Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Foreign Languages And Learning Disabled Students: Research And Potential Solutions, Todd Christopher Wheelden

MA TESOL Collection

This paper reviews the latest research on the struggles learning disabled (LD) students have in the foreign language (FL) classroom. Over the last ten years, there have been significant advancements in recognizing the fact that LD students do in fact face greater obstacles when acquiring a FL than their peers do. Over the past five years, advances have been made taking the information garnered from these discoveries and developing appropriate solutions. The paper attempts to summarize the most significant comprehension, reference, and implementation.

The paper begins with an overview of second language acquisition learning disabilities and how they may surface …

Teaching Issues And Insights In Japanese High School, Robert H. Taferner

MA TESOL Collection

This paper has emerged from a review of reflective teaching journals I kept during the interim year component of my Master of Arts in Teaching program. Through this review of my journals I identified five recurrent teaching issues that played a central role in my teaching over this year. In the paper I examine the areas of team teaching, feedback, student needs, discipline, and classroom management for insights and solutions that served me during the interim year and will be useful to me when I encounter similar situations in the future.

Introduction To Bridge Procedure Guide (A Course Development In Maritime English), Olena Svitlychna

MA TESOL Collection

The paper presents a course development in maritime English and provides justification of the main pedagogical bases and principles of the materials. Introduction to Bridge Procedure Guide is designed to enable trainees with lower intermediate and intermediate level of English to discuss bridge procedures as well as to improve their general productive and receptive skills. The paper includes Introduction setting for the main teaching methods and techniques, Table of Contents, Introduction to Bridge Procedure Guide with Jigsaw Activities, the Key to the exercises, and English-Russian Vocabulary, Bibliography. The course materials have been field tested and will be used in Odessa …

An Integrated Approach To Acculturation: A Personal Journey, Douglas C. Stone

MA TESOL Collection

The intention of this professional paper is to propose a new, integrated model for acculturation which brings psychological understanding to this process. The first section of this paper gives a brief introduction and several necessary definitions. The second section introduces several existing acculturation models which I found applied to aspects of my experience, but which were inadequate in important areas. In the third diction I outlined a number of psychological models which I used to cope with acculturation and understand my experience before having contact with the acculturation material from the second section. In the fourth section I give an …

A Two-Week Intensive Teacher Training Course For European Teachers, Olga Shepel

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is a teacher-training course designed for the Eastern European context. The aim of this course is to introduce trainees to different ways of teaching the language, to give them a chance to analyze their actions and to share their knowledge with their colleagues during the course. It covers most of the teaching aspects, such as presenting new materials, classroom management, problem solving and many others. This paper can be used as a manual for teacher trainers.

A Certificate Program In Teaching English To Brazilian-Portuguese Speakers, Sonia Regina Moussalli

MA TESOL Collection

This paper intends to present and describe a project of a teacher certificate program for Brazilian EFL teachers. First, I will introduce relevant information on the context and background where this project will take place including the reasoning behind this program, and an investigation of the prospective participants’ needs. Second, I will explore a study of some educational assumptions including teaching effectiveness, efficiency, competence, performance and some principles for the preparation of effective EFL teachers. Third, I will provide the readers a description of the goals and objectives of the program, along with, a detailed description of the courses. Finally, …

Using A Story As A Basis For Working With Language And Culture, Marie Finnigan Miyashi

MA TESOL Collection

The focus of this paper is the development of linguistic materials for adult ESL/EFL students based on the use of a story involving and ethical or moral dilemma. The story and follow-up activities which are presented can be utilized in a variety of settings. This paper will describe how this framework was originally used for intercultural seminars as well as how it can be used to teach linguistic aspects of language in the ESL/EFL classroom. I relate my personal history in learning to use stories with adult learners, and discuss my beliefs regarding their value in the classroom. A module …

Publication Projects With Esl/Efl Students:A Handbook For Teachers, April A. Minerich

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is based on my experience teaching courses in which students created publications. I frequently teach both newsletter classes and memory book classes to students of other languages who are studying English in an intensive program. I have also taught classes in which ESL students produced student directories. I have participated in developing cookbooks. I also publish student work in certain classes that I teach.

It describes the process I use to do publication projects. I include theory to support the soundness of this idea in ESL/EFL instruction. The strategy for implementing the class is described. It then moves …

University Students As Near Peer English Teachers In A Weekend English Camp For High School Students In Japan, Annie Marquez

MA TESOL Collection

This paper presents a way to use university students as near peer role models and student leaders for a weekend English camp experience for a small group of high school students. It explores the basic design for the project, and outlines the rationale for the syllabus for preparing the near peer role models in a semester conversation class at a Japanese university. It details each of the activities used during the English camp experience, and shares reflections from the participants on the community experience.

Promoting Active Use Of Lexical Items, Lina Marciulionyte

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines ways to enhance learners’ ability to communicate in their new language. It begins by questioning the traditionally accepted view of language teaching which views language as “lexicalized grammar”. It also argues that teaching vocabulary has focused mostly on techniques of explaining words and storing them, while the importance of strategies to activate the learners’ storage by retrieving lexical items from memory had clearly been underestimated. The paper analyzes the strategies for integrating a lexical item into the learners’ linguistic resources for immediate access and suggests a variety of exercises and activities that promote active use of vocabulary …

Community Building Through The Production Of A School Newspaper, David James Mcleish

MA TESOL Collection

The focus of this paper is the teaching of writing skills for ESL or EFL students within the context of a learning community. References are cited from the literature on team building within business contexts and from the literature on a process approach to the teaching of writing. This literature as well as the author’s beliefs and commitment to experimental education led to the development of a course in writing that used the production of a student newspaper as an organizing principle for the course. The author presents multiple levels of input into the course design and classroom management for …

Suggestions And Activities To Increase Oral Production Of Students In The Fl/Sl Classroom, Violeta Mack-Donovan

MA TESOL Collection

No abstract provided.

How Can I See That My Students Are Learning? Explorations And Observations In An Advanced-Level English Class, Wilma Lynn Luth

MA TESOL Collection

The purpose of this project was to explore ways to answer the question, “What did the students learned and how do I know?” in and advanced-level English class. Counseling-Learning/ Community Language Learning’s SARD paradigm (Security, Attention, Assertion, Retention, Reflection, and Discrimination) was used as the framework for lesson planning and reflection after each lesson.

Data was collected in a teaching journal using the standard action research methods of lesson planning, teaching the lesson, reflecting on it, and making a new plan based on the reflections.

It was found that using the SARD paradigm was and effective way to observe that …

Using Children’S Books In The Adult English As A Second Language Classroom, Patricia Connors Little

MA TESOL Collection

This paper reports my personal story of using children’s books in the adult English as a Second Language classroom. The introduction explains how and why I came to the decision to use the books. Chapters One through Four are an overview of the books I used in my classroom and explain our collective classroom experience using them. Additionally the paper contains my classroom observations and reflections which helped guide me in selecting stories and lesson planning. The document highlights some of the advantages of using children’s books as well as some suggestions for ESL teachers who are interested in exploring …

A Journey To The Edge: Autobiographical Writing In The Esl Classroom, Deborah Lafferty

MA TESOL Collection

I teach ESL at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. One class project was the creating and publishing of a collection of the students’ autobiographical writings. This paper documents the process that my students and I engaged in. We used the process approach to writing and peer response. This paper discusses the theory behind this approach and its practical application in the classroom, the questions, concerns and dilemmas that I encountered and my responses to them. I also include the changes I would implement in a future project of this kind. The final product, The Golden Gate of Hope, …

Movement, Rhythms, And Music: Active Curriculums For Teaching Foreign Languages To Beginning Learners, Patricia Guillemin Gregory

MA TESOL Collection

Our task as educators is to fit our teaching methods to our learners. Middle school students have specific characteristics that can seem to interfere with learning. Among these characteristics are a bounty of energy and restlessness. The key for the teacher is to channel this energy into learning activities.

To understand a class and develop a teaching strategy for that class, the teacher should analyze the learning styles of the students. From the results of this analysis, the teacher can build effective lesson plans which match the trends that appear in the class.

With this data in hand, the teacher …

Activities For Integrating Reading And Writing In The Language Classroom, Leslie Giesen

MA TESOL Collection

This project aims to provide teachers with a selection of practical activities for integrating reading and writing in the language classroom. It first looks at the connections between reading and writing and discusses how their integration enhances learning. A compilation of before-reading, during-reading and after-reading activities with detailed lesson plans follows.

“Making Teaching Lexis And Structures To Adult Efl Learners More Effective Through Creating A Learning Community And Fostering Some Specific Learning Skills.” (A Curriculum For A Short-Term Development Course For Non-Native Speaker Efl Teachers), Oleksandr Klyevanov

MA TESOL Collection

Nowadays, EFL teachers are exposed to a large number of different approaches to teaching English. All of them, no matter how much they differ, focus on the objectives shared by all teachers regardless of their theoretical background, namely teaching lexis and structures. However, some approaches ignore what I have come to believe are necessities: creating a learning community, teaching strategies for retention and recycling lexical and structural items. By learning community I mean a group of learners who are focused on learning the target subject of knowledge, who expend their energies on learning, who feel secure being together and working …

Internet-Based Efl University Course Design: Humanistic Considerations, Options And Approaches, Russell Garafalo

MA TESOL Collection

This paper focuses on the developing field of internet-based education as it pertains to the EFL learning environment within the university context. Guidelines and suggestions for approaching EFL course design at the university level are presented in universal terms, with details from one specific Korean university context serving as the experiential touchstone. Humanistic education is the underlying theme of this paper which outlines ways of adapting humanistic learning principles to internet-based classrooms. The learning potential afforded by the internet is weighed against its potential drawbacks. The paper attends to considerations that need to be taken into account at all stages …

Dictation: What And How Students Learn From It, Marilyn C. Fisher

MA TESOL Collection

In the cycle of preferred English language teaching techniques, dictation is currently out of favor. Today, anything inviting the term “old-fashioned” is passed over without consideration as to what qualities made it popular in the past.

This paper reconsiders the merits of dictation use in the classroom, pedagogical theory, and supportive research, and the author’s experimental work with student group dynamics centered on dictation exercises.

My own classroom research shows interesting ways students catch or miss language clues and meaning in dictation exercises and how their minds are directed to analyze the incoming language both during the exercise and after, …

Well Begun Is Half Done: Preparing For The Start Of A New Class, Stephanie C. Downey

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores the critical learning moment that occurs on the first day in a new language class as the individual students, group and teacher interact for the first time. It states that the first day can influence the entire direction a course takes and asserts that the learner, the group, the teacher and the cultural context are key variables that determine how the first day turns out. It argues that by being aware of the impact each of these variables has on learning, the teacher can direct the emotional, mental and social energy of the group positively and create …

Helping Students To Learn: Addressing Student Affect And The Four Skills In An English Communication Skills Course For Students Of Health Sciences, Nicholas Dimakides

MA TESOL Collection

This study in two cycles describes the development of an English oral communication skills course for students of health sciences at a Finnish university. In the first cycle attempts were made to increase students' positive affect by developing community, increasing student security, and providing choice, which was expected to facilitate and enhance the students' learning. In the second cycle the focus was on providing access for students to tasks and activities, and more fully integrating all four skills into the syllabus. This was expected to increase and improve the amount and quality of students' language production. The findings of this …

How To Define A Word For Your Students: An Introduction To Lexicography For Classroom Teachers, Christopher W. Decker

MA TESOL Collection

Classroom teachers are often required to define words for their students, yet few have any training in how to do so. With proper training, however, classroom teachers are able to provide their students with definitions superior to those in any dictionary because they are uniquely able to determine what information the student needs and how to convey it in a way that the student can understand. Without principles and techniques for defining words, however, teachers will find it difficult to select appropriate content for their definitions and present it in ways that are comprehensible and useful to their students.

The …

Esl Curriculum Guide For Seoul Foreign School, Brian Brumsickle

MA TESOL Collection

The ESL Curriculum Guide for Seoul Foreign School (SFS) was written as a map for ESL teachers to follow in order to organize and prioritize curriculum in a sequential manner for students. The guide can also be used for parents as well as other faculty at SFS to inform them of materials and content taught during the academic year. The first document in the Guides relates “Best Practices” which encapsulate the vision for the subject area and serve as the anchor document from which the second, the “Standards” document, was developed. Throughout “Best Practices,” there is linkage with SFS’s expected …

Writing On!, Maria Aranda

MA TESOL Collection

This paper describes my participation in the development and implementation of an online writing program at Associacao Alumni, a Binational Center in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The program, Writing On!, was Alumni’s first of many online programs that was developed by a team of teachers of writing.

In Chapter One, I narrate my first experience with giving feedback online in a writing program designed for a young Brazilian student who needed to improve his academic writing skills in order to study in the U.S.A. this enriching learning experience planted the seeds of Writing On!.

In Chapter Two, I give an overview …