English as a Global Language Education (EaGLE) Journal
國立成功大學外語中心,停刊
選擇卷期
- 期刊
This study investigated the textual organization and citation use of 24 doctoral dissertations from Mechanical Engineering (ME) and Management of Technology (MT) by students in Taiwan. Units of 'move' and 'step' were adopted to identify the textual organization prevalent in their introduction sections. Citation functions and styles were also compared. The analysis reveals similarities and differences of their textual organization as well as attribution behaviors, and highlights the unique characteristics and perspectives of each discipline. For genre structures, there were fewer differences at the move level than those at respective steps. For instance, ME writers used more texts for steps of topic generalization and literature review but MT students only showed so with much fewer citations as shown in its overall lower citation density. MT students spent more space on building topic centrality when their students used persuasive communicative resources to argue why their own projects were needed to fill existing research gaps. Concerning citation formal, Mechanical Engineering writers tended to convey a neutral attitude towards their findings by removing the agent, but students of Management of Technology adopted an author-active stance toward their work by more seemingly appended non-integral forms. Concerning why they used citations, writers of both areas mainly cited references to give credit to other scholars and support their own decisions for the research projects, Pedagogical implications are drawn from the conclusion and discussed with suggested future research.
- 期刊
This study reports on investigating students' learning effectiveness in the area of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in an elective course, ＂English Reading for Technology,＂ offered to sophomores of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in a technical university in Taiwan. A sustained-content language leaching (SCLT) approach and a task-based learning (TBL) approach were combined with courseware-implemented ESP instruction. Students were asked to complete a variety of pre- and post-tests, including cloze tests, dictation and Q&A tests and a questionnaire survey of satisfaction was administered at the end of the instruction. The results indicated that students not only made significant progress but also felt satisfied with the content-based activities and integrative English practices provided by the courseware. A comparison was made with a control group using a conventional teacher-centered style of instruction. The learner-centered instruction with courseware implementation could be potentially helpful for teaching ESP courses by providing both content knowledge and related integrative language practice.
- 期刊
Due to globalization, many graduate programs in Taiwan offer English medium instruction (EMI) lo encourage enrollment of international students and lo prepare local students for competitive job markets. These programs require evaluation of English oral proficiency for student admission purposes. Current standardized speaking tests are designed to assess general proficiency and are scored manually, which is costly and time-consuming. The present paper describes the development of a computer-assisted speaking test scored using Automatic Speech Recognition technology. The new speaking test was used along with existing standardized speaking, reading, and listening tests with a group of science and engineering graduate students before and after a six-week summer intensive course for specific academic purposes (ESAP). The results show that the new speaking test was highly correlated to the full-length manually scored general speaking test and to the ESAP reading and listening tests taken before the course. The new speaking lest was also correlated to the ESAP reading and listening test after the course. The students also made significant progress in speaking and reading in their professional areas. The student perception questionnaires indicated that the speaking test was well received by the test takers. This study contributed to an improved understanding of the design and implementation of computer-assisted tests used to assess content-related speaking skills.
- 期刊
The emergence of English as the world's most common language has had a considerable impact on English educational policies and practices. In Taiwan, for example, the Ministry of Education has encouraged English language instruction in higher education, with the hope of enhancing college students' English proficiency and their ability to use English as a learning tool. Recently, similar efforts have been made by bureaus of education in Taiwan's major cities so that English skills can be built and developed at a young age. In 2015, the Tainan City Government in Taiwan announced a 10-year plan to adopt English as its official second language. One of the action plans involves a reorientation of primary and secondary school education to have courses taught in English. This paper reports the result of an English teacher survey conducted from July to October, 2016, the main goal of which was to investigate and compare what Tainan City's English teachers at the primary (n=265) and junior high school (n=209) levels thought of the policy. The findings are organized into four broad categories, with the first three being (1) teachers' views on English instruction, (2) appropriate classroom tasks to be instructed in English, and (3) potential challenges and training needs. In the fourth and final section, teachers' written responses are summarized to enrich the quantitative data. The findings reveal that, in comparison to the junior high respondents, primary school teachers showed stronger support for the policy, had higher confidence in their ability to leach in English, and presented more appropriate instructional events and learning tasks where English instruction could be deployed. The data thus suggest that implementation starting at the primary educational level and the timing of English instruction is more suitably determined by types of activities rather than by the percentage of class time in which English is taught. Since teachers' beliefs affect how they teach, and their opinions of a specific policy can exert an important influence on the success or students acquiring English as a basic skill, it is hoped that this study's findings will contribute lo Taiwan's English education policy formulation.