Browsing by Subject "ESL"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 12
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    An Academic Writing Needs Assessment Of Clinical Investigators Who Have English As Their Second Language
    (Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Wang, Min-fen; Bakken, Lori L.
    The purpose of this project was to assess ESL clinical investigators’ learning needs for academic writing for English scholarly publication. We used a qualitative evaluation approach to examine the gap between the current and desired proficiency level for academic writing of seven ESL clinical investigators. We considered the perspectives of these seven ESL clinical investigators and those of three mentors’ and three writing instructors’ in this assessment. The findings suggest that ESL clinical investigators do not accurately perceive their writing deficiencies, have little knowledge of criteria for academic writing, and their prior experiences create passive attitudes toward seeking appropriate writing resources. Adequate time is especially needed to develop successful writing skills. We provide suggestions for program planners to develop academic writing services and present useful information for pedagogical practice by adult educators in higher and continuing professional education regarding ESL academic writing.
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    CROSS THE “i,” DOT THE “t”
    (2005-10-13T19:18:55Z) Sundre, Sharon K.
    This short study of the writing assistance colleges and universities give international students provided sufficient information to warrant additional research. As expected, former students who returned to their countries of origin were less articulate than were those who pursued careers or enrolled in graduate school in the US. The oldest participant who remained in the US had the most developed language skills, while the oldest participant who returned to the country of origin had the least developed language skills. Participants who are current graduate students were more inclined to “think in English” than were former students who repatriated. The following brief summary reflects suggestions for improvement from study participants. In all cases, attention to individual concerns and feedback are essential to successful experience. International students who speak English as a second language recommended the following improvements: (a) voluntary, specialization-based mentoring partnerships and study groups; (b) institution-paid professional tutors, ESL interns, or graduate student assistants; (c) culturally aware advisors and faculty; (d) a mandated writing course based on department philosophy, and expectations for student goals, major papers, and journal articles; and (e) a staff person to assist with writing major papers.
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    Developing an ESL tutoring center and expanding operations online
    (TESOL, 2021) Ene, Estela; Sadri, Raeeka
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    Development Of Self-Directed Learning Skills In Students Enrolled In ESL/Adult Education Classes
    (Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Churpina, Larissa
    The purpose of this table-top presentation is to fill the gap between the everyday practical concerns of English language teaching professionals and research in the fields of Adult Education, Educational Psychology, and Teaching English as a Second language with respect to self-direction. Being prompted by research in these fields, the presenter proposes to teach self-directed learning skills explicitly in ESL classes. By choosing this approach, ESL students take responsibility for their own learning process, learn about their learning styles and develop knowledge how to learn, how to plan, how to achieve outcomes, and how to transfer that knowledge into new, real life situations. A self-directed component in ESL class enhances students’ motivation and independence. Adult students are usually serious learners once motivated.
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    Developmental Stages in Advanced SLA: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Academic Writing by ESL Graduate Students
    (2008) Ene, Estela
    Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researchers have yet to map the developmental stages language learners go through as they approach the target language. In studies of English as a Second Language (ESL) writing, the term 'advanced learner' has been applied indiscriminately to learners ranging from freshman ESL composition to graduate students. There is a need to examine the advanced stages of SLA in order to refine SLA theories and pedagogical approaches. A corpus of texts written by non-native English-speaking doctoral students in applied linguistics from several linguistic backgrounds was analyzed to determine the texts' lexical, morphological and syntactic fluency, accuracy and complexity. A sub-corpus of papers by native-English-speaking peers was used for comparison. The texts were strictly-timed and loosely-timed exams written 2 to 3 years apart. Surveys and interviews were also conducted. Based on findings, the study defines data-based criteria that distinguish four quantitatively and qualitatively distinct developmental stages: the advanced, highly advanced, near-native, and native-like stages. Advanced learners make more frequent and varied errors which can be explained by transfer from the first language. Native-like writers make few errors that can be explained by overgeneralization of conventions from informal English and working memory limitations (similar to native speakers' errors). The study suggests that SLA is a process of transfer followed by relearning of morpho-syntactic specifications (Herschensohn, 2000), with syntax being used with the greatest accuracy (Bardovi-Harlig & Bofman, 1989) and lexicon with the least. The relationships between accuracy and other social and cognitive factors are considered, and pedagogical recommendations are made.
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    Grammatical Accuracy and Learner Autonomy in Advanced ESL Writing
    (2006-05) Vickers, Caroline; Ene, Estela
    This paper aims to explore advanced ESL learners' ability to make improvements in grammatical accuracy by autonomously noticing and correcting their own grammatical errors. In the recent literature in SLA, it is suggested that classroom tasks can be used to foster autonomous language learning habits (c.f., Dam 2001). Therefore, it is important to consider classroom tasks that encourage autonomous language learning behavior. Working with 13 advanced ESL composition students, we engaged the subjects in an explicit task in which they compared their own use of grammatical form in their own written output to the use of grammatical form as used in a text written by a native speaker. Based on the comparison between their own written output and the native speaker text, subjects subsequently corrected their grammatical errors. Results suggest that such a comparison task is beneficial in allowing learners to make gains in grammatical accuracy.
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    International Students and Autonomy in Service-Learning English for Academic Purposes Courses
    (2022-11-08) Ene, Estela; Orlando, Honnor
    Learner autonomy, defined most frequently as the “ability to take charge of one’s own learning” (Holec, 1981, p. 3), plays an important role in learning generally speaking and language acquisition in particular (Thomas & Rose, 2019). Enabling learners to function independently is an important, if not the ultimate, goal of teaching. In Service Learning (SL), learners can operate autonomously, and likely become more autonomous as a result of practicing autonomy. Thus, autonomy can be a means as well as a goal. Studies, however, have not paid sufficient attention to the role that learner autonomy may play, especially when it comes to SL performed by international students. An important theoretical and practical question is whether increasing learners’ autonomy leads to better learning outcomes than other-/teacher-directed SL. If students learned as much or more when given more autonomy, teachers could better use the time they invest in the logistical overload that comes with coordinating every aspect of SL (as also noted by Kwenani & Yu, 2018); for example, teachers could focus on designing tasks that would benefit students and community partners alike and preparing their students for operating autonomously without losing focus or doing harm (Tryon et al., 2008). Thus, it is important to finetune our understanding of whether learner autonomy supports learning, and which aspects of learning it can support most productively.
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    Laying the Ground for Online English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESL/ EFL) Composition Courses and University Internationalization: The Case of a U.S.- China Partnership
    (2014) Ene, Estela
    As universities internationalize and U.S. and Chinese universities become partners, there is growing demand for online English language courses for students seeking to improve their English prior to arriving to the U.S. Situated in the context of a partnership between a U.S. Midwest university and its Chinese partner, this chapter provides a methodological model for assessing (1) English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) composition and online learning needs and resources prior to developing courses for a new population; (2) the potential for collaboration between partnering institutions; and (3) the effectiveness of an online English composition course. The chapter illustrates, in a step-by-step fashion, the decision-making process which shaped the needs assessment and the actions based on it. By doing so, it provides a realistic portrayal of the complexity of the Needs Assessment (NA) and curriculum development process.
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    A Model for Developing Law Lecture Comprehension Lessons for Non-Native Speakers of English from Video-taped Authentic Materials
    (2007-06-26T19:15:11Z) Martin, Lynne Rohmerien; Upton, Thomas A. (Thomas Albin)
    The goal of this thesis was to create a model of how video-taped law lectures (authentic materials) can be used in designing individual lessons which will, in general, incorporate current EAP practices and standards in aiding the LL.M. students to improve their lecture listening comprehension skills. More specifically, my model will show how within each lesson the video-taped law lectures can be used to target either a particular linguistic form or lecture construct feature for which studies have shown to be problematic in L2 lecture comprehension. Moreover, this model will further demonstrate how these lessons should address lecture organization specific to the study of law, as well as show how general lecture listening strategies can be presented as an integral part of every lesson.