esl/efl.reflection.practice - TESOL International Association

Building aReading Scaffoldwith WebTexts

Waiting in Line

Learning Englishand Democracyin Mongolia

by Debbie Zacarian

by Roger Cohen

by Mary Lou McCloskeyand Emily Thrush

GrammaticallySpeaking

by Richard Firsten

Tangled Threads:A Hmong Girl’s Story

Reviewed by Sheila Cockey

e s l / e f l . r e f l e c t i o n . p r a c t i c e

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL)

Volume 2 Issue 4 December 2005

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March 15 - 18, 2006

TESOL 2006: Daring To LeadThe 40th Annual TESOL Convention and Exhibit

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FROM THE EDITOR 2

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

Circle Time 6Building Self-Esteem through Cultural Prideby Judie Haynes

Home Room 8Home Visitsby Jim Hughes

The Road Taken 10Waiting in Lineby Debbie Zacarian

Multilingual Momentum 12Danger and Opportunityby Gu Peiya

In-Service 14Joining and Joining Inby Sheryl Slocum

From A to Z 16Are End-of-Term Evaluations Already Too Late?by Dorothy Zemach

PORTAL

Maximizing Face-to-Face and OnlineInteraction in the Computer Lab 38by Paige Ware

Blended Learning Offers the Best of Both Worlds 42

by Dafne González

Building a Reading Scaffold with WebTexts 48by Mary Lou McCloskey and Emily A. Thrush

HOME AND OTHER PAGES

Words in PrintNever Fade Away (William Hart) 54Reviewed by Aixa Perez-Prado

Tangled Threads: A Hmong Girl’s Story(Pegi Deitz Shea) 54Reviewed by Sheila Cockey

Cybersights 55Google ScholarReviewed by Brock Brady

Soundbites 55Crash (Lions Gate Entertainment)Reviewed by George Bozzini

Software Thumbnails 56Moodle (Martin Dougiamas)Reviewed by Thomas Robb

BULLETIN BOARDPresident’s Message 58Association News 60

OUT OF THE BOX

“You Can Train Me, and You Can Educate Me, But You Can’t Develop Me—I Develop” 20

by Sandra Piai

Learning English and Democracy in Mongolia 24by Roger Cohen

Raising Mohammad Bilingually in Iran 28by Hadi Farjami

Linking Essay Types and Cognitive Domains 32by Kent Hill

Time, Patience, and SupportAyumi Hosoda, who arrived in theUnited States as a high school student,tells you how you can supportinternational students in their socialand linguistic adjustment.

Multiple Identities Emerge through CollaborationThrough their collaboration in personand over e-mail, Noriko Ishihara andMagara Maeda have learned to seethemselves and others as more thansimply native- or nonnative-speaking teachers.

In Blogging, the Benefits of ExposureAre Worth the RiskOnline encounters that may appearrisky or dangerous can generateinterest and be good for learning, saysAaron P. Campbell.

Grammatically SpeakingRichard Firsten explains why it’s toothwhitening, not teeth whitening; tells youwhether hopefully is properly used as adisjunct adverb; untangles collectiveplurals; distinguishes clauses andphrases; and challenges you with aBrain Teaser.

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compleatlinksis the online component ofEssential Teacher. Look for thenext to titles in the table ofcontents. Then go to the Essential Teacher section ofhttp://www.tesol.org/, click onCompleat Links, and read theseextensions of the themes andtopics in this issue:

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DECEMBER 2005


VOL. 2 ISSUE 4

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D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 5

http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/secetdoc.asp?CID=1162&DID=5078



http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/sec_document.asp?CID=1162&DID=5082

From the

In any teaching or learning situation, it’s good to know

you’re not alone. The theme of reaching out—to

students who need your expertise and attention or to

other teachers with whom you can share valuable

experiences—is a thread that runs through this issue of

Essential Teacher. Whatever your location in the world,

whatever your teaching experience, and whatever the

background and level of your students, you are bound

to find articles that will have an impact on your

teaching and your students’ learning.

� Communities of Practice: Judie Haynes (Circle Time) shares

ideas on how to build students’ self-esteem by creating

opportunities for them to share their cultural customs with

others. Jim Hughes (Home Room) talks about the importance

of home visits and describes his first experience in a student’s

home. Debbie Zacarian (The Road Taken) underlines the

importance of not assuming that students feel secure with

school procedures after their first semester. Gu Peiya

(Multilingual Momentum) discusses the dangers and

opportunities of teaching and learning English with technology

in China. Sheryl Slocum (In-Service) extols the benefits of

being involved in professional teacher organizations. Dorothy

Zemach (From A to Z) introduces an evaluation that you can

administer early in the semester since end-of-term evaluations

come too late to be useful.

2

� Out of the Box: Sandra Piai looks at ways you can develop as

a teacher even if you work in isolation or have little time to

devote to professional development. In his English class in

Mongolia, Roger Cohen balanced a focus on the election

campaign in the young democracy with attention to the

productive skills students needed for their graduation exams.

Hadi Farjami explains how he and his wife are raising their

son in Iran to be bilingual in Farsi and English. Kent Hill

describes how to teach essay writing by linking essay types

and cognitive domains.

� Portal: Paige Ware explores ways to make the most of

students’ interactions with each other in the computer lab.

Dafne González describes how she maximized the

advantages of face-to-face and online learning in the same

course. Mary Lou McCloskey and Emily Thrush show how

to use WebTexts to provide online scaffolding for students’

reading materials.

� Home and Other Pages: Sheila Cockey reviews the story of a

Hmong girl who leaves Laos for the United States and finds

herself caught between two conflicting cultures. Aixa Perez-

Prado describes a novel written in the form of personal diary

entries exchanged between a frustrated English teacher and a

struggling Vietnamese student. Brock Brady critiques Google’s

new search engine, Google Scholar. George Bozzini writes

about the feature film Crash, which focuses on clashes

between ethnic groups in Los Angeles. And according to

Thomas Robb, the free course management system Moodle

can be used more effectively than other, fee-based systems.

� Compleat Links: Ayumi Hosoda tells teachers how they can

support international students in their social and linguistic

adjustment. Noriko Ishihara and Magara Maeda highlight the

benefits of collaboration between teachers of different

backgrounds. Aaron Campbell shows how unexpected online

encounters can benefit students’ learning. Richard Firsten

(Grammatically Speaking) answers questions about adjunct

nouns, collective plurals, and prepositional phrases, and

presents a new Brain Teaser.

Editor

Interim Editor

[email protected]

3DECEMBER 2005

TESOLTESOLWITESOLWITESOL

LaTesolLaTesol

4

Interim EditorChristine MeloniGeorge Washington UniversityWashington, DC, USA

Compleat Links EditorShannon SauroUniversity of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, PA, USA

Home and Other Pages EditorChristine MeloniGeorge Washington UniversityWashington, DC, USA

Out of the Box EditorPhil QuirkeAbu Dhabi Men’s CollegeAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Portal EditorMercedes RossettiToluca, Mexico

ColumnistsRichard FirstenMiami–Dade County Public SchoolsMiami, FL, USA

Gu Peiya Suzhou UniversitySuzhou, China

Judie HaynesRiver Edge Public SchoolsRiver Edge, NJ, USA

Jim HughesLake SchoolWest Contra Costa Unified

School DistrictRichmond, CA, USA

Sheryl Slocum Alverno CollegeMilwaukee, WI, USA

Debbie ZacarianAmherst Public SchoolsUniversity of Massachusetts at AmherstAmherst, MA, USA

Dorothy ZemachCambridge University PressEugene, OR, USA

Staff EditorEllen GarshickAlexandria, VA, USA

Editorial Administration and Bulletin BoardMarilyn KupetzAlexandria, VA, USA

AdvertisingCindy FlynnAlexandria, VA, [email protected]

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Officers

Elliot L. Judd, PresidentUniversity of Illinois at ChicagoChicago, IL, USA

Jun Liu, President-ElectUniversity of ArizonaTucson, Arizona, USA

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Directors

Mary Ann BoydTowanda, IL, USA

Brock BradyAmerican UniversityWashington, DC, USA

Christine CoombeDubai Men’s CollegeDubai, United Arab Emirates

Lynne Díaz-RicoCalifornia StateUniversitySan Bernardino, CA, USA

Bill EggingtonBrigham Young UniversityProvo, UT, USA

Liz EnglandHong Kong Institute of EducationHong Kong SAR, China

Mabel GalloInstituto CulturalArgentino NorteamericanoBuenos Aires, Argentina

Lía D. Kamhi-SteinCalifornia State UniversityLos Angeles, CA, USA

Penny McKayQueensland University of TechnologyBrisbane, Queensland,Australia

JoAnn MillerEFL ConsultantMexico City, Mexico

Suchada NimmannitChulalangkorn UniversityLanguage InstituteBangkok, Thailand

Amy SchlessmanRose AcademiesTucson, AZ USA

Stephen StoynoffMinnesota StateUniversityMankato, MN USA

Charles S. Amorosino, Jr.Executive Director/CEOAlexandria, VA, USA


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Choices. Contributions. Challenges.

Introducing Communities of

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When Yuki first entered my elementaryschool from Japan, she impressed mewith her level of English. Yet she wasobviously uncomfortable with mycompliment. On reflection, I realizedthat many of the students I teach comefrom cultures in which acceptingpraise creates discomfort. They are notaccustomed to receiving the accoladesthat are given regularly to children inthe United States. What can teachersdo to help these students build self-esteem without causing them to feel embarrassed?

School communities need to takeadvantage of the varied backgroundsof their student population to help allchildren learn to respect the culturesof other people. My school has donethis in a variety of ways. One is anannual multicultural celebration thatis mainly run by culturally andlinguistically diverse parents. Throughthis celebration, the schoolcommunity learns about the cultures

of the English language learners andtheir parents and bridges the gapbetween the school and homecultures. Many of the parents of thestudents I teach do not speak Englishvery well. During the multiculturalcelebration, bilingual students fromeach culture help parents with theirdemonstrations. As the “experts” ontheir culture, students prepare a shortspeech to explain the activity andhelp their classmates with it.

In the ten years that my school has heldthis event, students in my school haveparticipated in hundreds of food, crafts,and cultural demonstrations fromtwenty different countries. One year,the Japanese mothers in my school helda fashion show featuring different typesof kimonos and related garments. Theyasked some of the teachers to modelthe outfits. The students loved seeingtheir teachers clad in traditionalJapanese clothing. Two of mycolleagues were spectacularly clothed in

COMMUNITIESCOMMUNITIES ofof practicepractice

Y ou speak English well,” I commented to a new student who hadstudied English in her native country before coming to the UnitedStates. “Oh, no,” she replied as she squirmed uneasily. “I really

don’t. I have so much more study to do.”

Circle Time Building Self-Esteem through Cultural Prideby Judie Haynes

Without a

doubt, the most

obvious benefit

from the

multicultural

celebration was

the chance to

display the

pride students

felt in their

cultures.

6

“

wedding kimonos. Students wereespecially thrilled to see one of the maleteachers wearing a groom’s traditionalwedding kimono. The Japanese mothersalso dressed some of the students inchildren’s kimonos made for specialoccasions. The students begged to wearthe Japanese clothing, which reinforcedthe feelings of pride the Japanesestudents had in their culture.

Another year, Japanese mothers arrangedfor a performance of a Japanese teaceremony, which takes many years tolearn. Fortunately, the grandmother ofone of the students had studied the teaceremony in Japan and acted as theexpert consultant to the mothers, whobrought in a special woven flooringcalled tatami and moved all of thefurniture out of a classroom to re-createa teahouse. During the ceremony, themothers explained all of the implements

used and gave each member of theaudience a taste of the tea.

Japanese parents also arranged for a kotoplayer to come to our school for anotherannual celebration. (A koto is arectangular zither-like musicalinstrument with thirteen strings.) Whatamazed me at the time was how friendsand relatives of the Japanese familieswho lived in other towns donated theirtime and resources to this celebration.The children and their parents alsoshared Japanese games, origami, andsongs with the students. They broughtin food, and students dared each otherto eat a small piece of tuna roll. (Theytried it, and many came back for more.)

Korean mothers also shared theirculture. At one multicultural festival,they wore hanbok, the Koreantraditional dress, and performed a

Korean fan dance. Three years in a row,I danced the fan dance with them andfelt proud to make this culturalconnection with the Korean parents.

One year they sponsored a Koreandrum and dance troupe. Anothermemorable demonstration was thereenactment of a Korean weddingceremony. The bride, groom, and othermembers of the wedding party were alldressed in hanbok. The servicefeatured the bride and groomperforming a series of bows to theparents of the groom. The groom gavea wooden goose, symbolizing a lifelongunion, to the bride’s family. The Koreanfamilies brought objects from their ownhomes to create the background for theKorean wedding ceremony.

Dancing and singing were willinglyshared. Culturally and linguisticallydiverse children and their families taughtstudents songs and dances from theirnative countries. They taught the steps tothe fan dance, a traditional Armenianline dance, an Israeli hora, a Spanish cha-cha, and the merengue from theDominican Republic. They beat a steeldrum after a performance by drummersfrom Trinidad and Tobago. They learnedhow to write their names in calligraphyand fold origami animals from paper.They dug tiles from an archeological digin Israel and formed mosaic pictureswith them. They celebrated ChineseNew Year and received red envelopes.

Aside from the obvious academic benefitsof the festival, such as learning aboutvarious cultures, developing higher levelthinking skills, and practicing speakingin front of an audience, students alsogained social skills. They had anauthentic reason to interact with theirclassmates and found a real audience fortheir work. But without a doubt, themost obvious benefit from this activitywas the chance to display the pride theyfelt in their cultures.

7DECEMBER 2005

Through the multicultural celebration, the

school community learns about the cultures

of the English language learners and their

parents, and bridges the gap between the

school and home cultures.


8

I had expressed sorrow that a casualtyof the nearly complete reduction ofteaching to assessment and instructionwas the devaluation of parents’involvement in their child’s schooling.

“Home visits aren’t much of a loss,”she declared.

Only a few years before, our elementaryschool principal had considered suchvisits vital, lamenting their scarcity ineducational practice and suggesting thatone day a month we visit homes.Several teachers objected. They wereafraid, they said. The neighborhoodwasn’t safe. Hadn’t the father of astudent been murdered two blocksaway? The town had more ex-convictsper capita than any city in California.Drug dealers, crack and meth users,pedophiles, rapists, warring gangs,panhandlers, prostitutes, and thementally deranged wandered the streets.

“I’m not asking you to venture out atmidnight,” said the principal. “Themajority of those you’ve described

sleep during the day. Also, I’m notsaying to drop in unannounced.Introduce the idea at Back-to-SchoolNight. Call ahead, or, when parentspick up their kids, ask if you mayvisit. If they don’t want you to come,they’ll make excuses. I can go withyou, or you can visit in pairs.”

Most of us agreed to try. The principalsuggested Wednesdays, the day thathad been shortened to allow for staffdevelopment, because then the visitscould take place during the teachers’work hours.

When I made my first telephone call,Donte’s mother misunderstood. “I’mnot asking for a date,” I had to explain.

“Oh, you talking about a home visit!”

The next day, Ms. Hill welcomed meinto her house and showed me around.“Donte’s not here,” she said.

“He’s the oldest, isn’t he?”

T here are losses,” acknowledged a reading consultant. “But if youfully implement the scripted language arts adoption, yourstudents will achieve.”

Home Room

Home Visitsby Jim Hughes

I wasn’t coming

to talk about her

child’s academic

progress or

behavior. Why

was I there,

then?

“

9DECEMBER 2005

“No, Miranda’s the oldest. Donte’s next.They both got the same father. Twyana’sone year younger than Donte, andDanielle’s the youngest. They each got adifferent father.”

“I have two kids,” I said. “Until theyfinished high school, they lived half thetime with me.”

“How many mothers you had to deal with?”

“One. We’re divorced. My present wifeand I don’t have children.”

“That’s smart. Three daddies be way toomuch. But I never married them. Theyaren’t bad, you understand; they’re justnot responsible. Now and then theycome round and take the kids to amovie or something. Ray—he’s the guyI’m with now—he keeps asking me tomarry him, but I say, What do I need ahusband for? I got myself a good job asa building inspector.”

Ms. Hill and I sat down at the kitchentable. “This is the family center,” shesaid. “It’s important to me that we all eatdinner together. Not that we always do,but I try.” She slapped at a fly.

“Flies are infesting the school,” I said.

“They’re everywhere. It’s these warmSeptember days.”

We talked about screens. She offered mean orange. As we each peeled one, webecame quiet. I had said I wasn’t comingto talk about her child’s academicprogress or behavior. Why was I there,then? We sneaked looks at each other.Neither of us appeared to know how ahome visit was supposed to run.

“Anything special you want to know?”she asked.

I shook my head. “When I was ten, myteacher visited my house. Maybe hebelieved the more he knew about me,the better he could teach me. I do knowit was exciting. I never much likedschool, and his visit gave me morepositive feelings about it.”

“Donte was kind of scared of youcoming,” said Ms. Hill. “He took offwith Ray. Ray didn’t want to be hereeither. His school experience ... well, hedropped out. I wish Donte had stayed.”

“I’m here,” said Twyana, poking herhead around the corner from the hall.

“But Mr. Hughes isn’t your teacher.”

“He will be next year.”

“Didn’t I tell you do your homework?”

“I need help.”

“You look at it first; then you come ask.”

“But Mama ...”

“I’m not playing.”

When her head disappeared, I said, “TellDonte I didn’t say anything bad abouthim. I didn’t even complain about himshouting out.”

Ms. Hill laughed. “That’s his way. Mine,too. We don’t know how to be quiet. Ifwe got something to say, we say it.”

“He’s a great kid, and really smart. Buthe needs all the parent and teachersupport he can get on account of ...”

“It’s hard to say, isn’t it? Too manyblacks—males especially—end up injail or dead. Ray, he’s had his troubles.I’m afraid for Donte. He’s a good child,Mr. Hughes! I want a chance for himand the girls.”

“Is the neighborhood okay for raising kids?”

“It gets pretty lively around here onweekends. A lot of it’s fun. Butsometimes things get out of hand.”

On my walk back to school, Donteand Ray jogged by in sweat clothes.“Hey, Mr. Hughes,” said Donte. Raynodded. They began to race as theyneared home.

Had my visit accomplished anything?Afterwards, Ms. Hill came by to see memore often. The whole familyparticipated in a garden workday atschool. Ray attended Open House.Twyana frequently showed up in myclassroom after school. Donte didn’tstop shouting out, which I nowunderstood was important for him. Ifelt more comfortable in theneighborhood and had gained firsthandknowledge of one family’s life.

“Home visits aren’t much of a loss,” theconsultant had said, believing they didn’tincrease test scores, the district’s maingoal. By stepping away from school,however, and crossing into Ms. Hill’sterritory, I had made my professionalrelationship with her more personal.

Representing the educationalestablishment, I increased (I believe)this head-of-the-family’s trust in schooland in her children’s opportunity tosucceed. She, in turn, influenced Ray.Isn’t it likely that the changes in herattitudes and actions had a positiveimpact on her children’s desire to learn?Why, they might even have improvedthe children’s test scores!


10

One of the students in line wasEdgar. At the beginning of the schoolyear, he had moved to the schooldistrict from El Salvador. Edgar didnot speak any English and found thefirst few months of school to be verystressful. One day, for example, therewas the frightening experience of afire drill. When the fire alarm rangand his classmates walked quietlyout of the school building to theschool parking lot, Edgar continuedto walk until he reached home.When he was asked the next daywhy he had not returned to school,he said, “Fire scare me.”

The first few months were filled withmany incidents like the fire drill. Forexample, one day Edgar had forgottento bring lunch to school and had notbrought money to purchase a schoollunch. Embarrassed that he hadnothing to eat, he tried to remaininvisible by standing in the hallwayoutside of the cafeteria. He leaned asunobtrusively as possible against thewall as he observed his classmates

talking in clusters as they ate. He wasterribly embarrassed by the incidentand took extra steps to remember tobring his lunch or money for lunch sothat the incident never recurred. Ittook Edgar a long while to feelcomfortable with the daily routine ofhis new school and to stop worryingabout what was going to happen next.

After the first few months, Edgar wasfamiliar with his classes. He began torisk asking some of his classmatesand teachers simple questions towhich he believed he could predictthe response. He was beginning tofeel more comfortable, and teachersnoticed the change in his behavior.For example, at the end of the firstmonth of school, his ESL teachershad encouraged him to participate invarious after-school activities. At thetime, he did not feel comfortableenough, but near the end of the firsttrimester, he began thinking aboutjoining the International StudentsClub, of which his ESL teacher wasan adviser.

I had arranged to meet with Mrs. Snow, an ESL teacher, on a morningthat happened to be the first day of a new trimester. As Iapproached her room, I was surprised to see a line of students

waiting to see her. Why the long line, I wondered?

The Road Taken

Waiting in Lineby Debbie Zacarian

Edgar was

worried about

not being able

to handle a new

schedule, new

classmates, and

a new daily

routine.

11DECEMBER 2005

The end of the trimester also signaledthe end of the daily schedule andactivities to which Edgar had grownaccustomed. While he prepared forthe end of the first trimester andenrolled in courses that he hadselected for the second trimester, hecould not rid himself of the dread andfear that he had about the change inroutine. As the trimester drew to aclose, he became increasingly anxiousand stressed. He was worried aboutnot being able to handle a newschedule, new classmates, and a newdaily routine. He could not sharethese feelings with his classmates.

The all-too-familiar stress that he hadexperienced three short months earlierreturned. He had thought that thoseuncomfortable feelings were behindhim, and he did not welcome theirreturn. To allay his fears on the firstday of the new trimester, he walkedquickly to his ESL teacher, Mrs. Snow,hoping that her familiar voice wouldcalm his nerves and that she wouldprovide him with the much-neededdirections to his new classes.

When he arrived at Mrs. Snow’sclassroom, a setting with which hewas entirely familiar, he felt a sense ofcalm wash over him. Surprisingly, heencountered a long line of classmates.One of them greeted him with “Whatup, Edgar?” He tried to respond in acasual tone. “Oh, I come ask Mrs.Snow tell me where my classes islocated,” he said. “Me too!” hisclassmate replied.

In fact, the entire line of students,Edgar would soon learn, had come toseek Mrs. Snow’s comfort anddirection. All had been in schoolduring the previous trimester, andhad, or so I thought, becomeaccustomed to the school routine. Thechange in trimester, however, causedmany of the anxieties that newcomersgenerally experience to resurface.

I observed the many exchangesbetween Mrs. Snow and the students.They each handed her a computerizedcopy of their schedule for the newtrimester. In a calm voice and with asure smile, she reviewed their courseswith them and gave them the

directions to their classes. When shespoke with Edgar, she said, “You aretaking some great courses thissemester. You have math with Mr.Collins, a great teacher. You can findhis classroom next to your math classfrom the last trimester.” Theseexchanges continued until the laststudent was sent off to class.

When I asked Mrs. Snow about thestudents that she had met anddispatched, she smiled and said, “Yes,this is what it is like before school onthe first day of every new trimester.Some of the students that come to seeme have been here for a few yearswhile others are newcomers. At first, Iwas surprised that so many came tosee me, especially the ones that havebeen here for a good while. Now, Ianticipate and prepare for it byremembering to respond patiently andpositively to all of the questions askedof me.”

Mrs. Snow’s thoughtfulness demonstrateswhat teachers can do to assist students inacclimating to an ever-changing andoften frightening environment.

11DECEMBER 2005

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PERIOD COURSE NO. SUBJECT TEACHER ROOM

1 102400001 MATH 8B TRENHOLM 305

2 16340001 ENGLISH 8B SAMUELS 231A

3 21279003 U.S. HISTORY B GARCIA 112

4 33010007 SCIENCE 8B MCDADE P2

5 48430001 ART ALSTON 201

6 16440001 SPANISH FOR SPANISH SPKRS AGUILAR 35

7 78350009 PHYSICAL EDUCATION BEAULIEU GYM

In a calm voice and with a sure smile, Mrs. Snow

reviewed the students’ courses with them and gave

them directions to their classes.


12

Well before digital literacy was evenpossible, many Chinese had alongstanding love-hate relationshipwith English. English representedWestern science and technology butalso carried a sense of superiority andimperialism. This sensitivity towardEnglish comes from the traditionalChinese perception of foreigners, onethat associates English with Britishcolonialism and subsequent U.S.cultural influences.

For centuries behind the Great Wall,the Chinese people lived at peace in theshadow of Confucianism. Theyconsidered any outside influence,linguistic or otherwise, a threat. Thestudy of English in China started withthe need for self-defense in theaftermath of the Opium Wars andcontinues with today’s need fortechnology and economic advancement.There has always been tension. Englishis to be rejected because it ishumiliating, but it is to be welcomedbecause of its usefulness (Parry 1998).

The idea of usefulness has madeEnglish increasingly important in

China today. The association betweenEnglish and better-paid jobs andpromotion opportunities has broughtmillions of Chinese to Englishprograms of all kinds. However,many Chinese learn English forpurely instrumental reasons, with adeep feeling of inferiority and evenhostility, particularly when English isforced on them by national and local examinations.

This resentment, coupled withpersonal and social needs, contributesto the love-hate mentality towardEnglish. Even now, when thegovernment is actively promoting theteaching and learning of English,there are growing worries aboutlosing Chinese identity and about thepossible brainwashing effects ofWestern cultural influence. Therefore,for many Chinese people, being ableto read English and pass exams isenough. They avoid engaging inEnglish discourse and learning aboutforeign cultures because they think itcan only bring trouble. Peopleremember well the historical lessons

I n the Chinese phrase weiji, the characters for danger andopportunity stand side by side. The word symbolizes the situationof some Chinese teachers, who face the challenge of digital literacy

but can overcome it (see my March 2005 column). From a Chineseperspective, learning and teaching English with technology bringsopportunities as well as dangers.

Multilingual Momentum

Danger and Opportunityby Gu Peiya

As technology

has made

English an

international

language, it has

made unwanted

Western cultural

influences much

easier and faster

to accept.

13DECEMBER 2005

from the Cultural Revolution, whenanyone who knew English wasregarded as a traitor.

Cultural influence is inevitable inlanguage learning, however. As anEnglish learner and a teacher in China, Ican see the changes in identity, values,and lifestyle caused by English learningand teaching. We open our minds to thenew and different and become morecritical of the close and familiar,especially the taken-for-granted beliefsand values we picked up in childhood.We constantly find ourselves happy,confused, angry, and in pain, all at thesame time, because we live in a doorwaybetween two rooms, with Chineseculture on one side and English cultureon the other.

One student lamented his confusion andpain at the way his old friendsmisunderstood him. “I don’t know who Iam or what to do now. At a get-togetherthis past Spring Festival, some of myformer schoolmates laughed at me andcalled me hypocritical when I openedthe door for the ladies and said excuseme before asking questions.” In his peers’eyes, he was showing off his Englishsuperiority or worship of foreigncultures, which alienated him from hisown culture. As this student so painfullydiscovered, English has broughtopportunities for personal andprofessional development as well asdifficulties as we attempt to survive andsucceed in our own culture.

Information and communicationstechnology only complicates thesituation. Although computers linked tothe Internet provide unprecedentedopportunities to learn and use Englishfor real purposes, the decentered natureof networked teaching has challengedthe habitual control and dominant roleof school administrators, who try tominimize such reform efforts or usethem only as a showcase. As the newtechnology has made English aninternational language, it has madeunwanted Western cultural influences

much easier and faster to accept. Inaddition, unequal access to the Internetand ineffective instruction have madeproficiency in digital literacy anunrealistic goal for all but a wealthy,urban elite in China.

The work of EFL teachers has alwaysbeen tied to their socioeconomic contextsand the students’ development. We asteachers must be aware of the dangersand opportunities brought by Englishand technology. We should recognize thecomplex social meaning of English inChina and the double-edged sword oftechnology. Education will play a key rolein determining who has the language,communication, and technologicalmultiliteracies required to become activeshapers of the multimedia future ratherthan mere recipients of prepackagedchoices (Castells 1996). And languageclassrooms will be one important placewhere these new educationalopportunities are found—or missed.

How can EFL teachers minimize thedangers and maximize theopportunities? Learner-centeredcollaborative projects involving socialinvestigation, exploration of culturalthemes, and critical analysis haveprovided powerful learning experiencesfor the students I teach and for me as anEFL teacher. Organizing such projectsinternationally creates an even betterbasis for developing cross-culturalnegotiation and problem-solving skills.

Compared with learning from atextbook, project-based learning is moretime-consuming, perhaps more sloppy,but ultimately more beneficial (see“Leaving the Bathtub to Make Waves,”Essential Teacher, Autumn 2004). Firstand quite obviously, it helps me betterunderstand my students’ concerns andinterests. Second, it makes all participantsmore aware of the campus and localcultures that they take for granted. Last,it makes them more aware of the ways inwhich language, culture, and technologywork together to define and shape theirdaily existence and professional future.

Teachers in China experience the sameinternal culture shocks that students do,particularly when learning and teachingclash with more traditional norms inChinese culture and education. Teachershave the responsibility to help studentsincrease their repertoire of behaviors sothat they can behave in an appropriateway in more than one culture (Bennett1996). Here again, project-based learningwith technology is a good way toproduce successful members of amulticultural society.

References

Bennett, J. 1996. Interculturalcommunication in a multicultural society.TESOL Matters 6 (2): 1, 15.

Castells, M. 1996. The rise of the networksociety. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Parry, K. 1998. Culture, literacy, and learningEnglish: Voices from the Chinese classroom.Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.

ENGLISHENGLISHEnglishEnglish

How can EFL

teachers minimize

the dangers and

maximize the

opportunities

presented by English?


14

I don’t believe in

cluttering my life

with too many

obligations, but I

am a strong

believer in the

benefits of

association

membership.

My first response was an indignant“Of course!” I thought of how mysupervisors cite professionalmemberships as assets on everyannual review, and I gratefullycounted the number of times theschool I teach for has paid for me toattend conferences given by thosesame organizations.

And then I remembered what it waslike before I taught at this wonderfulschool. I have no memory of anyprevious employer commenting on theline in my vita listing the organizationsI belong to. During my many years as apart-time ESL teacher, no school orsupervisor ever paid my way to aconference. To be fair, I rememberbeing encouraged to attend, but theoverwhelming message I got as a part-timer was that belonging toprofessional associations was strictlymy own business.

I then asked myself the followingquestion: “Do I consider membershipin associations important toprofessional development?” Without

a moment’s hesitation, my answerwas “Yes!”

How did that string of acronyms onmy vita develop me professionally?In all honesty, as a new teacher, I hadno idea. Perhaps I was sleeping whenmy professors enumerated thebenefits of belonging to anorganization, or maybe they nevermentioned it. At any rate, I had beenteaching a number of years before Iattended my first conference, oneheld by Louisiana TESOL.

What a revelation! Under one roof Ifound a plethora of enlightening andinspiring sessions designed to makeme a better teacher. Unfortunately,being human, I could attend onlyone at a time. It made my head spin.Why hadn’t these conferences beenaround during the first five years ofmy teaching career? (You see howignorant I was.) I was so excited andimpressed that I went home, savedmy pennies, and soon became aproud member of LaTESOL. Icouldn’t wait for the next conference.

Aquestion on a survey I recently filled out for a group within TESOLmade me pause: “Does your school, your educationalorganization/institution, or others you know about consider

membership in associations part of their staff’s professional development?”

In-Service

Joining and Joining Inby Sheryl Slocum

15DECEMBER 2005

The most obvious benefit of belongingto a professional association is theprofessional development provided byworkshops and conferences. From myfirst indiscriminate plunge intoconcurrent sessions (I attendedeverything and anything, even if it hadno connection to my own teachingsituation), I have become a choosiercustomer. I study conference programsand carefully plan my time. I now try toattend a mix of presentations that relateto my current teaching, my scholarlyinterests, my colleagues’ needs andinterests (supporting a friend making herfirst presentation supersedes the utilityof a more relevant session), and—a veryimportant category—my own curiosity.My teaching and thoughts aboutteaching grow as a result of attendingthese workshops and conferences.

A second way association membershipdevelops me professionally is that ithelps me get to know other people inthe field. I meet other teachers and

learn how my situation and concernscompare with theirs. I meetadministrators, materials writers,graduate students, and teachers ofvastly different populations; theseprofessionals broaden my knowledgeof the field and increase myappreciation for all the kinds of workmy colleagues do. Some of thesepeople I meet turn into friendlyacquaintances, and I look forward toseeing them every year. Sometimes weare able to help each other out. Forexample, a student at my schoolrecently asked about TESLcertification programs. Thanks to thecontacts I’d made at my local TESOLaffiliate conferences, I was able to giveher names and phone numbers forseveral local programs.

The best way I’ve found to increase thebenefits of association membership is tobecome more active in the association. Istarted out slowly as I didn’t want to gettoo involved right away. I first became

involved with LaTESOL by helping withconference registration. This wasactually enjoyable—and veryinformative. Later, I volunteered tointroduce speakers—I think it wascalled facilitating. This gave me anopportunity to have a little one-on-onetime with a presenter; much to mysurprise, I discovered that presenterswere normal people, just like the rest ofus. Since those early, toe-in-the-waterdays, I have served in local associationsas president and membership secretary.And, as you can see from this column,I’ve even been able to do a little forTESOL itself.

I could not quantify all I have gainedfrom being involved in both my localand the international TESOLorganizations. I’ve learned how to runa business meeting, how to buildconsensus, how the world of TESOL isconnected by common dilemmas andconcerns, how a seemingly smalldecision can affect even the most far-flung members. I’ve met inspiring,creative, dedicated people. These arejust a few of the ways being involvedin the association has broadened me.I’ve also been challenged to try thingsI never would have imagined doing—like writing this column.

The fact that you’re reading thisprobably means you are already amember of TESOL. Now, I don’tbelieve in cluttering my life with toomany obligations, but I am a strongbeliever in the benefits of associationmembership. So, are you a member ofat least one local teaching association?Have you thought about helping out?It’s true that very few people get paidfor being active in their professionalassociations, but the fact that teacherscontinue to do it anyway shows thatthe payoffs are great.

TESOLTESOLWITESOLWITESOL

LaTesolLaTesol

How did that string of acronyms on

my vita develop me professionally?

As a new teacher, I had no idea.


16

Every intensive English and universityprogram I’ve taught in has requiredteachers to give out and collect end-of-term evaluations, both bubble formsand sheets for additional comments.The bubble forms produce thestatistics that your department may (ormay not) use for evidence of thequality of your teaching. Every ESLclass I’ve taught in the United Stateshas had fewer students than wouldmake up a statistically significant—oreven somewhat accurate—sample size,but that never seems to have given adepartment pause.

The comment sheets, which may besigned or unsigned, are supposed togive you insights that standardizedquestions cannot. At one universitywhere I taught, you could choosewhether to include comment sheets inyour teaching portfolio, but only ifthey were signed. Another universityrequired comment sheets to beincluded if they were signed andforbade them if they weren’t.

Comments typically range frompointless (“I wish the bendingmachines to have sprit not just coke”)to obscure (“I thank my English”) torevealing (from my French 101 class:“You tried to teach us too muchFrench—that’s not why we’re here”) allthe way to useful (“I think we needmore practice paraphrasing as wholeclass, not just groups or partners”).

One reason not all comments areuseful is that many ESL studentsaren’t used to evaluating courses andteachers, and don’t know whatthey’re supposed to write. Is thecomment sheet a suggestion box? Away to thank their teachers? The fewlines of instructions at the top of thepage are probably not enough tomake this clear.

It’s worth spending five or ten minutesof class time explaining to studentswhy they’re being asked for theiropinions, how their comments will beused, and what sorts of comments are

A s students get into classes that increasingly “count” in terms ofgrades and credits, the end-of-term class party is increasinglydisplaced by end-of-term evaluations (except in classes that have a

party and then pass out evaluations—which, I’ve heard, helps one’s overallclass rating, though I’ve never tried it).

From A to Z

Are End-of-Term Evaluations Already Too Late?by Dorothy Zemach

With SGID, the

evaluation

happens while

the students are

still in class, so

the changes you

make affect the

people who

have asked for

them.

17DECEMBER 2005

useful. For example, while not amorning person, I’ve somehow alwaysended up with classes that start at 8:00a.m., which are clearly not a favorite ofstudents either. However, the class timeis definitely not negotiable. Making thisclear to a class of twenty-five studentsmeans that I’ll get only four or fivecomments about changing the class timeinstead of twenty-three.

But the real problem with comments isthat they come at a point in the termwhen you can’t do anything about them.In the fall, the listening/speaking classwants more authentic listening activities.So you change your syllabus for thespring term, only to have the new classcomplain in May that there were toomany listening activities and not enoughopportunities for conversation.

The best solution I’ve experienced is theSGID, or small-group instructionaldiagnosis, a technique for midtermclassroom evaluation that has beenaround in various forms since the 1970s.

In the version I’ve used, you arrange toswap classrooms for one class periodwith a fellow teacher around midterm.In advance, you prepare a sheet ofquestions for your students about howthe class is going. A helpful Web sitefrom the University of Washington(2005) even gives you sample questionsheets, but you’ll probably want to writeyour own.

The cooperating teacher takes over yourclass for the period and leads the classthrough the process. The teacher

distributes the sheets to the class, whichthey discuss in small groups withoutneeding to reach any kind of consensus.Students are not only allowed butencouraged to speak in their nativelanguage. I’ve done this several timeswith classes that included several coregroups speaking one language oranother and a few isolated speakers ofother languages; those students formeda group on their own and used English,and it was never a problem.

When the discussions are done, thecooperating teacher writes categoriessuch as Going well, Not going well,Suggestions on an overhead projectorsheet or a sheet of butcher paper, andsolicits responses from everyone in theclass. When several students agree, theteacher can just tally responses. Sincethe students watch the teacher write,they can make sure their ideas arereported accurately. All dissentingopinions are written down, even if thereis a clear majority. No names are used.

When the class is over, you and thecooperating teacher meet and go over thefeedback. You then discuss your responsewith the class at the next session.

Here are the advantages of SGID:

� Students hear from all others in theclass and realize that others share—or don’t share—their feelings.

� Students are more likely to reportminor concerns that they might notbother mentioning on an end-of-term form from the university.

� You have a chance to explain whyyou cannot make some changesthey’ve requested and to explainthe purpose of some unpopular activities.

� You have a chance to makereasonable changes.

This last advantage is the mostimportant, I think—it shows studentsthat you are listening, do care, and areflexible. And the evaluation happenswhile the students are still in class, sothe changes you make affect the peoplewho have asked for them. A studentonce requested that I write up the classcalendar (in outline form on thesyllabus) in calendar form. The changewas easy to make, and I handed her acalendar-style schedule at the next class.She would never have scheduled anoffice visit to request this or mentionedit as a criticism on a final evaluation, butmy change made her life easier, and shewas touchingly grateful that I did it.

Although a class period and a half mayseem like a lot of time to spend on aclass evaluation, I’ve always found itworthwhile. The second half of yourclass will go more smoothly, and, as abonus, your end-of-term evaluationswill probably be higher, too.

Reference

University of Washington, Center forInstructional Development and Research.2005. Midterm class interviews.http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/SGID.html.

In advance, you prepare a

sheet of questions for your

students about how the class

is going.

1. List the major strengths in the course. (What is helping you learn in the course?)Please explain briefly or give an example for each strength.

Strengths: __________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Explanation or example:________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

2. List changes that could be made in the course to assist you in learning. Pleaseexplain how suggested changes could be made.

Changes: ____________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Ways to make changes: ________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

18

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Out of the Out of the boxboxOut of the Out of the boxbox

he title of this article comes from a comment I heard at an

International Association of Teachers of EFL (IATEFL) Special

Interest Group (SIG) symposium in Barcelona in 2002. It neatly

sums up the idea that development can only come from within you.

But suppose you work for an institutionwhere development is not encouraged,where there never seems to be time to doanything about it, or where you are theonly language teacher and have no one toshare ideas with. How can you developin these circumstances? This article looksat some of the ways teacher developmenthas been defined over the years, at whatteachers understand by development,and most importantly, at how you candevelop yourself.

Education,Training, orDevelopment? The terms teacher training, teachereducation, and teacher development (TD) areoften used interchangeably. What is thedifference? Is there indeed a difference?

Development means change and growth.It means becoming the “best kind ofteacher that I personally can be”(Underhill 1986, 1). According to Edge(cited in Wallace 1991), “teacher trainingor education is something that can bepresented or managed by others; teacherdevelopment is something that can bedone only by and for oneself” (p. 3).Rossner (1992) identifies four keycharacteristics of teacher development:

� it is about dealing with the needsand wants of the individual teacherin ways that suit that individual ....

T

“You Can Train Me, and YouCan Educate Me, But YouCan’t Develop Me—I Develop”by Sandra Piai

20

�much of TD is seen as relating to newexperiences, new challenges and theopportunity for teachers to broadentheir repertoire and take on newresponsibilities and challenges ....� TD is not just to do with language

teaching or even teaching: it’s alsoabout language development(particularly for teachers whosenative language is not English),counselling skills, assertivenesstraining, confidence-building,computing, meditation, culturalbroadening—almost anything in fact.� TD, in most teachers’ opinions, has to

be “bottom-up,” not dished out bymanagers according to their ownview of what development teachersneed .... (p. 4)

Development Opportunities,Real and Wished-forAre the characteristics above relevant toyour situation? In 2003, the IATEFL TDSIG undertook a small research project toexplore the development opportunitiesteachers felt were available where theyworked and whether they were contentwith those opportunities. They were alsoasked what type of development theywould have in an ideal world.

The Ideal WorldHere are some of the developmentopportunities teachers said they wouldlike to have:� time to discuss teaching methods

and the like with colleagues�monthly TD sessions where teachers

of the same level, course, orprogramme coordinate and sharewhat’s happening in class meetingsfor the exchange of good practice�more liaison between teachers,

sharing of ideas, and discussion of problems�more cooperation with colleagues

who are interested in development,structured with long-term aims andtime for reflection� in-service, on-site training�more regular workshops at the

workplace rather than off-siteconferences and workshops� courses with a practical element� action research, because it allows

teachers to focus on their owndevelopment and follow research in

areas they want to work on in their teaching� time off to take credit-bearing

training courses with a specific focus

These requests seem to fit with Rossner’skey features and are similar in referring tocooperation, collaboration, and discussionwith colleagues, and in-house courses orworkshops. Basically, the teachers wantedtime to get together with other teachers,which is not often possible because ofbusy schedules.

The Real WorldOf the teachers who completed thequestionnaire, 85 percent said there wereopportunities for development where theyworked, but only 60 percent feltencouraged to develop. Teachers inprimary and secondary schools and adulteducation were more positive about thepossibilities for development than teachersin higher education were, with just under60 percent saying they were satisfied. Justover 40 percent said they did not feel theywere given sufficient time or opportunityfor development. Private sector teachersresponded more positively than their stateschool counterparts.

This research was conducted only on asmall scale, and follow-up interviewswould have been interesting. Althoughonly 10 percent of the questionnaires werereturned, the fact that more than fortyteachers took the time to return themshows the importance some teachers giveto development. You never stop learning,and teachers, more than people in mostother professions, may continue to do sothroughout their careers.

Developing YourselfHow relevant is this to teachers who workin isolation? One colleague who set up hisown school in Pakistan after the BritishCouncil closed down its schools there in2001 wrote, “When you are isolated, youdon’t have anyone to bounce ideas off andyour creativity suffers. Working on yourown can be great, but you begin to missthings like coffee breaks and friendly chatswith colleagues.”

To avoid complete professionalstagnation, he joined an online coursethat included tutor support and a chat

room. He felt that taking an online classwas better than subscribing to anelectronic discussion list because thediscussions would be more focused andrelevant to his interests.

Below are some of the ways other teacherssaid they tried to keep up-to-date:� reading journals, articles, and books� talking to other teachers� reflecting on their own teaching� going to conferences� relying on other people who are

more up-to-date� using the Web� trying to use new materials or revise

old ones�writing and editing articles� learning from their trainees

or students

While none of these ideas is new, they areall activities that you and your colleaguescan organise among yourselves, even ifTD is not encouraged where you workand even if you work in isolation.

Reflect WeeklyNot everyone likes keeping a reflectivediary. Some like the idea but find it tootime-consuming. Even if you cannotmanage a journal, try to find half an hourat the end of each week to sit downquietly, look back over the week, andwrite one good and one bad thing youremember about your lessons. Thenreflect on why you remember them andwhy they were good or bad.

If you reflect in this way each week, youcan then compare your reflections overthe weeks, throughout the term, and eventhroughout the year. You might also noteone thing you have learned each weekand reflect on “What would havehappened if … ?”

Revise Your MaterialsAnother technique for self-developmentis revising old materials. Do they alwaysneed revising? Why or why not? If theydo, how would you revise them?Thinking about these questions triggers areflective process that can lead you toexplore areas you might not otherwisehave explored.

21DECEMBER 2005

�

Discussing the materials with otherteachers can lead to discoveries aboutyourself as a person as well as a teacher.It may even lead to writing and editingarticles, both of which involve readingabout the topic of the article, checkingcertain data for accuracy, revisiting booksand articles you read a long time ago orreading new ones, and making sure youare not misquoting or misinterpreting.Perhaps from this process you will moveon to getting some of your materialspublished or even writing your own book(see Fleming Wood 2004).

Learn from the Students You TeachRinvolucri (2004) gives several examplesfrom his teaching career of how helearned from the students he workedwith. This way of learning was on the listof questionnaire responses.

You can learn from students, but how?You can learn how they like to learn, andyou can adapt how you teach accordingly.You can learn about their language andtheir culture. From their attitudes andtheir response to your materials andlessons, you can learn whether they likewhat you are doing and, as Rinvolucrisays, whether what you are doing isappropriate to their needs.

All of this aids your professional as well asyour personal development. Rinvolucrialso asks whether lawyers, doctors, and

architects learn as much from their clientsor patients as teachers can from students,which reinforces the point raised earlierabout teachers continuing to learnthroughout their careers.

Observe YourselfThere are more traditional ways ofdeveloping, even if you are in an isolatedteaching situation. One way is to set upaction research projects; these can beundertaken individually. Another way isto audiorecord lessons. Not only do youhear yourself teaching, but you often hearother things you may not have beenaware of while engaged in teaching. Forexample, recording yourself can makeyou more aware of just how clear (orunclear) your instructions are.

Become a StudentLess traditional ways to develop are toattend courses that are not related tolanguage or teaching, such asaromatherapy, yoga, drama, salsa, art, orinformation technology. Some of thesecourses will help you unwind and, as aresult, may put you in a more reflectivemood. Others will help you developdifferent creative skills, which you will beable to use later in the classroom.

In addition, putting yourself in theposition of a student helps you understandwhat your students are going through inyour classes and helps you empathise withtheir frustrations. Similarly, if you do notspeak your students’ language, think ofthe problems you might have learning it. Ifyou do speak the language, reflect on anyproblems you may have had learning it.This will help you understand how yourstudents may be feeling about learning English.

Observe Someone ElseAnother traditional form of TD is peerobservation. Peer observation can worktwo ways: you can develop fromobserving colleagues, and you can developfrom having colleagues observe you.

If you work in isolation or in aninstitution where development is notencouraged, how can you undertake peerobservation? Is it absolutely necessary forpeer observation to involve teachersteaching the same subjects? Surely,

classroom management techniques—suchas setting up pair and group work, givingclear instructions, and using visual aids—and factors such as motivation anddiscipline are relevant to all teachers? Tryto arrange peer observations with otherteachers in your school who are like-minded but teach different subjects, oreven send transcripts of your lessons toother teachers for comments.

Make Time to DevelopMost teachers I know never have enoughtime. However, putting aside a half-houron the weekend for reflection or taking acourse in something new and completelydifferent can be invigorating andstimulating and can only benefit you andthe students you teach. Talking andcollaborating more with colleagues canimprove the working environment aswell as encourage development.

I leave you with some sentences tocomplete, based on an idea by Head andTaylor (1997):� Reading this article has made me

think about ...� I can create opportunities to work

collaboratively with other teachers by ...�My students can help me

develop by ...�Next week I’m going to ...

References

Fleming Wood, L. 2004. Developing through yourmaterials. IATEFL Teacher Development SIGNewsletter 2:19–20.

Head, K., and P. Taylor. 1997. Readings in teacherdevelopment. Basingstoke, England: Heinemann.

Rinvolucri, M. 2004. Students develop their teachers.IATEFL Teacher Development SIG Newsletter 1:17–19.

Rossner, R. 1992.Where there’s a will—facilitatingteacher development. IATEFL Teacher Development SIGNewsletter 18:4–5.

Underhill, A. 1986. Editorial. IATEFL TeacherDevelopment SIG Newsletter 1:1.

Wallace, M. 1991. Training foreign language teachers.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sandra Piai is programme coordinator of the MAin English Language Teaching at the SussexLanguage Institute, University of Sussex, in theUnited Kingdom, and a former editor of theIATEFL TD SIG Newsletter.

22

“ “Basically, the teacherswanted time to gettogether with otherteachers, which is notoften possible because ofbusy schedules.

CL

23DECEMBER 2005

Practical issues.Real experience.

Jill Burton, University of South Australia, is the Case Studies series editor.

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Place Holder Please Insert JMconventionad-et1.pdf

ote for Gansukh! Support the Democratic Coalition! Free concert

tonight at the square!” The crackling message blaring from the

slowly cruising van on the street below continued throughout our

class at the National University of Mongolia. Even after we closed the window,

we were constantly reminded that the 2004 election campaign for Mongolia’s

parliament had just begun. The national vote was only three months away,

and every seat was up for grabs.

The Soviet-constructed concrete apartmentblocks all over the city were draped withimmense flapping cotton sheets andcardboard signs displaying ten-foot-tallcandidates urging the residents ofUlaanbaatar, the capital, to cast their vote forthem. Only days after we heard the vanoutside our classroom, Ulaanbaatar wastransformed. Gers (traditional Mongolianround tents) set up in each district acted ascampaign headquarters where candidatesmet with the public and their volunteersdistributed information. Less than twentyyears old, Mongolia’s democracy was in fullswing, and everyone, including the studentsI was teaching, couldn’t help but take notice.

As the campaign commenced, a group often senior-year English majors and Ibegan a spring semester class in advancedproductive skills. Throughout our initialclass discussions and free-writingsessions, the topic of the upcomingelection kept emerging. The studentswere keen to discuss the situation andlearn the vocabulary necessary to discussMongolian politics in English. I was alsocurious to know how they, as first-timevoters, reacted to the messages of thevarious candidates and parties.

Learning to ChooseI therefore decided to integrate a politicalfocus into the class, and, after receivinginput from the students, I redesigned thecourse to serve two major purposes. The

first was to help the students develop anunderstanding of the basic principles andhistory of Mongolian democracy as theyevaluated Mongolia’s current variety ofelection candidates. My second objectivewas to prepare the students for theirgrueling graduation exams in speaking,grammar, and essay writing.

I named the course The Election: Learningto Choose in the hope that the studentswould be better able to make an informedchoice when they cast their ballots at theend of the semester. I also hoped that, bypracticing productive skills through content,the students would gain confidence in theirlanguage skills before the final exams.

Platform Debates and Position PapersTo begin the course, I first created amodule based on a series of structureddebates and writing activities in whichthe students assessed the platforms ofeach of the two major competing parties. Idivided the students into two teamsrepresenting the major parties (theRevolutionary Party and the DemocraticCoalition) and asked the groups tobrainstorm the campaign policies thatthey had observed through various mediasince the campaign began. Each teamthen prepared a short position paperstating its party’s goals before presentingtheir ideas in structured debates with meacting as moderator.

V

Learning English andDemocracy in Mongoliaby Roger Cohen

24

“


The debates on different aspects of thecampaign (e.g., education, foreign policy)progressed slowly as we spent largeperiods of time in each class reviewing thevocabulary collocations and sentencestructure necessary for argumentativespeaking. Many of the debates alsosparked further discussion about thevarious, and somewhat unusual, politicalguarantees of each party. We compared thestandard political promises in U.S.elections (e.g., no new taxes, crimereduction) with the promises that hadbeen touted in the Mongolian media (landprivatization, education reform, and evenfree cash if young Mongolians tied theknot or had children).

Research on the Election ProcessThe next module further incorporated thestudy of Mongolian elections with thelearning of advanced speaking andwriting skills. As the students were goingto the polls for the first time, my initialgoal for this module was to ensure thatthey had a clear understanding of howprevious elections had influenced thecurrent political climate and how thismight affect the results of the upcomingvote. I also planned to have the studentsperfect their descriptive andargumentative writing styles—two essayforms that would weigh heavily on theirgraduation exams.

The main assignment of this modulewas a research project that began witheach student reading four articles inEnglish on the parliamentary electionsof 1996 and 2000 and selected sections ofModern Mongolia: Reclaiming GenghisKhan (Sabloff 2000). I also asked thestudents to interview three older familymembers and elicit their opinions on thetwo previous elections. After theirresearch was completed, the studentswrote a descriptive essay summarizingwhat they had read and what theirinterviewees had stated. The studentsalso composed an argumentative essaydiscussing how they felt these previouscampaigns might influence theupcoming election in late July.

The students spent several weeksworking on their essays through variouswriting tasks. Most students argued intheir writing that each party in power atthe time of an election (theRevolutionary Party in 1996 and theDemocratic Coalition in 2000) had lostdue to either gross inexperience orcorruption. Now that the influentialRevolutionary Party was in power andwas expected to win despite itslackluster performance, the students andI were curious to see if history mightrepeat itself. Would power once againmove to its polar opposite, as it had inthe previous two elections, or would theRevolutionary Party retain control, asmost in the country were predicting?

Campaign Strategy AnalysisAs the vote drew nearer, the studentsand I turned our attention to thesequestions by analyzing the campaignstrategies of both major parties. Nowthat Mongolian political candidates hadbecome more efficient at fundraisingand advertising, we also wanted todiscover what specific effects thesefactors had on a population that hadlittle experience with moderndemocratic campaigning.

For two weeks, we watched TVcampaign advertisements, readbillboards, and monitored the activitiesof the major candidates. I based severalclass discussions and essay assignmentson how these campaign advertisementsinfluenced the students’ opinions andhow the advertisements affected votersin different parts of the country. Theclass also role-played political debatesby assuming the positions of individualcandidates and having their classmatesevaluate and “vote” for the winner atthe end of the class period.

A Campaign Corpus forVocabulary and GrammarBesides the structured debates, essays,and research that the course hademphasized in previous weeks,developing the students’ linguisticcompetence for the graduation testremained a top priority. I asked the

25DECEMBER 2005

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“The student paused and said,“Maybe the politicians shouldhave taken our class.” “If I hadknown this would happen,” Ireplied, “I would have giventhem all an F.”

“

students to translate advertisements andarticles dealing with the election andused these as a tool for teaching thevocabulary of campaigning. Thestudents and I then cooperated inproducing a minicorpus of the mostcommon lexical and phrasal choices inthe speeches of different candidates. Asthe minicorpus allowed us to viewauthentic language rather than inventedexercises for vocabulary that can oftenbe artificial (Ma 1993), the students wereable to analyze genuine politicallanguage and determine whatcollocational and grammatical patternsemerged in political advertisements andcampaign speeches.

Our corpus also served as a basis for thestudents to concentrate on thegrammatical structures that they hadconsistently found troublesome. Forexample, students improved theirunderstanding of the use of passivevoice by analyzing the reasons it wasused in campaign speeches, officialdebates, and interviews (e.g., distractionor deemphasis from the subject,obfuscation). They were also able toobserve how the concept of backshiftingoccurred in reported speech and practicehow to make the proper adjustments intheir own writing.

We later reviewed differences betweensome of the perfect and simple tenses,which are especially difficult forMongolian learners to acquire, bycreating timelines of major candidates’accomplishments, and future goals andpromises. Students then outlined thepositions taken by each candidate,writing full sentences using the tenses orverb aspects that needed practice.Students then used these lists assupplemental material for their finalresearch projects.

Calling the OutcomeIn the final weeks, the studentsconducted research for grouppresentations analyzing the campaignsof both parties in the month before theelection. Each group began its researchby videotaping or noting every politicaladvertisement or speech that theywitnessed in the media over a three-day

period. The students also conducted abrief survey among the universitypopulation and Ulaanbaatar citizenryon voter preference and opinion, andinterviewed party representatives attheir local political stations.

At the conclusion of the research, theclass believed that the RevolutionaryParty would retain control ofParliament and yield only a few seatsto the Democratic Coalition. Thestudents cited the fact that, of all thepolitical advertisements they hadobserved, more than 75 percent weresponsored by the Revolutionary Party.They also stated that most of theirinterviewees remarked that theDemocratic Coalition was tooinexperienced and did not haveenough funds to prevent theRevolutionary Party from winning.The students mentioned in theirpresentations that many of theinterviewees believed that theRevolutionary Party had become toopowerful to be defeated despite itsless-than-stellar record over theprevious four years.

AftermathI returned to the United States shortlybefore the election took place. Thestudents’ presentations were still freshin my mind as I watched the campaignresults on CNN several days after thevoting had taken place. I sat aghast asmembers of the Revolutionary Partystormed Parliament protesting theoutcome of the election. Shockingly,the Democratic Coalition had won amajority of seats due to last-minutegrassroots campaigning in thecountryside. In utter disbelief, theRevolutionary Party refused to acceptthe results and staged protests inUlaanbaatar. Their anger soon led tobrawls with Democratic Coalitionparliamentarians, as TV camerasbroadcast the news around the world.

As I was viewing the politicians that thestudents had researched only weeksearlier being wrestled to the ground bysecurity forces, my telephone rang. Itwas one of the students. After wediscussed the situation, he paused and

said, “Maybe the politicians shouldhave taken our class.”

“If I had known this would happen,” Ireplied, “I would have given them allan F.”

References

Ma, B. K. C. 1993. Small-corpora concordancingin ESL teaching and learning. Hong Kong Papers inLinguistics and Language Teaching 16 (September): 11–30.

Sabloff, P. L.W., ed. 2001. Modern Mongolia:Reclaiming Genghis Khan. Philadelphia: Universityof Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Roger Cohen, who worked in Mongolia for fiveyears as a Peace Corps volunteer, SorosFoundation teacher educator, and U.S. StateDepartment senior English language fellow,currently teaches at the University of Guam.

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27DECEMBER 2005

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his story is about my son, Mohammad, whom my wife and I

decided to raise as an English user in Iran, a completely foreign

context. I, as his only direct input provider, did not have full

mastery of the English language or of U.S. and British culture.

This account describes the linguistic situation for the first five years of

Mohammad’s life.

Many young Iranian English teachers andstudents are attempting to bring up theirchildren as bilinguals. Since many peopleassociate English with success in today’sinternational world and are, at the sametime, unsure about language learningsuccess later in life, I would imagine thatsimilar trends exist in other non-English-speaking countries. My failures andsuccesses may be relevant to parents whoshare my situation, and they may alsoprovide insights to teaching colleaguesaround the world.

My English-Only PolicyBefore Mohammad was born, his motherand I agreed on a one-person, one-languagepolicy (the principle known as theGrammont Principle or GrammontFormula). His mother, a native speaker ofFarsi, spoke Farsi to him, and I, also a nativespeaker of Farsi, spoke only English to him.I continued to use Farsi with others,including his mother.

Because I had learned and was learningEnglish as an adult and taught English toadults, I had to familiarize myself with theEnglish of children. To this end, I studiedrelevant entries in children’s encyclopedias,child-care books, and children’s stories andfairy tales. Unfortunately, such books arehard to obtain here in Iran.

From the day Mohammad was born, I tookevery opportunity to take him along to allthe English-based activities I could. Theseranged from shopping and hiking trips tosightseeing tours for English or foreigncolleagues. These frequent and often longoutings were aimed at reinforcingsociolinguistic norms and helpingMohammad’s bilingual progress.Interestingly, it was noticeable that when,once in a blue moon, I addressed him inFarsi, Mohammad felt distinctly uneasy, as ifI had changed personality or was no longerfriends with him.

I was very strict in sticking to the English-only policy. I did not directly use Farsiwith him in any circumstance and had toignore complaints from different relativesabout social inappropriateness. The wholeproject seemed somewhat strange topeople who observed the father-childinteraction. However, I feared that if I usedFarsi with the child occasionally, I woulduse it more and more and damage thespecial bond we were developinglinguistically as well as potentially harmour long-term goals for Mohammad, sincehe had few other English stimuli.

I also ignored a heavy barrage of criticismfrom people who raised linguistic andcognitive concerns. Some said Mohammadwould confuse the two languages. Somebelieved he was being overloaded. Somefeared exposure to English at such an early

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Raising MohammadBilingually in Iranby Hadi Farjami

28


age would halt, or even damage, hiscognitive development, leavingpermanent losses. I rejected the criticismas simply misconceived.

English Input, Farsi OutputBecause Farsi was the dominant languageof the environment and in many areas thechild was poorly and insufficientlyexposed to English, Mohammad choseFarsi as his only language of oralproduction. The only exception toMohammad’s choice of which language touse orally was when he created a fewstories in English, which I jotted down. Weaccepted this situation readily as wethought pressuring the child to speakEnglish might check the fluent expressionof his feelings and ideas and harm hispsychological and social development.

At the age of three, Mohammad had quitea large vocabulary in English, and mycommunication with him (I spoke inEnglish, and Mohammad responded inFarsi) was no less successful than hismother’s. In some areas (e.g., nature,animals, and games) his passivevocabulary was considerably larger inEnglish. Bedtime was often a propitiousoccasion for language work asMohammad and I cuddled together and Itold or created stories, which he couldeasily follow. The journey of a leaf or aconversation between a pebble and a treefascinated him, and he would reenactthose stories the following day.

Motivating Reading in EnglishIn spite of the initial successes notedabove, I soon realized that my deficientEnglish was already having an effect. Ihad known that this would be a problemlater, but I was surprised that it becameone so early. I realized that Englishliteracy could make up for the poverty ofEnglish stimuli.

I started with flash cards. Mohammadalready knew the English alphabet byheart and sight. I posted words on thewalls, and he gradually learned them.When he had mastered a word and gotit right even when the card wasrelocated, I removed it and put it in astack for later review.

Some elementary language teachingprograms on CD-ROM also helped hispassive vocabulary and word recognition.However, Mohammad, who was nowalmost four years old, had not yet startedto read and was therefore unmotivated ashe could not sense the purpose all learnersneed. He needed frequent goads andreminders to start an activity.

I decided to appeal to his interest in jungleanimal stories. I started telling him excitingstories but kept him in suspense until heproduced the sentences in writing withsome help from me and posted them onthe wall in the right order. The sentenceswere frequently visited and reviewed, andnew ones were added to the current story.This program continued for four short

stories, which took a few weeks.Nevertheless, I realised we were makinglittle headway. Mohammad’s lack ofinterest was also easy to see.

A Subtle Path to the ZPDAnalyzing the situation and considering itin the light of recognised learning theorieshelped me deal with the problem based ona sounder psychological and educationalfoundation. I had always been fascinatedby Vygotsky (e.g., 1978) and his zone ofproximal development (ZPD) and byKrashen’s (1985) suggestions on languageacquisition and natural learning,particularly his input hypothesis. I alsonoticed that children are sensitive tonegative feedback and that I should beusing much more discretion and subtlety.

So, when Mohammad was about fourand half years old, I opted for a practicaltechnique informed by the idea ofscaffolding (Vygotsky 1978) andcharacterized by the absence of manifest evaluation.

Specifically, I chose Four Clever People(Howe 1995), grade four in the Start withEnglish Readers series, which includesfour very simple short stories that weretotally new to Mohammad. All thematerial we needed was a pencil or a penand slips of paper. I found rectangularslips cut out of A4 paper very handy andmade four slips out of each sheet. I readone sentence from a story to him andmade sure that it did not present

“

“

When, once in a blue moon, I addressed him in Farsi,Mohammad felt distinctly uneasy, as if I had changedpersonality or was no longer friends with him.

29DECEMBER 2005

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comprehension problems. On one sideof the slip I wrote the words of thesentence in scrambled order, and on theother I wrote letter-spaces for each wordin the right order. I filled in letters forthe more challenging words so that hewas sure to fill in the missing words andletters successfully. In this way,Mohammad began to understand theidea of the sentence in action as well asimproving his mechanics, such ashandwriting and spelling.

I used a few standard rules, whichMohammad quickly became familiar with,as we worked through the four stories. Oncompletion of each sentence task, I wouldpraise Mohammad with a smallexpression of satisfaction or a pat on theback. I broke longer sentences into smallerones. I never pushed him hard to start thissentence work, but as soon as he seemedready, I would gently prompt him to getthe materials. Once we had started,Mohammad would frequently insist that Iprepare another sentence frame, but weseldom did more than four sentences inone session.

I never read or prepared a frame for thenext sentence until he had successfullyread the sentence under practice. At thestart of each practice session, beforetrying a new sentence, I asked him topresent the last sentence from his slipstacks and read it.

After about two months from the start ofthe sentence completion project, we hadcompleted the first three stories, andMohammad wanted to read full storieswithout stopping the sentence completionproject. Since his preference for readingwhole texts was quite perceptible, Iterminated the sentence completionprogram when we moved into anothergrade four storybook from the same series.We started a new program that includedcopying, doing dictionary work, andwriting down the jungle stories he toldspontaneously in English.

A Five-Year-Old, CreativeUser of EnglishBy the time Mohammad was about fiveyears old, his reading and storytellingwere creative and systematic. When I

gave him a simple storybook, he couldread it fluently. When I gave him a bookfor adults, he could read many of thewords clearly, including those he didnot understand. Sometimes he replacedsome words with close approximations,which showed that he was attacking thewords holistically.

And what about Mohammad’s progress inhis other language, Farsi? His mother, whohad also begun to use flash cards andsimilar techniques, could only envy thissuccess because his Farsi literacy nowlagged far behind his English.

References

Howe, D. H. 1995. Four clever people. Start withEnglish Readers Series, Grade Four. Oxford:Oxford University Press.

Krashen, S. 1985. The input hypothesis.London: Longman.

Vygotsky, L. S. 1978. Mind in society:Thedevelopment of higher psychological processes.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Hadi Farjami, an assistant professor at SemnanUniversity, in Iran, has been teaching EFLcourses for twelve years.

30

I was very strict in stickingto the English-only policy.I did not directly use Farsiwith Mohammad in anycircumstance and had toignore complaints fromrelatives about socialinappropriateness.

“ “

31DECEMBER 2005

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quipping students with what they need to write effectively is no

easy task. If you could let them know that many of the essays

they write are closely related to how their thoughts are

organized, they might look at the writing process differently and

be a little more willing to pick up a pen or sit in front of a keyboard.

This article looks at a writing approach thatencourages students to write by revealingthat it is a complex process and not simply amatter of text organisation. Prior tobecoming language, thought begins withinbroader cognitive domains. Therefore, youmay be able to help your students producequality writing by building their awarenessof thought construction.

A Different Approach to Essay WritingMost writing textbooks introduce differentrhetorical kinds of process writing (e.g.descriptive, narrative, cause and effect, andopinion), but they don’t really show how tocombine the various kinds into a coherentessay. Nor do they show that the differenttypes are related to cognition and that thisrelation can be useful when making thesisstatements, which are crucial to successfulacademic writing.

In an effort to integrate cognition withprocess essay writing and encourage anew, constructive essay-writing approach,this article introduces domain blendingand domain networking via sociocognitivemetaphorm. This way of looking at essaywriting is in line with sociocognitivelearning (Hill 2004), an approach toteaching that combines socioculturaltheory (Lantolf 2000) and cognitivegrammar (Langacker 1987). Sociocognitivemetaphorm maintains that second languageand grammar acquisition is a bidirectional

knowledge construction process (i.e., fromsociocultural to cognitive and vice versa)and that, through this process and throughinteraction with underlying cognitiveschemata, metaphor connects meaningmaking to form.

What domain blending does is reevaluatethe comparison-and-contrast essay in a newcognitive context. This reevaluation involvesthe use of metaphor and metonymy as basicfunctions, which are often labeled the topic(the content of the discourse) and the vehicle(the metaphorical focus) (Cameron 2003).Many of the most basic concepts, likequantity, time, change, action, cause, andmodality, use metaphor as a conduit forcomprehension (Lakoff 1993). Domainnetworking builds upon the metaphoriccognitive basis of domain blending byorganizing cognition into four structurallevels—prototypes, spatiotemporal relations,causation, and social roles (MacWhinney1999), each of which can be respectivelyapplied to descriptive, narrative, cause-and-effect, and opinion essays.

Guiding Students through theDomain-Networking EssayFor students to become cognitivelyautonomous and produce descriptive andnarrative discourse, teachers need tomake them aware of each of the fourcognitive organizers (i.e., prototypes,spatiotemporal relations, causation, and

E

Linking Essay Types andCognitive Domains by Kent Hill

32


social roles) when introducing the fourrespective kinds of essays. Hence, beforethey produce any language, studentsshould be encouraged to make mentalimages by using what I call the domain-networking matrix. It is based on the ideathat mental models and cognitivesimulations help students producedescriptive and narrative discourse,better understand academic concepts,and integrate the four cognitiveorganizers to link inner and outerspeech. Rather than linear, this processis dialectical.

For the domain-networking essay, I oftengive topics such as “The Perfect …” or“The Future of …” The intention of thefirst topic is to get students thinking inexemplars, and the second gets themthinking state-of-the-art. After theycomplete the title, I ask them to fill in eachof the four areas of the domain-networking matrix with as many examplesas they can (see the diagram below). Fiveor six examples for each of the foursections are great. Then they choose theirfavorite from each one. This linkingtogether of the domains is metaphorically

similar to the connectionist concept ofneural networks (Pulvermuller 2002).

By combining their favorite examplefrom each area into one grammaticallycorrect sentence, students should end upwith a clear, explicit thesis statement. Ihave found this method to be moreeffective than other organizers, such asmind maps, at least with academictopics. Additionally, their favorite fromeach domain can be used as the topicsentence for each body paragraph in theessay, and the other examples they havewritten can be used as supportingsentences for each respective paragraph.

Prototypes and the Descriptive EssayThe typical descriptive essay requiresstudents to describe an object from either asubjective or an objective perspective—or,put another way, from either a first-personor a third-person viewpoint. This ability toview an object in a very basic way issimilar to the cognitive construct ofprototypes, or best examples.

Prototypes are grounded mostly in thevisual area of the brain (Pulvermuller2002), and this domain is for the most partnoun based. It builds on the comparison-and-contrast, meaning-making metaphordomain and can be divided intosuperordinate (e.g., canine), basic (e.g., dog),and subordinate (e.g., collie) categories.This domain has a mainly word-levelfocus, and the grammar that begins toemerge in students’ writing is, forexample, related to countable or massnouns. This slightly edited example isfrom a student’s descriptive essay, called“The Future of Technology”:

In addition, most electric householdappliances can be worked by mobilephone that has multiple functions. Youcan heat a bath, turn on an airconditioner, and confirm the housesecurity and the like anytime andeverywhere if you want. Therefore, it isnot necessary to walk around in thehouse specially to pick up remotecontrollers and to turn on the switches.

The three levels of prototypes enhancestudents’ ability to describe using nounsand adjectives. They also illustrate thatuse of written grammar, as opposed tospoken grammar, emerges as a result ofregrouping, reordering, andreorganizing thoughts.

Spatiotemporal Relations and theNarrative EssayThe most important part of a narrativeessay is the plot. Typically, the plotdevelops in four chronological stages:background, conflict, resolution, andending. These four stages are also relatedto the metaphors of time is space or time ismotion and the concept of grounding (i.e.,foregrounding and backgrounding) incognition and narrative discourse. Todevelop the sequence of actions necessaryfor narration, this second cognitive domainincorporates a set of spatiotemporalreference frames located in the activityarea of the brain. Since this domain isactivity or verb based, it has an addedtriangular dimension between a speaker-centered, an object-centered, and anenvironment-centered frame.

Temporal relations also use these threeanalogous frames, whose specifiedperspectives match up with the tense oraspect in the sentence. To illustrate, the

33DECEMBER 2005

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The Future of Low Birthrate

1. Descriptive Prototypes(e.g., Women do not have babies./Women are

professionals.)

2. Narrative Spaciotemporal Relations(e.g., In the past, women raised children at home/women

didn’t work or go to university/people depended onfamily members.)

3. Causation(e.g., Many women work in offices./Women are educated

and have good salaries./People now depend ontechnology.)

4. Social Roles & Opinions(e.g., Society should help raise children/Women with

children should not work.)

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = Thesis Statement(e.g., It is difficult for working women to care for children,

so society should help them raise children.)

speaker-centered dimension is what thespeaker senses visually or actively andmatches up to the present tense orprogressive aspect. Depending on whetherthe object-centered dimension (i.e., aninanimate object) is ahead of the speaker,behind it, or simultaneous with it, thisdimension matches either future or pasttense or perfect aspect, respectively. Andthe environment-centered dimensioninvolves landmark (e.g., earth or sky) andcardinal (e.g., north and south) orientationin the same way that tense and aspect areused to shape discourse.

Showing students these three levels andasking them to alter the chronologicalsequence of narrative events facilitates thecorrect use of tense, aspect, and adverbials.Notice the use of the present perfect(underlined in the same student’s essay):

Thanks to technological innovation,exhaustion of carbon dioxide (CO2) andother harmful gases from vehicles andfactories have reduced. Therefore, thesky is clear and the air is getting betterthan before. However, there are billionsof tons of CO2 that we exhausted intothe atmosphere for a long time and stillremain without being dissolved. Thusaverage temperature has risen up 5 for100 years.

In their visual systems, people can detectspace and motion, but there isn’t any wayto detect time, so the conceptual forms oftense and aspect and the ability to alter ordeviate from chronological order have alsodeveloped from the comparison-and-contrast function of metaphor andmetonymy. Spatially, people speak ofobjects, but the temporal relations are bestthought of as events.

Causation and the Cause-and-Effect EssayThe third cognitive level is sentential, andit is the one that is most centrally involvedin the emergence of grammar. This is thesystem of causal action constructions,which allows people to understand theaction and centrality of a verb from theperspective of the subject, namely, subject-verb-object (SVO) and transitivity. Therelationship among cause, effect, andresult in this domain creates a new form oflexicogrammatical meaning derived fromthe different possible constructionsbetween objects, motion, time, and space.

At this level, by understanding theinterrelation in the chain of the cause-and-effect relationship along with thespatiotemporal prototypical basis, students’writing should show problem-solvingability (the causal phrase is underlined):

Because of technology, people got tobe indifferent about cultureregrettably. Japanese traditionalhouses and food almost disappearedso that an old-fashioned house whichhas tatami, shouji and kawara isregarded as out of date. Instead ofeating vegetables, we take many kindsof tablet, what is called “supplement.”They provide all nourishment.

Problem solving is closely related tomeaning making. At this point, theconnections between scientific concepts(i.e., superordinate categories) as comparedwith spontaneous ones (i.e., basic-levelcategories) and grammar are irrevocable.This level also sees the linking of clausesaccording to cause and effect:

SVO because SVO = causeSVO so SVO = effect

Social Roles and the Opinion EssayThe fourth cognitive level allows for theadoption of the sociocognitiveperspectives on other human beings.This cognitive level has manysimilarities to forms of social interactionthat display mastery of language, suchas the giving of opinions, persuasion,and argument. If students haveorganized each previous domain in theway I have outlined, they should be ableto express opinions with less chance ofbias or faulty logic. For example, onestudent wrote,

Technology developments make ourlives easier and convenient. Howeverwe are now facing many otherproblems. It seems that we are losingour original human life. We need tothink of what we are really in need.

In this way, social relationships (e.g.,between leaders and others) andopportunities for social change developthrough language. In terms of itslinguistic reflexes, this system goesbeyond the sentential level to involvethe more salient features of discoursepatterning. Additionally, after studentshave developed an opinion, they may be

ready to start a research-writing projectto determine to what extent societyshares their opinion.

The Outer Limits of DomainsA sociocognitive approach to writing linksdifferent kinds of essays with differentcognitive domains, and each of thesedomains establishes a partial reflection ofcognition. The approach stresses a focus ondeveloping thought processes in tandemwith writing processes to restructurestudents’ schemata so that they learn todevelop nonspontaneous concepts (e.g.,thesis statements). Showing students theconnection between thought constructionand text organization may help them seehow to write more effectively.

References

Cameron, L. 2003. Metaphor in educationaldiscourse. London: Continuum.

Hill, K. 2004. Quantum leaps in language learning.In JALT 2003 conference proceedings: Keeping currentin language education, ed. M. Swanson and K. Hill,574–82.Tokyo: Japan Association for Language Teaching.

Lakoff, G. 1993. Contemporary theory ofmetaphor. In Metaphor and thought, ed.A. Ortony,202–51. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Langacker, R. 1987. Foundations of cognitivegrammar. Vol. 1:Theoretical prerequisites. Stanford:Stanford University Press.

Lantolf, J. 2000. Sociocultural theory and secondlanguage learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

MacWhinney, B. 1999.The emergence of languagefrom embodiment. In The Emergence of language,ed. B. MacWhinney, 213–56. Mahwah, NJ:Lawrence Erlbaum.

Pulvermuller, F. 2002. The neuroscience of language.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kent Hill, specially assigned lecturer at SeigakuinUniversity, in Japan, is completing his doctoratein the teaching of language as sociocognitivemetaphorm at the University of Nottingham.

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Out of the Box is edited by Phil Quirke ([email protected]).See http://www.tesol.org/ for submission guidelines.

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35DECEMBER 2005

Managing ESL Programs in Rural and Small Urban Schools Barney Bérubé

This resource offers aid and comfort to the ESL manager in U.S. rural andsmall urban communities. It describes how a small program of services canfit into the standards movement and how to staff such a program.

This volume will guide you through the challenges and offer the tools necessary to support an ESL program. It contains a wealth of suggestionsfor instruction, student assessment, program evaluation, parent and community involvement, and multimedia resources.

A practical and timely guide for the ESL manager, this is a volume to use, to share, and to revisit often.





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Collaborative Conversations Among Language Teacher Educators

Margaret Hawkins and Suzanne Irujo, Editors

This distinctive volume captures collaborative work among language teacher educators. Rich hours of conversation enable teacher educators to critically engage with issues concerning language teaching and language learning.

This volume will be of interest to teachers and teacher educators who alreadyunderstand the power of nonjudgmental collaborative inquiry—and to those whoare ready to discover it.

Topics include collaborative groups, in-service professional development, using a negotiated syllabus, linguistics, research in language teacher education, and language teachers’ teachingknowledge.

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Activities By Teachers, For Teachers

New Ways in TESOL Series

The popular New Ways series offers languageteachers effective classroom techniques andactivities. This 18-volume series includes topicssuch as authentic materials, communicativegames, English for specific purposes, English atthe secondary level, content-based instruction,reading, speaking, and many others.

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37DECEMBER 2005

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initially attract youth to the center. Socialinteractions around technology in the computer labinvite students to cross racial, ethnic, and linguisticlines in ways that are not always available in theclassroom. At the pedagogical level, inside thecomputer lab, youth find multiple opportunities tobecome peer teachers. They become more aware ofwhat it means to be a learner and how theythemselves can become teachers. Finally, at thelinguistic level, students use language in patternedways around technology, which provides insight intothe kinds of language learning opportunitiesavailable to English language learners.

The technological resources available to you andthe students you teach may be basic, advanced, orin between. In any case, you can maximize your useof the computer lab with students by following somepractical tips for teaching at each level.

Side-by-Side Social InteractionEducators often talk about the viability ofcommunicating via computers in labs as analternative to face-to-face interaction (see “Why theElectronic Class Will Not Replace the Face-to-FaceClass,” Essential Teacher, Spring 2004). Technology-based interactions can promote culturally sensitivedialogue among students in the same physical spaceby allowing them to contribute their ideas throughwriting, which is sometimes less threatening thanoral interaction (Warschauer 1996).

Maximizing Face-to-Face and OnlineInteraction in the Computer Lab

What makes using technology better than

not using it? This question about the

benefits and drawbacks of using

technology has come up often in my work with

English language learners and technology. Although

I am a technophile, I have moments of doubt—

particularly when the inevitable technical glitches

happen at the worst possible times.

by Paige Ware

Lately, however, I have come to think abouttechnology from a slightly different angle. Thequestion is not always whether technology is betterthan or as good as face-to-face teaching. After all,for many teachers and students, technology hasbecome part of the fabric of everyday learning,teaching, and communicating both inside andoutside the classroom (Hull and Schultz 2002). Amore relevant question now seems to be, How canteachers use technology in ways that contributepurposefully and meaningfully to student learning?

Technology as a FulcrumBased on my work with elementary and middleschool students and technology, I offer a partialanswer to this question. In a university andcommunity collaborative project designed to bringelementary and middle school youth from a low-income urban neighborhood into a technology-richafter-school literacy program, students workindividually and in groups in a computer lab tocreate multimedia movies, or digital stories (Hull2003), about their lives and their communities.Adults at the center help facilitate student learningand teaching as they work together on theseliteracy-intensive and technology-rich projects.

Technology in this program is a fulcrum for socialinteraction and peer teaching and learning on atleast three levels. First, at the social level,technology provides the material resources that

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In the computer lab, communication takes placeboth through and around computers. In other words,technology serves as a vehicle for promotinginteraction among students located in the samephysical space. I like to call this side-by-sideinteraction, in which students have moreopportunities than they would in a traditionalclassroom environment to engage in verbal andwritten dialogue as they work on collaborativeprojects involving technology. As an educator, youcan organize activities to promote this type of side-by-side interaction.

Structure Learning in Pairs and GroupsMany of the best conversations take place whenpeople do not necessarily have the explicit goal oftalking in mind. They talk while cooking, driving, orwaiting in lines; in short, conversations often occuras part of social activities.

The same holds true for students. When they work ongroup projects, their engagement in a common activitypromotes conversations among individuals who mightotherwise not interact. Technology allows such groupprojects to have tangible outcomes: photographycollages, interviews, multimedia stories, andnewsletters, to name a few. Conversation naturallyoccurs as students negotiate their tasks, solveproblems, take short breaks, and present their work.

Structure Use of Technology intoIcebreaker Activities Some of the most basic software programs canprovide students with creative ways to learn aboutone another. I often teach students how to useMicrosoft PowerPoint by having them make a simple,three-frame slide show about themselves.

I start by explaining the motto Each one, teach oneand make explicit the expectation that knowledge is forsharing. I then show a team of four students how touse a digital camera and the voice-recording functionof PowerPoint. While most students locate images onthe Internet for their slide show, the team of fourcirculates and teaches everyone else how to use thetechnology. Through creative icebreaker activities likethis one, students have the chance not only to sharesomething about themselves, but also to becomelearners and teachers of basic technology skills.

The Pedagogical Value of aShared ScreenThe variety of tasks, resources, and interactions madeavailable to students through technology hasmultiplied the definitions of learning (Lemke 1996).In technology-rich contexts, peer teaching oftenoccurs naturally among students without explicitsupport from teachers. In many informal encounters,students can become tutors who readily hand downknowledge to others, the tutees.

In many cases, however, peer teaching becomessomewhat lopsided because the roles of tutor andtutee become fixed rather quickly. I have foundseveral techniques useful for ensuring that studentstake turns being learners and teachers.�

39DECEMBER 2005

What will happen if I click here?What will happen if I click here?

And now, what do you think I’m going to do?And now, what do you think I’m going to do?

What should I type now?What should I type now?

My style is to ask predictive

questions that help lead

students to think about the

processes they are using and

to gradually develop their own

strategies for self-teaching

and problem solving.

Foster an Awareness of Who Controls the MouseAll too often, teachers are pressed for time in theclassroom, and a natural reaction to a request forhelp with the computer is often simply to show thequestioner how to do it.

To avoid positioning learners as passive, I showstudents how to become aware of who is in controlof the interaction. The easiest way for them tounderstand this concept is through a visual check ofwho is controlling the mouse. We then can talkabout what it means to be actively involved orpassively involved as learners.

Model Interactive Teaching When teaching their peers, students often rely ondiscourse patterns that their teachers use withthem. As a result, you can learn a great deal bylistening to your own instructional language.

My style is to ask predictive questions that helplead students to think about the processes they areusing and to gradually develop their own strategiesfor self-teaching and problem solving. Oneafternoon, as I listened to Inma, a nine-year-oldEnglish language learner, I noticed how she usedthis strategy to teach Kathy, an adult volunteer,how to size images in Adobe Photoshop:

Inma: I want more of a grayish background. SoI’m gonna go over here, go here, go here,uh oh, something happened.

Kathy: I think you have to go to the bigger ones, 640.

Inma: I know what to do now. I step backward,and step backward. And now, what do youthink I’m going to do?

Kathy’s suggestion to “go to the bigger ones”potentially positioned Inma as a passive learner, aposition that she resisted. Inma skillfullyrepositioned herself as the active teacher byechoing the kind of predictive questions she hadlearned: “And now, what do you think I’m going to

do?” Such pedagogical moves demonstrate thesubtle ways that children learn to take on roles asactive learners and teachers around technology.

Support for a Variety ofLinguistic Forms and Functions Besides the broader social and pedagogicalinteractions that occur around technology, I am alsoconcerned about the forms and functions of Englishthat are available to students working withcomputers. Here are some suggestions for supportinga variety of language forms and functions.

Notice the Types of Linguistic InteractionsThat Take Place around ComputersMuch of the linguistic interaction that takes placearound computers involves highly procedurallanguage. Students point to the screen and usesimple imperatives: put this here, scroll down there,move the cursor over here, click back, click forward,or type this. Certainly, such language has animportant function around computers, but it has itslimitations in diversifying English learners’interactional repertoire.

Make an effort to become aware of what specificlinguistic demands are placed on students whenthey are working with technology. Sometimes youmay need to design tasks specifically to targetforms and functions of language that move awayfrom procedural language.

Expand the Language Patterns Usedaround ComputersStudents can more easily move beyond the languageof simple imperatives if you integrate structuredopportunities for social and pedagogical interactionaround computers.

For example, I often give English language learnershandouts with prompts that focus on differentaspects of their multimedia projects. Third-gradestudents in a summer program might receive a“watch-and-tell” form with three large boxes for

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comments on three particular features of anotherstudent’s digital story: use of verbal details, diversityof visual images, and choice of background music.Students choose a partner, watch their digital story,and record at least one comment and one question ineach box. This form is then used during sharing time,when we gather as a large group to discuss revisionsto the multimedia projects.

Alternatively, eighth-grade students in an after-school program, working at their own pace onprojects, have handouts that take them step-by-stepthrough different software functions, such as sizingimages, enhancing photos, or importing pictures.They select information from these handouts toteach themselves and then write comments on thehandout before filing it in their personal folder.

Giving feedback and monitoring their own learningprovide important, even indispensable, opportunitiesfor students to push beyond the mere mechanical“how-to” language that can quickly dominate acomputer lab. Over time, students develop not only amore critical eye but also a larger vocabulary andmore complex syntactical structures.

Make Good Use of What You HaveNot all educators have the luxury of turning toInternet-connected computer labs when teachingEnglish language learners. However, as Warschauer(2003) has pointed out, access to computers in U.S.classrooms is not that uncommon, either. Notions of adigital divide have shifted, he notes, from a focus onmaterial access to an eye on the different ways thatpeople make use of technology for social practices.

With that in mind, consider carefully how well youutilize whatever technology you have available in waysthat support the multiple levels of social, pedagogical,and linguistic interactions that enfold students.

References

Hull, G. 2003. At last: Youth culture and digital media: Newliteracies for new times. Research in the Teaching of English38:229–33.

Hull, G., and K. Schultz. 2002. School’s out: Bridging out-of-school literacies with classroom practice. New York: TeachersCollege Press.

Lemke, J. L. 1998. Metamedia literacy: Transformingmeanings and media. In Handbook of literacy and technology:Transformation in a post-typographic world, ed. D. Reinking,M. C. McKenna, L. D. Labbo, and R. D. Kieffer, 283–301.Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Warschauer, M. 1996. Comparing face-to-face and electronicdiscussion in the second language classroom. CALICO Journal13(2): 7–26.

. 2003. Technology and social inclusion: Rethinking thedigital divide. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Paige Ware, who works with second language learners andtechnology, is an assistant professor at Southern MethodistUniversity, in the United States.

41DECEMBER 2005

idea is for the students to manage the vocabularyand the different kinds of discourse used in theirfields. Regarding study skills, students learn, forexample, outlining, mind mapping, brainstorming,and taking notes from readings and lectures.Cognitive and metacognitive strategies are alsointroduced in each course.

Face-to-Face Classes ComplementFlexible Online SessionsHaving F2F as well as online class sessions givesstudents the opportunity to experience differentkinds of activities and modes of learning.

In the required F2F sessions, students discussreadings and present group projects to their classmates.The classes allow the students to practice and toreceive feedback from their classmates before theypresent their work to their architecture and urbanplanning teachers. Students also do simulations inwhich they prepare classes as if they were teachers ofarchitecture and urban planning. These activities areself-, peer, and teacher evaluated with rubricsgenerated by the students and the teacher. Thestudents receive individual and group grades.

Blended Learning Offers theBest of Both Worlds

Imagine EFL students doing oral presentations for

an authentic audience from different countries or

listening to presentations by a group of invited

guest tutors from all over the world. Through blended

courses (courses that include an online component as

well as face-to-face [F2F] classroom activities) at

Universidad Simón Bolívar, in Caracas, Venezuela,

students have increased their exposure to the target

language, learned how to use Web tools, and gained

flexibility in how and when they learn.

by Dafne González

Nearly four years ago, after I joined the onlinecommunity of practice called Webheads in Action(Stevens 2005; see the review in Essential Teacher,Spring 2004), my professional practice changed fromteaching purely F2F to teaching blended coursesbecause of these benefits. The English forArchitecture and Urban Planning Program at theuniversity has always been student centered,following a content-, task-, and collaborativelearning–based approach (see González and St.Louis 2002). To enhance the program with an onlinecomponent, I designed some blended courses.

Authentic Materials, Field-Specific PracticeThe courses aim to provide practice in English in thecontext of the students’ fields, architecture and urbanplanning. Each course has objectives in three areas:content, language, and study skills. The content isrelated to the subject matter taught in the two careerpaths. The course materials are authentic, consisting ofonline journals and magazines, books, articles, videos,photos, and blogs intended for and created byarchitects and urban planners.

The language is taught through the content of thespecialty. Teachers give grammatical explanations tostudents individually, according to their needs. The

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In the online classes, students access the wealthof resources found on the Web and learn to use manyWeb tools. For the online component, students havethe freedom to attend class from home, from thecomputer lab, or from anywhere else. I do not takeattendance; what counts is that students completethe weekly individual, pair, or group activities.

As soon as I get to the computer classroom for thesesessions, I open the instant messaging software Yahoo!Messenger (see http://messenger.yahoo.com/) andinvite all students—those in the lab and those atremote sites—to a conference. In this way, I can talkto everyone and give instructions; the students canalso communicate among themselves. For group work,they open other conferences in Yahoo! Messenger andget to work as if they were in a traditional classroom.

Web Tools with a Purpose The online component takes advantage of a variety ofWeb tools, the most important being the class Website and the course management system Moodle (see http://moodle.org/ and the review in this issue).

Class Web SiteEach course has its own Web site, where studentshave access to the course syllabus, schedule, weeklyactivities, assessment plan, and resources (for twoexamples, see González 2004, 2005a, 2005b). TheWeb site gives the course flexibility: I prepare the

skeleton of the site before each course starts, but Irevise and gradually complete it as the coursedevelops. As necessary, I make changes and addrubrics generated by students, presentations by guesttutors, and student work.

Management with MoodleMoodle is a course management system that providesthe virtual learning environment for the asynchronouscommunication in the course. With Moodle, studentscarry out class activities using a set of modules, andI can keep track of which students visit the platform,how long they spend there, and where they go. Iorganize the material by week so that students canfind the required modules for each activity.

Using Moodle’s Forums module, students discuss thevarious topics presented, hand in assignments, giveopinions, and ask questions. The Wiki module enablesgroups of users to author documents collectively in asimple markup language using a Web browser.Students use Wiki for collaborative activities such aswriting group compositions, sharing the addresses oftheir blogs, or selecting readings. With the Journalmodule, students can write to me about any topic,knowing that I will get back to them in no more thantwelve hours.

The Glossary module, which allows participants tocreate and maintain a searchable list of definitions, isone of my favorites. As students read articles, view�

43DECEMBER 2005

Syllabus • Timetable • Activities • Assessment • Contact • References • Exercises

English for Architecture and Urban Planning

Each course has its own Web site, where

students have access to course information

and resources.

videos, or attend speakers’ presentations, they jot downunfamiliar vocabulary, look it up in online dictionariessuch as OneLook (http://www.onelook.com/), andcreate a glossary entry by defining the word,translating it, writing a sentence with it, and adding animage if possible. I use the entries as the source ofinteractive online exercises and vocabulary quizzescreated with, for example, the online quiz and exercisecreator at Quia (http://www.quia.com/). The fact thatthe students create their own glossary means that I donot have to guess at the words students do not know.

Recording with HandybitsWith the free application Handybits Voice Mail(http://www.handybits.com/voicemail.htm), studentscan record messages to send via e-mail or save ontheir hard disk. In the course, students use Voice Mailto record summaries of readings, narrations forpresentations, and messages to me. One year, studentsrecorded scenes from the play Albert’s Bridge (Stoppard1969), which they worked on with a guest tutor in theNetherlands, Arnold Mühren. This play served as aliterary intermezzo to introduce a unit on bridges.

Tailored WebQuestsWebQuests have been invaluable for my courses. Eventhough the architecture and urban planning studentsin my courses share some interests, they also need tolearn different vocabulary items and kinds ofdiscourse. Designing WebQuests for each group ofstudents helps me address these differences. Forexample, one trimester I designed a WebQuest onhouse plans for the architecture students and asimulation WebQuest for the urban planning students.

Interacting Live OnlineMy students say that they enjoy most and learn themost from the live online interactive activities inthe course. So far, students have participated inthree different kinds of live online activities: groupchats for collaborative group work, online oralpresentations for a foreign audience, and interactionwith guest tutors from different countries.

Focused Group Discussion After watching videos or reading articles related tothe topic under discussion, students chat with twoor three other classmates to share their views,compare and contrast the readings, relate thecontent to their core subject matter, and come upwith conclusions. The chat logs generated by eachgroup are then posted to a forum in Moodle.Sometimes, students publish them on theirindividual blogs.

Rising to the Challenge of Presenting OnlinePresenting online for an international audience hasbeen a challenging and wonderful experience for thestudents. My purpose in including this activity wasto have students present their projects to anauthentic audience that would listen for contentmore than for correctness of the language. Althoughthe students were nervous because they knew theywere being evaluated, they agreed to participatebecause they had been interacting via chat withsome of my international colleagues in the firstweeks of the course.

Each pair of students prepared a project in whichthey evaluated a building in Caracas. Together, thestudents designed a rubric containing the criteriafor evaluating each of the aspects they consideredimportant, based on the architectural literature.Students created Microsoft PowerPointpresentations, which were converted to Web pagesand presented to an online audience of invitedteachers gathered in a virtual room at Alado (seehttp://www.alado.net/).

The results were amazing. The students carried outtheir presentations well, and the audience, most ofwhom had never been to Caracas, asked good questionsand gave useful feedback. Students who were notpresenting interacted via text chat with the audience,helping the presenters answer the guests’ questions (fora report on this activity, see González 2005a, underAssessment). Interestingly, after their presentations, allthe students said they felt more at ease than whenthey had presented F2F to their classmates.

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Learning from International Guest TutorsAs described above, one guest tutor helped the studentsrecord scenes from a play. One trimester, another guestgave a presentation on rhythm and acoustics, and agroup of six guest tutors spoke about bridges in theircountries, following my guidance on which aspects tocover. The guests were five teachers from Argentina,Denmark, Germany, Japan, and Portugal, and a civilengineer from Canada, who was part of the team thathad designed the bridge he was to present.

The presentations were given at Alado and at theonline community LearningTimes.org(http://www.learningtimes.org/) using thecollaboration software Elluminate (seehttp://www.elluminate.com/). The presentationsincluded Web pages, photo stories, photo blogs, andPowerPoint presentations. Using such a wide range oftools helped students come up with ideas for theirown final projects. (For a report on thesepresentations, see González 2004, under Syllabus.)

Blogging Their Thoughts AwayFor the course, students set up blogs at LiveJournal(http://www.livejournal.com/) and Blogger(http://www.blogger.com/), which offer simple-to-useblogging tools. They have discussed readings, videos,and presentations by guest speakers; shared Webresources; and published photos, including those oftheir own projects. The students’ acceptance of thisactivity has exceeded my expectations. Through it, theyare becoming experts at blogging their thoughts inEnglish and getting feedback from all over the world.

The Potential of PodcastingIn fall 2005, I used podcasting in the course for thefirst time (see González 2005b). In podcasting, userslisten to content on a Web site instead of reading iton their computer screen. If they wish, they candownload the content to a CD or an MP3 player.

The students in my course go to the podcasting blog,Thoughts on Buildings and Cities (http://courses.worldbridges.com/dyg_usb/) and listen to podcasts onarchitecture and urban planning recorded by native andnonnative speakers of English from different parts of theworld. These podcasts are used as prereading or

45

previewing activities. After listening to the podcasts, thestudents may react, discuss, or take notes, and downloadthe podcasts to listen to again at their leisure. Then Imay give the students the text to read or have themwatch a video related to the topic of the podcast. Thestudents also record their own podcasts on related topicsusing the free recording and editing software Audacity(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/).

“A Space to Interact More Personally”A blended online and F2F approach to teaching andlearning can help maximize the advantages of bothtypes of classroom. A student who took the coursesays it best:

I think it is awesome to have a space to interactmore personally with the teachers, and to have aplatform so we can work outside the college. Ithink that it is known that we usually don’t haveso much time left for works, and working this wayis a nice advantage. The use of technology forlearning is something that should be used, not onlyin this course, but also in other courses.

References

González, D. 2004. English for Architecture, ID3-126.http://dafnegonzalez.com/id3125-05/.

. 2005a. English for Architecture and Urban Planning.http://80.60.224.77/dyg/id3126-04/.

. 2005b. English for Architecture and Urban PlanningID3-124. http://dafnegonzalez.com/id3-124-05/.

González, D., and R. St. Louis. Content-based English forspecific purposes course design: The case of English forarchitecture. In Content-based instruction in higher educationsettings, ed. J. Crandall and D. Kaufman, 93–106. Alexandria,VA: TESOL.

Stoppard, T. 1969. Albert’s bridge. New York: Samuel French.

Stevens, V. 2005. Webheads in Action: Communities ofpractice online. http://www.geocities.com/vance_stevens/papers/evonline2002/webheads.htm.

Dafne González is a full professor of EFL/ESP at UniversidadSimón Bolívar, in Venezuela; a member of the TESOLElectronic Village Online Coordination Team; and a member ofthe advisory board of ESL MiniConference Online.

DECEMBER 2005

CL

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47DECEMBER 2005

PACE Yourself:A Handbook for ESL Tutors

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When English language learners read the samepassage, they may be able to find definitions of theunfamiliar terms in a dictionary, although lookingthem up would interrupt the flow of reading andperhaps impair comprehension. They may not findtechnical terms about ships in their bilingualdictionaries. And determining the correct meaning ofa word like sounding in the context of this passagemight be tricky.

English teachers often try to supply the rest of theinformation in class with prereading discussions orwith reference to footnotes or visuals in thetextbook. But what if students could access all thisinformation independently, as they needed to? Whatif they could see a picture of Helen Keller and herteacher Anne Sullivan in Alabama or see a picture ofa ship on the ocean and read about the use of aplummet or sounding-line? What if they could hearsomeone reading the poem with the appropriaterhythm and expression, and choose the speed atwhich the text was read?

Building a Reading Scaffoldwith WebTexts

Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog,

when it seemed as if a tangible white

darkness shut you in, and the great ship,

tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore

with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with

beating heart for something to happen? I was like

that ship before my education began, only I was

without compass or sounding-line, and had no way of

knowing how near the harbor was. “Light! Give me

light!” was the wordless cry of my soul, and the

light of love shone on me in that very hour.

—Helen Keller, The Story of My Life

by Mary Lou McCloskey and Emily A. Thrush

This passage (from Keller 1905) is often includedin U.S. language arts textbooks for teens andpreteens. Background knowledge and languageknowledge help readers find meaning andunderstand what the author intended. For example,

� vocabulary: Readers may know that aplummet and sounding-line help determinethe depth of the sea. They may know themeanings of dense, tangible, tense, anxious,shore, compass, and harbor.

� cultural information: Readers may know thatHelen Keller was a famous American whobecame blind and deaf at an early age andwas helped to learn to read and speak in signlanguage by a teacher who became famous.

� background information: Readers may havebeen to the sea and seen pictures and filmsof large ships on the sea.

� literary knowledge: Readers who are familiarwith metaphors may know that “withoutcompass” refers not just literally to a ship ona sea without a navigation tool but to aperson who feels directionless.

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A Hyperlinked Scaffold MakesText ComprehensibleProviding information that is linked where readersneed it in a text is the concept behind WebTexts, ourterm for a certain type of Web-supported readingtext. These hypertext readings take advantage of thecapabilities of HTML authoring and user-friendlyHTML editors in Microsoft Word and other wordprocessors or dedicated Web development tools, suchas Macromedia’s Dreamweaver. With WebTexts, youcan differentiate learning to meet students’ specificneeds, avoid lengthy explanations, eliminate some ofthe frustration for readers who need more helpunderstanding a text, and create independentlearners with the skills they need to engage textswithout your constant intervention.

WebTexts are more than just bells and whistles. Theyfit with the theories underlying current knowledgeabout language acquisition. In establishing theimportance of scaffolding, or support, duringlearning, Vygotsky (1986) recounted an experimentin which a child with a mental age of eight was ableto solve problems meant for twelve-year-olds if hehad a little assistance. Vygotsky commented that“the discrepancy between a child’s mental age[indicated by the static test] and the level hereaches in solving problems with assistance is thezone of his proximal development [ZPD]” (pp.186–87).

The ZPD lies outside the zone of independentperformance (ZIP). When attempting tasks in theirZPD, learners need support and assistance. As tasksin the ZPD are practiced and mastered, they moveinto the ZIP. And as a particular language skillmoves from the students’ ZPD to their ZIP, you cangradually decrease the support until the learner isoperating independently with confidence.

Comprehensible input is input at the learner’scurrent level of independent performance(interlanguage, or i) but with a little extra difficulty(i + 1) that pushes learners into their ZPD (Krashen1988). The role of the teacher and teachingmaterials is to scaffold learners in the ZPD until theskills and knowledge become part of the learners’ZIP. Your goal in scaffolding is to provide supportuntil it can be removed, just as the support system

built around a construction site is removed when thebuilding can stand by itself.

Tailored, Supportive WebTextsGood teachers—and good textbooks—have alwayssought to scaffold learners. What is new is thattechnology allows learners to access the precisedegree and type of support they need. WebTexts arereading passages supported by information tailored tothe context of the passage. For example, in a WebTextbased on the passage at the beginning of this article,the only meaning of sounding that would beaccessible is that used in the term sounding-line.Better yet, the user would see a picture of asounding-line. HTML and Web browsers allow the useof many types of support in WebTexts, including

� links to texts with background information,bibliographic information on the author, orinformation on people mentioned in the text

� pictures, illustrations, graphs, charts, andother visual aids

� animations and 3-D graphics

� sound recordings

� video clips

� brief definitions or grammatical notes

Teacher-Created WebTexts You can develop WebTexts in ways ranging fromsimple to complex. Here we present three examples:one with simple glosses on the same page as thetext, one with links to existing Web sites, and onedeveloped using the programming languageJavaScript. (To see the actual WebTexts, go tohttp://www.mlmcc.com/. Click on Technology, then WebTexts.)

“Granddaughter’s Sled” (DeSpain 1993; see screenshot, p. 50) demonstrates the simplest level ofdevelopment of a WebText. Words in the story areglossed on the same Web page as targets of the links.This placement speeds access to the definitions; thestudent does not have to wait for new Web pages toload. Some of the definitions are linked to pictures.With an Internet connection, the students can even

49DECEMBER 2005

�

watch a QuickTime movie of the Iditarod dog sledrace in Alaska to help them understand what sledmeans. The text also contains sound links insertedwith Microsoft Word’s Comment feature: clicking on aword in the glossary list allows the user to hear avoice pronounce the word.

“Surrender Speech of Chief Joseph” (WETA 2001;see screen shot, right) illustrates extensive use ofsupporting material from existing Web sites, such asmaps of the territory, photos of tribal leaders, andtestimonies from people who knew Chief Joseph.Notice also that the vocabulary words are glossed inthe left margin, to be viewed without leaving themain text.

For the balcony scene from Shakespeare’s Romeoand Juliet (see screen shot, below right), we used aglossing technique available via JavaScript, aprogramming language for Web pages. Clicking on alinked word causes a text box to pop up on the screenwith a definition and, sometimes, a related picture.Here the reader has clicked on the word jests.

The Reading Machine We are now working on an application of WebTextsfor an online e-language teaching program calledChengo (see http://www.elanguage.cn/). Incollaboration, the U.S. Department of Education iscreating an online English language program foradolescent Chinese students that supplements theEnglish curriculum in China, particularly in the areaof listening and speaking, and the Chinese Ministry

of Education is developing a program thatsupplements Advanced Placement Chinese courses inthe United States.

To introduce vocabulary as well as cultural,background, and language information in the contextof short texts related to each program episode, theEnglish Chengo program uses the Reading Machine, asoftware engine developed for Chengo. The ReadingMachine produces texts like WebTexts, but allsupporting materials are included in the software,not drawn from the Web. After the user views theopening scene of an episode and works with thewritten script of the scene, the Reading Machineprovides learners with options to study the text andits elements, and to apply the language they arelearning. The short texts in the Reading Machine arerelated to a problem or quest that is set up in theopening scene of the episode and often give thelearner information needed to accomplish the quest.

[ ]Portal

50

In Episode 1, “The Missing Student” (see screenshot below), a group is arriving at language camp.Tianming, one member of the group, is missing, andthe others try to locate him. The text in the readingmachine helps learners develop language they willneed to visit locations and ask questions that willhelp them find Tianming. Color-coded links in the texthelp learners identify vocabulary: nouns are in red,verbs in blue, phrases in green. There are links topictures of the characters; maps of New Zealand andCanada; pictures of a kitchen, a gym, and a pool; andgrammatical information. The Chinese text at the rightexplains North American conventions for names.

By clicking on the buttons in the software screen,users can listen to the text, read it in chunks or as awhole, follow links to understand its elements, recordthemselves reading or speaking the text, and replayand self-evaluate their recordings. The Fallout buttonleads to an activity in which students replace wordsthat have “fallen out” of the text. When learners feelcomfortable with the language in the Reading Machine,they move on to other activities and exercises.

Powerful, Simple, and EnjoyableWebTexts offer teachers and students and materialwriters ways to take advantage of the power andsimplicity of HTML editors. With the help of pictures,sounds, and videos, you can give students the chance toenjoy reading while they utilize a variety of tools towork out meaning and build language skills. As Webauthoring becomes simpler and more flexible, WebTextswill become an increasingly important resource forlanguage learners.

References

DeSpain, P. L. 1993. Granddaughter’s sled. In Thirty-threemulticultural tales to tell. Little Rock, AR: August House.

Keller, H. 1905. The story of my life. New York: Doubleday,Page. http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/keller/life/part-I.html.

Krashen, S. 1988. Second language acquisition and secondlanguage learning. New York: Prentice-Hall International.

Vygotsky, L. 1986. Thought and language. Cambridge, MA:MIT Press.

WETA. 2001. Chief Joseph speaks: Selected statements andspeeches by the Nez Percé chief. http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/six/jospeak.htm.

Mary Lou McCloskey is director of teacher development andcurriculum design for Educo, in the United States. Emily A.Thrush is professor of English at the University ofMemphis, in the United States.

51DECEMBER 2005

SEND Portal is edited by Mercedes Rossetti ([email protected]).See http://www.tesol.org/ for submision guidelines.

52

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53DECEMBER 2005

This comprehensive guide lists more than 420programs at 232 institutions in North Americaand offers essential details for selecting a pro-gram such as

• admission requirements• program length and requirements• tuition• staff• courses

Also included are listings of public schoolcredentials requirements and institutions list-ed by type of program offered and geo-graphical location.

Directory of Teacher Education Programs in

TESOL in the United Statesand Canada, 2005-2007

TESOLpublicationsPO Box 753, Waldorf, MD 20604-0753 USA Toll Free USA 888-891-0041 • Tel. 301-638-4427 or -4428 • Fax 301-843-0159 E-mail [email protected] • Order online at http://www.tesol.org/


Order No. 255, 412 pp., ISBN 1-931185025-5U.S $39.95 (member U.S. $19.95)

New from TESOL

Virginia Christopher, Editor

W ritten in the form of personaljournal entries, Never FadeAway is an intriguing

exploration of the private world of ESLinstructors and their students. In it, afrustrated college ESL writing instructorand a Vietnamese student share theirthoughts and feelings on a variety ofcontemporary issues inside and outside the classroom.

The teacher struggles as he works withina system that often seems structured to thedisadvantage of actual learningopportunities and to the detriment of

international students. The student, arefugee from Vietnam, writes in a voicethat any ESL teacher will recognize as thatof a developing language learner. Herrelationship with the instructor and herstruggle to make sense of her surroundingsand the university system feature in manyof her entries.

Using this novel in a master’s in TESOLcourse provides an opportunity for studentsto engage in the discovery of essentialcontent in the field from a viewpoint thatdiffers significantly from that of thetraditional textbooks and research articles

typically used in teacher educationprograms. TESOL students can benefit fromthoughtful discussion of several keyconcepts in the novel: how to becomereflective practitioners, how to interact withindividuals of diverse cultural backgrounds,how to work with school administrativepolicies, and how to focus on particularlinguistic features of learner language.

Aixa Perez-Prado is an assistant professor inthe TESOL program at Florida InternationalUniversity, in the United States.

Home&O T H E R P A G E S

Never Fade Away. William Hart. McKinleyville, CA: Fithian Press, 2002.

T angled Threads is a beautifullywritten novel about the Hmongmigration out of Laos, through the

refugee camps in Thailand, and finally tothe United States. The book chronicles themoving personal experience of Mai, ayoung girl who struggles to bridge the gapbetween the traditional culture she knowsand understands and the new culture that

she finds exciting and confusing. In thecamp, the refugees’ eternal hope that theirnames will be called for the next group toleave contrasts with the daily struggle forhealth and survival.

Cousins have preceded Mai and hergrandmother to the United States and helpthem settle into their new life when theyfinally arrive. However, she soon discoversthat there are good and bad things

everywhere. Her struggle to becomeAmerican and still be respectful of Hmongtraditions is a compelling story for studentsin secondary, university, and adulteducation programs.

Sheila Cockey recently retired from teachinghigh school Spanish in King George County,Virginia, in the United States.

Tangled Threads: A Hmong Girl's Story. Pegi Deitz Shea.New York: Clarion Books, 2003.

Words in print

54

Google Scholar. http://scholar.google.com/.

Google launched a new searchengine, Google Scholar, inNovember 2004 designed to

focus more exclusively on scholarlypublications. Updated in April 2005, itis still labeled a beta version and shouldbe regarded as a work in progress.

A unique feature of Google Scholar isthat it visits and indexes, or spiders, thecontent of articles and books not on theopen Web. Specifically, these invisibleresources include hard-copy books andarticles accessible only throughsubscription to publishers’ Web sites.Google receives access to such itemsthrough arrangements with publishers.

Happily, Google Scholar providesthe means to access these additionaldocuments. For books, the LibrarySearch feature asks your location andprovides a list of the nearest librariesholding them. For subscriber servicearticles, Google Scholar promises atleast an abstract. Then, if your libraryhas subscriptions to publisher sites,you can often access the completearticles through your home libraryuser ID and password. Finally, if other,non-password-protected versions ofthe document exist on the Web (e.g.,draft versions), Google Scholar’s WebSearch feature can locate them.

Additionally, Google Scholarprovides a citation count for eachsearch result, and the Cited-By linklists all entries that make up thatcitation count. This feature is usefulin three ways: it reveals relatedpublications you might otherwisemiss, shows whether the article is

relevant to your research area, andindicates how other researchers areusing the article.

To test Google Scholar, I searched forseveral topics on which research islimited. I found articles that I would nothave known about otherwise. On theother hand, Google’s definition ofscholarly leaves something to bedesired. Many items turned out to besyllabi, course documents, or MicrosoftPowerPoint presentations thatcontained my search terms but littleelse of value.

Comparing Google Scholar toGoogle itself proved revealing. SinceGoogle Scholar ranks entries bycitation totals and conventionalGoogle ranks according to thenumber of Web hits, search resultswere never identical. Items frequentlyappeared in both search engines butwere ranked differently. Significantly,I often found relevant items throughconventional Google that did not appearin Google Scholar. Using both searchengines may be wise. My impression isthat if you are looking for teachingapplications rather than researchreports, Google may yield better resultsthan Google Scholar, but again, whynot use both applications? The scope ofGoogle Scholar’s database and itscitation features make it anothervaluable tool in your resource kit.

Brock Brady is coordinator for theTESOL Programs at AmericanUniversity, in the United States, and amember of TESOL’s Board of Directors.

Crash. Motion picture. Directed by PaulHaggis. Santa Monica, CA: Lions GateEntertainment, 2004.

The movie Crash begins and ends with thescene of an automobile accident, a fender-bender that serves as a metaphor for thecrash/clash of cultures in the populousand sprawling city of Los Angeles.Featured in the narrative are European,Mexican, and African Americans—representing upper-, middle-, andworking-class native Angelenos. Thenthere are the recent immigrants—fromIran, from Korea, from China—all leadinga hardscrabble existence, all distrustful ofeach other and of the native ethnicgroups, who distrust and often disdainthem in return.

The tie that binds these citizens islaw enforcement, the Los Angeles PoliceDepartment, which in real life has beentainted with race-based police brutality.In this respect, the film is a parableshowing the violence and ethnic andclass tensions apparent in most U.S.cities, and in Los Angeles in particular.But in the end, none of the charactersis entirely bad at heart, and fortunatelymost are redeemed.

Crash is a fairly realistic portrait ofurban Americans divided by racism andclassism. This film should engenderstimulating discussion in an EFL or—in particular—an ESL class.

George R. Bozzini is an associateprofessor emeritus of English and EFL atThe George Washington University, in theUnited States.

[ ]Cybersights sound

bites

55DECEMBER 2005

Home&O T H E R P A G E S

Software ThumbnailsMoodle. Martin Dougiamas, 2005. http://moodle.org/.

D o you wish you could send a message to everyone in your class,painlessly make handouts available to those who were absent, or setup a Web page without learning HTML? If so, Moodle might be your

answer. It is the teacher’s Swiss army knife.Moodle is a relative newcomer to the field of course management

systems. Although free, it has more features than its big, for-fee cousins, suchas WebCT and Blackboard. You will need Web server space somewhere inorder to use it, but there are many ways around that problem.

Some of the “blades” of this virtual knife are the following: Discussion and news forums: If fluency in writing is an important part of

your course, here is one way to have students write something other than thetraditional composition.

Reference documents: Rather than using a word processor, you can neatlyformat a document within Moodle with headlines, colored text and boxes,itemized lists, and other embellishments with simple point-and-clickoperations. You can paste in plain text and then quickly make it look like aprofessional HTML document. Even images can be included.

Student blogs or learning diaries: You can create one or more Journalmodules that give all students their own private space for writing, with roomfor you to give individual feedback. The forthcoming blog module will allowstudents to share their postings with the rest of the class.

Tailored quizzes for your material: Moodle has an excellent module forquizzes and quizlike activities for a wide range of item types, such as multiple-choice, cloze, and reordering. You can also design activities with Hot Potatoessoftware (http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/) and have Moodle keep track ofthe students’ scores. An excellent item analysis module allows you to seewhere students are having trouble, and, for serious testing applications, whichitems aren’t discriminating well.

Links to outside material: Setting up a page of links is as simple aspasting the URLs into a Moodle document. It automatically recognizes URLsas clickable entities.

Other great features include an assignment submission module, a feedbackand evaluation function, detailed tracking of student accesses, a lesson modulefor stepwise presentation and testing of material, chat and survey modules,and a great teacher support network.

For information in greater depth, including screen shots and suggestionson how to get started, see “Moodle: A Virtual Learning Environment for theRest of Us” (Robb 2004) or visit Moodle’s home page.

ReferenceRobb, T. 2004. Moodle: A virtual learning environment for the rest of us.TESL-EJ 8 (2): M-8. http://tesl-ej.org/ej30/m2.html.

Thomas Robb teaches at Kyoto Sangyo University, in Japan, and is a pastchair of TESOL’s Computer-Assisted Language Learning Interest Section.

Home and Other Pages is edited by Christine Meloni([email protected]). See http://www.tesol.org/ for submission guidelines.

SEND

56

57DECEMBER 2005

What are the components of a quality education ESL program?

TESOL’s Standards for Adult Education ESL Programs answers

this question by defining quality components from a broad

perspective. Program indicators in eight distinct areas can be

used to review an existing program or to provide guidance in

setting up a new ESL program.

How effective is your adultESL program?

Preview the Program Self-Review Instrument online!http://www.tesol.org : Publications : Books : Standards

TESOLpublicationsPO Box 753, Waldorf, MD 20604-0753 USA Toll Free USA 888-891-0041 • Tel. 301-638-4427 or -4428 • Fax 301-843-0159 E-mail [email protected] • Order online at http://www.tesol.org/


B U L L E T I Nboard

President’s MessageTESOL’s Strategic Plan, Part One

In October, the TESOL Board of Directors passed a new, three-year Strategic Plan.This plan is a guideline for TESOL’s priorities from November 1, 2005, throughOctober 31, 2008. It lists the major goals of the association. Under each goal is aseries of objectives, and under each objective are a number of activities designed tomeet the objectives.

The goals, objectives, and activities are reviewed at each Board of Directors meetingto ensure that they are being implemented by various entities within TESOL. Ifsituations change, other goals, objectives, and activities can be added, and some maydropped if they are no longer relevant. In short, the Strategic Plan is a road map forTESOL, which will guide us in creating a stronger professional association.

The Board has identified six goals for TESOL: (1) policy promotion for theprofession, (2) professional development, (3) research, (4) standards, (5) worldwideprofessional participation, and (6) organization sustainability and growth. Here Idescribe the first three goals briefly and discuss some of the objectives and activitiesfor each. I will describe the next three in my March 2006 President's Message.

Goal One: Policy Promotion for the AssociationTESOL’s first goal is policy promotion for the association. The first objective within itis to increase TESOL’s professional influence outside of the association. TESOL needsto inform decision makers of the association’s positions on key educational policyissues. Sometimes TESOL can do this alone, and sometimes the association will needto collaborate with other organizations, agencies, and shareholders.

TESOL also needs to train members of the association to become effectiveadvocates for the profession and create ways to promote TESOL as the preeminentprofessional association for English language teaching throughout the world. In orderto accomplish this, TESOL needs to succeed at a second objective: identify, develop,and approve policies on professional issues. TESOL already has a rich history ofissuing policy statements on a variety of issues of professional concern. Theassociation needs to continue to do so by consulting with all members and by makingsure policy pronouncements are rooted in current research findings.

Thirdly, TESOL needs to develop the role of English around the world. The associationcan promote English as a language of wider communication while continuing to respectthe use of other languages in multilingual/pluralinguistic societies.

A fourth objective is to strengthen the status of English language teaching as aprofession.The association can do this by building a sense of professional identityamong teachers and by educating employers about the importance of having qualifiedEnglish language teachers.

58

Goal Two: ProfessionalDevelopmentThe second goal articulated in the StrategicPlan is professional development. The firstobjective within this goal is to make sureTESOL’s professional development programs,publications, and resources are relevant to themembers of the association and the professionat large.

To accomplish this goal, the associationneeds to identify critical issues that affect theprofession and prepare a professionaldevelopment plan. The effectiveness of theproducts and services that TESOL providesmust be evaluated, and, when necessary, theyshould be improved. TESOL needs to supportand expand the sharing of knowledge throughface-to-face and online learning, investigatethe possibility of creating new accreditationoptions, and continue TESOL’s broad-basedresearch project to assess the need andfeasibility of creating a nondegree teachingcertificate program. Lastly, but equally crucial,is to assess TESOL’s annual convention to seeif it meets the association’s professionaldevelopment goal.

The second objective for professionaldevelopment is to revise and strengthenTESOL’s leadership programs. A professionalorganization cannot maintain its vitalitywithout training new people to assumeleadership positions. Therefore, the associationmust continue to develop courses that stressleadership development, expand the number ofcourses offered in its leadership strand, andevaluate the effectiveness of the leadershipprogram. Furthermore, TESOL must helpaffiliates develop leadership programs.

Goal Three: ResearchResearch is the third goal of the StrategicPlan. As a professional association ofeducators, TESOL needs to promote the valueof and increase research for teachersworldwide. One way to do this is to identifyand promote existing research sources andclearinghouses. The association needs toevaluate and update TESOL’s research agendaas well as disseminate new research findings tomembers of TESOL and to other educators,

policy makers, and the public. TESOL alsoplans to create a new practitioner-orientedjournal based on current theory and researchin the profession.

TESOL must continue to mentor newresearchers to continue the association’sresearch objectives and explore ways to expandresearchers’ participation in TESOL’s activities.As noted above, these are only three of the sixgoals that have been advanced in TESOL’s newStrategic Plan. I encourage you, as a memberof the association, to think about these goalsand help TESOL meet these goals in the nextthree years. TESOL needs your involvement tomake these goals and objectives a reality. Theywill help you be a better professional.

As always, I wish you much success in yourprofessional career and thank you for being amember of a vibrant association.

Elliot L. JuddPresident, 2005–2006

59DECEMBER 2005

B U L L E T I Nboard

The 40th Annual TESOLConvention to Be Held inTampa, Florida, USA, March15–18, 2006The advance program was mailed inmid-November. Convention registrationand hotel reservations began December1. Visit http://www.tesol.org/ for updatesand links to Laser Registration toregister for the convention and with theTampa Housing Bureau—Passkey tomake hotel reservations. Do you havequestions on registration or want toconfirm your TESOL conventionregistration? This year TESOL hasprovided toll-free numbers for callers inthe United States and Canada. Please call1-866-999-3032 for information. The faxnumber is 866-614-5463. Forconvention attendees from outsideNorth America, please direct yourregistration questions to 514-228-3074.Fax your registration forms to 514-228-3151. Laser Registration is located inMontréal, Canada.

Download Presentationsfrom TESOL 2005 TESOL has developed an onlinerepository of convention presentationsand materials. Participants were asked tosubmit their materials and papers byearly June 2005. Watch for informationon when and how you can access theseresources in TESOL Connections and athttp://www.tesol.org/ : ProfessionalDevelopment.

2005: The Year of LanguagesHelp celebrate 2005: The Year ofLanguages with TESOL. TESOL isparticipating in this year-long event withthe American Council for the Teaching ofForeign Languages and other languageorganizations across the United States.For more information, seehttp://www.tesol.org/.

2005 and 2006 SymposiaTwo symposia were held in 2005. TheTESOL Symposium on Dual LanguageEducation: Teaching and Learning TwoLanguages in the EFL Setting took placeSeptember 23 at Bogaziçi University,Istanbul, Turkey. The featured speakerswere Cem Alptekin, Istanbul, Turkey;Jim Cummins, Ontario, Canada; andBarbara Seidlhofer, Vienna, Austria.Hüsnü Enginarlar, Ankara, Turkey,provided closing remarks.

The TESOL Symposium on EnglishLanguage Teaching in Resource-Challenged Contexts took place December16–17 at the Sofitel Teranga Dakar Hotel,in Dakar, Senegal. The featured speakerswere JoAnn Crandall, Baltimore County,Maryland, USA; Pai Obanya, Ibadan,Nigeria; and Brian Tomlinson, Leeds,England. Moussa Diouf, Dakar, Senegal,provided closing remarks.

The TESOL Symposium on Words Matter:The Importance of Vocabulary in EnglishLanguage Teaching and Learning will takeplace March 27, 2006, at Dubai Men’sCollege, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.For more information, [email protected].

Association News

60

Tampa Convention Center

v

2006 TESOL AcademiesTESOL will hold two academies in 2006, one in theUnited States and the other in Korea. The first2006 academy will be held at Roosevelt University,in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States, June23–24, 2006. This academy will feature six hands-on, ten-hour workshops. The TESOL InternationalSummer Academy will be at the SookmyungWomen’s University, in Seoul, Korea. This academywill feature four hands-on, ten-hour workshops.

For more information about TESOL Academies, e-mail [email protected].

2006 Online Courses and SeminarsLearn about online professional developmentopportunities through TESOL, including thePrinciples and Practices of Online TeachingCertificate Program and TESOL virtual seminars.TESOL virtual seminars focus on key issues in ESLand EFL. Bring together colleagues at your school ororganization for a live Webcast (or, when it fits yourschedule, use the virtual seminar’s playback feature).Virtual seminar participants can also take part in anonline discussion. For more information, [email protected].

2006 Call for ResolutionsIn accordance with TESOL’s Standing Rule onResolutions, Chris Sauer, chair of the Rules andResolutions Committee, has issued a call forresolutions. Procedures and guidelines forpresenting resolutions for the 2006 AnnualBusiness Meeting in Tampa, Florida, can be foundat http://www.tesol.org : Association, or you maycontact Chris Sauer at [email protected] forassistance. The deadline for receipt of allresolutions is February 12, 2006.

Board of Directors ApprovesPosition Statements on No ChildLeft Behind Act, U.S. Visa PolicyAt its meeting in October, the Board of Directorsapproved two new position statements. The firstaddresses assessment of English language learnersin the United States under the No Child LeftBehind Act of 2001, and the second focuses onU.S. visa policy for international students andscholars. Both statements are available athttp://www.tesol.org/.

New Standing Committee on ResearchAt its June meeting, the TESOL Board of Directorsvoted unanimously to create a Standing Committeeon Research. The new standing committee’s statedobjective is “to monitor, evaluate, and encourageresearch initiatives within the association.” This vote

proclaims that English language teaching (ELT)practices are best guided by valid research findings.Second, the vote announces that research isimportant to ELT professionals whether or not theyengage in research. Third, by creating a standingcommittee, TESOL sends a clear message that publicpolicy affecting ELT should be congruent withcurrent research findings. To help policy makersevaluate and enact sound measures, ELTprofessionals must educate them on current researchperspectives. Fourth, TESOL’s Strategic Plan hasdesignated research as one of its six major goals. Thecreation of the standing committee embodies thisgoal in TESOL’s organizational structure anddemonstrates its commitment to research as aguiding principle.

Research AgendaIn October 2004, the TESOL Board of Directorsapproved a revised Research Agenda developed by theSecond Research Agenda Task Force, whichcomprised Simon Borg, Andrew Curtis, ChrisDavidson, Zhao Hong Han, Dudley Reynolds, andTom Scovel (chair). The Research Agenda was createdto help TESOL professionals and others organize andcoordinate inquiry in the field and to promotebroader awareness of what constitutes research inTESOL. Built on the broad, methodologically andtopically pluralistic foundation of the first ResearchAgenda in 2000, this document presents TESOLprofessionals with priority areas for research andshould help funding applicants and agencies decidewhat research to pursue and support. The 2004Research Agenda includes a special hot-linked sectiontitled “References, Resources, and Web Sites.”

To download the current agenda, go tohttp://www.tesol.org/ : Professional Issues :Research Agenda. A version in portable documentformat (PDF) is available. TESOL welcomes yourcomments and suggestions as well as youradditions to the resources section. Please sendthem to [email protected].

TESOL Offers Global MembershipsNow is a good time to take advantage of globalmemberships. Join TESOL before TESOL 2006convention registration opens, so that you mayregister to attend at the reduced member rate.Global electronic memberships and globalindividual memberships are now available to anyonewho is either a native-born current resident of or acurrent legal resident of any country where thegross national income per capita is US$15,000 orless as identified by the United Nations. Bothcategories carry full membership rights andprivileges but varying member benefits. For details,including a list of eligible countries, seehttp://www.tesol.org/globalmembers/.

61DECEMBER 2005

President-Elect, 2006–2007 (tobecome president 2007–2008)

Sandra J. (Sandy) BriggsEducational ConsultantSan Francisco, California, USA

Aysegül DalogluMiddle East Technical UniversityAnkara, Turkey

Board of Directors (2006–2009)

Deena BoraieAmerican University in CairoCairo, EgyptGabriel Díaz MaggioliThe British Schools, MontevideoMontevideo, UruguayJoyce KlingCopenhagen Business SchoolFrederiksberg, DenmarkBozana KnezevicUniversity of RijekaRijeka, CroatiaJohn SchmidtTexas International EducationConsortiumAustin, Texas, USAJim StackSan Francisco Unified School DistrictSan Francisco, California, USA

Nominating Committee (2006–2007) Representing Eight Major Groups

Adult Education ProgramsConstantine IoannouOttawa-Carleton District School BoardOttawa, Ontario, CanadaMargaret van NaerssenImmaculata UniversityImmaculata, Pennsylvania, USA

AffiliatesGabriela KleckovaUniversity of MemphisMemphis, Tennessee, USAJackie Moase-BurkeOakland SchoolsWaterford, Michigan, USA

CaucusesKhadar Bashir-AliOhio State UniversityColumbus, Ohio, USA

Elementary and SecondaryEducation ProgramsBetty Ansin SmallwoodCenter for Applied LinguisticsWashington, District of Columbia, USABeth WittChinle Elementary SchoolChinle, Arizona, USA

Higher Education ProgramsAnn JohnsSan Diego State UniversitySan Diego, California, USAMargi WaldUniversity of California, BerkeleyBerkeley, California, USA

Intensive English Programs andBicultural CentersSuzanne McLaughlinRoosevelt UniversityChicago, Illinois, USAAnnick ToddLane Community CollegeEugene, Oregon, USA

Interest SectionsLisa HarshbargerU.S. Department of StateDulles, Virginia, USAArmeda ReitzelHumboldt State UniversityArcata, California, USA

ResearchersGerald BerentRochester Institute of TechnologyRochester, New York, USAEster de JongUniversity of FloridaGainesville, Florida, USA

Student MembershipDo you have students who would benefit from TESOLmembership? Each year TESOL prepares membershippackages especially for students, including a TESOLposter, a PowerPoint presentation about TESOLmembership, and sample TESOL bookmarks to sharewith your students. E-mail [email protected] torequest a packet.

With TESOL’s upcoming annual convention in March,now is a good time to remind your students to joinTESOL. Not only does TESOL offer student members adeeply discounted membership fee of only $30, but thestudent registration fee for the annual convention is alsogreatly reduced. TESOL is committed to makingmembership in TESOL affordable to students, so urgeyour students to join now using the materials TESOLrecently sent to participating teacher educationprograms in the United States and Canada. If yourschool is not participating and would like to, pleasecontact Sha’Dana Jenkins at [email protected] and askto have materials shipped to you.

TESOL Awards and GrantsThe generous contributions of TESOL members made itpossible for TESOL to provide sixty awards and grantslast year. You can support the Awards and Grantsprogram when you register for TESOL’s 40th AnnualConvention and Exhibition, when renewing your

Conduct TESOLBusiness OnlineYou can join or renew yourmembership, subscribe to TESOLserial publications, and purchase TESOL publicationsonline. TESOL members get an average discount of25% on publications.

Main [email protected] [email protected] Services [email protected] [email protected] Programs [email protected] Services [email protected]

Affiliates [email protected] [email protected] Services [email protected] [email protected] Sections [email protected]

President (Board of Directors) [email protected] [email protected]

Advertising [email protected] Teacher [email protected] [email protected] Quarterly [email protected]

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The 2006 Board of Directors and Nominating Committee Slate

The 2006 Board of Directors and Nominating Committee slate shown below has been posted. Visithttp://www.tesol.org/, under Association. Voting began in October 2005 and will end in early January 2006.

SPONSORSHIP TESOL thanks its sponsors.

membership, or by buying a ticket at the AnnualAwards and Grants Raffle (held during the annualconvention). Or, if you’d like to make your U.S.,Canada, and Mexico tax-deductible contributiontoday, visit http://www.tesol.org/ : Association: HelpSupport TESOL : Awards and Grants.

Job MarketPlaceDoes your institution need teachers or otherESL/EFL professionals? Recruit at the JobMarketPlace, held during the TESOL convention.Post jobs, collect resumes, and hold interviews all atone convenient event. Don’t miss this chance tobring your job opportunities before the thousands ofESL/EFL professionals who attend the TESOLconvention each year! E-mail [email protected] torequest an Invitation to Recruit.

Retired Member Benefits ChangeThe TESOL Board of Directors approved a change inbenefits for retired members. Retired members maynow vote and run for elected office. To learn moreabout the retired member category, go tohttp://www.tesol.org/ : Membership.

New Affiliates TESOL welcomes the Asociación NacionalUniversitaria de Profesores de Inglés (ANUPI-TESOL/Mexico) and the Philippine Association ofLanguage Teaching (PALT) to the worldwidecommunity of TESOL affiliates.

40th Anniversary Web Page Visit http://www.tesol.org/ : Association : TESOL’s40th Anniversary to learn more about thecelebrations and events that will mark the occasion.Among the resources now available or coming soon: � a TESOL Timeline, marking significant events

in the association’s history� testimonials from members and supporters� a calendar of events taking place during

2005–2006

� information about the 40 for the 40thGiveaway. Check back often to see if you areone of the lucky winners of hundreds ofdollars in prizes being given away eachmonth—no entry required!

Annual FundSupporting TESOL’s work has never been easier. Nowyou can make your contributions online. Visit theSupport TESOL section of the Association page tomake your U.S., Canada, and Mexico tax-deductiblegift to the association. And to see how yourcontribution is put to work, be sure to take a look atTESOL’s 2004 Annual Report, also available online.For more information, or to receive a hard copy ofthe report, contact Development Manager JaneKaddouri at 703-518-2539 or [email protected].

TESOL ConnectionsTESOL Connections is a free semimonthly e-newsletter for members. It includes briefings aboutTESOL and TESOL members in the mainstreamnews and hot links to field-related resources.Articles and items and stories by and aboutmembers that are posted on the TESOL Web siteare highlighted and linked through TESOLConnections. Sign up at http://www.tesol.org/ :Membership : Membership Benefits.

Contact TESOL When You MoveTESOL wants you to receive your issues of EssentialTeacher and TESOL Quarterly in a timely manner.To ensure uninterrupted delivery, please notifyTESOL when you move. As a member, you canchange your address online. Just log in with yourmember number, view your current profile, and edityour address changes. Or you may send a message toeither [email protected] or [email protected]. If yousend a message, please be sure to include yourmember number.

Platinum Plus Cambridge University PressEducational Testing Service

PlatinumThe Hampton Brown

CompanyHarcourt AchieveLeapFrog SchoolHouse

GoldEducational Research &

Development Training Service

McGraw-Hill ESL/ELTNational Geographic

School PublishingSantillana PublishingThomson-Heinle

University of Central FloridaUniversity of South Florida

SilverAMIDEASTGES Exposition ServiceKaplan English ProgramsUniversity of

Houston—Downtown

2006

For information on how to become a sponsor, contact Jane

Kaddouri at 703-518-2539 or [email protected]. 63DECEMBER 2005

64

If you currently receive issues at your institution,consider changing your address to receive your issues athome. This small adjustment may significantly improvearrival time.

Access TESOL Quarterly throughIngentaConnectCurrent TESOL Quarterly (TQ) subscribers candownload articles from 2001 forward free fromIngentaConnect (http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tesol/tq/). Members may either create a username and password with IngentaConnect, or they mayaccess TQ through TESOL’s Web site by logging in, thenvisiting the Membership: Member Benefits section andclicking on Member Subscribers: Access TESOLQuarterly Online. Members who choose to access TQthrough TESOL’s Web site do not need to register withIngenta. Nonsubscribers may read TQ abstracts andtables of contents through IngentaConnect for free, andthey may purchase articles. Current prices are US$25 forarticles and US$15 for reviews. Users in the EuropeanUnion must also pay tax. The entire run of TQ is alsoavailable on CD-ROM from http://virtualcopy.com/.

TESOL Quarterly ForumTo share ideas, comments, and questions about thearticles in TESOL Quarterly’s September special topicissue on pronunciation, visit the TQ Forum Online(http://communities.tesol.org/~tq/). The editor hasposted the following topics to generate discussion: (1)diverse accents in the language classroom, (2) accentand identity, and (3) teacher negotiation of tensionsbetween the professional and the personal. Visitors areencouraged, however, to raise questions or shareexperiences that are not directly related to these topics.

If you are already registered with any TESOL-hostedbulletin board, you can use your exisiting username andpassword to access the TQ Forum Online, or you canregister on the Forum bulletin board. When you visit theForum, you can join the discussion by posting oranswering a question or sharing your views, or you canjust listen in as the TQ editor, authors, and readersrespond to and develop ideas from TESOL’s flagshipscholarly journal.

Graduate Student ForumThe Graduate Student Forum is a student-runminiconference. The forum provides a venue at theTESOL convention that allows MA-level students toshare the results of their research, their teaching ideasand experiences, and the materials they have developed.They can also meet and network with fellow graduatestudents (and faculty) at other universities. This forumallows graduate students to formally participate in theTESOL convention without having to meet the earlydeadlines for submitting proposals or compete withexperienced professionals for time on the conventionprogram. For more information, please visit http://www.tesol.org/.

Doctoral ForumThe Doctoral Forum (formerly the PhD Forum) will beheld in Tampa as part of the 40th Annual TESOLConvention. TESOL invites doctoral students toparticipate in this informative event. The Forum is aninformal meeting that brings together doctoral studentsand experienced ESOL professionals who are interestedin similar research topics and research approaches. Theforum enables doctoral students to get feedback aboutcurrent issues pertaining to their dissertation researchfrom their peers as well as from the seasoned ESOLprofessionals (mentors). It is also an opportunity fordoctoral students to network with one another. Whilethis may sound formal, the event is actually a relaxed,informal gathering where the students can talk casuallyabout their research. For more information, please visithttp://www.tesol.org/.

TESOL Sponsorship OpportunitiesIn addition to Silver, Gold, and Platinum sponsorshippackages, TESOL is offering a Platinum Plus package.To learn more about how your sponsorship can earnfabulous rewards at the 40th Annual Convention inTampa, Florida—and year round—visithttp://www.tesol.org/ : Association : Help SupportTESOL : Sponsorship or contact Jane Kaddouri [email protected].

Please Place file speakersadreduced.pdf here.

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