Book Review: Manolescu, D. (2019). Tips. A Guidebook for Teaching Excellence in ESL

The Guide for Teaching Excellence in ESL provides several demonstrations of the connection between language and culture. The book outlined the history behind words, the development of languages and alphabets, and the relationship between language and culture. Dan Manolescu recognized the student needs and core competencies that teachers must demonstrate to improve learning outcomes for students learning English. The book provided references to establish sources of information to support the author's work and approach to ESL instruction. He used his knowledge and experiences to create a comprehensive work that may benefit those new and veteran teachers who support ESL students. The author's knowledge of language and teaching is very evident throughout the book. The author signals the importance of performing an environmental scan when providing instructional tips to students because excellence can be achieved and is vital to building knowledge.

Long-term effects of intensive instruction on fluency, comprehensibility and accentedness

We assessed the long-term effects of intensive instruction on different aspects of L2 oral production. Adopting the tridimensional model of oral production (Munro & Derwing, 1995a), we compared high school learners who had received intensive ESL instruction (N = 42) with non-intensive learners (N = 39) on perceptual measures of L2 fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness 4 years after a 5-month intensive instruction period. After controlling for academic ability and L2 proficiency, listeners’ ratings of fluency and comprehensibility were significantly higher for the IG; however, there was no specific group advantage for accentedness, suggesting both groups exhibited similar L2 accents. This study provides new empirical evidence that the oral fluency and comprehensibility benefits of an intensive experience may be long lasting, even when learners’ subsequent classroom exposure to the language is much more limited.

Code Switching in ESL Teaching at University Level in Pakistan

Code-switching (CS) is a communicative strategy used by ESL bilingual teachers to teach English as a second language to non-native English speakers. Based on quantitative analysis of transcribed data from thirty ESL teachers at Pakistani universities, the present study examined the influence of code switching (CS) on ESL learners in Pakistan, exploring in particular the impact of CS on and teacher attitude towards CS in ESL instruction. The findings of the study indicate significant use of code-mixing and frequency of mixing words, phrase and the smallest unit of one language into another language. Furthermore, the findings suggest that CS is frequently used by the ESL teachers. The study also highlights that common nouns are followed by proper nouns, adjectives, verbs and abbreviations, with the most significant words used during instantiation of CS in the data comprising lexical items, phrases, compound words, and encouraging words. Thus, this study suggests that CS is used to facilitate the comprehension and participation of the bilingual learners.

The EMAS and Its Role in the ESL Instruction to Immigrants in England

This chapter presents the results of a quantitative research carried out through the administration of a questionnaire to the Multilingual Education Assistants who are part of the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS) at the Coventry City Council (UK). Authors investigate the importance and impact the EMAS service has in the reception of foreign students newly arrived in England. In particular, the strategies implemented to promote students' integration within the new socio-cultural context are analysed. A revision of the most important theories related to the teaching-learning process of an L2 is carried out. An overview of migration in the 21st century and how intercultural education can foster the coexistence of cultures, ethnic groups, and languages is provided. This chapter concludes that Multilingual Education Assistants can help to encourage dialogue between individuals, promoting the overcoming of linguistic obstacles and developing the linguistic competence of foreign children who have just arrived in England.

Aspect semantics and ESL article use

ESL learners often show great variation in article use. This study proposes that article use can be improved if the semantic feature (non)boundedness is introduced into ELT. This study argues that articles carry highly relevant information that is crucial, together with a number of other elements, for the signalling of aspectual values in English. It is argued that the signalling of aspectual values is the primary role of articles and that if ESL learners receive instruction on this role, they may learn how to signal aspectual values correctly, but also improve their article use thanks to a greater awareness of articles. The paper reports on an experiment conducted to test ESL learners’ response to such instruction and concludes that incorporating (non)boundedness into ESL instruction is both reasonable and necessary.

Supporting University International Students Through Supportive ESL Instruction and Corrective Feedback

Teaching and learning in an English as a second language (ESL) course is something that we find essential to international student support not only in overcoming difficulties but also in aiding understanding of the new language and culture that these diverse students are now a part of. Although it can take an almost insurmountable length of time to overcome and understand such difficulties, we know that a supportive environment and welcoming ESL instructors can make a difference. It is especially important that ESL instructors regard international students as assets and make sure that the academic community values their important contributions to the campus. That is, they can be a great motivator for ESL learners to continue to pursue their academic objectives. For this particular reason, this chapter sheds light on corrective feedback as a powerful pedagogical and motivational tool that could help language learners improve their linguistic performance.