TESL Canada Journal
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Trapped in the Realm of the Body: Normative Bodily Practices in ESOL Pedagogy
No full textThis article examines processes of gender identity construction in the classrooms of two ESOL teachers living in their first year of teaching. Drawing from a year-long study of beginning teaching, the author explores the complex relationship among the physical body, language pedagogy, and socially constructed understandings of beauty, then goes on to problematize the pedagogical location of the body and ask how the gendered body can be mediated in classroom contexts. The article contrasts the two teachers' pedagogical approaches to the intricate work of locating the body in the ESOL classroom and discusses the range of possibilities available for the exploration, negotiation, and expression of gender identities in relation to the physical body
Book Reviews
No full textReviews of: 'Fifty Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners,' edited by A. and M. Jordan; 'Vocabulary,' by John Morgan and Mario Rinvolucri; 'Learner English: A Teacher's Guide to Interference and other Problems,' edited by Michael Swan and Bernard Smith; 'Putting Language Into Practice,' series by B. Vizard and C. Vizard; 'Test It, Fix It Pre-Intermediate (English Grammar),' and 'Test It, Fix It Intermediate (English Grammar),' by Kenna Bourke; and 'American Headway 3,' by Mike Sayer, John Soars and Liz Soars
Book Reviews
No full textReviews of: 'Topics in Language and Culture for Teachers,' by Steven Brown and Jodi Eisterhold; and 'Sociolinguistic Variation and Change,' by Peter Trudgill
Citizenship Concepts in LINC Classrooms
No full textIn this study we surveyed teachers and program coordinators of Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) from Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta to determine to what degree they believe they are incorporating citizenship concepts into the ESL classroom. Respondents provided us with information on the nature of their programs, the role of LINC, the types of materials they used, general course content, challenges faced, and their evaluation of the success of LINC in view of the government mandate to provide instruction that will lead to social integration. Most LINC providers felt that their programs were well tailored to the needs of their students, but in general they did not see LINC as a substitute for citizenship preparation courses. We recommend that optional citizenship courses be made widely available to immigrants after LINC, where the focus is on complex issues facing Canadians rather than a superficial coverage of facts for the citizenship test
Demystifying Lexical Inferencing: The Role of Aspects of Vocabulary Knowledge
No full textThis empirical study examines how English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learners use their vocabulary knowledge for inferring meanings of unknown words in reading comprehension. The data, collected through interviews with young adult ESL students in Canadian universities, indicate that: (a) semantic and morphological aspects of vocabulary knowledge play an important role in learners' comprehension processes; (b) a positive relationship exists between certain aspects of learners' vocabulary knowledge and their lexical inferencing ability; and (c) in processing the meaning of unknown words, all learners looked for cues to meaning, but learners with varying depths of vocabulary knowledge tended to focus on varying strategies
Folklore, Literature, Ethnography, and Second-Language Acquisition: Teaching Culture in the ESL Classroom
No full textRecognizing that to learn about culture will aid the new Canadian in attaining cultural awareness, this article argues that it is imperative to develop strategies for teaching about culture. Using folklore as a critical methodology in the ESL classroom is such a strategy. Because folklore is an intrinsic part of everyday life, its use promotes and enables cross-cultural understandings and the understandings of North American cultures. Moreover, through the use of folklore, students and instructors come to recognize that their expectations are mutable or living elements of culture
Book Reviews
No full textReviews of: 'Language Learners as Ethnographers,' by Ana Barro, Michael Byram, Shirley Jordan, Celia Roberts and Brian Street; 'An Intercultural Approach to English Language Teaching,' by John Corbett; 'Critical Pedagogy: Political Approaches to Language and Intercultural Communication,' by Manuela Guilherme and Alison Phipps; 'Test It Fix It: English Verbs and Tenses Pre-intermediate,' and 'Test It Fix It: English Verbs and Tenses Intermediate,' by Kenna Bourke; and 'Silence in Second Language Learning: A Psychoanalytic Reading,' by Colette A. Granger
