Education Commons^™

Verb Strings And Other Weavings: An Exploration Of Grammatical Structures, Visual Arts, And Language Teaching, Mae Bash

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

In language education, visual arts are sometimes used as a tool to inspire communication and convey cultural concepts. However, limited research has looked into the application of visual arts in the classroom for the exploration of linguistic patterns. Both languages and weavings are complex systems governed by distinct sets of rules, yet they still permit infinite unique productions. This project explores this relationship by presenting five bandweavings, each of which is designed based on the rules and structures of different languages. These weavings show that it is possible to connect art and language through practical, structural methods, not only abstract …

Student Attitudes Towards English Grammar, Evalyn H. Bassett

Honors Theses

The literature on English grammar is mostly on its history, standardization, educational implementations, how ideologies shape its frequency of usage, and how it is perceived by students learning English as a second language. This study seeks to address a gap in the literature that reviews the attitudes of college students towards English grammar as their first language and how these attitudes correlate with any past experience with English grammar up to this point. To gain a better understanding of student’s attitudes towards English grammar, an online mixed-methods survey was distributed to graduate and undergraduate students in all departments of the …

Comparison Of Motor-Enhanced And Visual-Enhanced Interventions For Grammar In Young Children With Developmental Language Disorder, Alisha P. Springle

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Up to 7.6% of children demonstrate a developmental language disorder (DLD), which can persist through adulthood, causing difficulty with academic achievement, social relationships, and financial stability. Grammar development, as a hallmark of DLD, is an important area of need for these children. Existing grammar interventions do not clearly distinguish the sensory input techniques that meet these children’s neurobiological instructional needs. This adapted alternating treatment design study implemented intervention using systematic paired visual and verbal and systematic paired motor, i.e. standardized gestures, and verbal sensory input techniques. A moderate-strong functional relation between intervention techniques using motor supports on grammatical outcomes in …

How To Write An Email, Joan H. Robinson

Open Educational Resources

This two-page guide for college students explains common pitfalls in email etiquette and shows examples of email styles: best practices (most formal), acceptable, and unacceptable (unprofessional).

Project On Designing Activities For Teaching Grammar, Sunny Hyon

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

This document outlines a project for a course in second language acquisition taken by undergraduates who intend to be high school or university teachers/professors. The project asks the undergraduates to design a sequence of activities for teaching English language learners (ELLs) a particular English grammatical construction, and to connect those activities to reading or writing assignments in their future classrooms. The students also must explain how their activities will facilitate ELLs' grammatical learning, drawing on research on language acquisition presented in the course.

A Word From The Writing Team (January 2019), Jennifer Wilson, Ms, Els, Pam Walter, Mfa

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• Grammarly Tips
• Expanded NVivo Access
• Upcoming Workshops

Teaching Language Variation In The Classroom: Strategies And Models From Teachers And Linguists, Michelle D. Devereaux, Chris C. Palmer

Chris C. Palmer

A Word From The Writing Team (October 2018), Jennifer Wilson, Ms, Els, Pam Walter, Mfa

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• Writing Lessons from Ted-Ed
• WHYY's Maiken Scott on Communicating Science
• Paywall: The Business of Scholarship

A Word From The Writing Team (June 2018), Jennifer Wilson, Ms, Els

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• Sign Up for Our Fall Writing Retreat
• Grammarly Pro
• New eBook on Communicating Data Clearly
• Writing Café

A Word From The Writing Team (May 2018), Jennifer Wilson, Ms, Els

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• Grammar Time
• What to Do Once Your Manuscript is Accepted
• Writing Café

A Word From The Writing Center (January 2018), Jennifer Wilson, Ms, Els

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• New Year, New Publishing Goals
• Grammar Time
• Writing Cafe

Ways Of Thanking In American-English, Chinese-Mandarin, South Korean, And Thai : An Intercultural And Cross-Linguistic Approach, Pilaiporn Phetcherdchin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Language can define people by the way they use it. This thesis investigates how four different languages – American-English, Chinese-Mandarin, South Korean, and Thai – use thanking expressions to one another. The content of this thesis is mainly collected from survey data and movie scripts. This study identifies how American-English, Chinese-Mandarin, South Korean, and Thai use formal and informal thanking expressions in various situations, e.g. people in different social status, and polite endings in thanking expressions. The author also focuses on cultural similarities and differences among the four languages in order to express thank to one another, e.g. Western and …

A Theological Critique Of “Learner Autonomy”, Pierce T. Hibbs

International Journal of Christianity and English Language Teaching

Because words reflect the world of a person, Christian teachers of English are called to consider how the linguistic terminology they use intersects with their Christian values. In this article, I present theological issues with the phrase “learner autonomy” (LA). Drawing largely on the work of Kenneth L. Pike, I discuss an alternative to LA that I believe more clearly reflects a Christian teacher’s theological commitments.

Grammar Enhanced Biliteracy: Naskapi Language Structures For Facilitating Reading In Naskapi, William Joseph Jancewicz

Theses and Dissertations

The Naskapi language is the language of instruction in the early primary grades of the school in the Naskapi community. Only recently have Naskapi-speaking teachers received formal instruction in pedagogy, with a cohort of Naskapi teachers following courses for their Bachelor of Education degree towards careers teaching in the Naskapi language in their local school. These adults are highly motivated to become literate in their mother tongue in order to teach or prepare curriculum materials in the Naskapi language. This thesis explores how basic grammatical structures can be mastered, and provides insight into the form that pedagogical grammatical instruction should …

Grammar In The Early Years: A Games-Based Approach, Imogene Cochrane, Amelia Reece, Katie Ahearn, Pauline Jones

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The Language strand of the Australian Curriculum: English provides scope for students to develop their understandings of how an author's purpose drives specific language choices in texts, including the use of a range of clause structures and word groups, and patterns of cohesion across texts (ACARA, 2013). This functionally oriented grammar content, and the metalanguage associated with it, needs to be explicitly taught so that students can confidently analyse the deliberate language choices made by authors, as well as make informed personal choices when developing and expressing ideas in their own texts. This paper will model the manner in which …

Effects Of Simultaneously Observing And Making Gestures While Studying Grammar Animations On Cognitive Load And Learning, Lysanne S. Post, Tamara Van Gog, Fred Paas, Rolf A. Zwaan

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This study examined whether simultaneously observing and making gestures while studying animations would lighten cognitive load and facilitate the acquisition of grammatical rules. In contrast to our hypothesis, results showed that children in the gesturing condition performed worse on the posttest than children in the non-gesturing, control condition. A more detailed analysis of the data revealed an expertise reversal effect, indicating that this negative effect on posttest performance materialized for children with lower levels of general language skills, but not for children with higher levels of general language skills. The finding that for children with lower language ability, cognitive load …

From Traditional Grammar To Functional Grammar: Bridging The Divide, Beverly Derewianka, Pauline Jones

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper describes our experiences using systemic functional linguistics to teach English in Australian educational settings over the last three decades. We suggest there is a continuum of approaches to describing language and highlight what we consider to be the significant affordances of a systemic functional grammar for English language teachers. With its dual emphasis on meaning and form, we argue that the model provides powerful tools for identifying curriculum priorities, for designing pedagogy and for assessing learners’ accomplishments and needs. Most importantly, it offers a means of making language explicit to learners in the form of an accessible and …

Phonological Awareness And Its Affect On Second Language Acquisition, Mallory Ann Ruiz

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the role phonological awareness plays in the second language (L2) classroom among English as Second Language (ESL) learners. In order to better understand the reasons behind second language (L2) student's phonological improvements, phonological awareness was tested to see what affect, if any, it had on student's intelligible speech. Six English as Second Language (ESL) college students participated in the study in which they provided three audio recordings of their English speech over the course of ten weeks.

Choices In Grammar Teaching And The Grammar Curriculum, Arshad Abd Samad, Hawanum Hussein

Arshad Abd Samad

The communicative language teaching approach has had a significant impact on the teaching of grammar. In general, the communicative approach, and its objective of communicative competence, has led to a diminished role for grammar teaching. However, of late, numerous voices have advocated a more prominent role for grammar in achieving this objective. As a result, various broad approaches as well as specific techniques have been suggested in teaching grammar to English as a Second language students. Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, for example, suggests that teachers use the challenge principle in order to identify the challenge a grammatical structure poses according to …

Rule And Meaning In The Teaching Of Grammar, Joseph C. M. Davis

Publications and Research

While the construct of rule as a manipulation of purely formal properties of language has been widely abandoned in both formal and functional linguistics, it persists, though with diminished importance, in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA). This is true even in Form-Focused Instruction (FFI), including Focus-on-Form (FonF), which emphasizes meaning as both classroom focus and element of language structure. This paper illustrates the meaningfulness of grammar, even where treatment has often appealed to such rules; identifies areas of overlap between what is identified by the term rule and what is identified by the terms meaning (semantics) and form …

Living Among Guatemalan Mayans Is Fascinating Experience, Irene Scharf

Faculty Publications

I have just lived a dream. Five years ago I learned of a school where students of all ages could study Spanish intensively while living among the Guatemalan Mayans. Peace Accords had been signed in 1996, the government was encouraging tourism, and it was, finally, safe to visit.

Why a dream? Because, 25 years ago, when I traveled through Central and South America, I promised my family I would avoid Guatemala because of the perceived was dangers. During that trip, as I met my Europeans and other who had visited, remained safe, and found it a fascinating country, I vowed …

Learning By Heart: Using An Interactive Tutorial On Idioms To Model Acquisition Strategies And Tools, Andrianna Kirsten Jobin

Theses Digitization Project

This project is an interactive tutorial on idioms for a unit in a multi-level English as a second language (ESL) class. The purpose of the tutorial was to develop a resource to consolidate various aspects of idiom learning (e.g., pronunciation, definitions, and usage) into a few easily referenced pages and practice exercises which students can go over at their own pace.

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 …

“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 …

Role Of Imitation In Language Assessment Tests, Abha Gupta

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

A study investigated whether imitation plays a significant role in the acquisition of grammar. Three 6- to 8-year-old hearing-impaired children were administered the Grammatical Analysis of Elicited Language--Simple Sentence Level Test (GAEL), which is designed to evaluate hearing-impaired children's use of grammatical aspects of spoken and/or signed English. Subjects' verbal responses to the "imitated" component (in which subjects were asked to say just what the tester said) of the GAEL were transcribed and analyzed. Results indicated that imitated speech is neither longer nor grammatically more advanced than non-imitated, spontaneous speech. Findings suggest that the children produced "unique" language structures to …

An Introduction To Rods : Grammar And Story Telling, Edward A. Combes

MA TESOL Collection

In this paper I propose a way of using rods in teaching ESOL that is consistent with my personal assumptions about teaching and learning. It is written for teachers with no or little previous experience working with rods.

The introduction of the paper tells of my own start in working with rods and why I feel rods to be an exciting and important learning tool. Next there is a step-by-step analysis of the application of rods in teaching the present, past, future, and perfect verb tenses. Finally I address ways of using rods to generate stories, with rods representing all …

Games And Activities Based On Grammatical Areas Which Are Problems For The Intermediate Esl Student, Cheryl Olson, Susan Shalek

MA TESOL Collection

This project consists of games and activities based on grammatical areas which are problems for the intermediate-level ESL student

After polling ESL teachers, we selected three specific problem areas:

(1) irregular past tense verbs (2) modal auxiliaries (3) verbs in the perfective

For each grammatical area we have created a minimum of six games/activities, including at least one card game, one board game, one individualized activity, and one jazz chant.

Every game and activity has been tested through actual use in at least one ESL classroom. Revisions have been made based on the results of this testing.

Interference Of Brazilian Portuguese On Learning English, Tizuko Hirose, Tsizuco Iwase

MA TESOL Collection

No abstract provided.

Teaching English To Japanese, Kayoko Hisano

MA TESOL Collection

This paper aims at offering some information on the background of Japanese students to native teachers of English. Japanese students have a unique background in English education, which it is advisable for teachers of English to know about if they are to be as effective as possible when teaching them.

CHAPTER I touches on why the Japanese learn English, and CHAPTER II examines the kind of English education that is taught at Japanese high schools. CHAPTER II covers linguistic differences between Japanese and English, and CHAPTER IV deals with the psychology of Japanese students.

Teacher's Manual For "The Magnetic Sentence": A Classroom Aid For Teaching English As A Second Language, Jeffrey Smith

MA TESOL Collection

"The Magnetic Sentence" is a classroom aid for teaching English as a second language. It consists of (1) a set of word-cards on which are written words, phrases, or morphemes; (2) a board for displaying these word cards; and (3) a teacher's manual.

The set is designed to show visually many common grammatical transformations by presenting them on a display board. This is done by placing the word-cards on the display board and rearranging, deleting, and adding to them to show the process involved in a transformation.

The following transformations and constructions can be shown with the set: affirmative statements, …