This study investigates Japanese EFL teachers' perceptions of regional varieties of English, which are designated as either the Outer Circle or the Expanding Circle by Kachru (1985), and their potential place in EFL teaching in Japan. Participants were 36 teachers at junior high and elementary schools and 28 undergraduates in a TEFL certificate program. Data collection was completed with the use of two Likert-scale questionnaires: one involving a task in listening to various English varieties, and the other asking about beliefs about the English language in general and perceptions of nonnative/nonstandard Englishes as opposed to the two major varieties in ELT in Japan: American and British English. In addition, oral interviews were conducted with several participants and their assistant language teachers (ALTs). / The findings suggested that in-service teachers showed more ambivalent attitudes toward nonnative varieties than student-teachers did; although the teachers acknowledged potential benefits of nonnative Englishes for the future use of EIL, they showed hesitation in regarding different Englishes as instructional models to be exposed to students. However, the study also showed participants' interest in introducing other Englishes as awareness-raising models. The possibility of inclusion of nonnative varieties was further discussed.

This study explores the issues related to the comparison of native English teachers and Korean English teachers, in the context of children's English education in a private language institute, Smarty English Institute, in Seoul, Korea. Specifically by analyzing class activities led by native and Korean English teachers as well as a full bilingual English teacher, I investigate the strengths and weaknesses of class activities led by English teachers whose first languages are different. I challenge the wide-spread notion in Korea that native English speakers are inherently better English teachers. I offer an holistic portrait of the activities in Kindergarten language classrooms in a private language institute in Korea from the diverse perspective of Korean teachers, parents, legislators, and administrators. I used participant observation of classrooms and interviews with teachers and children as the main tools of data collection. I examined the class activities in terms of the communicative interactions between teachers and children, the relevance of the class activities to the children's interest, and their authenticity. Based on this analysis of class activities, I also present recommendations for improved English education, particularly teacher education programs customized for the teachers' needs and their differing levels of English proficiency as well as more specialized curricula for native English teachers and Korean English teachers.

This research project was conducted with social studies and English teachers and ESL students in mainstream classes at a secondary school in Richmond, B.C. over a seven-month period from September 1998 to March 1999. As an action researcher, I solved problems through team work and through following a cyclical process of 1. strategic planning, 2. action, 3. observation, evaluation and self-evaluation, and 4. critical and self-critical reflection on the cycle (McNiff, Lomax, & Whitehead, 1996). The findings included in this study are a definition of the ESL support role, effectiveness of the ESL support program, teacher collaboration, application of the ILC approach and the Knowledge Framework (Mohan, 1986), challenges and issues for content teachers and ESL students, and the dual role as support teacher and researcher. First, with regard to a definition of the ESL support role, ESL support teachers were viewed by myself and the administration as language development specialists who act as consultants, with a focus on co-teaching and individual instruction. Colleagues perceived the ESL support team as ESL trained teachers who must prove their effectiveness through action, rather than words, in content teachers' classrooms. ESL students viewed the ESL support teachers as a welcome support or unwelcome intruders. Second, with regard to the effectiveness of the ESL support program, the administration and I felt that the program provided exceptional support services to content teachers and ESL students. ESL students also felt that the ESL support program was very helpful. Colleagues, however, were initially skeptical of the program, but eventually valued the support. Third, collaboration increased over time as ESL support specialists worked in cooperative relationships with content teachers. Fourth, the ILC approach was selectively, and at times superficially, implemented in content courses. Also, the Knowledge Framework was the most successful teaching method for ESL support of content teachers and ESL students. Fifth, there were many challenges for content teachers, ESL learners, and ESL support specialists. One challenge was the lack of English spoken by our student population. Another concern was the appearance of passivity of ESL students. Also, assessment and evaluation of ESL students was very difficult for content teachers. Thus, content instructors needed to learn alternate assessment and evaluation strategies for their ESL learners. In addition, teachers wondered about their ESL students' comprehension and exam preparation. Lastly, tensions inevitably arose from the dual role as teacher and researcher.

The main purpose of this study is to present a detailed description of the interaction between students and teacher, focusing on which literary elements kindergarteners learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) respond to during the story-reading sessions. Two teachers and a total of 101 kindergarteners from a private kindergarten located in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan, were chosen for this study. Both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered in the form of classroom observations and student and teacher interviews. This analysis revealed that format was the literary element that students responded to the most. However, factors such as the variance in the students' cognitive level, age, exposure to the target language, teaching method and personality may have affected the results. Consequently, teachers need to take into consideration other literary elements when it comes to storybook selection. Results from this study can be used firstly in developing criteria on how to select storybooks for young EFL learners and how these storybooks can be integrated into the EFL classroom. Secondly, this study can provide information to help further our understanding of how stories motivate children in learning languages, and how stories can be integrated into the EFL classroom. Thirdly, the data from this study can be useful to writers and illustrators of children's books. Finally, it is hoped that this project can also inspire other researchers in pursuing this topic for further study.

This study explores issues related to native and non-native English speaking teachers in the context of Japanese English education, specifically in public junior high school settings in relatively rural areas of Japan. The study mainly asks Japanese teachers of English, assistant language teachers employed in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme, and students about their perceptions of the roles of native and non-native teachers in their English classrooms. These stakeholders seem to have preconceived assumptions about the roles of native and non-native teachers. These include native teachers as opportunity providers and motivators and non-native teachers as facilitators. These fixed roles in the stakeholders' perceptions of the roles of native and non-native teachers may prevent them from expanding their possibilities and may reinforce the existing distinction between native and non-native speakers. Implications for policy makers and stakeholders include the need to adopt a perspective of English as an international language into the goals of Japanese English education to value collaborative teaching and reconceptualize the roles of Japanese English teachers and assistant language teachers in classrooms.

This study investigates whether the remedial tertiary-level EFL classes in the Arabian Gulf States optimize the process of acquiring English for the majority of the students, namely the graduates of government high schools. I have endeavoured to uncover, by reference to my three years as an EFL teacher in the Gulf and the pertinent literature, why so much time and effort invested by myself and my students resulted in such a disproportionate lack of progress in reading and writing. I show how three major factors (diglossia, a linguistic trichotomy, and low literacy levels) conspire to impede students from learning to read and write in English through second language methodology and compare this situation to the one in Quebec. I conclude with two suggestions to make tertiary-level EFL classes more efficient and effective: the use of more familiar methodology and the teaching of reading and writing through a literacy framework. I also propose some longer-term solutions to deal with the linguistic trichotomy, a problem the Gulf Arabian States may wish to address if they intend to pursue the goal of providing a world-class education to their children.

This study focuses on the use of English as the sole medium of instruction in Zimbabwean schools and the effect of such a policy on the educational achievement of students, particularly in secondary schools. The role of Shona and Ndebele, two other Zimbabwean official languages, in schooling is also examined. / Some of the findings reveal a learning and teaching environment that prevents strategies from addressing linguistic, social and cultural development with a coherent workable vision in the English classroom. / Because English is the working language of government, business, and industry in Zimbabwe, an English-only policy seems to be a practical means to prepare students for higher education and the workforce. The growing status of English as an international lingua franca provides additional support for such a policy. / This study reveals the need to rethink the imposition of an English-only policy. The findings indicate that current teaching approaches/methods and materials do not entirely support language development in English, largely because they do not take into account the economic, social, and linguistic situations of the students. / The study supports and calls for a multifaceted approach to the way language is currently taught in Zimbabwe, and sees this as one way secondary schools can produce, through the medium of English instruction, students and teachers who can adapt to rapid change, and relate to people from diverse socio-cultural and linguistic backgrounds. / The study emphasizes the integration and expectations of people's views on language and education, as heard and expressed by many respondents. This is considered central to any meaningful effort towards linguistic competence, a challenging but stimulating learning environment, and better communication among students and teachers.

This study investigates L2 pragmatic performance of EFL learners in an English immersion program in Japan. More specifically, the study examines whether the leamers are able to express appropriate politeness when making a request in English. Participants were 28 Japanese-Ll English immersion students and 4 native speakers of English at high school level (Grades 10, 11 and 12). Data collection was completed using role-play tasks, entailing the use of polite requests to a person of higher status, to elicit speech samples from participant dyads. Classroom observations, interviews, and a written questionnaire, involving 10 teachers and 42 students, were also conducted in order to better understand the L2 oral production data. / Cette étude s'intéresse à la performance pragmatique en langue seconde (L2) d'étudiants en anglais langue étrangère (ALE) dans un programme d'immersion anglaise au Japon. Plus spécifiquement, l'étude examine si les étudiants sont capables d'exprimer la politesse appropriée en faisant une demande en anglais. Les participants étaient 28 étudiants japonais de l'immersion anglais et quatre étudiants de langue maternelle anglaise de niveau lycée (niveaux 10, 11 et 12). La collecte de données a été accomplie en utilisant des jeux de rôle, qui nécessitaient l'utilisation de demandes polies à une personne d'un statut plus élevé, pour obtenir des échantillons de discours des dyades de participants. Des observations en salle de classe, des entrevues, et un questionnaire écrit, faisant participer dix professeurs et 42 étudiants, ont également été menés afin de mieux comprendre les données de production orales de L2.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relative effectiveness of videotape recorders (VTR) as a medium of instruction in teaching English listening comprehension as compared to audiotape recorders (ATR).The material used for this study was a videotaped 16 minute talk by an American native speaker. Based on the talk, 32 questions were prepared for the listening comprehension tests.The subjects chosen for this study were 18 students from the Intensive English Institute (IEI), Ball State University, enrolled in the Summer Quarter, 1984. They were divided into two groups, A and B.Based on the evaluation and interpretation of the results of the tests by means of the statistical tests, t-test and ANOVA, it was discovered that the students' listening comprehension was slightly greater with the VTR than the ATR.This study suggests that the VTR will help EFL/ESL students' listening comprehension in addition to the ATR alone in a language laboratory.

This study was designed to gather the meaning-perspectives and interpretations teachers gave to their language teaching practice using their voice and the voice of learners. The complex and paradoxical language situation in Creole-speaking communities like Belize has been well documented by researchers and linguists including Craig (1978), Roberts (1994), Robertson (1997), and Young (1995). There are a number of education reports on the English language teaching situation at the primary school level in Belize; however, very little attention has been given to English language teaching at the secondary level. In this study, the teachers' practice was examined using Clandinin's (1985), Elbaz's (1983), and Jarvis's (1999) definitions of teachers' knowledge. Nespor's (1987), Pajares' (1992) and Richards and Lockhart's (1996) articles and research on teachers' beliefs served as theoretical support on the role and importance of beliefs in teachers' practice. The language teaching strategies offered by Kumaravadivelu (1994), and those recommended for bidialectal communities by Corson (1997), Craig (1978), Robertson (1995), Rubinstein (1977), Sato (1989), and Young (1995) were used to compare the strategies found in the data.Two secondary school teachers and two students participated in the study. Data were gathered using short teacher questionnaires, teachers' lesson plans, pre-observation and follow-up interviews with teachers, audio-taped and video-taped class observations, stimulated recall sessions with teachers and students, and the researcher's field notes and reflective journal. The analysis of data produced four themes: (a) teachers' English language practice, (b) teachers' knowledge about their practice, (c) teachers' pedagogical beliefs, and (d) the learners' voice: the other perspective.The study's findings suggest that the teachers' personal, practical, and situated knowledge resides in their practice. A practice informed by their pedagogical beliefs, and reflected in the choice of English language teaching strategies developed from a complex fusion of pedagogical beliefs, learner needs, and the sociolinguistic context. The findings did not support the view that English language teachers are ill-prepared for the bidialectal situations in Creole communities, nor were the teachers poor models of English. This study will contribute to the understanding of English language teaching in Belize's secondary schools. / Department of Educational Studies