Improving Learners’ Motivation through Feedback in English Language Teaching and Learning at Polytechnic School in Benguela, Angola

Currently, it is widely perceived among the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching professionals, that motivation is a central factor for success in language learning. This work aims to examine and raise teachers’ awareness about the role of assessment and feedback in the process of language teaching and learning at polytechnic school in Benguela to develop and/or enhance their students’ motivation for learning. Hence the paper defines and discusses the key terms and, the techniques and strategies for an effective feedback provision in the context under study. It also collects data through the use of interview and questionnaire methods, and suggests the assessment and feedback types to be implemented at polytechnic school in Benguela

Learning English as an adult: a narrative of women's improvised and empowered lives /

This thesis is a narrative inquiry of learning English as an adult. It stories the journey of 7 women, including me, and unravels lived experiences that serve as learning models. Learning English as an adult presents challenges and results in lifelong implications both in personal and professional life. Every learner's experience is imique and, when reflected upon, each experience is a valuable source of knowledge for constructing meanings and forging new identities. The stories are testimony to the participants' lives: interrupted yet improvised, silenced yet roused, dependent yet independent, intimidated yet courageous, vulnerable yet empowered. The personal experiences elucidate the passion, the inner voices, the dreams, and the rewards that compel persistence in learning a new language and releaming new social roles. The stories provide encouragement and hope to other women who are learning or will learn English in their adult years, and the lived experiences will offer insights for English language teachers. This thesis employs the phenomenology methodology of research with heuristic (discovery) and hermeneutical (interpretative) approaches using the reflective-responsivereflexive writing and interviewing methods for data gathering and unravelling. The narrative inquiry approach reaffirms that storytelling is an important tool in conducting research and constructing new knowledge. This thesis narrates a new story about sharing experiences, interconnecting, and continuing to learn.

Conversations with EFL teachers: toward an understanding of whiteness in the classroom /

Few teachers would question that teaching is a contextual and situational process, yet as Gay (2000) reminds us, too few teachers have sufficient knowledge of how teaching practices reflect dominant cultural values. This qualitative study explored whiteness in the EFL classroom and the relation between teacher identity and pedagogy. This research was shaped by the overarching research questions: How does being white influence teachers' educational practices? How can teachers successfully negotiate crosscultural teaching? Data included open-ended interviews, a content analysis of EFL training materials, and my research and personal journals. The experiences of five EFL teachers form the central focus of this study. My personal story, as a white EFL teacher, is also included throughout this thesis. This study offers a detailed description of the complex and dynamic ways in which these five teachers understood their racial identities, and the classroom decisions they made in response to their understandings. Included in the discussion are the strategies that my participants and I used to subtly resist the notion and exploration of racial privilege. Implications for teacher education programs and possible directions for further study are offered.

Improving English as a Second Language (ESL) Pedagogy in One University in Ontario

In this paper, theoretical pedagogical approaches and practical pedagogical approaches are investigated by drawing on English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers’ pedagogical principles and practices, and ESL Chinese students’ second language acquisition and learning needs as they related to improving ESL pedagogy in one university ELP in Ontario. Three experienced ESL teachers were inquired by interviews and 30 ESL Chinese students were surveyed by questionnaires. Based on the mix-method exploratory research design, communicative, task-based, and content-based language teaching approaches are identified and discussed in the light of the interview and questionnaire data.

Development of a New Assessment System to Evaluate Students' English Communicative Capacities in China

The purpose of this study was to develop a new English assessment system to evaluate Chinese students' English communicative capacities. Since there is more interaction with people from English-speaking countries, Chinese people attach more importance to English oral skills, and a lot of Western English teaching methods were introduced into China to improve students' English communicative capacities. However, traditional paper-written examinations, like the English test of higher education entry examination, cannot evaluate it effectively. This study explored the perceptions of two Chinese English-language teachers and two Chinese students about English assessment system. A qualitative research method using telephone interviews was conducted in this study. The findings showed that the most possible ways to assess Chinese students' English communicative capacities were paper-written examination and person-machine conversations, although measures should be taken to improve these two models. On the other hand, the model of person-person conversation was the ideal assessment tool but was hard to achieve at the current stage.

Pronunciation practice activities : a resource book for teaching English pronunciation.

Recurso para los profesores que buscan ideas sobre cómo se puede hacer más interesante la enseñanza de la pronunciación inglesa. Contiene una colección de actividades para una amplia gama de niveles, usando una variedad de métodos. Dividido en dos partes, la primera parte presenta información acerca de la fonética y la fonología como antecedentes de las actividades docentes. También se destacan algunos de los actuales ámbitos de debate y discusión en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la pronunciación en inglés. La segunda parte del libro contiene casi cien actividades divididas en ocho secciones. Va acompañado de un CD de audio como material de apoyo.

English for specific purposes.

Da a los profesores consejos prácticos para la enseñanza del inglés profesional a cualquier profesión. Ayuda a enseñar a identificar las áreas del lenguaje que son comunes a la mayoría de las diferentes vocaciones. Ofrece más de ochenta actividades para los alumnos de todos los niveles. Está organizado en capítulos genéricos en áreas tales como las estructuras organizativas (capítulo 2), atención al cliente y garantía de calidad (capítulo 6), la salud y la seguridad (capítulo 7). Todas las actividades pueden ser adaptadas para satisfacer las necesidades de los profesionales empleados en otros sectores, y hay sugerencias de cómo lograrlo. Adecuado para maestros, formadores de docentes, y profesores principiantes.

Teaching other subjects through English.

Este recurso pretende ayudar a los profesores que imparten la enseñanza de otras asignaturas en inglés (AICLE), Aprendizaje Integrado de Conocimientos Curriculares y Lengua Extranjera, y sugiere soluciones a algunos de sus problemas. Ofrece más de sesenta actividades interactivas especialmente adecuadas para alumnos entre once y dieciocho años que dan ideas para trabajar con grupos, parejas, clases enteras, y clases con distintas capacidades. Tiene apéndice para ayudar con el idioma en el aula; frases útiles para los estudiantes; bibliografía y sitios web.

Learner English : a teacher's guide to interference and other problems.

Es una guía práctica de referencia para profesores que imparten el idioma inglés británico como lengua extranjera. Compara las características relevantes de la lengua materna de los estudiantes con la lengua inglesa, para ayudar a los profesores a predecir y entender los problemas que les surgen en el aprendizaje. Escrito por profesores con experiencia, describe y explica los principales errores de pronunciación, gramática, vocabulario y otros, que cometen estos estudiantes que hablan alguna de las lenguas aquí estudiadas y que pertenecen a casi todos los continentes.

Five-minute activities for Business English.

Recurso con actividades básicas reales como correos electrónicos, conversaciones telefónicas, excusas, negociación, manejo de quejas de clientes, etc., para la enseñanza del inglés de negocios. Cubre secciones principales sobre: temas de negocios, habilidades en comunicación empresarial, lenguaje de trabajo. Estas áreas incluyen actividades sobre diversos temas, como dinero y finanzas, reuniones, negociaciones, telefonía, gestión, marketing. También puede ser de interés para profesores de inglés general, que buscan actividades con habilidades basadas en contextos significativos.

Teaching English spelling : a practical guide.

Recurso para el profesor con actividades para poner en práctica las reglas de ortografía del inglés. Se puede utilizar tanto con la lengua materna como con la segunda lengua extranjera y en una variedad de niveles. El recurso está organizado en unidades que se centran en un fonema en particular. Cada unidad se desglosa en una serie de lecciones, cada una dedicada a un patrón de ortografía para el fonema común.

A study of the TAGS, an enduring teaching tool: teachers’ perspectives on the Teacher Assessment of Grammatical Structures teaching practices and application

This paper is studied look at the Teacher’s Assessment of Grammatical Structures (TAGS), Teacher Assessment of Spoken Language (TASL), and Cottage Acquisition Scales for Listening, Language and Speech (CASLLS) criterion-referenced language assessments as well as an inquiry into how teachers of the deaf use the TAGS currently as a teaching tool.

Are regular education teachers ready for our students?

This paper examines what regular education teachers need in order to be prepared for teaching mainstreamed deaf and hearing impaired students.

Communication strategies used by teachers at a school for the deaf

This paper describes alternate approaches to communication with hearing-impaired children which are used by classroom teachers at a school for the deaf.

Literature review and analysis of itinerant teachers of the hearing impaired located in the midwest: Service delivery model in education

The role and responsibilities of an itinerant teacher of students who are deaf or hard of hearing were investigated to create a database of information about the effective traits of successful itinerant teachers.