Jianshan Cheng

This study examines the English for specific purpose (ESP) curriculum development at a Chinese University. Since 1980s Chinese College English teaching has witnessed a rapid development. However, a large number of college students and teachers are plagued by its inefficiency and inefficacy. While many universities in China are reforming their College English teaching by adding ESP curriculums or completely substituting these curriculums for College English, the requirement for this reform and its effect on teaching are still to be investigated. This study examines students’ requirements for ESP curriculums and the effect on practical teaching. The study attempts to analyze what subjects are required by students and what teaching methods are suitable for ESP classes. Finally, this study provides suggestions for ESP curriculum planning, curriculum objectives, teaching methods, textbook compiling, teaching evaluation, as well as teacher training.

Xiaoyan Zeng

Xiaoxiang Chen

The correct use of English tense-aspect has been considered as one of the hardest parts to be acquired by second language learners, even for most advanced learners. Conflicting evidence has been reported regarding various factors which influence tense-aspect markings in SLA. The explanations are still open. The present study focuses on the investigation of the influence of lexical aspect, task variability and proficiency level on Chinese learners’ acquisition of the English past tense and the progressive aspect by using a learner spoken corpus and a written learner corpus. A usage-based account of the findings is proposed.

Yuan Yao

Based on the metaphor theory, this paper studies the cognition of traditional Chinese characters by Mainland Chinese people who have already acquired the simplified Chinese characters. This kind of cognition consists of three steps: from form to understanding, from sound to understanding, and from meaning to understanding. By using the psychological dictionary in mind, Mainland Chinese people can find the corresponding simplified character of the traditional Chinese character according to the similarities in form and sound and the references in meaning. Finally, the process of cognition is completed after the interaction and projection between the domains of simplified Chinese characters and traditional Chinese characters. A cognition model is put forward to demonstrate this process clearly.