Main Editions
A Teacher Diary Experience
In this article, David Jeffrey shares his personal experience of undertaking a teacher diary study that led to an awareness of the need to promote and internalise the ownership of international English among his students.
A Study on Cross-cultural Barriers in Reading of English
This paper will examine the cross-cultural difficulties in the process of English reading in three aspects: what the main difficulties are in reading, why these difficulties exist and how to reduce and eliminate them to achieve the exact comprehension.
Language learning and awareness of personality type in Chinese settings
In order to provide successful instruction, teachers need to learn to identify and understand their students’ individual differences. A feature of individual differences, which enters almost every area of life is that of personality type. This can be assessed with an instrument know as the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (Briggs Myers, 1998).
CHARACTER OR CULTURE? IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CULTURALLY DIVERSE CLASSROOM
“Why would you expect countries that have entirely different histories, located in entirely different climates, different geographies – why would you expect those countries to develop exactly the same mix of skills to exactly the same degree?
General English coursebooks and their place in an ESAP* programme
This piece seeks briefly to outline why mass-produced ELT coursebooks are inappropriate for anything other than broad-based language programmes . It was originally written as an argument in support of the introduction an outcomes-based ESAP curriculum in a tertiary education establishment in the Middle East.
How Learners from Different Cultural Backgrounds Learn a Foreign Language
The students learning strategies, as has been reported by some research undertaken, have powerful impact on the students learning outcome. The study reported here tries to focus on how the learners from different cultural background learn a foreign language using their language learning strategies.
Culture and Classroom Communication: A Case Study of Asian Students in New Zealand Language Schools
This paper reports findings of a qualitative study conducted from December 2002 to March 2003 at two New Zealand English language schools. Forty Asian students participated in the survey. The study reveals that, in spite of the positive learning experiences in the schools, there also exists a significant mismatch with Asian students’ learning expectations.
MAKE THEM BE AWARE, NOT BEWARE OF LEARNING: The Cognitive Therapy Technique (CTT) in adult EFL classes
By pointing out dimensions of adult learners and teaching, this article aims to discuss a way of strengthening the awareness on and through learning and self-esteem in adult language classes. The cognitive therapy technique emphasizes the importance and necessity of informing the learners…
Teaching Trial and Analysis of English for Technical Communication
English for technical communication (ETC) is a novel development of English for specific purpose on the demand of the society for improving students’ ability in communicating technical information. To assess the applicability of ETC teaching in China, a specially designed ETC course was delivered to five classes of postgraduates, and questionnaire and test analysis were carried out at end of the course.
An evaluation approach towards feedback “betterment” in an initial teacher training in EFL
This article provides an account of a small-scale evaluation study in the area of initial teacher training in ELT. While evaluation of this sort has a clear accountability function, this paper advances the view that it is the developmental potential of an evaluation study of this sort that renders it of real value to the teacher trainer or trainee.
