The Use of a “Think-Pair-Share” Brainstorming Advance Organizer to Prepare Learners to Listen in the L2 Classroom

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of prelistening activities, particularly interactive brainstorming advance organizers that used a “Think-Pair-Share” structure, on the listening comprehension performance of L2 junior high school students. The term advance organizer is defined as a teaching activity that helps build or activate L2 learners’ prior knowledge for a listening task, or as the provision of support to promote learning. The results show that the participants who had the advance organizer of picture brainstorming scored substantially higher than those in the vocabulary brainstorming group or the control group. The differences between the vocabulary brainstorming group and the control group, however, failed to reach a significant level. The findings suggest that the use of certain advance-organizer activity in the prelistening stage helps L2 learners comprehend a text better, and that L2 learners agree with the effectiveness associated with the use of brainstorming advance organizers as an instructional strategy in helping them activate their prior knowledge, boost their confidence for the test, reduce their performance anxiety, make connections with their own life experiences, and inspire new thoughts.     

城乡集市贸易统计问题

建国30多年来,我国城乡集市贸易建立了一整套统计制度和统计方法,搜集了大量的统计资料,满足了各级管理部门的基本需要。但是,随着商品经济的发展,原有的统计制度和统计方法,已经不能适应当前城乡集市贸易的发展和管理的需要,无法反映集市贸易的全貌,必须进行改革。     

Popular discontent,divided perceptions,and political polarization in Taiwan

Popular discontent with political performance has been a preeminent feature in Taiwanese politics since the first power alternation in 2000. Potential explanations include economic decline, deteriorating quality of democratic governance, and electoral over-competition. For an emerging democracy like Taiwan, the political experience under the Chen Shui-bian administration was a crucial test for the transition to a mature democracy. While popular discontent with various political agencies might convey different messages, the author argues that the synthetic outcome is a partisan-laden perception of political accountability, which led to serious political gridlock and ingrained partisan rivalry that could have jeopardized Taiwan's fledgling democracy. More importantly, polarized politics in Taiwan under the Chen administration can be seen as a lesson, one that illustrates how the process of democratic consolidation can be possibly reversed in an emerging democracy.