Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Cultivating Knowledge In The School Garden: New Ways Of Teaching Literacy To Esl Students, Michele Durivage

MA TESOL Collection

My thesis project includes a combination of materials development and classroom-based research. In my paper, I explore existing garden-related curricula, and create original garden-based lesson plans to teach literacy to fourth grade ESL students. This curriculum development project contributes to the field of ESL in its innovative garden-based pedagogy. The field study took place during the spring semester of 2009 at Increase Miller Elementary School in Westchester County, New York. Using nature as inspiration for writing descriptive essays and poetry, the ESL students at Increase Miller produced imaginative writing pieces, using their own voices to express their thoughts. The students’ …

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 …

Sustained Silent Reading In The Esl Classroom: The Silent Motivator?, Megan V. Ahonen

MA TESOL Collection

This classroom based research paper investigates the use of Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) in the ESL classroom. The purpose is to determine if implementing a SSR program would increase students’ interest and desire to read in English outside of the classroom for pleasure. This paper will share background information on the students and school, different reading inventory samples and questionnaires with student responses, and current findings on SSR compared to my own personal findings. The final chapter is devoted to roadblocks and limitations encountered along the way throughout this study

Using Technology In The Efl Classroom In Saudi Arabia, Neil Oby Morris

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores the ways that technology, specifically the use of laptop computers and cellular phones, may be incorporated in the EFL classroom to enhance learning and lower the affective filter of male Saudi Arabian university students.

Saudi Arabia presents the EFL teacher with many challenges that are unique to this gender-segregated Islamic kingdom. Meeting these challenges and turning them into learning opportunities that other EFL teachers may find useful within their teaching contexts is the purpose of this paper.

The appendix includes a writing rubric and a 40-day materials introduction calendar. The calendar illustrates the day-by-day introduction of material …

Developing Learners’ Lexicon Through Vocabulary Cards, Andrew Noonan

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores the author’s process in using flashcards to teach formulaic sequences. First, there is a discussion of the terminology, which ties the term “formulaic sequences” to earlier discussions about the Lexical Approach and collocations. The importance of teaching formulaic sequences is then explored, as a way to build vocabulary and to aid in general skill development. Rote learning through the use of flash cards is then argued for, with a variety of card types presented and compared. The author then discusses the methods by which flash cards have been used to teach formulaic sequences in his own classroom, …

Using Games In A Foreign Language Classroom, Amy Talak-Kiryk

MA TESOL Collection

This independent professional project researches the value of games in a classroom setting. The research focuses on the educational benefits as well as on recommendations how to incorporate games into a learning environment. Also included are games that can be used in a foreign language classroom to enhance student learning. The games were developed by various sources and used in a Spanish classroom in an American high school with teenagers ages fourteen to eighteen.

Basic Social Math: A Linguistic Upgrade For Decision Analysis And Social Dynamics Research., Jared Hanson

MA TESOL Collection

There are foundational errors in the mathematical frameworks currently used in Economic and Decision Theories. Recent systemic failures in the interdependent business and educational sectors also show that many practices based on these theories are unsustainable in the changing dynamics of the global economy. A new approach is needed in social science research and systems engineering. This paper examines how the new understandings of complex systems, the role of emotion in cognition, and the core dynamics of decision making can help us correct these errors and to create a general framework for systemic innovation. It argues for the development of …

Grounding Theory In Practice: A Reflection On Designing And Delivering A Workshop On Intercultural Sensitivity For Korean Public School English Teachers, Kevin Giddens

MA TESOL Collection

In this paper I will use a process of rigorous reflection to explore the design and implementation of a cross-cultural simulation workshop as a means of developing intercultural sensitivity among Korean public school English teachers in Daegu, South Korea. After introducing the workshop design I will describe in detail my experience of delivering the workshop. I will overlay Milton J. Bennett’s model for developing intercultural sensitivity (1993) with participant reflections as a means of grounding theory to practice and exploring whether or not participants were able to demonstrate observable movement within Bennett’s model. I will then highlight some possible modifications …

Building Lexical Awareness Through Sustained Authentic Text, Jeff Puccini

MA TESOL Collection

This paper describes an experiment to implement a lexical approach in the context of a High-intermediate ESL classroom. The vehicle for building students’ lexical awareness was Sustained Authentic Text (SAT). SATs, a term I coined, refers to texts like newspapers, TV programs, etc. covered for a prolonged period—a month or more, as opposed to one-off lessons, or traditional textbooks. The students were young adults studying in a non-credit Intensive English Program (IEP) in San Francisco and the paper focuses on one two-month period during which time the SAT was the TV sitcom, Two and a Half Men. The paper …

Curriculum And Student Motivation, Jennifer Jones

MA TESOL Collection

This paper details the process and results of an experimental project-based curriculum for a college preparatory ESL course and its effects on student motivation. The course, designed to appeal to students’ desire for variety, community and self-expression, was divided into three modules, each with a different focus. Participants were international adults studying English at a private school in Austin, Texas. Results indicated that the course structure and content can play a large role in students’ motivation levels. Course documents are appended.

Incorporating Students’ Perceived Needs And Interests In The Planning And Implementation Of Lesson Plans, Genalyn L. Luces

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines and discusses the effects of integrating students’ perceived needs and interests in the planning and implementation of lessons plans to their attitudes towards English and their self-evaluations in the four skills and grammaring. The lesson plans were based on the prototypes developed by the Bureau of Secondary Education of the Department of Education in the Philippines. It particularly deals with students’ attitudes towards English and their self-evaluations in the four skills and grammaring and investigates the correlation between attitudes, the four skills, and grammaring.

Nate And The One Sixty-Eight, Michael S. Mcmillan

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores the fate of 168 students who failed the Level 4 test at the American University Alumni (AUA) Language Center in Bangkok, Thailand. It examines enrollment trends of all Level 4 students during a one-year study period spanning 2006 and 2007, and reveals what happened to the students – who dropped out (and when), and who continued to study. It also examines why students might have dropped out. It then takes a critical look at certain aspects of the Level 4 test, explores what makes a test a “good” test, and recommends a series of improvements to AUA’s …

Motivating Students To Learn, Luz María Cueva Zepeda

MA TESOL Collection

This thesis presents four activities that motivated my students in a public High School in a small city in Mexico to learn by inviting them be active participants in their language learning process. Added to the regular classroom work, these activities encouraged everyone to make an extra effort. Students had the opportunity to shine and to comprehend that they each have a greater potential for learning. Students gained another perspective about learning English. They were given the opportunity to enrich their experience not only in speaking English, but in applying their efforts to new challenges. They did so by writing …

Visual Language: Using Color, Myth And Image To Present Grammar In The Spanish Language Classroom, April Miller Mcmurtry

MA TESOL Collection

Spanish grammar can be presented in a memorable way by using a system of color-coding and storytelling. This materials development project includes three stories written or adapted by the author to present the gender of nouns, noun/adjective agreement and verb inflection. Images of the sun and the moon, and the colors purple and orange are used to illustrate masculine and feminine gender of nouns. Chameleons and the color green exemplify adjectives. Additionally, patterns of verb conjugation charts are presented using color to show how verbs inflect to agree with the subject pronoun and tense. While learning Spanish grammar, these colors …

English Exchange: An Authentic Communication Event Connecting Native English Speakers And Japanese High School Students, Heather Ruth Johnson

MA TESOL Collection

Interacting with native speakers can be very powerful because it encourages motivation, positive attitudes, and self confidence. English Exchange is an event that is the culmination of a one semester long travel abroad unit for English language learners in a Japanese high school. The aim is to create a safe English environment where students have the opportunity to directly interact with native English speakers in a low stress atmosphere.

This project follows the development of English Exchange from start to finish. Included in these pages are thorough lesson plans and materials needed for every step of the process, should you …

Humanizing My Business English Class And Myself, Ana-Maria Nicolae

MA TESOL Collection

A teacher of English for Business at a Romanian business college reflects on her experiences and beliefs about language learning and teaching before and after attending the Summer Master of Arts (SMAT) Program at the School for International Training (SIT).The project reports on some of the changes that the humanistic tenets of the SIT SMAT program brought about in her teaching and includes three examples of how these humanistic principles could be applied in an EFL business college classroom. The first example showcases her attempt to address affective factors during the first Business English class. The second example focuses on …

The Use Of Frameworks In Teaching Tense, Marc Haccius

MA TESOL Collection

This paper proposes three frameworks that will assist students in their understanding and use of English tenses. It argues that the English tense system really is a system (and not just a collection of rules) but that this system is only apparent if tenses are taught at the textual level instead of at the sentential level. To this effect, it argues against the traditional approach of teaching tenses individually in that it is restrictive and counter-productive to students expressing themselves independently. Finally, this paper gives practical hands-on guidance as to how the frameworks can be used in class, along with …

5th Grade Readers Reading Aloud To Make An Intercultural Connection, Margaret G. Bell

MA TESOL Collection

The purpose of this paper is to show that through reading aloud, elementary ESL students can build relationships with younger students and make an intercultural connection within their school community. The interaction between the readers and their audience can change dramatically if the readers are aware of the reading strategies that they bring into their reading to make it engaging. By reflecting on their own process of making connections and by using reflective portfolios, ESL students can begin to discover what kind of connections they are making and develop an awareness of how it is happening.

As teachers how can …

Over There A Preparation Course For Japanese High School Students Embarking On A Student Exchange Year Abroad, Jonathan Bolick

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores the course design process for a study-abroad preparation course for Japanese high school students. The design process yielded valuable teacher insights: the importance of understanding one’s teaching beliefs, the vital need for student and teacher feedback, the benefits of strong classroom community, and the need for better understanding students’ cultural and learning contexts. Interviews with ten former exchange students revealed students’ lack of cultural knowledge of their own and target culture, especially the invisible culture, which had led to misunderstanding and conflict. Students’ inability to express their personal identity adequately in L2 had also led to an …

Teaching More Than Writing: A Writing And Community Building Project For Liceo Internacional Quito, Ecuador, Lucia Jarrin

MA TESOL Collection

This paper presents a proposal for a writing program for the Elementary School at Liceo Internacional a school a k-12 school in Quito- Ecuador.

This proposal is the result of the process that the writer underwent during the second summer at the School for International Training in the Summer Master of Arts in Teaching Program (SMAT) and her assessment of the needs at Liceo Internacional School.

It includes a brief description of the mission that the writer has in teaching, then, an account of the context in which the program will be applied and the rationale behind this proposal. It …

Investigating Culture Through Story, Jennifer Jabareen

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is a description and discussion of a project which incorporates the design for a story-based cultural investigation, based principally on the synthesis of teaching methodologies such as Collaborative Learning, Reader Response Theory and Alternative Assessment and their application to a series of stories. The cultural investigation relies on the application of a five-point graphic model, adapted from the book Teaching Culture: Perspectives in Practice by Patrick R. Moran, which analyzes culture in terms of persons, products, practices, perspectives and community. The paper presents the process by which this project was developed, piloted and assessed, as well as detailed …

Using Tv News To Integrate The Four Skills: A Guide For Efl Teachers, Christina Evans

MA TESOL Collection

These materials were developed to help guide an EFL teacher’s approach to incorporating TV news stories in an intermediate or advanced level course. An introduction and rationale are presented, the role of the instructor is explored and teaching suggestions are offered. An extensive checklist of four skill core activities and a demonstration on incorporating them into a lesson plan are also integrated into these materials.

Exploratory Learning: The Digital Recorder Project: An Investigation Into A Student Designed Project For Finding And Addressing Esl Students’ Listening And Speaking Needs, Joel Cooke

MA TESOL Collection

The Digital Recorder Project was designed to present students with an opportunity to design and implement, as a class, a project that would address speaking and listening issues they experience as ESL students. Each student was required to observe their own speaking via a self-created digital recording and in conjunction with the class, design a unique, individualized method to work on issues he or she identified. This document will present the observations and conclusions about the nature of such a project from the teacher’s perspective. In addition, the paper will use transcripts of class recordings as a means of placing …

Academic Content Instruction And The High School English Language Learner: A Series Of Lessons That Model An Approach To Content Instruction In Science In A Multi- Level English As A Second Language High School Classroom, Juliet M. Parry

MA TESOL Collection

This paper presents a series of lessons on biology that model an approach to content instruction Biology in a multi-level English as a second language high school classroom. It includes background information on the course, lesson plans, explanation of and rationale behind them, historical perspective on the shift from content instruction in the native language to content instruction in the new or target language.

Peer Interaction In The Haitian Public School Context, Fenel Pierre

MA TESOL Collection

The purpose of this paper is to define peer interaction and its major components. It identifies and examines the major challenges that language teachers in Haiti will face in incorporating peer interaction within the Haitian public school context. It explains the advantages of using peer interaction as a way to generate knowledge. The author concludes by providing practical guidelines and strategies of how to cope with these challenges and describing what he has learned from his research.

Since language is learned mainly through interaction with other learners and speakers of that language, this paper aims at persuading Haitian language teachers …

Teaching Value Concepts In South Korea, Marilyn Anne Schick

MA TESOL Collection

This paper presents a course that was developed to teach value concepts in an English as a Foreign Language/English as a Second Language (EFL/ESL) classroom. Six values were used: Love, Peace, Happiness, Freedom, Cooperation and Honesty. Lesson plans were prepared with the students’ focus on speaking; however, listening, reading, writing and grammar were taught as well. Details of why those values were chosen, six specific lesson plans, plus students’ feedback are included.

Circles And Letters: I Do; I Understand, Thomas Kitchen

MA TESOL Collection

How do we writing teachers respond to our students’ writing? How does our response affect both us and the students? Is it irresponsible to mark only a few recurring errors? Or is irresponsible to mark every error? Do students learn better when the errors are labeled or not? What about positive feedback?

This thesis explains an action research project I conducted with my reading/writing students. In the project, I explored many methods of responding to student writing, and I documented how one of those techniques affected me and my students. That technique called the reduced grammar technique focuses on recurring …

Using Music And Song In The Second Language Classroom: A Description Of The Many Ways Music And Song Can Enhance The Teaching Of French, Christine Geueke

MA TESOL Collection

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Teen Efl Classroom: The Students, Their Teachers, And The Tangles Of Dealing With Discipline And Motivation, Anna Burbridge

MA TESOL Collection

This paper discusses specific elements of teaching teens in an EFL context, in particular the areas of teen motivation and discipline. This was a teacher’s development project involving six teachers (including the writer), and lasting for one semester in a Brazilian bi-national language institute. The project was built on videotaped class observations, readings, group meetings, and journal writings. The result was a deeper reflection into the developmental stage dubbed “teenhood”, followed by subsequent considerations of motivation and discipline of teen groups, the role of the teen teacher, the importance of knowing and connecting with the inner teacher, and practical implications …

Mending The Broken Windows: A Curriculum Development Project Using Cooperative Learning Methods To Teach The Concepts Of Short Stories While Building A Community In The Classroom, Nicole Meltzer

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines the purpose, process and results of using Cooperative Learning methods to study the elements of short stories in an intermediate English as a Second or Other Language high school class. The goal of this project was to create and build community in the classroom to alleviate the pressures felt by at-risk and immigrant students, while also meeting their academic needs. The project was conducted over three months time and was assessed through qualitative and quantitative methods.