TESL Canada Journal
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What do University Language Teachers Say About Language Teaching Research?
No full textAlthough the relationship between research and language teaching is often discussed among applied linguists, the views of language teachers are often reported only anecdotally if at all. Our article explores how language teaching colleagues in a Canadian university view this relationship as expressed in open-ended questionnaire responses and contributions to follow-up discussions. We ask what research issues interest colleagues and how teaching insights might contribute to research. Responses proved remarkably full and frank, and our investigation elicited ideas for a collective effort to develop a shared program of language teaching research
ESL Learning Experiences of Immigrant Students in High Schools in a Small City
No full textImmigrant students who attend high schools in small Canadian cities are likely to be few in each school. Consequently, they may receive limited English as a second language (ESL) services and support by school personnel. This study aimed to acquire a deeper understanding of the organization and provision of ESL services in high schools in a small city with few immigrant students. Results indicate that the limited ESL support and services available in these schools pose challenges to the educational success of these students; however, sufficient resources and support would enable meeting their educational needs better, even given their low numbers. Suggestions for improvements are provided
Helping Preservice Content-Area Teachers Relate to English Language Learners: An Investigation of Attitudes and Beliefs
No full textIn the United States and Canada, as in many other countries, it has become common for teachers not specifically trained in English as a second language (ESL) to have immigrant and minority language students in their classrooms. These students, who are generally learning English along with the culture of their new countries, present many challenges for their teachers, who are often not appropriately trained to meet their needs. Often teachers of mathematics, science, and other content-area courses feel less than prepared for these students and lack the skills needed to accommodate instruction to their unique needs. In addition, these same teachers often harbor attitudes and beliefs about immigrant students that are not conducive to the development of a safe learning environment and are difficult to alter. This article describes how a community-based service-learning project (CBSL) was used to begin to investigate the attitudes and beliefs of preservice content-area teachers toward English language learners (ELLs). In this study many participants exhibited some level of change in their attitudes about working with ELLs
Do Test Formats in Reading Comprehension Affect Second-Language Students' Test Performance Differently?
No full textLarge-scale testing in English affects second-language students not only greatly but also differently than first-language learners. The research literature reports that confounding factors in such large-scale testing such as varying test formats may differentially affect the performance of students from diverse backgrounds. An investigation of test performance between ESL/ELD students and non- ESL/ELD students on the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) was performed to investigate whether test formats in reading comprehension affected the two groups differently. The results indicate that the overall pattern of difficulty levels on the three test formats were the same between ESL/ELD students and non-ESL/ELD students, except that ESL/ELD students performed substantially lower on each format and that more variability was found among ESL/ELD students. Further, discriminant analysis results indicated that only the multiplechoice questions obtained a significant discriminant coefficient in
differentiating the two groups. The results suggest a lack of association between test formats and test performance
Diary of an Edu-Tourist in Costa Rica: An Autoethnographical Account of Learning Spanish
No full textThis article presents an autoethnographical account of my foray into Spanish immersion education in Costa Rica as a professor of multilingual education at a university in Canada. This language-learning journey was inspired by curiosity about the growing trend for Internet marketing of second-language learning as a form of tourism, which I label edu-tourism. I map the course of my edu-tourism experience, contemplating second-language learning in a local context, describing professionalism in private language teaching institutes, comparing pedagogical practice across various Spanish-as-a-second-language teachers, and documenting my experiential sociopragmatic acquisition of textbook Spanish
Toward Quality ESL Education
No full textThis article draws on the results from 18 round-table discussions and a symposium that involved community, education, and government stakeholders in building a vision for quality, equitable ESL education. The findings suggest six pillars of effective ESL education: comprehensive programming; responsive funding allocation; cultural competence; networking, collaboration, and coordination; capacity-building and advocacy; and effective leadership. Also examined in this article are the notion of the educational entitlement of ESL learners and the roles of community, education, and government stakeholders in building effective ESL education
Inscribing Identity: Insights for Teaching From ESL Students' Journals
No full textLinguistic minority students in schools must acquire and operate in a second language while negotiating mainstream texts and content areas, along with negotiating an emerging new sense of social identity. This article presents journal data from an Australian ethnographic study that explored the relationship between second-language use, textual practices in school, and the representation of identity. Such texts normally lie outside dominant school discourses, but for students they are a powerful means of negotiating identity and gaining vital language practice. For teachers journals provide critical insights into the experiences of their students and into their developing language competence
Revision in Second Language Writing: What Teachers Need to Know
No full textThis article reviews theories and research on revision in second-language (L2) writing. It examines how and what L2 writers revise, compares the revision practices of skilled and unskilled L2 writers, and suggests instructional practices to help learners improve their L2 revision skills
The Contestation of Citizenship Education at Three Stages of the LINC 4 & 5 Curriculum Guidelines: Production, Reception, and Implementation
No full textThis article highlights how citizenship and citizenship education are sites of contestation. I have analyzed the process of curriculum making of the LINC 4 & 5 Curriculum Guidelines (TCDSB, 1999) through three stages: from production, through reception, to implementation. The production stage is investigated by contrasting commentaries from two members of the Advisory or Specialist Committees who helped to prepare the document. The reception stage featured a thematic analysis of the Guidelines. The implementation stage is investigated through interviews with five present or former LINC teachers, who discuss how they used or are using the Guidelines as part of their curriculum-in-use. Although this LINC document can be characterized as representing a "Liberal democratic" approach to citizenship and a transactional approach to citizenship education in a multicultural framework, a minority position supporting a more critical and transformational approach to citizenship education is also evident