Education Commons^™

The Role Of Identity In Language Acquisition: A Cross- Generational Perspective., Darlene Annette Snider

MA TESOL Collection

In this paper I will reflect on the role of identity as it relates to second language acquisition. My hypothesis is that second language acquisition can be slowed or even halted when students cannot adapt to the culture of the language they are studying. Student’s facing cultural conflict tend to distance themselves from the community thereby creating barriers in the learning process. This hypothesis is based upon my own experience as a third generation Canadian. I believe the effective classroom will work to reduce cultural conflict by affirming the learner’s cultural identity and sense of self as they explore the …

“O.Henry’S American Scenes” And The Accompanying Language Activities To Use In The Efl And Esl Classes, Tamila Mehtiyeva

MA TESOL Collection

“O.Henry’s American Scenes” is a Ladder Edition book at the 1,000-word level published by the English Language Programs Division in Washington D.C. The Ladder Series of books are specially prepared editions of well-known American books. They have been shortened and simplified to use for ESL and EFL students. Though the stories have been shortened, they remain enjoyable and engaging to read. The author uses these stories in her classes at Baki State University.

This thesis shows how the teachers of ESL and EFL can use these stories as an effective teaching tool in their classes. Included are 7 stories taken …

Using Students' Written Feedback As Classroom Content To Promote Community, Nora Mckenna

MA TESOL Collection

This paper describes the collection of written feedback from students and an attempt to to impact class atmosphere by publishing back anonymous excerpts to students. By using these excerpts as content for language learning activities, students could enjoy themselves as they warmed up for their weekly lesson in English and at the same time learn about their classmates' perceptions of previous shared learning experiences. This created a type of ongoing written dialogue (correspondence) to articulate the joys and frustrations of learning another language. Meanwhile, students were also learning to trust the feedback cycle and one another as they became aware …

Project-Based Learning: Five Projects That Stimulated Student Learning, Asuka Kitano

MA TESOL Collection

This paper, based from a classroom research project, examines a variety of projects which can help students become positive learners. The first chapter gives relevant background information and introduces the reasoning behind and implementation of five particular projects, which I used in the classroom. The following five chapters each focus on one particular project (skit festivals, textbooks, poster presentations, class visuals, and response papers), and each chapter describes and analyzes each project, and also includes student feedback. The appendices, which follow each of the five projects, include photos of the students and their output, and this should help demonstrate the …

A Teacher’S Journal: An Account Of My Choice And Implementation Of Total Physical Response Storytelling As An Approach To Teaching Beginning Level French, Melinda Heins

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is about choosing an approach to teaching a foreign language that is appropriate for me in my teaching context – public high school French classes – and my attempts to become as proficient as possible in the approach I chose called Total Physical Response Storytelling (TPRS). For eighteen weeks I taught French I grades nine through twelve and kept a detailed teacher’s journal of the experience.

Writing Poetry With Esol Students, Molly J. Haines

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is the result of a unit of study on the topic of poetry as used in two ESOL classrooms in Kentucky and Ohio. It begins with some basic questions and definitions. The paper shows the benefits of poetry in everyday life and especially in the language classroom. The bulk of the paper outlines the way in which poetry was presented and many student samples are included. The conclusion shows how some of the original questions were answered and how new questions arose during the process.

Actividades Prácticas Para La Enseñanza Del Curso De Ubicación Avanzada De Literatura En Español (Ap Spanish Literature), María José González

MA TESOL Collection

In my two years as a teacher of Advanced Placement Spanish Literature, I have developed a variety of activities intended to help my students form a lasting connection with the depth and magnificence of literature written in the language of Cervantes.

In May 2003, the College Board presented a new AP Spanish Literature exam and program that requires the study and analysis of a widely expanded list of works. The challenge of covering this enormous volume of material in one school year inspired me to be both practical and original in my instructional planning. By making the activities both useful …

Teaching Adult Efl Learners In Japan From A Japanese Perspective, Patricia Jean Gage

MA TESOL Collection

This paper presents teaching materials that were developed for adult EFL learners in Japan. The author’s primary purpose for developing these materials was to create lessons that would utilize content from a Japanese perspective and the students’ personal interests. The author asserts that students are able to communicate more effectively when the topic and the content of the lessons are familiar to the students. Developed around topics chosen by the students, these lessons contain anecdotes written by the students along with activities that integrate listening, reading, speaking, and writing. The five lessons and the rationale for designing them are included …

A Manual For The Training Of Short Term English Teachers As Required By Small-Scale Schools In Japan, Peter Warwick Raymond Gabites

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines the business conditions facing small-scale English conversation schools in the increasingly competitive Japanese market. It looks at their staffing requirements and current training methods and then endeavors to develop and effective training programme that can be operated within the limited resources available to these schools. The intention is to provide new staff coming from non-teaching backgrounds a practical introduction to the realities of teaching through a two-week period of observation, team teaching, and supervised solo teaching followed by two months of directed study on classroom management and methodology. This allows for gradual assumption of responsibility for classes, …

Hana Wani, Hana Kai Hausa Proverb: To Refuse Another Is To Refuse Yourself. The Quest For Liberatory Efl Teaching In West Africa, Althea Danielski

MA TESOL Collection

What happens when an American tries to do Freirean-based liberatory teaching in the post-colonial, EFL context of West Africa? This independent professional project (IPP) explores the background of liberatory teaching practices in English language teaching, focusing on critical pedagogy, problem posing and the Participatory Approach. The author describes her education and development as a liberatory English teacher. As an American working in developing countries, she questions her ability to act as a supporter of liberation. Does her inherent position of privilege and power prevent her from promoting social justice and freedom from poverty? The author explores these questions, her own …

Enhancing A Student Exchange With A Day-By-Day Activities Folder, Anne Cottagnoud

MA TESOL Collection

This paper reviews the use of a Folder to document series of activities designed to enhance and maximize learning during a student exchange. Swiss high school students visited their American partners and conducted activities before, during and after the exchange. The Folder was a teacher-prepared booklet that engaged students in the four phases of Kolb’s (1984) Experiential Learning Cycle: experience, observation and reflection, abstract thinking and generalizing, and testing learned concepts. It also encouraged the Swiss students to ask questions of American host families and American students in order to learn more about American culture. The Folder made use of …

Language And Cultural Learning Through Student Generated Photography, David M. Cosgrove

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines and discusses the unique teaching context and the inherent problems faced by foreign English teachers in the Japanese University System. It contains a personal account of the process the author went through to develop a new and interesting curriculum to overcome these problems. This curriculum is based on student-generated photographs of their lives and is an effective method of both language learning and culture learning. Included in the paper is a step-by-step course description of twenty-four lesson plans based on the photographs.

We Talk Too Much: Quantitative And Qualitative Aspects Of Teacher Talk, Lynn Corwin

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is one teacher’s exploration of teacher talking time. As a language teacher the author understands that teacher talk is an essential tool of the trade and critical to the language learning process. However, she recognized that talking too much could be a problem. This paper describes the journey the author took to understand how and when to talk in the classroom. The author provides reasons and examples of why teacher silence can sometimes be more effective than talking. Throughout the paper, she focuses on the power of silence in the classroom when the teacher values it and when …

Integrating The Six Skills In Every Esl/ Efl Class, Monica M. Catramado

MA TESOL Collection

The main purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of integrating listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammaring and vocabulary in the ESL/EFL classroom.

Through this paper, not only will the reader gain an understanding of how to design a theme or content-based syllabus, which integrates all six skills, but also he/she will find numerous activities that will help develop those skills in every student.

Readers will also be shown how students can learn another language and develop these skills through practical every day topics and different materials, which depend on the students’ developmental stage of learning, stage of knowledge …

Promoting Language And Culture Learning In An Efl Context, Laura Anne Battles

MA TESOL Collection

This Independent Professional Paper (IPP) describes the intercultural communication project I undertook during my Interim Year Teaching Practicum (IYTP) in Granada, Spain. Throughout the academic year of 1998-1999, English-speaking students enrolled in the University of Granada’s Spanish Language and Culture Courses were invited to participate as volunteer language and culture exchange partners with my Spanish-speaking, intermediate-level English as a Foreign Language students. These classroom experiences, designed to enrich the course’s speaking, reading, writing, and listening curriculum, were intended to stimulate authentic communication and to heighten personal and intercultural awareness among the participants.

The argument presented in this paper is that …

The Din Theory Revealed: Theoretical, Professional, And Personal Reflections Concerning The Socialization Of Language, Dana Elise Arends

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is a written analysis of my personal experience with the "din in the head" theory proposed by Dr. Elizabeth Barber and Dr. Stephen Krashen (Barber 1980; Krashen 1981). I experienced this din firsthand during a three day trip to Montreal, Quebec in Canada and a subsequent three day trip to Roma, in Italia. I will propose that the language din suggested by professors Barber and Krashen does exist. Furthermore, I will show how the Spanish din with which I had become familiar with from my classes at the School for International Training hindered, and at times prohibited, my …

Building Community With Adolescent English Language Learners, Jill Antal

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines a year of teaching in which the author used social and emotional learning strategies to build community in her classroom of English Language Learners at Macfarland Middle School in Washington, DC in 2001-2002. The author’s adaptations to components of Northeast Foundation for Children’s Responsive Classroom model are discussed. The conception and implementation of the author’s own project, Passport Partners, is included. The major research supporting Social and Emotional Learning is briefly presented, as well as the wider implications of addressing or not addressing students’ social and emotional needs.

Connecting Language And Culture Through Storytelling: A Materials Development Project, Sarah M. Anderson

MA TESOL Collection

This materials development project presents a Total Physical Response Storytelling (TPRS) unit created around an authentic Mexican legend. The author wrote and taught ten mini-stories in preparation for using the legend as the main story of the unit.

The author first discusses the theory behind the TPRS approach and its effectiveness in regards to language teaching and learning. An overview of how the TPRS process works, including examples specific to the author’s teaching context, is also described.

The paper then presents the rationale and design of the project itself. The author incorporated an authentic legend with the intention of connecting …

Teachable Articles: A Practical Approach To Teaching English Articles To Japanese Learners, Kayo Fujito

MA TESOL Collection

This dissertation is about English articles and specifically the difficulties that non-native speakers, particularly Japanese learners, face in mastering their use. In this dissertation, I will mainly focus on;

1. An investigation on teaching articles and the use of articles including a survey completed by teachers of English

2. Two charts for determining articles and categories with examples including my adaptation of the chart

3. Some ideas and practical suggestions for teaching articles

The findings from this study have led me to a belief that there are ways for Japanese learners to improve their ability to use articles and by …