Is a One-Way English Immersion Teaching Approach Equitable to Those Chinese Non-English Major Students from Rural Areas?

2021 ◽  
pp. 001312452110275
Author(s):  
Chunlin Yao

English is a compulsory course for students in China from primary education to postgraduate education. Recently more and more policymakers at Chinese universities have been forcing English education to be performed using a one-way English immersion approach. In their views, the more English practices in English classes, the better the learners’ learning performance will be. This study adopts a hermeneutics research method, a questionnaire survey and some interviews to investigate the question whether a one-way English immersion teaching approach is equitable to those from rural areas. It finds that this teaching approach is inequitable to those from rural areas in at least three aspects, including increasing their economic burdens, decreasing their English acquisition confidences, and mismatching with their career requirements. The study calls for Chinese policymakers to alter their urban-centered viewpoints toward English education, and English teachers to enrich the English teaching approaches in the future and pay more attention to the future career requirements of those from rural areas.

Author(s):  
Nataliya Bobrysheva

The article identifies tools for modeling communicative situations during the professional English classes of future maritime officers, considering the multicultural component of their professional activities. The author identifies the principles of modeling communicative situations during the professional English classes, which the teacher should follow: he principle of continuity, which is a system-creating factor in the gradual introduction of the knowledge system, skills and abilities of the essence and specificity from the first to the fifth courses, in further postgraduate education, contributing to the integrity of this process; the principle of professional orientation, the essence of which is the orientation of the tasks, content, methods and forms of organization of the educational process for the future specialists’ profession; the principle of dialogue that determines the scope of future maritime officers: communication with crew members, briefing, giving orders, etc., forming the theoretical and professional development of future specialists; it facilitates subject-subject connections, resulting in cadets mastering skills and abilities to take into account the position of the interlocutor, to organize and cooperate with the crew members, to adequately perceive and transmit information; the principle of complexity, which consists in the interconnection of the components of the educational process, ensuring the integrity of the influence on the formation of the personality of the future marine officer, as under the influence of studying various disciplines of cadets formed readiness for professional activity in the multicultural environment. Author gives examples of modeling communicative situations for various courses, taking into account their level of English. For the senior maritime students, the teacher may give more complicate communicative situations and use exercises such as brainstorming, choosing true/false statements, and choosing the right option (matching) with subsequent discussion in groups or pairs. The author concludes that the modeling of communicative situations helps to build an effective model of communication between representatives of different nationalities and cultures, solving intercultural conflicts


Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 678
Author(s):  
Julio Jaramillo-Monge ◽  
Michael Obimpeh ◽  
Bernardo Vega ◽  
David Acurio ◽  
Annelies Boven ◽  
...  

We investigated the COVID-19 vaccination acceptance level in Azuay province, Ecuador through an online survey from 12th to 26th February (before the start of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Ecuador). Overall, 1219 respondents participated in the survey. The mean age was 32 ± 13 years; 693 participants (57%) were female. In total, 1109 (91%) of the participants indicated they were willing to be vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine, if the vaccine is at least 95% effective; 835 (68.5%) if it is 90% effective and 493 (40.5%) if it is 70% effective; 676 (55.5%) participants indicated they feared side effects and 237 (19.4%) thought the vaccine was not effective. Older age, having had a postgraduate education, a history of a negative COVID-19 test, a high level of worry of contracting COVID-19, believing that COVID-19 infection can be prevented with a vaccine and understanding there is currently an effective vaccine against COVID-19 were associated with higher vaccination acceptance. A vaccination education campaign will be needed to increase the knowledge of Ecuadorians about the COVID-19 vaccine and to increase their trust in the vaccine. People with a lower education level and living in rural areas may need to be targeted during such a campaign.


Author(s):  
Yilin Huang ◽  
◽  
Sohani Gandhioke ◽  

To solve the problem of Chinese EFL students’ passive and ineffective vocabulary learning, task-based language teaching (TBLT) methods were introduced to English classes at a university. With TBLT, students interacted with each other by using English, especially English words learnt, in order to fulfil the tasks designed by teachers. Based on second language acquisition theories, students were able to understand input and produce output during this process. This paper focuses on using TBLT in English vocabulary teaching in three non-English major classes of a Chinese university, involving the use of some word games. The word games’ features, organization, and a skill set built through those games, will be discussed. In terms of methodology, an online questionnaire survey was conducted among 93 university students from the three classes. Also, results of the students’ before-task and after-task word quizzes on Moodle platform and exam paper results were analysed. The research findings showed that students enjoyed playing word games in the English class and benefitted from it, in terms of language development and building skills. This paper recommends teachers to use TBLT in English vocabulary teaching and learning, as it is practical and can assist in EFL learners’ vocabulary acquisition.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 460-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiwen Chen

Purpose Bottlenecked by rural underdevelopment, China’s overall development is bound to be inadequate and unbalanced. Through a brief retrospect of the reform directed against the “equalitarianism (egalitarianism)” in China’s rural areas, as well as the Chinese Government’s conceptual transformation and systemic construction and improvement thereof, the purpose of this paper is to clarify the panoramic significance of rural reform; the necessity, priority, and long-term nature of the current rural development; and the important role of public policy in doing so. It also looks ahead to consider the prospects for future rural reform. Design/methodology/approach This paper first reviews the rural reforms that were carried out in 1978. Second, it introduces the government’s conceptual change regarding rural reform and the establishment and improvement of the system that underlies it. Finally, the future of rural reform is envisaged. Findings The initial rural reforms brought extensive and profound changes to China’s rural areas. The experience of rural reform has been referred to and escalated by other fields of study. Hence, rural reforms have become something of global significance. Moreover, since the government can undertake reforms well beyond the reach of farmers, its views must be modified in a timely manner, and only then may it reasonably construct and improve the system pertaining to the “three rural issues (agriculture, rural areas, and farmers).” Originality/value This paper reviews the rural reforms carried out in 1978. It introduces the government’s change of concept with respect to rural reforms and the establishment and improvement of the system based on the “three rural issues,” thus looking forward to the future of rural reforms. The findings of this paper are of significance to the formulation of future agricultural policies.


Author(s):  
Raphael Nhongo ◽  
Baba P. Tshotsho

Background: In the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, schools were forced to close indefinitely with no clue as to when they would reopen. Upon school closures, remote teaching was adopted, with online teaching becoming the most preferred mode of instruction, yet the Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure was not adequate enough across the country.Aim: This article scrutinises the remote teaching approaches that were put in place in Zimbabwe in response to the closure of schools during the COVID-19 lockdown. The article investigates how the adopted approaches were suitable for conditions in rural settings.Setting: The study looks at the challenges faced in the implementation of remote teaching during COVID-19 school closures in rural areas of Matabeleland provinces in Zimbabwe.Methods: The study adopted a qualitative phenomenological approach to analyse the teaching approaches that were put in place by the government and other stakeholders. Twenty teachers from 20 rural schools drawn equitably from two provinces, Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North, were interviewed on the shortcomings of these remote teaching approaches.Results: The results revealed that the remote teaching approaches that were put in place excluded learners in rural settings. This is because of the challenges in infrastructure, economic condition and restrictions on remote teaching approaches imposed by the government.Conclusion: As Zimbabwe is facing economic hardships and infrastructure development challenges, it was supposed to adopt emergency remote teaching instead of long-term approaches. A variety of approaches that suit specific physical environments should have been adopted instead of sticking to only one throughout the country.


2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (11) ◽  
pp. 2694-2694
Author(s):  
Nitik Sharma ◽  
Arsalan Hyder ◽  
Sikander Ali

The district Larkana has faced multiple outbreaks in the past decade. AIDS-related deaths of children in the Larkana district since the 2019 outbreak of HIV has increased with the potential to rise even more in the future. This article discusses the stigma associated with HIV in rural areas of Sindh Province and emphasizes ways to promptly deal with these situation. Continuous...


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Zou ◽  
Dandi Chen

Abstract Background Primary healthcare (PHC) is vital for providing more equitable, accessible and affordable healthcare to the population. However, there is a general lacking and disparity of distribution of PHC workforce, especially for rural areas in China as it is very hard to attract and retain high quality medical students to rural PHC. This study was to investigate the willingness of university medical students toward working in rural PHC and their perceived incentives and compare that between medical programmes. Methods An online questionnaire survey was conducted in a leading medical university of Western China in 2017. All second-year Preventive Medicine (MBP, 5 years programme) and third-year Doctorate of Medicine (MD, 8 years programme) students participated. The willingness and perceived incentives toward working in rural PHC were analysed and compared between students of the two programmes. Results A total of 201 students, including 115 MBP and 86 MD students, participated in the study. The overall willingness rate toward working in rural PHC was 16%. More MBP (23%) than MD students (7%) expressed willingness without mention of incentives (p<0.05). The most preferred incentives were adequate remuneration (62%), non-inferior working and living conditions to urban area (58%), limited service years (56%) and privilege to postgraduate education and promotion (55%), though 13% expressed willingness under no circumstances. More MBP than MD students preferred to postgraduate education and promotion (65% vs. 43%, p<0.05) and limited service years (63% vs. 56%, p<0.05), but similar in other incentives (p>0.05). The willingness rate increased from 2%~5%, 9%~14%, 27%~25%, to 81% with single-, two-, three-, four- incentives as mentioned above, and similar between students of the two programmes. Conclusions The willingness of university medical students to work in rural PHC was low. However, more MBP students show willingness than MD students. Multiple incentives including adequate remuneration, opportunities of postgraduate education and promotion, proper working and living conditions and limited service years may be much more effective than any single incentive to attract university medical students especially MBP students to rural PHC service. Further investigation of appropriate incentives in details and interventional studies are warranted to inform relevant policy making.


2018 ◽  
pp. 438-461
Author(s):  
Jiyou Jia

It is an important but complicated issue to investigate the long-term effect of the intelligent Web-based English instruction system CSIEC on students' learning performance with satisfying reliability and validity. This chapter introduces three years' process of the design and implementation of English instruction in four diverse high schools with the CSIEC system (i.e. the integration of CSIEC system into English instruction in four high schools: the project team organization, the survey and user needs analysis before the project implementation, system design, programming and test, the process of CSIEC's integration into English classes, and phase meetings). The management issues of the project were thought to guarantee its successful implementation in four different high schools located in distant provinces in China.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document