Education Commons^™

Critical Complexity: A Challenge To Engage For Educators, Elizabeth Johnson

MA TESOL Collection

Education is a means of ensuring the survival of the human race. By passing on knowledge and awareness, humans attempt to craft adaptability of future generations. Adaptability allows humans to respond to unforeseen events that may challenge their survival.

Education is a process that works to achieve change and growth of the individual and the regeneration and transformation of society. The outcomes of interactions in educational systems are uncertain and emergent. Educational systems are open, adaptive, complex, dynamic and non-linear.

In the near past, reducing the complexity of natural and social phenomena has allowed the human race to simplify and …

The Social Factors Of Fossilization, Ashley Brigham

MA TESOL Collection

The notion of fossilization has been one of the most controversial, yet enduring topics in second language acquisition (SLA) theory since its first appearance in Selinker’s 1972 seminal article “Interlanguage.” In the past, work regarding fossilization sought to either support or challenge its existence, to determine the putative causes and to predict what linguistic items were prone to becoming fossilized. Initially, the possible causes which enjoyed the most attention were first language interference and the learner’s age and length of residency in the target language community. Now, however, with the current climate of SLA acknowledging that both learning and non-learning …

Age, Aptitude, And Autonomy: An Exploration Of Self-Guided Learning And Autonomy Development In Adult Learners, Nicole Lopez

MA TESOL Collection

Optimal language learning facilitation requires drawing on insights from many feeder disciplines. Key among them has been the field of second language acquisition. With the significant developments in technology and the urgency for English learners to compete in today’s globalized world, there has been a particular focus on more advanced learning strategies as well as on research in the area of student autonomy. The latter type of research has tapped into insights offered not just by applied linguists but also by polyglots who have achieved high levels of fluency in multiple languages. Independent language learning has drawn further attention as …

Mediation In The Mediterranean: Italy As A Crucible For Immigration And Intercultural Mediation, Nicole Patteuw Abetti

MA TESOL Collection

Europe is again in an intense state of migration influx. While some European countries have historical precedence for these types of population shifts, Italy has largely remained outside the modern phenomenon, since it did not experience the economic boom of post WW2 and the subsequent demand for migrant workers, nor did it experience the pull effect of language migrants after the decolonization of Africa. Italy therefore also missed the second surge of migration during the 70’s and 80’s when families of these immigrants began arriving in Europe. What Italy did experience throughout the 20^th century, and continues to experience …

Proposal For Implementing The Flipped Learning Method In Dentistry English, Zumrut Cassidy

MA TESOL Collection

In traditional teaching, the information is given to the students in the class by the lecturer through different sources. The digestion of the information is done by the students at home. Therefore, the time that is allocated for the production and the practice of the taught subject becomes limited. Yes, "flipped learning" changes that totally. The idea behind it is schoolwork at home and homework in class. This study seeks to find out what flipped learning contributes to learning and how it deals with boosting the students' autonomy. In the flipped learning way of teaching, students are supposed to take …

Building A Curriculum For The English Language Learning Program At A New University, Michael Cassidy

MA TESOL Collection

Turkish learners entering university for the first time have high expectations that a university education will be vastly different in its approach from their previous educational experiences. The hope is that learners will learn the skills needed to become independent, lifelong learners. While this may be true in their faculties, it is often not the case for learners attending English language preparatory programs (ELPP) where the course content is often dictated by textbooks. This use of the course books illustrates Krahnke's (1987) concern that while course books are not intended to be syllabi, they often become so. Many current English …

Feedback In The Lesson Observation Process: What Guides A Teacher Towards Development, Lina Kerbelyte

MA TESOL Collection

Lesson observation is a very common practice all over the world. However, rarely does it look at personal and interpersonal aspects that are needed in feedback in order to develop autonomous and successful teachers. This thesis does not look deeper into what constitutes a good lesson, nor what methods are most suitable for students. Instead, it seeks to look deeper into the phenomenon of lesson observation feedback through the eyes of a teacher in order to see what aspects of lesson observation are useful and guide educators towards their development. What does a teacher need in order to find feedback …