China urgently needs a large number of interpreters, guides and teachers who are competent communicators in the English Language. One of the foreign language institutes that is attempting to satisfy this need is the Beijing Second Foreign Language Institute (or Erwai). It is argued that Erwai fails to produce competent communicators in English, a failure that is seen to be due to three interdependent factors: 1) the lack of teacher training, especially in the area of teaching methodology; 2) the resultant inability to select and effectively exploit teaching materials; and 3) the inappropriateness of currently-used teaching approaches to the perceived goals of the Institute. It is the third of these factors that receives particular attention in this paper. A survey is made of the merits and shortcomings of the three teaching approaches that have been used at Erwai, namely the 'grammar-translation,' 'audio-lingual' and 'cognitive' approaches. This serves as back-ground to the proposal that a 'communicative approach' to teaching be introduced at Erwai. It is claimed that the communicative approach is the most appropriate to the goals of Erwai students, the majority of whom will need to be communicatively competent in their future professions. The communicative approach is applied to the four basic skills of language and it is suggested that these skill areas be integrated in the classroom, rather than be taught in separate courses, as is presently the case at Erwai. Finally, the adoption of a communicative approach is seen to involve changes not only in classroom activities and materials, but also in the role of the student and the role of the teacher.

Foreign language teaching in recent years is very much concerned with the concepts of authenticity and relevance to students' needs and interests. Using newspapers in foreign language classes is one way of working towards the development of an authentic environment and promoting the language learning process. For EFL students in the Institute of International Relations (IIR) newspapers are not simply an important source of learning material, but an important source of information. Vietnamese EFL students who learn to read English newspapers, however, constantly encounter difficulties in comprehension. This study report attempts to identify the common areas of comprehension difficulty for Vietnamese learners, when confronted with newspapers. To achieve this aim, the study first reviews schema theory in order to establish the factors which affect the reading process. It also examines studies on news reporting style in English. Attempts have also been made in the contrastive study of the differences in reporting styles of international news in English and Vietnamese to investigate what might cause difficulties for Vietnamese readers. Accordingly, the study considers implications for teaching newspaper reading to Vietnamese EFL students at intermediate level, who have not practised this before. Finally, the study also suggests further areas of research in using newspapers in a foreign language class.

English is the language studied by the majority of students at the Institute of International Relations in Vietnam. News broadcasts are used as teaching material since, for instance, graduates will need to monitor news broadcasts as part of their work. Students constantly encounter difficulties in listening to the news broadcasts on English-speaking radio. The purpose of this Study is therefore to identify factors which may cause problems for Vietnamese listeners to English news broadcasts. This Study presents the findings from questionnaires related to radio listening and the findings from an analysis of news extracts in English and Vietnamese. In the conclusion to the study implications for the teaching of radio broadcast listening in Vietnam are discussed.

Chapter 1 introduces the aims and objectives of the study. It is followed by an analysis of the present situation at the Hanoi Foreign Language Teachers College and the problems encountered by teachers and administrators in ensuring the maximum efficiency of the EFL programme. The Report continues by asking a number of pertinent questions about the methodology and techniques used in the teaching of reading. This, in turn, is linked with theoretical considerations which the writer examines at some length taking into account numerous issues about language processing, cognition, expectation and motivation, comprehending, discourse analysis, text cohesion and so on. Attention is then focused on the reader and the environment in which he operates. In addition the reading lesson comes under scrutiny and procedures, as well as material selection and teaching systems are discussed. Finally the writer attempts to make suggestions to his colleagues in the EFL field based on his own experience and convictions.

Like any other genre of literature, poetry straddles two provinces. It can be considered to be one of the arts or one of the humanities. When viewed as the former, it consists essentially of a piece of verbal art. When regarded as the latter, it is the expression of human values and experiences. Taking into account a real EFL situation in China, this field study is intended to offer an integrated approach for experiencing English through poetry. This approach is actually a mixture, a combination of two parental models - the linguistic and critical. Since its key objective is to assist Chinese EFL students to advance their target language performance, it will inevitably focus on investigating the operation of language in various literary communication components, such as lexical choice, placement, polysemy, and association in a poetic context. Nevertheless, it will also attempt to help the students develop their literary appreciation by reading poetry with critical scrutiny of the message it aims to convey. As a whole, through close examination of poetic diction and function, it is supposed not only to heighten the students' awareness of the "magic power" of words, but also to increase their sensibility to the human condition and aesthetic elements which are part of the poets' artistry.

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The present field study report comprises two major components: 1. the theories of autonomy and self-directed learning and the analysis of needs and reasons for increasing student autonomy. 2. some practical issues concerning acquisition of autonomy in E.F.L. learning. The modernization of China requires a high level of education of the whole nation. But because of the large population and limited educational facilities, the formal educational institutions cannot meet the needs of the country. To solve the problem, self-directed learning (S.D.L.) is recommended and encouraged by the government. Although S.D.L. is considered to be a practical way to cope with the situation, the problem is that most people do not know how to undertake independent study. The reason is that the dominance of traditional pedagogy in Chinese formal education leads to passive and dependent school learning which suppresses students' potential to become autonomous in their learning. Therefore, after leaving school, they are not capable of continuing their learning by themselves. In order to deal with the problems in traditional Chinese teaching, the significance of increasing student autonomy needs to be fully recognized in the Chinese educational context, and self-directed learning should be introduced to formal educational institutions. Some practical issues must be considered in undertaking S.D.L. in the E.F.L. context. First, the role of the teacher needs to be redefined. The teacher will primarily act as a counsellor and facilitator who will guide the students in their learning, and secondarily as a resource for content information. Secondly, S.D.L. materials need to be prepared. These materials will not only help to improve the students' language competence but also encourage them to learn how to learn. This study discusses the types and sources of materials and suggests certain criteria and procedures for selecting and producing these materials. Thirdly, self-assessment is a central and crucial feature of S.D.L. In autonomous learning, it is the learner's responsibility to assess his own progress. In order to take this responsibility he needs to acquire self-assessment skills. Some techniques of self-assessment are introduced. Finally, in considering how to provide the learners with an effective learning environment, this study puts forward suggestions for establishing a self-study center. Some language skills and learning activities which can be practised in the center are also described.

Increasing contact between China and English-speaking countries in recent years calls for competent language workers to fulfil various communication tasks. To meet this need, it is of great importance and urgency for the Chinese EFL teaching profession to be conscious of the existing problem of communicative incompetence of Chinese EFL learners and to strive for ways and means of reducing it. This study was undertaken as an exploratory study of this problem. As recognised by many now, linguistic competence alone is not sufficient for a successful foreign language learner, one needs to acquire communicative competence as well. In this study, a historical overview of the theory of communicative competence is provided. Following it is a detailed description of a survey which aimed to measure several areas of communicative competence of Chinese learners of English and to find out existing problems. Possible causal factors of those problems are also discussed and are categorised into two groups: communicative interference and weaknesses in the present curriculum, teaching methodology and teaching materials. Finally, implications of this study are examined and tentative suggestions are made in the hope that more and more Chinese EFL teachers will respond to the problem and search for ways to bring about effective learning.

Linguistic competence is a person's knowledge of the forms of a language. This knowledge is not sufficient for communication because communication involves a knowledge of appropriate ways to use the language, that is, when to say what to whom. A part of this total capacity which may be termed 'social competence' is the knowledge and ability to create and maintain a harmonious atmosphere in social interaction. � Social competence is acquired as a person grows up in a given society, learning to play different roles. In social interaction, social competence enables a person to live up to the expectations of these roles, and to act in such a way as to satisfy the interests of others in exchange for satisfaction of his own. One of the individual's interests in interaction is 'face': a desire for freedom from imposition and for appreciation. The preservation of a harmonious atmosphere in social interaction largely depends on how well the interactants preserve their own and each other's face. Certain speech acts are intrinsically face threatening, so mitigating strategies must be used to redress these acts. Owing to the differences in social values and personal relations in different societies, Chinese speakers of English may not perceive the threat to face involved in doing certain acts in the same way that English native speakers would perceive it. As a result, they may unwittingly threaten native speakers' face. Moreover, Chinese speakers may not be able to use mitigating strategies appropriately and may therefore be unable to maintain the desired harmonious atmosphere in interaction with native speakers of English. Therefore, in addition to learning the forms of English language, Chinese speakers should be encouraged to develop social competence, by learning the target language culture and by practising the appropriate polite strategies in social interaction.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-107). Also available on the World Wide Web.