Education Commons^™

Applications Of Affinity Spaces In English Language Instruction: Writing And Peer Review Of Fanfiction Based On Video Games In An Academic English As A Second Language Writing Course, Marta Halaczkiewicz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This classroom-based research study explored applications of informal online spaces in formal language instruction. Using sociocultural theory as a lens, the present study examined how using creative writing genres and online feedback practices, may assist with alleviating the three pedagogical issues of academic writing instruction: rigidity of academic topics and forms, superficiality of in-class feedback process, and slow language development. Students in an intermediate English language course wrote weekly fiction inspired by their favorite video games. They also engaged in a scaffolded feedback process facilitated in an online space. At the end of the semester, they wrote a reflection on …

Variety In Second Language Instruction: Student Engagement In Sla, Emily Borgstrom Woodruff

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a collection of works completed by the author during her time as a student in the Master of Second Language Teaching program at Utah State University. It highlights important aspects and experiences of foreign language education that represent the author’s personal journey of learning and teaching.

The first section is comprised of the author’s teaching perspectives which are represented through the author’s desired professional environment, her teaching philosophy statement, and the author’s professional development through teaching observations. The second section presents the author’s pedagogical research pertaining to foreign language pragmatics and music integration in the classroom. The …

Student-Centered, Interaction-Based, Community-Driven Language Teaching, Sharon Lyman

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation that highlights some of the author’s accomplished work while in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU). Organized into sections that reflect the author’s teaching and research perspectives as a MSLT graduate student and instructor, who taught intensive English reading, writing, and conversation courses for the Intensive English Language Institute (IELI).

In the first section, teaching perspectives, the author describes her desired professional environment, shares her personal teaching philosophy statement, and accounts for her professional development through classroom observations. In the second section, research perspectives, two research papers and …

Harmonizing Music And Language Acquisition: Learning Language With The Arts, Samantha Ontiveros

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio consists of select work the author completed during the Master of Second Language Teaching program at Utah State University. Throughout the portfolio, the author shares her personal ideas, opinions, teaching observations, and personal teaching examples utilizing song; all these were found to support the research presented in this portfolio.

This portfolio contains three main sections: (1) teaching perspectives, (2) research perspectives, and (3) an annotated bibliography. The focus of this portfolio is to find new ways to teach language using artistic and creative outlets, such as multimodality, technology, and most importantly, music. The portfolio contains effective ways to …

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 2, Issue 1

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full Spring 2018 issue (Volume 2, Issue 1) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence.

What Does It Take To Learn A Language? Strategies For Teaching Esl And Japanese, Andrew Mikesell

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

ABSTRACT

This portfolio reflects what the author believes to be effective tools and methods for teaching a second or foreign language. The first section includes the author’s teaching philosophy which addresses teacher and student roles, communicative and meaningful tasks, learning environments, and the importance of literacy development. Following the teaching philosophy are three research perspective papers which discuss the use of digital storytelling as a tool for developing language proficiency, how blogs can be used to help students develop writing skills in their second language, and alternative approaches to teaching and learning kanji, which are one of three sets …

Addressing The Diverse Needs Of Adults Esl And Fl Students, Lea Marie Whiteley Child

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In this portfolio, the author examines what she considers to be good language teaching. The centerpiece of the portfolio is the teaching philosophy which discusses what the author believes constitutes effective language teaching such as using different teaching methods (such as task-based instruction), following the TESOL standards and the Standards for Foreign Language Learning (SFLL), and promoting authenticity in the classroom. The artifacts are papers I wrote for the MSLT program which support the author’s teaching philosophy. The culture artifact emphasizes pragmatic transfer from the first language to English. The literacy artifact examines different methods of improving vocabulary acquisition. The …

A Sociocultural Approach To Esl For Adult Learners, Whitney Putnam

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The following portfolio is a collection of work submitted for the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University. Within this portfolio is the author's personal philosophy on effective language teaching written with a college-level ESL classroom in mind. Following the teaching philosophy are different artifacts and reflections, all related to the philosophy on teaching, but separate in topic. The three artifacts demonstrate the author's understanding of the role of language, culture, and literacy in a second language classroom. Also included in this portfolio is an annotated bibliography containing the scholarly works which support the writings here.

Rhyme And Reason In Language Acquisition: Incorporating Poetry Into The Esl Classroom, Kimberly Call Gleason

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Utah is seeing a rapid increase in K-12 students whose native language is not English. With this increase, teachers face the challenge of finding new and effective teaching methods to reach their ESL (English as a Second Language) students. This research explores the study of poetry as an instrument to improve ESL students' pronunciation of English. When read out loud, poetry can be an exercise in pronouncing consonant sounds (from alliteration), decoding vowel sounds (from rhyme), and acquiring the natural speech rhythm of the English language (from meter). Poetry was selected not only because of its exaggerated sound elements (alliteration, …

Content-Based English Learning Through Pedagogical Agents, Yanghee Kim, P. Punahm, Y. Ko

Yanghee Kim

This paper suggests how an advanced technology called pedagogical agents can be applied to English education to benefit learners across ages through computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and content-based language learning (CBLL). CALL, when designed appropriately, has positively influenced the development of a learner’s linguistic proficiency and communicative competence (Chun, 1994; Fotos & Browne, 2004). CBLL integrates language learning with subject-matter learning to make language learning more meaningful (Snow, 2001; Swain, 1998). However, the conventional CALL programs are often criticized for the lacking a social context, considered essential for successful language learning ( Warschauer, 2004). Also, CBLL seems rarely applied to …