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2018 Vol. 3, No. 5
Published: 2018-09-10

 
1 Language Playing a Crucial Role in the Field of Artificial Intelligence
Feng Zhiwei
2018 Vol. 3 (5): 1-1 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
5 Historians of Science on Language and Language Use
Liu Bing, Tian Song, Jiang Xiaoyuan
Standard and the Actual Language Use in Daily Communication? / Liu Bing
The Dilemma of Addressing Forms in History Writing / Tian Song
Language Choice for an Inter-textual Writer / Jiang Xiaoyuan
2018 Vol. 3 (5): 5-10 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
11 The Evolution of Language Education Policies in Greater China in the Last One Hundred Years
Zhou Minglang
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20180501
This article reviews and analyzes the evolution of language education policies in Greater China in the last one hundred years. It points out that globalization and nation-state building are the two most important factors that have affected this evolution. Globalization broke imperial China into separate lands, leading to diversity in language education policies and unfulfilled wishes for the unification of these policies. In the past century, Greater China experienced four models of nation-state building. Every model had its own language ideology, and, language education policies on the basis of this ideology, developed a corresponding language order. More or less, these language education policies followed the Qing dynasty’s 1911 Act of the Unification of the National Language. However, with changing political landscape, the Qing’s plan cannot answer today’s language education challenges. Now language education policies must meet the needs of nation-state building, take into account the linguistic diversity in various communities, make language learning a pleasant experience for every student so that they become loyal and qualified citizens, and prepare citizens for global competition.
2018 Vol. 3 (5): 11-20 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
21 Foreign Language Education Planning in China since the Reform and Opening-Up
Shen Qi and Bao Min
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20180502
Since the launch of Reform and Opening-up forty years ago, foreign language education in China has made tremendous progress through successive education reform and thus promoted the overall development of the nation and the society. With the shifting role of China from a “localized nation” to an “internationalized power”, foreign language education planning has gone through four developmental stages, namely the restoration stage (1978 to early 1980s), reconstruction and reform stage (mid 1980s to late 1990s), formation and systematization stage (2000-2010), and the stage of strategic transition (2010 to present). Based on the analytical framework of foreign language education planning (FLEP) process, this paper reviews the achievements and weakness of China’s FLEP in the past four decades. Analysis shows that much substantial work has been done in all key areas of FLEP, such as strategic planning, surveys, survey reports, policy decisions, policy implementation and policy evaluation. However, the top macro-planning agency as well as some details of policy implementation and evaluations needs to be more clearly defined. In view of the existing deficiencies in China’s foreign language education policy and planning,this paper proposes some  specific suggestions for advancing foreign language education in order to cater to the language needs in China’s New Era.
2018 Vol. 3 (5): 21-31 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
32 On Foreign Language Planning Oriented to Boosting National Language Capacity
Dai Manchun and Li Yanhong
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20180503
It is argued in this paper that national language capacity (NLC), with national foreign language capacity as its core component, is the foundation of national competitiveness. Our current national strategy calls for a structural reform of foreign language education, which is supposedly oriented to building NLC, in respect of minimizing low-quality repetition of foreign language teaching and adding strongly or potentially needed strategic (critical) languages to the repertoire of language fields.Diversifying foreign language education contributes to the elimination of unbalance of language fields and teaching quality of these languages, making it possible to meet the varied needs of foreign languages and to mobilize the whole society in building NLC.
2018 Vol. 3 (5): 32-39 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
40 The Relationship Between Language Abilities and Personal Development: A Case Study of Tibetan Students in Qinghai
Yingji Zhuoma
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20180504
In the era of globalization, multilingual competence has become an invaluable asset for individuals, and the choice of language in education may exert lasting influence for students’ educational achievements and personal advancement. In this case study, four Tibetan students from Qinghai Province have been sampled and interviewed in order to reveal to what extent their language education in school has played a role in their personal development. The study sets itself in the field of educational choices as symbolic capital, and the analysis is framed within Bourdieu’s theory of capital, assuming that every language in the linguistic repertoire is empowered with different economic, social and cultural capitals. It is found that students with Tibetan-Chinese bilingual and bi-cultural competencies tend to be more successful in career than those who are versed in Tibetan only.As such, it is suggested that Chinese language education shall be enhanced in schools where ethnic minorities are populated.
2018 Vol. 3 (5): 40-45 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
46 Foreign Language Education in the United States: Federal Planning and its Implementations
Xu Xiaoying
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20180505
In the past decade, many Chinese articles on foreign language policies in the United States point out that the federal government has attached great importance to foreign language education in the U.S., and it has taken active measures to reinforce foreign language education. The U.S. foreign language policy has higlighted the strategic characteristics of national security orientation and swept across the country from top to bottom. Based on a survey of data concerning American foreign language education and the specific case of foreign language programs in Oklahoma, this paper examines how foreign language education in the U.S. is constrained by federal and local forces. It is found that American foreign language education is developing slowly, with significant differences among the 50 states, there has been a general lack of understanding of foreign culture and languages. The analysis further shows that although the foreign language policy of the federal government is justified by national security concerns, the implementation of the policy at the local level is highly circumscribed. Since the states have constitutionally-granted right to control their own education systems, it is difficult for the federal government to intervene in foreign language education at the state level by administrative means. In practice, the federal policy of strengthening foreign language education can only be implemented by means of financial and technical assistance. However, the funding for foreign language education provided by the federal government to the states is extremely low. These institutional and economic reasons can explain why the federal government’s foreign language policy has not been effective in promoting foreign language education in the U.S.
2018 Vol. 3 (5): 46-60 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
61 Diverse Views on Language Education
Wang Ning, Cui Gang, Wang Yinquan, Yeshe Vodsal Atsok and Teng Xing
2018 Vol. 3 (5): 61-65 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
66 Empirical Research of Xiamen Primary and Middle School Students’ Speaking Proficiency
Du Jingjing, Yin Qing and Song Qian
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20180506
This is a corpus driven study with an aim to assess and describe the oral skills in practical settings of primary and secondary school students in Xiamen. Based on literature review of previous studies on oral proficiency carried out by both Chinese and international researchers, three indicators of vocabulary, grammar and rhetorics are selected and quantified for evaluation purposes. To find out the developing patterns of oral skills, comparison is made across different grades and schools located in different areas. The findings show gradual development features in oral proficiency development, that is, their oral proficiency develops along with ages, cognition and schooling years when they go from lower grades to higher grades, and the development is demonstrated in all three indicators of vocabulary size, grammatical competence and the application of rhetorical devices. In other words, the developing scale for secondary students advances faster than their primary counterparts in all three indexes.Geographically, the performance of students living in urban districts shows stronger than those living in small towns and rural areas, including such aspects as expression strategy and willingness to communicate. Due to the lower motivation in willingness to communicate, fewer grammatical problems were observed among the students from rural and small town schools. Based on the empirical evidence, two suggestions are proposed: first, the training of speaking proficiency should distinguish the surface and the deep layers, whereas the former refers to linguistic forms such as vocabulary and syntax, the latter is about semantics; second, there is a need to establish both core quantitative criteria and auxiliary criteria.
2018 Vol. 3 (5): 66-76 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
77 On the Mother Tongue Competence of Derung Villagers in Dulongjiang Township, Yunnan
Huang Xingya and Wang Jinjun
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20180507
The Derung People, as an ethnic group with the smallest population among the ethnic minorities in Yunnan Province, live in a highly compacted community along the Derung River in remote northwestern Yunnan. Through a questionnaire survey and interviews, the current study examines the mother tongue competence of Derung villagers in the Dulongjiang Township. The findings show that the majority of them are able to communicate with members of their community in Derung, but, in comparison to their fairly higher oral and aural proficiency, only a limited number of Derung people acquire native literacy. This lack indicates that the popularization of the Derung script is far from satisfactory in Dulongjiang Township. In order to identify factors underlining this discrepancy, SPSS19.0 is employed to perform a quantitatively analysis of the data. The analysis demonstrates that their oral and aural competence goes up with age and goes down with their educational level, while their literacy competence is most positively associated with the cohort of 20-39 years old, males, and downstream residents.
2018 Vol. 3 (5): 77-88 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
89 Review of Teacher Agency and Policy Response in English Language Teaching
Wang Lian
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20180508
Over the past decade or so, teacher agency in both curriculum design and instructional materials development has become an important focus and drawn growing interest from both international and domestic researchers working in the areas of language acquisition planning. The most recent publication of Teacher Agency and Policy Response in English Language Teaching, edited by Patrick C. L. Ng and Esther F. Boucher-Yip, undoubtedly makes a timely contribution to this field. The edited volume examines the agency of the teacher in negotiating educational reforms and policy changes at the local and national levels. Chapters in the book include: English language teaching in China: teacher agency in response to curricular innovations; incorporating academic skills into EFL curriculum: teacher agency in response to global mobility challenge; teacher agency, the native/nonnative dichotomy, and “English Classes in English” in Japanese high schools; teacher-designed high stakes English language testing: washback and impact. This critical reviews of the book aims at informing researchers across all sectors of education,in particular policy makers of curriculum and language planning. It makes three points of interest for them. Firstly, great attention should be paid to the interactions between teacher agency and foreign language education policies. Secondly, Ecological Theory and Sociocultural Theory are meaningful approaches to the interpretation of teacher agency. Lastly, action research, the building of teacher community, and improvement of supporting environment are effective approaches to inspire English teacher agency.
2018 Vol. 3 (5): 89-96 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
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