开放教育试点(本科)英语专业(经贸方向)变化中的英

1、03“开放教育试点”（本科）英语专业（经贸方向）变化中的英语单元信息1How to Study ItWelcome to English in a Changing World. The world changes - had changed, changed, has changed, is changing, will change and will be changing! English changes with the world. But how did it change with the world? Is it still changing? Will it continue

2、 to change? And in what way? Questions like these are very important to us as learners of English. They are the questions this course book attempts to answer. However, first things first. As we did with the previous courses, let us first check if you have all the resources available. Resources check

3、listThe materials you should haveHave you got them?*There are 4 audio cassettes accompanying the book. Note that they are not designed as listening tasks. They are prepared for you to listen to if you want the dialogues in the book to be heard and imitated. Surely you can use them as listening tasks

4、 yourself to enhance your listening. ·*There are also some video programmes accompanying the book. They show some authentic clips about English change. You are not expected to buy them, of course, but you should watch them in the tutorial centre. ·*You should have a cassette recorder. It i

5、s useful for self-recording. *You should at least buy yourself a notebook. You have the resources now. They will remain wasted if you fail to use them wisely. English in a Changing WorldThere are as usual eight units. Unit 1-Changing English in a changing world: an overview - takes you to a quick to

6、ur of English across time and space: you are shown how English changes in the life of an individual, how English changes in the Great Britain, how the standard English you are learning is different from the other dialects in the British Isles. Following the overview in Unit 1, Unit 2 zooms in, so to

7、 speak. It takes a closer look at English in the past. You are led to explore loads of interesting questions: How did the English we know now come to existence in the first place? Was there only one English or were there several “Englishes” at early times? What did old English sound like? etc. etc.

8、As we know by now, English was first spoken by people living in the British Isles surrounded by sea. The question we want to ask is: how did it spread all over the world? You can find an answer to it in Unit 3. Have you noticed that government officials speak “officialese” (i.e. 官腔), while peasants

9、from the poor countryside speak a humble and simple language? Actually, if you are a careful listener, you may notice that the ways people around you speak can sound quite different due to their different professions or jobs or occupations. Students sound like students, children sound like children,

10、 etc. We can say that the way people speak betrays their trade. The same is true of English. There is a technical term to capture such differences, namely social variety. This is the theme of Unit 4. We use the word Chin-English to describe someones English which sounds like Chinese. It often carrie

11、s a derogatory overtone that his or her English is poor. From the point of language change, Chin-English is often the first stage that the two languages come to contact. The contact can result in changes in both languages. That is, English can be influenced by Chinese, which in turn can be influence

12、d by English. The first contact was often made by businessmen at seaport cities. Unit 5 explores how the early international trades affects the growth of the English language. Unit 6 examines the changes English has undergone since the Second World War. English is used extensively in international s

13、cience and technology, international transportation, information technology and entertainment. ELT also exerts a great demand on English. English nowadays is truly an international language. People can talk about the globalization of English. Having said this, suspicion grows about whether there is

14、only one English or there are Englishes. This is the issue taken up in Unit 7. Finally breath-taking information technology has virtually turned the world into a global village: we can say, without any sense of exaggeration, that we are living in a shrinking world! In this world, why do you learn En

15、glish? What English should you learn? These questions are answered in Unit 8. Knowledge of English and skills in using English English in a Changing World can be said to be a book about the knowledge of English. As a learner and teacher of English, such knowledge is essential. It enables us to see E

16、nglish in a historical perspective. It helps us understand English better. We can explain, proudly, to our students or our friends why English is as it is. This is not the only objective of the course, however. You are both a learner and a teacher at the same time. Your dual roles deserve a book tha

17、t has dual roles to play as well. You may note that this book is also designed to enhance your listening, reading, and writing, that is, to improve your skills in using English. How to do activities and tasksThere are 32 activities which are made of 137 tasks. Suppose that you have to complete the c

18、ourse within 8 weeks equal to 56 days. The average amount of study per day is 2.45 tasks. If you manage your time well, this is not all too demanding. One of the efficient ways to do the tasks is to follow the instructions, and do them as quickly as you can. After that, you always review the tasks y

19、ou have just done - not until the end of the unit, by checking them against the unit objectives. If the objective of the task is also the objective of the unit, you should make sure that you have achieved the objective. Take Unit 1 for example. Some of the unit objectives are: explain why languages

20、change as people change, and recognize and describe examples of change. When you review the tasks you have done, you should keep these objectives in mind, and later do them in your notebook. You can do them like this: *-the objective: explain why languages change as people changethe answer can be fo

21、und in Task 2. The key points are: people change over time, peoples experiences change too; so people use language differently; thats why languages change as people change. If you follow the advice given here on how to do tasks, you can rest assured that you will be a very successful learner of this

22、 course. An 8 week planner (if you have already done so during your study of A Guide to Success 1: Orientation, skip this)I know you are very busy, like everybody else. It is essential that you prioritize your time very well. It takes 8 weeks to finish this course. The first step, therefore, is to d

23、raw an 8 week planner. Your planner may look like this: CourseStudy WeeksCalendar WeekTasksTutorialHours p.w.English in a Changing World1/23/45/67/89/1011/1213/1415/1617/18 U-1U-2U-3U-4U-5U-6U-7U-8 12Semester ExamA weekly planner (if you have already done so during your study of A Guide to Success 1

24、: Orientation, skip this)The next thing you should do is to draw a weekly planner. Your planner may look like this. MondayThursday6:30 get up6:30 get up7:00 - 7:30 breakfast7:00 - 7:30 breakfast8:00 -12:00 8:00 -12:00 12:00 - 2:00 lunch break12:00 - 2:00 lunch break2:00 - 6:002:00 - 6:006:00 - 7:30

25、dinner6:00 - 7:30 dinner7:30 -10:00 7:30 -10:00 10:30 bed time10:30 bed timeAn hour a day on distance learningAn hour a day on distance learningTuesdayFriday6:30 get up6:30 get up7:00 - 7:30 breakfast7:00 - 7:30 breakfast8:00 -12:00 8:00 -12:00 12:00 - 2:00 lunch break12:00 - 2:00 lunch break2:00 -

26、6:002:00 - 6:006:00 - 7:30 dinner6:00 - 7:30 dinner7:30 -10:00 7:30 -10:00 10:30 bed time10:30 bed timeAn hour a day on distance learningAn hour a day on distance learningWednesdaySaturday:6:30 get up6:30 get up7:00 - 7:30 breakfast7:00 - 7:30 breakfast8:00 -12:00 8:00 -12:00 12:00 - 2:00 lunch brea

27、k12:00 - 2:00 lunch break2:00 - 6:002:00 - 6:006:00 - 7:30 dinner6:00 - 7:30 dinner7:30 -10:00 7:30 -10:00 10:30 bed time10:30 bed timeAn hour a day on distance learningA distance learning day!Sunday6:30 get up7:00 - 7:30 breakfast8:00 -12:00 12:00 - 2:00 lunch break2:00 - 6:006:00 - 7:30 dinner7:30

28、 -10:00 10:30 bed timeHalf a day on distance learning*The two planners are effective means for self-discipline and self-management. This message again: Self-discipline and self-managementThe three trial years (from 1996 to 1998) with over 1200 students all over China bear the evidence that self-discipline and self-management are among the most important factors that make a successful distance learner. Apart from making plan