TESL Canada Journal
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Enhancing ESL Students' Awareness of Coherence-Creating Mechanisms in Writing
No full textCoherence is central to effective writing. However, it is often regarded as a fuzzy and elusive concept that is difficult to teach and difficult to learn. This article attempts to identify the text-based and reader-based features that are crucial to the creation of coherence and describes a number of classroom tasks that can be exploited to enhance ESL students' awareness of coherence-creating mechanisms in writing
A Case Study of Employee Participation in a Workplace ESL Program
No full textThis article reports the findings of a study undertaken in the spring of1997 of a workplace ESL program offered at a rubber parts manufacturing plant in Toronto. The purpose of the study was to recommend changes in program delivery that might facilitate and encourage employees to enroll in the ESL program. The premise of the study was the belief that given appropriate circumstances and conditions, all employees can be motivated to participate. This premise was supported by similar research in the field that explored how various factors beyond the desire to learn may affect an individual's decision to participate in formal learning opportunities. In order to explore these factors, a questionnaire was distributed to employees. Based on the findings from this survey, the following recommendations were made. First, classes should be held during the working day and that part of the class time be paid for. This was to replace the cash incentive provided by the employer at the end of the program year. Second, the location of the lessons should be moved from the existing location, the cafeteria, to a meeting room. Last, the program should be strengthened by greater involvement of employees and employer in program development
Instructional Weaving: Models for Scaffolding Within and Between Courses
No full textInstructional "weaving" is a method of instructional design that can help to solve problems related to time constraints and skill-building reinforcement. Teacher-teacher collaboration is encouraged as instructional weaving between classes helps learners cope with complex or difficult tasks. One course builds on another, with teachers reinforcing learning across both time and setting. Examples are provided of how instructional weaving has been applied in an IEP (Intensive English Programs) setting, with learners working with content-based materials to learn and practice language and literacy skills. The article concludes with a list of tips and caveats for those interested in applying instructional weaving in their own settings
Negotiated Interaction in Teacher-Led versus Peer Group Adult ESL Discussions
No full textThis study investigated how teachers and learners negotiated meaning in three teacher-led whole-class and nine peer group pre-writing discussions in a pre-university ESL program. By analyzing various interaction features such as comprehension and confirmation checks, clarification and feedback requests, self- and other-corrections, and self- and other-completion, the study found that although peer discussions had high frequencies of negotiation, these negotiations were restricted compared with the extended negotiations in teacher-led discussions. Also, peer groups, where students showed more initiation to modify syntax, lexis, and meaning were limited compared with the target like forms in teacher-led error corrections. Students' feedback suggested that they perceived peer and teacher talk to complement each other to meet various needs of the learners as useful language learning experiences
Autonomy and Agency in Curriculum Decision-Making: A Study of Instructors in a Canadian Adult Settlement ESL Program
No full textThis study examines the views of five adult ESL instructors about their processes of curriculum implementation in a settlement language program about to adopt the Canadian Language Benchmarks. Its central research question is: How do these instructors assess the value of their own autonomy over curriculum decision-making? Drawing on theoretical definitions of autonomy and agency prominent in general education literature, autonomy has been defined here as the degree to which teachers have the desire to make curriculum decisions using personal initiative and intellectual engagement. Interview data related to the views held by the instructors regarding curriculum processes were then analyzed. The study reveals their concerns in regard to classroom activities, curriculum guidelines, linguistic elements, teaching materials, needs assessment, assessment of learner proficiency, professional development, relations with other staff, and settlement theme content. It makes the case for developing program supports for instructor autonomy and demonstrates the usefulness of this concept theoretically
Issues of Cooperative Learning in ESL Classes: A Literature Review
No full textThis article reviews the research literature on cooperative learning in the second language (L2) classroom in relation to L2 acquisition, maintenance of first language (Ll), the integration of language and content learning, and L2 learners' perceptions, and discusses some issues and problems of this educational innovation in an English as a second language (ESL) context. Although acknowledging the reported potential benefits of cooperative learning for L2 learners, it calls for further research to examine the types of Ll and L2 discourse produced in cooperative groups and find out about student development of academic discourse, to investigate whether Ll use in cooperative groups affects the interracial and intercultural relationships between students who speak different Lls, to look at the role of students' prior knowledge in Ll in their learning of new content knowledge in L2 in cooperative groups, and to explore how different groups of ESL students perceive cooperative learning and how cultural and educational backgrounds may influence their perceptions
E-mail Exchanges: Teaching Language, Culture, and Technology for the 21st Century
No full textHow can e-mail be integrated into a college preparatory ESL curriculum? Classroom e-mail exchanges between the University College of the Cariboo in Kamloops, BC and the University of Wisconsin, the University of Northeastern fllinois, and Carleton University demonstrate that e-mail can be effective in teaching intercultural awareness, creating a more positive affective climate by providing greater privacy and intimacy, and in making the EAP curriculum more relevant to the needs and aspirations of young people looking ahead to the 21st century