Tag Archives: research

Individualized program plans for adult ESL literacy learners


Written by - By Eman Ghanem, Edmonton Catholic Separate School District, Canada

Download PDF

*For all footnotes, refer to the PDF version of the article.

Abstract
Adult ESL literacy teachers are often perplexed when instructing pre-, non-, and semi-literate adult ESL learners due to their L1 literacy level, age, and possibly traumatic experiences. Classroom instruction and assessment should be carefully planned and strategically implemented because of the underlying financial and social ties connecting literacy to socio-economic status. How might instructional practices be modified to better meet the needs of adult L2 emergent readers? This paper examines the use of Response to Intervention (RTI) tier 3 plans in adult English learning in an L2 context. For twelve weeks, several evidence-based reading diagnostics assessments were administered to help develop individualized program plans for a group of emergent readers.  Continue Reading →

Categories:
Curriculum, ESL, Language, LINC, Literacy, Other, pedagogy, Reading, Research, Teaching, Uncategorised
POST COMMENT 0

Teaching in COVID-19 Times: Challenges, innovations, solutions, and opportunities


Written by - By Jill Cummings, Yorkville University; Matthias Sturm, Simon Fraser University, Avenue - LearnIT2teach Project; Geoff Lawrence, York University; Augusta Avram, Burnaby District School Board, & Rob McBride, New Language Solutions

Download PDF

*For more information on Figures, refer to the PDF version of the article.

Abstract
Based on the research we presented at the TESL Ontario Conference in November 2020, we examine here the challenges, innovations, solutions, and opportunities in education that have grown out of the sudden disruption and constraints due to COVID-19. We first set the background in a global context; then report on the impact, challenges, and needs in LINC programs in Canada. We then discuss an in-depth case study of a LINC educator’s experiences based on her own teaching and teacher development work during this time. We conclude by discussing lessons learned from these COVID-19 experiences and recommend ways forward.

All settlement language training professionals were caught by surprise by the pandemic in mid-March 2020.  Continue Reading →

Categories:
LINC
POST COMMENT 1

Action Research as a Praxis for Transformative Teaching Practice in ELT Classrooms


Written by - Heejin Song, York University, Canada

download PDF

Abstract

This paper is to illuminate how action research can be used as a praxis to shape teaching as a constant transformative practice in English language teaching (ELT). I will offer a synthesis on what action research is, how professionals have used it in practice, and why action research is a vigorous and enlightening tool for ELT practitioners and teacher educators for their transformative knowledge (re)building process despite some criticisms.  Then, I will briefly exemplify two action research projects that I have conducted with different colleagues in different settings.

“The unfinished character of human beings and the transformational character of reality necessitate that education be an ongoing activity.  Education is thus constantly remade in the praxis.   Continue Reading →

Categories:
Other, Research, Teaching
POST COMMENT 0

Language teachers’ knowledge and practice of metacognition


Written by - Shamina Shaheen, Queen's University, Canada

download PDF

Abstract

Language learners’ (L2) knowledge about their own learning (also known as metacognitive knowledge) enhances with learners’ acquisition of metacognitive skills and successful applications of metacognitive strategies. In these contexts, L2 teachers’ knowledge about teaching is quite opposite to “abstract, decontextualized” knowledge, which results in executing “a set of discrete behaviour” (Freeman & Johnson, 1996, p. 400). Similar to the learners, as Freeman and Johnson (1996) argue, the way “teachers actually use their knowledge in classrooms is highly interpretive, socially negotiated, and continually restructured within the classrooms and schools where teachers work” (p. 400). Therefore, language teachers’ knowledge of metacognition needs to be improved and applied in their instruction and classroom environment which eventually encourages and guides learners’ metacognitive behaviors in L2 learning.  Continue Reading →

Categories:
Curriculum, Identity, Metacognition, Other, Research
POST COMMENT 0

Towards a Pedagogy for Reconciliation–Indigenization: What it is and Why it Belongs in the ESL Classroom


Written by - Christina Cole, Toronto, ON

download PDF

“Challenge is an integral part of transformative experience”; I came across this line in “Unsettling Faculty Minds: A Faculty Learning Community on Indigenization” (Yeo et al., 2019, p. 38). It resonated with me because this has been true in my life.  Challenge usually precedes and instigates change, whether that change is internal or external.   However, despite the momentum produced by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the recent acknowledgment of the treatment of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women as genocide, there still remains resistance among educators to answering the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action.

It is important to recognize that universities, including my own, the University of Toronto, have acknowledged the role they played in the erasure of Indigenous culture and the justification of cultural genocide.   Continue Reading →

Categories:
Curriculum, Other, Research
POST COMMENT 0