The aim of this study is to investigate how some teachers use classic literature in the ESL classroom. It is a qualitative study based on interviews with six teachers, all of them at upper secondary school.The classic literature of the English-speaking world has done much in shaping Western society as we know it, and thus it is important for the students of English as a second language to have at least some knowledge of the literature of the past. The syllabuses for English B and C also require it.My findings were that the teachers interviewed all saw classic texts as very important but challenging. Therefore, the texts introduced must suit the needs and interests of the students. There is also a language barrier to consider. However, classic texts can also be introduced through the use of films.Key words: English as a foreign language, classic literature, teacher views and attitudes, teacher experience

Abstract : Information and communication technologies (ICTs, henceforth) have become ubiquitous in our society. The plethora of devices competing with the computer, from iPads to the Interactive whiteboard, just to name a few, has provided teachers and students alike with the ability to communicate and access information with unprecedented accessibility and speed. It is only logical that schools reflect these changes given that their purpose is to prepare students for the future. Surprisingly enough, research indicates that ICT integration into teaching activities is still marginal. Many elementary and secondary schoolteachers are not making effective use of ICTs in their teaching activities as well as in their assessment practices. The purpose of the current study is a) to describe Quebec ESL teachers’ profiles of using ICTs in their daily teaching activities; b) to describe teachers’ ICT integration and assessment practices; and c) to describe teachers’ social representations regarding the utility and relevance of ICT use in their daily teaching activities and assessment practices. In order to attain our objectives, we based our theoretical framework, principally, on the social representations (SR, henceforth) theory and we defined most related constructs which were deemed fundamental to the current thesis. We also collected data from 28 ESL elementary and secondary school teachers working in public and private sectors. The interview guide used to that end included a range of items to elicit teachers’ SR in terms of ICT daily use in teaching activities as well as in assessment practices. In addition, we carried out our data analyses from a textual statistics perspective, a particular mode of content analysis, in order to extract the indicators underlying teachers’ representations of the teachers. The findings suggest that although almost all participants use a wide range of ICT tools in their practices, ICT implementation is seemingly not exploited to its fullest potential and, correspondingly, is likely to produce limited effects on students’ learning. Moreover, none of the interviewees claim that they use ICTs in their assessment practices and they still hold to the traditional paper-based assessment (PBA, henceforth) approach of assessing students’ learning. Teachers’ common discourse reveals a gap between the positive standpoint with regards to ICT integration, on the one hand, and the actual uses of instructional technology, on the other. These results are useful for better understanding the way ESL teachers in Quebec currently view their use of ICTs, particularly for evaluation purposes. In fact, they provide a starting place for reconsidering the implementation of ICTs in elementary and secondary schools. They may also be useful to open up avenues for the development of a future research program in this regard. / Résumé : Les technologies d’information et de communication (TIC) sont devenues omniprésentes dans notre société. L’abondante panoplie de dispositifs rivalisant avec l’ordinateur, allant de l’iPad au Tableau blanc interactif, pour n’en nommer que quelques-uns, a permis aux enseignantes et enseignants ainsi qu’aux élèves de communiquer et d’obtenir de l’information avec une vitesse et une accessibilité jamais égalées jusqu’à aujourd’hui. De ce fait, il serait attendu que les pratiques éducatives traditionnelles, qui ne semblent plus compatibles avec les attentes des élèves et les besoins de main-d’œuvre d’aujourd’hui soient modifiées (Ahmed et Nasser, 2015). Malheureusement, la recherche indique que les réalités d’intégration des TIC sont toujours loin de la rhétorique. Plusieurs enseignantes et enseignants d’écoles primaires et secondaires n’utilisent pas les TIC d’une façon efficace et ce, autant dans leurs activités d’enseignement que dans leurs pratiques évaluatives. La présente étude, de type exploratoire-descriptif, vise à 1) décrire les profils des enseignantes et enseignants d’anglais langue seconde (ALS) utilisant les TIC dans leurs activités quotidiennes d’enseignement et leurs pratiques évaluatives; 2) décrire les pratiques d'intégration des TIC dans les activités d’enseignement et les pratiques d'évaluation de ces enseignantes et enseignants; et 3) décrire les représentations sociales (RS) des enseignantes et enseignants concernant l'utilité et la pertinence de l'utilisation des TIC dans leurs activités quotidiennes d'enseignement et leurs pratiques d'évaluation. Pour atteindre nos objectifs, nous basons principalement notre cadre théorique sur la théorie de la RS et nous définissons les concepts et les construits les plus étroitement associés qui sont considérés comme fondamentaux pour la thèse actuelle. Nous avons recueilli nos données auprès d’un échantillon de 28 enseignantes et enseignants d’ALS du primaire et du secondaire qui travaillent dans les secteurs publics et privés. Le guide d'entretien utilisé à cette fin comprend un nombre d’items visant à favoriser l’élucidation des RS des enseignants en matière de l’usage quotidien des TIC dans les activités d'enseignement ainsi que des pratiques d'évaluation. De plus, nous avons réalisé nos analyses dans une perspective de statistique textuelle, un mode particulier d’analyse de contenu, afin d’extraire les indicateurs sous-jacents aux représentations des enseignants. Les résultats suggèrent que, bien que presque tous les participants utilisent un large éventail d'outils de TIC dans leurs pratiques, il s’avère que la mise en œuvre des TIC n’est pas exploitée à son plein potentiel et, en conséquence, est susceptible de produire des effets limités sur l'apprentissage des élèves. En outre, aucun des interviewés affirment qu'ils utilisent les TIC dans leurs pratiques d'évaluation et ils tiennent encore à l'approche traditionnelle du papier-crayon dans l'évaluation de l'apprentissage des élèves. Le discours commun des enseignantes et enseignants révèle un écart entre le point de vue positif en ce qui concerne l'intégration des TIC, d'une part, et les utilisations réelles de la technologie pédagogique, de l'autre part. Ces résultats sont utiles pour mieux comprendre la façon dont les enseignantes et les enseignants d'anglais langue seconde au Québec perçoivent leur utilisation des TIC, en particulier à des fins d'évaluation. En effet, ils fournissent un point de départ pour reconsidérer la mise en œuvre des TIC dans les écoles primaires et secondaires. Ils pourraient également être utiles pour élaborer des pistes pour le développement d’un futur programme de recherche à cet égard.

The aim of this essay is to explore in what way Graded Readers are different from authentic texts against the background of English as a Second Language (ESL) and the use of authentic and simplified text in ESL teaching. The material used for this purpose is the authentic text of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and two upper-intermediate Graded Readers from two different publishers. The study uses the software readability-score and manual analysis to examine the texts with regards to lexical choice, language structure and story. The study showed that the Graded Readers are simplified in all aspects studied. Moreover, the Graded Readers differ from each other as well, most notably in the style of the text due to sentence structure and story simplification. This could imply that different authors of Graded Readers adopt different styles when simplifying text and that the grading levels are not comparable between different publishers. / <p>Engelska</p>

An American school overseas is concerned with offering equal academic opportunities for the non-native English language learners (ELLs) on campus. It has not been determined if the in-class teaching method or the out-of-class teaching method is more effective. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a difference in end-of-year achievement between these 2 different methods. Guided by Vygotsky`s theory of cognitive social development and Krashen`s theory of exposure to language, the research question addressed the difference in 3rd through 5th grade students' achievement test scores between the in-class teaching method and the out-of-class teaching method. The causal comparative study compared the standardized Stanford and Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Proficiency achievement test data from 244 students for 1 year of out-of-class teaching with 3 subsequent years of in-class teaching. The Kruskal-Wallis test indicated a significant difference between the 2 methods (H = 7.88, df = 3, p = .049) only in the 1st year of in-class teaching. As the results are inconclusive, the results of this study were shared with teachers and administrators and a discussion was facilitated about alternatives to the in-class teaching method in order to develop a research-based curriculum that will help ELLs to succeed in the local school.

Instructors of English as Second Language (ESL) at a private community college had raised concerns regarding Hispanic ESL students not developing sufficient English proficiency. The purpose of this single exploratory case study was to explore the phenomenon brought forward by ESL instructors and share the results with the ESL program and the college. The conceptual framework for this qualitative study was based on the classroom learning motivation theory suggesting that the environment in which a student is learning a new language also plays a major role in second language learning. Data collection was conducted through 3 ESL classroom observations and interviews with 15 community college students. A focus group with 7 different students was used to understand Hispanic ESL students' perspectives about their experience in the college-wide ESL program and issues students face in the ESL program. Data analysis consisted of thematic content analysis, constant comparison, and concurrent data collection and analysis until concept saturation occurred. The findings were that Hispanic ESL students were satisfied with the ESL program. Data triangulation formed 4 themes: students would like to use technology in the classroom, more instances for in-class conversation, to be corrected when they mispronounce a word, and have instructors who spoke Spanish. The recommendations include the creation of a policy to institutionalize professional development to help ESL teachers become aware of the issues that Hispanic ESL students face in the classroom in order to help students achieve English proficiency. This case study served as an example for other institutions to take the initiative learn how Hispanic ESL students perceive ESL instruction and filled the gap in research regarding Hispanic ESL students' perception of ESL programs.

Recent reports have confirmed that Swedish adolescents read less every year. Because of these reports, Swedish governments have implemented regulations to provide directions and emphasize the importance of reading promotion. However, how much these regulations have affected the curriculum for upper secondary schools in general, and the English syllabus specifically, is unclear. Therefore, this study aimed firstly to analyze the responsibilities of English teachers at upper secondary school regarding reading promotion, and secondly to take a closer look at the practice of reading promotion in the English classroom. This was conducted in a combined-methods study. Firstly, a close reading and analysis of what signals governments and governmental agencies have been sending out regarding reading promotion were carried out, and of how visible these signals are in the curriculum/syllabus. Secondly, a survey was conducted asking EFL teachers in upper secondary school how they look upon their responsibilities in this regard and what they practice in class.  The results show that the curriculum of upper secondary school does not reflect the governments’ emphasis on reading promotion. Some guidelines are provided, but they are vague, and it is unclear if they are part of the English teacher’s responsibility. Despite the lack of emphasis on reading in the curriculum, the survey results show that the participating English teachers believe reading is important and work with reading promotion. However, the respondents stress that more resources for school libraries are needed to improve their work.

Academic writing is generally regarded as the most important communication medium through which people in the tertiary academic context choose to communicate their ideas. It is also well known that it is sometimes an arduous process for students to become accustomed to the requirements (the conventions and conditions) that hold for the production of appropriate written texts in this context. The initial impetus for the current study was provided by what appeared to be a significant problem that some supervisors at the University of Pretoria identified in terms of the academic writing ability of their postgraduate students. This study therefore investigates postgraduate academic writing with regard to a number of such issues, and does so within the broader confines of academic literacy. The ultimate purpose of this investigation is to discover how writing interventions may be designed that offer appropriate assistance to students who experience difficulty with their writing. The study commences with an attempt to find support for treating 'academic discourse' as a potentially productive area of academic enquiry. It therefore presents an account on the nature of a 'discourse community', and attempts to ascertain whether there are any grounds on which 'academic discourse' may be regarded as a unique type of discourse used for specific communicative functions in the tertiary academic environment. It further discusses critically some of the traditional features of academic texts. The research then proposes thirteen design principles that serve as injunctions that should be considered in the development of writing courses, and proceeds to a critical discussion of the most important approaches in the teaching and learning of writing. What is evident from this discussion is that none of the historical approaches will, on their own, enable one to design justifiable writing courses. As a result, an eclectic approach is required in order to integrate the strengths of these approaches into a strategy for writing course design that is theoretically and practically justifiable. Subsequently, the critical interpretation of the literature in the first part of the study is used in the design of a framework for writing course design in tertiary education. This framework consists of six focuses that stand in a relationship of dynamic interaction towards a description of the context in which tertiary students write. Thus, relevant aspects concerning the writer, text, reader, institutional context and one's approach to writing are all essential elements that should be carefully considered in terms of their potential influence on the eventual design of materials that will constitute a writing course. The rest of the study consists of an application of the proposed framework that addresses firstly, the perceptions of supervisors at the University about the academic literacy ability of their postgraduate students, as well as their requirements for academic writing. It then proceeds to an investigation of a specific group of students' (from the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences) perceptions about their own academic literacy ability and a determination of their perceptions and expectations of academic writing at university. Because the information that was collected (by means of questionnaires) in both cases mentioned above is mainly perceptual in nature, it was considered essential to determine the academic literacy ability of students in the study group by means of a reliable testing instrument. A written text that these same students produced was further analysed in order to establish possible writing difficulties they experienced. In addition, it was important to confirm certain findings from the supervisor questionnaire, and more specific information had to be collected on particular writing issues that could inform discipline specific writing course design (this was accomplished through focus group interviews with supervisors of the School of Agricultural and Food Sciences). A combination of all the prominent findings of the empirical work mentioned above, as well as insights gained in the literature survey, is then used to make justifiable suggestions for the design of writing course materials for students in the study group. Finally, a number of issues were identified that could not be addressed by this study and, therefore, suggestions are made for future research that may investigate these matters. / Thesis (DPhil ( Linguistics))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Unit for Academic Literacy / DPhil / Unrestricted

This study is an attempt to determine the impact of teachers' attitudes on their classroom behaviour and therefore on their implementation of the Communicative Approach. A descriptive case study was conducted at six secondary schools in Harare, Zimbabwe (as ESL environment) to determine the effect of 38 O-level English teachers' attitudes on their classroom practice. Quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection, including a questionnaire, an observation instrument and a semistructured interview were used to gauge teachers' attitudes, assessing the extent to which attitudes are reflected in their classroom behaviour, and eliciting teachers' verbalisation of how they conceive of their professional task. The findings show that the effective implementation of the Communicative Approach was critically dependent on teachers' positive attitudes towards this approach in the five categories covered by this study. / Linguistics / M.A. (Applied Linguistics)

This study is an attempt to determine the impact of teachers' attitudes on their classroom behaviour and therefore on their implementation of the Communicative Approach. A descriptive case study was conducted at six secondary schools in Harare, Zimbabwe (as ESL environment) to determine the effect of 38 O-level English teachers' attitudes on their classroom practice. Quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection, including a questionnaire, an observation instrument and a semistructured interview were used to gauge teachers' attitudes, assessing the extent to which attitudes are reflected in their classroom behaviour, and eliciting teachers' verbalisation of how they conceive of their professional task. The findings show that the effective implementation of the Communicative Approach was critically dependent on teachers' positive attitudes towards this approach in the five categories covered by this study. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Applied Linguistics)