Whereas graduate English as a second language (ESL) students have been found to use a wide range ... more Whereas graduate English as a second language (ESL) students have been found to use a wide range of appropriate politeness strategies in email, studies have found that emails sent by undergraduate ESL students can be perceived as impolite (Biesenbach-Lucas, 2007). On the contrary, effective use of politeness strategies leads to positive perceptions of students' competence (Bolkan & Holmgren, 2012). Explicit instruction on netiquette guidelines can foster the ability to construct polite email messages. This paper offers a set of strategies and materials devoted to email writing for undergraduate students in ESL settings. The goal of the paper is to promote the development of sociopragmatic competence with a specific focus on electronic requests in academic contexts. In our overview of pedagogical materials and approaches, we draw on current literature regarding teaching pragmatics and on our own extensive experience working with English language learners both in the United States and abroad.
Being able to communicate successfully in a second language (L2) depends on not only having the k... more Being able to communicate successfully in a second language (L2) depends on not only having the knowledge of grammar but also on the ability to select context-appropriate language. Thus, pragmatics can prove to be one of the most difficult aspects of language to acquire, even for advanced L2 speakers, and it plays a crucial role in L2 teaching. Considerable amount of attention has been devoted to teaching pragmatic skills in second and foreign language classrooms in recent years (Bardovi-Harlig & Mahan-Taylor, 2003; Ishihara & Cohen, 2010). This paper represents a step towards strengthening the link between research on interlanguage pragmatics and L2 classroom practices. Focusing specifically on the speech act of refusal, we illustrate the potential areas of difficulty for second language learners. After a review of current literature on teaching refusals, a qualitative analysis of selected examples of refusals produced by Korean and Norwegian English as a second language (ESL) learners is presented. Specific pedagogical approaches and strategies for teaching L2 refusals are offered, including implications for curriculum development. Anna Krulatz (anna.m.krulatz@ntnu.no) is Associate Professor of English at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Norway, where she works with pre-and in-service English teachers. Her main interests include second language teaching methodology with focus on interlanguage pragmatics, content-based instruction, multilingualism, and teacher education. Tülay Dixon (tulay.orucu@utah.edu) is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Writing and Rhetoric Studies at the University of Utah Asia Campus in South Korea. She teaches academic writing courses to freshman year students. Her research interests lie in course and curriculum development, technology integrated language teaching, and pragmatics.
Denne artikkelen handler om norske engelsklaereres kompetanse i å arbeide med barn som har et ann... more Denne artikkelen handler om norske engelsklaereres kompetanse i å arbeide med barn som har et annet morsmål enn norsk, og som laerer engelsk som fremmedspråk. Problemstillingene er "Hva slags utdanning og kunnskap innen flerspråklighet har engelsklaerere i Norge?," "I hvilken grad føler engelsklaerere i Norge seg forberedt på å undervise i flerkulturelle og flerspråklige klasserom?" og "Hvilken type kunnskap, ferdigheter og ressurser føler de behov for?". Vi presenterer resultater fra en nasjonal spørreundersøkelse hvor i alt 176 engelsklaerere deltok. I tillegg presenterer vi resultater fra fokusintervjuer med i alt fire laerere fra to skoler. Resultatene viser at selv om engelsklaererne til en viss grad føler seg forberedt på arbeid med elever som ikke har norsk som morsmål, har svaert få av dem utdanning som fokuserer på flerspråklighet. Svarene fra spørreundersøkelsen og fra intervjuene viser at engelsklaererne gjerne vil ha mer kompetanse på dette området. Vi vil derfor understreke betydningen av utdanning i teori og praksis om flerspråklig utvikling og flerkulturell utdanningsteori, og ikke minst betydningen av tilgang til faglig utvikling som fokuserer på flerspråklighet i skolen og i samfunnet for engelsklærere i Norge.
As international immigration to Norway is on the increase, it is becoming more common for Norwegi... more As international immigration to Norway is on the increase, it is becoming more common for Norwegian teachers of English to work with multilingual students. This chapter describes a qualitative action research project conducted at two schools in the Sør-Trøndelag area of Norway. A systematic inquiry has been undertaken in collaboration with the teachers at the schools to improve the quality of education for minority language students. The project aims to hear EFL teachers’ voices, describe their teaching practices, raise awareness about multilingualism, and help develop adequate EFL pedagogies that support the multilingual identities of their students and capitalize on the students’ “funds of knowledge” (González et al., 2005). The results suggest that the schools and the teachers are fully invested in the academic, linguistic and social wellbeing of their students and display respectful attitudes towards the students’ home languages and cultures. However, there is a need for a greater understanding of what being multilingual entails and an increased integration of the international students’ multilingual contributions to create diverse classroom communities.
The main premise of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is that language is taught th... more The main premise of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is that language is taught through meaningful, engaging content. CLIL programs can range along a continuum from content-driven, in which instruction is guided by content objectives and the role of language learning is to support mastery of the content, to language-driven programs in which the focus is on language learning with content in a secondary role. Even though CLIL has been advocated in most European countries since the late 1970s, the degree to which the approach is actually applied in foreign language classrooms is unclear. In fact, Cloud (1998) suggests that because integrating language and content places high demands on teachers, “content-based instruction […] is often translated into isolated fact and vocabulary learning, largely ignoring what we’ve learned about how true subject-specific conceptual understanding develops in children” (p. 116). This project used a survey method to examine how participants in a hybrid in-service English teacher course perceive the role of content when teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). The project also aimed to determine whether participation in the course lectures and activities that focus on implementing the CLIL approach in a foreign language classroom has an impact on the degree to which the teachers integrate CLIL in their own teaching. The findings suggest that whereas teachers’ views and practices have changed to some degree, changes to the in-service course curriculum and activities should be implemented to obtain better results.
As classrooms around Europe are becoming increasingly more linguistically and culturally diverse,... more As classrooms around Europe are becoming increasingly more linguistically and culturally diverse, teachers need to adapt their teaching to accommodate minority languages students. While developing their proficiency in the language of the target community, these students almost invariably receive instruction in English as a foreign language (EFL). Recognizing the important role EFL teachers play in the overall cognitive and linguistic development of minority students, this paper discusses the following pedagogical practices for the 21st century, diverse EFL classrooms: welcoming diversity, multimodality of input, funds of knowledge, clear goals, opportunities for interaction, integrating language with compelling content, facilitating multi-literacy, and differentiating instruction and assessment. By providing both theoretical support and practical tips, the paper aims to empower EFL teachers to foster linguistically and culturally rich environments and support their students’ multilingual development.
Whereas graduate English as a second language (ESL) students have been found to use a wide range ... more Whereas graduate English as a second language (ESL) students have been found to use a wide range of appropriate politeness strategies in email, studies have found that emails sent by undergraduate ESL students can be perceived as impolite (Biesenbach-Lucas, 2007). On the contrary, effective use of politeness strategies leads to positive perceptions of students' competence (Bolkan & Holmgren, 2012). Explicit instruction on netiquette guidelines can foster the ability to construct polite email messages. This paper offers a set of strategies and materials devoted to email writing for undergraduate students in ESL settings. The goal of the paper is to promote the development of sociopragmatic competence with a specific focus on electronic requests in academic contexts. In our overview of pedagogical materials and approaches, we draw on current literature regarding teaching pragmatics and on our own extensive experience working with English language learners both in the United States and abroad.
Being able to communicate successfully in a second language (L2) depends on not only having the k... more Being able to communicate successfully in a second language (L2) depends on not only having the knowledge of grammar but also on the ability to select context-appropriate language. Thus, pragmatics can prove to be one of the most difficult aspects of language to acquire, even for advanced L2 speakers, and it plays a crucial role in L2 teaching. Considerable amount of attention has been devoted to teaching pragmatic skills in second and foreign language classrooms in recent years (Bardovi-Harlig & Mahan-Taylor, 2003; Ishihara & Cohen, 2010). This paper represents a step towards strengthening the link between research on interlanguage pragmatics and L2 classroom practices. Focusing specifically on the speech act of refusal, we illustrate the potential areas of difficulty for second language learners. After a review of current literature on teaching refusals, a qualitative analysis of selected examples of refusals produced by Korean and Norwegian English as a second language (ESL) learners is presented. Specific pedagogical approaches and strategies for teaching L2 refusals are offered, including implications for curriculum development. Anna Krulatz (anna.m.krulatz@ntnu.no) is Associate Professor of English at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Norway, where she works with pre-and in-service English teachers. Her main interests include second language teaching methodology with focus on interlanguage pragmatics, content-based instruction, multilingualism, and teacher education. Tülay Dixon (tulay.orucu@utah.edu) is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Writing and Rhetoric Studies at the University of Utah Asia Campus in South Korea. She teaches academic writing courses to freshman year students. Her research interests lie in course and curriculum development, technology integrated language teaching, and pragmatics.
Denne artikkelen handler om norske engelsklaereres kompetanse i å arbeide med barn som har et ann... more Denne artikkelen handler om norske engelsklaereres kompetanse i å arbeide med barn som har et annet morsmål enn norsk, og som laerer engelsk som fremmedspråk. Problemstillingene er "Hva slags utdanning og kunnskap innen flerspråklighet har engelsklaerere i Norge?," "I hvilken grad føler engelsklaerere i Norge seg forberedt på å undervise i flerkulturelle og flerspråklige klasserom?" og "Hvilken type kunnskap, ferdigheter og ressurser føler de behov for?". Vi presenterer resultater fra en nasjonal spørreundersøkelse hvor i alt 176 engelsklaerere deltok. I tillegg presenterer vi resultater fra fokusintervjuer med i alt fire laerere fra to skoler. Resultatene viser at selv om engelsklaererne til en viss grad føler seg forberedt på arbeid med elever som ikke har norsk som morsmål, har svaert få av dem utdanning som fokuserer på flerspråklighet. Svarene fra spørreundersøkelsen og fra intervjuene viser at engelsklaererne gjerne vil ha mer kompetanse på dette området. Vi vil derfor understreke betydningen av utdanning i teori og praksis om flerspråklig utvikling og flerkulturell utdanningsteori, og ikke minst betydningen av tilgang til faglig utvikling som fokuserer på flerspråklighet i skolen og i samfunnet for engelsklærere i Norge.
As international immigration to Norway is on the increase, it is becoming more common for Norwegi... more As international immigration to Norway is on the increase, it is becoming more common for Norwegian teachers of English to work with multilingual students. This chapter describes a qualitative action research project conducted at two schools in the Sør-Trøndelag area of Norway. A systematic inquiry has been undertaken in collaboration with the teachers at the schools to improve the quality of education for minority language students. The project aims to hear EFL teachers’ voices, describe their teaching practices, raise awareness about multilingualism, and help develop adequate EFL pedagogies that support the multilingual identities of their students and capitalize on the students’ “funds of knowledge” (González et al., 2005). The results suggest that the schools and the teachers are fully invested in the academic, linguistic and social wellbeing of their students and display respectful attitudes towards the students’ home languages and cultures. However, there is a need for a greater understanding of what being multilingual entails and an increased integration of the international students’ multilingual contributions to create diverse classroom communities.
The main premise of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is that language is taught th... more The main premise of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is that language is taught through meaningful, engaging content. CLIL programs can range along a continuum from content-driven, in which instruction is guided by content objectives and the role of language learning is to support mastery of the content, to language-driven programs in which the focus is on language learning with content in a secondary role. Even though CLIL has been advocated in most European countries since the late 1970s, the degree to which the approach is actually applied in foreign language classrooms is unclear. In fact, Cloud (1998) suggests that because integrating language and content places high demands on teachers, “content-based instruction […] is often translated into isolated fact and vocabulary learning, largely ignoring what we’ve learned about how true subject-specific conceptual understanding develops in children” (p. 116). This project used a survey method to examine how participants in a hybrid in-service English teacher course perceive the role of content when teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). The project also aimed to determine whether participation in the course lectures and activities that focus on implementing the CLIL approach in a foreign language classroom has an impact on the degree to which the teachers integrate CLIL in their own teaching. The findings suggest that whereas teachers’ views and practices have changed to some degree, changes to the in-service course curriculum and activities should be implemented to obtain better results.
As classrooms around Europe are becoming increasingly more linguistically and culturally diverse,... more As classrooms around Europe are becoming increasingly more linguistically and culturally diverse, teachers need to adapt their teaching to accommodate minority languages students. While developing their proficiency in the language of the target community, these students almost invariably receive instruction in English as a foreign language (EFL). Recognizing the important role EFL teachers play in the overall cognitive and linguistic development of minority students, this paper discusses the following pedagogical practices for the 21st century, diverse EFL classrooms: welcoming diversity, multimodality of input, funds of knowledge, clear goals, opportunities for interaction, integrating language with compelling content, facilitating multi-literacy, and differentiating instruction and assessment. By providing both theoretical support and practical tips, the paper aims to empower EFL teachers to foster linguistically and culturally rich environments and support their students’ multilingual development.
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