iReasearch学术科研网

摘要：The workplace has become increasingly volatile, intercultural and multilingual in the Information Age, presenting greater than ever communication challenges to employees. Accordingly, education reforms which recognise the growing significance of workplace communication competence have been put in place. In Hong Kong, an application-oriented elective module known as 'Learning English through workplace communication' has been introduced to the senior secondary English language curriculum. This article surveys and evaluates a number of teaching and learning resources specially designed by relevant government bodies and commercial publishers for this module. Specifically, the professional genres which are covered in such resources are studied in detail, both qualitatively and quantitatively, to investigate the extent to which they parallel the professional discourses in the actual workplace, based on a comparison with findings from relevant research. Some discrepancies are found regarding the most frequently occurring genres and their linguistic realisations in the professional context and the teaching materials. Implications from the study and suggestions for pedagogical improvements are made not only with special reference to the local context, but also to the broader educational domain where workplace communication has increasingly become a key component in the language learning syllabus. [Copyright The American University; published by Elsevier Ltd.]

摘要：The purpose of this research was twofold: to examine the vocabulary demands of English-medium engineering textbooks and to create an Engineering English Word List (EEWL) to cover EFL students' lexical shortage. The researcher compiled a corpus containing 4.57 million running words of 100 college textbooks across 20 engineering subject areas from e-book databases as the source of analysis. The results demonstrate that knowing the most frequent 5000 word families plus proper nouns, apparent compounds and abbreviations would command 95% lexical coverage of an engineering textbook to ensure adequate comprehension. Civil engineering and mechanical engineering, involving 3500 word families necessary for minimally acceptable comprehension, were the least lexically demanding, while marine engineering and biochemical engineering were the most demanding in lexis, stretching to a threshold of 8500 word families. Beyond the first 2000 words, 729 of the most frequently-occurring word families in the corpus were ultimately chosen, and these covered 14.3% of the total words in the engineering textbooks. The present EEWL may provide a window to the engineering register for matriculating engineering students and may be helpful for English for science and technology teachers when preparing Engineering English teaching materials for reading and vocabulary development. [Copyright The American University; published by Elsevier Ltd.]

摘要：The term 'authenticity' has been variously interpreted by second language acquisition and ESL scholars. It has been taken to refer to the materials used in class, such as texts, but also to the type of tasks the students are assigned, or even to the type of classroom interaction. Our contribution is concerned with the first of these interpretations. We focus on the authenticity of what are purported to be 'real' texts included in textbooks for advanced students of English at B2 and C1 levels, according to the Common European Framework of Reference. This empirical study is based on a series of parameters that have been established in order to examine the extent to which the authenticity of real texts has been preserved and to establish other related changes that such texts are subjected to when included in textbooks. Adapted from the source document

摘要：The use of new technologies in English language teaching is often associated with higher resource contexts, particularly in so-called 'developed' countries. However, low-resource contexts are also witnessing innovative projects involving digital technologies, both at the national level and through smaller scale initiatives. In this article, we discuss some of the challenges associated with using digital technologies in low-resource ELT contexts, outline example projects, and summarize key issues. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Help options, or in-built application resources designed to provide assistance, have long been an integral component of computer-based second language (L2) listening materials. Despite their potential to promote comprehension and efficiency, research on the role of help options has lagged. Previous research has found that learners do not often make use of help options. With a focus on the interventions listeners may deem relevant for comprehension and task completion, the aim of this qualitative study is to examine the interactions of language learners as they use, or do not use, these potentially assistive resources. Data were gathered from 15 adult learners of English who worked with a set of Longman English Interactive(copyright) (2008) listening exercises over three one-hour sessions. Within two studies, each participant was interviewed on three and six different occasions. Through our cyclical analysis of the data, five themes emerged: Relevance, Challenge, Familiarity, Recovery and Compatibility. We define and discuss each theme, and we conclude the article with suggestions for further research. Adapted from the source document

摘要：It is beneficial for students to experience situational learning, especially for English as a foreign language (EFL) learning. Providing more listening and speaking opportunities could help EFL students with English learning. Our research proposes a listening and speaking practice system employing personal digital assistants (PDAs) for situated learning using contexts with which students would be familiar. The proposed system attempts to help participating EFL students by presenting learning contexts in familiar situations, such as during lunch at school. The results show that the proposed system and designed activities provided EFL elementary school students with listening and speaking practice opportunities in basic vocabulary and simple sentences with the support of familiar, situational learning. In the experiment, the experimental group learned multimedia-based learning materials about food materials at lunch with PDAs. In contrast, the control group learned via paper-based learning materials in class without real contextual support. After the experiment, findings reveal that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in learning achievement. By providing recommended sample voices recorded by peers, students in the experimental group could repeatedly listen to the recordings in familiar situations, thus obtaining more opportunities to practice and interact with peers later. The other significant finding is that the number of peers used to practice speaking English in daily contexts, defined as practice diversity, was significantly correlated to learning improvement. That is, when students practiced speaking English with an increased number of peers, in familiar contexts, their English skills improved. After interviews with students, an interesting phenomenon was identified; students in the experimental group extended their learning from school to home. Furthermore, students' learning was not only a deliberate event or situation -- learning also took place spontaneously in their daily lives. Therefore, the proposed system and activities can help EFL students, particularly novices, listen to and speak English in familiar situational contexts.

摘要：This article reviews the literature on the relatively new field of materials development for language learning and teaching. It reports the origins and development of the field and then reviews the literature on the evaluation, adaptation, production and exploitation of learning materials. It also reviews the literature, first, on a number of controversial issues in the field, next, on electronic delivery of materials and, third, on research in materials development. It identifies gaps in the literature and makes proposals for future progress in materials development and in the research within the field. Much of the literature focuses on materials for learning English but the same principles apply to materials for learning any L2, as has been acknowledged by some of the authors whose publications focus on materials for learning other languages. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This article highlights aspects of an interdisciplinary (chemistry-applied linguistics) English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course- and materials-development project. The project was aimed at raising genre awareness among chemistry students and faculty, in addition to improving students' disciplinary reading and writing. As part of the project, full-length chemistry journal articles were analyzed. We describe select results of this analysis and the prominent role played by chemists in the process. Emphasis is placed on the organizational structure of chemistry journal articles, focusing on the Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion (A-IMRDC) sections. Two predominant organizational patterns emerged from our analyses, specifically A-IMR[DC] and A-IM[R(DC)], with brackets signifying sections merged under one major heading. Move-analysis findings are converted into easy-to-interpret instructional tools labeled 'move structures akin to flow charts' for two target audiences (chemistry students and faculty). The rhetorical structure of the chemistry journal article is then compared to journal articles published in biochemistry, an overlapping discipline. The article concludes with pedagogical implications and suggestions for ESP professionals engaged in genre analysis. [Copyright The American University; published by Elsevier Ltd.]

摘要：Various language learning projects using Second Life (SL) have been documented; still, their specific learning potentials, particularly in English as a foreign language (EFL) context, remain to be explored. The current study aims to add one piece of empirical evidence on how SL can be infused into a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) course for 25 college students through task design in a limited Internet connection context. Four tasks -- orientation of SL and chatting, pedagogical activities, peer review, and an SL tour -- were designed with their influence examined. Although students' frustration about the unstable Internet connection was shown from responses of an evaluation questionnaire, they confirmed the benefits of using SL for English learning and teaching. SL provides affordances of interaction and immersion, which are conducive to their English learning, and SL can easily establish an authentic environment for communication. It is argued, as supported in the previous literature of various educational contexts, that sound pedagogy with appropriate tasks, instead of 3D virtual world software alone, guides SL applications in the multi-member community (instructors, teachers assistants, students, and other users not in this class) advancing toward language learning objectives or sense-making in student learning. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This paper reports on the development of a prototype tool which shows how learners can be helped to reflect upon the accuracy of their writing. Analysis of samples of freely written texts by intermediate and advanced learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) showed evidence of weakness in the use of tense and aspect. Computational discourse modelling techniques were applied to the data to generate semantic models of fragments of the narratives with particular focus on their temporal structure. These models have been converted into dynamic graphical representations of the temporal relationships between discourse events as the narratives are written. The system also provides access to the ontology devised to model individual events and this offers learners insights into the events' semantic properties. These techniques provide the basis for a stimulating learning tool capable of capturing key elements of written narratives, and prompting learners' awareness of language use, particularly tense and aspect. Adapted from the source document

摘要：The aim of this study was to improve students' English as Foreign Language (EFL) writing and speaking performance with appropriate learning activity design supported by Virtual Pen (VPen), a multimedia web annotation system. Students' perceptions toward using VPen and learning activities, attitude toward using VPen, actual VPen usage and their relationships were also investigated. After the experiment the students perceived that VPen was easy to use and useful during learning activities, and generally had a positive attitude toward using VPen. Furthermore, the students believed that learning activities were 'playful' and useful for improving writing and speaking performance. Further investigation revealed that the students' actual VPen usage had a significant correlation with speaking and writing performance and that students' speaking and writing performance significantly correlated with learning achievement. Based on our findings, we conclude that designed learning activities supported by the VPen system could facilitate students' writing and speaking performance and therefore improve their learning achievement. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This quasi-experimental study reports on a 10-month classroom-based longitudinal investigation, exploring the potential of authentic materials to develop Japanese learners' communicative competence in English. Sixty-two second-year university students were assigned to either a control group receiving textbook input or an experimental group receiving authentic input, and their pretreatment and posttreatment levels of overall communicative competence were assessed. Communicative competence was operationalized with a batch of eight different tests: a listening test, a pronunciation test, a C-test, a grammar test, a vocabulary test, a discourse completion task, an oral interview, and a student-student role-play. The results indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group in five of the eight measures, suggesting that the authentic materials and their associated tasks were more effective in developing a broader range of communicative competencies in learners than the textbook materials. I discuss the pedagogical implications of these findings for language teachers and their learners.

摘要：Email has revolutionised the way in which professionals work and companies operate, and yet has received surprisingly little scholarly attention in English for Specific Purposes and has an unexpectedly muted presence in many Business English textbooks. The dearth of research into email use in globalised business settings may be one of the factors behind the unnecessarily wide gulf that separates the office and the classroom. This article seeks to narrow this gap by making practical suggestions about the design of email tasks for use in Business English courses. These ideas are based on three complementary sets of qualitative data derived from Hong Kong's service sector: over 30h of interviews with English-using Chinese professionals, four 'week-in-the-life' case studies and 50 email chains comprising 406 separate messages. These data provide pedagogically relevant information about the function of email in internal and external communication, its intimate relationship with spoken communication, the importance of intertextuality in email chains and the length, language and structure of email messages. The study recommends the adoption of a simulation-based approach in which email communication is embedded in a series of interdependent activities that integrate speaking, listening, reading and writing. [Copyright The American University; published by Elsevier Ltd.]

摘要：The primary focus of this article is the investigation of how current applied linguistic research into the nature of call centre communication breakdown in business processing outsourcing (BPO) sites such as India and the Philippines, can impact English communications training program content and design for this industry. It is argued that a research-based approach to English for specific purpose (ESP) syllabus design and content will yield improved outcomes. It is the interface between the research and the design and content, rather than the implementation and the evaluation of the program, that is the focus of this article. A case study of an ESP curriculum development project commissioned by a large multinational company operating global call centres and back offices in Asia is used for this investigation. There has been concern within this company about the level of English communication skills where their customers are native speakers of English, but their customer services representatives (CSRs) are second language speakers of English. The article outlines the theoretical principles upon which this ESP syllabus was developed and then traces the steps in integrating the findings and tailoring the program to the needs of this multinational worksite. [Copyright The American University; published by Elsevier Ltd.]

摘要：This research compiled two corpora, one for English-medium textbooks for business core courses (totaling 7.2 million running words) and the other for business research articles (7.62 million tokens), to form a basis of analysis. The results show that knowledge of the most frequent 3500 word families and 5000 word families plus proper nouns would provide 95% lexical coverage of a business textbook and a business research article respectively. Business textbooks reached 98% coverage at the 5000 word level while business research articles reached 98% coverage at the 8000 word level. Among the textbooks across 12 business subject areas, production & operation (involving the 3000 word level necessary for minimal comprehension at 95% lexical coverage and the 4000 word level necessary for adequate comprehension at 98% coverage) was the least vocabulary-demanding, while business policy & strategy (covering 95% at the 5000 word level and 98% at the 7000 word level) was the most vocabulary-demanding. Excluding business policy & strategy and management information systems which showed the greatest variation, the vocabulary levels of research papers entailing different specialist knowledge were mostly within the range of 5000 word families (at 95% coverage) and 8000 word families (at 98%). [Copyright The American University; published by Elsevier Ltd.]

摘要：This paper introduces a new vowel notation system aimed at aiding the teaching of English pronunciation. This notation system, designed as an enhancement to orthographic text, was designed to use concepts borrowed from the representation of musical notes and is also linked to the acoustic characteristics of vowel sounds. Vowel timbre is represented in terms of the height of the symbol and vowel duration in terms of the length of the symbol. The Speechant system was evaluated in EFL adult education classes in Portugal. A formal assessment that measured the impact of a term's tuition by looking at changes in accent ratings of the learners over that period showed that the group taught using the Speechant system showed greater improvements in pronunciation than the control group. Speechant may be an especially useful aid to pronunciation teaching in situations in which foreign languages are taught without the benefit of technological support. Adapted from the source document

摘要：A limitation of extensive reading programmes is the time required for progress in vocabulary acquisition. This paper reports on a qualitative exploration of student perceptions of the value of non-compulsory comic books in ESL elementary and upper-intermediate level courses at a tertiary institution. We aimed to develop supplementary materials that students would find valuable, use, and enjoy without requiring classroom time. The results suggest the learners' views on the value of comic books and recordings can be broadly categorized into five themes: (1) helpful story characteristics, (2) perceived performance enhancement, (3) use of learning strategies, (4) enjoyment, and (5) areas for improvement. An interesting finding was the variety of uses to which the learners put the resources, in particular sharing them with their families. This study points to the importance of responding to learners' specific contexts and to creative ways English learners undertake autonomous learning when provided with appropriate resources. Adapted from the source document

摘要：While the intrinsic value of reading extensively for L2 learners has rarely been questioned, practicalities of implementation and the existence of gains beyond lexical enrichment have generated discussion. This article outlines and explores the benefits which Literature Circles (LCs) offer to English language learning and attempts to identify direct links to SLA through learner engagement. Practical suggestions for setting up these learner-led reading and discussion groups in ELT classrooms are given, and both learner and teacher roles are discussed. The premise that LCs offer a pedagogically sound addition to ELT classrooms is explored through an outline of the framework on which they are based and an evaluation of the collaborative processes they involve. Qualitative evidence, from both learner perspectives and teacher observation, is given to support this premise, as are references to current theories of how languages are learnt and to the way in which these relate to learner involvement of the kind fostered by LCs. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Hockly discusses the idea of the "digital generation," highlighting some of the terminology used to describe technology users that has arisen around the topic of age and Internet use. Hockly considers whether younger is really "better" when it comes to using technology for English as a second language learning, noting that younger learners should not be expected to be digitally literate and older learners should not be assumed to be digitally illiterate. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Offering a critical response to "Teaching English as a friendly language: Lessons from the SCOTS corpus" (Anderson and Corbett, 2010), Baker and Huttner argue that Anderson and Corbett have "seriously misrepresented English as a lingua franca research, as well as presenting potentially confusing information on how to use corpora in classrooms." Baker and Huttner note that while it is beneficial to have corpus data on as many regional varieties of English as possible, they are "left with serious doubts as to the proclaimed benefits of the SCOTS corpus in making students internationally 'friendly'." Adapted from the source document