Many Asian countries,including China,have revised their policy for English language teaching to include the introduction of English in elementary schools.This article first reviews research that has investigated the e...Many Asian countries,including China,have revised their policy for English language teaching to include the introduction of English in elementary schools.This article first reviews research that has investigated the effects of introducing English in the elementary school on language learning.The common myth that children are better language learners than adolescents or adults is not borne out.In many respects,adolescent learners are better learners than children.Studies such as the Barcelona Age Factor Project have failed to demonstrate that starting English at the elementary level results in higher levels of proficiency in the long run,especially when learning is measured using tests of explicit L2 knowledge.Next the article examines the problems that elementary schools face in introducing English in China and Japan.A lack of properly trained teachers has resulted in a very uneven implementation of governmental policy.The article concludes by proposing that starting English in the elementary school does afford possibilities for improved English language learning in countries like China and Japan but that this depends on the adoption of an appropriate methodology for teaching young learners (i.e.task-based language teaching) and on the availability of teachers trained to teach children.展开更多
The production-oriented approach （POA） has been developed over a decade. It is driven by the need to improve English classroom instruction for university students in China （Wen, 2016）. It is also motivated by the ...The production-oriented approach （POA） has been developed over a decade. It is driven by the need to improve English classroom instruction for university students in China （Wen, 2016）. It is also motivated by the aspiration to enhance the quality of foreign language education in other similar pedagogical contexts outside China. A volume of research has been done by Wen Qiufang and her research team, to formulate the theory of POA and to test its effectiveness in classroom pedagogy （e.g. Wen, 2016, 2015; Yang, 2015; Zhang, 2015）. At the moment, the POA is still at an early stage of theory building and almost all empirical research is done in the Chinese context. In order to improve the quality of this theory and to make it intelligible to the international academic community, a one-day symposium was held in Beijing Foreign Studies University on May 15, 2017. The symposium was entitled ＇The first international forum on innovative foreign language education in China： Appraisal of the POA＇. In the forum, leading experts in applied linguistics were invited to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the POA and the directions for its future development. The symposium was the first attempt for the POA research team to discuss its latest work with international scholars. This Viewpoint section collects the responses of four experts who participated in the symposium, listed in alphabetical order. The collection of articles covers three topics related to the POA： its pedagogical application, its use for teacher training, and its research. Alister Cumming is Professor Emeritus and the former Head of the Centre for Educational Research on Languages and Literacies, University of Toronto, Canada. His article focuses primarily on POA research as an exemplary case of design-based research. Rod Ellis is Research Professor in the School of Education at Curtin University, Australia. He discusses POA in terms of pedagogy, teacher training and research, with both critiques and constructive suggestions. Paul Kei M展开更多
To facilitate the effect of utilizing games in primary school English teaching,four problems in current instructional practice have been identified by reviewing related literature.They are:1)inappropriate teaching mat...To facilitate the effect of utilizing games in primary school English teaching,four problems in current instructional practice have been identified by reviewing related literature.They are:1)inappropriate teaching materials;2)unscientific design of game teaching procedures;3)unstructured implementation process;4)Inadequate quality of teaching staff.Then,four specific countermeasures to remedy these problems have been proposed in detail,which include selecting appropriate teaching materials,rigorously designing game teaching procedures,organizing the class actively and developing the quality of teaching staff.This analysis will enhance teachers’awareness and competence of using games in primary school English teaching.展开更多
文摘Many Asian countries,including China,have revised their policy for English language teaching to include the introduction of English in elementary schools.This article first reviews research that has investigated the effects of introducing English in the elementary school on language learning.The common myth that children are better language learners than adolescents or adults is not borne out.In many respects,adolescent learners are better learners than children.Studies such as the Barcelona Age Factor Project have failed to demonstrate that starting English at the elementary level results in higher levels of proficiency in the long run,especially when learning is measured using tests of explicit L2 knowledge.Next the article examines the problems that elementary schools face in introducing English in China and Japan.A lack of properly trained teachers has resulted in a very uneven implementation of governmental policy.The article concludes by proposing that starting English in the elementary school does afford possibilities for improved English language learning in countries like China and Japan but that this depends on the adoption of an appropriate methodology for teaching young learners (i.e.task-based language teaching) and on the availability of teachers trained to teach children.
文摘The production-oriented approach （POA） has been developed over a decade. It is driven by the need to improve English classroom instruction for university students in China （Wen, 2016）. It is also motivated by the aspiration to enhance the quality of foreign language education in other similar pedagogical contexts outside China. A volume of research has been done by Wen Qiufang and her research team, to formulate the theory of POA and to test its effectiveness in classroom pedagogy （e.g. Wen, 2016, 2015; Yang, 2015; Zhang, 2015）. At the moment, the POA is still at an early stage of theory building and almost all empirical research is done in the Chinese context. In order to improve the quality of this theory and to make it intelligible to the international academic community, a one-day symposium was held in Beijing Foreign Studies University on May 15, 2017. The symposium was entitled ＇The first international forum on innovative foreign language education in China： Appraisal of the POA＇. In the forum, leading experts in applied linguistics were invited to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the POA and the directions for its future development. The symposium was the first attempt for the POA research team to discuss its latest work with international scholars. This Viewpoint section collects the responses of four experts who participated in the symposium, listed in alphabetical order. The collection of articles covers three topics related to the POA： its pedagogical application, its use for teacher training, and its research. Alister Cumming is Professor Emeritus and the former Head of the Centre for Educational Research on Languages and Literacies, University of Toronto, Canada. His article focuses primarily on POA research as an exemplary case of design-based research. Rod Ellis is Research Professor in the School of Education at Curtin University, Australia. He discusses POA in terms of pedagogy, teacher training and research, with both critiques and constructive suggestions. Paul Kei M
文摘To facilitate the effect of utilizing games in primary school English teaching,four problems in current instructional practice have been identified by reviewing related literature.They are:1)inappropriate teaching materials;2)unscientific design of game teaching procedures;3)unstructured implementation process;4)Inadequate quality of teaching staff.Then,four specific countermeasures to remedy these problems have been proposed in detail,which include selecting appropriate teaching materials,rigorously designing game teaching procedures,organizing the class actively and developing the quality of teaching staff.This analysis will enhance teachers’awareness and competence of using games in primary school English teaching.
