Monthly Editions
The Addition of an Affect test and Self-assessment into ESL Writing Assessment: Process and effect. A Case Study in a Non-English Major Postgraduate ESL Writing Class
This paper introduces both affect test and self-assessment into the traditional assessment scheme of non-English major post-graduates ESL writing classes. Learning results after the actual application of a whole semester are analyzed and compared to see whether such addition can improve or encourage ESL learner’s writing performance.
Teaching /l/ and /r/ to Japanese EFL Learners: Support for Segmental-Level Pronunciation Instruction
It is common knowledge that Japanese native speakers have difficulty producing the English sounds of /l/ and /r/. While recent literature has recommended abandoning minimum pair drills and beginning pronunciation instruction with the teaching of suprasegmentals, some researchers have found that English learners still benefit from being taught the physical differences behind the production of these sounds.
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in China: Some Common Concerns
In February 2004, Chinese Ministry of Education launched a teaching reform featuring the integration of the computer and networking in College English learning to stimulate students’ motivation and to improve their communicative competence. Up to now, Chinese CALL is still in infancy.
The Influence of Task Based Learning on EFL Classrooms
Increasing learners’ motivation and performance has always been the primary concern of language teachers. The present study adopts an Action Research approach. A new approach, TBL, is applied to a traditional classroom situation with the aim of finding solutions to certain problems such as poor learner motivation.
Three Countries in One Day: Retelling the News
This article reports on the development of a new course for English language majors in a Japanese university. The course was designed to enable students to become self-directed learners and to develop communicative ability and sociolinguistic competence.
Principled Eclecticism in College English Teaching in China
In general, eclecticism in language teaching holds that although no single language teaching method manages to meet all the teaching and learning needs, many methods have valuable insights that should be drawn on. But it has been criticized for its lack of principles.
Three Ways to Motivate Chinese Students in EFL Listening Classes
This paper is a report of an action research project conducted in a listening course for the second-year English majors in one university in China. After finding the existing teaching practice in the listening course not quite interesting and rewarding to my students, a new teaching plan was designed to motivate students in practicing listening.
The Value of Reflection in Writing Courses in ELT Preservice Teacher Education Programs
Constructivist theory has brought significant momentum to all aspects of teacher education. Currently, personal growth of the individual in educational domains is so important that teacher candidates are asked to develop their reflective skills in many courses so that they grow by having internalized and problematized the issues under study by gauging them themselves.
Schema theory Based Considerations on Pre-reading Activities in ESP Textbooks
In most cases a common problem students experience in reading classes is the feeling that they know absolutely nothing about the subject they are reading about. However, this feeling may be more complex than generally thought.
The Functions of Humor in Classroom Instruction
According to Garrison Keillor,
There are two ways to get to know people well in a short time, one is to work alongside them at a hard and unpleasant job such as cleaning latrines or picking potatoes, and the other way is to tell jokes. (in Danforth, 2001, p. 9)
