Aiming to solve the existing problems with the Quality Course,an EFL online course is developed with an Open Source Course Management System(CMS).The principles and strategies of designing and constructing the course ...Aiming to solve the existing problems with the Quality Course,an EFL online course is developed with an Open Source Course Management System(CMS).The principles and strategies of designing and constructing the course are discussed.The process of developing vocational college students'professional and social competence in the web-based environment is ex plored.Research results show the students are satisfied with the web-based EFL course and the teaching.展开更多
By analyzing the English learning logs of 12 students in a provincial university in south-west China after they had been exempted from taking college English courses,this study investigated college students’autonomou...By analyzing the English learning logs of 12 students in a provincial university in south-west China after they had been exempted from taking college English courses,this study investigated college students’autonomous EFL(English as a foreign language)learning after course exemption,including the use of mediational means in EFL learning,EFL learning hours,and other factors affecting EFL learning,in the hope of giving new perspectives on college ELF curriculum design,teaching,and education management.展开更多
Teacher-retraining course design is considered to be a challenge not only to the course participants but to the course designers as well, especially, when the participants enrolled turn out to have dramatically differ...Teacher-retraining course design is considered to be a challenge not only to the course participants but to the course designers as well, especially, when the participants enrolled turn out to have dramatically different professional background and conditions. This article supports the idea that changes to the course design should be made straightaway in response to the trainees＇ specific needs. The context for rural school teacher retraining at Novosibirsk State Technical University in Russia illustrates reasons for making immediate changes necessary as the course progressed, and reaction to them. The article discusses a model for a teacher retraining course in which EFL improvement is the core element.展开更多
This survey study aims to investigate the perceptions learners have of the character-learning strategies they employ when taking a web-based course in Chinese.The seven Likert-scale statements are included in the ques...This survey study aims to investigate the perceptions learners have of the character-learning strategies they employ when taking a web-based course in Chinese.The seven Likert-scale statements are included in the questionnaire to examine learners’opinions on the three character-learning strategies that are widely used in traditional campus courses.A total of 65 students who completed the beginner level‘Chinese Characters’web-based course at a university in Sweden completed the survey.The results suggest that students in web-based courses consider these three strategies to be just as helpful and effective as campus students;moreover,the more orthodox strategy-rote learning-is found to be the most popular among distance students.Furthermore,findings of this study provide insight into the limitations and advantages associated with a web-based course,and also the possible effect learners’age and gender may have on learning strategy preferences.展开更多
This study aims to explore Chinese university EFL learners'perceptions toward alternative assessment in a context of a project-based learning digital storytelling presentation in Speaking Course.It also seeks to c...This study aims to explore Chinese university EFL learners'perceptions toward alternative assessment in a context of a project-based learning digital storytelling presentation in Speaking Course.It also seeks to compare the relationship between alternative assessment and teacher assessment.The findings showed that a strong correlation between alternative assessment and teacher assessment occurred.Alternative assessment activities are viewed by students as"authentic"assessments,as they mimic how the student will be using their knowledge in the future.Alternative assessment as a form of formative assessment can be a powerful day-to-day tool for teachers and students.Alternative assessment is an enabler of process of learning.The study suggests that alternative assessment can encourage learners to become more fully responsible for their learning and can result in more and better learning.Alternative assessment can thus be used as a golden key to the"deaf and dumb"phenomenon for Chinese university EFL learners.展开更多
Weblogs, writing logs on the web, have been popularly used as an instructional tool to facilitate, reading and writing instructions in ESL （English as a Second Language）/EFL （English as a Foreign Language） classro...Weblogs, writing logs on the web, have been popularly used as an instructional tool to facilitate, reading and writing instructions in ESL （English as a Second Language）/EFL （English as a Foreign Language） classrooms. This study employed weblogs to support the writing process of Thai EFL students and provided an opportunity for them to participate in a Thai-Japanese weblog exchange project. The results showed that student bloggers： （1） enjoyed blogging due to their perceived reading and writing incentives, the exchange of cultural knowledge, and networking; and （2） employed the writing process to complete their written assignments. Findings suggest that weblogs can foster EFL learners＇ motivation, development of reading and writing skills, and development of cultural knowledge, and facilitate their writing process via cyberspace.展开更多
With the purpose of describing levels of English language proficiency expected at each stage in our school＇s Diploma and BA programs, we attempted to compare the level of courses with national standards as embodied i...With the purpose of describing levels of English language proficiency expected at each stage in our school＇s Diploma and BA programs, we attempted to compare the level of courses with national standards as embodied in the national TEM4 and TEM8, and with international standards as embodied in international examinations such as Cambridge ESOL, and other descriptions such as the Common European Framework via one quantifiable parameter： vocabulary range. This is justified as vocabulary range offers an approximate but useful guide to the level of a course or a testing system. We hypothesize that the language competence at different levels of our program matches various standard proficiency examinations. Paul Nation＇s Range software was used both in its standard form using his three BASEWRD files and in an adapted form adding the authors＇ own BASEWRD files extrapolated from various levels of our textbook series. This enabled us to compare the vocabulary range of our courses with that of both national and international examinations where word lists are available or recoverable. Research results supported the hypotheses suggested.展开更多
The necessity of the textbook can not be neglectedalthough problems do exist with our teaching materi-als.As teachers it is important for us to evaluate,se-lect and adapt teaching materials to meet our teachingand stu...The necessity of the textbook can not be neglectedalthough problems do exist with our teaching materi-als.As teachers it is important for us to evaluate,se-lect and adapt teaching materials to meet our teachingand students’ learning needs in order to maximizelearning potentials.The case study of one particularEFL textbook provides us with more insights into theunderstanding of our teaching materials.The processof evaluating the teaching materials helps us make de-cisions in selecting textbooks,as well as allowing us toreflect on our teaching and learning experience.展开更多
The use of agent technology in a dynamic environment is rapidly growing as one of the powerful technologies and the need to provide the benefits of the Intelligent Information Agent technique to massive open online co...The use of agent technology in a dynamic environment is rapidly growing as one of the powerful technologies and the need to provide the benefits of the Intelligent Information Agent technique to massive open online courses, is very important from various aspects including the rapid growing of MOOCs environments, and the focusing more on static information than on updated information. One of the main problems in such environment is updating the information to the needs of the student who interacts at each moment. Using such technology can ensure more flexible information, lower waste time and hence higher earnings in learning. This paper presents Intelligent Topic-Based Information Agent to offer an updated knowledge including various types of resource for students. Using dominant meaning method, the agent searches the Internet, controls the metadata coming from the Internet, filters and shows them into a categorized content lists. There are two experiments conducted on the Intelligent Topic-Based Information Agent: one measures the improvement in the retrieval effectiveness and the other measures the impact of the agent on the learning. The experiment results indicate that our methodology to expand the query yields a considerable improvement in the retrieval effectiveness in all categories of Google Web Search API. On the other hand, there is a positive impact on the performance of learning session.展开更多
文摘Aiming to solve the existing problems with the Quality Course,an EFL online course is developed with an Open Source Course Management System(CMS).The principles and strategies of designing and constructing the course are discussed.The process of developing vocational college students'professional and social competence in the web-based environment is ex plored.Research results show the students are satisfied with the web-based EFL course and the teaching.
文摘By analyzing the English learning logs of 12 students in a provincial university in south-west China after they had been exempted from taking college English courses,this study investigated college students’autonomous EFL(English as a foreign language)learning after course exemption,including the use of mediational means in EFL learning,EFL learning hours,and other factors affecting EFL learning,in the hope of giving new perspectives on college ELF curriculum design,teaching,and education management.
文摘Teacher-retraining course design is considered to be a challenge not only to the course participants but to the course designers as well, especially, when the participants enrolled turn out to have dramatically different professional background and conditions. This article supports the idea that changes to the course design should be made straightaway in response to the trainees＇ specific needs. The context for rural school teacher retraining at Novosibirsk State Technical University in Russia illustrates reasons for making immediate changes necessary as the course progressed, and reaction to them. The article discusses a model for a teacher retraining course in which EFL improvement is the core element.
文摘This survey study aims to investigate the perceptions learners have of the character-learning strategies they employ when taking a web-based course in Chinese.The seven Likert-scale statements are included in the questionnaire to examine learners’opinions on the three character-learning strategies that are widely used in traditional campus courses.A total of 65 students who completed the beginner level‘Chinese Characters’web-based course at a university in Sweden completed the survey.The results suggest that students in web-based courses consider these three strategies to be just as helpful and effective as campus students;moreover,the more orthodox strategy-rote learning-is found to be the most popular among distance students.Furthermore,findings of this study provide insight into the limitations and advantages associated with a web-based course,and also the possible effect learners’age and gender may have on learning strategy preferences.
文摘This study aims to explore Chinese university EFL learners'perceptions toward alternative assessment in a context of a project-based learning digital storytelling presentation in Speaking Course.It also seeks to compare the relationship between alternative assessment and teacher assessment.The findings showed that a strong correlation between alternative assessment and teacher assessment occurred.Alternative assessment activities are viewed by students as"authentic"assessments,as they mimic how the student will be using their knowledge in the future.Alternative assessment as a form of formative assessment can be a powerful day-to-day tool for teachers and students.Alternative assessment is an enabler of process of learning.The study suggests that alternative assessment can encourage learners to become more fully responsible for their learning and can result in more and better learning.Alternative assessment can thus be used as a golden key to the"deaf and dumb"phenomenon for Chinese university EFL learners.
文摘Weblogs, writing logs on the web, have been popularly used as an instructional tool to facilitate, reading and writing instructions in ESL （English as a Second Language）/EFL （English as a Foreign Language） classrooms. This study employed weblogs to support the writing process of Thai EFL students and provided an opportunity for them to participate in a Thai-Japanese weblog exchange project. The results showed that student bloggers： （1） enjoyed blogging due to their perceived reading and writing incentives, the exchange of cultural knowledge, and networking; and （2） employed the writing process to complete their written assignments. Findings suggest that weblogs can foster EFL learners＇ motivation, development of reading and writing skills, and development of cultural knowledge, and facilitate their writing process via cyberspace.
文摘With the purpose of describing levels of English language proficiency expected at each stage in our school＇s Diploma and BA programs, we attempted to compare the level of courses with national standards as embodied in the national TEM4 and TEM8, and with international standards as embodied in international examinations such as Cambridge ESOL, and other descriptions such as the Common European Framework via one quantifiable parameter： vocabulary range. This is justified as vocabulary range offers an approximate but useful guide to the level of a course or a testing system. We hypothesize that the language competence at different levels of our program matches various standard proficiency examinations. Paul Nation＇s Range software was used both in its standard form using his three BASEWRD files and in an adapted form adding the authors＇ own BASEWRD files extrapolated from various levels of our textbook series. This enabled us to compare the vocabulary range of our courses with that of both national and international examinations where word lists are available or recoverable. Research results supported the hypotheses suggested.
文摘The necessity of the textbook can not be neglectedalthough problems do exist with our teaching materi-als.As teachers it is important for us to evaluate,se-lect and adapt teaching materials to meet our teachingand students’ learning needs in order to maximizelearning potentials.The case study of one particularEFL textbook provides us with more insights into theunderstanding of our teaching materials.The processof evaluating the teaching materials helps us make de-cisions in selecting textbooks,as well as allowing us toreflect on our teaching and learning experience.
文摘The use of agent technology in a dynamic environment is rapidly growing as one of the powerful technologies and the need to provide the benefits of the Intelligent Information Agent technique to massive open online courses, is very important from various aspects including the rapid growing of MOOCs environments, and the focusing more on static information than on updated information. One of the main problems in such environment is updating the information to the needs of the student who interacts at each moment. Using such technology can ensure more flexible information, lower waste time and hence higher earnings in learning. This paper presents Intelligent Topic-Based Information Agent to offer an updated knowledge including various types of resource for students. Using dominant meaning method, the agent searches the Internet, controls the metadata coming from the Internet, filters and shows them into a categorized content lists. There are two experiments conducted on the Intelligent Topic-Based Information Agent: one measures the improvement in the retrieval effectiveness and the other measures the impact of the agent on the learning. The experiment results indicate that our methodology to expand the query yields a considerable improvement in the retrieval effectiveness in all categories of Google Web Search API. On the other hand, there is a positive impact on the performance of learning session.
