An integrated teaching model to develop english proficiency of ESL management students

The gap between receptive and productive English language skills is perceived to be unusually large among ESL students in the culturally segregated states of India. While the students’ listening and reading comprehension skills strengthen with class lectures and reading assignments, their speaking and writing skills remain underdeveloped. The purpose of this study is to create an integrated teaching model to improve the English proficiency of management students in order to make them more employable. The model combines two models of curriculum design with two models of teaching methodology. Using the basic ESP model of curriculum design, the other models are incorporated into it to achieve three objectives, to reduce the unusually wide gap between receptive and productive language skills, to gain proficiency in business communication tasks and to improve identified language deficiencies. The model is applied to a sample of ESL management students. The business communication tasks required at the corporate level as well as the language deficiencies of the respondents are assessed and are used to create the course design. Their motivation and attitude levels are measured. Learner-centered assessment techniques and learning styles are analysed in order to incorporate these into the teaching learning process. Along with the teaching methodology suggested in the model, these inputs provide the entire framework for an intervention that aims to achieve the stated objectives

Peer mediation for conflict management: a Singaporean case study

The burgeoning interest in conflict and its management has recently begun to impact on schools and school systems worldwide. Motivated by a concern for increasing levels of violence in schools and student�student conflict, many school administrators are looking at conflict management programs as a means of dealing with the problem. Most of the more widely used programs have their origins in the United States; their appropriateness and effectiveness in other countries and cultures is, at best, unknown, and in some respects open to conjecture. In this paper the cultural appropriateness of a peer mediation program in a primary school in Singapore is the subject of investigation. The study also addresses, in an exploratory manner, the effectiveness of peer mediation as a mechanism for student�student conflict management

Educational barriers for refugee high school students literature review

This report contains a review of the literature concerning the schooling experience of recently migrated refugee high school students. The report first distinguishes the refugee dilemma and why it is a focus of research. This work reviews citations that include literature reviews, empirical studies, ethnographic studies as well as practitioner pieces. The themes found throughout the research fall into the two categories of social and academic context of a school. The aim is to see what the literature has in terms of these categories and then to assess critical issues for future research. The review concludes with a series of recommendations for practitioners to implement in their classrooms with refugee students.Curriculum and Instructio

The Four Cs of Promising Practices in Community Colleges

To address the achievement or opportunity gap of underrepresented populations in community colleges, this qualitative field methods study investigated five California community college programs that have demonstrated progress in improving (or show significant potential to improve) student achievement. This research found that promising practices have several conceptual conditions in common-cohesion, connection, cooperation, and consistency-referred to as the Four Cs. Although many of the key components that contribute to the development of promising practices in community college programs are unique to their specific contexts, the presence of these more general Four Cs may be transferable to other community college sites because they can be cultivated in different contexts while respecting the idiosyncrasies of particular community colleges. © 2014 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Seeking Effective Policies and Practices for English Language Learners

A study by the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy finds that English language learners (ELLs), a rapidly growing percentage of the Commonwealth's student population, are qualifying for transition into mainstream classrooms at a much slower pace than originally expected. The report examines the evolution of policies and practices affecting ELLs since the passage of Question 2 in November 2002. Question 2 mandated English immersion as the primary means of instruction for most ELLs and compelled schools to expedite the transition of students to mainstream classes. While Question 2 sought to limit English learners' immersion experience to a "period not normally intended to exceed one school year," federal Civil Rights legislation trumped Question 2 and mandated that students could not be re-classified out of ELL status until they can "participate meaningfully" in English-only classes.The Rennie Center's report examines whether expectations for an expedited transition process have been met and explores the ways in which the state Department of Education and schools and districts have tried to make sense of the conflicting mandates on what constitutes an adequate amount of time for a student to become proficient in English.Data from the Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment (MEPA), a test designed to gauge the progress of English language learners, shows that after one year of English immersion only 17% of ELLs score at levels indicating they are ready to transition to mainstream classrooms. Among ELLs who have been in Massachusetts' schools for five or more years, only slightly more than half score at the transitioning level. The report also found that schools throughout Massachusetts have developed diverse ways of interpreting and implementing sheltered English immersion.At a time of national debate about the status of immigrants and sharp increases in the numbers of non-English speakers in cities and towns across the Commonwealth and nation, it is critical that public schools focus greater attention on the issue of how best to meet the needs of English language learners. The report cites that while ten years ago only slightly more than half the school districts in Massachusetts enrolled ELLs, today that proportion has soared to nearly three-quarters. The number of districts enrolling one hundred or more English language learners has risen 37% in the past decade.As the number of English language learners continues to rise, their performance persistently lags far behind that of native English speakers. According to the Rennie Center's report, ELLs scored below the median at every grade level in every subject on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). Further, ELLs are 57% less likely than their native English-speaking peers to earn the competency determination needed to graduate from high school. Both the No Child Left Behind legislation and the Massachusetts Education Reform Act require schools to ensure that ELLs meet the same performance standards as their native English-speaking counterparts. According to report authors, "That we are so woefully far from that goal should be cause for alarm and action."The Rennie Center's study seeks to shed light on this issue by providing an analysis of policies and practices affecting ELLs in Massachusetts over the past five years and examining the state role in promoting improved practice. The report includes case studies of three schools that are making significant strides with large populations of English language learners and highlights common elements that the three schools have utilized to successfully meet the needs of English language learners. For example, each school studied offered multiple types of programs to accommodate the needs of students at varying levels of English proficiency, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Case study schools also developed a staged transition process that provided vital support as students moved into mainstream classes.Next Steps at the State and District LevelsIn a series of recommended next steps, the report urges state policymakers to encourage flexibility and experimentation with innovative approaches to meet the needs of English language learners;offer opportunities for schools to share practices;get specific about when students should transition out of ELL status and to provide clear guidance to schools and districts;ensure a pipeline of leaders for ELL programs;require sheltered English immersion training in teacher preparation programs.And schools and districts to:consider staged transition processes;set goals and create incentives to get teachers trained;pool resources among districts with small ELL populations; andfocus more attention on reaching out to communicate with and provide guidance for the families of ELLs.The report, Seeking Effective Policies and Practices for English Language Learners, was released at a public event on May 31, 2007 in Marlborough, MA

Pedagogy and participation: Literacy education for low-literate refugee students of African origin in a western school system

For ESL teachers working with low-literate adolescents the challenge is to provide instruction in basic literacy capabilities while also realising the benefits of interactive and dialogic pedagogies advocated for the students. In this article we look at literacy pedagogy for refugees of African origin in Australian classrooms. We report on an interview study conducted in an intensive English language school for new arrival adolescents and in three regular secondary schools. Brian Street’s ideological model is used. From this perspective, literacy entails not only technical skills, but also social and cultural ways of making meaning that are embedded within relations of power. The findings showed that teachers were strengthening control of instruction to enable mastery of technical capabilities in basic literacy and genre analysis. We suggest that this approach should be supplemented by a critical approach transforming relations of linguistic power that exclude, marginalise and humiliate the study students in the classroom

Immigrant Integration: Educator Resource Guide

Recommends ways for district administrators, school administrators, and teachers to promote immigrant integration in schools in critical areas, including school enrollment, classroom instruction, student assessment, and family and community outreach

Innovation through the flipped model of learning: enriching students' and instructors' experience

The paper provides a brief literature review of the FML, a description of the FML experience within the context of a multi-year project in a major research university – from designing to producing and integrating it into the second-language writing curriculum – and recommendations for scalable implementation. Special attention is given to the benefits of this approach for students as well as to its broader pedagogical advantages.Published versio

Book language as a foreign language — ESL strategies for indigenous learners

This study addresses the belated realisation that educators are unaware that many Indigenous Australian students speak very little Standard Australian English outside classrooms. This important educational issue is prominent in communities and schools where creoles and related language varieties, including Indigenous Englishes, are spoken. The study confirmed that the ESL educational needs of Australian Indigenous students are not adequately recognised or met

Critical Literacy and Second Language Learning in the Mainstream Classroom: An Elusive Nexus?

Critical Literacy (CL) is now a core component of Queensland secondary school English programs. These programs are delivered to a significant number of students from Non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) whose linguistic and cultural resources are diverse and not necessarily representative of mainstream high school cultural capital (Bourdieu 1990). In response to the current emphasis on CL, it is vital for English as a Second Language (ESL) educators to identify the points of contention as well as the possibilities for promoting critical engagement with texts with adolescent ESL learners and to seek to create pedagogy that reflects the critical needs and capacities of these learners. This paper outlines the version of CL in secondary schools as theorised by a number of Australian researchers; discusses the relevance and importance of CL to NESB learners and finally raises a number of issues that need resolving if such learners are to be provided with a well-rounded literacy education amid contemporary Australian social relations and textual practice