Application of TBA to Teaching English Vocabularies in Colleges

Application of the Interactive Approachto the Teaching of English Reading in CollegeDong YanShanxi Heavy Machinery InstituteAbstract:Based on the careful analysis of the reading process and the thorough comparison of the three approaches to reading (the bottom-up approach, the top-down approach and the interactive approach), this paper focuses on the interactive approach to teaching English reading in college. It suggests that during the reading process, the focus should be put both on decoding the meaning of the text and on activating the systemic and schematic knowledge, with the bottom-up and the top-down strategies functioning interactively to improve the students' reading ability and cultivate critical reading and thinking in them. Several practical ways are also suggested to help the students improve reading comprehension.Key words: interactive approach; reading strategies; schematic knowledge; critical reading; critical thinking1.IntroductionWhere there is no reading, there is no improvement in foreign language learning. Therefore, improving students’ reading ability has always been a focus in college English teaching. The potential problems in reading lie mainly in the traditional way of teaching reading.Traditionally, EFL reading teaching in Chinese colleges emphasizes language instruction rather than reading instruction. In traditional English reading classes in college, teachers seldom bother to teach students how to read; they think that comprehension will develop naturally as long as the students know the meaning of the words in the text. In such classes teachers are always engaged in explaining words and analyzing sentence structures. The typical reading lessons are characterized by focus on the teacher, lengthy and detailed explanation of words in the glossary, and a step-by-step analysis with excessive explanation. Thus, the students tend to regard reading as close reading, not taking into consideration various ways of reading; they tend to read the foreign language slowly and with low comprehension. Alderson (1989: 1) once argued: “Students reading in a foreign language seem to read with less understanding than one might expect them to have, and to read considerably slower than they reportedly read in their first language.” This phenomenon ought to bechanged to satisfy the students’ ever increasing demands for reading instruction.To solve the problems teachers and students are faced with, we need to have a clear understanding of what reading is and what happens during the reading process. Reading comprehension means extracting the required information from the text as efficiently as possible. There are two broad levels in reading: receiving visual signals from the eyes and the cognitive task of interpreting the visual information, relating the received information to the reader’s own general knowledge, and reconstructing the meaning the writer wants to convey (Wang, Cheng 111). Reading is not a passive decoding process, but an active, in fact, an interactive process; it constantly involves word recognition, predicting, anticipating, inferring, making hypotheses, confirming hypotheses, revising hypotheses and reconfirming hypotheses.2.Three approaches to readingThe theory of reading has evolved in three stages: namely the traditional approach, the psycholinguistic approach and the interactive approach to reading.2.1The traditional approach to readingThe traditional approach to reading is commonly known as the bottom-up approach. Traditional reading researchers view reading as a passive, bottom-up decoding process, primarily as a process of reconstructing the author’s intended meaning by recognizing the printed letters and words, and building up the meaning for a text from the smallest textual units at the “bottom” to the largest textual units at the “top”. The central notion behind the bottom-up approach is that reading is basically a matter of decoding a series of written symbols into their aural equivalents in order to get at the meaning. Cambourne (1979) provides the following illustration of how the reading process is supposed to work:Print→Every letter→Phonemes and graphemes →Blending →Pronunciation →Meaningdiscriminated matchedCambourne (1979: 79)The bottom-up approach considers reading as a process of decoding written symbols in a linear fashion, which neglects many other contextual factors that may contribute to the meaning of a text. This approach over-emphasizes the text as the center of the reading process and overlooks the reader’s active role in the reading process.2.2 The psycholinguistic approach to readingThe alternative approach to the traditional approach is the psycholinguistic approach: the top-down approach to reading. One of the popular representatives of this approach, Goodman (1967: 126) thinks that “reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game. …Efficient reading doesn’t result from precise decoding, but from skill in selection the fewest, most productive cues necessary to produce guesses thatare right the first time. ” Rather than decoding each symbol, the reader begins with a set of hypotheses or predictions about the meaning of the text he is about to read, and then selectively samples the text to determine whether his predictions are correct or not. If the predictions are not confirmed, the reader may revise his predictions by sampling the text again. Reading is a process of reconstructing meaning rather than decoding form, and the reader only resorts to decoding if other means fails. Cambourne (1979) provides the following illustration of the top-down approach to reading:Past experience, language →Selective aspects →Meaning → Sound, pronunciation intuitions and expectations of print if necessaryCambourne (1979: 88)In the top-down manner of reading, not only is the reader an active participant, making predictions and processing information, but also everything in the reader’s background knowledge plays a significant role in reading. The top-down approach agrees that the reader, rather than the text is at the heart of the reading process. And it exaggerates the reader’s role in reading process and marginalizes the necessary decoding process in reading. The shift from the bottom-up approach to the top-down approach is theoretically from one extreme to another.2.3 The interactive approach to readingThe accepted theory of reading has changed dramatically, from the bottom-up approach to the top-down approach, and then to the interactive approach. Reading is not viewed as a passive process, but as an active and in fact an interactive process. The following figure suggests a simplified graphic perspective on this definition:A simplified Interactive Parallel Processing sketch (Grabe 1988: 59)It is held that there is an integration of bottom-up processes with top-down processes in reading. Grabe (1985, cited in Jin 1993:12) explains that the reading process is not simply a matter of extracting information from the text. Rather, it is “one in which the reading activates a range of knowledge in the reader’s mind that heor she uses, and that, in turn, may be refined and extended by the new information supplied by the text.” According to the interactive approach to reading, reading is an interactive process. During reading, the reader constructs a personal interpretation of a text; there is an interaction between the reader and the text. The reader also tries to get at the author’s original intentions; there is an interaction between the reader and the author. And there is also a constant interaction between the lower-level bottom-up strategies and the higher-level top-down strategies the reader employs.The interactive approach is superior to the first two approaches in that it covers both perspectives and better reflects the nature of reading and the reading process.3.Suggested ways of improving reading comprehensionThe ability to read at a reasonable rate with good comprehension has long been recognized to be as important as other skills. Teachers in English language education should be vitally concerned with approaches that can improve the reading comprehension of students. The interactive approach to reading is of great value in this respect. We believe that in order to help the students to become efficient readers, it’s necessary for us teachers to cultivate the awareness of the interactive approach to reading in the students and teach them certain reading strategies and encourage them to read interactively by employing both bottom-up lower-level strategies and top-down higher-level strategies. Our aim is to help the students become efficient and critical readers both by reading intensively in class and by a large amount of reading after class.3.1Training bottom-up and top-down strategies during the three-phaseprocedure in classReading strategies are “plans for solving problems encountered in constructing meaning” (Duffy 1993). Reading strategies are specific abilities that enable the reader to read the written form as meaningful language, to read anything written with comprehension and fluency, and to mentally interact with the message the writer conveys. Certain reading strategies should be commanded because different reading strategies are used in order to achieve different reading purposes. There are various kinds of reading strategies. Some let the reader figure out new words, predict the next word, phrase, or sentence quickly for speed recognition; some help the reader see the relationship of ideas and use these in reading with meaning and fluency. Some help the reader use knowledge of the world to interpret the text.Furthermore, the college English syllabus (1999) also prescribes that the reading strategies should be cultivated on the students’ part. Nuttall (1982) argues that the aim of intensive reading is primarily to train students in reading strategies. Strategies help the students process the text actively, to monitor their comprehension, and to connect what they are reading to their own knowledge and to other parts of the text. In order to become efficient readers, the students need to employ both the lower-level bottom-up strategies, e.g. word recognition, and the higher-level top-down strategies, such as prediction, inferring and using background knowledge. The students need to readinteractively with the bottom-up and top-down strategies functioning harmoniously. These strategies help to improve reading comprehension as well as efficiency.My belief is that strategy training is one of the most important ways of improving reading comprehension. Different strategies are trained during the three-phase classroom procedure of reading. During the pre-reading phase, various schemata related to the text should be activated or provided, such as the students’ linguistic schemata, content schemata, and formal schemata. Strategies, such as prediction, previewing, using the background knowledge, predicting, can be practiced. During the while-reading phase, the students should read the text actively, adopting the interactive approach. Reading strategies such as skimming for the gist, scanning for specific information, recognizing rhetorical structures, understanding the author’s purposes, inferring the meaning from contextual clues, critical reading and avoiding bad reading habits can be practiced. The post-reading phase serves as a phase of consolidation. During the post-reading phase, the students should be given time to reflect; they are encouraged to ask questions and answer the questions. This is a phase of enlarging the students’ schemata and relating what the students have read to their own knowledge. Strategies such as reviewing and reading to present can be practiced.It has been suggested that during the reading process, both systemic knowledge and schematic knowledge be applied; and that the focus should be put both on decoding the text and on guessing and predicting with the bottom-up and the top-down strategies functioning interactively.3.2Supporting extra-curriculum readingIf the best way to improve one’s knowledge of a foreign language is to go and live among its speakers, then the next best way is to read extensively in it. According to Krashen (1985), learners need to be exposed to large amounts of comprehensible input which is meaningful, relevant, and interesting, in a stress-free environment, and clearly individual extensive reading outside classroom is valuable to our students. Students will not become fluent readers overnight, and it may take a long time before there is a marked improvement in their reading abilities. Students learn to read by reading and they also need to read fast with full understanding. To achieve this they are encouraged to read extensively.The teachers should select suitable reading material for the students’ extracurricular reading. The English graded readers, magazines, newspapers such as The Twenty First Century, English Weekly are among the students’ favorites. And the students should form a habit of reading and read extensively in English so that their problems with reading can be solved mainly by reading itself.One way of supporting extensive reading is to set aside enough time for teachers’ short interviews with the individual students about their reading. Teachers can use this time to communicate with the students, recommend books, advise on reading problems, suggest activities, and encourage students to reflect on their reading and thinking.Book conferences can also be held, not for checking comprehension but for helping the student to respond to the text and use English in a real communicativesituation. Teachers can elicit responses through a range of carefully prepared questions, sufficiently open-ended to provoke attempts at putting ideas together, for example: Where does the story take place? Who are the main characters? Which characters impressed you most? Which characters did you sympathize with? Why did you enjoy the way the writer describes particular characters? Students can take on the roles of asking questions as well as answering them. Since the students read different books, they can exchange their thoughts and ideas freely and share their experience and learn form one another. Thus, reading and learning occur unconsciously and naturally. And by a large amount of reading, different kinds of schemata needed for comprehension of various texts are enlarged, which lays a good foundation for efficient and successful reading.4.ConclusionBased on the careful analysis of the nature of reading and the thorough comparison of the three approaches to reading, the interactive approach to the teaching of English reading in college is advocated in order to improve the students’ reading ability and encourage them to read extensively and critically and therefore think independently.We arrive at the conclusion that it is possible and feasible to apply the interactive approach to the teaching of English reading in college. And it is noted that teachers should develop the students’ awareness of the interactive approach to reading and encourage them to read extensively with the bottom-up strategies and the top-down strategies functioning interactively. When we recommend training the students’ reading strategies, we should not forget the development of the student’s critical reading and independent thinking, which is in correspondence with the modern educational principle. The ultimate goal of teaching reading in college is that the students gradually become the critical readers and independent thinkers through successful and efficient reading.ReferencesAlderson, J. C. and A. H. Urquhart (Eds.). 1989. Reading in a Foreign Language.London: Longman.Cambourne, B. 1979. How important is theory to the reading teacher? Australian Journal of Reading 2: 78-90.Duffy, G. 1993. Rethinking strategy instruction: four teachers' development and their low achievers' understandings. The Elementary School Journal 93: 231-247. Goodman, K. S. 1967. Reading: a psycholinguistic guessing game. Journal of the Reading Specialist 4: 126-135.Grabe, W. 1988. Reassessing the term "interactive". In Interactive Approaches to Second Language Reading, P. L. Carrell, J. Devine and D. E. Eskey (Eds.), 56-70.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Jin, Limin. 1993. A Proposal to Intensive Reading Teaching to Second Year Students in the English Department of BFSU. Diss. Beijing Foreign Studies University.Krashen, S.D. 1985. The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. London: Longman.Nuttall, C. 1982 Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. London: Heinemann.Wang Q. and X.T. Cheng. 2000. English Language Teaching, 111-135. Beijing: Higher Educational Press.《大学英语教学大纲》（修订本），1999，上海外语教育出版社。

The Application of the Interactive Teaching in College English Class作者：HuSisi来源：《成长·读写月刊》2015年第12期【Abstract】According to the fact that the traditional English teaching lays more emphasis on vocabulary， grammar and literacy， which causes the students lacking the ability of using language. It is expected that with the implications put forward in this paper， the interactive teaching can be widely adopted in the college English class.【Key words】English teaching；interactive teaching；classroom environment；group activities；questioning strategiesThere is a general recognition of the fact that the essence of English teaching is not only to impart knowledge， but also to motivate the students to learn by themselves. In China， the traditional English teaching puts more emphasis on vocabulary， grammar and literacy， which causes the students lacking the ability of using language. Under the background of “Consider students as teaching subjects”， one of the greatest tasks for the college English teachers is that they should apply cooperative teaching to the students in order to arouse and maintain their interest. Therefore，this paper put forward some suggestions for college English teaching to improve students’ learning efficiency and teachers’ t eaching quality.1. To Create a Good Classroom EnvironmentClassroom environment is put in the first place because it is the most basic and necessary element for the development of linguistic proficiency. That is to say， managing classroom environment well is the half beginning of the battle. Without a good classroom environment， everything about teaching and learning becomes meaningless. If students are not at ease and do not feel good about their language， there will be no communication. And it appears that students feel less nervous and have more confidence in practicing language forms in front of their classmates when they find themselves in a bounded class. What’s more， such good classroom environment will benefit English teaching as well. That is， teachers can manage the class well when they find themselves teaching friendly classes where the students have formed bonds with one another and work well together. They will be more enthusiastic during the process and as a result may spend more time preparing interesting teaching materials and activities， all of which will be conducive to learning again.2. To Implement Group Cooperative TeachingBrady & Tsay claimed that students who fully participated in group activities， exhibited collaborative behaviors， provided constructive feedback and cooperated with their group had ahigher likelihood of receiving higher test scores at the end of the semester （Brady & Tsay， 2010）. Compared with traditional classroom teaching， group cooperative teaching makes students have more opportunities to communicate and to share ideas with their group mates.On the one hand， group work can reduce anxiety in classroom interaction. Thus， students are more willing to study in a group cooperative atmosphere because they can feel more reassured. And they have more chances to negotiate and organize their ideas and language to make sure that others understand what they are saying or trying to say. On the other hand， group work provides language learners with communicative language skills they are probable to use outside the classroom. That means， students can enhance social participation skills and strategies in group activities. For example， students may have more opportunities to learn how to structure their expressions logically and easily. Group activities also provide students with chance to learn skills， such as how to summarize， infer and disagree.3. To Employ Students’ Questioning StrategiesSince questioning is an important and commonly used teaching skill to prompt interaction between teachers and students， its effect and value are appreciated in the language classroom. But in reality， the role of questioning is almost dominated by the teacher， which is， to some extent，controversial to the nature of learning process. Employing questioning strategies in the classrooms means not just the teacher’s questioning，but also the students’. Therefore， it is suggested employing students’ questioning strategies in the language classroom.Scholar J.T. Dillon analyzes the necessity of student questioning from the implication of student’ questioning to teaching. He says that “students’ questions make the perfect opening for teaching to enter as well as for learning to ensure”. That is to say， every time students put forward questions，the students’ brains for learning are turned on， which is also the perfect opening for teaching. Students’ questions play a vital role in teaching aims， and from that moment， the actions of students and teachers join in pursuit of the same objective —— learning.References[1]Brady， M. & Tsay，2010.A case study of cooperative learning and communication pedagogy： Does working in teams make a difference？ [M].Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning，10（2），78-89.[2]Dillon，J.T.1988.Questioning and Teaching： A Manual of A：Teachers College Press， P22.[3]Z.J.Qin，J.Y.Li.2013.Second language reading strategy research for 30 years： review and prospect [J].Foreign Language Teaching，（4）：43-49.。

The Application of Body Language in English Teaching AbstractWith the continual reform of language teaching and learning methods, teachers are in great demand to organize the classes in English and create English-learning circumstances. However, due to th e limitation of students’ vocabulary, teachers have to simplify their teaching language with the help of facial expressions and body movements. It is an innovation in English teaching and is very popular in the English teaching in China nowadays.Body language can be vocal language’s vital complement by intensifying the language information retention. So it should never be ignored in English teaching. Because it is not only a good tool to communicate with others and express oneself, it can also help teachers achieve a higher teaching goal. Therefore, in English class, teachers should pay enough attention to body language and use it properly as the teaching tactics.This paper discusses the necessity and importance of body language in English teaching and the effect of using body language in listening, speaking, reading and writing. It aims to provide useful suggestions for effective English teaching.Key words:body Language; English teaching; applicationContents (II)Abstract (II)1.I ntroduction (2)2. Body Language and English Teaching (2)2.1 The Significance of Body Language in Classroom (1)2.1.1 To Create a Comfortable Learning Environment (2)2.1.2 To Stimulate Students’ Enthusiasm and Interest (2)2.1.3 To Encourage Students (3)2.2 The Specific Use of Body Language (4)2.2.1 Facial Expressions (4)2.2.2 Eye Contact (4)2.2.3 Gesture (5)2.2.4 Body Distance ....................................................... 5_Toc4198963603. The Application of Body Language in English Teaching (6)3.1 The Application of Body Language in Listening (6)3.2. The Application of Body Language in Speaking (6)3.3 The Application of Body Language in Reading (7)3.4. The Application of Body Language in Writing (8)4. Conclusion........................................................................ 8Acknowledgments .. (10)1.IntroductionWords are only one part of communication. As everybody knows, classroom teaching is one of the most significant ways to learn English. In terms of English teaching , teachers should try their best to arouse the students’ interest in orde r that they can learn better. There are many ways to arouse the students’ interest and help them to learn better, body language used in English teaching is one of them.Body language is an important media through which people communicate with each other. It refers to facial expressions, gesture, eye contact and body distance that people use to express their feelings in communication.It is important to note that body language has different meanings in different cultures. How we can interpret body language depends on the situation, the culture, the relationship we have with the person as well as the gender of the other.In school education, body language plays a positive role in shaping the students’ characters. Teachers are usually respected, and therefore, what or how teachers say and do will be possibly imitated by students (sometimes subconsciously). In a word, teachers’ graceful body language helps to improve students’ artistic-appreciation and moral character. If the students learn body language well, they will surely have a better interpersonal relation. As a matter of fact, teachers’ friendly appearance can greatly activate the students’ passion for learning.This paper is an analysis of body language in English teaching. First, it points out the importance of body language in common communication; second, it discusses the students’ psychology in classroom, and the effect of body language to students; then the author makes a list to express the significance of body language in classroom; at last, it’s about the specific use of body language in English classroom.2. Body Language and English TeachingThe study on body language both at home and abroad focuses mainly on human interaction, especially on public speech and lisping persons. In fact, body language also plays an important role in classroom teaching. Many teachers and educators have explored a lot into the body language in classroom.2.1 The Significance of Body Language in Classroom2.1.1 To Create a Comfortable Learning EnvironmentEducatio nal psychology research shows that emotion influence students’ intellectual development; Teachers’ emotion constricts the change of students mood in the classroom. Therefore, teachers in the classroom should always pay attention to children’ psychological changes and mood fluctuations. And teachers’ face, eyes, posture, gestures invariably affect mood and attitude of students. Teachers’ positive emotion will promote the students’ intellectual actions and create a relaxing and comfortable environment.When learning second language, Young children who feel comfortable and relaxed always make better achievement than those under pressure. Teachers’ clean decent dresses and amiable expression will help children have confidence in learning English. Their learning will not be disturbed from negative emotions such as tension and anxiety, so it is easier for them to accept the content of learning, and to achieve the desired effect. For example, before the English class, we can sing a English greeting song, and children can shake hands, clap or hug, it is not only to attract the attention of all children, but also allow them to reduce psychological burden. So Body language not only attracts the attention of students, but also creates the environment for students to learn English, it is very useful for English Teaching.2.1.2 To Stimulate Students’ Enthusiasm and InterestInterest can improve the quality of English teaching widely, teachers with warm smile and good expression can help students relieve their psychological barriers and stimulate students to practice their oral English. Intuitive and vivid body language can make students become more interested in English. The strong study interest is the prime motive power for English learning which can stimulate and ra ise student’s interest.Therefore before each class, we should make good preparation so that students can have strong interest through a series of body language. For example, there is an article in primary school English textbooks: father and mother, help each father. Sister and brother, play together! We can add action, clenching fists (left thumb on behalf of father, the right thumb on behalf of mother, left little finger on behalf of sister, right little finger on behalf of brother), singing “father and mother” and showing out the two thumbs; singing “help each other” and the left and right thumb merger together; singing “sister and brother” and show out the two little fingers; singing “play together”, the two little fingers bending to play with each othe r . Students are actingout while listening to the tape and songs, which is easy and interesting for students to learn.To develop children’s English proficiency, teachers should supply a variety of opportunities for young children in English teachi ng. How to stimulate children’ enthusiasm to participate in activities? How to take the initiative to obtain information in English learning? We should not only use a variety of teaching aids, but also need teachers’ smiles, high emotions and warm tone to influence each child, so that they do positive responses and learn the language in an interactive and relaxed atmosphere. For example, in order to make children learn English figure 1-10, teachers should choose a catchy morning exercise: One and Two up and nodded, Three and Four shake your head, Five kick the legs, Six bend waist , Seven, Eight jumps, Nine and Ten love to sleep. In this way, students’ interest has been greatly stimulated.2.1.3 To Encourage StudentsIn primary school, students’ vocabulary is limited, but body languages play a bridge role. This particular form of communication to foster the feelings of teachers and students can improve the students’ language skills, it also has great influence on personality development of students.Students seek the sense of accomplishment from completing the work and its success was brought about by the teachers’ recognition and praise. If children gain constant achievements in learning, children will be proud of awards and success. However, if teachers have no proper teaching methods and especially ignore the students’ achievements, children are likely to form a sense of inferiority.Children will inevitably make mistakes in the course of learning English because they are studying a completely different language. Especially in pronunciation, some students often say the” frog “as” floger”, at this moment, we should not criticize or blame them because that will only inhibit children’s interest, undermine their motivation and self-confidence. When children are wrong, we can touch his head gently, and tell him “have a try again?”. We should give support and encouragement to children.In addition, for example, in the teaching process, sometimes, students will certainly rush to answer the question. In order to know if the students have mastered the knowledge, teacher can ask students to answer alone, teachers can say like this: raise your hands and answer my question, while handing the right forearm to indicateto the students, so the students will be conscious to stop free speech.Body language attracts a lot of students to be enthusiastic, so they do not feel difficult to learn English. Body language improves the interest in learning English.2.2 The Specific Use of Body Language2.2.1 Facial ExpressionsF acial expression is a kind of “Esperanto”, in human society, one person’s emotion can be reflected from facial expressions. If teachers make good use of facial expression in the classroom for different situations, it is possible to effectively regulate the classroom atmosphere, enhance the effectiveness of teaching.Teachers should use their facial expression properly in class. As a teacher, you can make full use of body language to respond students’ different answers, when students answer correctly, the teacher is extremely happy, that is a great prize; when students’ answer is wrong, the teachers should smile so that students do not feel discouraged, and then motivate himself to work harder. On the contrary, the rigid facial expression will make students feel confused. The use of a smile is indeed important. For most students, learning English is difficult, boring and hard to understand. It requires teachers make students optimistic, confident and positive, the smile exactly can do it.2.2.2 Eye ContactBody language is more than facial expression. Eyes play a large part, too. Eyes are the window to the soul. You can see his inner doubts, likes and dislikes and attitudes in favor or not from a person’s eyes. In drama , movies, fiction, poetry, or in really life, eyes have always been accepted as a major source of communication. Eyes have held a strange fascination for us. So in the facial expressions, eyes can be expressive, and delicate. For example, if students in the classroom from time to time aimlessly stare at the ceiling or the window, eyes dull, it shows that they are distracted. All those show that students’ eyes are full of great secrets.In class, teachers should look around the classroom from time to time so that it can arouse their sense of participation. Of course, you can use this way to remind some individual students who are absent minded in class. In addition, eye contact is useful for students in psychological investigation, and their own teachingeffectiveness; it can also inspire and encourage students to speak out. For example, when students are not concentrating their minds in a class, the teacher staring at him with severe eye, would make him pay more attention to the class and classroom effect will be different. Eyes will be applied arts, teaching is indeed of great help.Also there are other examples can explain the effect of eye. Not having eye contact means shyness, lacking confidence, not satisfied with the answer or intending to end the conversation; Raising the eyebrows means surprised; Eye contact means encouragement, conversing, or “stop doing that”!2.2.3 GestureUsing gestures in class not only can transmit thoughts and express feelings, but also can increase persuasion and appeal of the audio language. Another example: Palm down and pressing downward means sit down; Palm up and raising the hand up means stand up; Putting tips of fingers of one hand against the palm of the other hand which is flat and parallel to the ground means stop; Placing the index finger to the lips means silence, be quiet. In classroom teaching, teacher can use gestures to show that he wants students to participate in activities. For instance: when teaching the English sentences, the teacher can point to his clothing or may carry a teaching aid to teach “this is a jacket / coat / map / bag /...” “He is tall” when lifting hands high. “She is five years old” when showing five fingers. In addition, the simple gestures can also express as “Come here”; “It’s OK” and so on. When teaching “watermelon”, teache rs can make the action like holding the watermelon; when teaching “doll” he can do the actions like holding the baby sleep. It is easy for students to understand and firmly master the knowledge, at the same time; it is more interesting in learning English.In short, gesture is not only a body movement but it also is very rich in expression . Therefore, in the classroom teaching, the body language should be used as many as possible.2.2.4 Body DistanceBody distance is significant. It is also a kind of silent body language. In classroom teaching, teacher’s different distance from the student will give students a different psychological feeling and make different effects. Some studies show that when the teacher stood 2-3.5 meters away from the students, it will produce a control effect; if a student does not pay attention to the class, for this case, as long as the teacher impliesthe intention to walk to the student, it will make the students’ misconduct quickly changed.In English class, when doing dictation exercises, it is appropriate for teachers to move around in order to make students pay attention to the class and arouse their positive emotions. If the teachers keep a long distance from students, perhaps it is difficult to produce this effect. Some teachers have repeatedly mentioned that a big classroom is less effective than a small class teaching in a school. Therefore, paying attention to the application of body distance in classroom can improve teaching effectiveness.3. The Application of Body Language in English Teaching3.1 The Application of Body Language in ListeningAs technology advances and trade and exchange between countries increase, it is becoming more and more important to understand spoken English in many situations such as face-to-face, on telephone, in business meetings, speeches, television, and so on.To understand others is a basic purpose in English teaching, and teachers often train students’ listening accordingly. We are teaching our students English not only to help them pass exams, but also to enable them to use English in real life. It is important to know English that students will hear and the listening exercises we do in class. In this process, if the body language is used, the effect will be better. When beginning a new lesson, teachers narrate the story outline in English. The body language may help. For example, a teacher can stretch his arms slowly when he says, “She is in a big room”; he can open his eyes widely with mouth open when he says “She is such a beautiful lady”. It is obvious that the students will have such an impression: She is very beautiful indeed; a teacher who imitates the crying or the movement of the animals under the premise of teaching order will surely achieve a better effect. If teachers put their hands together and put them under the side of head while closing their eyes, it means “ I am sleeping ”.3.2 The Application of Body Language in SpeakingSpoken language is one of the important ways to communicate, it is one’s ability that the students will be judged upon most in real–life situations. It is such animportant part of everyday interaction and most often the first impression of a person is based on his/her ability to speak fluently and comprehensibly. So, as teachers, we have the responsibility to prepare students as much as possible to be able to speak in English both in the real situation and in the testing room. we should try to develop the students’ ability of speaking. In fact they are helped to reach the aim in a certain degree by t heir teacher’s body language.Generally speaking, body language can arouse and sustain students’ interest of learning and using English. For example in the first lesson Chapter One is about the time when the new students meet at first time, and they don’t know each other. So the teacher can introduce himself first, such as: “Hello, everyone, nice to meet you here. Now I’ll introduce myself to you. My name is Tom, I like playing basketball, for it makes me much stronger; I like reading books, for reading mak es one perfect”. During the introduction, the teacher smiles when he says hello to the class; he shakes hands with some students saying “Nice to meet you”; He writes name down on the blackboard; he imitates the action of dribbling and shooting at the baske tball… Usually, the proper employment of body language in different situations will result in attractive and successful lesson.In English class, the teachers should not only use body languages themselves, but also ask students to use them according to the different situations. The teacher can create a circumstance for the students to practice: “Mary and Mike are new classmates. They are walking together in the street, and they meet one of Mike’s old friends--Peter. Then Peter and Mary are introduced to eac h other by Mike.” After the students’ practice the dialogue is introduced naturally from it. Usually, the application of body language in different situations will result in an attracting and successful lesson.3.3 The Application of Body Language in ReadingThe purpose of English teaching is to train students’ preliminary ability of using spoken and written English. In school, we lay emphasis on the reading ability which will be beneficial for students’ further study.When reading the sentences, attention should be paid to where to speak softly, emphasize, and raise or lower our tone. To make it clear, we can imitate the strong or soft pats that are used in music teaching, which means to use the arcs to represent different tones. Generally speaking, we use falling tones in declarative and specialinterrogative sentence, first rising tones and then falling tones in the choosing interrogative sentence. The students in middle school are not often accustomed to this and always get confused, however, with the help of body language, they can solve the problem much more easily. For example, they use gestures. As they read the yes-no questions,they raise their hands in rising tones and lower in falling tones. After training for some times, as soon as they read the sentences, they will remind themselves of the gestures. As a result, there will be no problems in rightly reading the sentences at all.In a word, the vivid gesture together with the fluent English can create a good circumstance of learning, which will surely play an active part in improving the students’ reading ability.3.4. The Application of Body Language in WritingWriting is one of the four basic skills of learning language, and it is such an important skill that we can even say without it, people can’t communicate with others. Not only should the students get some English knowledge and vocabularies, but also the ability to communicate in spoken and written English as what is mentioned in the teaching programs. To some extent, writing is much more important than speaking, for it is not limited by space and time. Since the students learn English as a means for communication, they should have the ability of writing.English teachers should use every possible method to avoid students’ feelings of being dull and tiring. This is the same to the writing. Teachers use different methods in order to improve students’ writing ability and the application of body language can deepen the object impression, which is beneficial to enhance the students’ writing ability. Instead of their complete imagination, the students are deeply impressed by the body movement of teachers and themselves, which surely leads to a better article.4.ConclusionLeaning English needs practice. The classroom time is very precious and should be cherished, during which the students should practice as much as possible. To make use of the limited time, teachers are required to adopt some effective methods. In teaching, body language can always run through teaching, whether it is to teach letters, words, sentences or songs, rhymes, we can use physical movement to optimizeteaching. In addition, the use of classroom language or dialogue exchanges, the use of body language, can play the role of Aesthetic. All in all, the use of body language can not only attract students’ attention, but also deepen their impression and imagination.Based on the analysis, the writer concludes that body language has extremely vital role in foreign language teaching. It is not only helpful to strengthen the correl ation between teachers and students but also can raise student’s language application ability. So each English teacher must learn to use the body language, try to teach students in English during the class, together with the corresponding body language so that the students’ ability of English will be certainly and greatly improved.In short, in English teaching activities, teachers’ encouraging look, and a touch of action make children feel love, support and trust. We should use every opportunity to effectively use body language to help organize teaching, stimulate interest in learning and improve teaching effectiveness. But if body language is used inappropriately, it can cause children to feel confused. Over time, children will lose interest in learning. Therefore, teachers should have awareness to use body language correctly, in order to achieve the purpose of service in English Teaching.AcknowledgmentsI would like to express my sincere thanks to lots of people who have contributed to this thesis.First of all, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my supervisor XXX, for her instructive advice and useful suggestions on my thesis. Her strictness and earnestness makes me learn a lot from the paper-writing. I am deeply grateful of her help in the completion of this thesis.Meanwhile, My sincere and deep appreciation also goes to all the teachers of Foreign Language Department for their excellent and patient guidance during my study in the collage. Without their help and guidance, I can not master so much knowledge and learn how to write a paper.Secondly, my thanks would go to my beloved family for their consideration and support all through these years. Their very thoughtful care gave me courage to continue overcoming difficulties on the road to the future.Last but not least, I am grateful to all my fellow classmates and roommates for their help and care when I have difficulties in writing the thesis.。

Application of Oral English in Secondary English TeachingAbstract:This paper analyzes the lack of oral English teaching in secondary English teaching and is focusing on the measures to improve oral English teaching from the perspectives of cultivating students’interest, getting over their psychological hindrance, promoting their English listening, improving their pronouncing and creating proper environment.Key Words: Application of Oral English Secondary English Teaching Measures With the arrival of information age, the ability of communication has becoming more and more important. English, as an international language used in all phases of society, nearly all walks of life, has making greater contribution to the development of the whole world.But as an important stage of cultivating the ability of oral English, secondary oral English teaching has its poor quality in the improvement of expression of oral English. It is not difficult for us to consider how the students’ability of oral English is. We often see the fact that some teachers always complain that many of their students do well in homework and examinations with high scores but they have the poor ability of speaking English. Therefore, under this situation, the problem that we should know how to deal with the disadvantages and how to improve the quality of oral English teaching in secondary English teaching is raised.ⅠCultivating the Interest of Oral EnglishStudents’emotional attitude is an important factor which is closely linked to their interest. They learn best when they are learning something they enjoy truly. Confucius, the greatest anciently ideological thinker and educationist, which is the reprehensive figure of school Rujia said,“To know it is good, to learn it is better, but to be interested in it is best.”According to Krashen, he identifies three kinds of affective variable related to second language acquisition: Motivation. Learners with high motivation generally do better. Self-confidence, A learner with self-confidence and a good self-image tends to be more successful. Anxiety, Low personal anxiety and classroom anxiety are more conductive to second Language acquisition. Therefore, cultivating student interest in oral English is the first step of secondary English teaching.ⅡHelping Students to Get Over the Psychological Hindrances of Expression of Oral EnglishWe often find the fact that many students always keep silence in class. It is not that they don’t want to take part in teaching activities but that they are afraid of mistake or others’laugh for their poor speaking. Of course, those phenomena, to some extent, hinder the progress of English learning, especially oral English learning. As we know, the mistakes that we make are inevitable when we begin to speak Chinese, Let alone we speak English, the second language. So teachers should take attitude towards the mistakes positively.Teachers should take proper measures to correct the mistakes that students made in practicing. Anytime, teacher, according to me, should attach much importance to the two points. On the one hand, they don’t cause students to form emotions full of difficulty and setback. On the other hand, they don’t discourage students from practicing. In short, teachers should encourage students to practice oral English. And then, students enjoy the happiness that success has brought to them. Only in this way, can students have their desires and confidence in practicing oral English.。

TheApplicationof...ContentIntroductionI. Causes for Pleasure-stimulating Teaching Methods1.1 An Outcome of Educational Reform1.2 The Requirements of Students1.3 An Inevitable Educational TrendII. Functions of Pleasure-stimulating Teaching Methods2.1 Cultivating the ability of students2.2 Strengthen students? motivation of learningIII. The Application of Pleasure-stimulating Teaching Methods in Middle School3.1 Games for Students in Class3.2 The Good Use of Multimedia3.3 Some Interesting Stories for the Students in Class3.4 English Contest3.5 Role Plays for the StudentsConclusionThe Application of Pleasure-stimulating Teaching Methods in Middle School论快乐教学法在中学教育中的运用AbstractPleasure-stimulating teaching method is an inevitable outcome of basic educational reform, and a trend of the development of English teaching. It meets the requirements of student development. In middle school English teaching, pleasure-stimulating teaching method plays an active role in cultivating students?ability and strengthening students?motivation of learning. It could be realized through playing games in class, using multimedia technology, illustratinginteresting stories for students, organizing English contest and role play for students.Key Words: Pleasure-stimulating Teaching Methods; middle school English; English teaching; application摘要快乐教学法是基础教育改革的必然结果，是学生发展的要求，也是英语教学发展的必然趋势。

The Application of Task-based Language Teaching to Oral EnglishClassAbstract：Task-based language teaching (TBLT) refers to an approach based on the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching. The present research aims to explore the correlation of TBLT and students’oral proficiency and the effectiveness of TBLT. During a one-term experiment, the author chooses 82 English majors in two natural classes as the controlled class and experimental class. With the help of qualitative approach and quantitative approach, it proves that TBLT is effective in improving students’oral proficiency.Key words: task-based language teaching; task; English majors; oral proficiency; effectiveness1 IntroductionNowadays, with the high-speed development of science and technology, and our opening to the outside world, the importance of English is out of question. English teaching and learning has come to a prominent place. However, the outcome of the present English teaching is not satisfying. Students may read and write well, but their spoken English is not good. How to improve their speaking performance has become a problem demanding prompt solution.For many years, the traditional grammar translation approach PPP (present, practice and produce) has dominated the English classroom teaching and learning in China. However, the traditional approach has many problems while communicative approach seems hard to be applied into the English classroom. It is also doubtful that its lack of form-focused practices can improve the learners’accuracy in the language. An approach that can compensate for the weakness of the two approaches is in need. So the purpose of this research is to find out whether TBLT is effective in improving students’oral proficiency.2 Task-based language teaching （TBLT）2.1 Theoretical basis of TBLTTask-based language teaching has many theoretical basis, among which language acquisition theory and constructivism are the most influential.Based on the theory of second language acquisition, Krashen advocates Monitor Model. As far as Krashen is concerned, comprehensive input generateacquisition, and the best way to get comprehensive input is authentic communication. In language teaching, communication means doing things in target language, i.e., completing kinds of tasks. Through carrying out tasks, students have the opportunities to obtain authentic language input and the extra information from the settings makes the input more comprehensible; and then, with the help of comprehensive input, they will finish these tasks without difficulty. In this way, students can acquire a language and at the same time, improve their language proficiency.According to Piaget’s constructivism view, knowledge learning is a process of constant psychologically constructing; a process of experiencing, discovering and creating. The study and development of students is a kind of interaction and cooperation, which is the result of social co-reaction and can not be taught. It is believed that language knowledge can not increase if learning is isolated from the settings. Therefore, students should be provided enormous language material and settings as much as possible. By means of carrying out tasks, students interact and cooperate with each other, participate in the real, natural and meaningful activities, connect and combine, and construct the language system by themselves. It is the most effective way of language learning.2.2 Model of TBLTWillis designs a model of TBLT, which has a lot in common with Skehan’s. It divided the teaching process into three phases: pre-task phase, while-task (or task cycle) phase and post-task phase (or language focus). In pre-task phase, teacher inputs comprehensive language which is relevant with tasks by various of activities, builds up good settings, arouses students’background information and help students grasp the requisition of the tasks. While-task phase means language skill acquisition on the basis of the first phases. Willis (1996) suggests that this phase include three parts: task, plan and report. The post-task phase provides opportunity for students to do tasks again and promotes students to think about the process of carrying out tasks. Teacher in this phase can guide and emphasize the language form, help students to self-examine and consolidate, and encourages them to reconstruct.3 Research DesignThis research intends to explore the relevance between TBLT and English oral proficiency of English majors, to see whether TBLT is effective in improving students’speaking performance in oral class.The subjects in this experiment are 82 freshmen majoring in English education in Foreign Language Department. They were enrolled into Ji Ning University in 2010 and were divided into different classes by the computer program according to their scores of the National Entrance Examination. The computer program can make sure that the number of students in each class with high marks, moderate marks and lowmarks is similar.Two instruments are used in this research. The first instrument is pre-test and post-test of students’oral proficiency to find out whether TBLT is effective in improving students’oral proficiency. The second instrument is two questionnaires before and after the experiment to see whether there are some changes in the participants’interest and attitudes towards speaking English.This research starts in September, the beginning of the first term in 2010 and ends in January in 2011, the end of the first term, lasting one term. Two classes which are taught by the author are chosen to take part in this study. One is controlled class, the other is experimental class. In controlled class, the author adopts traditional teaching approach while in experimental class, TBLT will be applied. In the first step, there is a pre-test and questionnaire for all students. The next step in fact is the teaching procedure. Two classes adopt different teaching approaches and the experiment lasts a whole term. Step three, post-test and questionnaire, and there will be an informal interview about attitudes of participants towards TBLT.4 Data collection and data analysisData from pre-questionnaire &test and post-questionnaire &test are carefully recorded and are put into the computer, using SPSS.Table 1 Paired Samples Test (pre-test)In table 1, the sig. (2-tailed) is 0.805 which is far more than 0.05.And the “95% Confidence Interval of the Difference” from lower “-0.55348” to upper “0.70348” contains 0, which predicts that there is little or no difference of students’oral proficiency between controlled class and experimental class.Table 2 Paired Samples Test (post-test)In table 2, the sig. (2-tailed) is 0.033 which is lower than 0.05.And the “95% Confidence Interval of the Difference” from lower “-1.38676” to upper “-0.06324” doe s not contain 0, which predicts that there is great difference of students’oral proficiency between controlled class and experimental class.In a word, seen from the results of the post-test, after one term of application of TBLT to oral class, students in experimental class outperform students in controlled class in the aspect of oral English.5 ConclusionComparing the data of the two oral tests, we can see that students in both groups make progress. In aspect of “Accuracy and Range”, students in e xperimental class even get lower mean score. However, in aspects of “Size and Discourse management” and “Flexibility and Appropriateness”, students in experimental class obviously outperform students in controlled class. The reason might be that in controlled class where traditional teaching approach is adopted, teacher focuses on language structure and grammar. Students are stuffed with teacher’s lecture and are asked to do mechanical exercises which make them get more familiar with the clauses and master it better, while students in experimental class lay emphasis on using the target language to fulfill tasks. They spend most of the time in class carrying out the tasks. Although there is language focus stage in the end, after all it doesn’t take so much time as in the traditional class. So the oral productions of the students in controlled class involve more clauses and are more complex than the counterpart of the experimental class. But in general, the total score of students in experimental class is much higher than the students in controlled class. Students in experimental class make more progress than the controlled class.From what have been discussed above, a conclusion can be drawn that TBLT does have many advantages that traditional teaching approach does not have and it is effective in improving students’oral proficiency.References：[1]Bygate, M, Skehan, P. & M. Swain. Researching Pedagogic tasks: Second Language learning, teaching and testing[M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2001.[2]Ellis, R. Task-based language learning and teaching[M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2003.[3]Nunan,D. Task-based language teaching[M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2004.[4]Richards, J. C. and T. S. Rodgers. Approaches and methods in language teaching[M]. Cambridge University Press. 2001.[5]Robinson, P. Task complexity, task difficulty, and task production[M]. Applied Linguistics. 2001.[6]Swan, M. Legislation by hypothesis: the case of task-based instruction. TESOL Quarterly. 2005.[7]Tricia Hedge. Teaching and learning in the language classroom[M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language and Education Press. 2003.。

The application of the Internet to English Teaching In China作者：孟凡红来源：《教育教学论坛》2014年第11期Abstract：Undisputedly，Internet is a valuable resource and tool in assisting ESL/EFL teaching and learning. But problems still exist along side when used on large scale. In this paper，we’ll discusses the function of the Internet in teaching languages，the current ways that it is used in teaching English and examines the applicability of using it in EFL teaching in China.Key Words：the Internet；Interaction中图分类号：G642.4 文献标志码：A 文章编号：1674-9324（2014）11-0177-02Owing to the fast development of the internet，educators have been provided with a new powerful medium. Especially when it is connected with the EFL teaching ，we can get access to the vast treasure of the native language and culture free of a visa. However，how to make the utmost of the internet to motivate the students still needs substantial discussion.一、The functions of the Internet in ESL/EFL contextAs the internet carries distant information over to its users at an amazingly fast speed，the value of it in educational arena should lie in distance learning，the power to make learning possible from a distance where learners are away from their teachers，sources or from both. MIT recently opened 500 courses on the Internet so that people all over the world away from MIT can get access to their courses and benefit from them. In a sense，the Internet has erased the physical distance.In more than one way，foreign language study is a natural candidate for distance learning with its major goal being the connection of language learners with the native language input and native speakers （Leloup & Ponterio，2003）. Therefore，the value of using the Internet in the EFL setting is to build a bridge for our learners over to the bountiful English language resources that we cannot otherwise have access to.二、Popular Ways of Interaction via the InternetMany ways are currently used in the ESL field to promote Internet interaction. Firstly，Chat is an important means of CMC（Computer Mediated Communication）（Sokolik，2001），which makes use of online chat programs to facilitate communication between teachers and learners，and among learners themselves. Besides，Both MUDS （Multi-user Domains） and MOOS （Multi-user Domains Object Oriented） are programs that provide the users with text-based virtual spaces todescribe environments and to interact with those environments（Sokolik，2001）.The users write scenes in planned ways，hold dialogues in an impromptu manner，and “foraging”for information，which，according to Schumann （1994），is critical in the learning process. And finally，the use of E-mail in the classroom has been much studied in the field to facilitate communication both in and out of classes.三、The Applicability of the Internet in TEFL in ChinaEven though the prospect of applying the Internet，especially CMC activities in TEFL in China on a large scale does not look promising at present owing to its low availability and high cost，it still can be developed and used to our advantage if we do it properly. The following are some of the activities and tasks that I think are doable now that can realize the value of the Internet better.1.For reading courses。

在外国企业中的职位英文简称公司英文标识总公司HeadOffice分公司BranchOffice营业部BusinessOffice人事部PersonnelDepartment人力资源部HumanResourcesDepartment总务部GeneralAffairsDepartment财务部GeneralAccountingDepartment销售部SalesDepartment促销部SalesPromotionDepartment国际部InternationalDepartment出口部ExportDepartment进口部ImportDepartment公共关系PublicRelationsDepartment广告部AdvertisingDepartment企划部PlanningDepartment产品开发部ProductDevelopmentDepartment 研发部ResearchandDevelopmentDepartment(R&D) 秘书室SecretarialPoolGM(GeneralManager)总经理VP(VicePresident)副总裁FVP(FirstVicePresident)第一副总裁AVP(AssistantVicePresident)副总裁助理CEO(ChiefExecutiveOfficer)首席执行官COO(ChiefOperationsOfficer)首席运营官CFO(ChiefFinancialOfficer)首席财务官CIO(ChiefInformationOfficer)首席信息官HRD(HumanResourceDirector)人力资源总监OD(OperationsDirector)运营总监MD(MarketingDirector)市场总监OM(OperationsManager)运作经理PM(ProductionManager)生产经理(ProductManager)产品经理AccountingAssistant 会计助理AccountingClerk 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:Quality Assurance品质保证MIS :Management Information System管理信息系统OQC :Output Quality Control出货质量保证IQC :Incoming Quality Control来料品质保证IPQC :In Process Quality Control制程中的品质管制人员ME :Mechanical Engineer机构工程师DIA Diameter直径N Number样品数其它品质术语类QIT Quality Improvement Team品质改善小组ZD Zero Defect零缺点QI Quality Improvement 品质改善 QP Quality Policy 目标方针 TQM Total Quality Management全面品质管理RMA Return Material Audit退料认可7QCTools 7 Quality Control Tools品管七大手法通用之件类ECN Engineering Change Notice工程变更通知(供应商)ECO Engineering Change Order工程改动要求(客户)PCN Process Change Notice工序改动通知PMP Product Management Plan生产管制计划SIP Standard Inspection Procedure制程检验标准程序SOP Standard Operation Procedure制造作业规范IS Inspection Specification成品检验规范BOM Bill Of Material物料清单PS Package Specification包装规范SPEC Specification 规格 DWG Drawing 图面系统文件类 ES Engineering Standard 工程标准 CGOO China General PCE龙华厂文件 IWS International Workman Standard 工艺标准 ISO International Standard Organization 国际标准化组织 GS General Specification 一般规格部类 PMC Production & Material Control 生产和物料控制 PCC Product control center 生产管制中心 PPC Production Plan Control 生产计划控制 MC Material Control 物料控制 DC Document Center 资料中心 QE Quality Engineering 品质工程(部) QA Quality Assurance 品质保证(处) QC Quality Control 品质管制(课) PD Product Department 生产部 LAB Laboratory 实验室 IE Industrial Engineering 工业工程 R&D Research & Design 设计开发部生产类 PCs Pieces 个(根,块等) PRS Pairs 双(对等) CTN Carton 卡通箱 PAL Pallet/skid 栈板 PO Purchasing Order 采购订单 MO Manufacture Order 生产单 D/C Date Code 生产日期码 ID/C Identification Code (供应商)识别码 SWR Special Work Request 特殊工作需求 L/N Lot Number 批号 P/N Part Number 料号 OEM Original Equipment Manufacture 原设备制造 PC Personal Computer 个人电脑 I/O input/output 输入/输出 NG Not Good 不行,不合格 C=0 Critical=0 极严重不允许 APP Approve 核准,认可,承认 CHK Check 确认 ASS'Y Assembly 装配组装 T/P True Position 真位度 5WIH When, Where, Who, What, Why, How to 6M Man, Machine, Material, Method, Measurement, Message 4MT H Man, Material, Money, Method, Time, How 人力物力,财务,技术,时间(资源) SQA Strategy Quality Assurance 策略品质保证 DQA Design Quality Assurance 设计品质保证 MQA Manufacture Quality Assurance 制造品质保证 SSQA Sales and service Quality Assurance 销售及服务品质保证 LRR Lot Reject Rate 批退率 SPS Switching power supply 电源箱 DT Desk Top 卧式机箱 MT Mini-Tower 立式机箱) DVD Digital Video Disk VCD Video Compact Disk LCD Liq uid Crystal Display CAD Computer Aided Design CAM Comp uter Aided Manufacturing CAE Computer Aided Engineering PCB Printed Circuit Board 印刷电路板 CAR Correction Action Report 改善报告 NG Not Good 不良 WDR Weekly Delivery Requirement 周出货要求 PPM Percent Per Million 百万分之一 TPM Total Production Maintenance 全面生产保养 MRP Material Requirement Planning 物料需计划 OS Operation System 作业系统 TBA To Be Assured 待定,定缺 D/C Drawing Change P/P Plans & Procedure EMI Electric al-Music Industry 电子音乐工业Electrical Magnetic Interference 电子干扰 RFI Read Frequency Input 读频输入 MMC Maximum Material Condition MMS Maximum Ma terial Size LMC Least Material Condition LMS Least Material Size LED lighting-emitting diode 发光二极管 QBR Quarter Business Record CIP Continuous improve ment process FGI Forecasted Goal Inventory CNC Compute rized numeral controller B2C Business to customer B2B Bus iness to business AVL Approved vendor list POP Procedure of packaging EOL End of life VDCS Vender defect correcting sheet PDCS Process defect correcting sheet GRN Goods rece iving note A/R Accounting receivable A/P Accounting payab le special assistant 特助 deputy manager |'depjuti| =vice manager副理 deputy supervisor =vice supervisor副课长 group leader 组长 line leader线长 supervisor 课长 responsible department负责单位 Human Resources Department 人力资源部 Head count 人头数 production department生产部门 planning department企划部 QC Section品管课 stamping factory冲压厂 painting factory烤漆厂 molding factory成型厂 administration/general affairs dept./总务部 production unit生产单位meeting minutes会议记录 distribution department分发单位 subject主题 conclusion结论 decision items决议事项 pre-fixed finishing date预定完成日 Color management 颜色管理目视管理 production capacity生产力 first count初盘 first check 初盘复棹 second count 复盘 second check复盘复核 quantity of physical inventory second count 复盘点数量 physical inventory盘点数量 physical count quantity帐面数量 difference quantity差异量 spare parts physical inventory list备品盘点清单 cause analysis原因分析 waste materials废料 description品名 specification 规格 model机种 work order工令 revision版次 remark备注registration 登记 Visual management registration card登记卡 to control管制 application form for purchase请购单 consume, consumption消耗 to notify通知 to fill in填写 to collect, to gather收集 statistics统计 cosmetic inspection standard 外观检验规范 computer case 电脑外壳(组件) personal computer enclosure 电脑机箱产品 front plate前板 rear plate后板 chassis |'∫æsi|基座 bezel panel面板 Hood 上盖 base pan 基座 bezel 面板 riser card 扩充卡 flat cable 排线 TOP driver cage 上磁架 bottom driver cage 下磁架 resin film 树脂膜 raw materials原料 materials物料 steel plate钢板 roll/coil material卷料 spare parts =buffer备品 plastic parts塑胶件 sheet metal parts/stamping parts 冲件 material check list物料检查表finished product成品semi-finished product半成品good product/accepted goods/。

The Application of Task-Based Instruction in Chinese EFL ClassroomZhiqin ZhangTaiyuan Normal University, China•Abstract•Introduction•Definitions of Task and the Nature of Task-Based Instruction•Some Characteristics of English Teaching in China•Justification for Traditional English Teaching Methods•The Teaching of Grammar•TBI in Chinese Context•Conclusion•ReferencesAbstractThis paper examines the educational concept of task and discusses its relevance to Task-Based Instruction (TBI). The paper argues that communicatively-oriented TBI may not be appropriate to the Chinese EFL discourse, considering Chinese characteristics of EFL teaching context. The paper expounds the importance and necessity of traditional formal teaching in terms of grammar, vocabulary and translation respectively, but also points out its demerits. In the final part, the discussion, based on the TBI framework of Littlewood, describes the TBI as the integration of communicative activities into the teaching of formal features and recommends the ways to apply TBI in the Chinese context.IntroductionSince 1980s when task-based instruction (TBI) has been called for in language teaching (Prabhu, 1987, Nunan 1989, Long and Crookes 1991), TBI has attracted to itself positive reception. Willis (1996) commented that “TBI is attractive…”. Nunan, in his updated edition, “Task-Based Language Teaching”, asserted that TBI has now “moved to the centre ground” (2004, Pxiii). “The task-based approach has achieved something of the status of a new orthodoxy: teachers in a wide range of settings are being told by curriculum leaders that this is how they should teach, and publishers almost everywhere are describing their new textbooks as task-based” as Littlewood noted. However, TBI is not without critiques. Skehan admits that to date, TBI offers no viable framework for the pedagogic planning of communal language-classroom activity. Swan argues: “…I don’t believe that TBI can fulfil its claims” and raises questions on the hypothesis underpinning TBI. Even the strong TBI proponent, Nunan warns of the distance between rhetoric and reality on the subject. Still some researchers and educational innovators have been trying adapting it to the specific context, (Long 1988, Fotos 1998, Samuda 2001) and providing the framework for its implementation. (Skehan 1996). In general, Sheen (2002) points out that “the debate revolves around the degree to which teachers need to direct learner’s attention to understanding grammar whilst retaining a focus on the need to communicate”. But in China, instruction of grammatical features is still common. The point is how much learners’ attention is directed tocommunication. Then questions arise: is TBI applicable to Chinese EFL classroom? Should the formal teaching be abandoned? To answer these questions, at the outset, it is helpful to examine issues relating to the definitions of tasks and task-based instruction.Definitions of Task and the Nature of Task-Based InstructionResearchers are divided as to the range and definition of the ‘task’. Williams and Burden (1997:168) define a task as “any activity that learners engage in to further the process of learning a language”. Breen (1987:23) included in his concept of task a range of learning activities “from the simple and brief exercise type to more complex and lengthy activities such as group problem-solving or simulations anddecision-making”. Estaire and Zanon (1994: 13-20) distinguish two main categories of task:‘communication tasks’, in which the learner’s attention is focused on meaning rather than form, and‘enabling tasks’, in which the main focus is on linguistic aspects such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, functions and discourse, and the like. Different from the above definitions, which include the exercises of grammatical features, Stern (1992: 195-196) emphasizes tasks as ‘realistic language use’, ‘communicative exercises…provide opportunities for relatively realistic language use, focusing on the learner’ s attention on a task, problem, activity, or topic, and not on a particular language point’. Skehan holds that a task is taken to be an activity in which meaning is primary, there is sort of relationship to the real world, task completion has some priority, and the assessment of task performance is made in terms of task outcome.Those who completely exclude activities of formal features from the category of task are Willis and Ellis. According to Willis (1996: 23), “tasks are always activities where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome”. Ellis terms any activity in which the learners have no communicative purpose as ‘exercise’. Now this communicative definition represents ‘a broad consensus among researchers and educators’ (Ellis 2000:195). Because of its prevalent communicative definition, TBI can be conceived as a development within the communicative approach. It takes on the following characteristics: (adapted from M. Swan: 377)•Instructed language learning should primarily involve ‘natural’ or ‘naturalistic’ language use, based on activities concerned with meaning rather than language.•Instruction should favour learner-centredness rather than teacher control.•Communicative tasks are a particularly appropriate vehicle for such an approach.•Traditional approaches are ineffective and undesirable, especially where they involve proactive formal instruction and practice decoupled from communicative work.Many questions and counterarguments have been raised in relation to these principles. Fotos (1998), on the basis of his years of experience of teaching English in Japan, recognizes TBI, the research of which is mainly ESL- based, is unsuitable for EFL context. Williams (1995) also points out the inability of communicative ESL teaching alone to promote high levels of accuracy in learners. Swan (2005) argues that it is not clear how TBI can fully meet the requirements of the vast majority of English learners, who need a large amount of input and have not much out-of-class exposure. In fact, teachers are holding on to the traditional teaching methods, sceptical of the value of state-of-the-art methods, just because they are sufficiently aware of the constraints inherent in their situation. The methods to them are clearly inappropriate to their working circumstances.To address the situation, Littlewood(2004) suggests that, regarding the definition of task, we accept the everyday, non-specialist definition of task given in the 1989 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, ‘a piece of work imposed, exacted, or undertaken as a duty or the like’, or ‘a portion of study imposed by a teacher’ , in this way, our attention is directed to particular key dimensions of tasks relevant to language teaching, such as different degrees of task involvement and different degrees of focus on meaning and to the complementary roles of form-focused and meaning-focused tasks in our methodology. He puts forward two dimensions crucial to understanding tasks. The first dimension is the continuum from focus on forms to focus on meaning and the second is the degree of learner-involvement that a task elicits (Littlewood: 2004).Involvement taskHigh task involvementLow focus on meaning (High focus on form)Low task involvementLow focus on meaning (High focus on form) High task involvementHigh focus on meaning (High focus on form)Low task involvementHigh focus on meaning (Low focus on form)Focus on form ←←→→focus on meaningTwo dimensions in task-based foreign language learningIn the figure, Littlewood combines the two dimensions into one framework for characterizing the nature of tasks. The horizontal axis represents, from left to right, the continuum from focus on form to focus on meaning. The vertical axis represents increasing degrees of involvement in a task. Thus whether the task content is form-focused language exercise such as grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation ormeaning-focused activities such as role-play, discussion or problem-solving, the students may contribute a high degree of involvement (top left and top right). On the other hand, if the language exercises or discussions are not appropriate or uninteresting, students may not get involved (bottom left and bottom right). In this framework students’ engagement is emphasized. It seems that the boundary between form and meaning is clear-cut here, because even if the task content is grammar structure, it is achieved through students’ meaningful communicative activities. By engaging in the tasks, the students are not only aware of how the target structure is used in context, they also focus their attention on meaning. TBI in the perspective of the framework designed by Littlewood is more applicable to Chinese EFL context, that is, an integration of communicative activities with formal instruction and the engagement of students in the itemized language focus tasks. To justify my argument, in the following sections first I give a brief introduction of Chinese EFL situation and then highlight the importance of the instruction of grammatical features and finally recommend how to apply TBI in Chinese context.Some Characteristics of English Teaching in ChinaCentralised Test-Driven Teaching Education SystemIn China from primary school to university, the teaching of EFL is test-driven. At high school level, teaching is aimed at preparing students for university entrance examinations. At college level, students learn English to pass EPT-4 and-6 (two nation-wide college English proficiency tests) and ultimately the graduate entrance examination. The learners’ primary goal is to master specific vocabulary items, translation skills, and grammatical structures and improve listening and reading comprehension. Thus grammar instruction dominates the ELT curriculum. Hu (2003) conducted a questionnaire-based study involving 439 secondary school graduates from 25 provinces and municipalities of China and found clear regional differences in the adoption of communicative language teaching (CLT). The findings show that “although some CLT features were more or less present in classrooms in the more developed regions (i.e. large cities and coastal provinces), they were largely absent from classrooms in the disadvantaged rural areas” (Hu: 2005). Hu also mentioned that even in the former, traditional instructional practices predominated or at least existed side by side with CLT activities. He highlighted the point that “70% of the secondary school students nationwide study in the vast rural areas”. Apart from examination pressures on classroom instruction, a variety of contextual factors exert a powerful impact on classroom teaching and make it impossible and inappropriate to adopt communicatively-oriented TBI in EFL classrooms. Among them the most remarkable are teachers’ lack of communicative competence in English and of knowledge of English-speaking cultures.Language Teachers’ CompetenceIn a case study conducted in 2002 of 47 teachers in a northern city of China, Cheng and Wang found that majority of these teachers started to learn English after the critical period: the age that, according to Krashen, plays a crucial role in the proficiency a learner can achieve. As to their educational qualifications, most of them have a three-year course certificate from teachers’ colleges and only a minority have a bachelor’s degree and one of them holds a master’s. As Cheng et al reported in 2003, many in-service teachers of English in China at the junior high school do not have a bachelor degree with the national average being 55% with bachelors at this level of teaching and 80% at senior high schools, and 74.5% of them use grammar-translation method when they learn English. Of these teachers surveyed, more than half express their concern about their own language proficiency and skills in English. This is a typical group of high school teachers in Chinese context with limited English language proficiency and teaching methodologies. They are the major teaching force in Chinese high schools. In addition to the above characteristics, large size classes and poor-exposure to language also contribute to the necessity of the application of traditional methods. They are not without their merits.Justification for Traditional English Teaching MethodsTraditional methods are commonly used to accommodate a linguistic syllabus, stressing the instruction of grammatical features and employing grammar translation method in a procedure of presentation, practice and production (PPP). To those Chinese students who have no prior knowledge of English, the primary task is their elementary command of the language, therefore, the language instruction course must establish an appropriate knowledge and skills base for the learner, i.e. the first two steps of PPP in the classroom. According to Swan (2005:387), three problems are meant to be solved:•Selection and presentation: The most important linguistic elements for learners’ purposes must be identified and made available for learning.•Establishment of a knowledge base: The forms and use of new language items must be fixed in learners’ long-term memory.•Development of recall and deployment: New material, once learnt, must become efficiently retrievable for comprehension or production. Where language use involves not only recall butalso computation (for example applying a morphological or syntactic rule, matching agrammatical form to a meaning or situation), learners must acquire the ability to perform theoperations required with reasonable accuracy in real time.Johnson also maintains that language learning is at least partly a matter of acquiring skills: ‘a view of language as skill is persuasive, insightful, and useful for language teachers’ (1996:38) and emphasizes that instructed acquisition may reasonably include the presentation and practice of such discrete elements of behaviour as syntactic, phonological, morphological and the like which constitute ‘sub-skills’ in the context of ‘skills syllabus’. Long reviewed the research comparing instructed with uninstructed language learning and identified advantages for instruction in terms of the learner’s rate of learning and level of achievement. According to my experience and knowledge gained through years’ teaching of English in a Chinese university and exchanges with my colleagues, teachers’ role as sources of linguistic information cannot be denied and instruction of formal features should not be deleted from the curriculum. In the following discussion, I would argue for the teaching of grammar, vocabulary and translation respectively.The Teaching of GrammarFirst I would like to take a sentence from Persuasion (Austen: 2003)as an example to demonstrate the necessity of knowledge of grammar in comprehending and appreciating the classic English literary works.“ Precisely such had the paragraph originally stood from the printer’s hands; but Sir Walter had improved it by adding, for the information of himself and his family, there words, after the date of Mary’sbirth—‘married, Dec.16, 1810Charles, son and heir of Charles Musgrove, Esq. of Uppercross, in the county of Somerset,’—and by inserting most accurately the day of the month on which he had lost his wife. “(Chapter 1, p9)This is a one-sentence paragraph on the first page of the first chapter. It is very likely that those foreign students who have not had a good command of English grammar have difficulty in comprehending the sentence. Here are three main grammatical points constituting the barriers. Only when they have learned the rules of ‘inversion’, can they make sense of the former part by restoring it to ‘the paragraph had originally stood precisely such from the printer’s hands’. In the latter part, there are two adverbials of manner introduced by ‘by’ to describe how ‘Sir Walter had improved it’, one being ‘by adding…’, the other being ‘by inserting…’, which are coordinated by ‘and’ and separated by two other adverbials. The third grammatical point the students should be aware of is the logical object of ‘adding’. Only when they learn the rule that transitive verbs must take an object, can they realize they need to locate ‘these words’ as the object.This sample of grammatically complex sentences is a common occurrence in our students’ reading textbooks. Unless they have gained a good foundation in English grammar, it is hard to grasp themeaning. As Swan (1985:75) put it, “Language is not only a set of formal systems, but it is a set of system and it is perverse not to focus on questions of form when this is desirable”. Experienced teachers have realized that some grammatical points are difficult to learn and need to be studied in isolation. Thus, they tend to ask their students to practise difficult structures until they master them. Through this development of explicit knowledge about grammar structures, students’ consciousness of the structures is raised so that “they can notice it in subsequent communicative input” (Fotos: 1993).In cognitive psychology it is commonly acknowledged that the distinction between two types of linguistic knowledge is made: an examplar-based system and a rule-based system. The former contains both discrete lexical items and ready-made formulaic chunks of language, which can be easily and quickly accessed during fluent language performance, while the latter consists of abstract representations of the underlying patterns of the language. They require more processing and thus are best suited for more controlled, less fluent language performance. Learners call for this kind of knowledge when they have to creatively construct utterances to express meaning precisely or in sociolinguistically appropriate ways (Ellis: 2000). To learners who are not exposed to the target language environment, numerous sentences are not predicted by the syllabus. They can only construct sentences out of lexical and grammatical building blocks in accordance with the various grammatical rules. Thus, instruction of grammatical rules is essential to the attainment of the advanced language level.Vocabulary-buildingWe often compare speaking and writing to building a house and words to bricks to highlight the importance of vocabulary. Even if students are taught to express approval, make requests, establish rapport, warn, apologize, and the like, they still cannot accomplish all these tasks without the necessary words. The fact is students already know how to perform these communicative functions in their native tongue and what they need to learn is how to do these things in English. They have to learn the words and expressions which are used to refer to the things in the world. Even if students are given chances to open and close conversations, to interact naturally, to interrupt and challenge, ask for help, the knowledge of the linguistic conventions for all these communication is a precondition, which is owed to the input from the dominating teachers, the teachers cannot elicit what is not there. Researchers such as de la Fuente (2006), Ellis and He(1999), Ellis et al., (1994) and Loschky (1994) have underscored the importance of L2 vocabulary acquisition. The way they teach L2 vocabulary is to engage the students in the language-learning activities.The Importance of TranslationThe mother tongue plays an important role in learning a foreign language. Interlanguage contains errors caused by interference from the mother tongue but it cannot be denied that the association between the mother tongue items and foreign language items contributes to the mastery of the foreign language. Its advantages overweigh the disadvantages. Behan and Turnbull(1997, from Swain and Lapkin, 2000) compared the oral presentations of the groups of students who used the first language more in their preparations with those of the groups of students who used less and found the former groups did better than the latter, so they concluded that “L1 use can both support and enhance L2 development, functioning simultaneously as an effective tool for dealing with cognitively demanding content”. (p.41). Swain and Lapkin made a detailed analysis of the use of the first language while the two groups ofstudents were fulfilling two tasks, and made a conclusion that “judicious use of L1 can indeed support L2 learning and use. To insist that no use be made of the L1 in carrying out tasks that are both linguistically and cognitively complex is to deny the use of an important cognitive tool”(PP.268-269). In my teaching experience, I find that translation of some items is even an easier way to students for their grasp and use of the items. For example, in an English text, we came across the word ‘rhinoceros’, I first gave the English definition, ‘a large heavy thick-skinned animal of Africa or Asia, with either one or two horns on its nose’, the students still felt confused, for none of them had ever seen such an animal in real life except several had known it from the picture books, just an English definition is not enough to create an image in their mind. Only when I gave them the Chinese equivalent of the word ‘shuiniu’, they realized what it refers to and had a picture of it. This recourse to the mother tongue makes it possible for us not to learn a new language from scratch.Compared with the traditional methods, communicatively-oriented TBI puts greater emphasis on output, only the last step of PPP, not supplying analysed new language material in the form of word-lists and examples of grammatical regularities and has less time available per class hour for new-language input, so it cannot fully meet the requirements of those learners who are learning a new language and need much more input. When I argue for the traditional methods, I do not mean to say it has no demerits. In fact now the drawbacks of this approach have been deeply felt, since learners, despite years of study, are still unable to communicate in English. Many learners invariably express a dislike for the lecture-style class structure, which preclude student participation. To remedy this weakness, the governmental department in charge of education is undergoing remarkable reforms in terms of curricula and syllabus. A great many textbooks emphasizing communication are introduced from abroad or compiled by educators. But questions need to be asked: how to improve the teaching approach? How to adapt the TBI framework advocated by Littlewood to Chinese context?TBI in Chinese ContextBefore I elaborate on the application of TBI, I’d like to clarify a point. The approach of integration of communicative activities into grammatical instruction is not new. In 1988, Long has recommended a syllabus, which he termed ‘focus on form’, meaning to combine communicative language use with instruction on grammar forms in context, a format which is “particularly characteristic of task-based language instruction” ( Fotos: 1998). Here I don’t use the term to avoid confusion, because in other articles or books on TBI (such as Littlewood: 1998, Ellis: 2000), ‘form’ refers to language features, as opposed to ‘meaning’. In Chinese context, as the systematic teaching of new linguistic material is the primary goal, priority should be given to teacher’s instruction instead of communication or interaction between peers, just as Swan (2005: 390) points out that “If one was seeking an efficient way of improving one’s elementary command of a foreign language, sustained conversation and linguistic speculation with other elementary learners would scarcely be one’s first choice”. On this point, Lightbown (1991:208 from Bruton: 2002) has this say, “On the other hand, since the students are in classes which are strictly homogeneous for native language, they tend to get masses of non-native input which will tend to confirm their own interlanguage hypotheses”. “The questionable effects of this peer interaction on interlanguage representations” can be proved by my observation of students’ reactions when class time is at their disposal to discuss about some topics. Some students always keep silent, for the reason that “we don’t know what to say, how to express ourselves.” Other students may get involved in the discussion, but they are not satisfied because “our words and sentences are too limited, what we say are always restricted tothose things”. Their common response to open-ended pair work or group work is “once or twice one term is enough, if more, it is waste of time”. This does not mean there are no other activities or tasks involved in class. Students can be engaged in the ‘pre-communicative language practice’ (Littlewood: 2004) which is a point on the continuum from focus on form to focus on meaning. The practice primarily focuses on formal features, but is also meaning-orientedItemized language focused tasksThe task is preceded by explicit formal instruction, i.e. the teacher first presents language. Then the students practise it to assimilate by doing a series of tasks. The tasks are intended to make the linguistic features salient to students by raising their awareness of the forms. The students fulfil the tasks in pair through communicative activities, in this way; the students are engaged in the interaction. The tasks take the forms of question-answer exchanges, prompted interaction and written language interaction, depending on the kinds of linguistic features.a. Question-answer exchangesFor example, when the students learn the color words, they can ask each other questions such as “What color is your hair?” and the like. After I finish explaining the grammatical feature, ‘cleft sentence’, I set the students a series of tasks. Partner A poses the question “Who usually cooks in your family?” Partner B replies, “It is my mum who usually cooks.”, and vice versa.b. Prompted interactionFor example, as regards the conversion of direct speech into indirect speech, when Partner A says “My dad works as a doctor”, Partner B responds by saying, “He said his dad works as a doctor.” Then B goes on saying, “My dad works in a factory” and Partner C follows suit.c. Written language interactionWhen I finish a text, usually an interesting story, I set the students the task of rewriting the story, and then retelling it between the deskmates. The task takes two steps, first the students finish it independently so that they have time to prepare, and then do it in pairs.These three forms are the main ones I use in my class to engage my students in the interactive tasks. The teacher has to judge which form is more appropriate to what task. Although the task content centres on grammatical features, the students use the target language in a communicative context. This kind of pair work can overcome the disadvantage of large-size class. With the formal instruction before the task and prompts given during the task, the students will not feel frustrated. In the course of such activities, students’ attention is attracted to both formal features and their meanings and they have a high involvement in terms of the second dimension of TBI.According to Fotos’(1998: 307) “task performance can significantly increase learner awareness of the target structure and improve accuracy in its use, as well as providing opportunities for meaning-focused comprehension and production of the target language. Furthermore, such tasks release more traditionally oriented non-native speaker teachers from the requirement to lead communicative activities in the target language.”As learners’ competence improves, the instruction can move along the continuum to ‘communicative language practice’, ‘structured communication’ and ‘authentic communication’, but at the same time students’ involvement must be taken into consideration. It is not always the case that the more。