- Paper presented at TESOL 2014 International Convention. Portland, Oregon -- March 2014
Abstract: ESL student writers often struggle in paraphrasing and integrating
other writers’ ideas in their writing. Specifically, learners have trouble determining
what, when and how to express their own ideas and the ideas of others. This practice-oriented session contributes
ideas for helping students become more self-reliant and confident in their
writing.
Section
Description: ESL learners often face challenges as
they learn to accurately express themselves and paraphrase in English.
Specifically, learners have trouble determining what, when and how to express
their ideas and the ideas of others. Drawing on teaching techniques informed by
principles of Sociocultural Theory (Vygotsky, 1978), the presenters will offer
strategies for students to clearly communicate themselves and for students to
practice citing the words of others. Creating online journals will connect
students with various learning communities (Shea, 2006; Palloff & Pratt,
2010), while structured paraphrasing practice can enforce understanding and use
of ideas from different writers (Hirvela, 2013).
According to Vygotsky, learners go through
two levels of learning: in the first level students are able to achieve the
task individually, and in the second level they need help from a more capable
peer. Thus, students learn from each other in a social and cultural environment
which increases interactions between learners as a collective participatory
learning process. Therefore, the first point that the presenters will
demonstrate is the use of online journals to increase interaction among ESL
students. Students will have the opportunity to express themselves without the
pressures of time limits or grades (Hedge, 2005). Presenters will offer some
ideas of how to begin and continue an online journal in class. The presenters
will also suggest ways to have students share their work with classmates as
well as the larger online community. The presenters will provide possible,
practiced journal prompts related to in-class reading and to student life.
Second, the presenters will introduce a
form of paraphrasing that discourages copying down synonyms. While many
teachers use reading to help develop paraphrasing skill, the presenters will
show how listening can be an effective paraphrasing tool. Presenters will give
examples of passages (and discuss possible paraphrasing) and suggestions for
future lessons.
Real Pages: Connecting Reading to Action.
- Paper presented at 2014 Hawaii International Conference on Education. Honolulu, Hawaii -- January 2014
Session
Description: Presenters will offer suggestions for
dynamically engaging students in student centered activities that connect to
in-class reading. Activities encourage students to be responsible for their own
understanding of reading from a class and create an environment where students
feel comfortable becoming a part of their reading through a variety of learning
styles. Presenters will demonstrate how to absorb students in the experience of
the text through examples from The Giver, Tuesday’s with Morrie, and others.
Abstract: Reading is a multileveled and interactive process in which the
readers/learners construct a meaningful understanding of text using their
experiences and schemata (Al-Issa, 2007). However, English language learners
(ELLs), and especially international students, may have difficulties connecting
to the content from reading alone. As a result, the purpose of this study is to
make reading as an authentic experience for learners.
According to Vacca and Vacca (1999),
schemas, or schemata reflect the experiences, conceptual understanding,
attitudes, values, skills, and strategies…[we] bring to a text situation (p.
15); that is, schemata have been called “the building blocks of cogitation”
(Rumelhart, 1982) because they represent elaborate networks of information that
people use to make sense of new events and situations.
As a result, in this study the presenters
created multiple instances where students could build understanding through
action. In a beginning intermediate class, students were reading The Giver by
Lois Lowry. First, we created a scenario to help the students understand the Giver
community. At the start of class, each student was assigned a “job”, such as
question-asker, quiet-note-taker, and bored-back-row. Then, the students were
explained the rules of the class for the day: “Talking while someone else is
talking requires a public apology to the class” “If you completed your homework
in pen, you will rewrite it in pencil at the end of class”, and so on. Class
proceeded as usual following the new rules. Subsequent to the exercise, the
students were asked to reflect on their experiences. Many of them were
frustrated that they could only follow their assigned role. They felt very
restricted. Then, a class discussion solidified the connection between the book
and the activity. Consequently, the students were able to experience a simulation
of the Giver community.
Second, in the last two weeks of class, the
students were grouped together to summarize chapters from The Giver. They were
required to “teach” the main ideas from their assigned chapters to the class in
a creative, fun, and effective way. Many of them chose to act out the themes
and contents. Some chose to play a game show that answered key questions to the
chapters, as well as others further chose to pull out key quotes from the
chapters. After the teaching presentations, all of the students had a complete
list of important ideas to review from the text. This activity allowed the
students to engage in the understanding of the text with their schemas.
Finally, in the most recent session, the
students read Tuesday’s with Morrie by Mitch Albom. In connection with the
book, the students were each assigned an older native-speaking mentor to talk
with every couple of weeks. The students and their mentors, who were actually
acting in the mentor/mentee relationship from the novel, discussed general
topics that followed the main ideas from each chapter. They had the opportunity
to interact with their local community, use their language skills, review ideas
from the book, and make new friends.
In
terms of themes, contents, and characters, The Giver and Tuesday’s with Morrie,
for example, have offered learners opportunities to compare and contrast the
characters and their own situations and experiences. Pulling scenarios, main
ideas, and contents from books to look at the pieces more closely has helped to
create a clearer illustration of story culture and language skills for
learners.
A New Paradigm in ESL Teaching and Learning Environment: An Overview of Online Professional Development for L2 Instruction.
Using Writer’s Notebook with Adolescent ESL Writers.
- Paper presented at The 4th Asian Conference on Education. Osaka, Japan. -- October 2012
Using Writer’s Notebook with Adolescent ESL Writers.
- Panel presented with Dr. Emily Duvall and Dr. Monica Hansen at 8th Annual International Globalization, Diversity and Education Conference. Vancouver, Washington -- February 2012
Abstract: This study describes ESL adolescent students’ attitudes, opinions
and experiences about using writer’s notebook in an ESL class. Particularly,
this study aims at exploring and understanding their opinions and attitudes
regarding the impact of the writer’s notebook activity on their English writing
projects. The significance of this study rests on the opportunity it gives to
the participants to have their voice heard regarding their opinions and
experiences during a course designed to link reading and writing activities.
A qualitative research approach was used
with multiple forms of data collected including one-on-one interviews with
participants, observation and field notes recorded by the instructor/
researcher, and a collection of participant generated documents including their
writer’s notebook and writing projects. The intent of the research was to
consider participants’ attitudes regarding the use of writer’s notebooks during
their class; what impact they believe the writer’s notebook had on their
progress in terms of completing their writing projects for the class; and their
views on continued use of the writer’s notebook in the future.
The findings of this study indicate that
the students engaged in writer’s notebook for the first time during the class
and that the students had positive attitudes toward using writer’s notebook as
a tool to complete their writing projects. In addition, the research also
revealed that writing down their thoughts, opinions and perspectives in
writer’s notebook helped them not only improve their writing competence, but
also understood the content of reading materials quite well. Of special
interest, the findings also revealed that the participants used different
writing strategies in the class and also developed more understandings about
English writing strategies which they will be able to use when they write in
English in the future.
- Paper presented at 19th International Symposium and Book Fair on English Teaching. Taipei, Taiwan -- November 2010
- Paper presented at 2010 Hawaii International Conference on Education. Honolulu, Hawaii -- January 2010
- Paper presented at 2008 ELT International Conference: Multicultural Education and Multilingual Learning and Teaching. Wufeng District, Taichung, Taiwan -- May 2008
