are functionally equivalent to the negation structures, resulting from the interaction between the grammatical force and the pragmatic principles.展开更多
Teaching English to large classes is a common phenomenon in developing countries, and China is no exception. Such an issue has attracted attention of many researchers worldwide over the past two decades. However, such...Teaching English to large classes is a common phenomenon in developing countries, and China is no exception. Such an issue has attracted attention of many researchers worldwide over the past two decades. However, such research in China has been relatively rare. This paper reports an investigation into teachers＇ perceptions and practices of teaching English to large classes in Chinese schools. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore teachers＇ attitude towards their perceived problems regarding teaching English to large classes, and the strategies they used to cope with large classes. Results show that an overwhelming majority of the Chinese English teachers （92.6%） hold a negative attitude towards teaching English in large classes. Pedagogical issues, management-related difficulties and psychological burden emerged as major obstacles. Despite these problems, teachers were seeking strategies to cope with the problems in their daily practices with more or less success.展开更多
Chinese as a second language （CSL） policy makers and scholars began to introduce task-based language teaching （TBLT） to CSL teaching more than a decade ago. However, policy innovations or theoretical precepts are ...Chinese as a second language （CSL） policy makers and scholars began to introduce task-based language teaching （TBLT） to CSL teaching more than a decade ago. However, policy innovations or theoretical precepts are not necessarily the blueprints of teachers＇ classroom practice. It is assumed that teachers are more likely to accept or apply the new approach if the new philosophy is concordant with their existing beliefs. This study attempts to examine the prospect of TBLT application in CSL teaching by exploring the extent to which TBLT philosophy has found its way into CSL teachers＇ beliefs. The research also probes into teachers＇ practices to explore whether their beliefs in TBLT could be actualized. A questionnaire, classroom observations and interviews have been employed. The results indicate that the Chinese teachers have strong faith in the effectiveness of TBLT, but they doubt its feasibility. Their difficulties and confusion in realizing their beliefs in practice, in turn, lead to their faith in TBLT philosophy having a peripheral status in their belief system. This may imply the bi-directional causal relationships between teachers＇ beliefs and practices. The factors revealed make clear the responsibilities or measures to be taken at social-cultural, institutional and internal levels. The findings generate empirical insights into implementations of pedagogical innovations.展开更多
文摘Bilingual education has more than 50-years' history in the world.It has gained the attention from the world since 1960s in some western countries,such as the USA and Canada.With the growth of international business and the appearance of the global village,bilingual education has become a hot issue in China.This article generally outlines the picture of bilingual education in the world.Then,it describes the development of bilingualism under Chinese contexts.Above all,the models of the bilingual education have been explicitly introduced to build up the basis for further investigation.Besides,the two main periods of the bilingual education in China have been described based on the empirical literature.In the end,the influential factors of the development of bilingual education have been discussed from five main perspectives:economic,social,educational,cultural and political framework.However,there is a lack of documentary resources and experimental materials for the scaffolding of bilingual education in China,which requires further investigation.
文摘Negation is a grammatical phenomenon and often explored and explained from the formal perspective. In this thesis,negation itself can constitute sort of force, which is closely linked to politeness in communication. It is the interaction between negation and politeness that determines the negation structure, that is, the meaning of negation is expressed in other structures such as interrogative sentences than the mere negation structure. Here it is argued that these interrogatives are functionally equivalent to the negation structures, resulting from the interaction between the grammatical force and the pragmatic principles.
文摘Teaching English to large classes is a common phenomenon in developing countries, and China is no exception. Such an issue has attracted attention of many researchers worldwide over the past two decades. However, such research in China has been relatively rare. This paper reports an investigation into teachers＇ perceptions and practices of teaching English to large classes in Chinese schools. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore teachers＇ attitude towards their perceived problems regarding teaching English to large classes, and the strategies they used to cope with large classes. Results show that an overwhelming majority of the Chinese English teachers （92.6%） hold a negative attitude towards teaching English in large classes. Pedagogical issues, management-related difficulties and psychological burden emerged as major obstacles. Despite these problems, teachers were seeking strategies to cope with the problems in their daily practices with more or less success.
文摘Chinese as a second language （CSL） policy makers and scholars began to introduce task-based language teaching （TBLT） to CSL teaching more than a decade ago. However, policy innovations or theoretical precepts are not necessarily the blueprints of teachers＇ classroom practice. It is assumed that teachers are more likely to accept or apply the new approach if the new philosophy is concordant with their existing beliefs. This study attempts to examine the prospect of TBLT application in CSL teaching by exploring the extent to which TBLT philosophy has found its way into CSL teachers＇ beliefs. The research also probes into teachers＇ practices to explore whether their beliefs in TBLT could be actualized. A questionnaire, classroom observations and interviews have been employed. The results indicate that the Chinese teachers have strong faith in the effectiveness of TBLT, but they doubt its feasibility. Their difficulties and confusion in realizing their beliefs in practice, in turn, lead to their faith in TBLT philosophy having a peripheral status in their belief system. This may imply the bi-directional causal relationships between teachers＇ beliefs and practices. The factors revealed make clear the responsibilities or measures to be taken at social-cultural, institutional and internal levels. The findings generate empirical insights into implementations of pedagogical innovations.
