Tertiary Level In China Research Articles

Unpacking the relationships between emotions and achievement of EFL learners in China: Engagement as a mediator.

Emotions are attracting growing attention in second language acquisition (SLA), especially with the advent of positive psychology (PP). The fundamental role of emotions in affecting learners' second language (L2) achievement has been well-documented. Evidence also indicates that emotions can significantly influence learners' L2 learning engagement which profoundly impacts their academic performance. However, the links between emotions, engagement, and L2 achievement remain underexplored. To contribute to this research domain, the present study sought to unpack the relationships between learners' emotions, such as foreign language enjoyment (FLE), foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA), and foreign language learning boredom (FLLB), and engagement as well as their English achievement. A total of 907 learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) from a university in China were recruited to complete an online questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to test the hypothesized relations among the variables. Results revealed correlations between learners' FLE, FLCA, and FLLB. Furthermore, learners' engagement was found to mediate the relationships between their emotions (FLE, FLCA, and FLLB) and English achievement. The findings broaden the nomological network of emotions and engagement in the EFL context, and provide evidence for the mechanism underlying the relationships between emotions, engagement, and achievement, thereby shedding light on EFL teaching and learning at the tertiary level in China.

Beyond Parroting: Using English Fun Dubbing to Improve English Oral Performance

Abstract The present paper is a response to the current problematic situation of oral English teaching at the tertiary level in China and the increasing popularity of web-based mobile oral English learning in oral English classes. Our paper focuses on the use of mobile-phone-based educational software known as “English Fun Dubbing” (EFD) and its advantages in terms of teaching and learning phonetics and oral English in the college classroom. The starting point was a needs analysis which revealed the lack of practice regarding English speaking. In this study, an action research method was adopted, involving 40 second-year students, who employed “classroom teaching + English Fun Dubbing” model as the intervention. Extensive examples from this model were used to build up a picture of the blended learning processes at work. Several imitation tasks, a conversational activity and a speech-delivering task were designed and implemented. Direct observation and the results of the questionnaire survey provided the evidence of the improvement in the students’ oral performance. It is our aim to develop the present project to incorporate oral proficiency. The main results of this action research were reflected in the adjustments in the pedagogical treatment, the changes in the role of the teacher and the student, and the shifts in the students’ attitudes towards their learning process.

Enabling students’ knowledge building in English classrooms in China: The role of teacher monologue

AbstractTeacher monologue has received scant attention in English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms which emphasise the teacher-and-student exchange. This study assumes that a key index of interaction would be the construction of knowledge, in which teacher monologue has a due role to play. The research is set in the context of EFL teaching at the tertiary level in China and examines teacher monologue with reference to the concept of making semantic waves in Legitimation Code Theory, which has been proved to be an important means of cumulative knowledge building in classroom practice. Systemic Functional Linguistics is used to analyse how semantic waves are generated on the ideational base of context dependency, i.e. the extent to which the reality construed in teacher monologue is dependent on its context. The transdisciplinary perspective attempts to provide one possible way to model linguistic choices in making semantic waves in EFL classrooms. The findings are the primary and secondary categories of semantic patterns representing a scale of context dependency. Semantic waves trace recurrent movements between relatively decontextualised and context-dependent meanings in the progression of semantic patterns. The shifts might scaffold students in the construction of knowledge essential for developing academic English proficiency.

Assessing Business English writing: The development and validation of a proficiency scale

Abstract Despite the profusion of language proficiency scales being implemented worldwide, few attempts have been made to develop such instruments of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Situated in the context of English language education at the tertiary level in China, this paper reports a study to develop and validate a writing proficiency scale of Business English (BE) to facilitate the teaching, learning, and assessment of BE writing in Chinese universities. Employing a multi-phase mixed-methods design, this study set out to determine the descriptive categories of the BE writing scale drawing on the model of Genre Knowledge ( Tardy, 2009 ). Workshops were then organized in which 15 experienced teachers of BE writing examined the descriptive categories as well as a pool of descriptors profiling BE writing proficiency in order to determine their relevance to BE education in China’s tertiary context. Next, a questionnaire was administered to elicit views from university students (n = 572) about the difficulty of the descriptors. The Rasch measurement model was utilized to calibrate students’ difficulty ratings. Finally, one-on-one interviews were conducted to elicit teaching and domain experts’ perceptions of the scale. The findings of this study shed light on the complexity and intricacies of ESP proficiency scale development.

Nurturing Environmental Education at the Tertiary Education Level in China: Can Mobile Augmented Reality and Gamification Help?

In the educational context, there currently emerges a growing research interest in using mobile augmented reality (AR) and the gamification concept to promote environmental education (EE). However, to date, scant attention has been paid to practically linking this approach to formal curricula at the tertiary level in China. Given the situation, we designed a geolocation-based mobile AR scavenger hunt to explore students’ perception of embedding technology-enhanced and gamified EE in their language learning process. Ninety-eight first-year students, majoring in English at a Chinese university, were invited to participate in this study. In this game, students need to find the answers to 24 environment-themed questions phrased in English. Guided by prior technology acceptance research, we employed a mixed methods approach to capture participants’ experience and perception of the process. The results show that this approach was positively perceived among the participants, for it could not only enrich their language learning experience but also promote their awareness of the environment. The findings offer insights into how EE can be purposefully integrated with tertiary education by leveraging current technological and pedagogical innovations.

Investigating EFL teaching at tertiary level in China from teachers’ perspective - Zheng Huang, Native and Non-Native English Speaking Teachers in China: Perceptions and Practices. Singapore: Springer, 2018. Pp. xv + 192. Hardback $65, ISBN: 978-981-10-5283-5

Investigating EFL teaching at tertiary level in China from teachers’ perspective - Zheng Huang, Native and Non-Native English Speaking Teachers in China: Perceptions and Practices. Singapore: Springer, 2018. Pp. xv + 192. Hardback $65, ISBN: 978-981-10-5283-5 - Volume 36 Issue 1

Application of COCA in EFL Writing Instruction at the Tertiary Level in China

English writing plays an increasingly important role in the context of globalization. However, Chinese college students’ writing skills of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) are quite deficient and EFL writing instruction at the tertiary level in China is confronted with enormous difficulties. To handle this situation, we suggest the application of Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) in college English writing instruction to resolve current problems such as learners’ insufficient exposure to authentic linguistic materials, inactive thinking, lack of motivation to write, and teachers’ heavy workload of making assessment. The application of COCA runs through the whole process of writing. At pre-writing stage, COCA is applied for idea inspiration and vocabulary preparation; at while-writing stage, COCA is used for eliminating erroneous usages and improving language quality, especially lexical accuracy and complexity; at post-writing stage, the application of COCA aims at giving effective feedback by improving the quality of different forms of assessment, i.e. teacher, self- and peer assessment.

Validation of an online questionnaire of vocabulary learning strategies for ESL learners

This article reports on the updating and validation of a questionnaire for vocabulary learning strategies. An English as a second language (ESL) version of the Vocabulary Learning Questionnaire (VLQ), first published in Gu and Johnson (1996), was created based on its latest version. Two response formats were piloted, that is, a paper version with a 7-point Likert scale and an online version with a 100-point slider bar. A series of validation procedures resulted in a 62-item instrument which was then administered online among 682 English language learners at the tertiary level in China. The paper presents evidence of content validity, construct validity, internal consistency reliability, and predictive validity. It also provides suggestions for interpreting and using the questionnaire for both research and instructional purposes.

An investigation of Chinese university EFL learner’s foreign language reading anxiety, reading strategy use and reading comprehension performance

The present study explored the interrelations between foreign language (FL) reading anxiety, FL reading strategy use and their interactive effect on FL reading comprehension performance at the tertiary level in China. Analyses of the survey data collected from 1702 university students yielded the following results: (a) Both Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) and Foreign Language Reading Strategy Use Scale (FLRSUS) had important subcomponents, (b) more than half of the students generally did not feel anxious when reading English, and were confident in and satisfied with their English reading proficiency. Meanwhile, (c) more than half of them moderately used different types of reading strategies such as planning, checking and confirming, predicting and assessing, when reading English, (d) compared with their female peers, male students felt significantly more anxious when facing reading activities, less satisfied with their English reading proficiency, and used specific analyzing and planning strategies significantly less often during a reading activity, (e) FLRAS was significantly inversely related to FLRSUS, and both were significantly correlated with the students’ FL reading comprehension performance, and (f) FLRAS (overall FL reading anxiety), FLRAS1 (general anxiety about FL reading), and FLRSUS2 (predicting strategies) were good predictors of FL reading comprehension performance. Based on the findings, some implications are discussed.

A Needs-Based Approach to the Development of a Diagnostic College English Speaking Test

This paper investigated the current situation of oral English teaching, learning, and assessment at the tertiary level in China through needs analysis and explored the implications for the development of a diagnostic speaking test. Through random sampling, the researcher administered both a student questionnaire and a teacher questionnaire to over 200 students and 30 teachers respectively. Results revealed that students regarded the use of communicative strategies, range of vocabulary and fluency as the most difficult things in their oral English learning. Results also demonstrated that the majority of college English teachers paid much attention to oral English teaching. However, most college English teachers seldom administered classroom oral assessment, and their practices of classroom oral assessment were considered as lack of systematic and standardized procedures. Implications for further improvement in oral English teaching and assessment were also discussed.

Digital technologies and English instruction in China’s higher education system

The introduction of a new mandatory policy for the teaching of English at the higher education level in China, College English Curriculum Requirements (CECR, published in 2004), had the intention of modernising and improving the quality of English teaching at the tertiary level in China. The policy had a focus on student-centred approaches to learning and the use of a new computer-based multimedia teaching model to support this process. This paper reports on a study that investigated the views of teachers, administrators and policy makers about the intended use of educational technology embedded in the policy and the success of the policy in achieving this goal. The paper attempts to clarify how lecturers in higher education in China have been oriented by the CECR towards pedagogical change. This paper reports on the responses of teachers towards the specific requirements of CECR 2004 by reviewing their present understanding of information and communications technology (ICT), the requirements of CECR 2004 regarding ICT, the present consensus on ICT in pedagogy and the views of policy makers and administrators about these issues. This paper argues that there is a gap between the policy and the reality in terms of ICT pedagogy in tertiary English teaching in the context of China.

A study of the washback effects of the College English Test (band 4) on teaching and learning English at tertiary level in China

This paper presents pilot research findings, applying quantitative and qualitative methods, on the effects of CET-4 upon English education at the tertiary level in China. The research uses questionnaires delivered to 35 teachers and 210 students and semi-structured interviews with 22 teachers and 30 students conducted in five sampled universities in the city of Tianjin. CET-4 is a high-stakes national English examination measuring college students' listening, reading, writing and translating skills. Findings suggest the examination has a questionable validity but strong influence upon learning and the development of classroom assessments. Students are encouraged to learn for the test by memorizing word lists and doing past and practice papers and it is hard for the learning results to extend to non-test contexts. Classroom assessments highly resemble the exam both in test tasks and techniques. CET-4 exerts varying degrees of effects upon teaching at different schools. The exam and its prior language exams may contribute to students' low proficiency of using English for real-life purposes. They may also be responsible for teachers' unwillingness and simplicity of teaching communication. To examine the exact validity of CET-4 and to gauge more accurately the exam's washback, it is recommended a further nationwide CET-4 study be conducted.

Eclecticism or Principled Eclecticism

The introduction of a new mandatory policy for the teaching of English at the higher education level in China, College English Curriculum Requirements (CECR, published in 2004), had the intention of modernising and improving the quality of English teaching at the tertiary level in China. The policy had a focus on student centred approaches to learning and the use of technology to support this process. This paper reports on a study that investigated the views of teachers, administrators and policy makers about the intended pedagogical shift embedded in the policy and the success of the policy in achieving this goal. The paper attempts to clarify how lecturers in higher education in China have been oriented by the CECR towards pedagogical change. To achieve this purpose, the paper reviews current issues in the context of English teaching at tertiary level in China and attempts to frame them in a conceptualisation of eclecticism and principled eclecticism. Then, the paper analyses the responses of teachers, administrators and policy makers, based on an analysis framework developed by Maton (2004) from the work of Bourdieu (1993) and Bernstein (2000), to uncover the relationship between the policy and the reality. The study found that while teachers are eager to make change themselves, in reality, the requirement of a student centred approach and new technical teaching in the policy, challenges teachers’ current knowledge in terms of their current training in understanding curriculum and syllabus, their knowledge of principled eclecticism and computer teaching, and how to deal with textbook teaching and the College English Test. The paper concludes that there is a gap between the policy and reality, and that a gap exists therefore between

A New Model in English Language Teaching in China: The Case of Shantou University

College English teachers in China are often confronted with a number of challenges, such as the large class size, limited contact hours, limited linguistic input and output, test-oriented teaching and learning methods, and the lack of professional development opportunities, to name a few. As a result, many university students have gained rich linguistic knowledge and yet are poor in communicative competence. This paper reports a longitudinal, 8-year-long study of an English Enhancement Program in a southeast provincial university which follows a new model of college English teaching at the tertiary level in China. This model is supported by the expanded theoretical framework of communicative competence as both its goal and means, one that encompasses linguistic, pragmatic, discourse, strategic, and intercultural competences. This paper further discusses four implementation domains with concrete innovative strategies that sustain the innovation of the program, namely, 1) innovation in academic design and instruction, 2) a placement and assessment system, 3) faculty support and development, and 4) organizational development capacity.

The Features of Rhetorical Patterns in English Expository Essays by Chinese EFL English Majors and the Pedagogical Issues of Teaching L2 Writing at the Tertiary Level in China

The current exploratory study focuses on classifying rhetorical patterns in expository essays by 166 Chinese English majors at two universities. The quantitative analysis shows the sampled Chinese students used four rhetorical patterns: the inductive, deductive, quasi-inductive, and non-topic sentence pattern, based on the merged framework, although the distribution of major patterns varied in the sampled subject. The qualitative analysis focuses on identifying features of the four rhetorical patterns in terms of the differing rhetorical cultures and reasoning modes between Chinese and English, in which their expository prepositions are constructed. The conclusion challenges the ‘circular pattern’ hypothesis claimed by Kaplan (1966). The paper yields a tentative conclusion regarding rhetorical patterns in expository essays, and their implications for teaching L2 writing to Chinese EFL students.

Level of Educational Attainment and Its Impact on Technology Diffusion in Developing Countries

Fast growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has facilitated access to information as well as communication across the world. However, due to variety of reasons the penetration of ICT is not homogeneous in the developed and developing countries, resulted an increase in the information gap between these regions. The reasons may be socio-cultural, geographical and level of educational attainment (in terms of enrollment), which play a major role in usage and diffusion of a new technology. Our objective is to analyse enrollment pattern and linkages between level of education and diffusion of ICT indicators such as Internet and personal computers. The paper is divided into two sections (i) to analyse enrollment trends in education at different levels; primary, secondary and tertiary level and (ii) to investigate relationship between levels of education and diffusion of ICT indicators; Internet user, Internet user and personal computers per 100 populations in Brazil, China, India and USA. It is assumed that education is an influencing factor that plays an important role for acceptance and diffusion of a new technology. Results show that enrollment at primary level in Brazil, China and USA is expected to decline whereas in the case of India it may increase. Likewise enrollment at secondary and tertiary level in China, India and USA may increase in future. Analysis also indicates positive correlation between enrollment at primary level and penetration of Internet users personal computers in India whereas in the case of tertiary level it shows weak correlation. In the case of tertiary level except India there is a strong correlation between penetration of Internet and personal computers. Further, it may be noticed that in the case of Brazil secondary education shows negative correlation in all cases.