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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / With a basic understanding of the connection between EAPS and the goals of public speaking I will focus on issues especially challenging to EAPS students due to cultural and language differences, which include: communication apprehension, understanding your audience’s frame of reference, rhetorical organization, and non-verbal communication.

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This MA project examines the creation, implementation, and effectiveness of the guidebook, Moving Forward: A Learner-Centered and Participatory Approach to Teaching Community Adult ESL, designed to help adult English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers base their classes on the specific needs of community adult education students. This guidebook was created in response to the need for lesson plans and activities that help teachers focus on learner needs. The activities in the guidebook are based on the National Institute for Literacy's (NIFL) adult literacy initiative, Equipped for the Future (EFF) because it focuses on the tasks adults must perform to function successfully on a daily basis. Participatory Curriculum Development (PCD) was used to create the specific activities in the guidebook because its focus is on creating curriculum based on the needs of learners.

From 2003 to 2006, Tucson, Arizona became the new home of many Liberian refugees. Because of civil war in their homeland and ensuing years spent in refugee camps, these refugees had not had many opportunities for literacy development. Tucson had several literacy and ESL programs available; however, none of these programs was meeting the Liberians' particular needs. For my project, I designed and implemented a literacy curriculum for the Liberian refugees in Tucson. In preparation for developing my curriculum, I not only took coursework but also thoroughly reviewed the literature on literacy learning and instruction for first language learners, second language learners, and adult learners. I then followed the curriculum development model described by Richards (2001): conducting a needs analysis and a situation analysis, developing goals and learning outcomes, planning the course scope and content, designing the syllabus, deciding the role and design of instructional materials, building in opportunities for evaluation, and considering larger factors that may affect the adoption of the curriculum. In addition to the curriculum development process, I had to attend to the more practical concerns of finding students, finding volunteers, finding a classroom and finding materials. I taught my literacy class from September 2006 to December 2006 at the Martha Cooper Branch of the Tucson Pima Public Library. I had 12 students whose literacy abilities varied dramatically, with the most advanced student reading at approximately a seventh grade level and the most beginning student working on letter names, sounds, and formation. I also had close to 20 volunteers who helped with transportation, childcare, and tutoring. We met twice a week for thirteen weeks for two hours each time. I used an interactive approach to teaching reading that incorporated both top-down and bottom-up approaches. I found that while a balanced instructional approach is certainly the most effective, the instruction needs to be modified to include more bottom-up work for the lowest level students. Others interested in developing similar programs may benefit from and build on my experience. For this reason, I included in this report a description of the lessons I learned and the implications I see for other programs.

The purpose of this study is to examine speaking anxiety and classroom dynamics in the ESL classroom from the students’ perspective. This paper also sets out to investigate the specific behaviors or thoughts learners have in regards to speaking English. The investigation gives an explanation how these factors influence students’ ability to learn and perform in a particular instructional framework. The ESL classroom is looked upon as a group formation having its own dynamics that might have an effect on some students’ speaking anxiety. This study is conducted using both qualitative and quantitative method. The quantitative part is based on the survey designed to establish the presence and amount of anxiety related to speaking ESL in the classroom. The qualitative part is consisted of individual semi-structured interviews. The survey is also the basis for the choice of the interviewees. The investigation is carried out in a secondary school with students from the grades 7 and 8. Results of the analysis of data suggest that speaking in the ESL is not exclusively the source of the anxiety, but that speaking in front of the class is. The research points out and supports the fact that speaking anxiety is spotted in classroom settings. In other words, this indicates the significance of the relationship between speaking English, speaking anxiety and classroom environment. Furthermore, students investigated also show the awareness of their reactions: behavioral, emotional and cognitive.