ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Teaching Second Language Acquisition Courses: Views from New Faculty
Author: Gorsuch, Greta J.
Date: 2004-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Graduate Study,Teacher Education,English (Second Language),Faculty Development,Language Teachers,Applied Linguistics,Interviews,College Faculty,Teacher Attitudes,Models,Teaching Methods,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Learning Experience,Reflection,Thinking Skills,Foreign Countries

Second language acquisition (SLA) courses are a perennial feature of graduate level teacher preparation programs in Applied Linguistics and TESOL. While there has been recent interest in exploring the interfaces of second language acquisition research and classroom teaching (Ellis, 1997), the teaching of SLA courses at the university level is little studied. This report describes a faculty-initiated self reflection and development program done by two new U.S.- and Japan-based graduate faculty teaching SLA for the first time. The authors' responses to a written interview protocol, analyzed using Shulman's (1986, 1987) pedagogical reasoning model, revealed the challenges they faced and also the strategies they employed in teaching SLA content to M.A. students. The authors argue for a greater awareness of faculty development in TESOL and applied linguistics, and a new view of SLA teachers and students as stakeholders in SLA.
Promoting Cooperative Learning at Primary School
Author: Abdullah, Maria
Date: 2004-03-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Elementary School Students,Cooperative Learning,Teaching Methods,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Feedback (Response),Language Teachers,Foreign Countries,Workshops,Faculty Development,Program Descriptions,Consultants,Lesson Plans,Departments,Sociocultural Patterns

This article describes a four-step programme designed to promote the use of cooperative learning among teachers at a Singapore primary school. In the initial step in the programme, teachers at the school were asked if they would like to participate in the programme. Six came forward. In the second step, an outside consultant did a brief workshop for six English teachers at the school. Next, each teacher worked with the consultant in a cycle of: (a) planning a lesson that included cooperative learning, with feedback from the consultant, (b) teaching that lesson with the consultant observing and providing feedback, and (c) planning another lesson in the same manner. This cycle was repeated for five lessons per teacher. The fourth step in the programme involved the teachers and the consultant in doing a four-hour workshop on cooperative learning for all the teachers in the school. The programme was initiated and supervised by the head of the school's English Department.
Corpora and Language Teaching: Just a Fling or Wedding Bells?
Author: Gabrielatos, Costas
Date: 2005-03-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Computational Linguistics,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Instructional Materials,Computer Software,Attitude Change,Teacher Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Teaching Methods,Pattern Recognition,Generalization,Indexes,Comparative Analysis,Phrase Structure

Electronic language corpora, and their attendant computer software, are proving increasingly influential in language teaching as sources of language descriptions and pedagogical materials. However, few teachers are clear about their nature or their relevance to language teaching. This paper defines corpora and their types, discusses their contribution to language learning and teaching, and provides examples of their use in class. It also outlines the changes in knowledge, skills and attitudes that are needed for learners and teachers to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the availability of corpus resources. Finally, the paper discusses the limitations of using corpora in language teaching, and the potential pitfalls arising from their uncritical use. Although the paper refers to research and teaching materials and procedures relevant to English language teaching (ELT) it addresses issues related to language teaching in general.
Pragmatic Comprehension of High and Low Level Language Learners
Author: Garcia, Paula
Date: 2004-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Pragmatics,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Correlation,Language Processing,Speech Acts,Advanced Students,Comparative Analysis,Listening Comprehension,Task Analysis,Multiple Choice Tests,English (Second Language),Graduate Students,Undergraduate Students,Teacher Education,Language Teachers,Listening Comprehension Tests,Language Proficiency,Language Aptitude,Statistical Analysis

This study compares the performances of 16 advanced and 19 beginning English language learners on a listening comprehension task that focused on linguistic and pragmatic processing. Processing pragmatic meaning differs from processing linguistic meaning because pragmatic meaning requires the listener to understand not only linguistic information, such as vocabulary and syntax, but also contextual information, such as the role and status of the interlocutor (Rost, 2002). The study used a theoretical framework of pragmatic processing (Thomas, 1995) that included the comprehension of speech acts, in which the speaker tries to do something or get the hearer to do something (Searle, 1969), and conversational implicatures, in which the speaker expresses attitudes and feelings using indirect utterances that must be inferred by the hearer (Grice, 1975). T-test results indicate developmental differences in comprehension of pragmatic meaning. Pearson correlation results support construct differences between linguistic and pragmatic comprehension, and between the comprehension of speech acts and the comprehension of implicatures.
Using Focus Group Methodology to Understand International Students' Academic Language Needs: A Comparison of Perspectives
Author: Zhu, Wei
Date: 2005-03-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Focus Groups,Student Attitudes,Student Needs,Foreign Students,Academic Discourse,Cultural Awareness,Curriculum Development,English for Academic Purposes,College Faculty,Teacher Attitudes,Administrator Attitudes,Needs Assessment,Writing Skills,Skill Development,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Graduate Students,Undergraduate Students

Assessing students' language needs is the indispensable first step in EAP (English for Academic Purposes) curriculum development. In this article, we report a portion of the results from a needs assessment study whose ultimate purpose was to inform curriculum development in EAP contexts. We used the focus group methodology to examine learner needs from different perspectives and conducted discussions on international students' academic language needs with three groups: international students, university faculty members, and university administrative personnel. Analysis of the focus group discussions showed that while the perceptions of the three groups converged to some extent, each group also had different concerns, thus indicating the need to examine multiple perspectives in student needs assessment. Results also showed that writing was perceived to be a crucial area of need, that academic language needs extended beyond the classroom, and that cultural skills were seen as an important part of academic language competence.
The Acquisition of English Personal and Possessive Pronouns in Two Classroom Learning Environments
Author: Seow, Anthony
Date: 2004-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Form Classes (Languages),English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Foreign Countries,Elementary School Students,Informal Education,Pretests Posttests,Language Usage,Teaching Methods

This pronoun study examines the effect of two classroom learning environments on the acquisition of English personal and possessive pronouns by Primary Two students in Singapore on the premises that: 1. Students from the formal learning environment will perform better than those from the informal learning environment in the shorter term; 2. Students from the informal learning environment will outperform those from the formal learning environment in the longer run; and 3. Students from both learning environments will find it easier using personal rather than possessive pronouns. The pre- and post-tests in the study reveal that while both groups of students found it easier to use personal pronouns than possessive pronouns, certain learning outcomes also emerged to suggest that the two groups of learners demonstrated different learning behaviors in pronoun use not only in terms of differentiation in pronoun type but also in pronoun function.
High-School Students Believe School Physics Helps in Developing Logical but Not Creative Thinking: Active Learning Can Change This Idea
Author: Marušic, Mirko
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Physics,Science Instruction,Teaching Methods,Learning Activities,Student Attitudes,Creative Thinking,Logical Thinking,High School Students,Attitude Change,Experimental Groups,Active Learning,Secondary School Science,Science Experiments,Discussion (Teaching Technique),Reading Assignments,Questioning Techniques,Foreign Countries,Gender Differences,Instructional Effectiveness

This study is based on two exploratory questions with the aim of determining the relative effectiveness of two different student activities, called &quot;Reading, Presenting and Questioning&quot; (RPQ) and &quot;Experimenting and Discussing&quot; (ED), in changing students' perceptions and attitudes about the impact of physics learning on the development of logical and creative thinking. One-semester of data from this high school project for RPQ group (91 students) showed a shift of 11% in their attitudes related to the development of logical thinking, while student attitudes about the development of creative thinking showed a shift of 20.9%. The results for the ED group (85 students) showed a considerable shift in positive attitudes about the role of physics in the development of logical thinking of 31.7% while student attitudes towards the development of creative thinking made a ??significant progress of 36.4%. These results indicate that both forms of active learning improve student perceptions about the impact of teaching physics on the development of logical and creative thinking, although students in ED group show much bigger improvements.
Teaching to Reason
Author: Riveros Rotge, Hector G.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Science Instruction,Physics,Thinking Skills,Constructivism (Learning),Learning Activities,Inquiry,Motion,Scientific Concepts,Teaching Methods

The objective of Physics courses is that the students learn how to use what they know to solve problems in the real world (competencies), but no one learns to do that seeing as the professor think in the blackboard. The program of a course uses topics as examples of reasoning. Reasoning involves the ability to use their knowledge. If we precisely define the objectives of a lecture &quot;before&quot; actually presenting the material to the students, the lecture will have better chances to hit the desired target. Having these objectives in mind we will be able to find a concatenated series of questions, which may help the students to discover and learn what we want to teach (thus improving the students´ competencies). In doing this we will be recreating the Socratic Method, which has evolved as constructivism.
A Case Study of What Experiences Contribute to the Ideas of Energy Held by Primary School Students in Trinidad and Tobago
Author: Maharaj-Sharma, Rawatee
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Energy,Scientific Concepts,Elementary School Students,Student Attitudes,Prompting,Semi Structured Interviews,Age Differences,Concept Formation,Science Instruction,Student Experience,Inquiry,Naturalistic Observation,Instructional Materials

This case study explored what experiences contribute to the ideas of energy held by 30 purposively selected primary school students from one primary school in Trinidad and Tobago. The 30 students were selected from across all levels of the primary system. The study used the Interview About Events (IAE) approach to explore students' ideas about energy and further to reveal what experiences have led to them having these ideas. During the IAE exercise, flashcards of events and items were shown to students to prompt responses from them and to initiate a semi structured interview. Their interview responses were used to gauge what experiences contributed to the ideas they had. The findings showed that students ideas were as a result of many different experiences but that these experiences could be grouped into one of three categories: hearsay experiences, incomplete understandings, classroom experiences. Most of the students at the lower primary levels held ideas about energy arising from either hearsay experiences or incomplete ideas, while many of the upper primary level students explained their ideas about energy by referring to their classroom experiences. This paper presents the findings of this small-scale exploration.
The Effect of Using Concept Mapping on Student's Attitude and Achievement When Learning the Physics Topic of Circular and Rotational Motion
Author: Luchembe, Dennis
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Science Instruction,Physics,Concept Mapping,Student Attitudes,Science Achievement,Motion,Teaching Methods,Undergraduate Students,College Science,Experimental Groups,Control Groups,Comparative Analysis,Pretests Posttests,Scores,Instructional Effectiveness,Questionnaires,Interviews,Foreign Countries,Mixed Methods Research

The study was conducted to show the effectiveness of concept mapping as a teaching strategy to undergraduate students taking introductory physics course. A number of researchers have investigated the effectiveness of concept mapping on student academic achievement. The main focus of these studies have been on comparing the effectiveness of concept mapping to traditional teaching practices such as the lecture method. This research, however, compared concept mapping to tutorial sheets strategy in teaching circular and rotational motion. A sample of seventy (70) students participated in the experiment. An equivalent number of thirty five (35) students were assigned to the control and experimental group. The control group used tutorial sheets while the experimental group used concept mapping. A pre-test and post-test was administered to the two groups. A t-test was used to compare the means of the group's test scores. The mean score for the experimental group's post test was higher than the mean score of the control group. This showed that concept mapping was more effective than the tutorial sheet strategy. Questionnaires and interviews were also used to determine the attitude of students towards concept mapping. The findings showed that students had a positive attitude towards the use of concept mapping.
Building an Effective Classroom Library
Author: Catapano, Susan
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Learning Centers (Classroom),School Libraries,Library Development,Guidelines,Classroom Environment,Classroom Techniques,Library Materials,Childrens Literature,Information Sources,Educational Resources,Literacy,Library Services,Troubleshooting,Elementary Secondary Education,Beginning Teachers

New teachers are eager to begin their careers with the information learned from their teacher preparation programs. Too many times, the classroom library is a second thought to the establishment of classroom rules and the implementation of curriculum. Rather than an instructional tool for literacy and classroom community, the library can become a neglected corner of the room without organization. In this practitioner-oriented article, researchers worked with a group of new teachers to help them establish and use their classroom library as part of their literacy program. As a result, tips on building and organizing a classroom library were developed and can be used to guide and support new teachers as they establish their classroom libraries. This article discusses proven strategies and ideas that were developed and tested with classroom teachers.
&quot;That Just Really Knocks Me Out&quot;: Fourth Grade Students Navigate Postmodern Picture Books
Author: Swaggerty, Elizabeth
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Grade 4,Elementary School Students,Picture Books,Postmodernism,Illustrations,Creative Teaching,Student Attitudes,Reading Materials,Video Technology,Protocol Analysis,Clubs,Group Discussion,Cognitive Processes,Thematic Approach,Reader Response,Emotional Response,Problem Solving,Aesthetics,Reflection,Reading Strategies,Reading Comprehension

What happens when children come across texts that push the boundaries of what they expect to encounter when they pick up a picture book? There exists a genre of nontraditional picture books, commonly referred to as &quot;postmodern picture books,&quot; which is characterized by a variety of alternative literary and illustrative devices. Given that these books often deviate from traditional narrative structure and elements, traditional comprehension strategies may not be effective in assisting students' understanding of the story. The purpose of this study was to examine and interpret the ways in which a small group of successful fourth grade readers navigated five postmodern picture books. Video transcripts and field notes from ten individual think aloud sessions and five group book club discussions serve as data sources that reveal the complexity of the ways in which students navigated these books.
Experimenting with a Superconducting Levitation Train
Author: Miryala, Santosh
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Science Instruction,Science Experiments,Physics,Scientific Concepts,Magnets,Safety,Demonstrations (Educational),Transportation

The construction and operation of a prototype high-&quot;Tc&quot; superconducting train model is presented. The train is levitated by a melt-processed GdBa[subscript 2]Cu[subscript 3]O[subscript x] (Gd-123) superconducting material over a magnetic rail (track). The oval shaped track is constructed in S-N-S or PM3N configuration arranged on an iron plate. The train bodies are constructed with FRP sheets forming a vessel to maintain the temperature of liquid nitrogen. The superconductors are field-cooled on the magnetic track, which provides a large stability of the levitation due to strong flux pinning of the melt-processed superconductors. The setup enables to test parameters like stability, speed, and safety, of the superconducting train for various gaps (ranging between 1 mm to 15 mm) between the train and the magnetic track. The experimental results indicate that trains with 1 to 2 mm gaps cannot run properly due to the friction applied to the track. The trains with 10 or 15 mm gaps do not run stable on the track. Our results confirm that a gap of 5 mm is the optimum distance to run the train showing also stability to run fast on the track. The present results clearly demonstrate that the stability of the superconducting trains depends on the gap between the rail and train, which is an important parameter also for the real Maglev trains.
Scaffolding the Home Reading Experiences of African-American First Graders
Author: Dunston, Yolanda L.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Grade 1,Elementary School Students,African American Students,Mothers,Oral Reading,Feedback (Response),Accuracy,Listening,Parent Influence,Helping Relationship,Video Technology,Reading Skills,Family Income,Family Environment,Educational Attainment,Statistical Analysis,Regression (Statistics)

This study explored the feedback provided by sixty African American mothers as they listened to their first grade children read aloud from a grade level text. Maternal feedback fell into two distinct groups. Children with higher oral reading accuracy levels on the text had mothers who more frequently waited and permitted opportunities for the children to work through one or more word identification attempts before they intervened with difficult words. Conversely, children with lower accuracy levels on the text had mothers who provided more immediate and explicit support for difficult words, particularly providing words with few to no opportunities for children to try out reading strategies on their own. These findings suggest that the mothers were able to effectively determine the amount of assistance their children needed based on how well they were reading the text. The findings are aligned with the type of support teachers typically provide for children during oral reading in schools. Implications are provided for developing a curriculum connecting school literacy learning with at-home reading practice to capitalize on the positive strategies parents and caregivers seem to intuitively offer. This connection may be a critical factor as educators continue their efforts to close the literacy achievement gap between African American children and their non-minority peers.
The Power of Students' Stories: Narrative Inquiry in English Education
Author: Knight, Suzanne D.
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Inquiry,Personal Narratives,College Faculty,College Students,Methods Courses,English Instruction,Epistemology,Teacher Educators,Integrated Activities,Teacher Attitudes

This theoretical article outlines the rationale behind one teacher educator's decision to use student-written narratives as part of a narrative inquiry in a year-long English methods course. The article is an explication of why narrative inquiry, as both an individual and a collective endeavor, can be a powerful tool for student learning. Finally, the author explores the epistemological underpinnings of such an inquiry, as well as the stance a teacher educator might take when engaging in narrative inquiry.
Grass Houses: Representations and Reinventions of Social Class through Children's Literature
Author: Jones, Stephanie
Date: 2008-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Social Class,Childrens Literature,Figurative Language,Picture Books,Teaching Methods,Feminism,Working Class,Poverty,Racial Differences,Social Bias,Power Structure,Social Stratification,Personal Narratives,Critical Reading,Reading Material Selection

Grounded in feminist notions of valuing lived experiences and constructing knowledge about the wider world from material realities, this article uses autobiographical narratives and poststructural and critical theories to argue for change in children's literature. The author presents two simultaneous streams of shifting, representations and reinventions, to explore possibilities of including more varied and contradictory ways of living class-specific lives and assertively positioning readers to question the invisibility of working-class and poor lives in mainstream children's literature. A metaphor of malleable &quot;grass houses&quot; is used to imagine broadened and more flexible ways of thinking and talking about social class through children's picture books.