University English Majors Research Articles

Research on Strategies for Improving English-Chinese Bilingual Reading Ability of College English Majors

The bilingual reading ability of College English majors is an important indicator to measure their English proficiency, which is of great significance for improving their cross-cultural communication skills and international competitiveness. However, in the actual teaching process, many students often have difficulties in reading comprehension, which affects their reading efficiency and comprehension quality. Therefore, understanding the factors that affect the bilingual reading ability of English majors in universities is of great significance for developing effective teaching strategies and improving students' reading ability. This study has identified strategies for improving the bilingual reading ability of English major students in universities through investigation and analysis, in order to serve English major teaching in universities.

Digital Collaborative Learning: Promoting Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary among Saudi University English Majors

Digital Collaborative Learning: Promoting Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary among Saudi University English Majors

University English majors’ perceptions of using collaborative brainstorming to facilitate their argumentative essay writing

University English majors’ perceptions of using collaborative brainstorming to facilitate their argumentative essay writing

Out-of-class English learning anxiety and its relation to motivation among Chinese university English majors

A wide range of studies have examined foreign language anxiety (FLA). However, these studies have primarily examined the context of classroom-based learning, while neglecting out-of-class learning settings. Thus, this study investigated the factor structure of out-of-class FLA and its relationship to L2 motivation (Ideal L2 Self, Ought-to L2 Self, and L2 Learning Experience). The data comprised 20 interviews and 557 survey responses from English majors at Chinese universities. This study identified three out-of-class FLA factors: anxiety about learning effectiveness, learning approaches, and effort management. It further revealed a close association between out-of-class FLA and L2 motivation. Out-of-class L2 Learning Experience was the most salient predictor and was negatively associated with all three dimensions of out-of-class FLA. The Ideal L2 Self exhibited negative associations with anxiety about the learning approach and effort management, whereas Ought-to L2 Self was a positive predictor of anxiety about the learning approach and learning effectiveness. These findings enrich our understanding of the affective aspects of out-of-class learning and suggest the significance of facilitating learners’ out-of-class L2 Learning Experience and Ideal L2 Self to help them overcome FLA in a self-directed out-of-class learning context.

Perceptions of Chinese University English Majors on the Use of WeChat as a Platform for Peer Feedback in English Writing

Peer feedback is widely acknowledged as a valuable addition to English language learning, with several research confirming its various benefits in improving English writing skills (Liu & Edwards, 2018). WeChat is the main communication tool in China, especially among young people. However, its potential for peer evaluation in English writing has not been thoroughly explored especially for English language learning, and more specifically for giving and receiving peer feedback for English writing. Current research mostly centers on Chinese college students, neglecting English majors who have comparable difficulties in mastering English writing abilities (Gan et al., 2004). Therefore, this study aims to investigate the perceptions of Chinese English majors on using WeChat for peer feedback. Data was gathered using a structured questionnaire that was designed based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The results show that most respondents have a good attitude towards using WeChat for peer feedback. Respondents have positive views on the platform's effectiveness in enabling peer feedback, along with factors like output quality, results demonstrability, and perceived ease of use. Participants also positively view aspects, such as external control, behavioral intention, voluntariness, and perceived enjoyment in using WeChat for peer feedback in English writing. Integrating WeChat as a peer feedback platform is considered beneficial for enhancing the teachinglearning process, which is important for educators and curriculum designers. The researchers posit that the use of WeChat as a platform can facilitate peer feedback for students’ English writing learning as a second language teaching tool as it shows the potential to improve the effectiveness of English education whilst also promoting the use of technology outside the classroom for peer feedback and interactive English language learning.

A Survey of Sinological Literacy of College English Majors Under the Background of New Liberal Arts

Under the new circumstances, the world development pattern has undergone rapid changes, and China is playing an increasingly important role on the international stage. To establish a good national image under the background of globalization, higher requirements are put forward for English majors to improve their Sinological literacy. Based on the background of the new liberal arts, the author takes English majors in Chongqing Normal University as the research subject. And combines domestic and foreign research results to study the current situation of Sinological literacy through questionnaires, interviews, and literature research. The questions consists of 4 dimensions (Sinological knowledge, Sinological competence, Sinological spirits, and Sinological emotions.) and 53 questions. The research questions are: (1) What is the status quo and problems of English majors' Sinological literacy in Chongqing Normal University? (2) What are the causes leading to students' lack of Sinological literacy? (3) What measures are offered to improve Sinological literacy? The paper founds that students majoring in English lack knowledge related to sinology. They are confused about the Sinological spirit and have weak competencies. By interviewing, the paper found 4 reasons that may explained it: (1) Students lack interest and incentive to learn Sinology. (2) There are few qualified teachers who are equipped with abundant Sinology. (3)Students prefer fragmented knowledge than Sinology due to the era of multimedia. (4) English majors are more likely to be influenced by Western culture if they`re not guided correctly. Through literature research, the paper also raises some measures:(1) Establish the correct concept, the school should add the corresponding subjects. (2) Strengthen teachers' character. (3)Make full use of the rich activities in the second classroom .(4)Build campus culture full of Sinological elements. The author analyzes the result of the investigation case and gives some corresponding countermeasures to solve the problem, in order to provide suggestions for the Sinological literacy cultivation of college English majors and hopes that schools can train more talents for English majors to communicate with other cultures.

Research on the Teaching Pathways of English Major Curriculum Ideological and Political Education from the Perspective of “Cultural Confidence”

With the rapid development of global information technology and the continuous deepening of the new educational philosophy of College English majors, College English teaching is no longer limited to helping students lay a solid foundation in English language, but also to cultivate students’ cross-cultural awareness, cultural identity, and national pride. College teachers should fully integrate China’s excellent traditional culture, integrate “curriculum ideological and political education” into practical teaching to enhance students’ cultural confidence, and promote China’s excellent traditional cultural ideas[1]. “Integrated English” as a core professional course shoulders the dual mission of language learning and cultural exchange. The long-standing Chinese culture provides a rich source for the ideological and political courses of College English majors. This article, from the perspective of cultural confidence, combines the current situation of English major teaching in university education, analyzes the significance of developing ideological and political courses for College English majors from the perspective of cultural confidence, and explores effective ways to implement ideological and political education for College English majors from the perspective of cultural confidence. The author takes the course Contemporary College English Intensive Reading 1 as an example, explores the ideological and political elements in the textbook from the perspective of cultural confidence, designs a teaching outline that combines teaching objectives and ideological and political objectives, and explores the practical path of implementing the function of ideological and political education in College English teaching.

An Application Study of the "Oral Length Approach" in Oral Teaching in College English Majors

An Application Study of the "Oral Length Approach" in Oral Teaching in College English Majors

Exploring perceived capacity to speak in silent English majors: A longitudinal study before, during, and after study abroad

In the Japanese classroom context, student silence is a widely observed phenomenon (King, 2013). As such, the volition to speak, which is central to willingness to communicate (WTC; MacIntyre et al., 1998), may be weak compared to other sociocultural contextual factors (Humphries et al., 2023). Therefore, the authors focused on two silent university English majors' perceived capacity to speak (CTS). Using focused essay journals (MacIntyre et al., 2011), retrospective timeline graphs (Ikeda et al., 2020; Fukui Yashima, 2021) and semi-structured interviews, the authors explored CTS fluctuations longitudinally before, during and after a study abroad (SA) year. They analysed situational cues and characteristics (Rauthmann et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2018). Results indicated that both participants felt sensitive to and depended on their interlocutors' kindness, empathy and patience. Implications are discussed for supporting students before, during and after SA.

Research on Strategies of English Writing from the Perspective of Gagne’s Information Processing Learning Theory

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the usage of writing strategies among college English majors from the perspective of Gagne’s Information Processing Learning Theory. Based upon the feedback of questionnaires, this study shows that English majors master only a few writing strategies and they are weak in applying them. Therefore, this thesis gives suggestions on the corresponding writing strategies based on the theory of Gagne, which can help to improve English majors’ writing efficiency and cultivate the awareness of utilizing strategies.

A Study on Ideological-political Education in Comprehensive English Course for College English Majors Based on Production-Oriented Approach

A Study on Ideological-political Education in Comprehensive English Course for College English Majors Based on Production-Oriented Approach

L1 어린이의 탐험 욕구와 L2 성인의 알고자 하는 욕구에 관한 언어 발달 비교 연구

The purpose of this paper is to observe how L2 adult learners get close to L1 children in their language development in terms of attachment, curiosity and mediation. Five high-intermediate English major college students were engaged and instructed to understand the concepts of attachment and mediation. After this, they were provided with seven types of English material, consisting of four different language-focused materials (dialogue, situation-based explanation, deep cultural words, and conventional words) and three different content-based materials (advice, humor, and impression). The participants were supposed to collect preferred language items in each type and write reasons spicking the items. They also reported their preference in order among the seven types of material. They were evaluated on whether their preferred language items would function as mediation or as a goal to learn English. The results showed that the humor type of language was the best to function as mediation, followed by the impression type. The dialogue type was the worst. However, the participants’ reports were the opposite. Most of them chose situationbased explanations as the best. The participants tended to show that content-based material was not appropriate for learning English. Mediation was not considered a key factor in learning a language.

Ought-to L2 Self and Its Influence on L2 Motivation and Demotivation: A Case of College English Majors

Ought-to L2 Self and Its Influence on L2 Motivation and Demotivation: A Case of College English Majors

Teaching lexical collocations to enhance speaking proficiency of college English majors in Taiwan

Abstract The present study explores lexical collocations and their relation to speaking proficiency of Taiwanese EFL college students learning English for academic purposes (i.e., EAP). The data is obtained from 92 English majors at a national university of science and technology in southern Taiwan. The results show that (a) direct collocation instruction promotes the subjects’ performance on their speaking fluency tests, outscoring the other two instruction types; (b) the advanced level students seem to benefit most as they outperformed the other three groups after receiving each of the three instruction types (i.e., lexical collocations, single-item vocabulary, and no instruction); and (c) no significant difference can be found between the high-intermediate and intermediate groups with regard to their post-instruction performances. Therefore, the current study concludes that direct collocation instruction deserves immediate attention and calls for a series of systematic studies to be done on the possible connection between lexical collocations and English proficiency of EFL learners.

Exploring Chinese College English Majors' Experiences and Perceptions of Using English Dubbing Apps

Listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills are crucial for the academic success of English majors in Chinese colleges and universities. While there are numerous English learning apps available, each program focuses differently on enhancing the abilities of English majors. It is widely known that English majors show a preference for English dubbing apps, and these apps have been recognized for their effectiveness in improving students' speaking skills. However, there is a lack of consensus regarding the impact of these apps on Chinese English majors' listening and reading skills. Nine students were selected to participate in this qualitative study, an experiment that tested students' feedback on listening and reading after using the APP. This study delves into the perceptions of English major students regarding dubbing apps, aiming to determine whether they acknowledge the positive impact of these tools on the two skills. The study results indicate that English majors perceive improvements in listening and reading skills through the use of English dubbing apps. Nevertheless, the study notes that the oversimplification of language and limitations in addressing more advanced levels make the effect on reading skills less evident. The study recommends ongoing improvement and adaptation of English dubbing applications to cater to the diverse needs of a broader range of learners. As English majors increasingly rely on technology-enhanced language learning, it is crucial to address the nuanced challenges associated with these apps, ensuring a more comprehensive and impactful language learning experience.

Path to Success for College English Majors: Reflection Based on the Investigation

With the rapid popularization of intelligent technology, the employment of English majors was facing more and more challenges. Both students and parents were confused about the narrow employment of foreign language majors. In this sense, foreign language majors in colleges and universities should not only focus on language learning and research, but also focus on language as a tool to engage in other professional learning or practice activities with a higher degree of internationalization. This study will interview college English majors through questionnaires to investigate their understanding of English major goals, their future career planning, and their suggestions on school curriculum setting and teaching methods. This study believes that the cultivation of college foreign language talents should make necessary adjustments according to the talent needs of the current environment, innovate the teaching model and teaching method to adapt to the constantly changing society, enhance the interdisciplinary consciousness, and pave the way for the success of students, which has practical significance for the success and development of English majors. At the same time, it helps to cultivate practical and applied talents under the current environment.

Application of Critical Thinking in Improving Oral Proficiency of Chinese Universities English Majors

As critical thinking has been gradually valued and applied in various fields, people begin to attach importance to the cultivation and improvement of critical thinking. In education field, many educators and experts have begun to focus their research in critical thinking’s theories. How to improve students’ ability of critical thinking has always been a concern of educators who have been trying to combine critical thinking with curriculums. Based on the concept and definition of critical thinking, this study focuses on the application of critical thinking in improving oral proficiency of English majors. To investigate the relationship between critical thinking and oral English, we designed a questionnaire with the related information and collected a total of 62 college English majors’ views and feedbacks of it. The result shows that most students have awareness of thinking and analyzing from different perspectives. They also believe that the improvement of critical thinking skills influence and promote the clarity and logic in their oral expression. In addition, this essay had interviews with some teachers who are teaching in the university in online or offline form to know how they apply critical thinking into their class. In this essay, we will explore the concept of critical thinking, examine its importance in various contexts such as oral English in education field and shed light on effective strategies for enhancing and developing the skills of thinking and speaking.

Task based teaching method on English writing anxiety of OCD college students

BackgroundEnglish writing is an important component of college English teaching, but many students may experience psychological anxiety during the writing process. This not only affects their writing performance, but also poses a threat to their mental health. Meanwhile, the application of task-based teaching method in English teaching has achieved good results. However, its role in alleviating psychological anxiety in English writing among college students has not been fully demonstrated, so this study is needed.Subjects and MethodsA comparative teaching experiment is now being conducted on 420 English major college students with anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The selected students will be randomly and evenly divided into an experimental group and a control group. In the experiment, the experimental group students were taught college English writing using a task-based teaching method, while the control group was only taught ordinary college English writing. Before and after the teaching experiment, both teams of students need to be tested with the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS).ResultsThe experimental results showed that the SAS scores of the experimental group and control group students before the experiment were 58.2 ± 3.5 and 57.1 ± 4.7, respectively, with no significant difference in data. After the experiment, the SAS score of the experimental group was 42.5 ± 3.6, lower than that of the control group, and the difference was significant.ConclusionsThe task-based teaching method can alleviate the psychological anxiety of English writing among college students with OCD, and has a certain clinical therapeutic effect on anxiety disorders.

IELTS Reading: Perceived Challenges and Strategies by Vietnamese University English Majors

IELTS Reading: Perceived Challenges and Strategies by Vietnamese University English Majors

영어전공 대학생의 ChatGPT 사용이 영어 자기조절학습과 그릿에 미치는 영향

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of English self-regulated learning and grit on the use of ChatGPT by English major college students. To this end, an online survey was conducted on 58 students enrolled in English major at a university in Chungcheongnam-do. Participants performed tasks using ChatGPT before the midterm exam and the tasks without using ChatGPT after the midterm exam for one semester. As a result of the study, English self-regulated learning’s goal setting, time management, self-evaluation, and task strategy were increased when English major students used ChatGPT for completing the tasks. In addition, the group with high a persistent effect showed an increase in English self-regulated learning’s time management and task strategy. Based on the result, it is necessary to enhance the self-regulated learning skills when desinging a curriculum using multimedia such as ChatGPT.