Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Using Film As A Multimodal Text In The Language Classroom, Kate Marie Steckmest

MA TESOL Collection

Film is a powerful medium for language acquisition; Not only does viewing films allow learners to experience language used in various real-life contexts, but the medium of film itself is a form of communication. Through the active viewing of films, students can explore how people with diverse backgrounds, accents, and cultures communicate using multiple modes such as gestures, images, and sounds. When learners are familiar with the techniques used by filmmakers to convey meaning, they can use the medium of film themselves to tell their stories and share their perspectives through filmmaking projects. Such projects can be collaborative and engaging …

Approaches To Narrative Instruction For Second Language Learners, Mathew Peters

MA TESOL Collection

Narratives have reemerged as a dominant form of rhetoric over the last fifty years. This dominant use of narrative discourse has only increased with the rise of social media. Walther Fisher (1987) proposed the narrative paradigm as a unifying theory of human communication. His major claim is that people are inherently storytellers and that people use a narrative rationality and a logic of good reasons to inform their beliefs, values, and actions. This paper utilizes his theories, along with recent findings in neuroscience, to establish an argument for greater inclusion of narratives into second language teaching. Narratives can have a …

A Virtual Ell Community: Manual For Creating An Ell District Website, Brooke Norvish

MA TESOL Collection

Abstract

Every public school district has the responsibility to provide their English language learners (ELLs) with reliable and accessible resources. Many communities do this through various avenues, including in-person and online materials. Since the COVID-19 Pandemic, there is an even greater need to provide information online. Many schools are bouncing between hybrid and fully remote programs. Some families are opting to homeschool regardless if their district offers in-person classes or not. Supporting these families and keeping them up to date on how to navigate these challenging times is essential. This materials development project will seek to fill this need by …

Mediation In The Mediterranean: Italy As A Crucible For Immigration And Intercultural Mediation, Nicole Patteuw Abetti

MA TESOL Collection

Europe is again in an intense state of migration influx. While some European countries have historical precedence for these types of population shifts, Italy has largely remained outside the modern phenomenon, since it did not experience the economic boom of post WW2 and the subsequent demand for migrant workers, nor did it experience the pull effect of language migrants after the decolonization of Africa. Italy therefore also missed the second surge of migration during the 70’s and 80’s when families of these immigrants began arriving in Europe. What Italy did experience throughout the 20^th century, and continues to experience …

Drama For Social Justice: Embodying Identity And Emotion In Elt, Riah Werner

MA TESOL Collection

In this thesis, the author makes the case that drama is a powerful tool for language acquisition because it develops and engages embodiment, emotion and identity, important aspects of learning and communication that are often neglected in traditional language classrooms. The thesis establishes a theoretical foundation for the use of drama in the social justice-oriented language classroom, reviews research on drama for language learning and describes common drama techniques. The author connects the theories of embodied cognition and multiliteracies to an intersectional model of identity and argues that drama helps students re-examine the way society positions them based on their …

Reflections On Donor-Funded Reports And Education Programs In Pakistan: A Qualitative Analysis On Pakistan’S English Education, Amy M. Puett

MA TESOL Collection

The extensive rise in aid from aid organizations and donor agencies for education in Pakistan at the beginning of the 21st century has resulted in a rise of the number of studies and reports on Pakistan’s education system and newly developed education programs. This was partially due to the concern about the status of the religious schools known as madaris and the quality of education they provided. The majority of the existing reports on education offer quantitative analyses and pay little attention to English taught in schools although English is critically important for job opportunities and professional growth in Pakistan. …

Black English And Culture Meet The Mainstream Classroom, Giselle Robitaille

MA TESOL Collection

Learning English can often be a critical factor in people’s lives, and the choice to disengage from learning out of sheer frustration can have devastating psychological and social effects for people who need to acquire English in order to be able to fulfill academic, personal and professional goals. While I was not able to find statistics on a global level, it is easy to believe that English language learners do disengage frequently. This is most obvious in the United States where the Standard English (SE) model of teaching black children has resulted in a high level of disengagement with learning …

Movement In Learning: Revitalizing The Classroom, Marcus Van

MA TESOL Collection

Movement is a vital part of our every day lives, and it is also important for a healthy brain. The following paper examines the shift from movement based learning to a more restrictive rote format, which often has adverse effects on learning. This work discusses the ways in which teachers are under pressure to “teach to the test” instead of creating student-centered classrooms. Some of the side effects of a test-centered approach are low self-esteem (from not meeting strict academic requirements) and behavioral problems in students.

Adding more movement to lessons can provide variation and relief from the rote-only system. …

Narrative Inquiry In The Language Classroom: An Incubator Of Identity And Growth Exploration, Olga Culver

MA TESOL Collection

The paper examines narrative inquiry within the precepts of socio-cultural and ecological theories. The work touches upon constructivist learning ideologies and examines social approaches to learning with an emphasis on biographical narratives. The author makes a case for self-discovery, holistic learning, and creating collaborative learning environments. The study also presents a methodology with practical applications for implementing a narrative praxis in a second language learning environment.

How Esol Teachers Become Aware Of Communicative Peace, Josette Leblanc

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines the implications that the relationship between teacher language awareness and communicative peace may have on educational programs for teachers of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). The evaluation begins by analyzing proposals set out by the applied peace linguist Francisco Gomes de Matos, who suggests that ESOL teachers should teach communicative peace as an element of communicative competence, and also that education programs should provide training to support this approach. By juxtaposing current literature on structural and linguistic violence with Gomes de Matos’ classroom techniques, the hypothesis is made that teachers who would teach communicative peace …

Instructional Practices That Hinder And Support Esl Students In The Self-Contained Esl Classroom And The Mainstream Classroom, Ebru N. Bozburun

MA TESOL Collection

This paper describes the academic challenges that many English Second Language (ESL) students must deal with from the moment they start attending a bilingual program at elementary school until they finish the last step of their academic experience. These students continually struggle to keep up with their peers, often fail the state mandated tests, and eventually, drop out before receiving their high school diploma. For the past three years, both as a self-contained ESL teacher and an ESL certified co-teacher in the mainstream classroom, I taught ESL Language Arts to Spanish- speaking students at a public junior high school in …

How Esol Teachers Become Aware Of Communicative Peace, Josette Leblanc

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines the implications that the relationship between teacher language awareness and communicative peace may have on educational programs for teachers of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). The evaluation begins by analyzing proposals set out by the applied peace linguist Francisco Gomes de Matos, who suggests that ESOL teachers should teach communicative peace as an element of communicative competence, and also that education programs should provide training to support this approach. By juxtaposing current literature on structural and linguistic violence with Gomes de Matos' classroom techniques, the hypothesis is made that teachers who would teach communicative peace …

Planning Task-Oriented Field Trips For Beginning Esl Students, Nikki Sarita Ellman

MA TESOL Collection

Field trips into the surrounding community can be valuable learning tools for ESL students living in the target country. These trips expose students to different facets of American culture and give them the opportunity to communicate with native speakers. Preliminary activities, tasks to be done during the trips, and follow-up activities all help students get the most out of these excursions. Beginners in particular need these activities to orient them to what they are going to see, to focus their attention, and allow them to process their feelings about the experiences. This paper addresses the many factors that must be …

Teaching/Training Social Language In Galang Refugee Camp: A Learning Process, Jon Phillips

MA TESOL Collection

From 1984 through 1986, I worked as an ESL Supervisor in the Intensive English as a Second Language component at Galang Refugee Processing Center in Indonesia. My job was to train locally hired teachers, and to provide them direction and support through classroom observation and individual teacher evaluation. In 1985, I and the other ESL supervisors perceived a great concern among refugees about their ability to interact with Americans in the United States. To meet that need, we wrote the Social Language unit, which was added to the ESL curriculum. The following paper will describe the rationale for writing such …

Ten Basic Grammar Hurdles For Mandarin Chinese Speakers: A Contrastive Guide For The Beginning Teacher Of Adult Mandarin Chinese Efl Students, Mark Anthony Steele

MA TESOL Collection

This handbook is written specifically for EFL teachers of Mandarin Chinese speaking students at the high elementary and intermediate levels of study. It is intended, through contrastive analysis, to provide the teacher with:

a) an understanding of why these students have particular difficulty with certain structures and sentence patterns in English;

b) a tool in predicting what ten of these patterns are; and c) strategies and activities for use in the classroom that will help the student overcome these ten hurdles in learning English.

The plan of this handbook rests on the belief that the more we as teachers understand …

Readings In American History And Culture For Japanese College Students A Materials Development Program, Teresa Bruner Cox

MA TESOL Collection

This paper describes a materials development project carried out at a junior college in Osaka, Japan. The purpose of the project was to develop a set of English language readings about American history and culture suitable for use in a content area course for Japanese students majoring in English at the college. Theory and related research on readability applicable to EFL/ESL content-focused materials are surveyed and discussed in an attempt to identify key factors and to develop an approach to writing the readings and supporting exercises. This is followed by a description of how six American history and culture readings …

Presenting Cultural Awareness, Andrew Willimetz

MA TESOL Collection

This project is a collection of activities and materials for teaching U.S culture in ESL classes. The overall purpose of the activities and materials IS to provide structured opportunities for students to interact with the target culture, either directly through the cultural environment of the U.S or indirectly through viewing the values and beliefs of the students' "original culture.

Syllabus Guideline For The Congress Bundestag Language Training Program With Sample Lesson Plans For Structural, Sociolinguistic, And Cultural Specifics Plus Comments On The Academic Preparation Component Of The Program, Ursula Verena Holzer

MA TESOL Collection

This project is based on the Congress Bundestag Program of 1986, in particular the language training aspect. It first introduces the program with its goals and objectives and the syllabus that was worked with in August 1986. Based on this experience, a revised syllabus guideline is designed here which contains

A. Phonetics

B. Theme/Range of Vocabulary

Grammatical Features and

Cultural/Sociolinguistic Aspects

C. Feedback and Assessment

D. Competencies

E. Academic Skills Development.

Additionally, some structural, sociolinguistic and cultural specifics from the syllabus are examplified through lesson and activity plans. Finally, the paper gives a description of what was done in Academic …

Beyond The Classroom: Teaching Esl To Adult Indochinese Refugees Via Experiential Activities, Andres Ray F. Reyes

MA TESOL Collection

This paper deals with the use of beyond-the-classroom experiential activities to teach ESL and aspects of U.S. culture to adult Indochinese refugees in the U.S. The paper begins with a discussion of the needs of refugees as they come face to face with their new setting, the U.S. The following section discusses the importance of experiential activities as a tool to address the needs of refugees. The next section contains an experiential activities guide based on six major topics: supermarket, post office, transportation, telephone, hospital and employment. The guide presents activities that can be used with adult Indochinese refugees to …

Beginning Esl Reader – A Teacher’S Guide, Ann Catherine Smith

MA TESOL Collection

This project is a collection of ten lessons, each lesson based on a reading. The readings are for beginning adult students, whose reading ability is limited to identifying initial consonants and high-frequency sight words. The readings average three short paragraphs and include basic vocabulary and structures. They discuss themes which are relevant issues to refugees and/or immigrants adapting to United States culture -discrimination, moving to another city, losing a job, family relationships. The themes are not necessarily relevant only to refugees and immigrants but because these populations are newer to the society, issues such as losing a job can be …

Dialects In Discourse: Regional Speech Of United States English, Laura Wilson Bergan

MA TESOL Collection

This project provides materials that are to be used to improve the listening comprehension and communicating skills of intermediate and advanced students of ESL by exposing them to the sounds and rhythms of different dialects of United States English. The project consists of samples of genuine speech that are unrehearsed and unedited, as is the 'real English' that ESL students encounter in the United States. By listening to the tapes, students can grow accustomed to the natural flow of casual spoken English.

American Culture As Seen Through Magazine Advertisements, David Edward Cignoni

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is designed as a resource for teachers who wish to teach American culture, and the influence of advertising on this culture, through the use of magazine advertisements. The lessons which can be derived from the materials are planned for advanced students of English who possess a good conversational ability in the language and who wish to learn more about American culture.

Part I presents for the reader a general overview of American advertising, describing how it developed, how it works, and how it mirrors and influences our culture and behavior. Part II describes the various appeals which advertising …

Exercises For Student-Generated Social And Political Issues In The Esl Classroom, William Michael Conley

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is based on a second internship which took place at the TASIS school in England during the summer of 1983. The paper includes three lessons entitled "Values Geography," "Problem in the City," and "The Changing City." These three exercises were used to create an environment in which students could develop a heightened awareness of social and political issues and their importance on a local and global level. These student-determined issues are also designed to increase cross-cultural awareness and improve students' communicative competence.

Language Acquisition Diaries: Developing An Awareness Of Personal Learning Strategies, Abby Asher

MA TESOL Collection

During the summer of 1982, I led a group of Outbound students to Switzerland on a language/homestay program. Before going abroad, students underwent an intensive French course at North Adams, Massachusetts for a period of ten days. Afterwards, they spent approximately one month living with families in the French region of Switzerland.

In the course of this paper, I will describe the implementation of a project developed for these students which involved the use of Language Acquisition Diaries. The purpose of this project was to create an awareness in students of their own language learning process. Through the use of …

An Experiment Language Training Program Under The Microscope, Shari Joy Berman

MA TESOL Collection

This study examines an adolescent language learning program that took place in Mexico in 1979. It includes a case study of a group of adolescents that traces their attitudes and development through an intensive Spanish course and subsequent home-stays. It offers suggestions as to location, pedagogy and scheduling based on participant feedback and personal observation. It also outlines specific areas for further research.

Two Paces East An Introspective View Of A Cross-Cultural Experience, Rebecca Ann Reagan

MA TESOL Collection

This is a cultural project, a personal journey through a five and a half year period of my life, a period when I lived in the East, primarily in Nepal and Japan. In this project I discuss the history and cultures of these two countries, particularly that of Nepal, including some of the customs and traditions, values and belief systems. I further discuss the influence that living in these cultures had on my life and my world view. To facilitate the organization of the paper, I have chosen to use a model proposed by Theodore Gochenour and Anne Janeway, "Seven …

From Haiti To The Esl Class: Working With Adult Haitian Esl Learners In The Us, Dona A. Vassall-Paquiot

MA TESOL Collection

This project provides the person unfamiliar with Haiti and its inhabitants with some background information on the country - politically, economically, socially. It also gives a perspective on why Haitians leave Haiti to come to the US, and the stages they must go through in order to do so. Teachers are given some insight into what to expect from their students in an ESL class, given their background and experiences. Finally, factual information is provided on Haiti - i.e. holidays, major cities, etc. - for the interest of the reader. It also serves to help the teacher make the ESL …

A Retrospective-Introspective Look At Second Language Acquisition, Janet R. Zinner

MA TESOL Collection

This is a personal paper in which I discuss my family’s acquisition of French during a two year sabbatical stay in Brussels, Belgium from 1979 to 1981. I discuss the factors influencing our decision to learn French, our respective modes of acquisition, our rates and degrees of proficiency, and then how that second language fared upon our subsequent return to the United States. I also offer a comparison between child and adult second language acquisition based upon our experience as well as discuss certain relevant psycho/social intra-familial dynamics which came into play while there as a result of our individual …