This article reports the views of 24 Chinese (People's Republic of China) teachers of English on the appropriateness and effectiveness of “Western” language‐teaching methods (here defined according to Canale & Swain, 1980) for use in Chinese situations. The Chinese teachers believed that the communicative approach was mainly applicable in China only for those students who planned to go to an English‐speaking country, and, as nonnative speakers, they noted their limitations with respect to the sociolinguistic and strategic competence in English that is required for using this approach effectively. The teachers also cited various constraints on implementing Western language‐teaching methods, including the context of the wider curriculum, traditional teaching methods, class sizes and schedules, resources and equipment, and the low status of teachers who teach communicative rather than analytic skills. An examination of these views in light of the context and theory of Western language teaching demonstrates that the Chinese teachers' concerns have considerable justification. Various suggestions are made as possible means of adapting Western language‐teaching methods to the situation in China.

No abstract

Sustainable travel is a goal deserving of research and implementation, but how such a goal can be reached is debated. Fueling this debate are the many different factors involved in individual travel ranging from values and beliefs to the impact of the built environment. The amount of impact that the built environment may have can be clouded by a person's personal preference for a certain lifestyle and different lifecycle stages have different levels of travel. Although low levels of automobile use have been observed in city centers, the question remains as to whether the demographics of the distinct developed areas can explain the differences. This paper investigated the fraction of automobile trips across different developed areas for households of distinct lifecycle stages to determine which explained the differences greater. The results suggest that it is the built environment that has a greater ability to explain the differences in the fraction of automobile trips and that households of the same lifecycle stage retain the same basic number of trips.

No abstract

Active travel can contribute to physical activity achieved over a day. Previous studies have examined active travel associated with trips in various western countries, but few studies have examined this question for the Asian context. Japan has high levels of cycling, walking and public transport, similar to The Netherlands. Most studies have focused either on children or on adults separately, however, having children in a household will change the travel needs and wants of that household. Thus, here a household lifecycle stage approach is applied. Further, unlike many previous studies, the active travel related to public transport is included. Lastly, further to examining whether the built environment has an influence on the accumulation of active travel minutes, a binary logistic regression examines the built environment’s influence on the World Health Organization’s recommendations of physical activity. The findings suggest that there is a clear distinction between the urbanized centers and the surrounding towns and unurbanized areas. Further, active travel related to public transport trips is larger than pure walking trips. Females and children are more likely to achieve the WHO recommendations. Finally, car ownership is a strong negative influence.

No abstract

No abstract

In late 2005, in an attempt to solve the last-mile problem, China started implementing public bikesharing programs. The effort quickly grew to a massive scale. An estimated 400,000 public bicycles now are in use in China, which is more than in all other countries that have implemented public bicycle schemes (PBSs). As with any emerging service that develops rapidly, an understanding of user behavior and satisfaction is lacking. Factors that influence the frequency of public bicycle use were studied in Hangzhou, China. Online and intercept surveys were conducted with PBS users. Willingness to use the PBS as well as satisfaction with and concerns about the PBS were investigated. Analysis of variance was conducted to identify the six factors that affect a user’s decision to rent: car ownership, bicycle ownership, travel purpose, having or lacking familiarity with the rental process, level of satisfaction with the PBS, and level of familiarity with the distribution of docking stations. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to elucidate details of key factors in the group of most frequent users—that is, survey respondents who did not own a car, rented a bicycle primarily for shopping or going out for business, and were familiar with the rental process and the distribution of docking stations. Based on study findings, advice is presented for implementing policy in developing countries. Suggestions include publicizing the PBS more, attracting more commuters to bicycling to reduce congestion, enhancing the accessibility of docking stations to accommodate more potential users, and improving bicycle quality to encourage more participation and make it easier for elderly citizens to participate.