New Ideas Single Skill Textbook. Speaking. Level 3

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Publish Date: 2001-02-01
Features: New Perspectives in Specific Skills is specifically written by the PETS Research Team for the "Public English Test System (PETS)." The entire series consists of 20 volumes, providing targeted training and guidance in listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills for PETS Levels 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 candidates. This series has the following four features:
Novelty – The entire series follows a student-centered teaching philosophy, integrating the communicative principles of the PETS exam to enhance candidates' communicative language skills. Unlike traditional models that emphasize language structure, this series focuses on the practicality of communicative language use. Its novelty lies in the alignment of communicative functions with candidates' communicative needs: oral communicative functions meet candidates' spoken communication needs, writing techniques align with candidates' written expression needs, and reading and listening comprehension methods satisfy candidates' information acquisition needs.
Authority – Members of the PETS Research Team are well-versed in the PETS exam syllabus, question setting, and scoring criteria, having conducted specialized research in these areas. Therefore, the entire series closely aligns with the syllabi of all PETS levels, accurately reflecting the exam principles and requirements for language skills at each level. The main authors have all studied abroad and possess deep expertise in foreign language teaching and testing. They are responsible for designing and writing the language skills for each level, ensuring the authority of the series.
Applicability – This series is tailored to the specific needs of PETS candidates, taking into account their self-study habits. It not only teaches knowledge but also includes skill expansion exercises, vocabulary notes, practice questions, and answers. With the exception of the oral component, which is designed for pair training, the listening, reading, and writing components are aimed at individual learners. Thus, the explanations and exercises in each volume are tailored to the needs of the target audience.
Engaging – The series incorporates humorous English stories, cartoons, games, and interesting anecdotes as teaching materials, making it lively, visually appealing, and enjoyable. This approach effectively motivates learners and enhances learning outcomes. This oral textbook is specifically designed for the PETS Level 3 oral exam, with three main sections: (1) Stories, (2) Exercises, and (3) Cartoons. The story section includes audio recordings by British and American experts for listening and speaking practice. Each section provides reference answers. Considering the exam syllabus requirements and candidates' needs for English communicative functions, and given that the Level 3 oral exam involves candidates discussing pictures, this textbook meets candidates' needs in the following four areas:
1. Familiarity with the exam format
2. Familiarity with exam content
3. Language expression
4. Active communication
Author Bio: Zhang Xin, Ph.D., is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the English Department of Beijing Foreign Studies University. Born in 1957 in Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, she obtained her Ph.D. in English from Louisiana State University in the United States in 1991 and taught English writing courses there for six years. From 1992 to 1993, she served as a postdoctoral visiting scholar at Sorbonne University (Paris IV, France). Since 1998, she has been teaching at Beijing Foreign Studies University. She has published one monograph on literary criticism and ten papers on literary criticism and English writing in Western and European journals. Domestically, she has published one English writing textbook (funded by the National Education Commission's Excellent Young Teachers Project in 1995) and several papers on literary criticism and English writing teaching.