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Friday, November 28, 2008

Grad School Applications

UBC is done. (And so close to the deadline I wouldn't be totally shocked if the application was rejected due to some supporting documents arriving late -- which I hope they don't, of course.)

Next up -- UW, Purdue, Penn State, and Arizona State.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Ling Shi on NNS/NES English Teaching in China

"NES teachers need to understand the background training of their
EFL Chinese students just as NNS teachers need to incorporate the
standards of their NES counterparts into their teaching and testing
evaluation so as to socialize their students into English academic discourse.
On the one hand, NESs should be aware of the different variety
of English writing being cultivated by NNS teachers. They should
adjust their teaching accordingly in a setting where most students are
studying to pass exams rated by local NNS teachers. Based on similar
findings, Kobayashi and Rinnert (1996) suggested that NES teachers
in an EFL context should be aware of the needs of local students to
meet the standards of NNS teachers. On the other hand, NNS teachers
should be aware of the diverse instructional emphases of their NES
colleagues. Both NES and NNS teachers should also help their
students to understand how readers’ expectations can vary based on
their cultural backgrounds, and how this would affect the way they
should write. Seminars for teachers and training workshops for raters
should be organized to help the communication between NES and
NNS teachers so that each group gains access to the shared background
and beliefs of the other. Such cooperation and share of expertise
could lead to more effective writing instruction for EFL students
in China."

- Native- and nonnative-speaking EFL teachers’ evaluation of Chinese students’ English writing