TESL Canada Journal
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Languages Without Borders: TESOL in a Transient World
No full textIn today’s transient world, where a continual multidirectional flow of people, goods, and services has deterritorialized languages and their users, languages, especially English, are now without borders. In this context, English language teaching (ELT) as a profession is called to a new task. In this article, I examine this task by asking the fundamental question: What does/should English-language teaching and learning look like in a world of languages without borders? I discuss the changing faces of English within and beyond the field of TESOL. I argue that the spread and natural evolution of English itself, combined with the transience in the population of English-language users, have forced a reexamination of the goals of English-language learning and teaching as well as a reconceptualization of the English language itself along with sacredly held paradigms in ELT
Processing Trade-Offs in Non-Native Learners’ Performance of Narrative Tasks
No full textExploring learners’ processes of memory and analysis has captivated considerable attention among language-learning researchers due to the recent prevalence of key concepts from feeder disciplines such as cognitive psychology and phraseology. However, there has been little empirical effort to describe the nature of interaction between these two processing modes. This article reports on a study that was designed (a) to explore the distribution of these two modes of language representation in the oral production of non-native learners of English and (b) to determine whether they shift their processing styles (i.e., lexical retrieval to rule analysis or vice versa) in the face of increasing cognitive load. Thirty Tunisian undergraduate students of English performed three narrative tasks over three tape-recorded episodes. Analysis of the transcribed findings revealed that these participants activated their memory-based system for lexical retrieval at the beginning of their performance when the tasks were not demanding and fell back on the rule-based mode when faced with the increasing processing load due to time pressure. These results empirically validate the role of formulaicity in second/foreign-language learners’ processing styles
Second-Language Education Policy in Quebec: ESL Teachers’ Perceptions of the Effects of the Policy of English as a Compulsory Subject at the Early Primary Level
No full textThis qualitative policy study focuses on the implementation and perceived effect of a recent language policy making English a compulsory subject in primary Cycle One (grades 1-2) in Francophone public schools in the province of Quebec. Based on the analysis of narratives from interviews with four teachers, three resource teachers, and two directors of instruction in charge of second-language teaching in public school boards, this policy study explored the perceptions, implementation,and effects of the policy regarding the compulsory teaching of ESL
at the early primary level
A Critical Review of the Canadian Empirical Literature: Documenting Generation 1.5’s K-16 Trajectories
No full textLittle empirical research has ever systematically documented the academic trajectories of Generation 1.5 in Canadian schools. Indeed, this label has not even been used to define the population of interest in the studies reviewed here. Nonetheless, some earlier work, along with more current studies made possible by recent availability of data, has created a small blossoming of relevant literature that might now be critically synthesized. Therefore, this report synthesizes 17 available largescale Canadian empirical studies that examine the outcomes and trajectories of immigrant youth in Canadian K-12 schools and university. Despite differences in variables across the studies, this article finds that school outcomes vary predictably among ethnocultural groups and by English-language proficiency. It also finds that the role of socioeconomic status in explaining these differences is not yet clear. It appears that some immigrant groups are underserved and that teachers may be underprepared for classrooms of linguistic and ethnocultural diversity. Policy implications and further research directions are discussed
An Intensive Academic English Course for Generation1.5 ELLs Bound for Postsecondary Studies: Curriculum Design, Development, and Implementation
No full textImmigrants and the children of immigrants who have completed their schooling in Canadian school settings, commonly referred to as Generation 1.5, are increasingly identified in the research literature as academically at risk due to inadequately developed academic language proficiency and learning strategies. This article describes the design, development, and implementation of a curriculum that targets the academic needs of these students as they transition from high school to university. A thematically integrated design is adopted for the purposes of contextualizing the academic demands of science and engineering, business, and social sciences and humanities. Preliminary insights from a prototype iteration of the curriculum are presented
Keeping up the Conversation on Culture: A Response to Robert Courchêne and Others
No full textRobert Courchêne’s 1996 article entitled “Teaching Canadian Culture: Teacher Preparation” sparked a conversation in the pages of the TESL Canada Journal that continues today. From advocating the teaching of significant historical events and icons to encouraging second-language learners to embrace cultural ambiguity,there is a wide spectrum of philosophies and approaches for English-as-an-Additional-Language (EAL) professionals to consider. This article attempts to summarize the discussion so far, to contextualize it in research frameworks, and to build on practical suggestions for teachers charged with teaching culture to their students
