TESL Canada Journal
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On Victims, Innocents, and the Need for Some Degree of Verifiability: A Response to Wheeler's 'Krashen, a Victim of History'
No full textESL and Canadian Multiculturalism: Multilingual, Intercultural Practices for the 21st Century
No full textThis article is a collaborative initiative of the TESL profession in Manitoba. It reflects the authors' attempts to articulate the role of the ESL teaching profession and practice in Canadian multiculturalism. Recognizing ESL teachers' historical roles as agents of assimilation, the authors consider how the field can reorient itself to serve instead the equity and diversity needs of Canadians. They argue that this involves the promotion of more multilingual, intercultural approaches to ESL/SESD. The article begins by considering the model of multiculturalism promoted by Canadian constitutional and legislative policies over the last decades and the key role the TESL field can and does play in this mandate. The article continues on to recommend expanding the potential stakeholders included as ESL students and professionals. This is not done to expand the profession so much as to enhance the professional ethics and responsibilities of the field
The Revision Patterns and Intentions in L1 and L2 by Japanese Writers: A Case Study
No full textThis case study investigated the revising patterns and intentions in L1 and L2 of Japanese writers with various writing experiences. Three participants were selected through purposeful sampling to do within-case comparisons. One participant was an experienced writer in both Japanese and English; one was an experienced writer in Japanese, but not in English; the other was an inexperienced writer in both Japanese and English. Using think-aloud protocols, these participants produced two revised essays in Japanese and two revised essays in English. The revised texts, think-aloud protocols, and retrospective interviews were analyzed to identify revision patters and revision intentions. first, it was found that all three writers produced many more revisions in Japanese than in English. Second, it was found that these writers showed similar revising intentions across languages. These findings were interpreted in terms of revision control structure, which is gained through writing experiences
Thinking Languages in L2 Writing: Research Findings and Pedagogical Implications.
No full textThis article reports the findings of part of a major study exploring the disciplinary writing processes and perceptions of 15 Chinese graduate students in sciences and engineering at a major Canadian university. The findings relate to the thinking languages of the participants in writing disciplinary assignments. The study reveals that whether an L2 writer thinks in L1 or L2 may not depend on one factor as proposed in earlier studies (Friedlander, 1990; Qi, 1998), but on a number of factors including the language of knowledge input, the language of knowledge acquisition, the development of L2 proficiency, the level of knowledge demands, and specific task conditions. It is the interplay among these (and possibly other) factors that determines the writer's choice of the thinking language, which may switch back and forth between L1 and L2. Further, although translation may be a positive strategy for a student with limited L2 proficiency, it may gradually phase out as the student thinks more in L2 and writes L2 in approximation to the language of native writers. Thus a thinking language continuum may exist along which the use of translation varies
Race and Desire: Toward Critical Literacies for ESL
No full textThis article examines the complexities of race and teaching identity and their coupling with desire. The author contributes to a theory of critical literacies for ESL by questioning the construction of whiteness as it relates to ESL. She draws on a cross-disciplinary bibliography of critical pedagogy, cultural, and feminist studies. She suggests that an interesting paradox in critical literacy is the simultaneous breaking down of binary identities while continuing to offer up a socially transformative curriculum.La complexite des questions de race et de l'enseignement de l'identite dans le contexte du desir, constitue le theme de cet article. L'auteur remet en question la construction de la « blancheur » dans le contexte de l'ALS, contribuant ainsi ala theorie des litteracies critiques en ALS. L'auteure puise dans une bibliographie pluridisciplinaire touchant la pedagogie critique, les etudes culturelles et les etudes de la condition feminine. Elle revele un paradoxe interessant dans l'ecrouIement des identites binaires qui se produit dans le contexte de programmes d'etudes visant une transformation sociale
How is Pedagogical Grammar Defined in Current TESOL Training Practice?
No full textThis article reports on the results of a survey of pedagogical grammar courses in MATESOL programs in the United States and Canada. An analysis of 39 self-reporting questionnaires and 23 course syllabi provides much-needed information about the content and emphasis of the courses and how pedagogical grammar is defined in current TESOL training practice
TESOL for Biolinguistic Sustainability: The Ecology of English as a Lingua Mundi
No full textThis article examines the ecology between biological and linguistic diversity and the implications for a biolinguistically sustainable approach to TESOL. Drawing on interdisciplinary sources from bio-ecology and anthropology, the article examines the effect of the global spread of English as a lingua mundi in language shifts and extinctions. Consideration is given for how linguistic and biological exchanges are interrelated. Two hypothetical cases are introduced, drawn from the authors ethnographic experience in the Indian Himalayas that demonstrate how the introduction of two English-language discourses can lead to biological, linguistic, and cultural loss. One case involved the introduction of a commercial scientific forestry discourse in an Indian village, and the other the introduction of a psychiatry discourse in a Tibetan refugee Buddhist educational institution. This is followed by a brief description of the actual cases as examples of sustainable biolinguistic (ESL) education. The conclusion considers how to promote more responsible TESOL research and education.Cet article porte sur le rapport ecologie entre la diversite biologique et linguistique dans le contexte d'une approche a TESOL qui est renouvelable sur le plan biolinguistique. Puisant dans des sources pluridisciplinaires en bioecologie et anthropologie, l'auteur se penche sur l'impact qu'a l'etendue planetaire de l'anglais comme lingua mundi sur les transferts linguistiques et l'extinction. Les rapports entre les echanges linguistiques et biologiques sont consideres. Deux cas hypothetiques, relevant de l'experience ethnographique de 1'auteur dans 1'Himalaya en Inde, sont presentes pour demontrer la facon dont 1'introduction de deux discours en anglais peut entrafner des pertes biologiques, linguistiques et culturelles. Dans un cas, il s'agissait de 1'introduction d'un discours commercial sur la foresterie dans un village indien; dans l'autre, de 1'introduction d'un discours sur la psychiatrie dans une institution pedagogique bouddhiste pour refugies tibetains. Suit une description concise de cas actuels dans lesquels l'education en ALS est presentee comme modele renouvelable sur le plan biolinguistique. La conclusion traite de facons de promouvoir de la recherche et de l'enseignement TESOL plus responsables
Cultural Collisions in L2 Academic Writing
No full textLearning to write in English for academic purposes presents a significant challenge for non-native speakers. Not only must they deal with the obvious linguistic and technical issues such as syntax, vocabulary, and format, but they must also become familiar with Western notions of academic rhetoric. (West or Western in this article refer primarily to North America.) Collisions of cultures are experienced when the discourse practices L2 writers are expected to reproduce clash with what they know, believe, and value in their L1 writing. For this article I reviewed a range of literature that addresses writing and culture. Described by researchers and by L2 writers are collisions regarding voice, organization, reader/ writer responsibility, topic, and identity. Implications for writing pedagogy include awareness of contrastive rhetoric on the part of ESL writing instructors; instructors' acknowledgment of and appreciation for the prior knowledge that students bring from their L1; realization on the part of ESL writing instructors that Western notions of,for example, voice are indeed just notions and are simply one way among many of expressing oneself; and a need for open discussion with students about how they might incorporate standard Western notions of writing without compromising their own identity.Apprendre a ecrire en anglais pour des fins academiques presente un defi de taille pour les locuteurs normatifs. Ils doivent non seulement assimiler les notions linguistiques les plus evidentes, telles la syntaxe, le vocabulaire et le format, mais aussi se familiariser avec les notions occidentales de rhetorique academique (dans cet article, occidental fait reference principalement ii 1'Amerique du Nord). Il se produit des collisions culturellesquand les pratiques discursives que les ecrivains L2 sont censes reproduire heurtent leurs connaissances, leurs croyances et leurs valeurs en L1. Pour ecrire cet article, j'ai passe en revue toute une gamme de documentation touchant la redaction et la culture. Les chercheurs et les ecrivains en L2 y decrivent des collisions impliquant la vaix, l'organisation, les responsabilites lecteur/ecrivain, le theme et l'identite. Parmi les consequences pour l'enseignement de la redaction, notons la conscientisation de la presence de rhetorique contrastive de la part d'enseignants en ALS; la reconnaissance et l'appreciation par les enseignants des connaissances anterieures que retirent les eleves de leur L1; la realisation de la part des enseignants en ALS que les notions occidentales sur, par exemple, la voix, sont justement des notions, c'est ii dire, unefar;on parmi plusieurs de s'exprimer; et la necessite d'une discussion franche avec les eleves sur l'integration de notions occidentales dans leurs redactions qui ne compromet pas leur propre identite
