Linguistics Commons^™

Experiences Learning English: A Case Study Of Adult Immigrants In Portland, Maine, Usa, Pamela L. Kasabian

MA TESOL Collection

The paper examines the process of English language acquisition for adult immigrants living in Portland, Maine, USA. The focus is on the process of language acquisition and integration into a new linguistic culture through analysis of personally narrated experiences of adult immigrants living in Portland, Maine. It seeks to expose similarities within highly individualistic linguistic journeys that contribute to investment and engagement in learning. In reviewing the data generated by the interviews, I hope to find situations to more deeply explore that could influence a more reciprocal learning culture for the mutual benefit of the language learner and the community …

Beyond Embracing A Multicompetent Self: An Autoethnography Of A Nnest, Seullee Talia Lee

MA TESOL Collection

This article represents the identity transformation process of a non-native English- speaking teacher (hereafter NNEST) in the format of an autoethnography. Through the vignettes of the author, the evidence that English language plays a vital role as cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1991) in expanding circle countries (hereafter ECCs) (Kachru, 1985, 1986) such as South Korea (hereafter Korea) becomes apparent. Also, her narrative adds more credence to how the newly imagined identity options such as multicompetent self and English language teaching (hereafter ELT) professional have a tremendous constructive impact on the personal and professional development of NNESTs. Lastly, this study proposes the …

A Case For An Ecological Approach And Against Language Commodification In Elt, Vinicius O. Souza

MA TESOL Collection

This paper aims to provide an alternative approach to the English language education practiced in many developing countries which can help reverse their current low-proficiency status, as revealed by standard international examinations such as the PISA scores and others. The author argues that this can be best accomplished by adopting an ecological approach to teaching which promotes language learning as emergent and socially situated phenomena, two concepts largely neglected by current teaching methods. In fact, many of these countries have long been dominated by an extremely commodified and cognitivist ELT market, where business interests have taken precedence over pedagogical considerations. …

Experiential Language Learning: A Short-Term Study Abroad Program To Quetzaltenango, Guatemala For Canton High School, Michelle Traub

Capstone Collection

Canton High School (CHS) is a 485 student, small upper-middle class public school located in Canton, Connecticut. The mission of the school involves preparing productive, tolerant and responsible citizens with the character and independence to embrace and contribute to the global world. However, CHS is limited in its ability to provide students with opportunities to connect with the world outside of Connecticut and the United States, both linguistically and culturally. Although the majority of Canton students take a language class freshman year, the number of students continuing on in learning a language drops every year thereafter. Many students state that …

Rimanchis Runasimita: La Enseñanza En Quechua Como Una Herramienta Del Mantenimiento De La Identidad Cultural De Los Jóvenes Quechua Hablantes / Rimanchis Runasimita:Teaching In Quechua As A Tool To Maintaincultural Identity Of Young Quechua Speakers, Willow Shram

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines the use of teaching in Quechua as a tool to help maintain the cultural identity and strengthen the self-esteem of young Quechua speakers. I went to three rural schools to complete my fieldwork: I.E. Nº 50492 in Ocongate, I.E. Nº 50765 in Sallikancha, and I.E. Nº 501432 in Kumunkancha. All the schools use the method of Bilingual Intercultural Education in Quechua and Spanish, and are part of the project “Fe y Alegría”. The objectives of this investigation are to describe, analyze, and explain the method of teaching in Quechua in bilingual intercultural schools in rural communities to …

“We Give Way:” 6 Narratives Of The Academic Negotiation Between English And Afrikaans At The University Of Stellenbosch, Alexis K. Boyer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The negotiations between the African National Congress (ANC) and the National Party in 1992 led to the creation of South Africa’s eleven national languages including English and Afrikaans. This paper discusses the intricate relationship between these two languages at the University of Stellenbosch. This project attempts to understand how undergraduate and postgraduate students have negotiated the rise of English as a universal academic language and the maintenance of Afrikaans as Stellenbosch’s core language of instruction. The project works to determine how students view the changes to the policy and how those changes affect them, looking particularly at the effect of …

Language Shift And Development: A Case Study Of Zhongdian Southern Khams Language Vitality, Simon Peters

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The fields of language endangerment and maintenance address language shift overwhelmingly in the context of a local language being replaced by that of a surrounding oppositional dominant cultural group. There are, though, situations in which a local language is competing with the dominant variety of the wider cultural group to which it belongs. How a situation like this is dealt with by linguists and language planners depends largely on the recognition of participant tongues as their own languages or one as a dialect of another. Reversing language shift for a “dialect” is difficult to garnish institutional and financial support for …

Person, Place, And Pronoun: An Examination Of The Idiosyncratic Pronoun Use And Language Ideologies In Dabhung Thanti, Nepal, Martha Schwarz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Language, the content and form of what people choose to say, has the ability to both describe facts about the world and change aspects of the world. Thus, what people utter is a critical instrument for measuring current social situations as well as social change. The honorific hierarchy of Nepali’s pronouns provides one particularly interesting tool for such measurement. This research examines the use and ideologies about second person pronouns in the village of Dabhung Thanti, Nepal in relation to their prescribed uses and ideologies in Kathmandu. Ultimately, this paper identifies the presence of two styles of Nepali spoken in …

Not You/Like You, With You: Toward A Praxis Of Love, Learning, And Liberation In Teaching Efl Writing — On Zombies, De-Colonial Feminisms, And Freire In Efl Contact Zones, Jessmaya Morales

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores EFL writing as a critical contact zone in which identity and subjectivity are found, denied, contested, de/constructed and occupied. The author opens with an account of a dream, utilized as a metaphor to examine EFL learning through the analytical lens of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The paper’s first section is a self-reflexive discussion of Freire’s pedagogy and why his unambiguous analyses of power, subjectivity, and the “banking system of education” are vital to the field of ELT. In the second section, the author discusses subjectivity, identity, and intersectionality as rooted in the work of …

Cuisenaire Rods: Pedagogical And Relational Instruments For Language Learning, Sevilay Akarcay

MA TESOL Collection

Cuisenaire Rods are pedagogical and relational instruments with great potential for exploring the way a language works. With their flexibility and simplicity, they allow the students to focus on the process of learning; helping them notice patterns, make associations, and engage in a social and personal relation with the language and deepening their awareness of themselves as learners. The Cuisenaire Rods’ potential for creating simplicity within complexity enables a way of working with language that engages the playful and creative powers of the users. In the introductory part of the paper, the author explores Caleb Gattegno’s approach to learning and …

El Ícaro Cambiante: Lenguaje Y Curación En Santa Rosa De Huacaria, Alison Sever

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En el ensayo de UNESCO, Vitalidad y peligro de desaparición de las lenguas, se destaca la importancia de la diversidad lingüística mundial. Cada idioma[1] tiene valor por su expresión única de lo que es la experiencia humana. UNESCO ilustra el valor de la conservación de lenguas en peligro: "Cada lengua encarna la sabiduría cultural única de un pueblo. Por consiguiente, la pérdida de cualquier lengua es una pérdida para toda la humanidad.”[2] Un lenguaje se pierde cuando las nuevas generaciones ya no lo están aprendiendo, y este resultado puede ser puesto en marcha por fuerzas externas o …

Serbian/Albanian Bilingualism In Kosova: Reversal Or Entrenchment Of The Curse Of Babel?, Sarah Littisha Jansen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Dynamics of power between multiple languages in one space are indicative of and inform the relationship between the speakers of those languages. In post-conflict Kosova, two ethno-linguistic groups, Kosovar Serbians and Kosovar Albanians, live in a context where language has become politicized and long-standing linguistic, political, and social hierarchies of power have been radically disturbed. This paper describes the myriad of images of the Serbian language in the country, focusing particularly on those that come from the Serbian/Albanian bilingual Kosovar Albanian community. It then discusses how these inform language as a political tool and what the consequences of this are …

Playing The Blame Game: English Education In Omani Government Schools, Valentine Sergon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Given that the Omani government has undertaken in recent decades a massive education reform to improve, among other things, the English level of Omani students, it is now time to evaluate how the system is faring, where it is failing and why. Under the new Education system enacted in 1998, Omani students begin learning English from grade one with the aim that, by grade twelve, students know enough English to be able to study at a university level in English. Unfortunately, a vast majority of students who enter university in Oman are forced to enroll in one to three semesters …

Arabic Diglossia And Arabic As A Foregn Language: The Perception Of Students In World Learning Oman Center, Hilal Al-Mamari

Capstone Collection

The principle objective of this independent inquiry is to address the research question: what are the impacts of Arabic Diglossia, if any, on the experience of learners of Arabic as a foreign language? The study attempts to answer this question through the perception of a sample group of 23 learners studying Arabic as a foreign language in World Learning Oman Center in semester of Spring 2011.

Diglossia is defined by linguists as a sociolinguistic phenomenon in which a particular language has two varieties, one of which is considered High and more standard and used in exclusive domains, while the other …

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’ …

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 …

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 …

Cognitive Load And Its Major Pedagogical Implications, Focus On Education In Jordan, Bassam Kutkut

MA TESOL Collection

Through my teaching experience in Jordan, I noticed the amount of work students had to do. I noticed the tremendous amount information they received from their teachers on a daily basis. I also noticed that students forgot most of the information they learned in class right after their exams. I was wondering if that’s the right way of teaching. Then, after my study at SIT, I learned that this is a cognitive overload that can impair the learning process.

Cognitive load refers to the information processing abilities in the human memory system which has limitations. When these limitations are exceeded, …

Análisis De “Proyecto Mirlo”: Aprendiendo A Acoger Al “Desconocido”, Abigail Bissette

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

During the fall and early winter of this year, I volunteered with a program called, “Proyecto Mirlo,” which is a small part of a larger organization, “Caritas,” whose focus is providing support to marginalized groups of people in Spanish society. Proyecto Mirlo is a subsection that provides free language classes for immigrants, as well as food and, in extreme cases, financial help. In my volunteer work, I taught basic Spanish classes to an eighteen-year-old immigrant from Senegal. As my student grew in his language proficiency, I grew in my teaching proficiency, especially on the discovery of teaching resources that I …

Mental Models Of The Nature Of Language In Kunming, China, Ellie Ash

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The focus of this study is laypeople's mental models of the varieties of Chinese language. Chinese contains many varieties, primarily dividable into Putonghua (Standard Mandarin; hereafter PTH) and Fangyan (“topolect” 1). The Fangyan are traditionally considered “dialects of Chinese” by both Chinese and Western sources. Many Western linguists note that the dialects span a linguistic range that compares with the range of the Romance languages, but concede the label “dialects” because they share a written standard and because China is considered to be a single country, and especially because the Chinese themselves consider all the Fangyan to be varieties of …

Languages Lost And Found – A New Role For Language Educators, Beverly Burkett Mat, Visiting Assistant Professor, Elka Todeva Phd, Professor, Leslie Turpin Phd, Adjunct Faculty

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

For a number of years there has been growing concern about the loss of the world’s linguistic diversity and the connection between language loss, culture loss, and environmental degradation. In part this has been linked to the effects of globalization and the spread of English as a lingua franca. This unprecedented phenomenon has given rise to further concerns that English is turning into a ‘killer language’ and that teachers of English are agents of imperialism, western thought and ideology. This has been countered with the notion that English is a tool for empowerment and as such should be viewed as …

Teaching English To Children With Adhd, Natalia Turketi

Sandanona

How to teach English to highly distractable and hyperactive children? How does the process of the Second (Foreign) Language acquisition for such students look like? I will highlight these issues in my presentation and demonstrate a few activities that can be helpful in teaching ADHD kids.

Acting Out In The Classroom, Kim Noel Daelhousen

Sandanona

The use of theater strategies and activities in the language classroom provides a space for students, like actors, to play and thus more deeply incorporate elements of the target language. Participants will be “playing” along with the presenter to explore various theater-based activities.

Beyond The Field- Linguistic Challenges For International Athletes, Christine Allers

Sandanona

The presenter will explore what it feels like for baseball players to arrive in the US (both on and off the field). A simulation will allow participants to experience the emotions and impact of having a talent dependent upon team communication, media interaction, and the world outside the ballpark.

A Linguistic Dialog Between Chinglish And Engnese, Yajuan Zhang

Sandanona

What is “Chinglish”? What is “Engnese”? The presenter will demonstrate the difference and the similarity between Chinese language and English language and analyze the errors of Chinese students' inter-language. The audience will contemplate the influence of L1 transfer upon ELL language acquisition and explore the possibilities for both teachers and learners to face the challenge.

The Writer’S Voice: Developing Self-Expression In Esl Writers, Genevieve Halkett

Sandanona

What is good writing? For many ESL students, this means grammatical accuracy; as a result, their own writing voices are often lost. The presenter will illustrate successful strategies and activities which can be used with a variety of levels and ESL writers to encourage fluency and self-expression.

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, …

Teaching Pronunciation As A Core Skill Using The Silent Way Approach, Jordan Cael

MA TESOL Collection

These materials were developed as part of an exploration of how to interweave the study of pronunciation together with the study of the meaning and structure of the language in a way that makes pronunciation practice a central, present, and prominent part of every lesson. Within the framework of teaching pronunciation with the materials, techniques, and principles of the Silent Way Approach, the focus was placed on creating activities that would (1) help students to notice and practice the essential pronunciation elements of the language, known in the Silent Way as the ‘melody’ (i.e., intonation, stress, phrasing, rhythm, etc.), (2) …

Acting For Transformation: An Esl Teacher And Her Adult Immigrant Students Dramatize The Students’ Life Stories, Dana Horstein

MA TESOL Collection

This paper documents the implementation of a year-long drama project that was conducted with adult immigrant English as a Second Language (ESL) students at Asian Human Services, a community-based organization in Chicago. Throughout the year, during the fall, winter, and spring terms, three classes of students dramatized their life stories. This paper provides background for the project by explaining the history and role of drama in language education. It also considers the teacher’s motivations for the project and its design; its ultimate challenges and successes; as well as the insights that it provides about what it means to be a …

Teaching English To Children With Adhd, Natalia Turketi

MA TESOL Collection

The focus of this paper is primarily put on enhancing the ESL teaching process and making foreign language learning successful and manageable for every student. The paper explores the process of teaching English to children who experience difficulties in learning languages due to their attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder problems. The author considers the process of second language acquisition for children with ADHD in terms of input and output speech issues, motivation problems and learning preferences. The ESL methodologies that can be applied effectively in addressing such learners’ needs and the rationale of their choice are then argued for. Examples …