TESL Canada Journal
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Corrective Feedback for Learners of Varied Proficiency Levels: A Teacher’s Choices
No full textThis study investigates how one English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teacher provided corrective feedback to 15 child ESL learners that the teacher had divided into two groups based on proficiency level. Classroom data in transcripts from the CHILDES database were analyzed for type of learner errors, type of teacher feedback, and rate of learner uptake (attempts at correction) and repair (correction). Results showed differences in the types of errors produced by each proficiency group and in the type of feedback the teacher provided to each proficiency group, demonstrating provision of finely tuned corrective feedback based on learners’ individual differences
Identity, Literacy, and English-Language Teaching
No full textIn the field of English-language teaching, there has been increasing interest in how literacy development is influenced by institutional and community practice and how power is implicated in language-learners’ engagement with text. In this article, I trace the trajectory of my research on identity, literacy, and English-language teaching informed by theories of investment and imagined communities. Data from English-language classrooms in Canada, Pakistan, and Uganda suggest that if learners have a sense of ownership over meaning-making, they will have enhanced identities as learners and participate more actively in literacy practices. The research challenges English teachers to consider which pedagogical practices are both appropriate and desirable in the teaching of literacy and which will help students develop the capacity for imagining a wider range of identities across time and space. Such practices, the research suggests, will necessitate changes in both teachers’ and students’ identity
Understanding the Role of Interaction From Linguistic, Affective, and Social Perspectives
No full textThis study was conducted to broaden the scope of studies on interaction. It examined the role of interaction in terms of linguistic, affective, and social aspects. A questionnaire was administered and intensive interviews conducted to reveal the reality of communication between Chinese ESL students and Canadian native English speakers and how students made sense of their interaction with native speakers. Some linguistic benefits of interaction were found. A dynamic relationship between anxiety/confidence and interaction was identified. However, a significant gap between students’ attitude/desire and their interaction intensity was exposed, which was explained by social support and other factors
Tinkering with tasks knows no bounds: ESL Teachers’ Adaptations of Task-Based Language-Teaching
No full textResearch on implementing task-based language-teaching (TBLT) shows that adapting TBLT in ways that are inconsistent with its principles is common among nonnative-speaker English-as-a-foreign-language teachers. Our study of Canadian native-speaker English-as-a-second language teachers reveals how they also adapt TBLT in ways that are incongruent with its theoretical underpinnings, turning it into Presentation-Practice-Production. We thus question speaker identity as an indicator of a teacher’s propensity to adapt TBLT and call for professional development on the effective practice of TBLT for all English-language teachers regardless of their speaker identities
Toward a Framework for Self-Regulated Language-Learning
No full textEnglish is a compulsory subject in many secondary EFL classrooms; thus the questions that arise for teachers are how to motivate learners in general and how to help them come to appreciate the value of English learning activities in particular. This article is based on the premise that learners benefit not only from becoming intrinsically motivated in what they do, but also when they feel responsible for, and autonomous in, their own learning. These processes involve the notion of self-regulated learning. The purpose of this article is to explore how intrinsic motivation and self-regulated learning relate to each other at a theoretical level and to suggest a three-stage framework for the encouragement of self-regulated learning. The author suggests that the Needs Analysis can be an apt means of inquiring into learners’ previous language learning experiences and their preparedness for self-regulated language learning
Implementing Communication Strategy Instruction in the ESL Oral Classroom: What Do Low-Proficiency Learners Tell Us?
No full textThis article reports findings from a strategy intervention study involving a treatment class (N=20) and a comparison class (N=20) in an ESL oral setting. Oral communication strategies were taught to the treatment class. A data-collection method comprising stimulated recall interviews that aimed to investigate respectively the learning process (i.e., strategy use) and the learning product (i.e.,task performance) was employed. The findings indicate that strategy instruction might affect low-proficiency students more than high-proficiency students in terms of both strategy use and task performance. The article concludes with pedagogic implications for communication strategy instruction
Perceptions of Volunteer Roles in English Conversation Circles
No full textThis study explores English conversation circles, which bring together native speakers with non-native speakers in informal conversation. Specifically, this study compares the volunteers’ (native speakers’) perceptions of their roles in the conversation circle with learners’ expectations. Analysis revealed that learners expected volunteers to play a more authoritative role than volunteers perceived themselves playing. This study considers the power that learners grant to volunteers, identifying a number of roles played by volunteers
Offshore Outsourcing Teacher Inservice Education: The Long-Term Effects of a Four-Month Pedagogical Program on Japanese Teachers of English
No full textThis longitudinal study tracked five public junior and senior high school Japanese teachers of English (JTEs) who were sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to study English and Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) pedagogy at a host university in Canada. This qualitative case study found that teachers who were not bound by practical constraints such as grammar-based entrance examinations or external influences such as a perceived need to conform to the practices of colleagues were able to incorporate what they had learned in Canada. However, high school teachers facing these constraints tended to abandon new practices in favor of traditional teaching methods such as grammar translation. These findings suggest that JTEs do benefit from overseas study, but that the extent of what they can incorporate into their regular teaching practice depends on the context in which they teach. The findings imply that host program planners and instructors could benefit from a closer look at constraints faced by third-year public high school teachers in particular, as it is they who face the greater number of obstacles to incorporating CLT into their regular teaching practice