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ASIANEFL RESEARCH PROTOCOLS
The search for ‘truth’ is pervading educational research. In particular, and limiting research to the EFL/ESL sphere, theories and research results abound proving and disproving and altering that truth. The field of research has been likened to the judicial adversarial system where results are argued over.
L1 / L2 Learning in Children: Explicitly Reframed
Some scholars have tried to frame second language acquisition (SLA) within children as a neat and clean proposition. The question for examination is whether children learn a second language implicitly (rather than explicitly) in the same way they acquire it in L1 (Fromkin et al., 1999, 347).
Courtroom English
Consider the following English case recorded in the English law journals. A seaman who was a witness in the case was being cross-examined. He was asked if he knew the plaintiff. The seaman said he did not know what the word ‘plaintiff’ meant and could not answer the question.
The Business of Words; Whose domain?
“Politicians frame words.
Lawyers play with words.
Judges interpret words.
Teachers teach words!”
Both the teaching of English and the practice of law have one thing in common. They both concentrate on ‘words.’
The Chinese Learner: A Neo Globalized Learner – or the Re-Birth or an Old Culture
What is the “Chinese learner and are there social phenomena acting upon this entity that is changing the way the Chinese government determine future educational curricula to meet China’s changing needs? In this work Chinese learner is basically defined as a Chinese national living within mainland China who falls inside the broad category of ‘student.’
Korea. A cross cultural communication analyzed
This work will analyze cross-cultural communications between Korean native speakers and myself, and will review the literature to date. I have chosen Koreans as the report emanates from Pusan, Korea, an international port city of some 4 million Koreans. Pusan Korean is spoken, and said by all, to be a ‘vulgar’ dialect of Korean.
The Pervading Influence of Neo- Confucianism on the Korean Education System
Modern Korean education is based on two competing systems, that given by the government and that given by private enterprise. The later clearly dominates the students life from elementary school through to University studies. Hitherto rote learning had characterized the Korean education system, with students rewarded for pure memory as opposed to creativity.
An Expose of ‘What Is An English Teacher
Before any logical research can delve into ‘pronunciation’ issues, an examination of the word “teacher” needs closer scrutiny, which till now, has made pedagogical assumptions (as related to the specific field of pronunciation teaching) that are no longer valid in the TEFL teaching world.
A Comparison of Korean, Czech and Greek Second Language Learning Systems
There is a two-tiered system of second language teaching in Greece. At the base level there is the government school system, whereby students receive between three and four lessons in English each week. These lessons exclude conversation and are centered on grammar, writing and listening skills. Schools use textbooks chosen by the Ministry of Education.
The critical age hypothesis. A critique of research methodology
This is a two part work. The latter part, Appendix, refers to work carried out in 1997-1999 in relation to the Critical Age Hypothesis. The first part relates to a subsequent critique of the research methods employed in the earlier work.
