English for Elegance and Profoundness-CIBT International College of Guangzhou University

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Foreword

The information technology has influenced the rapid development of modern science and technology especially since the 21st century. This has presented itself with many new characteristics. Firstly, we have accumulated a great wealth of knowledge since the incision of modern science and technology. Secondly, the world economy is globalizing at a rapid pace. Thirdly, there is more communication amongst different nationalities since the burgeoning development of technology. Hence, with the continual integration of scientific technology and economy as well as the increasingly frequent cultural exchanges among different countries and nationalities in the world, strengthening the teaching of foreign language and improving national foreign language proficiency have become one of the important development strategies of many countries and governments in modern society.

Since the 21st century, China’s higher education has developed rapidly over the course of years. With the large increase in the enrollment of students into colleges and universities, China has been ranked top in the world as a veritable higher education power in the world. In order to adapt to the needs of economic and social development in the new era and the change of the international situation, China has shifted its focus of higher education to improving the quality of talent cultivation and constructing the higher education power. Opinions on Implementing the Teaching Quality and Education Reform Projects of Undergraduates in Universities(Department of Higher education, Ministry of Education 2007 No.1), The Outline of the National Plan for Medium and Long-Term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020) and Several Opinions on Overall Improvement of Higher Education Quality issued by the Ministry of Education all emphasize taking the improvement of the international level of higher education and the promotion of integrating higher education to the world system as the important measures to develop China’s higher education in the new era while leading higher education to adhere to the road of connotative development. Undoubtedly, the teaching of foreign languages is playing a more important role in talents training of our higher education in the new era.

As an important part of higher education in China, College English teaching has been given a very important position for a long time, especially since China’s reform and opening up. The Administrative Department of Education puts forward the specific teaching goals and requirements on College English in universities and encourages and supports universities to carry out College English teaching reforms and innovative College English teaching methods to improve the teaching effect. The document Opinions on Implementing the Teaching Quality and Education Reform Projects of Undergraduates in Universities (Department of Higher education, Ministry of Education 2007 No.1) has been approved by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance. This requires colleges and universities to strengthen College English teaching reform and substantially improve college students’ English level and their ability to use English in scientific research. In 2006, the Ministry of Education established the first 31 demonstration sites of College English teaching reform in colleges and universities all over the country. These colleges and universities have been given full support in policies and conditions for College English teaching, signifying a trend in our higher education system.

After years of development and unremitting exploration, College English teaching in Chinese colleges and universities has achieved fruitful results. College students’ English level has been improved significantly; the English knowledge and communication skills acquired by college graduates have played a positive role in all walks of life, which has made great contribution to the rapid economic and social development in our country since the reform and opening up. However, when fully recognizing the great achievements in the past, we have also been faced with hiccups and problematic issue. College English teaching has not yet fundamentally got rid of the problems of time consuming and inefficiency. The investigation results suggest that College English is a course with the longest duration among all courses that Chinese students learn. College students generally learn English for 8 to 12 years. In the 2 years of the basic stage of College English, students have English lessons for 5 credit hours every week. In addition to English classes, most students (about 70%) spend over 2 hours per day in learning English (Wang Qimin 2002). The time that college students spend on English learning is so long that any other course cannot be comparable, but the teaching effect is far from satisfaction. The investigation results show that after 2 years of College English learning, 22% of students still have difficulties in understanding English lessons, that 30% of them cannot speak English and 58% of them cannot make conversation with foreigners. This phenomenon is known as Deaf and Dumb English in the society. Thus, an obvious gap still exists between College English teaching and the requirements of talent training of higher education. College English teaching can neither satisfy the needs of economic and social development nor adapt to the development trend of higher education in the new era. Therefore, it is imminent to reflect on the current situation of College English teaching to further strengthen the teaching reforms and improve College English teaching efficiency.

The reasons for the time-consuming and inefficient College English teaching are down to many different styles of teaching. In order to solve the problem and increase productivity, it’s necessary to dissect the past teaching methods and try to improve the current system by introducing new methods of teachings while balancing with the old so that College English can be improved gradually. Teaching material is one of the basic elements and the key factors affecting teaching effect. College English Curriculum Requirements ((Department of Higher education, Ministry of Education, 2007) points out that College English is a teaching system which “takes the foreign language teaching theory as the guide and English knowledge and application skills, cross-cultural communication and learning strategies as the main contents, and integrates various teaching modes and teaching means together.” “The teaching goal of College English is to cultivate students’ ability in comprehensive English application, especially the listening and speaking skills, to enable them to make effective communications in their studies and work. Meanwhile, it aims to enhance their autonomous learning ability and improve the comprehensive cultural quality, so as to adapt to the needs of social development and international exchange in our country.” The College English teaching material has to be great from the start and must fulfil the goal and requirements of teaching College English effectively. English for Elegance and Profoundness (English Reading and Writing Volume 1, 2 and 3 & English Listening and Speaking Course Volume 1, 2 and 3) compiled by the experts and scholars in the domestic colleges and universities based on CIBT International College of Guangzhou University is an attempt to deepen the College English teaching reform and try to overcome the long-existing problems of time consuming and inefficiency in College English teaching. Under the guidance of College English Curriculum Requirements, this teaching material fully absorbs the writing experience of outstanding foreign language teaching materials at home and abroad and draws lessons from the bold innovation of the latest language research achievements in teaching concept, method and content organization, trying to make the role and teaching effect of College English in talent cultivation of higher education achieve new breakthroughs. This teaching material has the following characteristics:

First, the integration of language acquisition and culture. In terms of the general ethnological significance, culture can be complex. Language is part of our culture to include complexity of knowledge, belief, art, moral, law, style, habit. Language is an integral part as well as a core carrier of culture. As the most important communication tool for human, the generation and application of language is inseparable from the influence of the language community culture. It’s great just to learn English thanks to the culture of English speaking nations. Combining language learning with culture learning is one of the basic concepts of this teaching material. It consists of 36 units with themes as the guide. The themes cover all aspects of the culture of English-speaking nations, such as geography, economy, science, technology, education, language, art, family life, etc. When acquiring English knowledge and language skills, students can also enrich their cultural knowledge of the English-speaking nations. Both complement each other and thus illuminate each other.

Secondly, students could be simultaneously Cultivated of Knowledge Skills and Ability Quality. The problem of time consuming and inefficiency in College English teaching has something to do with the wrong understanding of English, that is, just regarding English as a tool but neglecting its purpose and the important role of College English teaching in the cultivation of college students’ abilities and qualities. It’s common to obsess on language knowledge teaching and skill training and take the examination result as the only evaluation criterion in teaching. However, the source of the material and the teaching activity design is not just to prepare them for exams but also to improve their language skills include speaking, listening, writing and reading. When taking into full account the language knowledge regulated by College English Curriculum Requirements, the material selection also pays great attention to the extensiveness and details of the subjects, the interest of the contents and the appreciation of the beauty of the English language. The teaching activity design not only emphasizes the consolidation of language knowledge and the training of language skills, but also highlights the practice and inspires students’ individual thinking of activities.

Thirdly, co-ordination between the teaching contents and the cognitive psychology is the third feature. With the important inspiring and influential effect on the foreign languages, the research result of linguistics has always been the important theoretical sources of the foreign language teaching research. Cognitive linguistics which is a front line subject in language research development based on cognitive science tells us that language reflects people’s understanding; people are not born with the language knowledge but acquire it with the language application as the basis. The compilation of this teaching material draws lessons from two theoretical results of cognitive linguistics, namely, application-based viewpoints on language knowledge and frame semantics. Application-based viewpoints on language knowledge points out that people are not born with the language knowledge but acquire it in language practice; the language events appearing frequently are solidified or conventionalized to be a series of cognitive structures from concrete to abstract through human’s cognitive mechanism and thus form the language knowledge consisting of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. In frame semantics, the frame refers to “the background knowledge related to a specific concept or the knowledge network in multiple cognitive fields which connects a related known language form” formed in the interactive process between people and the external world (Fillmore, 1982). Research shows that the understanding and application of frame and language are inseparable from each other. For example, without the frame of WEEK as the basis, we cannot understand the word of Sunday; without two frames of SEAFARING and FLYING as the basis, we cannot know the difference between land and ground in semantics and usage. According to the view of frame semantics, the national customs, values and ways of life of different cultures are often obviously different, so their frames formed based on experience are implicitly or explicitly different. A specific embodiment in language is that words of a language do not directly correspond to those of another language in semantics. Let’s see a typical example. Colleague in English does not mean “Tongshi” in Chinese in semantics.

When emphasizing the practice of the teaching activities, English Reading and Writing Course and English Listening and Speaking Course of English for Elegance and Profoundness adhere to the principles of consistent unit theme and simultaneous teaching schedule in structure, which improves the recurrence rate of English vocabulary and grammatical category, so that students can effectively consolidate what they have learnt through the repeated language practice and thus gradually construct the complete English knowledge system; on the other hand, it’s helpful for students to acquire various cognitive frames which are closely related to English understanding and application and reflect the unique cultural characteristics of English, thus improving the reliability of students’ English knowledge and the appropriateness of English application.

Fourthly，compatibility between the career development and the scholarly pursuit is the fourth feature. As mentioned previously, with the rapid development of higher education, China has taken the improvement of the international level of higher education as the important measure to develop higher education in the new era. Predictably, more and more college students will seek opportunities to study in the foreign colleges and universities or the Chinese-foreign cooperatively-run schools according to the economic and social development of our country and their own development needs in the near future. In the face of new development trend of higher education, when taking into full account the career development needs of graduates, College English should keep abreast of the times and forge ahead with innovation, so as to meet the demands of college students. As is well known, the foreign colleges and universities and the Chinese-foreign cooperatively-run schools have high requirements in students’ English language ability and most of them take the result of IELTS or TOFEL which emphasizes the English ability to be the measuring standard as the important basis for enrollment. In view of this, this teaching material refers to the requirements of IELTS and TOEFL on the premise of not being divorced from the unit themes to design various language practice projects consistent with the test form and difficulty of IELTS and TOEFL in language practice part of each unit. By this way, students acquire the cognition and experience of IELTS and TOEFL when making the language practice activities with English language and cultural knowledge learning and English and communication skill training as the core targets. As a result, students can gradually improve their adaptability to CET 4 and 6 in China and IELTS and TOEFL in the English-speaking countries, thus laying the necessary foundation of English language ability for accepting the international higher education.

English for Elegance and Profoundness is an attempt to keep up with the changes of the times and deepen College English teaching reform. The teaching material has a profound comprehension of the spirit of College English Curriculum Requirements and dares to break through the shackles of the traditional thinking and make innovation in the writing concept, content and structure design. Moreover, in addition to the employment of Professor Cui Gang who has the in-depth research of College English teaching as an authoritative scholar and Ph.D. supervisor in the foreign language department of Tsinghua University to serve as the adviser, it also invites the experts and scholars in the foreign universities like Harvard University, the Chinese academy of social sciences and other scientific research institutions to give advice and guidance. Therefore, this text book is undoubtedly the crystallization of wisdom and the result of joint efforts of many experts and scholars at home and abroad. We believe that English for Elegance and Profoundness will certainly have a great contribution to deepening the College English teaching reform in the new era especially for college students, graduate students and people who are planning to go abroad for study, visit or for international communication.

Xiao Kunxue

Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center

March 2013

Training Series for Language Competence

Instruction for English Reading & Writing Course, Volume One

English Reading & Writing Course includes 3 volumes in total. Each volume contains 12 units, and each unit contains 2 parts: academic reading and writing skills. The reading part consists of 3-4 articles with various kinds of exercises in reading and vocabulary. This series of textbook has features as follows:

1. It covers a large variety of language information.

The book includes 36 units and each unit only focuses on 1 topic, which covers various aspects of life, society and academia. In choosing reading materials, the authors pay particular attention to the adequacy, knowledge and enlightenment of the contents. Not only can it improve students’ language skills, also it can broaden their scope of knowledge and inspire their independent thinking. In addition, each unit includes at least 1 interesting article to give the students the inclination to read.

2. It focuses on a step-by-step learning method.

In terms of vocabulary, there are about 800-1000 words in Volume 1, 1000-1200 words in Volume 2 and 1200-1400 words in Volume 3. Volume 1 concentrates on the writing skills at sentential level and correction of common mistakes; Volume 2 is about the extensive training on writing skills at paragraph level and reading skills; and Volume 3 is about training on writing skills at passage level as well as the types of questions and various exam strategies in IELTS exam. In selecting reading materials, the topic of each unit is a part with the relative topics in English Listening & Speaking Course.

3. It focuses on increasing students’ vocabulary.

By providing abundant vocabulary exercises, the reading materials help students repeatedly practice the frequently used words in academic reading and writing. Besides, the last question in each unit is designed to practice the words involved in the topic by various means such as crosswords and words-searching.

This is the first volume of English Reading & Writing Course. Its elementary objective is to comprehensively improve students’ academic reading ability and lay a firm foundation for the next stage. In total Volume 1 includes 12 unites; each unit includes the following parts: Reading 1 is the main text of the unit which can be lectured in class; Reading 2 and Reading 3 are the supplementary reading materials which can be used after class. The exercises on reading and vocabulary are arranged throughout these three parts. Besides, writing exercises are arranged in each unit with a central task combining with reading exercises to train students’ writing skills at sentential level. At the same time, by explaining the examples frequently used in the reading materials, it will help the students understand better what they have learned. Moreover, using the common mistakes committed by students in writing as examples, Language Clinic is designed to help students express accurately through proper instructions and exercises. It takes roughly 5 credit hours to finish each unit.

Instruction for English Listening & Speaking Course, Volume One

This is the first volume of English Listening & Speaking Course and it has two elementary objectives: firstly, to further improve students’ daily listening, speaking and communication ability on high school’s basis; secondly, to comprehensively improve students’ listening and speaking ability of academic English and lay a firm foundation for the next stage of study. Volume 1 includes 12 units in total and each unit includes four parts. Each part has its core content and the content is arranged from easy to difficult. The first two parts are the trainings of both listening and speaking, while the third part is the training on long listening materials and the fourth part is pronunciation training. It roughly takes 4 credit hours for each unit. This textbook has the characteristics as follows:

1. Listening and speaking are integrated.

Listening skill and speaking skill are closely related. In the textbook, listening activity is closely combined with speaking activity. Speaking is based on listening and listening is for the purpose of speaking. It not only improves the student’s listening ability, but also improves the speaking ability simultaneously. Meanwhile, to help students improve the accuracy and fluency of their pronunciation, the authors set up pronunciation exercise in each unit to help solve the common pronunciation problems.

2. The recording materials are authentic.

The key to whether the teaching materials for listening are good or bad depends on whether the recording materials are real or not, which is also the sharpest difference between domestic and foreign textbooks. Only when those listening materials are recorded in real situations, could the book attract students to learn and could the teaching goal be reached. As all listening materials in this textbook are selected from foreign textbooks, the pronunciation is authentic. Besides, pronunciations of different styles are also included, which lays a sound foundation for the improvement in listening.

3. The forms of exercise are diverse.

Listening exercise is one of the important ways to improve students’ listening and speaking ability. When designing the forms of exercise and training, the authors take the students’ psychological characteristics into consideration and try to make the forms diverse and interesting to stimulate students’ interest in learning.

4. The contents of language are rich.

Language is the carrier of information. When learning a language, students obtain abundant information simultaneously. There are totally 36 units in this textbook, and each unit focuses on different themes, including life, society, and other academic topics. In addition, the authors pay special attention to the adequacy, knowledge and interestingness of the contents, in the hope that students could improve listening ability, increase their knowledge and develop their talents comprehensively.

Instruction for English Reading & Writing Course, Volume Two

English Reading & Writing Course includes 3 volumes in total. Each Volume contains 12 units, and each unit contains 2 parts: academic reading and writing skills. The reading part consists of 3-4 articles with various kinds of exercises in reading and vocabulary. This textbook has features as follows:

1. It covers a large variety of language information.

The book includes 36 units and each unit only focuses on one topic, which covers various aspects of life, society and academia. In choosing reading materials, the authors pay particular attention to the adequacy, knowledge and enlightenment of the contents. Not only can it improve students’ language skills, also it can broaden their scope of knowledge and inspire their independent thinking. In addition, each unit includes at least one interesting article to give students the inclination to read.

2 It focuses on a step-by-step learning method.

In terms of the vocabulary, there are about 800-1000 words in Volume 1, 1000-1200 words in Volume 2 and 1200-1400 words in Volume 3. Volume 1 concentrates on the writing skills at sentential level and correction of common mistakes; Volume 2 is about the extensive training on writing skills at paragraph level and reading skills; and Volume 3 is about training on writing skills at passage level as well as the types of questions and various exam strategies in IELTS exam. In selecting the reading material, the topic of each unit is a part with the relative topics in English Listening & Speaking Course.

3. It focuses on increasing the students’ vocabulary.

This is the second Volume of English Reading & Writing Course. Its elementary objective is to comprehensively improve students’ academic reading ability and lay a firm foundation for the next stage. In total Volume 2 includes 12 unites; each unit includes the following parts: Reading 1 is the main text of the unit which can be lectured in class; Reading 2 and Reading 3 are the supplementary reading materials which can be used after class. The exercises on reading and vocabulary are arranged throughout these three parts. Besides, writing exercises are arranged in each unit with a central task combining with reading exercises to train students’ writing skills at sentential level. At the same time, by explaining the examples frequently used in the reading materials, it will help the students better understand what they have learned. Moreover, using the common mistakes committed by students in writing as examples, Language Clinic is designed to help students express accurately through proper instructions and exercises. It takes roughly 5 credit hours to finish each unit.

Instruction for English Listening & Speaking Course, Volume Two

This is the second volume of English Listening & Speaking Course and its elementary objectives are: on the learning basis of Volume 1, to comprehensively enhance students’ listening ability through strengthened trainings and to improve speaking ability at the same time, laying a solid foundation for the study of Volume 3. Volume 2 includes 12 units in total and each unit includes four parts. Each part has its core content and the content is arranged from easy to difficult. The first two parts are the trainings of both listening and speaking, while the third part is the training on long listening materials and the fourth part is pronunciation training. It roughly takes 4 credit hours for each unit. This textbook has the characteristics as follows:

1. Listening and speaking are integrated.

2. The recording materials are authentic.

3. The forms of exercise are diverse.

4. The contents of language are rich.

Instructions for English Reading and Writing Course, Volume Three

1. It covers a large variety of language information.

2 It focuses on a step-by-step learning method.

3. It focuses on increasing the students’ vocabulary.

This is the third volume of English Reading & Writing Course. Its elementary objective is to comprehensively improve students’ academic reading ability and lay a firm foundation for the next stage. In total Volume 3 includes 12 unites; each unit includes the following parts: Reading 1 is the main text of the unit which can be lectured in class; Reading 2 and Reading 3 are the supplementary reading materials which can be used after class. The exercises on reading and vocabulary are arranged throughout these three parts. Besides, writing exercises are arranged in each unit with a central task combining with reading exercises to train students’ writing skills at sentential level. At the same time, by explaining the examples frequently used in the reading materials, it will help the students better understand what they have learned. Moreover, using the common mistakes committed by students in writing as examples, Language Clinic is designed to help students express accurately through proper instructions and exercises. It takes roughly 5 credit hours to finish each unit.

Instructions for English Listening and Speaking Course, Volume Three

English Listening and Speaking Course of English for Elegance and Profoundness consists of 3 volumes, and each volume contains 12 units. English Listening and Speaking Course Volume 1, 2 and 3 are associated with each other, but they have their own particular emphasis on teaching goal. The teaching goal of Volume 3 is to improve students’ ability of academic English listening and speaking based on the study of Volume 1 and 2, and to improve students’ adaptability to IELTS test. Volume 3 has 12 units with 4 parts in each unit. These four parts have their own cores and are arranged from difficult to easy. Part 1 and Part 2 are the training on listening and speaking; Part 3 is designed for students to practice the comprehension of the long listening material; Part 4 is the listening skills training for IELTS test. Each unit roughly takes 4 credit hours. In addition, there are four simulated tests of listening comprehension of IELTS test at the end of this volume to help students check the learning outcomes. This textbook has the following characteristics:

1. Listening and speaking trainings are consistent in themes and integrated with each other.

Listening is a receptive skill while speaking is a productive skill. Despite the different properties, they are closely related. This textbook integrates the training of listening and speaking together: speaking is based on listening and listening is for the purpose of speaking. In addition to strengthening students’ listening skill, it highlights the training of students’ speaking ability at the same time.

2. The listening training materials are various and the oral practice situations are true to life.

The diversity of materials is the key factor affecting listening practice. The listening materials in this textbook are mostly from the original foreign textbooks with the authentic pronunciation and intonation and the diversified themes. In order to enhance students’ adaptability to English of different accents, it also selects the passages and paragraphs of different pronunciation styles. The design of the oral English practice project takes students’ psychological characteristics into consideration, setting various interactive and interesting activities of the realistic situation in each unit.

3. The study contents are abundant with equal stress on knowledge and ability.

Language is the carrier of information. When improving their language ability, students can also acquire information simultaneously. The textbook consists of 36 units with respective theme, covering all aspects of the culture of English-speaking nations, such as geography, economy, science, technology, education, language, art, family life, etc., so that students can expand their knowledge, improve their abilities of analysis and independent thinking and develop their comprehensive qualities.

Training Series for Learning Ability

Training Series for Learning Ability consists of 4 volumes, which are written in English and attach the same importance to mutual compatibility and correspondence. The series aims to enrich the connotation of general college education and expand the channels for internationally mutual recognition of credit. Volume 1 is Getting to Know Foreign Universities. It mainly introduces the learning environment of universities in English speaking countries which includes aspects such as teaching environment and resources, learning style and characteristics, study requirements, the college departments and their function, and the disparities of universities at home and abroad etc. Combined with the aforesaid contents, the textbook also introduces some learning and survival skills that will work in foreign universities, such as how to get along with classmates, how to communicate with teachers and how to handle difficulties. Volume 2 is Going Critical-Selected Readings for Critical Thinking. Traditionally, Chinese students commonly lack the ability of critical thinking, which is a major obstacle for students from China to complete their education in foreign universities. Therefore, the textbook proceeds from the actual problems Chinese students encounter during their overseas learning, and systematically enhances their ability in critical reading, writing and thinking. Volume 3 is An Introduction to Research Methodology. It is a common weak point of Chinese students which hinders the completion of academic research in English. This textbook focuses on students’ ability to carry out research-oriented study, and aims to enable them to master the basic procedures, norms and methods for academic research, to look up documents references quickly and accurately, to comb research documents and contents, and to command the basic requirements for composing academic paper. Volume 4 is Advanced Intercultural Communication. It aims to help students become more sensitive to intercultural communication differences and to provide students with the knowledge and skills that will help them interact successfully with people from cultures other than their own.

Getting to Know Foreign Universities

Getting to Know Foreign Universities mainly introduces the learning environment of universities of English-speaking countries, including topics of teaching environment and resource, learning styles and characters, learning demands, and departments in the universities and their responsibilities. To help students adjust to new environment, the textbook also introduces some practical learning and living skills, including getting along with classmates, communicating with teachers, and dealing with difficulty. This textbook has the following characteristics.

1. Comprehensiveness. It takes all the difficulties that Chinese students may encounter when studying abroad into consideration and tries to cover all general features of universities in foreign countries. 2. Timeliness. All reference materials are newly released abroad, which ensures the practical values of the information. 3. Practicability. With years of experience of studying abroad, the authors incorporate their experience to make the book more practical. In addition, written in English and creative form, it helps improve not only students’ English, but also their adaptation ability to live and study in foreign countries.

Cui Gang, a professor from the Foreign Language Department in Tsinghua University and a doctoral supervisor, was invited to be the general counselor. With profound knowledge and research experience, Cui Gang has contributed his effort to the writing and editing of many textbooks of elementary education and College English. More importantly, his years of teaching experience enables him to know clearly the current situation of English learning of Chinese middle school students and university students. We express sincere gratitude to Professor Cui’s contribution.

Compiling such a series of textbook is complicated. Although this series of textbook has been refined and modified for several times, it might still have room for improvement due to the limited time and the expertise of the authors. The authors gladly welcome teachers and students to put forward any valuable and beneficial opinions and suggestions.

Going Critical Selected Readings for Critical Thinking

What is “critical thinking”? It is the process of reflective and rational thinking. “Critical thinking” is different from what we Chinese usually understand because it is not always negative and includes the meaning of “evaluating” and “judging”. No matter it is a positive or negative assessment on an idea or an action, it is critical. Used to “cramming” and “spoon feeding” way of learning, many Chinese students lack the competence of “critical thinking”, which may do harm to their future study and work.

In the process of learning and researching, only when we are armed with the ability of critical thinking, could we understand the main theories and viewpoints of a subject and put forward the correct comment on other thoughts and viewpoints. Many students are accustomed to receiving others’ viewpoints negatively but not to actively evaluate the efficiency and logic of those viewpoints. An American professor once said when describing his students “The students can apply what they learnt to nowhere but the narrow scope of their knowledge. They know but they do not understand.” Therefore, we could not be satisfied with the knowledge from the textbook, but to ask “How is the theory put forward?” and “Why we believe this theory?”.

University students are required to listen, read, write, and discuss in a critical way in foreign universities. Critical thinking helps students analyze the learning contents logically and understand the knowledge as well as express themselves better. Apart from learning and studying, critical thinking prepares the students for all the problems that may be encountered in the future life and work. Everyone has to deal with unaccountable problems and make lots of choices based on the experience and knowledge, especially in this age of “information explosion” and “self-media”. Globalization and internet provide us with abundant information and resource, and critical thinking plays a more and more important role in analyzing, classifying, and accessing the information.

Considering students’ lack of the ability of critical thinking, and with the purpose of helping students adjust better to foreign study and living, the author of Go Critical Selected Readings for Critical Thinking has written the book in the hope that the students could succeed in finishing the courses abroad. As one of the most significant components of training series for learning ability of EEP, it aims to improve the students’ ability of applying critical thinking in practice by providing the theory learning and practical training.

This textbook consists of two parts. The first part contains from Unit One to Unit Eight, providing a comprehensive introduction of critical thinking; the second part emphasizes on practical training, improving the ability of applying critical thinking into practice, such as studying, discussing, reading, and writing. Except for Unit 12, every unit strengthens students’ reading ability with reading exercises, including asking questions, inspiring thinking and summarizing key points.

Compiling such a book can be a complicated work. The book has been thoroughly refined and modified for several times, it might still have room for improvement due to the limited time and the expertise of the editors. The editors gladly welcome teachers and students to put forward any valuable and beneficial opinions and suggestions.

An Introduction to Research Methodology

This book is a volume of the “EEP (Training Series for Learning Ability)”. After giving a basic introduction to research, research type and research method, this book focuses on the formation and elaboration of research question, literature review, the formation of research hypothesis, the collection and analysis of data and the writing and evaluation of research report. The main features of this book are as follows: Firstly, it covers the whole process from the formation of research question to the writing and evaluation of research report. Arranged in the chronological order of research process, this book will help readers who have not been involved in research unveil its secrets and understand the whole process; Secondly, it takes into account both quantitative and qualitative researches, and therefore can be applied to different research topics that readers may encounter when they attend colleges in English-speaking countries; Thirdly, the applied questions attached at the end of every chapter are original and practical. These questions, which focus on managing the students' practical operating ability, can help students apply what they have learned into practice and grasp the knowledge by using it. Combined with the editors’ years of foreign study and research experience, the content of this book is highly targeted and very accessible to those readers who want to study abroad in the future. Compiled in English, the purpose of this book is to help students understand and acquire research skills as well as improvement on their English.

In order to ensure the attribute of materials selected, we invited Dr. Cui Gang, the professor and doctoral supervisor of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature of Tsinghua University, to be the general adviser. He has a solid theoretical foundation and comprehensive studies on foreign language teaching and a profound knowledge into the English teaching in China; he has also compiled many books for the elemental education and College English teaching in our country. More importantly, he has many years of practical experience in English teaching and also has competent understanding and knowledge of the English learning situation of secondary school students and college students in China. In the process of selecting and compiling, the compilation was supported by Professor Cui Gang’s comprehensive guidance and careful assistance. The editors would therefore like to extend their sincere thanks to him.

Advanced Intercultural Communication

This textbook aims to help students become more sensitive to intercultural communication differences and to provide students with the knowledge and skills that will help them interact successfully with people from cultures other than their own.

The topics covered in the course will include:

Chapter1. Relationships: Individual or Collective

· Some cultures value the group and harmony over the individual and personal competitiveness, and stress relationships rather than actual transactions. Knowing about these differences can help you establish successful intercultural partnerships.

Chapter2. Social Framework: High Context or Low Context

· Some cultures require explicit, content-rich, direct statements when communicating; others rely on an indirect, implicit, unspoken (but generally understood) and accepted context. Learn where particular cultures fall on the high context/low context continuum and how to tailor your communication to meet cultural needs.

Chapter3. Time: Linear, Flexible, or Cyclical

· The view of time itself differs vastly among world cultures. In the U.S. business culture, time is defined as a linear and precious commodity to be used, not wasted; other cultures see time as circular, repetitive, fluid, and subordinate to people and relationships. In this chapter, you'll discover how to recognize these different attitudes toward time and communicate your organization's expectations as they relate to on-time delivery and other time-related issues.

Chapter4. Power: Hierarchical or Democratic

· Many world cultures view the organization of companies differently from the power-sharing, flat structures of most U.S. businesses. We'll examine ways to establish effective business presence when communicating across hierarchical and democratic power structures.

Chapter5. Using Language

· Even when everyone in a meeting speaks English, misunderstandings occur because of semantics, connotations, idiomatic expressions, industry jargon, and untranslatable slang expressions. This chapter discusses how the major international cultural groups use language differently and how these differences can have a profound impact on your bottom line.

Chapter6. Writing

· Because miscommunication can be especially potent and long-lasting when written, we provide guidelines for developing sensitive cross-cultural writing skills. This chapter addresses the slippery issues of acceptable formats and tone.

Chapter7. Communicating Nonverbally

· The cultures of the world communicate by more than language. In fact, experts believe that 85 percent of all communication is nonverbal. In this chapter, you'll learn what constitutes effective eye contact, body language, personal space, and use of silence.

Chapter8. Negotiating

· Cultures vary in their interpretation of business agreements and contracts. Some value specific and detailed written contracts; others prefer to conduct business through verbal agreements and view legal contracts with distrust. This chapter provides guidance on how negotiating techniques and legal concepts affect communication, and discusses ways to establish credibility.

According to relevant regulations of Guangzhou University, students who take the EEP courses can apply for an exemption of College English of corresponding-level as long as their performance meet certain requirements in the final examination of the course.

1. Instructions

(1) Exemption Notice

Students study English for Elegance and Profoundness Listening and Speaking Vol.1 and Reading and Writing Vol. 1 in the first semester of the first academic year. After passing the exam, students can apply for an exemption of College English 1 and 2.

Students study English for Elegance and Profoundness Listening and Speaking Vol.2 and Reading and Writing Vol. 2 in the second semester of the first academic year. After passing the exam, students can apply for an exemption of College English 3 and 4.

(2)Scores Transfer

Judged by grade, student’s English performance consists of two parts: EEP Listening and Speaking and EEP Reading and Writing, each occupying 50%. Make-up examination will be arranged for students who failed. If fail again, the student is required to retake the course.

The credit transfer between EEP and College English is as follow:

2. Credits attained from EEP: Training for Learning Ability can be transferred to those of some of our partner universities.

3. The courses of EEP will be given in small class——generally less than 30 students each class. Students of International Cooperation Program (ICP) will complete the training on language competence in the first academic year. By the end of first semester of the second academic year, the training on learning ability will also be finished.

4. According to relevant regulations of Guangzhou University, the oversea English training belongs to paid service. Studying fee corresponding to the standard of government guidance price will be charged in modules under students’ agreement.

5. As is required by our partner universities, students are supposed to take IELTS test before the end of the first semester of the second academic year. As long as their results meet the requirements can they apply for the oversea study.

6. ICP provides students with guidance on visa application and contact with oversea universities.These services are of extra charge.

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