Linguistics Commons^™

Dilemmas Of Politics And Spontaneity In The Contemporary Teaching Of Languages “La Sal De La Vida”, Patricia Pedroza

MA TESOL Collection

This document describes my philosophy of teaching. My primary interests are in Pedagogical Psychodrama and Feminist Pedagogy. This document is a compilation of my experiences, insights, and dilemmas in my practice of teaching Spanish as a second language and also in teaching feminist classes.

The Effects Of Acculturation On The L2 Learner, Raya C. Longto

MA TESOL Collection

This paper deals with the deconstruction of a novel (A Sprig of Lemon Blossom) written on the subject of Acculturation. Since the latter half of the twentieth century the world has traveled at an incredible speed towards globalization. Given this reality the number of people who constantly travel abroad for a variety of career and work related purposes is growing by the hour. Under the circumstances the theme of acculturation has become crucial as without an adequate form of this phenomenon people cannot function to the best of their abilities. The deconstruction of this novel addresses the three-fold process of …

Their Own Best Resources: Students And Real-World Interaction, Observation, And Reflection, Brenda Ferreira

MA TESOL Collection

Students can use their experiences outside the ESL classroom to facilitate their own learning of culture and communicative competency. In a course I continue to design, students prepare for real-world interactions and learning. They practice communication strategies and discuss topics largely of their own choosing in a multi-cultural context. They then go out into the community to make cultural and communicative observations, and interact with native- and non-native speakers of English. This IPP presents various definitions of culture and communicative competency and gives suggestions for in-class and real-world activities, including communication tasks, observations, and reflections through journal writing.

Catering To Learner Needs Using Cards, Lisa M. Corbin

MA TESOL Collection

Catering to the needs of a learner is of great concern in a whole learning approach to language instruction. This paper will explore what is intended by whole learning, outline the needs of a learner, and provide a series of tasks and activities to use with cards. The first chapter introduces the topic and briefly describes the author’s classroom situation. The second chapter describes my initial experiences and discoveries while using cards in the classroom. The third chapter outlines the theoretical principles behind whole learning, details the needs of a learner and parallels how cards comply with these needs. The …

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 …

Two-Week Training Course For English Language Teachers In The Ukraine, Maryna Gayduchenko

MA TESOL Collection

This is a two week teacher training course for Ukrainian secondary school EFL teachers. What is innovative about this particular course is that it was designed and written by a non-native EFL teacher and trainer for non-native EFL trainees. The following advantages make its importance particularly relevant: a non-native trainer is a role model for trainees – living proof that it IS possible to master new approaches and techniques; a non-native trainer is intimately acquainted with the challenges trainees and learners face and the strategies for dealing with them. The main objective of the course is to help trainees develop …

Making The Connection Between Teaching And Learning, Pierre Babineau

MA TESOL Collection

In this paper I describe as well as analyze how I learn compared to how I teach. It provides a history of my language learning of Japanese as well as a description of my studies about teaching in the SMAT program at SIT. An analysis of how my language learning and English teaching changed is included, along with how I was able to make connections between the two. The paper concludes with a list of things I have learned from such a study.

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 …

The Effectiveness Of Using Computer Assisted Instruction In Teaching English As A Foreign Language In A Japanese Secondary School (Fukuoka, Japan), Robert Guy Chartrand

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines the history and the current state of computer-assisted language teaching and learning to provide a context for the present study. A discussion of teaching English using computer-mediated communication in japan is also described along with the explanation of the courseware used. The study involved one hundred eighty-six high school students learning Oral Communication 1 in a traditional classroom environment and in a computer classroom environment using Dynamic English 1 courseware. The participants were assessed quantitatively and qualitatively before and after five lessons to determine their progress and attitudes towards CALL. The students’ results were analyzed and compared. …

Don’T Be Afraid To Communicate With Americans: Research About Low Self-Esteem Japanese Students In The United States. How Esl Teachers Can Build Students’ Self-Esteem In The Class., Mami Tanaka

MA TESOL Collection

This project is a research paper about low self-esteem Japanese students who have a hard time communicating with Americans in spite of the fact that their English ability is high enough. It is based on my private teaching experience with one of many Japanese students in Boston. This paper is composed of two sections. The first section shows that low self-esteem can be one of the main obstacles to foreign language acquisition for Japanese students. The second section is about what we can do as ESL teachers.

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 …

Foreign Languages And Learning Disabled Students: Research And Potential Solutions, Todd Christopher Wheelden

MA TESOL Collection

This paper reviews the latest research on the struggles learning disabled (LD) students have in the foreign language (FL) classroom. Over the last ten years, there have been significant advancements in recognizing the fact that LD students do in fact face greater obstacles when acquiring a FL than their peers do. Over the past five years, advances have been made taking the information garnered from these discoveries and developing appropriate solutions. The paper attempts to summarize the most significant comprehension, reference, and implementation.

The paper begins with an overview of second language acquisition learning disabilities and how they may surface …

Teaching Issues And Insights In Japanese High School, Robert H. Taferner

MA TESOL Collection

This paper has emerged from a review of reflective teaching journals I kept during the interim year component of my Master of Arts in Teaching program. Through this review of my journals I identified five recurrent teaching issues that played a central role in my teaching over this year. In the paper I examine the areas of team teaching, feedback, student needs, discipline, and classroom management for insights and solutions that served me during the interim year and will be useful to me when I encounter similar situations in the future.

Introduction To Bridge Procedure Guide (A Course Development In Maritime English), Olena Svitlychna

MA TESOL Collection

The paper presents a course development in maritime English and provides justification of the main pedagogical bases and principles of the materials. Introduction to Bridge Procedure Guide is designed to enable trainees with lower intermediate and intermediate level of English to discuss bridge procedures as well as to improve their general productive and receptive skills. The paper includes Introduction setting for the main teaching methods and techniques, Table of Contents, Introduction to Bridge Procedure Guide with Jigsaw Activities, the Key to the exercises, and English-Russian Vocabulary, Bibliography. The course materials have been field tested and will be used in Odessa …

A Two-Week Intensive Teacher Training Course For European Teachers, Olga Shepel

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is a teacher-training course designed for the Eastern European context. The aim of this course is to introduce trainees to different ways of teaching the language, to give them a chance to analyze their actions and to share their knowledge with their colleagues during the course. It covers most of the teaching aspects, such as presenting new materials, classroom management, problem solving and many others. This paper can be used as a manual for teacher trainers.

A Certificate Program In Teaching English To Brazilian-Portuguese Speakers, Sonia Regina Moussalli

MA TESOL Collection

This paper intends to present and describe a project of a teacher certificate program for Brazilian EFL teachers. First, I will introduce relevant information on the context and background where this project will take place including the reasoning behind this program, and an investigation of the prospective participants’ needs. Second, I will explore a study of some educational assumptions including teaching effectiveness, efficiency, competence, performance and some principles for the preparation of effective EFL teachers. Third, I will provide the readers a description of the goals and objectives of the program, along with, a detailed description of the courses. Finally, …

Publication Projects With Esl/Efl Students:A Handbook For Teachers, April A. Minerich

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is based on my experience teaching courses in which students created publications. I frequently teach both newsletter classes and memory book classes to students of other languages who are studying English in an intensive program. I have also taught classes in which ESL students produced student directories. I have participated in developing cookbooks. I also publish student work in certain classes that I teach.

It describes the process I use to do publication projects. I include theory to support the soundness of this idea in ESL/EFL instruction. The strategy for implementing the class is described. It then moves …

Promoting Active Use Of Lexical Items, Lina Marciulionyte

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines ways to enhance learners’ ability to communicate in their new language. It begins by questioning the traditionally accepted view of language teaching which views language as “lexicalized grammar”. It also argues that teaching vocabulary has focused mostly on techniques of explaining words and storing them, while the importance of strategies to activate the learners’ storage by retrieving lexical items from memory had clearly been underestimated. The paper analyzes the strategies for integrating a lexical item into the learners’ linguistic resources for immediate access and suggests a variety of exercises and activities that promote active use of vocabulary …

Community Building Through The Production Of A School Newspaper, David James Mcleish

MA TESOL Collection

The focus of this paper is the teaching of writing skills for ESL or EFL students within the context of a learning community. References are cited from the literature on team building within business contexts and from the literature on a process approach to the teaching of writing. This literature as well as the author’s beliefs and commitment to experimental education led to the development of a course in writing that used the production of a student newspaper as an organizing principle for the course. The author presents multiple levels of input into the course design and classroom management for …

Suggestions And Activities To Increase Oral Production Of Students In The Fl/Sl Classroom, Violeta Mack-Donovan

MA TESOL Collection

No abstract provided.

How Can I See That My Students Are Learning? Explorations And Observations In An Advanced-Level English Class, Wilma Lynn Luth

MA TESOL Collection

The purpose of this project was to explore ways to answer the question, “What did the students learned and how do I know?” in and advanced-level English class. Counseling-Learning/ Community Language Learning’s SARD paradigm (Security, Attention, Assertion, Retention, Reflection, and Discrimination) was used as the framework for lesson planning and reflection after each lesson.

Data was collected in a teaching journal using the standard action research methods of lesson planning, teaching the lesson, reflecting on it, and making a new plan based on the reflections.

It was found that using the SARD paradigm was and effective way to observe that …

Using Children’S Books In The Adult English As A Second Language Classroom, Patricia Connors Little

MA TESOL Collection

This paper reports my personal story of using children’s books in the adult English as a Second Language classroom. The introduction explains how and why I came to the decision to use the books. Chapters One through Four are an overview of the books I used in my classroom and explain our collective classroom experience using them. Additionally the paper contains my classroom observations and reflections which helped guide me in selecting stories and lesson planning. The document highlights some of the advantages of using children’s books as well as some suggestions for ESL teachers who are interested in exploring …

A Journey To The Edge: Autobiographical Writing In The Esl Classroom, Deborah Lafferty

MA TESOL Collection

I teach ESL at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. One class project was the creating and publishing of a collection of the students’ autobiographical writings. This paper documents the process that my students and I engaged in. We used the process approach to writing and peer response. This paper discusses the theory behind this approach and its practical application in the classroom, the questions, concerns and dilemmas that I encountered and my responses to them. I also include the changes I would implement in a future project of this kind. The final product, The Golden Gate of Hope, …

Movement, Rhythms, And Music: Active Curriculums For Teaching Foreign Languages To Beginning Learners, Patricia Guillemin Gregory

MA TESOL Collection

Our task as educators is to fit our teaching methods to our learners. Middle school students have specific characteristics that can seem to interfere with learning. Among these characteristics are a bounty of energy and restlessness. The key for the teacher is to channel this energy into learning activities.

To understand a class and develop a teaching strategy for that class, the teacher should analyze the learning styles of the students. From the results of this analysis, the teacher can build effective lesson plans which match the trends that appear in the class.

With this data in hand, the teacher …

Activities For Integrating Reading And Writing In The Language Classroom, Leslie Giesen

MA TESOL Collection

This project aims to provide teachers with a selection of practical activities for integrating reading and writing in the language classroom. It first looks at the connections between reading and writing and discusses how their integration enhances learning. A compilation of before-reading, during-reading and after-reading activities with detailed lesson plans follows.

“Making Teaching Lexis And Structures To Adult Efl Learners More Effective Through Creating A Learning Community And Fostering Some Specific Learning Skills.” (A Curriculum For A Short-Term Development Course For Non-Native Speaker Efl Teachers), Oleksandr Klyevanov

MA TESOL Collection

Nowadays, EFL teachers are exposed to a large number of different approaches to teaching English. All of them, no matter how much they differ, focus on the objectives shared by all teachers regardless of their theoretical background, namely teaching lexis and structures. However, some approaches ignore what I have come to believe are necessities: creating a learning community, teaching strategies for retention and recycling lexical and structural items. By learning community I mean a group of learners who are focused on learning the target subject of knowledge, who expend their energies on learning, who feel secure being together and working …

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 …

Well Begun Is Half Done: Preparing For The Start Of A New Class, Stephanie C. Downey

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores the critical learning moment that occurs on the first day in a new language class as the individual students, group and teacher interact for the first time. It states that the first day can influence the entire direction a course takes and asserts that the learner, the group, the teacher and the cultural context are key variables that determine how the first day turns out. It argues that by being aware of the impact each of these variables has on learning, the teacher can direct the emotional, mental and social energy of the group positively and create …

Helping Students To Learn: Addressing Student Affect And The Four Skills In An English Communication Skills Course For Students Of Health Sciences, Nicholas Dimakides

MA TESOL Collection

This study in two cycles describes the development of an English oral communication skills course for students of health sciences at a Finnish university. In the first cycle attempts were made to increase students' positive affect by developing community, increasing student security, and providing choice, which was expected to facilitate and enhance the students' learning. In the second cycle the focus was on providing access for students to tasks and activities, and more fully integrating all four skills into the syllabus. This was expected to increase and improve the amount and quality of students' language production. The findings of this …