First and Second Language Acquisition Commons^™

Using Innovative Language Learning Methods With Mombusho Textbooks, Janet Melinda Beane

MA TESOL Collection

This paper shows how chapters from two different textbooks at different levels might be taught using several different methods. The paper begins with a discussion of my reasons for choosing this topic and goes on to lay out what I feel a method needs to consider in order to be a good method. In the next section, I go on to introduce various innovative language teaching methods such as ALM, TPR and the Silent Way. For each method I include a short section of background information including the principles and techniques of each lesson. Then I contrast a typical lesson …

African Film: A Dynamic Medium For A High School French Class Cultural Curriculum, Denise Elizabeth Dunn Barstow-Girel

MA TESOL Collection

Culture can be an integral part of the French foreign language class when students learn French language and Francophone culture through a content-based approach using the medium of African films. Founded on the pedagogical value of a thematic study of issues aimed at raising linguistic, cultural, and global awareness in adolescent, fourth or fifth year high school French students, I developed this cultural curriculum focused on Francophone African culture. While learning the French language, students will gain knowledge of West African cultures including historical aspects, and the role of the French language in this region.

Tenant Partners For Community Education: A Family Literacy Project, Pamela J. Anderson

MA TESOL Collection

The purpose of this paper is to discuss, describe, and evaluate a family literacy program I developed as a pilot project for Southeast Asian immigrant families with elementary school-aged children living in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco.

I will give an overview of this project and review recent research on the different approaches to family literacy. Using a working definition of family literacy based upon current research and implementation in the field, the Indochinese Housing Family Literacy Project-a description of its structure and expected outcomes, lesson plans, and useful findings from current working programs-will be explored and described. Finally, …

Building A Teacher Education Program For Efl Teachers: From Process To Product, Eliana Santana

MA TESOL Collection

This IPP contains a teacher education program for a school in the north of Brazil. It also shows the process I used in order to construct it. It shows the context for which the program was developed, the state-of-the-art in TESOL teacher preparation, as well as my own beliefs and assumptions about how learning teaching takes place. Then, it presents the needs analysis as well as the curriculum designed for the program.

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 …

The Transition To A Project-Based Curriculum, Cheryl Hoffman

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines the initial stages in transforming a grammar-based English as a Second Language curriculum into a project-based one that aims to develop learners’ communicative competence. Included is a definition of project-based learning and communicative competence. The background and setting of the curriculum project are described. The emergence of project-based courses and the transition to these courses is also discussed. Implications for future curriculum projects are considered in terms of managing change within an English language program.

English Teachers In The Former G.D.R. Ten Years After The Wende: What’S New?, Renée Flibotte-Lüskow

MA TESOL Collection

English teachers who work in public schools in the eastern part of Germany are doing a very different type of job than they were ten years ago. Although the physical setting and the subject matter is still the same, they are teaching in a new school system based on the West German model. Their personal and professional relationships with the people they work with are different now, and attitudes toward the language they teach have been altered by the political and social changes. This paper seeks to identify interviews conducted in a certain region during a short time span. It …

Adapting The C-L/Cll Approach To A Conventional Textbook Setting: A Novice Teacher’S Reality, Laura Fleher

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is an analysis of the Counseling-Learning/Community Language Learning Approach’s adaptability in a conventional textbook setting. My second internship experience which takes place in a college summer ESL program is the testing ground for my development as a novice C-L/CLL teacher. Questions, doubts, and concerns about the value of a new and an old teaching method are discussed. The importance of distinguishing between approach, method, and technique is advocated. Utilizing the classic cycle of activities is necessary to a novice teacher’s internalization of the C-L philosophy. However, the conventional teaching method, the textbook, is familiar and valued by students …

Language Learning Strategies: A Primer, Carol Lindenbrock Fujii

MA TESOL Collection

The question of why some learners acquire a second language more quickly than others has long been a problem for language teachers. Even when students seem basically equal in terms of opportunity and intelligence, progress can vary greatly. Variations in the language learning strategies students employ could explain why some students do better than others. Students can profitably explore the areas of language learning strategies to become more aware and successful learners. This paper begins by defining language learning strategies as the tools learners use to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own learning and to make that learning more efficient. …

Toward Student-Led Reading Discussion In The Classroom: A Teacher’S Journey With Reader Response, Judy Davis

MA TESOL Collection

This paper traces an ESL teacher’s learning curve with student-based reading discussion, both teacher-guided and student-led. It comments on her pre-teaching experience with formalist and reader response theory as a reader, student, writer, editor, and then as teacher experimenting with student-led discussion in three consecutive terms. Special attention is given to the strategies that were used to build a reading community and to facilitate the release of students’ voices in the reading discussions. The taped, transcribed discussions are summarized for their intellectual content and examined to assess the social and linguistic benefits to the students. Also evaluated are the uses …

Timed Conversation: One Routine For Engaging Large Classes Of Non-Motivated Learners In Meaningful Oral Communication, Bradley J. Deacon

MA TESOL Collection

This paper will explore an activity called “Timed Conversation” that I use in large classes of relatively unmotivated first and second year non-language majors in a Japanese university setting. Timed Conversation is designed to help students to communicate in native-like and incrementally longer sustained dialogues in the target language. In the activity, the students interact with many partners and practice conversations while practicing various language expressions. In every lesson over the course of a semester they speak in conversations about a number of topics for a set limit of time. The goal is to be able to speak more fluently …

Just Like The Dutch Kids: A Sociolinguistic Study Of A Child's Early Acquisition Of Dutch As A Second Language, Judith Marlow Herby

MA TESOL Collection

opportunity for my family to spend a year in the Netherlands provided me with the occasion to observe my son’s acquisition of Dutch and to discover with him what it is like to become bilingual. This study of his progress begins in the U.S. with his introduction to Dutch as a foreign language at the age of 3 years, 1 month, and continues through his eighth month in the Netherland (age 4,5). Special attention is given to sociolinguistic factors as well as behavior and cultural adjustment. A journal of his verbal and behavioral progress was kept during this time and …

Ways; Socio-Cultural Aspects Of Tesl In Japan, Linda Hiroko Enga

MA TESOL Collection

The objective of this paper is to present aspects of the Japanese society and culture which may directly or indirectly affect the ESL class, specifically in a Japanese college or university. An analysis of these facts and their relevance in the ESL class and teaching techniques which have been used to meet the specific needs of the Japanese ESL students are also given.

A Supplementary Reference Guide For Non-Native English Speakers On The Communicative And Cultural Aspects In The Esl Miscellany, Joanne Ching Chao

MA TESOL Collection

This is a supplementary guide designed especially for non-native ESL users to be used in conjunction with The ESL Miscellany. It covers two parts of the book, the Communicative Aspect and the Cultural Aspect. In the Communicative Aspect this guide includes the definitions of all the idioms under the different categories, such as food, music, colors, and religion which appear in The ESL Miscellany. In the Cultural Aspect, six areas have been explained and defined. These are “Famous Americans”, “heroes”, “Historical Sites”, “Dates and Holidays”, “Famous Quotations”, and “Proverbs”.

A Handbook For Esl Teacher Training At Okinawa Christian School, Dan Jerome

MA TESOL Collection

The handbook has been designed for use as the text in a two or three day teacher-training course as well as a reference book of information useful throughout the academic year of the school. Because many of the ESL teachers at the school are inexperienced and/or untrained in the field, the information and suggestions have been written in non-technical language using a question/answer style that attempts to deal with the practical issues with which new teachers are most concerned. More than a “how-to” book, however, the handbook suggests matters of philosophical importance that will help teachers see beyond the immediate …

Teaching And The Boarding School Environment At Tasis England, William Bradley Stevenson

MA TESOL Collection

This paper discusses my 1981 summer teaching experience at TASIS England, an American boarding school located outside London. In this environment, there were personal constraints both on the students and on myself. I increased my knowledge of the shape and structure of English and how to teach it. In the classroom there are always discipline problems. I look at one way I found to deal with them. In this boarding school environment, I had additional duties that gave me the opportunity to learn about teenagers. I also gained some insight into culture and how to relate to these international students …

Facilitating The Learning Of How To Learn: The Development Of Active, Resourceful, And Responsible Learners In An Experiential, Cross-Cultural, Academic Program, Teryl Lee Lundquist

MA TESOL Collection

A primary goal for education is the development of learners who know how to learn actively, resourcefully, and responsibly in the changing and complex environment in which they find themselves. Based on my own experiences as a learner and an educator , and most specifically on my experience as Academic Director of two College Semester Abroad groups to Ireland, I have formed five priorities for myself as a facilitator of such learning. These priorities are - (1) To encourage the learner first to view him or herself as the most valuable resource available, and then to look to other human …

Communication Modules: Student-Generated Language Arts Projects For Bilingual Education, Annie Katherine Hawkinson

MA TESOL Collection

The materials consist of nine curriculum units designed for use with bilingual students at 4th, 5th, and 6th grade levels. Although originally developed for French-English bilingual students, they can be used with any language group, since the learning activities are themselves not language-specific. The language used for each communication project is collected from the students themselves: hence the units themselves can be used with any bilingual group.

The learning activities are also designed to be used in multilevel classes, i.e. classes where students' language proficiency may vary. They of course may also be used in classes where such variation does …

A Voyage To A Culture: A Special Collection Of Teaching Techniques ( Imaginary Trip Becomes Real In A Classroom), Silvana Hage

MA TESOL Collection

My project uses an imaginary voyage in a classroom as an introduction to second language culture. It consists of a special collection of teaching techniques for post-elementary language teachers of an advanced second language course. The purpose of this project is to help students get a glimpse of a culture in a situational, functional, and performing way. The students plan an imaginary trip to the second language culture of the country where the second language is spoken.

A description of my own experience with the project is given in order to give an overview of how long, when, where, and …

Suggestopedia: New Use Of Innate Mental Capacities, Phyllis Lorraine Crowell

MA TESOL Collection

This paper discusses certain characteristics of human mental functioning - an understanding of which sheds light on the mechanism of suggestopedia. These characteristics are: (1) the electrical impulses produced by the brain, and in particular, the alpha brainwaves, which are characteristic of a calm state of mind which is believed to be optimum for accelarated learning, (2) the division of left and right brain hemisphere functioning and perception - with the right ( intuitive) functions being a focus as the receiver of suggestion (subminal stimuli from the environment; the moving force in suggestopedia), and (3) the conscious vs. the paraconscious …

An Overview Of Error Correction: Cultural Dimensions And Techniques, Kathleen Carty, Joseph Reilly

MA TESOL Collection

In this paper the writers consider the theoretical issues of error correction in the language classroom. The evolution of different philosophies regarding error correction is discussed. This is followed by an overview of some of the assumptions behind language teaching approaches in vogue and implications these assumptions have for handling errors in the classroom. Finally, the paper presents classroom evidence to support the idea that there is a cultural dimension that must be considered in the treatment of learner's errors.

Materials For Teaching Indonesian By "Silent Way", Thomas Ray Ross

MA TESOL Collection

This material consists of a Color Coded Pronunciation Guide and a Color Coded Spelling Guide to be used for teaching Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) as a second language, particularly when using the Silent Way. The guides assign colors to each sound of Indonesian and then present the writing of the language (in the New Spelling system) using those colors. Accompanying the guides are descriptions and keys (including examples)

Community-Oriented Activities In The Teaching Of Esl, Laura Katherine Yost

MA TESOL Collection

Community-Oriented Activities in the Teaching of ESL is a selection of projects developed to expand communicative competence among ESL students. Through such experiential learning, in which the students become involved with the target language outside the classroom, the reinforcement of survival skills and an opportunity for actual communication with native speakers are provided.

Each activity is divided into four parts; a description of the objectives; a section on information to collect; a section which gives the student practice in using the language in situations; and follow-up suggestions upon completion of the activity.

Student participation in a variety of social interactions …

A Generative Language Approach To Esl For Children: Considerations And Activities, Monique H.W.C. Noyons Gehman

MA TESOL Collection

The purpose of this project is to provide ESL teachers of primary aged children with a guide to using a generative language approach. The guide includes teaching considerations relevant both to teaching children in general, and specifically to teaching ESL. A great variety of activities are presented, focusing on the total development of the child as well as the creative use of language. In addition, suggested readings and resources are listed, some for theoretical background and others for use in classroom.

Designing And Implementing A University Level English As A Second Language Program, Janice Gallagher

MA TESOL Collection

This paper represents a one year study of the steps taken to devise and implement an English as a Second Language (ESL) program at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. The study involves analyzing the teaching / learning environment; designing, implementing and evaluating the program; and analyzing the results for future programs of this nature. The paper focuses on the intermediate and advanced ESL student and includes suggestions for materials development at each particular level. The purpose of the paper is to provide a practical outline for those teachers or administrators whose task is to initiate a formal ESL …

A Cultural Observation Project For Outbound Students To France, Fiona Stewart Cook

MA TESOL Collection

This project contains guided question sheets and topics for discussions on cultural values which I developed while leading a summer Outbound group to France. They are designed to help students who are in an immersion or homestay siatuation to focus their attention on the various aspects of everyday life in France, to make careful observations, to share and compare their findings with other group members with the goal of gaining greater understanding of and appreciation for the French culture

Observations On The Language Acquisition Of A Thai/English Bilingual Child, Michael A. Betcher

MA TESOL Collection

A child subject, bilingual in Thai and English, was studied during his 25th months for aspects of transference* and interference in his developing speech. A speach diary was kept on a daily basis. Attention was focused on prosodic features (intonation/tonality), word borrowing and code switching. Examples of all these phenomena were recorded, but the most significant was that of prosodic interference, wherein English intonation indicating stress, excitement or urgency was carried over into the strictly regulated Thai intonation system. * A term which is used to avoid the negative implications of "interference" and to indicate the use of a syncretic …

Esl Teacher Training: A Fifteen Hour Introductory Course In Tesl Methodology, Helene Ellen Becker

MA TESOL Collection

No abstract provided.

Nursery Rhymes And Songs For Teaching English As A Second Language To Children, Nancy R. Hendricks

MA TESOL Collection

Fifty-one rhymes and songs are presented here for use in an ESL classroom. Because the rhymes were originally written for English-speaking children, their most appropriate usage in the ESL environment is also with children (under 13 years in age). The rhymes are grouped in categories according to the material each one presents. The categories are:

Vocabulary:

Parts of the Body People and Occupations Animals Clothes Colors Daily Activities Flowers Food

Grammatical Structures:

Simple Present Present Continuous Simple Past Past Continuous Present Perfect

Conversational Exchanges:

Commands and Requests Conversational Exchanges Demonstration General Statements Narratives Personal Statements

Also included are several suggestions …

Of Time And Tense: An Analysis Of The English Verb Tense System For The Esl Teacher, William David Helz

MA TESOL Collection

The intent of the writer with this paper is to provide the ESL instructor with the knowledge necessary to effective planning for and teaching of lessons concerning the verb tenses of English.

The analysis given in the paper is an attempt at viewing the verb tenses as compromising a system which is basically symmetrical and surprisingly logical. As such, it is felt that through exploring the relationships tenses share with one another, we have found the key to demonstrating tense usage and meaning effectively for students and to planning drills and exercises which will zero in on the primary conceptual …