From General ESL to EAP

This paper is based on the presentation by the same name given in Lawrence, KS on December 7, 2018 as part of the Building Bridges for English Language Centers conference. The presenters were two instructors, Diane Taveggia and Parul Sood, who taught EAP courses for the first time after teaching general ESL classes for many years at the Applied English Center (AEC) at the University of Kansas (KU). The presentation focused on the skills taught in two English for Academic Purposes courses - EAP 101 taught by Parul Sood and EAP 102 taught by Diane Taveggia in the Academic Accelerator Program at KU. This paper expands upon the difference between the University’s IEP and the Academic Accelerator Program as well as the challenges of the transition experienced by the two instructors who made the leap from ESL to EAP for the first time.

Addressing Cultural Challenges of Teaching English to Chinese Students for Beginning ESL Instructors

Teaching English to students from an Asian cultural background presents unique challenges. This article uses the author’s experience of studying and teaching in China and working with Asian students in a multicultural context in the USA to identify persistent challenges, share the reasons that she believes are behind these challenges and offer practical solutions that instructors can use in their classroom today. Although the focus is primarily on Chinese students, the information might also be useful for ESL teachers working with other Asian learners. This article brings to attention cultural aspects rather than linguistic aspects.

Re-Envisioning ESL for Short-Term Programs

ESL professionals have traditionally taught the four language skills, vocabulary, and grammar in Intensive English Programs (IEPs) to help incoming students satisfy the university’s ESL requirement. As international education continues to change, however, the ESL profession will need to re-conceptualize its role and make explicit its evolving relevance. IEPs and traditional ESL classes are not necessarily applicable to short-term programs, whose purpose is to give participants some experience at a US institution with a focus on a specific discipline or area of study. This paper demonstrates two ways ESL professionals re-envisioned their role at the university for short-term programs (STPs) by creating English courses for the international education experience. With linguistic and cultural guidance from the ESL instructors, participants in these English courses critically analyzed impactful observations, perceptions, ideas, or events from the STP and gave PowerPoint presentations at a program-wide conference on their analysis of one academic or non-academic concept or observation that had the most impact.

How to Co-Teach Like Dance Partners

This article gives a brief overview of an Intensive English Program (IEP) elective class called “Connecting with Your Community,” which the authors developed together as way to teach new international students the basics of interacting with American college students, finding organizations and activities to join on an American university campus, and locating opportunities to get involved in the local city community. As the authors developed the course curriculum, they decided that co-teaching the class would offer the students more one-on-one attention as well has provide more authentic opportunities for discussion about American culture. Co-teaching, at first glance, can seem like a simple strategy; however, there are actually many factors to consider when entering a co-teaching relationship. Both instructors must be aware of the potential benefits and pitfalls of assuming equal responsibility over a group of students and be committed to the success of the course. It is imperative that instructors have a positive working relationship, establish their roles and responsibilities, arrange for co-planning time, and maintain the support of the administration (Friend 2008). This article offers tips about how to effectively and gracefully navigate any challenges that could arise while co-teaching in order to give everyone—both instructors and students—a positive and rewarding experience.

Using Cultural Capital in the ESL Classroom: One Teacher’s Journey

Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital can help ESL instructors develop professionally and can lead to other related concepts that can address behavioral issues in the classroom and facilitate instruction. To illustrate my professional journey, I begin by focusing on a simple definition of cultural capital and consider how it relates to other areas such as soft skills and metacognitive skills. The educational experiences with respect to cultural capital and other skills that many of our international students have can vastly differ from what is found in American classrooms. This is especially true of students who have been taught in a culture where they memorize facts, do not ask questions or argue their point of view, and have not been involved in any creative process related to learning. Therefore, it is important to explicitly teach these skills. I conclude by sharing some examples of how I addressed and taught cultural capital in the classroom and give ideas of how to create one’s own mini-lessons.

Improving Student Outcomes: A Framework for Effective Oral Feedback

“Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning and achievement, but this impact can be either positive or negative” (Hattie & Timperley, 2007, p. 81). However, finding time and developing an approach for structured and quality feedback often proves problematic. Providing feedback may seem valueless if students do not interact with it, thus we developed the 5R+ feedback method as a solution using VoiceThread as the platform.

Motivation: The Key to Improve Students’ Outcomes

Most students in Vietnam have been exposed to English since the third grade. However, their outcomes are still limited due to a lack of motivation to study English. This presentation will suggest a number of policies to improve student achievement.