TESL Canada Journal
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Chinese Graduate Students' Experiences with Writing a Literature Review
No full textBased on interview data, this study investigated four Chinese graduate students' experiences with writing a literature review at a medium-sized university in Canada. These students, from four subject areas, held varying perceptions of a literature review, but all saw the writing challenges that they encountered mainly as linguistic problems, especially regarding vocabulary and accuracy at the sentence level. The strategies that they used in the composing process were diverse, with each individual relying on them to varying degrees. Findings from this study suggest that Chinese graduate students need assistance in adjusting to the new academic environment and writing-genre expectations
Understanding the Experiences and Needs of Mainstream Teachers of ESL Students: Reflections from a Secondary Social Studies Teacher
No full textThis case study addressed issues of ESL mainstreaming by examining a teacher's experiences and needs in teaching a social studies class where ESL students were mainstreamed. Extended observations, semistructured interviews, and documentary analysis served to unravel classroom dynamics, showing that the teacher modified various aspects of teaching to accommodate the needs of ESL students, which facilitated their access to the content, but at the same time created problems that had not been examined or predicted by past research. This study exposes the dilemma of providing comprehensible instruction to ESL students and highlights the role of differentiated instruction in diverse mainstream classrooms and the place of students' first languages in learning academic content
Listening Strategies of L2 Learners With Varied Test Tasks
No full textThis article investigates the strategies that EFL students used and how they adjusted these strategies in response to various listening test tasks. The test tasks involved four forms of listening support: previewing questions, repeated input, background information preparation, and vocabulary instruction. Twenty-two participants were enlisted and interviewed from a sample of 160 business major students based on their listening anxiety levels. Overall results showed that various listening tasks influenced test takers’ listening strategies by varying degrees, with previewing test questions tending to have a greater effect on strategy use than other types of support. This study also found that both anxious and non-anxious students knew how to use the available information before taking a test; however, while doing the task, many students lacked competence to employ the strategies they intended to use. Finally, the article discusses some subtle problems reported by the interviewees and also provides cope for future research
The ESL Classroom and the Queerly Shifting Sands of Learner Identity
No full textClass, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality are increasingly recognized as complex constructs of varied forms of identity. We now tend to speak of learner identities in the plural rather than learner identity in the singular. In this context, issues of sexual diversity intersect with those of cultural and linguistic diversity. The ESL classroom is one place where learners should not feel shy or afraid to explore and negotiate their identities, including their sexual identities. To help them in this process, teachers can provide a safe classroom environment where learners can discover what options are available to them
Book Reviews
No full textReviews of: 'Focus on Vocabulary,' by Paul Nation and Peter Yongqi Gu; 'Research in Applied Linguistics: Becoming a Discerning Consumer,' by Fred L. Perry, Jr.; and 'The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition,' by Zoltan Dornyei
Toward Exploring Errors in Grammar: A Systematic Approach for Language Teachers
No full textThis article focuses on an attempt by a teacher education institute to empower non-English majors to teach English at the primary level, drawing on a preservice English-language teacher education program for undergraduates at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. The course, which has been running for three years, aims to develop student teachers' skills in analyzing grammatical features in primary-level writing, based on a three-step approach designed by the author specifically for non-English majors. The article also explores the difficulties that student teachers face in learning to identify, classify, and explain various types of errors, including suggestions on how to empower student teachers to help primary-level pupils understand and use grammar rules effectively
Anglophone, Peewee, Two-four... Are Canadianisms Acquired by ESL Learners in Canada?
No full textThis article examines the extent to which ESL learners studying in Canada acquire Canadianisms. Two instruments were used to assess the effect of posited variables on this acquisition: a lexical survey administered to 103 ESL learners in Kingston, Ontario; and a questionnaire about resources, teaching methods, and attitudes administered to their instructors. Results indicate that ESL learners' knowledge of Canadianisms is limited. No correlation exists between the time learners have spent in Canada and their knowledge of Canadianisms. The more relevant a Canadianism is to their life, the more likely ESL learners in Canada are to acquire it. Level of English proficiency does correlate positively with the acquisition of Canadianisms, but the variables of learners' L1 background and classroom English training are not shown to be significant. Two additional findings of this study deserve further attention. First, ESL instructors' attitudes toward teaching Canadianisms vary widely. Second, lexical
items specific to a particular variety of a language - for example, the Canadian English vocabulary sampled in this study - may make manifest the assumptions and knowledge tacitly shared in a cultural group
I hate the ESL idea!: A Case Study in Identity and Academic Literacy
No full textThis case study of an undergraduate student in a Canadian university analyzes her resistance/acceptance of practices and possibilities for participation in academic discourses. Analyzing her responses to feedback on her writing, this study shows the strategies she engages for negotiating her multiple and contradictory identifications as she learns to write