Friday, December 3, 2021
Conference Schedule

An informal meet-and-greet with members of the MA English community. If you are a prospective MA English student, please stop by!

This study investigates self-reported language attitudes towards mixing languages of Russian-English bilinguals in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sociolinguistic research into language ideologies, attitudes, and bilingualism, motivated by increasingly multilingual and multicultural backgrounds of the speakers, shows that speakers reflect on and carry out their own language use according to broader/conventionalized ideologies about language purity and clarity. Here I explore attitudes toward language mixing, in particular the reasons speakers give for avoiding mixing English and Russian. Data collected from Russian-English bilinguals, via interviews and online questionnaires, indicates that the majority of the respondents (67%) reported that they avoid mixing languages. I analyze their reasonings qualitatively and demonstrate three dominant discourses that guide this avoidance of mixing: aesthetics of language per se, concerns based on the practical aspect of communication, and a cognitive deficit perspective. Second, I use the Conceptual Metaphor framework to explore the conceptual readings of language that support these ideologies. Implications for the educational sphere and research in language change are considered.

Although teachers and students recognize the importance of pronunciation today, the pronunciation curriculum has not evolved much as a result of the emphasis on grammar, reading, writing in ESL/EFL classes. Korean learners face additional challenges due to a lack of pronunciation instruction in their English classes. Therefore, this capstone project will outline an eight-session pronunciation curriculum focusing on segmental and suprasegmental features that are most necessary for Korean English learners. The goal of the curriculum is to improve learners’ intelligibility related to segmental and suprasegmental features such as linking sound, rhythm, and intonation. By listening to authentic resources, such as TV dramas, students will become more aware of how to pronounce English language sounds, which differ from Korean sounds, and practice speaking naturally by shadowing dialogues/conversations in every lesson. The included lesson plan provides sample materials and demonstrates tasks including raising awareness/controlled/communicative activities that provide ideas for teaching pronunciation effectively.

In my experiences as a college English major and now English tutor, I have seen that vocabulary is often taught in isolation in L2 writing classes. While I was able to learn vocabulary and use them in short sentences in my English writing, it was challenging to find the right words. It was helpful for me as a college student to have English teachers notice my need for more vocabulary support (not just my grammatical errors) and provide me with written corrective feedback specifically on my vocabulary use. To follow my interests in learning vocabulary in English academic writing pedagogy, I wanted to read and search more about written corrective feedback (WCF), both direct and indirect, to know how both teachers and students address the need for vocabulary development in ESL classrooms and for different levels. In this paper, I have analyzed the literature on direct and direct WCF, with a focus on learning vocabulary for academic writing. I have explored various factors that affect the provision of direct over the indirect WCF along with the handling of “untreatable errors” such as WC (word choice). Without a doubt, teaching and learning vocabulary in the teacher’s curriculum depends on context-specific factors about the teacher’s style and the classroom setting. The benefits of learning vocabulary from teachers’ WCF, whether it is direct or indirect, depends on students’ aptitude and individual differences. I conclude with reflections on the importance of learning vocabulary through teacher WCF.

Resources: SLIDES and BIBLIOGRAPHY

Viewing Guide:

00:59: Introduce myself.

02:38: The big picture

04:25: My agenda for today presentation.

05:30 : The students/ the learners.

06:46: Research questions.

8:52: Literature review on WCF.

12:48: Findings & Insight into the Factors that Affect the Need of Direct and Indirect WCF

21:43: More insight into the specific mistake finding “untreatable errors”

22:53: Literature review and vocabulary & finding and insight.

27:25: Remembering the big picture and research questions.

Many educators and scholars agree that a student-centered approach to learning is more effective than a teacher-centered one. However, there is a considerable disparity between teachers who value learner-centered teaching and teachers who practice it. An exploration of the literature explains that this disparity is due to the complex and challenging nature of evolving to a student-centered model. This paper aims to ease this transition for teachers so more students can access inclusive and active learning, which in turn facilitates more self-sustained learners. This article will begin by foregrounding the fundamental values and practices of student-centered pedagogy, which promote a sense of belonging and mitigate passivity. Then, a comprehensive literature review will lead you through the most common challenges and complexities that occur in the four most critical performances of student-centered: (1) sharing power (2) transitioning to the role of facilitator (3) changing the function of content (4) shifting the responsibility. This paper will conclude with a proposal of instructional and institutional changes that will help ease the transition of a more learner-focused education.

Keywords: student-centered pedagogy, learner-centered pedagogy, self-directed learning composition, collaborative learning, imposter syndrome, exclusion, inclusion

Viewing Guide for Erica's presentation:

0:43 About me

9:40 A student-centered classroom

10:40 Phase 1: Identifying the obstacles, challenges, complications

20:48 Phase 2: Paving the road towards a student-centered education

This project explores the linguistic roots of Latin derivatives (romance languages) and the avenues in which these linguistic features provide resources and challenges for speakers of romance languages learning English. Considering the manner in which lexical, phonological, and syntactic features can promote learning through positive transfer of pre-existing schema, these insights can aid TESOL teachers with presentation of English to speakers of romance languages. Methods will include a review of published research on roots of romance languages, language transfer, and drawing on personal reflections of both language learning and language instruction.

This study aims at providing an analysis of the conceptual metaphors that build our concept of language. By looking at data coming from Wikipedia pages that focus on language topics, I use Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) to identify and further analyze four conceptual metaphors and one metonymy. Findings from natural language data demonstrate that speakers understand language as a living organism, as part of a family structure, as an object, as a container and as a tongue. The analysis of these findings shows how we process and experience language, with important implications for language education and policy.

Our pedagogies have, no doubt, evolved during the shift to online modalities during the global pandemic. The emergency nature of online teaching complicated what we have been able to accomplish in our courses—from practical concerns of "how the heck can we do group work on Zoom?" to emotional ones as we've witnessed (and experienced) fatigue and burnout. But many of our pedagogies have benefitted from the renewed urgency to constantly reflect on what we're doing and why we're doing it. This roundtable makes space for us to share what we're carrying with us from Zoom teaching into the future while also thinking about the aspects of Zoom teaching we're looking forward to burying in a deep dark hole.

How can we engage our students in social transformation and community building while they learn a language? Based on culturally responsive pedagogy and transformational leadership, we can develop meaningful and relevant content that enables learners to take action and to make changes in their lives both in and out of the classroom (Auerbach, 1992). In this roundtable we would like to discuss and explore how we can harness language, art, and embodiment in curricula to center learners’ intersecting identities, to ultimately dismantle the classroom/real world dichotomy and foster self-advocacy and community.