Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Looking Back At Esl70: Five Years In An Intenstive Language Institute, Claire P. Boise

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is an examination of the creation of, and the initial five years of operation of, ESL70, a non-academic, for-profit Intensive English Language Institute at Kingsborough Community College in New York City. Kingsborough Community College is part of the City University of New York (CUNY). This paper will examine the educational philosophy and application of ESL70 within both the historical and present academic context of CUNY, ESL70's endeavor to immerse non-native English speaking students in the study of English language, the business centered nature of ESL70, and the conflicts and issues that have arisen in response to being a …

Using Photographic Storytelling To Cultivate Intercultural Awareness And Understanding With Immigrant And Refugee-Background Students, Sarah Lizdas

MA TESOL Collection

Photographs are an important visual aid to share our stories and expressions of culture. The need is great for the voices and stories of immigrant and refugee-background students to be heard, if they choose to share their stories. As English teachers, we can invite our students to participate in the contribution of an asset-based discourse rather than a deficit one regarding immigrants and refugee-background people in the US. How can we do this through ethnographic inquiry using photographs and storytelling? This paper includes a literature review to explore how photography and storytelling have been used to facilitate inter-cultural awareness and …

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 …

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 …

Inclusion Of Host Culture In International Schools: A Case Study Of The British School Of Cotonou, Alisha L. Jacobsen

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is a case study of The British School of Cotonou, an international school located in Benin, West Africa. The case study examines the common claim international schools make about providing international education. A closer look at the composition of the teaching and administrative staff, the curriculum, the teaching methodologies, and parent-teacher attitudes about the importance of learning about one’s host country shows the opposite. International education cannot be attained without including the host culture in the international school’s learning environment. Examples of the parent-teacher survey are included, as well as summaries of survey results.

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 …

Spanish For School Nurses: A Specialized Program For Use In Teaching Basic Spanish To Nurses Who Work In A Multicultural Environment, William Earl Wood Jr.

MA TESOL Collection

During the past twenty years, there has been a great influx of Spanish speaking people into the United States, especially the state of North Carolina. This increase of Spanish speakers has had an impact on all areas of society: employment, housing, health care, transportation, and education. This project focuses on language training for a specialized group who has a daily need to communicate in this new environment: school nurses. It examines materials that are currently available to teach nurses the Spanish language. It discusses the language requirements that nurses use to function in a multicultural environment. It looks at some …

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 …