Factors that strengthen and weaken proposals will be discussed. The presenters, a teacher and researcher, describe their collaboration in a qualitative, ESL classroom study involving transfer of grammatical instruction. The presenters address the advantages and disadvantages for students, teachers, and researchers who become involved in collaborative research. Guidelines are offered for making classroom research more enriching for all involved. Meeting Room 122 Using data from a qualitative study of two newcomer programs for ESL students with limited formal education or literacy skills in their first languages, the role of discourses, identity and agency in second language acquisition is examined.
Findings reveal how identity serves as a site of struggle across instructional contexts.
Student attitude, irritation with the evaluation, and truthfulness are issues affecting self-evaluation. The evaluation forms and subsequent revised versions are shown and discussed. The poster will present a system of language learning in small semi-autonomous teams and sample material used with engineering students over the last 8 years. The feedback from students highlights the team's role in increasing commitment to language learning, improving fluency and a high course-satisfaction level. A whole language approach, Fluency First emphasizes developing fluency as a first step toward building higher level academic reading skills.