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This paper argues that all research should be based on humanistic pedagogies with educational functions. While conducting research associated with issues of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL), researchers should pay attention to whether the samples have also been well educated. This study emphasizes that when focusing on significances of doing research and collecting data, educators and researchers in an experiment project should not ignore the study's functions of real education and language learning. Based on ethic and humanistic views, teachers or researchers of a research project should maintain their educational responsibilities, instead of just collecting data for journal publishing. Researchers should focus on helping students learn appropriately in a realistic environment, not merely on reporting the experiment results. This study has compared 2 EFL experiments conducted in France's and Israel's language learning programs. The Israeli study, with both functions of doing research and educating students, has been described to be a more humanistic study. The student samples of the study learned something and the method of data collection was appropriate. In contrast, the study conducted in France showed a possible bias model of EFL experimentation, disregarding significant functions of education. This study argues that while conducting research plans, researchers should ask themselves a critical question: Have we educated our children, or, have we just paid attention to doing research, collecting data and publishing papers? (Contains 1 table.)

Numerous scholars have recommended computer games can function as influential motivation stimulants of English learning, showing benefits as learning tools (Clarke and Dede, 2007; Dede, 2009; Klopfer and Squire, 2009; Liu and Chu, 2010; Mitchell, Dede & Dunleavy, 2009). This study aimed to further test and verify the above suggestion, employing computer games as in-class formal or after-school leisure tasks for language learning and educational purposes. In spring semester, 2011, this research project related to on-line game play was conducted in a Taiwanese university, where 2 classes of 15 and 39 freshmen had provided their perceptions. Participants were suggested to select free on-line games during the 1st week and then inspect relations between the games and language education purposes. It was assumed participants might support or decline the concepts that educational objectives and effectivenesses can be found in games. In the 18-week research, more than 20 games with educational functions were demonstrated and presented. The results showed participants regarded the games to be motivation stimulating. Three on-line free games on Facebook, Pet Society, Country Story, and City Ville, were nominated to be effective motivation stimulants. In this study of Facebook applying for language learning, each game was recommended by more than 3 students, with higher percentages than the other on-line games on diverse websites. Three advantages had been emphasized by the presenters. First, the games contribute to reading game descriptions bilingually to thoroughly complete missions. Second, game-based learning allows players to establish abilities of social interactions with the other on-line players in the identical game. Third, computing-mediated environment builds the learners' concepts of managing and administrating a government, a farm or a pet shop. This study implies the appropriateness and applicability of game-based teaching and learning. It did not only provide evidences of learners' excitements and supportivenesses by qualitative narrations, but also contribute to providing pedagogies on how game-based curriculum could be more formally realized in second language learning classroom.

Using English as a global communicating tool makes Taiwanese people have to speak in English in diverse international situations. However, consonants and vowels in English are not all effortless for them to articulate. This phonological reduction study explores concepts about phonological (articulating system) approximation. From Taiwanese folks' perspectives, it analyzes phonological type, rate, and their associations with 2 genders. This quantitative research discovers Taiwanese people's vocalization problems and their facilitating solutions by articulating lessening. In other words, this study explains how English emerging as a global language can be adapted and fluently articulated by Taiwanese. It was conducted at National Changhwa University of Education from 2010 fall to 2011 spring, investigating Taiwanese university students' phonological lessening systems. It reveals how they face the phonetics challenges during interactions and give speeches by ways of phonological lessening. Taiwanese folks' lessening patterns belong to simplified pronouncing methods, being evolved through Mandarin, Hakka, and Holo phonetic patterns. This genre of facilitated articulation can be also titled as transformed or approximate methods of articulating formula. In this investigation, 59 students according to their individual articulating experiences provided their perceptions, based on their observations in their own English articulation systems. Statistics graphs analyzed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) display 4 consonants and 4 vowels that have been reduced and adapted. Moreover, the gender factor was taken into consideration, revealing male's and female's dissimilar difficulties in pronunciation. More specifically, this empirical study investigated the correlation between elements of gender and phonological reduction. Through statistical analysis, 8 intricate vowels and consonants are compared and contrasted based on Taiwanese students' perfections and difficulty-confessions in articulating them. Simplified phonetic patterns with Taiwanese accents involved into the articulating lessening system in Taiwanese students' English utterances were provided by the instructor. Based on 2 variables of female gender and male gender, the study discovered the lessening sequences in 8 phonetics. The significance of this study is its contribution to giving confidence to English speakers in Taiwan. Although they are non-native speakers, they still can resolve the pronunciation difficulty and talk with fluency by their created phonological reduction system. Appended are: (1) Survey (Instrument); and (2) Vowel diversities. (Contains 1 table and 2 graphs.

Due to the globalization trend and knowledge boost in the second millennium, multi-lingual translation has become a noteworthy issue. For the purposes of learning knowledge in academic fields, Machine Translation (MT) should be noticed not only academically but also practically. MT should be informed to the translating learners because it is a valuable approach to apply by professional translators for diverse professional fields. For learning translating skills and finding a way to learn and teach through bi-lingual/multilingual translating functions in software, machine translation is an ideal approach that translation trainers, translation learners, and professional translators should be familiar with. In fact, theories for machine translation and computer assistance had been highly valued by many scholars. (e.g., Hutchines, 2003; Thriveni, 2002). Based on MIT's [Massachusetts Institute of Technology's] Open Courseware into Chinese that Lee, Lin and Bonk (2007) have introduced, this paper demonstrates how MT can be efficiently applied as a superior way of teaching and learning. This article predicts the translated courses utilizing MT for residents of global village should emerge and be provided soon in industrialized nations and it exhibits an overview about what the current developmental status of MT is, why the MT should be fully applied for academic purpose, such as translating a textbook or teaching and learning a course, and what types of software can be successfully applied. It implies MT should be promoted in Taiwan because its functions of clearly translating the key-words and leading the basic learners to a certain professional field can be proved in MIT. A Course Syllabus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology is appended. [This paper has been published in: Proceedings of the International Conference on TESOL and Translation 2009. December 2009: pp.133-148.]

Researches have showed that joke telling is a type of verbal behavior associated with the field of sociolinguistics (e.g., Al-Khatib, 1999). This study aims to report Taiwanese jokes and their sociological functions that people in Taiwan attempt to communicate in jokes. Besides, this study will report what the typical topics and characteristics of Taiwanese jokes are and how language teachers can apply English jokes to make their students familiar with the social structures of the other nations. Through three examples of typical Taiwanese jokes, this study constructs and analyzes the mechanisms and structures in the jokes, and explains why these jokes would sound funny from Martinewu's (1972) views. The reader of this paper will gain an access to understand the characteristics of Taiwanese jokes and recognize the social backgrounds of Taiwan where the jokes are developed. Moreover, the language teachers will be informed about an effective pedagogy designed in this study in terms of reducing learning anxiety and raising language proficiency through high motivations due to holistic joke pedagogy. [This paper was published in: Proceedings of the 2009 International Symposium and Book Fair on Applied English Teaching, p281-292.]