Asian EFL Journal: English Language Teaching and Research Articles

Volume 7. Issue 1

March 2005 Articles

We present 12 articles in this March 2005 edition. We thank both the authors for their outstanding work and our Editorial team for their dedicated efforts enhancing and promoting the TEFL profession. Articles can be read in up to three formats, MS Word format, and PDF format and some in HTML format. You need Adobe pdf reader to read the pdf files, and always run a virus scan of all MS Word files before opening any file.

You may also view March 2005 in PDF Book Format (E-Book, pp.1- 207) Click

The first article is presented by Dr. Phyllis Chew from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. This paper focuses on change and continuity in English Language Teaching (ELT) in Singapore as revealed by a study of the English language syllabuses and their respective textbooks since the time of Singapore's evolvement from a British colony to the modern independent nation it is today.

The second article by Professor David Nunan of the Hong Kong University. In response the oft' asked question " 'What is task-based language teaching, and how do I make it work?'" Dr. Nunan's book is an attempt to answer both parts of that question.

The third article is by Sayeedur Rahman. This paper analyzes and determines the various socio-psychological orientations of the undergraduate students of private universities of Bangladesh towards learning English. The study focuses on the most important social psychological variables: attitude and motivation. The domain where English is used mostly, is also investigated to know the present linguistics reality of Bangladesh.

The fourth article is presented by Dr. Rula Fahmi Bataineh from Jordan. This study is an analysis of compositions written by Jordanian first, second, third and fourth year university EFL students. It aims at identifying the kinds of errors they make in the use of the indefinite article.

The fifth article is presented by Dr. W.B. Aremo from the University of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Dr. Aremo presents a report of a study aimed at finding as many examples as possible of nouns used in ordinary everyday English which are derived from adjectives through the process of conversion. The examples were prepared for a section in a teaching text on the English vocabulary intended for learners in second or foreign language situations.

The sixth article is presented by Dr. Caroline Hwang from Taiwan. The author examines the use of authentic materials in the Taiwanese EFL setting. She submits that once students are primed to authentic materials, which trigger the process of natural language acquisition, effective EFL education can be realized.

The seventh article is presented by Dr. Joseph Anthony Narciso Z. Tiangco. The author proposes the use of contemporary perspectives in psychology as a consolidating framework in the development and implementation of the language curriculum.

The eighth article is presented by Ming-Nuan Yang from Taiwan. Her study is concerned with the learning of medical terminology by nursing pre-professionals in Taiwan. It aims to investigate the use of learning strategies in relation to medical vocabulary use. The work supports previous research and found significantly greater overall use of learning strategies among more successful learners and significant differences by proficiency level in students' use of four strategy categories: determination, memory, cognitive and metacognitive

The ninth article is presented by Liang Guodong & Han Jing from China. Their paper makes a contrastive study of disagreement strategies for politeness between American English and Mandarin Chinese at the private interpersonal level for better EFL/ESL teaching and learning.

The tenth article is presented by Yu Hua Chen. The purpose of the paper is to suggest that the integration of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) into EFL learning can increase both input (exposure) and output (use) of the target language that is needed for learners to promote their linguistic and pragmatic competence's.

The eleventh article is an opinion oriented piece presented by Dr. Neil Heffernan from Japan. There is a large discrepancy between what EFL teachers teach in the classroom and what they learn outside of it, which in turn affects our learners' ability to study English. This paper takes a look at how this problem can be solved by increasing the roles of leaders in the field. Dr. Hefferman also writes of the potential role of conferences in the dissemination of up to date ideas and practices for the teaching profession. This is timely given this May's Asian EFL journal conference on the future of English education.

The twelth article is an insight into India's ELT and presented by Dr. Deepti Gupta from India. She contends ELT in India is quite vibrant and dynamic today. The context of the whole teaching paradigm has changed significantly from the past. This article traces the course of this change in India , along with the causes and consequences. These changes are also compared with other contexts where English has always been a first language.