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Volume 4 Number 10 October 2018

An Investigation of Difficulties Encountered by EFL Teachers in the Application of Strategies in Teaching Listening Skill


Authors: Truong Tuan Minh ; Le Van Tuyen
Pages: 161-174
DOI: doi.org/10.32861/ellr.410.161.174
Abstract
Recently English has been employed as a medium of instruction at the Vietnamese tertiary level. It is necessary to teach its students listening strategies to help them deal with the potential problems that may arise during listening or prepare them for their further educational purposes. This study, therefore, aims to explore the EFL teachers’ perceptions of listening strategies and the application of listening strategies, and discover difficulties that they encounter in their instruction at a public university (henceforth called PU) in Ho Chi Minh City-Vietnam. Thirty six EFL teachers who were teaching English at PU were invited to participate in the study. Quantitative and qualitative data were obtained through two instruments, namely questionnaire and interview. The results revealed that not all the strategies were frequently employed for listening instruction. Several strategies were more frequently employed than the others; for example, cognitive, metacognitive and affective strategies were frequently integrated into instruction by the EFL teachers. Regarding the potential problems relating to listening lessons, the results showed that most of the EFL teachers had difficulties relating to professional development, students and teaching resources. This study is expected to shed light to the implementation of teaching listening strategies in PU context and in other similar contexts.

Translation Methods for Animal Images in Li Sao (离骚)


Authors: Chuanmao Tian
Pages: 157-160
DOI: doi.org/10.32861/ellr.410.157.160
Abstract
Li Sao is the most important part of Chu Ci or The Songs of the South which has an important position in Chinese literature. There are many cultural images in Chu Ci, especially Li Sao, and animal images constitute part of the cultural images in the classic. They convey both literal and implicit meanings. In other words, poet Qu Yuan uses them to symbolize good or bad things in the source text. The implied meaning of the animal images can only be grasped by putting them into the specific context. The translations in this study use various translating methods such as literal translation, substitution and interpretation to represent the symbolic meanings of the animal images, but sometimes it is seen that the translators fail to convey the original meaning correctly. It is assumed that only by achieving optimal relevance can target readers understand the original images easily.