TESL Canada Journal
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A Report of an ESL Classroom Observation in Two Language Schools in Auckland
No full textThis article reports an empirical study of classroom observation of two general English lessons that examined the effects of teachers’ referential questions on learners’ responses in two ESL classrooms. The study found that in both classes, the teachers asked many more referential questions than display questions, contrary to earlier findings. Moreover, the teachers’ referential questions elicited longer and syntactically more complex utterances from the learners. The reasons for this are discussed in the light of the objectives and pedagogic tasks of the lessons. Findings confirm the value of teachers’ referential questions on learners’ responses and are discussed in the context of the characteristics and functions of both referential questions and display questions
Perspectives From Japanese Staff in Canadian ESL Schools Regarding Japanese Students’ Groupism
No full textThe present study, which stems from a critical approach to common perceptions about ESL learners in the TESOL community, examines the perspectives of Japanese-speaking staff in Canadian ESL institutions on their students’ school performance. From September 2003 to April 2004, qualitative data were gathered from 11 staff members through mail survey, on-line communication, and interviews. These voices were found to be instrumental for a contextual understanding of the tendency of Japanese students toward passivity and groupism, which is partly attributable to the interplay between students and the outside world. As an awareness-raising study, it provides a detailed description of the research process
University Students' Beliefs and Attitudes Regarding Foreign Language Learning in France
No full textThis study is based on a survey of 1,305 university students enrolled in English and other foreign-language classes across year levels in four major universities in France. It explores the factors that promote or hinder multilingualism, with special attention to the following questions: What are the beliefs and attitudes of students enrolled in various postsecondary institutions across France toward learning a foreign language? How do these beliefs and attitudes change as students progress from beginning first-year students to upper years? The results suggest that the reasons first-year students typically have for studying a foreign language have more to do with internal factors (e.g., personal attitude) than with external factoars (e.g., social value). Moreover, this trend becomes more pronounced with upper-year students whose motivation to learn a foreign language compared with that of first-year students is influenced less by perceived societal beliefs and more by intrinsic reasons
Keeping the Language Focus in Content-Based ESL Instruction Through Proactive Curriculum-Planning
No full textFor content-based instruction (CBI) to work to its maximum potential, a concerted planning effort must be made to address language objectives, combined with effective instructional strategies that target and assess student performance in relation to those objectives. In this article, after considering various models of content-language integration, we propose a flexible and dynamic planning model for content-language integration. This model has been helpful in our work with ESL teachers learning to conceptualize lesson planning and curriculum development using CBI across a variety of K-12 settings. Examples implementing the planning model are provided using a curriculum about Arctic exploration and Inuit cultures
Effects of Peer Feedback on EFL Student Writers at Different Levels of English Proficiency: A Japanese Context
No full textA study was conducted to explore the nature and effectiveness of peer feedback in EFL writing classrooms. High- and low-proficient Japanese EFL learners participated in the study where they exchanged comments with peers after receiving training in peer feedback. The two groups were compared in terms of their pre and post-tests, original drafts and rewrites, peer comments, and responses to the comments. It was found that peer feedback had overall positive effects on the compositions for both the high- and low-proficient students, with different patterns observed in the relationship between the comments and revisions that characterized the two groups
Teachers' and Students' Beliefs About Responding to ESL Writing: A Case Study
No full textThe purpose of this study was to investigate ESL instructors' feedback techniques and the rationales behind these techniques, to explore ESL students' beliefs about the relative effectiveness of various types of feedback, and to compare students' beliefs with those of their instructors. A university-level ESL instructor and two of her students participated in this case study. Data were collected by think-aloud protocols and semistructured interviews, and results revealed four major categories: (a) types of feedback the instructor emphasized, (b) the instructor's beliefs about teaching writing, (c) students' beliefs about learning to write, and (d) students' views on the effectiveness of teachers' feedback strategies. Because some of the instructor's beliefs seemed to conflict with her students' views, it was concluded that teachers should make an effort to explore their students' beliefs about writing, feedback, and error correction and to try to bridge any gap between their own and their students' expectations
Creative EFL Writing as a Means of Intensifying English Writing Skill Acquisition: A Ukrainian Experience
No full textThis article describes a classroom technique for improving the writing skills of EFL university students who have chosen English as their major for pursuing future careers as translators from and into English. The technique in question, designed for a creative writing course aimed at such students, was based on: (a) the combination of process and genre approaches to teaching writing; (b) paying special attention to students’ development of the skills of description, narration, and discussion in creative writing; (c) development the skills of commenting and critique; (e) emphasizing peer-reviewing, peer-commenting, and peer-evaluating students’ written works in the course; (e) and ensuring learners’ autonomy in writing by introducing free-choice writing. This technique allowed students to achieve dramatic improvement in their writing skills. The article describes how its introduction not only intensifies students’ development, but also generates positive motivation for writing in English as a foreign language
Alphabet Blocks: Expanding Conceptions of Language With/in Poetry
No full textAs a poet and language educator, I invite and encourage writers to take risks in their writing, to engage innovatively with a wide range of genres, to push boundaries in order to explore creatively how language and discourse are never ossified, but always organic; how language use is integrally and inextricably connected to knowledge, identity, subjectivity, and being in the world. I invite writers, whether English is a first language or an additional language, to know themselves in poetry, to know themselves as poets. We live in a contemporary culture that mostly ignores poetry. This is unfortunate because poetry invites alternative ways of knowing and being and becoming. I encourage all writers to write poetry, because poetry is a capacious genre that opens up endless possibilities for expression and communication. In this essay I offer a series of poems about language, discourse, epistemology, and pedagogy. I hope these poems will invite language educators and scholars from diverse perspectives and experiences to consider how writing poetry stimulates the imagination and inspires the heart to ask questions about our lives and the world we live in
Developing Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency: The Journey
No full textThis study tracks the development of cognitive academic language proficiency of 47 academically competent high school ESL learners of differing age on arrival (AOA) who received instructed ESL support and one comparison group of six young arrivals who received little if any ESL support during their educational experiences. Although intake and outcome measures appear similar on the surface for all 47 students, variability in the subscores of the outcomes measure provided the catalyst for taking a closer look at progress during the ESL program. The outcomes provide a refined understanding of the development of cognitive academic language proficiency, and in particular the role of underlying proficiency and structured ESL support. The data suggest that the youngest arrivals (i.e., those aged 6-11) remain at risk in their postsecondary education. The outcomes also suggest that the acquisition of cultural capital and metaphoric competence remains a challenge for all learners
Error Correction in the L2 Writing Classroom: What Do Students Think?
No full textError correction research has focused mostly on teachers' strategies and their effects on student writing. Much less has been done to find out about students' beliefs and attitudes about teachers' feedback on errors. This study aimed to investigate L2 students' perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes about error correction in the writing classroom. Data were obtained from a questionnaire and from follow-up interviews. The findings showed that most students wished their teachers to mark and correct errors for them and believed that error correction was primarily the teacher's responsibility. The article ends with some pedagogical implications that can be applied in L2 writing classrooms