毕业论文规范
（2006年9月修订版）
“毕业论文是考察学生综合能力、评估学业成绩的一个重要方式。毕业论文一般应用英语撰写，长度（正文内容）为3,000—5,000个单词，要求文字通顺、思路清晰、内容充实，有一定的独立见解”(全国英语专业英语教学大纲，2000: 14)。论文不及格者，不予授予学士学位。
毕业论文一律用A4白色纸张打印装订，论文（定稿一式三份，电子文档一份）务必在“论文工作计划”统一规定的最后期限前，提交给学院英语系科研秘书，逾期不候。
毕业论文凡不符合以下格式的一律不予评审，且后果自负。
一、论文结构
1、前置部分
前置部分包括论文封面、诚实保证书、论文题目-摘要-关键词、目录等五页。
第一页为论文封面。
第二页为诚实保证书。
第三页为英文论文题目、论文摘要（10-15行）和关键词（3-5个）。
第四页为论文题目、论文摘要和关键词三项内容的汉语翻译。
第五页为论文内容目录。
2、主体部分
前置部分后为论文的主体部分，包括：正文内容、参考文献（、附录）和致谢。
（1）正文内容（Body）：一般包括前言、论文主体和结论。正文内分级小标题力求简明，文章层次不宜过多，一般不超过3个层次。文章分级小标题（占一行）来表明文章的层次。
正文部分注释采用夹注形式，论文行文过程中直接或间接引用他人的思想观点、数据、公式等都需要在正文中采用夹注形式标明其出处，具体参照示例。其中中文作者要求使用作者姓氏的拼音，如：(Yang, 1999: 231)。
（2）参考文献（References）：每篇论文的参考文献数量不得少于10篇/部，要求在参考文献中有1/3以上的外文文献。只有正文里引用的文献才能在论文末尾的参考文献部分出现。
（3）附录（Appendix）：附录是论文主体部分的补充项目，视论文需要决定是否使用。对收录于论文中但又不便于放在正文中的附加数据、资料、程序等有特色的内容，可作为附录。
（4）致谢（Acknowledgements）：致谢是对那些在研究和写作过程中曾经帮助过自己的单位和个人表示感谢，主要是自己的论文指导老师以及其他曾经提供过有价值的参考资料和指导意见的个人。致谢应该简明扼要，篇幅以3~5行为宜，最后加上一行文字“Needless to say, all the remaining errors are my own responsibilities.”。
二、文档格式及打印设置
论文（前置部分和主体部分）必须在同一个文挡中编辑打印。
文挡文件名为：学生名-导师名-1/2/3/…定稿
前置部分插入页码设置：选用格式 “小写罗马数字”、页面底端、右侧、起始页码i,首页不显示。
主体部分插入页码设置：选用格式 “阿拉伯数字”、页面底端、右侧、起始页码1。
具体要求如下：
1、前置部分
第一页为论文封面，全校统一，复制样本填写（详见附件：格式示例）。
第二页为诚信保证书、全院统一，复制样本签名（详见附件：格式示例）。
第三页为英文论文题目、论文摘要（10-15行）和关键词（3-5个）。
（1）英语题目
格式要求： Times New Roman, 加粗，小三号，首字母大写，居中。（详见附件：格式示例）
（2）英文摘要
格式要求：
1）Abstract格式：Times New Roman, 加粗，小四号，1.5倍行距，首字母大写，两端对齐（详见附件：格式示例）；
2）英文摘要正文格式：Times New Roman, 白体，小四号，1.5倍行距，两端对齐（详见附件：格式示例）。
（3）英文关键词
格式要求：
1）Keywords格式：Times New Roman, 加粗，小四号，1.5倍行距，首字母大写，两端对齐（详见附件：格式示例）；
2）英文关键词正文格式：Times New Roman, 白体，小四号，1.5倍行距，首字母大写，关键词之间用逗号或分号，两端对齐（详见附件：格式示例）。
第四页为论文题目、论文摘要和关键词三项内容的汉语翻译。
格式要求：宋体字（其它参见第三页“英文论文题目、论文摘要和关键词”要求；详见附件：格式示例）。
第五页为论文内容目录
格式要求：
一级标题：Times New Roman, 加粗，四号，词首字母大写，行首左对齐；
二级标题：Times New Roman, 加粗，小四，行首字母大写，行首缩进一个字符左对齐；
三级标题：Times New Roman, 白体，小四，行首字母大写，行首缩进二个字符左对齐；
论文内容目录单倍行距，每个标题后用小四句点连至行尾；行尾标明正文页码（详见附件：格式示例）。
2、主体部分
（1） 正文内容（Body）
格式要求：
分级标题字体大小与目录要求相同，但所有标题行首左对齐。其它正文内容要求Times New Roman, 白体（若行文中使用汉语语料，用宋体字），小四号，半角英文，句首字母大写，1.5倍行距，两端对齐，段落首行缩进缩进二个字符。段前、段后间距选择“自动”（详见附件：格式示例）。
（2） 参考文献（References）
格式要求：
采用国际通用的著录符号，著录项目依次为：[序号]主要责任者.书名.出版地：出版者，出版年:页码；参考文献类型标识方法为：专著[M]，论文集[C]，报纸文章[N]，期刊文章[J]，学位论文[D]，专著论文集析出文献[A]，其它未说明的文献[Z]。中外文分别排列，中文在前，外文在后。中文按第一作者姓氏的汉语拼音顺序排列，在姓氏后面须注拼音；外文按姓氏的字母顺序排列。
中文用宋体，英文用Times New Roman, 白体，五号，单倍行距，两端对齐，悬挂缩进3个字符缩，段前间距设为“0”、段后间距选择“自动” （详见附件：格式示例）。
中文参考文献编排格式
1）专著格式
作者.书名[M]. 出版地：出版者，出版年：起止页码.
样例：
[1] 刘(Liu)润清. 外语教学中的科研方法[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社, 1999: 34～42.
2）论文集格式
作者. 文题[A]. 主编. 论文集名[C]. 出版地：出版者, 出版年: 起止页码.
样例：
[2] 伍(Wu)铁平. 术语的模糊性和语言规律[A]. 杨自俭, 李瑞华. 英汉对比研究论文集[C]. 上海：上海外语教育出版社，1990: 179～188.
3）报纸文章格式
作者. 文题[N]. 报纸名，出版日期（版次）.
样例：
[3] 谢(Xie)希德. 创造学习的新思路[N]. 人民日报，1998-12-25(10).
4）期刊文章格式
作者. 文题[J]. 刊名. 年, 卷(期): 起止页码.
样例：
[4] 华(Hua)维芬. 试论外语教师在自主学习模式中的定位[J]. 外语研究. 2001, 69 (3): 76-79.
5）学位论文格式
作者. 题名[D]. 保存地点：保存单位，年份。
样例：
[5] 刘(Liu)新慧. FL/L2 Teachers’ Role in CALL [D]. 成都：电子科技大学，2002.
外文参考文献编排格式
1）专著格式
作者.书名[M]. 出版地: 出版者, 出版年: 起止页码.
（注：书名用斜体）
样例：
[6] Searle, J. Speech Acts [M].
2）期刊格式
作者. 文题[J]. 刊名. 年(期): 起止页码.
（注：期刊名用斜体）
样例：
[7] Olsen, M. B. Translated texts and relevance theory [J]. Northwestern University Working Papers in Linguistics. 1992 (4): 125-163.
3）论文集论文格式
作者. 文题[A]. In 论文集名[C]. ed. 主编. 出版地：出版者，出版年: 起止页码.
（注：论文集名用斜体；编著者超过一人，用eds.）
样例：
[8] Grice, H.P. Logic and conversation [A]. In Syntax and Semantics: Speech Acts [C]. eds. Cole & Morgan.
4）网上文献的格式
作者. 文题[Z]. Internet. XX日 XX月 XX年, Available: URL.
（注：以上日期指的是文献检索日期）
样例：
[9]
（3） 附录（Appendix）
格式要求：(详见附件：格式示例)
（4） 致谢（Acknowledgements）
格式要求：(详见附件：格式示例)
其它要求：
毕业论文一律要求用白色A4纸单面打印。页边距设定为上2.54厘米、下2.54厘米、左3. 50厘米、右2. 50厘米。论文（除封面外）加页眉，不加页脚，页眉内容统一为“韶关学院外语学院毕业论文”，5号宋体，下划双线，居中。
计算机打字录入工作由学生自己按时完成。
附件：格式示例
外语学院毕业论文工作委员会
二OO六年九月三十日
韶 关 学 院
毕 业 论 文
毕业论文题目：The Application of Cyberculture in College English Teaching
学生姓名： 刘斯慧
学 号： 000354517
系（院）： 外语系
专 业： 英语（教育）
班 级： 00级本科（5）班
指导教师姓名：郭强
指导教师职称：教授
起止时间： 2006年10月—2007年4月
（教务处制表）
FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
Declaration of Academic Integrity
I promise that the thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any institutes of higher learning and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person, except when due reference is made in the text of the thesis.
I understand that to do so would mean that I had committed plagiarism, and that it is my responsibility to be aware of the University’s regulations on plagiarism and their importance.
Signed:
Date: April 14, 2004
The Application of Cyberculture in College English Teaching
Abstract: With the rapid development of the information technology, “cyberculture” has spontaneously appeared in recent years. Especially on campus, cyberculture has become one of the very important parts in learning, working, and living. To deal with this brand new concept, in the first two parts the author describes the backgrounds and the trends of “cyberculture”, and then gives a definition of it. Furthermore, online education is the main part of using cyberculture. Also it is the trend of future college English teaching. However, the traditional learning theory and teaching method cannot meet the needs of the modern education. But the constructivist learning theory is generally approved in the educational circles, and it is the fundamental foundation of the college English teaching innovation. According to the present-day college English teaching condition, the author made a questionnaire in order to find the weak points of college English teaching and think about the solutions. So in the third part, based on the constructivist learning theory, the author comes up with some learning and teaching strategies in cyber environments.
Key words: cyberculture, online learning, constructivist learning theory, Internet-based environments
网络文化在高校英语教学中的应用
摘要：随着信息技术的迅猛发展，“网络文化”应运而生。它正以前所未有的速度在全国各大高校中广泛传播。作为一种全新的概念，作者首先阐述了“网络文化”产生的背景以及今后发展的趋势，进而对“网络文化”做出简单界定。在线教学是网络文化在高校英语教学中的主要体现，同时也是高校英语教育发展的方向。然而，传统的教学理论和教育模式已不再适应现代教育发展的需要。目前，建构主义学习理论已经得到人们的广泛认同，特别是在多媒体技术高度发达的今天，这些理论已经成为高校英语教学改革的重要理论基础。本文在明确“建构主义学习理论”的定义后，联系我国高校英语教育的现状，通过问卷调查的形式，查找和发掘现代高校英语教育存在的弊端及可发展方向。在建构主义教学理论的指导下，提出基于网络环境中高校英语教与学改革的几点策略。
关键词：网络文化；在线教学；建构主义学习理论；网络环境
Contents
1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………1
2 Cyberculture and Online Learning……………………………………1
2.1 Some features of online education……………………………………….2
2.2 Some elements in cyberspace……………………………………………..3
2.2.1 Email………………………………………………………………….4
2.2.1 BBS…………………………………………………………………...4
2.2.3 Real-time conferencing……………………………………………….4
2.3 Cyberculture on campus………………………………………………...5
3 College English Teaching in Future……………………………………6
3.1 College English teaching in present-day China………………………6
3.2 Constructivist learning theory and online learning…………………7
3.2.1 Constructivist learning strategies in the online environment………7
3.2.2 Constructivist teaching strategies in the online environment………8
3.3 Some online education problems and solutions………………………10
4 Conclusion………………………………………………………………….11
References……………………………………………………………………12
Appendix……………………………………………………………………..13
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………….14
The Application of Cyberculture in College English Teaching
1 Introduction
Nowadays, with the development of information technology, cyberculture is getting into the campus rapidly, and it plays a more and more important role in our living and learning. In cyberspace, students are enjoying themselves in chat rooms, BBS or all kinds of forums. They are sharing the information on the Internet. A great number of students keep in touch with each other via the Internet. In China, however, most teachers still use the traditional ways in college English teaching, which are unexpected by students. So it is necessary to have a careful research into the application of cyberculture in college English teaching. This paper will focus on constructivist learning theory, because a constructivist approach allows both students and teachers to take advantage of cyberculture, and it can not only increase interaction between students and faculty, but also promote learners’ autonomy, and then improve their learning.
2 Cyberculture and Online Learning
“Culture describes a special life style, it not only includes arts, thoughts, and other classical aspects, but also includes our attitude and concept of value to life” (Meng, 2002). With no doubt, cyberculture helps people to create virtual communities in cyberspace, where they can do what they want to. Culture is a life style, so we can say cyberculture is a manner of life in the Internet environment. In this paper, the meaning of cyberculture is dealt with in a narrow scope. Based on the Internet technology, the college staff is getting used to logging on the Internet, where, community members come together ----not face to face, but rather online in a virtual state---- to discuss local issues, read news from all over the world, share their learning or teaching methods, order fast-food or something else. When this kind of behavior appears more and more frequently and become an important part of our life, we can say, we have established a new type of culture----cyberculture.
As to students and instructors, learning and teaching online is the main part of using cyberculture. (Wang, 2002)
2.1 Some features of online education
There is a big difference between the earlier and current forms of online learning. The earlier type focused on the interaction between the students and computer skills, but today we usually emphasize the interaction between the students and instructors, between students and their partners, mediated by the computer. Four features of online education nowadays will be discussed as follows.
Firstly, it helps people to keep connective. On the Internet, students can easily keep in touch with each other and their tutors or even their parents by email or conferencing. (Wan, 2000) Indeed, a lot of colleges have created some types of chat rooms or BBS, where students can interact directly with experts in their fields of study, who are famous in some research areas. So do the teachers themselves. Teachers can exchange their points of view with some experts much more easily. These activities help us to promote both teaching and learning. It is often said that online education provides learners classrooms with no wall. And it gives students all over the world a chance to directly participate in some projects, which are related to their study.
Secondly, it provides people a larger space to share knowledge. Sharing knowledge is one of the most important parts in education. Books are the traditional channels for doing this, but not all human knowledge can be published, and the library source is limited as well. On the contrary, cyberspace is unbounded. It offers participants access to information and makes the latest information immediately available to everyone in the world. Everybody, whether they are famous or not, can be a publisher on the Internet.
Thirdly, it helps us to create a student-centered environment. Another feature of online education is student-centeredness. Being student-centered usually provides students with a great deal of autonomy. They can decide when, where, and how to learn by themselves, so they are given a lot of freedom to do what they are interested in. In that case, teachers just need to define the goals or direct the learning process, and then students will finish the assignments or projects on their own.
Fourthly, it’s much more flexible than the traditional classes. As we all know, students in different levels of learning will be arranged in the same class. Generally speaking, it’s very hard for teachers to keep balance between the higher level and the lower level students in the traditional classrooms. Teaching online offers teachers a much larger and flexible environment to accomplish different teaching plans according to different level students. “We also know that individuals have different sensory preferences.” (Kearsley, 2003) Multi-media technology provides learners more vivid pictures or experiences, which are much better than traditional teaching activities.
Finally, online education involves the use of computer networks for learning and teaching. Both students and teachers are lacking in technical competence in using the cyberspace in some areas. Imagine about the students whose experience with computers was very limited: can they get useful information from the Internet easily? Imagine about the teachers whose experience with computers was very limited: can they make their online syllabus attractive to the students? If the teachers and learners haven’t been well trained in computer skills, all the advantages of online education are empty words. A solution is to place those learners who know less with those who know more, and the latter are the willing and patient helpers. The most efficient measure is to make sure the computer training courses are available in the college at any time.
2.2 Some elements in cyberspace
Cyberculture orients itself towards the constitution of a new order, which we cannot yet fully conceptualize but we try our utmost to understand----through the transformation of the range of possibilities for communicating, working and being. (Escobar, 1994) In order to make ourselves more free on the Internet, but, at the same time, make the Internet more useful in educating, we should pay attention to the following elements in cyberspace.
2.2.1 Email
So far, email is the foundation for all forms of online learning and teaching. “Indeed it is quite possible to use nothing more than email in a course and still highly valuable learning experience.” (Kearsley, 2003) It works with minimal equipment, software and facilities. It is much more convenient and flexible for a student to send email to his or her instructors. For one thing, students can ask some academic questions or private affairs for their tutors’ suggestions via email. Using email will be much better than face-to-face talking in classroom. For another, teachers are busy with their research, and we’d better not interrupt them using telephone or something else but email--- if they receive your email, they will give you a reply in their spare time.
2.2.2 BBS
BBS is short for bulletin board system. In china, many universities have created more than one BBS on their campus net in order to improve interaction from outside or inside the campus. A BBS message includes the sender’s name, a subject title for the message, and the text of the message. To read messages, you can select the topic/subtopic of interest and click on the message available. With the help of BBS, news will go broadly in a very short time, and people can share their opinions from all over the world in a minute. Moreover, participants will be updated every day from the latest information, thoughts, and knowledge in BBS.
2.2.3 Real-time conferencing
Real-time conferencing covers any forms of online synchronous interaction. (Kearsley, 2003) In this paper, the author will introduce the three commonly used forms. The simplest one of real-time conferencing is a chat session where many people share a virtual world, usually set up as “rooms”. Participants exchange various messages with everyone being in this “room”. Each message is provided with the sender’s name so it is possible to identify who said what. Another form of real-time conferencing is desktop video systems. A desktop video system is basically a chat system that uses video images instead of text message. It can serve a group of people who use the same IP address. Also it can make a point-to-point connection for a two-person video session. The final category of real-time conferencing system is that allowed audio interaction and shared graphic images or applications. People in the conference can hear what everyone else say and watch the same screens.
2.3 Cyberculture on campus
In recent years, more and more students have their own computers. In our college, we can freely log-on the Internet in our library, our multi-media rooms, or our dormitories. Computer courses are given as soon as the students enter the campus. So everybody knows how to use a computer, and how to log-on the Internet. Obviously, cyberspace provides us with a rich environment to learn, to teach, and to live in. Some people seriously said: “I cannot live without cyber.” That’s not exaggerating. It’s reported that most students spend more than two hours a day on the Internet. Ironically, how much time do they spend in their learning? I made a questionnaire in order to make it out. There are seventy students taking part in this activity. The subjects are non-English major students. (See Appendix on page 13)
From the result of this questionnaire, we can learn something. Firstly, more than 55% students own their personal computer, more than 70% students log-on the Internet every day. The data tell us that we have enough facilities for students to log-on the Internet, and cyberculture is playing a very important role in campus life. Secondly, according to question 4 and 5, we found that students get used to communicating with others via OICQ/ICQ, the traditional form of interaction is fading away. Thirdly, we are sorry to see that more than half of the students never or seldom use cyberspace for their learning, based on question 6 to 8. Finally, most students have realized that cyber resources are important for their learning.
As we all know, every coin has two sides. Cyberspace also has its ill side. For instance, there are many pornography or violent films on the Internet, in which students with lower self-control ability will be lost. How should we improve the situation? How should we lead the students to use cyberculture for their learning? The author argues that cyberculture can and will play a very important role in college English teaching and learning in the near future.
3 College English Teaching in Future
Clearly, a large number of college students are fascinated by the computer, and they would regard computing skills along with the acquisition of English as “essential for survival in the modern world” (Sergeant, 2001:241) With the fast-paced changes brought about by the Internet technological development, and, with the help of the constructivist learning and teaching strategies, the situation of college English teaching will have an incredible change in the near future.
3.1 College English teaching in present-day China
As China strengthens its economy and successfully joined the WTO, English, with its unique status as a worldwide language, is given more and more attention. Even in hunting for a job today, employers will consider the communicative competence in English to be a crucial factor in hiring, no matter what kind of job (maybe English is useless in that field) you will be given. English is just like a passport in hunting for a good job. How should you demonstrate your English ability? Employers usually talk to you in English while interviewing, and ask you to show your certificate about English that you’ve got. So it is not enough to be good at “testing”, instead you must improve your social skills in English.
In contrast, non-major college English teaching in present-day China aims at developing students’ reading ability, in order to ensure student can smoothly pass CET4/6 (the most popular English Tests in China). Listening and speaking skills in English are not given enough attention. Indeed, it’s more important for students to improve their oral and listening ability nowadays. It is high time we should say goodbye to “deaf and dumb” English.
What is more, non-major college English teaching cannot meet the needs of all kinds of students whose English levels are different. Some students who did well in English during high school complained that they gained little from college English teaching, because almost all the teachers teach English in the traditional teaching way and use the same teaching plan to various students.
Constructivist learning theory in the online environment will help solve these problems.
3.2 Constructivist learning theory and online learning
Constructivist learning theory has been giving wide attention in pedagogy field. It holds that “learners actively construct and reconstruct knowledge out of their experiences in the world” (Kafai & Resnik, 1996:3) Knowledge construction takes place when learners actively construct knowledge and find multiple ways to link new information to previous experience. Constructivists believe that learners have different skill levels and learning styles. But who can provide a rich learning environment for learners to absorb, create, share, and discuss knowledge? Cyberspace can make it. Based on the fact that cyberculture is broadly used in college, and the Internet technology is advancing every day, why don't we change our mind and find a new way to promote our college English teaching?
3.2.1 Constructivist learning strategies in the online environment
Lambert et al (1995:17) refers to constructivism as the epistemological process of knowing and coming to know. “Constructivist learning theory can be applied in the online environment by providing opportunities for learners to engage in creative and collaborative activities that encourage knowledge construction.” (Daley, 2000)
Learning is an active process in which the learner constructs meaning. People are always learning to learn while they are learning. Online learning usually provides the learners with a great deal of autonomy. In that case, learners are given a lot of freedom to choose when, where, and how to study. Meanwhile, students must have higher initiative and self-control ability to study in such an environment. Also, some common communication skills, such as writing, speaking, and listening are badly needed in online learning, because they are the basic skills to interact with others via the Internet.
Learning is a social activity. Our learning activities are associated with the connection with our teachers, our families, our classmates and other human beings. A lot of traditional education, as Dewey pointed out, is directed towards isolating the learner from all social interaction, and towards seeing education as one-on-one relationship between the learner and the objective material to be learned. However, Constructivist learning theory demands us to make conversation and interaction with others as much as possible, which needs some social skills. Most students are poor in how to successfully interact or work with others, so learners who lack these skills should pay more attention to improve them.
Learning is contextual. We cannot divorce our learning from our lives. (Hein, 1991) The more we know the more we can learn. Constructivists believe that learning activities should foster an integration of thinking, feeling, and acting (Novak, 1998). Experience, knowledge, thoughts, feelings and actions can assist us in the process of developing meaning, which involves not only our books, but rather cyberspace and our daily life. The purpose of learning is for an individual to construct his or her own meaning, not just memorize the correct answer or recite someone else’s meaning without any creation.
Motivation is a key component in constructing meaning, especially when students are learning online. Motivation not only helps learning, but is also essential for learning. Students who are well acquainted with computer operation will get more knowledge from cyberspace, for better or for worse. At that moment, correct motivation will help learners to distinguish what they should absorb and what they shouldn’t touch.
3.2.2 Constructivist teaching strategies in the online environment
The use of online learning strategies has fostered student and teacher communication, individualized the learning to the student’s needs, supported and nourished learners’ construction of knowledge. “Teachers should not focus on transmitting plans to the learner, but rather in developing skills of the learner to construct (and reconstruct) plans in response to situational demands and opportunities. (Daley, 2000) To facilitate the constructivist learning approach in an online environment, instructors should pay attention to the aspects mentioned below.
Firstly, ensuring that there is a high degree of interactivity and participation is the most important role of the teacher in online classes. But the higher the level of interactivity and participation in a course, the more work involved for the teacher. So online teachers need to develop strategies to manage it properly. Some teachers complained that students were just in front of the computer when they were having an online class and that was it. To change the situation, teachers have to take the responsibility, and make great efforts to improve your own computer skills, be ready to provide alternative activities to stimulate students’ curiosity. Another factor that strongly affects greater student interaction and participation is the level of teacher involvement. If the teacher actively sends message in BBS or gives comments to students via email, students will exert more enthusiasm on learning.
Secondly, abundant feedback is an important task for teachers in online classes. It is just like the teacher correcting the answer for students in traditional teaching method. From the homework or a test, we can easily find that how firmly the student grasps the knowledge. According to this situation, teachers can immediately adjust their teaching plan to improve teaching quality. As to online teaching, it is much convenient to provide feedback in cyberspace, which includes individual feedback and group feedback. To provide individual feedback, we can use email. But to provide group feedback, we’d better make comments in a discussion forum or conference which can be shared by the whole group of students.
An online course offers students many opportunities to interaction as well as many chances for collaboration among teachers. We know Internet technology is updated every day, so the knowledge and information will become richer and richer in cyberspace. If you want to encourage students to take part in the discussion forums or conferences, you have to make your teaching more attractive to students, and provide more information that will help students complete their assignments. So to improve collaboration among teachers is beneficial for them to improve their teaching skills and reduce workload that online teaching brings to them.
The last crucial part for online teaching is to evaluate student’s performance. Some people worry that it is harder to give evaluation of student performance in online environments. On the contrary, it’s much easier for teachers to create online tests and do correcting online. From the result of the test, students will know which is his or her weaker part, and then try to improve it.
3.3 Some online education problems and solutions
Actually, online education is still a new thing in educational circles, even in some developed countries. Especially based on the constructivist learning theory, educators are getting on the research to the learning and teaching strategies in online environment. So it is reasonable that there should be some problems remaining in this field. But the author tries to think about the solutions.
Firstly, more money and attention should be put into college English teaching. As a rule, this is not a problem in the urban areas. However, it is the different situation in the poor suburban where there may be few computers and very limited or no network connections. For such students and teachers, online education is impossible at the current time. In this case, the government should consider giving more funds to suburban colleges so that they can create more language labs and multi-media classrooms. Another problem in our present-day college English teaching is the quality and quantity of English teachers needs to be improved. Nowadays, English teachers are mostly young postgraduates who need to improve their teaching methods and quality. So colleges should pay more attention to teachers’ training.
Secondly, technical competence should be cultivated among teachers and learners. Obviously, online education only works well if students and teachers have mature computer skills with network connection. Yet a large number of teachers and learners are lacking in these skills. At any rate, it is the education institutes that have to take responsibility for this situation. Colleges should create such online learning environments as computer training course during the summer and winter vacations to improve their capability of using computer.
What is more, learner autonomy should be promoted. It is true that students who are in advanced level might have been expected to manage their learning activities more independently. But, students in advancing level seem to prefer teacher-directed mode to self-directed mode. They have no confidence to achieve a project or assignment individually, and, they are not good at cooperating with other learners. What happened to them? Lack of English social communicative ability is the key point. So, to promote learner autonomous would involve firstly improving their writing, listening, speaking and reading abilities.
Finally, the significance of teachers’ roles in online education has been acknowledged so far. A critical problem is that there is a great deal of good as well as evil in cyberspace. Logging-on the Internet, learners will face more options and temptation, and without a correct instruction, they will be lost easily. So it is the duty for teachers to tell the students how to distinguish between the good and evil. From another angle, a good syllabus online will stimulate students’ learning.
4 Conclusion
Just like a sea, cyberspace contains all kinds of things that we can learn from the reality and even we cannot learn or we cannot see in our daily life. It’s significant for college English teaching. According to the author’s investigation，it is true that cyberculture is playing a very important role on campus. On the other hand, the constructivist learning theory is fit for us to learn in online environments. A further study of the application of cyberculture in college English teaching is promising and will play a vital role in today’s college English teaching reform.
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References:
[1] 孟(Meng)建. 网络文化论纲[M]. 北京：新华出版社，2002
[2] 万(Wan)新恒. 信息化校园：大学的革命[M]. 北京：北京大学出版社. 2000.
[3] 王(Wang)一兵. 高等教育大众化、国际化、网络化和法入化[M]. 昆明：云南大学出版社，2002.
[4] Conceição-Runlee, S. & Daley, B. J. Constructivist Learning Theory to Web-Based Course Design: An Instructional Design Approach [Z]. Internet. 15 March 2004, Available: http://www.uwm.edu/~bdaley
[5] Escobar, A. Notes on the Anthropology of Cyberculture [Z]. Internet. 12 March. 2004, Available: http://keywriter-org - What is Cyberculture.htm
[6] Hein, G.E. The Museum and the Needs of People [M]. Jerusalem Israel, Lesley College. Massachusetts USA, 1991.
[7] Kafai & Resnik. Constructivism in Practice: Designing, thinking, and learning in a digital world. [M]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associations. Inspiration Software, Inc. [on-line] Available: http://www.inspiration.com/. 1996
[8] Kearsley, G. Learning and Teaching in Cyberspace [Z]. Internet. 12 March. 2004, Available: http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/chapts.htm
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[11] Sergeant, S. Innovation in English Language Teaching: A Reader [M]. London: Routledge, 2001.
Appendix:
A Questionnaire and Result Statistics of
|
Questions |
a |
b |
c |
d |
ratio |
|
1. Do you have a personal computer? |
Yes |
No |
|
|
4:3 |
|
2. How often do you log-on the Internet? |
More than once daily |
More than once weekly |
More than once monthly |
More than once yearly |
50:18:1:1 |
|
3. Where do you log-on the Internet? |
Dormitory |
Campus multi-media rooms |
Outside the campus |
|
56:13:1 |
|
4. How often do you use OICQ/ICQ? |
Often |
Middle |
Seldom |
Never |
38:23:3:6 |
|
5. How often do you send email? |
More than once daily |
More than once weekly |
More than once monthly |
More than once yearly |
9:27:19:15 |
|
6. How often do you communicate with your teachers via email? |
Often |
Middle |
Seldom |
Never |
0:6:17:47 |
|
7. How often do you share your learning experience with your teachers or classmates via the Internet? |
Often |
Middle |
Seldom |
Never |
1:15:29:25 |
|
8. How often do you search learning information in cyberspace? |
Often |
Middle |
Seldom |
Never |
17:35:17:1 |
|
9. What do you think of the importance of cyber in your learning? |
Great |
Middle |
More or less |
No |
36:28:4:2 |
Acknowledgements
I would like to give my greatest respect to my tutor----Professor Guo Qiang. Thanks for his patience, encouragement, and professional instructions during my thesis writing. Also, I would like to thank Miss Wen Pingzhen and Miss Li Wenying, who kindly gave their hands to me when I was making the questionnaire among the college English learners.
Needless to say, all the remaining errors are my own responsibilities.