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南京农业大学

2004年攻读硕士学位研究生入学考试试题

试题编号：327 试题名称：基础英语

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Part I Reading Comprehension (60 points)

Passage One

Directions:

1. Write an outline of the main points covered in the following reading material. (10 points)

2. What institutional constraints have been mentioned in this text? As a language learner, what do you think of the role of the individual learner, especially in terms of learner autonomy and learner possibility? (10 points)

Over the last quarter of the twentieth century, the (English) language teaching profession has undergone many changes. One interesting example of this is the role of materials, and in particular, in the nature of course book provision. The market for ‘main courses’ has grown enormously, and the top five course book series, in Britain alone, generate very large sales indeed. Responding to these greater rewards for producing successful courses, the series themselves have changed dramatically. Book now contain far more material, with ‘multi’ syllabuses (Swan and Walter 1984-87) as well as extensive accompanying material. In addition, the professionalism of the publishing process means that those series which are published have survived a rigorous monitoring and piloting schedule which is likely to have caused significant rejection of unsatisfactory material and revision of almost everything which remains.

All this, of course, represents a significant advance. It is difficult not to conclude that the materials which are now available are not simply more extensive but are also of better quality than their predecessors. In some ways these developments have rendered out-of-date an interesting exchange on the value of language teaching materials. Allwright (1981) argued that commercial materials are a juggernaut which are stifling for the individual and the mediating contributions that can be made by the teacher. In contrast, O’Neill (1982) argued that it is better to use professional materials than those produced under difficult circumstances by amateurs. The debate was nicely balanced, with each party making unanswered points, and the conclusion being a difficult one to draw. So it is all the more striking that since then the O’Neill position has seemed to prevail by default. Since the time of the debate we have seen an astonishing growth in accepted importance of a relatively small number of well produced course book series, with the result that the position that Allwright argued so cogently has been marginalized.

This, of course, leads us to consider the price that we have had to pay for such progress. Clearly, a central factor underlying publisher behavior is to maximize profits

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