Academic English Teaching for Postgraduates Based on Self-regulated Learning Environment: A Case Study of Academic Reading Course

Wei Zhao

doi:10.5539/elt.v9n5p214

Abstract

<p>This study selects postgraduate students in the first grade as the participants, based on their needs analysis, classroom presentations and performance of assignments completion, through the methodology of case study, the results show that students at the university level even the graduate levels still struggle with academic English. Thus, this study focuses on foreign language teachers how to guide postgraduate students in academic reading course, so as to implement students’ self-regulated learning strategies and enhance their motivations, as well as how the students to adjust to experience and respond to the teaching process through the adjustment. Accordingly, we theoretically construct self-regulated teaching and learning environment, expectations for enlightenment to the teaching practices of academic English instructions, especially in reading academic journal articles in English. The future direction should be towards to assessing and applying the learning environment model.</p>

Highlights

It is widely acknowledged that academic practices of learning and constructing knowledge are locally negotiated and constituted
This study selects postgraduate students in the first grade as the participants, based on their needs analysis, classroom presentations and performance of assignments completion, through the methodology of case study, the results show that students at the university level even the graduate levels still struggle with academic English
4.1 The Status Quo of Academic English Learning for Postgraduates. University students, especially those for whom English is not the first language or their major, can arrive at the university level and even the postgraduate levels still struggle with academic English

Summary

Introduction

It is widely acknowledged that academic practices of learning and constructing knowledge are locally negotiated and constituted. In the contemporary global linguistic landscape, English is increasingly replacing local languages as the medium of instruction (MOI) in schools and Universities. This has, more than ever, necessitated the provision of Academic English as an integral element of education. The effectiveness of a strategy is the result of the interaction between constellations of contextual variables, some of them probably culture-specific, and others culture-neutral Such variables include approaches to learning and teaching, educational ideology, individual learners and teachers’ personality traits and emotional states, and the composition of the learner group (Cheng & Dornyei, 2007; Dornyei & Csizer, 1998). Different learning environments may either enhance or neutralize the effectiveness of some strategies, but research is needed into the specifications of these environments

Methods

Results

Conclusion