English Language Competence and Occupational Mobility in Singapore

1976 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 294 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. MacDougall ◽  
Chew Sock Foon
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (262) ◽  
pp. 97-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans J. Ladegaard

AbstractMany people in developing countries are faced with a dilemma. If they stay at home, their children are kept in poverty with no prospects of a better future; if they become migrant workers, they will suffer long-term separation from their families. This article focuses on one of the weakest groups in the global economy: domestic migrant workers. It draws on a corpus of more than 400 narratives recorded at a church shelter in Hong Kong and among migrant worker returnees in rural Indonesia and the Philippines. In sharing sessions, migrant women share their experiences of working for abusive employers, and the article analyses how language is used to include and exclude. The women tell how their employers construct them as “incompetent” and “stupid” because they do not speak Chinese. However, faced by repression and marginalisation, the women use their superior English language skills to get back at their employers and momentarily gain the upper hand. Drawing on ideologies of language as the theoretical concept, the article provides a discourse analysis of selected excerpts focusing on language competence and identity construction.


Author(s):  
I.N. Gornostaeva ◽  

The article discusses the possibilities of using methods of teaching English in higher education from classical to interactive ones. Special attention is paid to the role of the teacher in the formation of language competence and the effective organization of the learning process. The article proves the importance of introducing into the educational process such interactive teaching methods as work in small groups, preparation of projects and multimedia presentations, training, and brainstorming.


Author(s):  
Eka Susylowati ◽  
Ika Oktaria ◽  
Arini Hidayah ◽  
Yunita Widiyantari ◽  
Anik Astuti

This study aims to train English language skills for Akparta students to be proficient in English. The research methods used include presentations, lectures, observations and discussions. The results showed that the level of English mastery of the Surakarta Akparta students had progressed in speaking English. Community service activities carried out at Akparta Surakarta are helpful for students to improve their English language competence so that students can become professional tourism workers


Author(s):  
Iryna V. Vlasiuk

The relevance of the study is conditioned by the growth of intercultural communication in modern post-industrial society, resulting in the need to change opinions on the development of foreign language competence in school-age students for its effective improvement and further use in professional activities. The purpose of the study is to determine the features of the development of English language competence in reading in high school students of general secondary education and to find methods of overcoming difficulties in the process of mastering a foreign language. In the process of the study, the author used general scientific theoretical methods, including methods of analysis, synthesis, generalisation, and classification. Based on research results of Ukrainian and foreign scholars, the study characterised the basic opinions on the development of foreign language competence in reading, in particular, in high school students. The study defines the term “reading” and considers its main categories, such as types of reading, levels of comprehension of the text, general personal skills for perfect command of reading in a foreign language, etc. It was found that the main difficulties in the development of English competence in reading in high school students are general language, including spelling, and psychological, based on the lack of motivation to learn the language. Tips for English teachers are presented, focused on improving the development of English competence in reading in students, including the use of authentic materials, information technology, as well as the use of practical exercises that help improve reading aloud. The authors see the prospects for further research in the empirical substantiation of methods for overcoming the difficulties of developing English-language competence among high school students


Author(s):  
Fotima Abduvosiyevna Rafikova ◽  

At present, the English language is being taught by adapting world standards of Common European Framework Reference (CEFR) for teaching foreign languages to our national educational system. According to the Uzbek national standard the knowledge of the foreign language competence from the first to fourth grade is defined as A 1- for the beginner level. This article will disclose the formation and development of primary school learners’ foreign language skills through communicative competence.


Author(s):  
Eric Koenig ◽  
Katherine Guertler ◽  
Dorota Zarnowska ◽  
Jolita Horbacauskiene

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorte Lønsmann

Corporate language policies and particularly the use of English as a corporate language have been studied in multinational corporations (MNCs) for almost two decades now. Despite these volumes of research, very little has been written about the process of implementing a corporate language and even less about the employee perspective. The article contributes to the field of language in cross-cultural management by exploring when and why corporate language policies encounter resistance among employees. The study uses observational and focus group data to investigate reactions to a new corporate language policy in one Danish MNC. Drawing on sociolinguistic stancetaking theory and ethnographic methods, the study seeks to understand how contextual factors influence employees’ stances towards the introduction of English as a corporate language. English language competence, the local linguistic context and different temporal perspectives are found to be key factors. The study suggests that new language policies are likely to be resisted when they are introduced to support a long-term strategic goal but lack immediate relevance in the daily life of employees. These results have implications beyond the scope of corporate language policies but reach into the study of the implementation of strategic organizational changes more generally with the suggestion that understanding employees’ local context and outlook is necessary for management to successfully implement change in the organization.


1994 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tse Ka On ◽  
David Watkins

Responses of 80 Hong Kong first-year high school girls to a test of nonverbal ability and a questionnaire about their daily living and study habits plus English-language competence scores were investigated as predictors of academic achievement in six school subjects. Only the ‘daily living habit’ and ‘study habit’ items concerning amount of homework and revision time correlated significantly with school subject grades but even these items did not improve the predictive power obtained by entering the nonverbal ability and English competence scores in the regression equation. The findings question the value of instructing girls to watch their nutrition, sleep, and time spent watching television or on the telephone.


Author(s):  
Р.М. Игнатьева

В статье раскрыты стратегические цели и задачи проекта «Формирование англоязычной среды» в одном из региональных неязыковых вузов в ГБОУ ВО «Альметьевский государственный нефтяной институт». Автором представлены результаты констатирующего этапа эксперимента по формированию иноязычной компетенции субъектов образовательного процесса, позволяющие выявить как проблемы преподавателей, так и студентов. В связи с этим, в рамках реализации данного проекта автором разработан комплекс мероприятий по повышению уровней сформированности иноязычной компетенции отдельно для преподавателей и студентов; представлены педагогические механизмы поступательного формирования англоязычной среды для руководства вуза; выявлены особенности и конкурентные преимущества вуза в формировании англоязычной среды; спрогнозированы некоторые организационные ограничения и риски при реализации данного проекта. The article describes the strategic goals and objectives of the project "Formation of the English-speaking environment" in one of the regional non-linguistic universities in the State Budget Institution of Higher Education "Almetyevsk State Oil Institute". The author presents the experimental results of the establishing stage on forming foreign language competence of the subjects of the educational process, allowing to reveal both teachers' and students' problems. In this regard the author developed a set of measures to increase the levels of foreign language competence formation separately for teachers and students; presented pedagogical mechanisms of progressive formation of English-language environment for university management; identified features and competitive advantages of the university in formation of English-language environment; predicted some organizational constraints and risks in realization of the project.


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