Education Commons^™

Interpersonal And Pedagogical Communication: An Argument For Natural Communication Practices In The Romanian Efl Classroom, Dana-Anca Cehan

MA TESOL Collection

The paper explores aspects of EFL classroom discourse in the Romanian context and pleads for the use and cultivation of natural communication practices and relevant language behavior in the classroom.

Viewing classroom discourse not only in pedagogical terms but also as a social event, the paper provides a dual perspective on the varied EFL classroom discourse strategies. Some characteristic classroom discourse features, such as its micro-functions, language switching and typical turn-taking are examined and compared to the characteristics of natural encounters. It is argued that the language teachers who ascribe to interpersonal goals in classroom discourse can enhance their students’ …

Applications Of The I-Thou-It Framework To Teaching English As A Foreign Language In Macedonia, Zora Busovska

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is based on David Hawkins’ framework of the I-Thou-It with an expanded and personalized interpretation. It aims at defining more precisely the roles of the I, the Thou, and the It in the author’s classroom. The paper also cites research related to this framework and compares the findings, differences and similarities of author’s research with those of other researchers. The paper examines each of the roles and the interplay that takes place between and among them.

The paper explains the advantages of the subject-centered classroom, i.e. dominance of the It. Thus, the emphasis of the paper is on …

Reading Program For The Third Year Medical Undergraduates, Gabriela Breazu

MA TESOL Collection

The paper provides an examination of the reading program that was devised for the third year medical undergraduates, at the Department of Modern Languages, at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Luilu Hatieganu", Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The reading program, using authentic medical texts and authentic literary texts, is intended for Romanian medical students in order to develop efficient reading skills. At the same time the program aims at pushing learners into experiencing pleasure and joy in reading interactively, inside and outside the English class and classroom. The chapters of the paper analyze in details the different parts of the program from …

Exploiting The Auditory, Visual, And Kinesthetic Modalities In The Language Lab, Christine P. Brennan Mori

MA TESOL Collection

The primary purpose of this paper is to introduce new methods of maximizing the traditional language lab by overlaying a framework of the perceptual modalities on different classroom activities.

Question Forms And Their Use: A Self Reflective Examination Of The Use Of Questions And Feedback In Two Self Observed Taught Lessons, Chris Mangham

MA TESOL Collection

This project is a self reflective study examining my use of question forms in two self observed lessons. The second lesson having been planned and taught in a way that was informed by findings resulting from the first lesson. The question forms examined were taken from a variety of sources and are defined in this paper. The main aim of the project was to discover if, through awareness of how I use questions, it was possible to increase the fluency of student responses. A further aim was to see if students were able to use more of their language skills …

The Moorish Influence On Spanish Language, Civilization, And Culture, Tommy Genoris Erwin

MA TESOL Collection

This project examines the vast contributions made by Moors to the Spanish language, civilization and culture. The project will also try to clarify as to whom the Moors were, where they came from, and the specific contributions that they made during lengthy rule of Spain. This project is divided into five major sections. The introduction explains why this topic was chosen and the audience for whom the information is intended. The second section explores the background, achievements and contributions that were made by the Moors during their 800 (eight hundred) year domination of Spain. The third section addresses more specifically, …

Simplification And Personalization Of French Grammar, Regina Dee

MA TESOL Collection

The materials included in this project have been developed as a result of my emerging understanding of French grammar since I began studying it in 1976. I began teaching a French Activities class in 1986 to eighth graders at St. Andrews and third and fourth graders at an elementary school in Baltimore as a student at Morgan State University. While I was completing my student teaching at Baltimore City College Preparatory School, I found that my students had difficulties understanding textbook explanations. I therefore began to create my own explanations during sessions when students came for after school help. I …

Making Meaning: A Teacher’S Journey, Joanne Griffin Yorks

MA TESOL Collection

This thesis shows how one teacher gained an increased understanding of the way she learns, discovered a theoretical support base for her learning style and found validation for her way of making meaning. Melding this new awareness with what was for her a new theoretical approach to teaching reading, reader-response theory, and then adapting the theory for the ESL classroom, she sought to offer her students opportunities similar to those she’d had to use reading to bring about new understandings of self and increased confidence in one’s ability to make meaning for oneself. The first chapter is an introduction to …

The Role Of Nifl Content Standards And Casas Competencies In An Esl Adult Education Teacher’S Course Development, Mary Anne Sullivan

MA TESOL Collection

This project explores the relevance of the National Institute of Literacy (NIFL) Equipped for the Future (EFF) Content Standards to an Adult Education ESL Teacher’s course development and the prioritization of the CASAS competencies in an Adult Education ESL Teacher’s course development. It examines their role among other sources of input for teacher course development. And finally it concludes that the degree of implementation of the EFF Content Standards and CASAS competencies is dependent on the appropriateness to the context.

A Teaching Resource For English Education In Japanese Elementary Schools, Jody Shimoda

MA TESOL Collection

Instruction in English in elementary schools in Japan was mandated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2002 and is being rapidly implemented in schools across the nation. This paper describes the development of a Teaching Resource for use in teaching English in Japanese elementary schools. The Resource is based on almost a decade of teaching experience in Japanese schools by the author, the shared experience of colleagues, and the concepts derived from the published literature on language development and instruction. The content of the Resource is discussed within the framework of Ministry guidelines, is conceptually …

Reading Your Way Into Culture: A Materials Development Project, Marie Nestingen

MA TESOL Collection

The focus of this paper is to help beginning Spanish foreign language students increase and improve their reading skills in the target language while learning about some of the Hispanic culture and customs in Guatemala. In this paper I will combine the two, explaining and giving examples of how students, novice language learners, can learn more about the target language culture while improving their reading skills in the target language.

Teaching Negotiation: The Choices, Ljerka Sedlan Konig

MA TESOL Collection

This paper discusses the choices for teaching business skills in an elective negotiation skills course in the graduate program for entrepreneurs at the Department of Economics, University of Osijek. The paper first describes the author's teaching context. Then, it offers the author's views of learning and teaching, and discusses the relationship between students and the material they learn, between students and teacher, between individual students as well as the relationship the student has with himself . Next, the theoretical frameworks of Reflective Model, Experiential Learning and Reflective Teaching are presented. In the third chapter, the paper discusses techniques and materials …

Opening The Classroom Door To Vocabulary Learning, Karl Finseth

MA TESOL Collection

This paper details my effort to focus my attention on the learning of my students and to help each student see his or her own learning. Limiting the focus of my study to vocabulary learning, I describe my attempt to develop activities which would help students learn new words in the classroom and, subsequently, to appreciate this learning for themselves. I explain how, after a rather troubling start, I turned to a combination of literature research, classroom experimentation, reflective writing, and student feedback in order to learn how to facilitate my students’ vocabulary learning. Following a description of my findings, …

Creating The Fluent, Confident Writer: Innovative Techniques For Esl Writing Courses, Prudence Ingerman

MA TESOL Collection

ESL students are usually concerned with writing with no errors and this built-in critical editor stifles the rich writing potential which all students have. Through creating a safe environment and activities which nurture the creative spirit, it is possible to limit this editor to infrequent but necessary appearances and encourage writing large quantities of ungraded material. This paper suggests techniques for building a classroom community, including the use of a scripted writing process, responding to instructor writing and one-to-one conferencing. The essay also demonstrates how fluency can be achieved via a weekly silent class, mind-mapping and copious free-writing. These techniques …

Second Language Acquisition In A Content-Based Web Building Course, Scott Degalis

MA TESOL Collection

Content based courses have been shown to provide an effective environment for second language acquisition (Snow, Met and Genesee 1989). In this content based course students learn how to make a website in 48 hours of class time. In doing so, they improve their English in the skill areas of reading, writing, listening and speaking for an authentic need (Sterns 1990). Learners are motivated and enthusiastic about their projects, leading to more success in language acquisition (Gardner 1985). They are given an opportunity to express themselves creatively and artistically using the target language. Graduates leave with a published portfolio that …