嘉文博译留学文书写作范例 个人陈述/推荐信

Personal Statement
Applicant: XX  Program: TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)

From March to May this year, I did an internship as a graduating student from the English Department of XX University at No. 6 Middle School of XX Municipality (a key middle school in XX Province). While teaching my English lessons, I undertook a survey of English learning and teaching, by means of questionnaires and interviews, regarding the 200 students in three classes and their English teachers. My investigation indicated that, whereas what was being taught was increasingly integrated with the real-world situations and experiences of the students, almost all the English teaching and learning activities were still grammar-dominated, emphasizing on the objective input (reading) rather than on subjective output (writing and oral communication). 70% of the students attended Sunday or evening schools to improve their oral English.

What my research revealed accorded with my own experience of English learning at middle school and even in some part of my college education. However, having been victimized by the conventional ways of teaching and exposed to the new methodologies of TESOL, I decided that changes must be made. Taking advantage of English play competitions, one in the municipality and one in the school district, I selected the cast and the playwrights and together we created our lines, dialogues, scenes, props, and the entire play. We rehearsed and rehearsed until we won the second prize with our perfect performance. The excited students savored the exhilaration of their own creativity for the first time in their English learning experience.

To allow learning to take place under the guidance of interest is an axiom which has special relevance to English learning. Only when the students start to produce something of their own and see the extent of success will they realize the usefulness of what they have learned. There are subtle yet important psychological and emotive factors at work in the entire learning process and students are not supposed to be taught to receive knowledge in passivity.

As a matter of fact, throughout my own undergraduate education, I have been exploring my own academic interests. I started as a student of Chinese language and literature, specializing in advertising. But one year later I switched to English language and literature, believing that specializing in a language and literature other than my native language
would be more exciting (because more challenging). But the transfer of specialty meant extra pressure—I had to complete the four year program within three years. Nevertheless, with a top 5 ranking in my class comprising a total of 20 students, I proved myself not only a smart learner but also a fast learner.

In my own English learning at college, two factors were of decisive significance in shaping my interest in English teaching. We had two American teachers teaching us Oral English and Writing. They themselves had received trainings in TESOL and their teaching was obviously and consciously guided by TESOL principles and approaches. Repulsed by the students’ tendency to stick to strict and sometimes rigid dictionary definitions and grammatical rules in comprehension and writing, they almost yelled—“Why not throw your dictionaries into the garbage cans?” They emphasized English as a means of communication and advocated fluency in speech communication even at the price of grammatical precision. Grammatical precision could be achieved as fluency in conveying ideas, emotions and information was improved. They informed their teaching with humor and, under their manipulation, classroom atmosphere was lively and students were ready to express their own thoughts and feelings.

What was most important was their attempts to place English teaching into a cultural context. As a vehicle of communication, English language conveys messages and information about the history, politics, religion, social customs and habits of the English-speaking countries invariably facilitated our English learning. Vice versa, as the American teachers gained insights into Chinese culture and the general psychology of Chinese students, they adopted a cross-cultural approach to language teaching, paying special attention to the cultural variances that would otherwise result in communicative misinterpretations.

Reflecting on my undergraduate education, I found myself comprehensively founded in English studies. I have been trained in reading, writing, listening, speaking and translation of English. I studied advanced courses such as Linguistics, Rhetoric, and Lexicology. In addition, Western Culture, English Literature and American Literature were also part of my curriculum. Finally, I am familiar with basic principles of teaching by learning English Teaching Through Internet and Education. My use of English included creating the English versions of the websites that I helped construct for our Foreign Language College and for our University. My academic foundation is sufficient for a TESOL program to take place as my further academic pursuit.

My interest in English teaching led me to use the survey results obtained during my internship as the basis of my BA thesis, entitled XX. In my thesis, I raised strong criticism of the test-oriented practice prevalent in Chinese middle schools. As oral English is generally not required in the entrance exams from junior middle school into senior middle school or from senior middle school into college, there are usually few teacher-student Q & A activities and, in rare cases when there are such activities, teachers seldom help students produce adequate responses. Apart from that, big class sizes (a class generally consisting of around 70 students) have also render adequate teacher-student communicative interaction almost impossible. Finally, the evaluation system is severely flawed as only the hard facts of grammatical knowledge is tested, ignoring the cultural and communicative aspects of the English language.

The problems I have found that are inherent in Chinese middle schools, which also characterize a large part of English teaching at the college level, will be the problems to which I will seek solutions through my proposed TESOL program. I believe one such solution lies in effective management of classroom activities. In this respect, my leadership and organizational abilities cultivated through nine years of being monitor of the class (throughout five years in middle school and 4 years at college) will be useful. Furthermore, I have been serving as Councilor to an entire grade of students at XX Institute of Education since my graduation this summer and concomitantly, I am a teacher of English to those students. In this way, I have further assimilated formal and professional experience of English teaching at this specifically education-oriented institution. 

I believe that English teaching is both an art and a science and TESOL is a program that makes English teaching artistic and scientific as an academic discipline. Through well-designed approaches, TESOL provides guidelines to a whole range of specific issues involved in English learning, from syllabus design to pedagogical objectives, addressing the cultural, psychological, technical, and linguistic concerns. My application to the TESOL program at the School of Education, the University of XX, is motivated by the desire to expose myself to the latest research findings in the international academia, broaden my perspectives and enhance my professional standards. Established in 1908, the School of Education is currently ranked top 20 in the United States and is lavishly funded because of its outstanding teaching and research achievements. Your program emphasizes teaching methodologies as well as cultural and linguistic studies. I am especially interested in the following courses— Linguistic Theory, Applied English Grammar, Language Acquisition, Methodologies of TESOL, and Cross-Cultural Communication. My research will focus on Language Acquisition and Cross-Cultural Communication. I would like to study under either Prof. XX, XX, or XX because their interests and research activities are in the realms to which I myself am attracted.

“Do not, for one repulse, give up the purpose that you have resolved to effect.” This was a line I learned by heart when reading Shakespeare. Drawing inspirations from it, I spent only three years to complete my English program which otherwise required 4 years. Now that I have set the new objective of pursuing a TESOL education, I will remain committed to my purpose. Through stamina and strategies, I will acquit myself satisfactorily as I have always done so in the past.