Narrative Data and Analysis in Second Language Teaching and Learning

The present paper offers a modest contribution to the existing and ongoing attempt to find a place for narrative research in language education. The purpose is mainly to explore and highlight insights gleaned from narrative research with regard to narrative data and analysis. Due to the diverse and unique nature of second language learning and teaching, I would argue that gathering narrative data from second language learners are paramount and in line with the existing attempt to view second language teaching and learning in its own right and not as imitation of first language learning. To develop my argument, I will first discuss the position of narrative research in second language education highlighting the contribution and insights that narrative research brings to second language teaching and learning. I will proceed to define narrative research and explains the various tools to elicit narrative data as well as issues that narrative researcher needs to consider when collecting narrative data. The paper ends by looking at issues and strategies in analyzing narrative data. In all of the discussion, relevant research is cited to illustrate the point being discussed. The paper will end by highlighting that the discussion about narrative data and analysis are not aimed to replace other tools of data elicitation and analysis. Rather, it aims to invite teachers and researchers to see narratives as a viable option in research as the methodology continues to move forward

Issues of Teyl in Indonesian and What Parent Can Do About IT

In Indonesia preschools with English-only or bilingual approaches have increasingly established and gained popularity among parents and children. To parents who favors TEYL, teaching English since early age is believed to be more effective as children\u27s brains are believed to absorb language easily. The mastery of English is also perceived to be a valuable investment for the child\u27s future. However, some people view TEYL in Indonesia with a more critical eye. This is especially because TEYL starts as early as two years old when the young learners\u27 mother tongue, Indonesian, has not been acquired fully. As a result, many are worried if the acquisition of English would sacrifice the acquisition and quality of Indonesian, the nation lingua franca. The purpose of this paper is to raise parent\u27s awareness on the issues underlying the teaching of English to young learners. It aims to critically examine studies on early multilingualism in countries where English is the first language and compare them with Indonesia\u27s condition where English remains a foreign language. The paper starts with the narrative of Ben, my 22 month-old son, and his unique linguistic repertoire to illustrate the uniqueness and individuality of the linguistic landscape each young learner brings into classroom. After a brief introduction sharing the story of Ben, I look more closely at the issues of teachingEnglish to young learners. The paper concludes by suggesting reflective parenting approach to address the pervasive practice of TEYL in Indonesia and pose a number of issues to consider when immersing one\u27s child in English

Motivating Repeated Readers in an Extensive Reading Class: a Critical Reflection on Course Design

Studies illustrating the effectiveness of ER in facilitating learners\u27 development in reading fluency, speed and vocabulary have been reported in different contexts. However, studies exploring the extent to which ER accommodates repeated readers are almost absent from the literature. It is in this light that this paper proposes a number of motivating tasks that teachers may use to teach ER as a course. The present paper illustrates the task-based syllabus I developed for repeated readers. I will describe the series of motivating tasks and explain the rationale behind eac

A Study of Three Indonesian Teachers' Participation in a US Graduate Program

Many research have focused on the identity construction of Asian teachers (see, among others, Chang, 2004; Cui, 2006; Ha & Que, 2006; Tang, 1997; and Tsui, 2007). Among all these, studies focusing on Indonesian teacher identity construction are rare. Thus, the study aimed at filling the gap. The study examined the identity development of three Indonesian English teachers navigating in an in-service program in the US. The study found that their identities varied with one subject experienced identity shift while others illustrate the case of identity as relatively permanent. Whereas previous studies on L2 teachers have focused primarily on the construction of teacher identity per se, the findings of the study indicated that the construction of the three Indonesian teacher identities were grounded in other identity options such as nonnative speaker, gender as well as learner identity

The second US Naval Observatory CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC2)

The second USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog, UCAC2 was released in July 2003. Positions and proper motions for 48,330,571 sources (mostly stars) are available on 3 CDs, supplemented with 2MASS photometry for 99.5% of the sources. The catalog covers the sky area from -90 to +40 degrees declination, going up to +52 in some areas; this completely supersedes the UCAC1 released in 2001. Current epoch positions are obtained from observations with the USNO 8-inch Twin Astrograph equipped with a 4k CCD camera. The precision of the positions are 15 to 70 mas, depending on magnitude, with estimated systematic errors of 10 mas or below. Proper motions are derived by utilizing over 140 ground-and space-based catalogs, including Hipparcos/Tycho, the AC2000.2, as well as yet unpublished re-measures of the AGK2 plates and scans from the NPM and SPM plates. Proper motion errors are about 1 to 3 mas/yr for stars to 12th magnitude, and about 4 to 7 mas/yr for fainter stars to 16th magnitude. The observational data, astrometric reductions, results, and important information for the users of this catalog are presented.Comment: accepted by AJ, AAS LaTeX, 14 figures, 10 table

Identification of new cataclysmic variables in the 1RXS and USNO-B1.0 catalogs

As a result of applying the original optical variability search method on publicly available data, we have found eight new cataclysmic variables and two possible Optically Violent Variable quasars among the previously unidentified X-ray sources in the ROSAT catalog. We describe the search method and present the characteristics of the newly identified variable stars. The obtained results demonstrate the large potential of the concept of Virtual Observatory for identifying new objects of astrophysical interest.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables; submitted to Astronomy Letter

The StarScan plate measuring machine: overview and calibrations

The StarScan machine at the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) completed measuring photographic astrograph plates to allow determination of proper motions for the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC) program. All applicable 1940 AGK2 plates, about 2200 Hamburg Zone Astrograph plates, 900 Black Birch (USNO Twin Astrograph) plates, and 300 Lick Astrograph plates have been measured. StarScan comprises of a CCD camera, telecentric lens, air-bearing granite table, stepper motor screws, and Heidenhain scales to operate in a step-stare mode. The repeatability of StarScan measures is about 0.2 micrometer. The CCD mapping as well as the global table coordinate system has been calibrated using a special dot calibration plate and the overall accuracy of StarScan x,y data is derived to be 0.5 micrometer. Application to real photographic plate data shows that position information of at least 0.65 micrometer accuracy can be extracted from course grain 103a-type emulsion astrometric plates. Transformations between "direct" and "reverse" measures of fine grain emulsion plate measures are obtained on the 0.3 micrometer level per well exposed stellar image and coordinate, which is at the limit of the StarScan machine.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, accepted for PAS

A Double-Mode RR Lyrae Star with a Strong Fundamental Mode Component

NSVS 5222076, a thirteenth magnitude star in the Northern Sky Variability Survey, was identified by Oaster as a possible new double-mode RR Lyrae star. We confirm the double-mode nature of NSVS 5222076, supplementing the survey data with new V band photometry. NSVS 5222076 has a fundamental mode period of 0.4940 day and a first overtone period of 0.3668 day. Its fundamental mode light curve has an amplitude twice as large as that of the first overtone mode, a ratio very rarely seen. Data from the literature are used to discuss the location in the Petersen diagram of double-mode RR Lyrae stars having strong fundamental mode pulsation. Such stars tend to occur toward the short period end of the Petersen diagram, and NSVS 5222976 is no exception to this rule.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, To be published in the March, 2006, issue of PAS