Instructional Media Design Commons^™

Sit’S Low-Residency Master Of Arts In Tesol Program: Principles And Practices In Online Teaching And Learning, Jaime Durham

MA TESOL Collection

Coursework in the revisioned Low-Residency Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages program at SIT Graduate Institute takes place primarily online. In this paper, the author examines the first two years of the program (which launched in 2013) from her experience as the program coordinator to illustrate how the MAT program’s foundational educational principles influence the program in the e-learning environment. The author uses the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework to give an overview analysis of the design and implementation of the online courses, to measure levels of social and cognitive presence among students, and to …

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. …

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 …

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 …

Let’S Play Cards. Grammar Is Fun. (How And Why I Have Taught English To My Students), Tomi Yukimune

MA TESOL Collection

In Japan, most students have to memorize grammar rules to pass entrance examinations to high schools as well as universities. As speaking skills are not required in those exams, many students regard grammar as nothing but rote learning. However, grammar is not dried bones but a vivid creature, which can be formed by students. Grammar can be learned with the four skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing), which is addressing diverse learning styles. It can be taught with stories, poems, plays, songs, games, puppets, picture books, and playing cards. Once students learn the rules of grammar, they will be able to …

Lingualib: Linguistic Liberation For The First Year Spanish Student, M. Theresa Cordell

MA TESOL Collection

LinguaLib: Linguistic Liberation for the First Year Spanish Student This variation of Mad Libs (a popular party game in the United States) is best suited for middle high school and first year Spanish students who are learning basic vocabulary and grammatical structures. This supplemental material focuses on vocabulary and form; it also elaborates on the culture lessons introduced in most textbooks of this level. The student’s interest and self-expression is piqued when they are invited to alter the authentic meaning of an incomplete text, into their own text, which conveys an improbable message. Students are encouraged to choose from acquired …

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 …

Second Language Acquisition In A Content-Based Web Building Course, Scott Degalis

MA TESOL Collection

Content based courses have been shown to provide an effective environment for second language acquisition (Snow, Met and Genesee 1989). In this content based course students learn how to make a website in 48 hours of class time. In doing so, they improve their English in the skill areas of reading, writing, listening and speaking for an authentic need (Sterns 1990). Learners are motivated and enthusiastic about their projects, leading to more success in language acquisition (Gardner 1985). They are given an opportunity to express themselves creatively and artistically using the target language. Graduates leave with a published portfolio that …

Internet-Based Efl University Course Design: Humanistic Considerations, Options And Approaches, Russell Garafalo

MA TESOL Collection

This paper focuses on the developing field of internet-based education as it pertains to the EFL learning environment within the university context. Guidelines and suggestions for approaching EFL course design at the university level are presented in universal terms, with details from one specific Korean university context serving as the experiential touchstone. Humanistic education is the underlying theme of this paper which outlines ways of adapting humanistic learning principles to internet-based classrooms. The learning potential afforded by the internet is weighed against its potential drawbacks. The paper attends to considerations that need to be taken into account at all stages …

The Affect Of Writing On The Internet, Jane Hoelker

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is a description of the development, objectives, implementation and results of an advanced composition course conducted on the Internet with IWE (International Writing Exchange) of the Helsinki University of Technology. The purpose of the course was to motivate students of English who were discouraged during the difficult IMF era in Korea in 1998. During the 90's the majority of English Education majors at Pusan National University in Korea had studied and/or traveled overseas for extensive periods of time during their undergraduate career. But, in 1998 opportunities for overseas travel and study had been greatly curtailed due to IMF …

“Real-Life Situations In The United States” A Cross-Cultural Handbook, Jeetendra Raj Joshee

MA TESOL Collection

People traveling in the United States as tourists, on business, or for study often lack confidence in dealing with everyday real-life situations, such as ordering food in a restaurant, buying tickets in the bus stations, using public transportation and communication systems. This handbook presents very simple but important information for first time travelers. It also contains lots of cultural information.

In this handbook, I have used a series of dialogues in each lesson which provide appropriate vocabulary and phrases. My intention in presenting these dialogues is also to familiarize newcomers with the kind of language spoken differently by people of …

A Beginner’S Guide To Teaching Esl Abroad, Peter Goldstone

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is a guidedbook for novice teachers of English as a Foreign Language abroad. Each chapter and subsection is introduced by a letter from a different inexperienced teacher who has stumbled upon some perplexing aspect of the job. The guide is divided into four chapters which follow a chronological sequence of experiences likely to be encountered by the beginning teacher abroad. The first chapter deals with finding a job, and putting it into perspective with regard to approaches and teaching­ learning assumptions. The second chapter is concerned with gaining both theoretical and personal perspectives on learning, teaching, language, and …

A Video Curriculum For The Listening Comprehension Classes Of The Center For Intensive English Language Studies In Islamabad, Pakistan, John J. Hagedorn

MA TESOL Collection

Having worked as a video specialist at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont, I saw the opportunity to augment the listening comprehension curriculum at the Center for Intensive English Language Studies in Islamabad, Pakistan, with a supplementary curriculum based on the use of video materials while working there as an intern teacher in June - October, 1986. The curriculum was designed in answer to a demand for interesting materials that would aid in fulfilling one of CIELS' curricular goals to further prepare their students, all officials of the Pakistan government, both culturally and academically, for study in the …

Lesson Plans For The First Day Of Class, Debra Lillian Weber-Fincher

MA TESOL Collection

This IPP is a materials development project which is designed for teachers of ESL/EFL. The lessons are communicative based, student-oriented activities used for the first day of class. The purpose of the lessons is for the students and teachers to get to know one another or for the teacher to assess the language ability of the students on an informal basis. Even though these lessons were chosen for the first day of class, some can be used or repeated throughout the school term.

Choices, Changes And Challenges: A Skills-Building Game For The Esl Classroom, Mark Feder

MA TESOL Collection

This project consists of a game designed to serve review purposes in the ESL classroom and an accompanying paper of explanation. The paper describes the origins and uses of the game as well as a rationale based on the author's learning and teaching assumptions. These assumptions involve the relation­ship of the cognitive, psycho-motor, and affective domains and the usefulness of small group work for addressing the combined requisites of these three areas. The features of the game, Choices, Changes and Challenges, are discussed in detail and their utility in meeting the special needs of the ESL class are analyzed. Suggestions …

An Eclectic Approach To Teaching A French Intermediate Class, Sylvia Marie Gaudet

MA TESOL Collection

This Independent Professional Project is a curriculum designed for a French Intermediate class taught to adults at the School for International Training. This curriculum contains an introduction which includes: a description of students and their needs, a discussion of the purpose of the curriculum, an overview of the content and sequence of the lessons, a description of teaching and learning activities, the rationale for this Independent Professional Project, an explanation of validity of the lessons and of the development of the curriculum after the field test, as well as suggestions on how this curriculum can be utilized. The fifteen lessons …

Dyslexia And Language Acquisition, Bridget Ann Siedler

MA TESOL Collection

The purpose of this paper is to provide language teachers with a broader understanding of dyslexia. I will draw from my own experience as well as provide various viewpoints on dyslexia given by neurologists, therapists, special education teachers, and adults with problems that stem from dyslexia. This paper will not provide instant remedies for various learning disorders. Instead, I will discuss the problems a dyslexic faces in language acquisition. I will also offer some approaches and suggestions on ways to recognize specific problem areas. And finally, I will give teachers some suggestions on working effectively with dyslexic students.

Listening To Natural English: A Manual For Teachers, William Robbins

MA TESOL Collection

This project is a manual for teachers who want to create their own listening comprehension materials and develop a variety of ways of using them. It consists of a cassette tape of short interviews done by native speakers of English and a thesis explaining why and how the author has created such materials and how he has used them in his classes.

In the first chapter the author states that such an investment of time and energy by a teacher is justified by the results. He has found that the students are more interested and involved in their learning than …

Model Exercises For Learning Communication Strategies, Daryl Newton

MA TESOL Collection

This paper: has sixteen exercises intended for teachers to use as models for developing students' communication· strategies. The exercises begin on an inductive basis and work towards an application of the rules induced. Also included is a comprehensive introduction with background and guidelines for the exercises.

Using A Computer With The Language Experience Approach, Carol Marie Jennings

MA TESOL Collection

This paper attempts to explore the use of a computer in language learning. It describes twenty lessons that were given to a non-native speaker using a computer with the Language Experience Approach. It includes three hypotheses that were formulated before the lessons began, the rationale of how the hypotheses were developed, a description of the lessons, and conclusions. The paper lists difficulties that were encountered in the lessons as well as factors that helped learning.

50 Functions For The E.S.L. Classroom, Paul Dennis Moss

MA TESOL Collection

This is a materials development project designed for ESL students who need to know what to say and how to say it in everyday situations of American life. Using a variety of- native and non-native speakers, a videotape was used to record 50 short scenes of functions performed in English. All the functions on the videotape are titled, with a brief pause in between each one for easy reference. The dialogues are also typed to clarify what was said and can be used to make copies for the students. The written section also includes suggested activities for the benefit of …

Computer-Assisted Language Learning: Issues, Perspectives And Practices, Evelyn Elizabeth Fella

MA TESOL Collection

In an attempt to respond to concerns and misunderstandings on the part of teaches about the computer, this paper explores its use as a technological tool in the foreign language classroom. The role of the compute in a language class room as well as its strengths and limitations are discussed. The paper presents a comprehensive description of state of the art courseware for language learners, guidelines for evaluating the courseware and suggestions for classroom use.

English In Movies: Using Scenes From Movies To Teach English, Timothy M. Cook

MA TESOL Collection

This project consists of a videotape and an accompanying manual. Various scenes from American movies are put on videotape to offer students of English as a foreign language material for studying spoken English. The manual consists of transcriptions of the dialog in each scene, vocabulary lists of words and expressions common only to spoken English, plus aids and suggestions for classroom use of the material. Scenes are categorized by situations.

An Introductory Course On Computers For Esl Students, Anne Christenson Rice

MA TESOL Collection

This paper details the process of creation and an evaluation of a computer course for non-native English speakers.

A Primer In Computer Literacy For Students Of English In A Second Language, David Allen Reynolds

MA TESOL Collection

This series of seven readings for ESL students covers various topics in computer literacy. Their main aims are cognitive formation of basic concepts in computer literacy and acquisition of vocabulary pertaining to those concept areas. The intended readers are sixth grade students with an intermediate ESL ability. Grammatical structures are limited to those covered in an intensive beginners' course. Non-technical vocabulary ±s limited to a 1000-word frequency list. The readings are written at a fourth grade reading level according to Fry's Readability Scale.