Abstracts of Major Papers in This Issue

Academic Spirit and Research in English and American Literature in the Era of Pluralism，by LI Weiping，p.1

In the era of fast and comprehensive social transformation and the pluralization of human values and life styles，both our academic spirit and literary research are bound to face serious challenges.This paper is intended to explore the relationship between academic spirit and literary research，examine the current situation and problems of studies on English and American literature in China，and discuss the essential requirements and qualifications of Chinese scholars for their academic research and personal development.

s of Major Papers in This Issue

Academic Spirit and Research in English and American Literature in the Era of Pluralism，by LI Weiping，p.1

In the era of fast and comprehensive social transformation and the pluralization of human values and life styles，both our academic spirit and literary research are bound to face serious challenges.This paper is intended to explore the relationship between academic spirit and literary research，examine the current situation and problems of studies on English and American literature in China，and discuss the essential requirements and qualifications of Chinese scholars for their academic research and personal development.

A Further Exploration on James Martin’s Genre Theory，by XIAO Lin ＆SI Xianzhu，p.5

The present paper centers around the genre theory in the field of Systemic Functional Linguistics（SFL）.Ensuing a summary of theoretical explorations on the concept of genre in Chinese mainland，focus has been placed on Martin’s genre theory after a brief review about Halliday and Hasan’s generic studies.The main part consists in discussions on discourse purpose，genre and field，genre and metafunctions，which are intended to help further clarify relevant concepts in the genre theory of SFL.

A Study on Instantiation of the Appraisal Meaning of English Morphemes，by LI Hanbing，p.9

Appraisal meaning of language is similar to subjective meaning，and is realized by lexical and grammatical means.According to“Complementarities of language system”put forward by Halliday，morpheme is on the lexico－grammatical continuity and is among the means to realize the appraisal meaning of language.Linguistic system and instance are two complementary perspectives，studies on which may adopt a system－instance direction or the opposite one.This paper takes the starting point of meaning potential and probes step by step to the 125instances via an instantiation dimension by adopting inductive method and drawing data from the“Appraisal Corpus”.The findings highlights the following points：instantiation process type of English morpheme differs according to text instance and text type，among which five major types are identified；besides，three key factors governing the instantiation process are：context type，semantic category and semantic orientation.In addition，the findings might offer a new perspective to view the agnate relations among different text types in the sense of stylistics.

A Functional－syntactic Analysis of the Token－value Configuration：A Case Study of“shui shi NP？”and“NP shi shui？”，by WANG Yao ＆LI Jingna，p.15

As the description of the relational clause，the Token－Value configuration is mainly defined in a semantic sense，based on the human understanding of the world experience.This paper，based on the analysis of the specific linguistic facts，finds out that different syntactic explanation of the clause may result from the different organization among the Token－Value configuration，the Identified－Identifier structure and the Information structure by means of a case study of the difference between the two identifying clauses“shui shi NP？”and“NPshi shui？”.Meanwhile，the Token－Value configuration，as the syntactic organization of semantic representation，expresses the semantic relations such as presupposition and implicature.This study indicates the probability of the employment of this configuration in the analysis of relational clauses，and sheds some light on the essence of relational clauses as well as the representational function of the language.

Reforming English Education in the Mainland Universities of Economics and Finance to Meet the Demands of the 21stCentury：Research on the Teaching Method of Content－based English Instruction for Specific Business

Purposes，by ZHAN Jun，p.20

On the ground of the theories of Second Language Acquisition and ESP，especially the theories by Chomsky，Krashen，and Mohan，this article puts forth an innovative teaching method：Content－based English Instruction for Specific Business Purposes，intending to shed some lights on the practices of reforming the current English education in the universities of Economics and Finance.A comprehensive explanation，in this paper，is given to the ESBP and its Theoretical Concept，Teaching Objects，Curriculum，Teaching Approaches，Quality Administration，and Determinants.Besides，some suggestive remarks are presented.The paper makes some explorative studies on the solutions to the problems existing in the English instruction by the Mainland higher education.

An Investigation of Extended Curriculum Courses of College English Based on ESP Theories in a Local University，by GUAN Xinghua，p.33

In order to meet students’learning needs and foster well－trained practitioners that meet the social requirements，based on the research of many experts and scholars in China and our school teaching practice，we explored a combined teaching model that is suitable for local universities.The model is designed to combine the traditional college English with the extended curriculum courses，namely ESP.The investigation shows that different ESP courses can meet different learning requirements from students of different proficiency levels.In general，students in local universities have stronger requirements for ESP courses and they can achieve better learning results in ESP learning.

Study on ESP Teaching from a Cross－discipline Perspective，by ZHANG Yunqin，p.38

The integration of English into other applied majors reflects the development and the trend of modern society and college English teaching.ESP courses are such important practice，which also meets the needs of China College English education reform.This article aims to explore the design of ESP courses in China，analyze potential problems and their causes.It proposes an interdisciplinary view on the construction of ESP curriculum in order to enhance the quality and effect of ESP teaching.

Ibsen’s Women：With a Special Regard to the Chinese Context，by Knut Brynhildsvoll，p.47

In this article I focus on female figures in Henrik Ibsen’s dramas from the point of view of their marital conditions hereby paying attention to the lack of equality between the married couples.Nora’s revolt against patriarchal tyranny paves the way for the women’s liberation movement in Norway.In the article I throw light on Ibsen’s role as a door－opener for Chinese women’s fight against male suppression and draw some parallels to Julia Kristeva’s analysis of Chinese women and their marital situation.

American Indian Goddess Culture Exemplified by Silko’s Ceremony，by LI Xuemei，p.53

American Indian creation myth，well－known in Laguna Pueblo，is the crucial component in Indian tribal life.This paper，taking the native American writer Leslie Marmon Silko’Ceremonyas an example，aims to explore the protagonist Tayo’s trauma－curing pilgrimage for spiritual redemption from the literary and cultural dimensions，to reveal the kin system and epistemological system in support of the massive American Indian goddess culture，and to decode feminocentric values hidden beneath the American Indian goddess culture.

Wasteland and Paradise：On Jeanette Winterson’s Feminist Caring Ethics，by LIN Shaojing，p.58

Jeanette Winterson is famous for Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit，which won its great success not solely for the unique writing technique，but also for the symbolic meaning and life philosophy between the lines.Through describing post－war living environment of British town，touching indifference between people and drawing the outline of earthly wasteland，Winterson criticizes war of having brought disasters to the human being.Meanwhile，on the perspective of feminist caring ethics and combining her own life philosophy，she attempts to answer how to walk away from plight and seek one piece of paradise.