Abstracts of Major Papers in This Issue

An Investigation into Communicative Language Teaching in Classroom of English Majors of Newly-Established Universities in China， by LIU Chunhui & LI Chili， p.8

Communicative Language Teaching （CLT） which aims at fostering studentscommunicative competence is the current mainstream pedagogy. The Previous research literature showed that the implementation and effectiveness of the CLT approach varies in different-leveled institutions. This paper reports on an investigation into the implementation of CLT in classroom of English majors at three newly-established universities， from both students and teachers perspectives. We find that teachers and students believe that foreign language classroom should aim at fostering students communicative competence， while the both sides emphasize the grammar and vocabulary learning in classroom. The problems and difficulties in practicing CLT at universities of such kind are identified and discussed. The findings of this study are expected to provide favorable information for further English language teaching reform at tertiary levels in China.

Research on Vocabulary Teaching Framework under the Guidance of Prototype Theory， by XU Jinying & MA Xiaoli， p.13

Prototype category theory is an important theory in cognitive linguistics. Put this theory into practice can introduce a new perspective and methods for English teaching. In order to illustrate the application of prototype theory in vocabulary teaching， the author studies vocabulary teaching framework under the guidance of the theory， and this lay the foundation for the theory to specific use to practice.

Reading to Listen： Systemic Functional Discourse Analysis and TEM-8 Mini-lecture Listening Comprehension， by LI Suqin & DUAN Xueqin， p.16

Written and spoken English text comprehension is of a similar process in language decoding. To gain the most information， readers or listeners have to apply their various abilities to decoding a text. Systemic Functional Discourse Analysis has been proved to be able to facilitate English reading comprehension. Therefore， we hold that listeners can learn to listen and gain more by grasping the themes and thereby the information flows of a TEM-8 mini-lecture.

On the Strategies to Promote Learners Oral Proficiency， by WANG Shuli & DU Baishun， p.27

In the era of globalization， our society requires more and more innovative talents who have access to better oral communicative abilities. There are quite a number of elements affecting learners oral competence， such as motivation， pronunciation and intonation， vocabulary， speculative ability and communicative strategies， etc. In the teaching of oral English， teachers should activate learners motivation， provide more chances to oral practice， and employ appropriate communicative strategies to promote learners oral proficiency.

The Language Learning Revolution in the Internet Media Age， by PENG Yi， p.58

As the information technology rapidly develops， the Internet media plays a more and more important role in peoples daily life. The process of language learning can also be reinforced by the Internet media. Through analyzing some language learning theories， some revolutionary changes can be clarified： the borderless communication， numerous language resources application， “all-weather” language learning， high-efficiency classroom teaching.

A Study on the Reading Strategies of Vocational College English Majors and Strategiesbased Instruction， by LI Haihuan， p.96

With the results of the questionnaire on the reading strategies of the vocational college English majors， this paper studies and analyses the problems and difficulties in the strategies use in reading comprehension. Learner strategies training are adopted in reading class.

An Investigational Study of Intercultural Communication Competence of Non-English Majors in Vocational Colleges， by ZHAO Dongyun， p.100

The data collected from the questionnaires answered by 122 non-English majors in Shenzhen Polytechnic indicate two facts： students in vocational colleges are lacking intercultural communication competence； compared with freshmen， sophomores after oneyear college English learning show no significant increase in their intercultural communication competence. Some constructive suggestions are put forward in terms of English teaching and learning in vocational colleges.

Exploring the Effective Ways in Teacher Career Development by Applying for Educational Research Projects—An Interview with Professor Xia Jimei， by YIN Manfen， p.124

This paper presents the interview with Professor Xia Jimei， a senior teacher trainer， aiming at exploring the effective ways to deal with the common problems in applying for educational research projects. She shares her experiences in making research proposals focusing on selecting topics， writing literature review， planning research process and outcome forms， and preferred research methods as well. She further offers her valuable advice from her supervising and evaluating the former research project applications of all levels. She stresses that it is essential for the ordinary teachers to apply for research projects in educational science field in order to promote their professional development and it is also an effective way to get out of the “research bottleneck”.

Revisited Speech Act Metonymy， by LI Huaikui， p.128

Panther & Thornburgs theory of speech act metonymy based on action scenario has some demerits due to its neglect of taking contextual elements into consideration. On the basis of conversation structure， we put forward a new version of speech act metonymy， including at least two layers， one of which is that in realizing face threatening intention， the speaker will use presequence， which can refer to the intention itself； the other layer is that in the turn relating to the intention itself， the speaker can either use the head act of the intention， or more generally use the head act with adjunction utterances， or just use the adjunction itself. No matter what to use， metonymy exerts a role in it. The reason why speech act metonymy is so predominant is that language has its social and textual function， and people most of the time are not willing， even not possible to use direct utterances in realizing intention.

Cohesion and Coherence in English Abstracts of English Majors BA Theses in China， by XIAO Hui， p.136

Based on Hallidays Cohesion theory and Fries theory of Theme and Themaic Progression， this paper analyzes the cohesion and coherence of 90 English abstracts of English Majors BA theses selected randomly from three different classes， 30 from each class， in a Chinese university. The results show that the English abstracts of English Majors BA theses tend to use repetition as the major cohesive method； the errors of cohesion are focused on conjunction and ellipsis； and tend to adopt the thematic progression with the same theme to attain coherence.

The Schematic Structure of American Presidential Inaugural Addresses， by SHI Lihong， p.142

Genre analysis is an effective way to explore the schematic structure of a text and hence demonstrates its cognitive structuring. This paper attempts to approach the presidential inaugural address as a special type of genre and tries to identify its schematic structure after examining fifty-four presidential inaugurals. Each move of inaugural addresses is further illustrated and analyzed in details and at the same time their flexibility in practical use is pointed out.

Fuzziness of Language and Business Translation， by FENG Kejiang， p.170

This paper first presents the development process of fuzzy linguistics and its development in China. Then the relation between fuzziness and accuracy is discussed. On this basis， the author discusses the relationship between fuzziness of language and translation of business contracts， advertisements， business letters， profiles of companies and enterprises， instructions.

On Chinese-English Translation of Domestic Cosmetics Trademarks， by Ren Dong， p.174

Dynamic equivalence presented by Eugene Nida gives important guidance to translation practice as well as the translation of domestic cosmetics trademarks. The theory describes the principles of similar response， no need to be restricted to the original form and content. The study includes transliteration， literal translation， free translation and the combination of transliteration and free translation.

Review on Meaning， Discourse and Society， by XUE Yaoqin， p.192

Meaning has been the focus of research in the fields of linguistics， social studies and the philosophy of language. In Meaning， Discourse and Society， Professor Wolfgang Teubert attempts to find a reasonable answer to the questions of what meaning is and where we should look for meaning. Through a diachronic analysis， this book points out that cognitive approach to the research is undesirable. It is found out that meaning is only in discourse， that discourse is a collective mind of a discourse community， and that interpretation is a collaborative act.