Teacher use of personal narratives in the Japanese university english language classroom

While storytelling in conversation has been extensively investigated, much less is known about storytelling in the English language classroom, particularly teachers telling their personal experience stories, termed teacher personal narratives in this study. Teacher personal narratives, a combination of the ancient art of human storytelling and the current practices of teaching, offer an innovative approach to language teaching and learning. This thesis examines teacher personal narrative use in Japanese university English language classrooms and is of relevance to both practicing classroom teachers and teacher educators because it explores the role, significance, and effectiveness of personal stories told by teachers. The pedagogical implications which the findings may have for language teaching and learning as well as for teacher education programs are also discussed. Four research questions were posed: 1. What are the characteristics of teacher personal narratives? 2. When, how, and why do language teachers use personal narratives in the classroom? 3. What is the reaction of learners to teacher personal narratives? 4. How do teacher personal narratives provide opportunities for student learning? A mixed methods approach using the tradition of multiple case studies provided an in-depth exploration of the personal narratives of four teachers. Data collection consisted of classroom observations and audio recordings, teacher and student semi-structured interviews, student diaries, and Japan-wide teacher questionnaires. Ninety-seven teacher personal narratives were analyzed for their structural and linguistic features. The findings showed that the narrative elements of orientation, complication, and evaluation are almost always present in these stories, and that discourse and tense markers may aid in student noticing of the input which can lead to eventual student output. The data also demonstrated that reasons for telling narratives mainly fall into two categories: affectiveoriented and pedagogical-oriented purposes. This study has shown that there are significant differences between conversational storytelling and educational storytelling.

Teaching English to young learners in Europe:teachers' attitudes and perspectives

The introduction of languages into the primary curriculum has been the major development in language-in-education policy around the world over the last 20-25 years. In the vast majority of countries the language taught is English and it is being taught at an ever-earlier age. A relatively large amount of research has been carried out in Asia into teaching English to young learners (TEYL) from the point of view of language policy and planning and of policy implementation, especially in terms of the gap between policy and practice caused by the introduction of new methodologies such as communicative language teaching. However, to date far less research has been carried out into the situation in Europe, particularly concerning the attitudes of those most closely involved in policy implementation - the teachers themselves. This chapter examines the attitudes of teachers in six European countries (Italy, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Spain and Ukraine), uncovering the challenges they face and the changes they would like to see enacted to improve English language learning and teaching in their countries. The implications for policy, planning and teacher education are also discussed.

Learning and teaching through context: a data-driven approach

A word may have many potential meanings, but its actual meaning in any authentic written or spoken text is determined by its context: its collocations, structural patterns, and pragmatic functions. Large language corpora offer access to words in a wide range of natural contexts, which can improve and enrich both language learning and teaching.

Total quality management in English language teaching:a case study in Turkish higher education

The need to improve the management of language learning organizations in the light of the trend toward mass higher education and of the use of English as a world language was the starting point of this thesis. The thesis aims to assess the relevance, adequacy and the relative success of Total Quality Management (TQM) as a management philosophy. Taking this empirical evidence a TQM-oriented management project in a Turkish Higher Education context, the thesis observes the consequences of a change of organizational culture, with specific reference to teachers' attitudes towards management. Both qualitative and quantitative devices are employed to plot change and the value of these devices for identifying such is considered. The main focus of the thesis is the Soft S's (Shared Values, Style, Staff and Skills) of an organization rather than the Hard S's (System, Structure, Strategy). The thesis is not concerned with the teaching and learning processes, though the PDCA cycle (the Action Research Cycle) did play a part in the project for both teachers and the researcher involved in this study of organizational development. Both before the management project was launched, and at the end of the research period, the external measurement devices (Harrison's Culture Specification Device and Hofstede's VSM) were used to describe the culture of the Centre. During the management project, internal measurement devices were used to record the change including middle-management style change (the researcher in this case). The time period chosen for this study was between September 1991 and June 1994. During this period, each device was administered twice within a specific time period, ranging from a year to 32 months.

The role of the English language in the context of national development vision 2025 with specific reference to agriculture in Tanzania

After thirty years of vacillation, the Tanzanian government has made a firm decision to Swahilize its secondary education system. It has also embarked on an ambitious economic and social development programme (Vision 2025) to transform its peasant society into a modern agricultural community. However, there is a faction in Tanzania opposed to Kiswahili as the medium of education. Already many members of the middle and upper class their children to English medium primary schools to avoid the Kiswahili medium public schools and to prepare their children for the English medium secondary system presently in place. Within the education system, particularly at university level, there is a desire to maintain English as the medium of education. English is seen to provide access to the international scientific community, to cutting edge technology and to the global economy. My interest in this conflict of interests stems from several years' experience teaching English to students at Sokoine University of Agriculture. Students specialise in agriculture and are expected to work with the peasant population on graduation. The students experience difficulties studying in English and then find their Kiswahili skills insufficient to explain to farmers the new techniques and technologies that they have studied in English. They are hampered by a complex triglossic situation in which they use their mother tongue with family and friends, Kiswahili, the national language for early education and most public communication within Tanzania, and English for advanced studies. My aim in this thesis was - to study the language policy in Tanzania and see how it is understood and implemented; - to examine the attitudes towards the various languages and their various roles; - to investigate actual language behaviour in Tanzanian higher education. My conclusion is that the dysfunctionality of the present study has to be addressed. Diglossic public life in Tanzania has to be accommodated. The only solution appears to be a compromise, namely a bilingual education system which supports from all cases of society by using Kiswahili, together with an early introduction of English and its promotion as a privileged foreign language, so that Tanzania can continue to develop internally through Kiswahili and at the same time retain access to the globalising world through the medium of English.

Vision2020 and the English language : a study of the role of language in national development.

The research reported here is an investigation into the problems of social and economic development of a multiethic and multicultural country which has the added challenge of adopting a non-indigenous code to facilitate the development process. Malaysia's power to negotiate outcomes favourable to the interest of the country is critical for the successful attainment of the goals and objectives of VISION2020. Therefore the mechanisms of the human resource development programme have to be efficacious. The three hypotheses of this study are as follows: 1. there is a fear that the problems and challenges posed by the development plans, have been conceptually trivialised; 2. based on (1) above there is a concern that solutions proposed are inadequate and inappropriate and 3. the outcome of both (1) and (2) can lead to the potential underachievement of national goals and objectives. The study proposes a complex model for conceptualising the problem which looks at the relationship between society and language, which any solutions proposed must take into proper consideration. The study looks at the mechanisms available for the smooth absorption of new Malaysian members to new and international communities. A large scale investigation was undertaken with the researcher functioning as a participant observer. An in-depth study of one particular educational ecology yielded approximately 38 hours of interviews and 100 questionnaires. These data were analysed both for explicit information and implicit implications. By some criteria national policies appear to be having the desired effect, and can be given a clean bill of health. By others it is clear that major adjustments would be necessary if the nation is to achieve its objectives in full. Based on the evidence gathered, thr study proposes an apprenticeship approach to training programmes for effective participation of new members in the new ecologies.

Doing action research in English language teaching:a guide for practitioners

This hands-on, practical guide for ESL/EFL teachers and teacher educators outlines, for those who are new to doing action research, what it is and how it works. Straightforward and reader friendly, it introduces the concepts and offers a step-by-step guide to going through an action research process, including illustrations drawn widely from international contexts. Specifically, the text addresses: •action research and how it differs from other forms of research •the steps involved in developing an action research project •ways of developing a research focus •methods of data collection •approaches to data analysis •making sense of action research for further classroom action. Each chapter includes a variety of pedagogical activities: •Pre-Reading questions ask readers to consider what they already know about the topic •Reflection Points invite readers to think about/discuss what they have read •action points ask readers to carry out action-research tasks based on what they have read •Classroom Voices illustrate aspects of action research from teachers internationally •Summary Points provide a synopsis of the main points in the chapter

Utilising fiction to promote english language acquisition

Towards the end of the university stage, students residing in the United Arab Emirates and specialising in subjects other than English are expected- amongst other university requirements- to have acquired adequate communicative competence as well as a repertoire of critical thinking skills. Despite the efforts made within the field of teaching English to EFL university students in the country, the output gained in terms of acquired skills and competencies is still below expectations. The main concerns of the current thesis are, therefore, a) to investigate the factors which inhibit EFL university students’ progress in the areas of acquiring adequate communicative competence as well as critical thinking skills, and b) to propose a course book and pedagogic methods to improve students’ progress in the areas of acquiring adequate communicative competence as well as critical thinking skills. Believing in the essential role literature plays in enhancing critical thinking and promoting communicative competence on the part of EFL learners, the current study introduces a course, designed and implemented by the researcher: LEARN AND GAIN. The proposed course is fiction-based language teaching, adopting the view that literature is a resource rather than an object, thus advocating the use of literature as one of the main resources in foreign/second language acquisition. Investigating whether or not the proposed course was effective in promoting EFL university students’ communicative competence as well as enhancing their critical thinking skills, a study sample taken from the study population was selected. Adopting an experimental design, the research project involved two groups: experimental and control. The experimental group students were exposed to the proposed course whilst the control group students were exposed to a general English language course. To examine treatment effectiveness, the researcher set and administered a pre-post test. Divided into two main parts, communicative critical reading competence and communicative critical writing competence, the pre-post test measured subjects’ communicative critical reading competence and subjects’ communicative critical writing competence. In addition, a pre-post questionnaire was administered and a semi-structured interview was conducted involving the experimental group students, to gain an awareness of students’ attitudes towards learning literary texts in general, and the proposed course in particular. To examine issues of interest and relevance, gender differences: male vs. female, and university major: science vs. non-science, were also examined for enrichment purposes. For the purpose of gathering sufficient data about subjects’ achievements on the pre-post, the following statistical tests were conducted: Mann-Whitney test, and paired data t-test. Based on the statistical findings, the experimental group students’ performance on the communicative critical reading competence pre-post test and the communicative critical writing competence pre-post test was significantly better than their counterparts of the control group students. Speaking of gender differences in relation to language performance on the communicative critical reading competence pre-post test and the communicative critical writing competence pre-post test, no significant differences were cited. Neither did the researcher cite any significant performance differences between science/non-science students on the communicative critical reading competence pre-post test and the communicative critical writing competence pre-post test. As far as the questionnaire’s findings are concerned, the experimental group students’ responses to the post-questionnaire’s items were more positive than those of their responses to the pre-questionnaire’s, thus indicating some positive attitudes towards literature, which students possibly gained throughout the course of implementation. Relating the discussion to the interview’s results, students conveyed their satisfaction with the proposed course, emphasising that promoting English language skills through the use of literary texts was rewarding. In the light of findings and conclusions, a number of recommendations as well as implications have been proposed. The current study aimed to arrive at some appropriate suggestions to a number of enquiries, yet concluding with some areas of enquiry to be explored for further research.

Perceptions of learning and teaching quality in Higher Education:developing a culture of co-creation of value

Perceptions about the quality of learning and teaching in Higher Education has for many years focused upon the application of market based principles. This includes the notion of students as “customers” of the Higher Education Institutions (HEI) service. We argue that the application of the customer analogy is unhelpful however, as students this approach is likely to affect student expectations about the service and their judgements about its quality. The purpose of this paper is to propose a study consisting of a series of interventions to develop a culture of value co-creation at a UK based HEI. By introducing CCV principles, it is hoped to steer students away from seeing themselves as “customers”, and passive recipients of in the learning and teaching process, to one where they take responsibility for their own learning experience, to be explored and acted upon in partnership with their lecturers and other stakeholders.

French linguistics research and teaching in UK and Irish HE institutions

Introduction: The research and teaching of French linguistics in UK higher education (HE) institutions have a venerable history; a number of universities have traditionally offered philology or history of the language courses, which complement literary study. A deeper understanding of the way that the phonology, syntax and semantics of the French language have evolved gives students linguistic insights that dovetail with their study of the Roman de Renart, Rabelais, Racine or the nouveau roman. There was, in the past, some coverage of contemporary French phonetics but little on sociolinguistic issues. More recently, new areas of research and teaching have been developed, with a particular focus on contemporary spoken French and on sociolinguistics. Well supported by funding councils, UK researchers are also making an important contribution in other areas: phonetics and phonology, syntax, pragmatics and second-language acquisition. A fair proportion of French linguistics research occurs outside French sections in psychology or applied linguistics departments. In addition, the UK plays a particular role in bringing together European and North American intellectual traditions and methodologies and in promoting the internationalisation of French linguistics research through the strength of its subject associations, and that of the Journal of French Language Studies. The following sections treat each of these areas in turn. History of the French Language There is a long and distinguished tradition in Britain of teaching and research on the history of the French language, particularly, but by no means exclusively, at the universities of Cambridge, Manchester and Oxford.

What is English for? Language structure and the curriculum for English

This article uses Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic discourse to account for both the processes by which curriculum change occurs and the failure of efforts to introduce meaningful attention to language structure into national curricula.

War words:language, history and the disciplining of English

Debates about the nature of literacy and literacy practices have been conducted extensively in the last fifteen years or so. The fact that both previous and current British governments have effectively suppressed any real debate makes the publication of this book both timely and important. Here, Urszula Clark stresses the underlying ideological character of such debates and shows that they have deep historical roots. She also makes the point that issues regarding the relationship between language and identity, especially national identity, become sharply focused at times of crisis in that identity. By undertaking a comparison with other major English-speaking countries, most notably Australia, New Zealand and the USA, Clark shows how these times of crisis reverberate around the globe.

Good practice guide in learning and teaching

Once again this publication is produced to celebrate and promote good teaching and learning support and to offer encouragement to those imaginative and innovative staff who continue to wish to challenge students to learn to maximum effect. It is hoped that others will pick up some good ideas from the articles contained in this volume. We have again changed our approach for this 2007/08 edition (our fifth) of the Aston Business School Good Practice Guide. As before, some contributions were selected from those identifying interesting best practice on their Annual Module Reflection Forms in 2006/2007. Brookes? contribution this year is directly from her annual reflection. Other contributors received HELM (Research Centre in Higher Education Learning and Management) small research grants in 2006/2007. Part of the conditions were for them to write an article for this publication. We have also been less tight on the length of the articles this year. Some contributions are, therefore, on the way to being journal articles. HELM will be working with these authors to help develop these for publication. Looking back over the last five years it is brilliant to see how many different people have contributed over the years and, therefore, how much innovative learning and teaching work has been taking place in ABS over this time. In the first edition we were just pleased for people to write a few pages on their teaching. Now things have changed dramatically. The majority of the articles are grounded in empirical research (some funded by HELM small research grants) and Palmer?s article was produced as part of the University?s Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching. Most encouraging of all, four of this year?s articles have since been developed further and submitted to refereed journals. We await news of publication as we go to press. It is not surprising that how to manage large groups still remains a central theme of the articles, ABS has a large and still growing student body. Essex and Simpson have looked at trying to encourage students to attend taught sessions, on the basis that there is a strong correlation between attendance and higher performance. Their findings are forming the platform of a further study currently being carried out in the Undergraduate Programme. A number of the other articles concentrate on trying to encourage students to engage with study in an innovative way. This is particularly obvious in Shaw?s work. Everyone who has been around campus lately has had evidence that the students on Duncan?s modules have clearly been inspired. I found myself, for example, playing golf in the student dining room as part of this initiative! The articles by Jarzabkowski & Guilietti and Ho involved much larger surveys. This is another first for the Good Practice Guide and marks the first step on what will clearly be larger research efforts for these authors in this area. We look forward to the journal publications which will result from this work. The last articles are the result of HELM?s hosting of the national conference of the Higher Education Academy?s Business, Management, Accounting and Finance (BMAF) Subject Centre Conference in May 2007. Belal and Foster have written about their impressions of the Conference and Andrews has included the paper she gave. The papers on employability and widening participation are the centre of HELM?s current work. In the second volume we mentioned the launch of the School?s Research Centre in Higher Education Learning and Management (HELM). Since then HELM has stimulated a lot of activity across the School (and University) particularly linking research and teaching. A list of the HELM seminars for 2007/2008 is listed as Appendix 1 of this publication. Further details can be obtained from Catherine Foster (c.s.foster@aston.ac.uk), who coordinates the HELM seminars. We have also been working on a list of target journals to guide ABS staff who wish to publish in this area. These are included as Appendix 2 of this publication. May I thank the contributors for taking time out of their busy schedules to write the articles and to Julie Green, the Quality Manager, for putting the varying diverse approaches into a coherent and publishable form and for agreeing to fund the printing of this volume.

'I felt that I do live in the UK now':international students' self-reports of their English language speaking experiences on a pre-sessional programme

This article focuses on the English language experiences of a group of pre-sessional students, an under-represented group in the literature on language and education. In particular, it investigates the opportunities that such students have to use English outside the classroom, shown to be a key factor in student satisfaction with their study abroad experience. Drawing on data from questionnaires, interviews and on-line diaries, we show that students have a variety of opportunities to use English; however, these opportunities may require students to engage in complex negotiations right from the beginning of their sojourn in the UK. Micro-analysis of the data shows that agency is a key construct in understanding students' representations of their English encounters as they begin their lives in the UK. The article concludes with some suggestions as to how pre-sessional courses may develop students' linguistic and socio-cultural skills in order that they may interact successfully in English outside the classroom. © 2011 Taylor &Francis.