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Research on project-based instruction is common in mainstream education. It conceives the activity broadly, but omits language. It is rare in English as a Second Language (ESL) education, and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theory conceives it narrowly, omitting a functional view of language. The present study examines the implementation of project-based instruction in ESL classes in a Canadian secondary school through interviews with Canadian ESL teachers and Chinese ESL students, observations of two projects in action, and examination of students' written work, and school, school board and Ministry of Education documents. Results indicate that the teachers held and implemented a broad, integrated conception of project-based instruction that includes a functional view of language. They have many more goals than those stressed for project-based instruction in the SLA literature, and have goals that are not included even in the mainstream literature. The teachers evaluated project-based instruction positively, and the researcher's observations support the teachers' evaluations. However, despite teacher's and students' successes, a number of students evaluated project-based instruction negatively. This discrepancy is discussed using three explanatory models (philosophical, cultural, and linguistic) that the participants may have been using when interpreting project-based instruction. The study points to the need to develop a rationale which adequately addresses project-based instruction as a functional language learning activity in the context of academic subject matter learning. It identifies problems of cross-cultural interpretation of and communication about projects, and notes difficulties of resolving them. It points out the necessity for an examination of the processes of project-based instruction, noting places of difficulty and success, and considering promising strategies.

Canada has two official languages: French and English. Each province must allow for an educational program in both languages where the number of students warrant such programs. Although minority language schools exist in all Canadian provinces, some provinces are so overwhelmingly English that the Francophone school programs struggle constantly to survive and threaten to become extinct. Yet a vigilant group of parents and partisans work incessantly to maintain these minority language school programs. This thesis will examine why these schools exist in British Columbia and whether or not they can promote the Francophone minority language and culture in the overwhelming Anglophone environment. Bilingual Canadian wonder that more Canadians are not bilingual. Some Canadians are dedicated to educating their children in their official minority language while others do not understand why Canada is officially bilingual. Yet, to take the example of just one province, British Columbia is and remains an Anglophone province. A Francophone parent would, I shall argue, be doing her child a great disservice to insist on schooling in Francophone minority programs. Family is only part of a child's world. The media, friends, neighbors, the stores, the community centers and the people that surround us make up our language and culture. In British Columbia, the language is English and the cultures are as diverse as the people who are part of them. The purpose of this study is to investigate and present an historical, religious, political and economic analysis of the reasoning behind the existence of Francophone minority language schools and programs in British Columbia, and to evaluate whether or not it is possible for these programs and schools to fulfill their mandate. My initial sentiments were biased in favor of Francophone minority programs and though I still believe that official minorities have an unquestionable constitutional right to their schools and to the administration of these schools, I no longer believe that these schools and programs alone can provide a rich ethnic sanctuary that could permit the minority language and culture to flourish. In fact, I no longer believe that it is in the student's best interest to attend these schools and programs. The students can only be crippled by their lack of knowledge of English and by their limited exposure to the Francophone world. I visited two of the three homogeneous Francophone schools and four Programme cadre programs in the mainstream Anglophone and French immersion schools in BC. I interviewed and videotaped students, parents, teachers, language education experts and attended conferences and meetings, examined pertinent historical, political, legal and pedagogical data, and concluded (not surprisingly) that language and culture are expressions of our everyday lives. My research strategy thus combined elements of historical, legal, sociological, and socio-linguistic method, relying both on direct observation and reference, and on considerable secondary literature. I conclude that one can teach the French language, but unless it is expressed and alive as part of our world, it is but a code with limited value. One cannot teach the Francophone culture. One either lives it (or a limited part of it) in a setting that must exclude the majority, thereby confining the world around and restricting opportunity, or one quickly becomes assimilated. Providing community schools where minority language is strictly enforced and reinforced at home is only the beginning. To date these ethnocentric shelters are not available in British Columbia. Perhaps the recently acquired right to administer some of the Francophone programs by the Francophone minority will empower the Francophone minority in B.C. and provide higher academic standards, a more attractive image of the minority language and culture and force the Francophone community to assume a sense of identity and belonging.

Some second language learners are more successful than others. Students in the University of British Columbia/Ritsumeikan Joint Academic Exchange Programme, a sheltered English-as-a-second-language (ESL) immersion program, have in the past exhibited varying degrees of gain in English proficiency in their writing, reading, speech, and academic achievement during their stay in Vancouver. The explanation of why some learners become proficient in a second language may lie in our understanding the interactions of such individual attributes as the learner's age, language aptitudes, autonomy and motivation, attitudes, personality, cognitive style, learning strategies, background in language and knowledge of other languages. In this study the gain in English proficiency of all the students in the program was examined first and then the gain of two different groups of students who were categorized and "low" and "high" on the basis of their entry level scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The standardized tests used in this program were supplemented with two additional tests to measure gain in proficiency. A language experience questionnaire was given to all students and interviews of selected students from each group were conducted. The results of the standardized tests were analyzed and a significant difference in the gain of English proficiency between these two groups was found. An evaluation of the individual language learning histories and the interview data was conducted to further understand the language proficiency gains found from the psychometric measures. Implications for instruction and further research were reached.

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.

In this inquiry, I examine how six repatriated students from China perceive their experiences in Japanese schools and in Japanese second language education. I focus on their voices and perspectives gained through audio-taped interviews. Employing Pierce's (1995) concept of investment and Rampton's (1990) concepts of language expertise, affiliation, and inheritance, I focus on how these adolescent students perceive the relationship between languages and identities and how their experiences affect their ways of looking at themselves. The data I collected through interviews in Japan supports the views that identity is multiple and fluid, and languages are profoundly and intricately related with learners' identity construction. Depending on their particular contexts in which they situate themselves, they hold distinct views on the relationship between languages and identities. I address how the particular context in Japan's educational system may influence their ways of looking at themselves. The study confirms that teachers need to examine our students' identities and frames of reference, values and beliefs.

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.