The following appeared in an article in a college departmental newsletter
Professor Taylor of Jones University is promoting a model of foreign language instruction in which students receive ten weeks of intensive training, then go abroad to live with families for ten weeks. The superiority of the model, Professor Taylor contends, is proved by the results of a study in which foreign language tests given to students at 25 other colleges show that first-year foreign language students at Jones speak more fluently after only ten to twenty weeks in the program than do nine out of ten foreign language majors elsewhere at the time of their graduation.
Discuss how well reasoned... etc.
This newsletter article claims that Professor Taylors foreign-language program at Jones University is a model of foreign language instruction. This conclusion is based on a study in which foreign language tests were given to students at 25 other universities. The study shows that first-year language students at Jones speak more fluently after just 10 to 20 weeks in the program than do 90 percent of foreign-language majors at other colleges at graduation. Despite these impressive statistics, I am unconvinced by this argument for two reasons.
To begin with, the assumption here is that students from Professor Taylors program have learned more than foreign language students at other universities. However, we are not given enough information about the study to be sure that this comparison is reliable. For example, the article does not tell us whether the foreign language students at Jones were given the tests; it only reports that the tests in question were given to students at 25 other colleges. If Jones students were not tested, then no basis exists for comparing them to students at the other universities. In addition, the article does not indicate whether students at all the universities, including Jones, were given the same tests. If not, then again no basis exists for the comparison.
Furthermore, we cannot tell from this article whether the universities in the study, or their students, are comparable in other ways. For instance, Jones might be a prestigious university that draws its students from the top echelon of high school graduates, while the other universities are lower-ranked schools with more lenient admission requirements. In this event, the study wouldnt tell us much about Professor Taylors program, for the proficiency of his students might be a function of their superior talent and intelligence.
In conclusion, the statistics cited in the article offer little support for the claim about Taylors program. To strengthen the argument, the author must show that the universities in the study, including Jones, were comparable in other ways, that their foreign language students were tested identically, and that Taylors program was the only important difference between students tested at Jones and those tested at the other universities.
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:必修3_M1_Europe
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:选修7_M1_Basketball
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:选修6_M6_War_and_Peace
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:必修3_M5_Great_People_and_Great_Inventions_of_Ancien
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:选修8_M4_Which_English?
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:必修2_M2_No_Drugs
江西省2017届高三英语二轮专项训练 单项选择(28)
江西省2017届高三英语二轮专项训练 单项选择(30)
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:选修7_M2_Highlights_of_My_Senior_Year
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:选修8_M5_The_Conquest_of_the_Universe
江西省2017届高三英语二轮专项训练 单项选择(29)
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:必修2_M5_Newspapers_and_Magazines
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:必修3_M4_Sandstorms_in_Asia
鲁尼否认将加盟中超
江西省2017届高三英语二轮专项训练 单项选择(5)
江西省2017届高三英语二轮专项训练 单项选择(1)
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:必修1_M1_My_First_Day_at_Senior_High
江西省2017届高三英语二轮专项训练 单项选择(25)
2017届广东北师大版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:Module8 Unit22《Environmental Protection》(2)
江西省2017届高三英语二轮专项训练 单项选择(7)
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:必修3_M6_Old_and_New
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:必修1_M2_My_New_Teachers
江西省2017届高三英语二轮专项训练 单项选择(3)
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:必修3_M2_Developing_and_Developed_Countries
江西省2017届高三英语二轮专项训练 单项选择(26)
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:选修8_M3_Foreign_Food
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:必修4_M1_Life_in_the_Future
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:必修3_M3_The_Violence_of_Nature
2017届广东北师大版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:Module8 Unit23《Conflict》(2)
2017届山西外研版高考总复习(第1轮)英语:选修7_M4_Music_Born_in_America
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |