Building Teaching Materials for Adult English Language Learners
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
INTERACTION, AUTHENTICITY AND SPOKEN CORPORA: BUILDING TEACHING MATERIALS FOR ADULT ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate School of Western Carolina University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). By Courtney Cunningham Director: Dr. Chandrika Balasubramanian Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and Director Graduate TESOL program English Department Committee Members: Dr. Christopher Blake, English Department Dr. Randi Reppen, English Department, Northern Arizona University 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to begin by thanking my committee members, who have each guided me through this process and contributed to my research. Chris Blake and Chandrika Balasubramanian have provided me with a thorough and fulfilling education in TESOL, without which, none of this would have been possible. Chris‘s suggestions for my writing make it more complete. He also continually offers me support and positive words when they are most needed. I owe my interest and passion for corpus linguistics, in particular, to Chandrika, whose enthusiasm for it is contagious. Chandrika, as my director, has played a vital role in making this thesis a reality. Without the help and guidance of Randi Reppen, this thesis would not be the product that it is. I thank her for allowing me access to the Cambridge Corpus of Spoken North American English and for giving my thesis the direction that it needed. I value each committee member and am forever grateful that they were a part of my thesis process. I would also like to thank my fellow graduate students and friends who have shared ideas with me and listened to mine. I owe particular thanks to Alan Wray, who offered his assistance in editing and made suggestions so that my language was clearer. Finally, I would like to thank the participants of this study for allowing me to interview them and whose responses shed much light on adult English language education in the United States. I dedicate this thesis to adult English language learners in the U.S. I hope that in some way my work contributes to increasing their English language skills and the betterment of their lives in the U.S. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………7 Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………………………………………9 Introduction………………………………………………………………………. 9 Statement of Problem…………………………………………………………….10 Purpose of Study…………………………………………………………………14 Description of Study……………………………………………………………..15 Research Questions………………………………………………………………18 Significance to Field….………………………………………………………….18 Ethical Considerations….………………………………………………………..19 Chapter 2: Review of Literature………………………………………………………....20 Introduction……………………………………………………………………...20 Foreign-Born Population………………………………………………………...21 Adult ESL Programs…………………………………………………………….25 Effective Teaching for Adult ELLs……………………………………………..29 A Corpus-based Approach to Language Teaching………………………………37 Corpus-based Teaching Materials………………………………………………50 4 Summary……………………………………………………………………….51 Chapter 3: Methodology……………………………………………………………….53 Introduction…………………………………………………………………….53 Setting………………………………………………………………………….55 Sample/Participants…………………………………………………………….56 Data Collection/Procedures……………………………………………..……..57 Interviews with Participants……………………………………………………57 Textbook Evaluations…………………………………………………………..60 Corpora in Materials Development…………………………………………….62 Chapter 4: Results……………………………………………………………………...64 Introduction……………………………………………………………………64 Interviews…………………………………………………………………….. 66 Administrator Interviews………………………………………………66 Teacher Interviews……………………………………………………..72 Student Interviews……………………………………………………..78 Textbook Evaluations………………………………………………………….94 Side by Side…………………………………………………………….95 5 Step Forward: Language for Everyday Life……………………………….101 Interchange…………………………………………………………………….110 Touchstone…………………………..………………………………………….117 Chapter 5: Discussion…………………………………………………………………. 128 Introduction…………………………………………………………………....128 Discussion of Corpora for Language Teaching………………………………..129 Limitations……………………………………………………………………..136 Recommendations for Future Research………………………………………..137 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..138 List of Tables……………………….………………………………………………….. 6 References…………………………………………………………………………….. 140 Appendices……………………………………………………………………………..149 Appendix 1: Interview Questions for Program Administrators and Instructor…149 Appendix 2: Interview Questions for Target Learner Population……..……… 150 Appendix 3: Textbook Evaluation Overview and Checklist…….......................151 Appendix 4: Questionnaire: Textbook Evaluation…………..…………………153 Appendix 5: Consent Form………………………………………………..….. 154 6 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1: Learner Population Overview………………………………………………...57 Table 2: Learner Population Details…..………………………………………………. 79 Table 3: Frequency of English Language Use…………………….…………………....81 Table 4: Difficult Aspects of Learning English…………………………………………83 Table 5: The Most Important English Language Skill………………………………… 85 Table 6: Teaching Activities that Work the Best……………………………………… 86 Table 7: Reasons for Wanting to Improve English……………………………………. 90 Table 8: Goals to Accomplish While in the Program………………………………….. 91 Table 9: Preferred Teaching Activities………………………………………………….93 7 ABSTRACT INTERACTION, AUTHENTICITY AND SPOKEN CORPORA: BUILDING TEACHING MATERIALS FOR ADULT ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS Courtney Cunningham, MA Western Carolina University Director: Dr. Chandrika Balasubramanian This study investigated the needs and challenges of adult ELLs in the community college setting in the United States. The study was conducted in Western North Carolina (WNC), where administrators, teachers, and students of three different community colleges were interviewed. Interviews determined the needs and challenges of this group of learners, the language skills they are most interested in acquiring, and how effective current teaching materials are in helping meet their needs. Interviews were transcribed to detect patterns in participant responses. The learners were primarily interested in increasing speaking and listening skills so that that they could communicate in their communities in situations they encounter on a regular basis. Results from the interviews, as well as extensive research conducted regarding effective ELT for adult ELLs helped establish criteria for teaching materials that would be beneficial for this group of learners, specifically with speaking and listening. Textbook evaluations were created and applied to three textbooks that were commonly used within all of the community colleges that participated in the study. The evaluations were also applied to a corpus-based textbook that was created using the Cambridge Corpus of Spoken North American English, which focuses on spoken English, to compare with the other textbooks. The findings of this 8 study suggest that there needs to be teaching materials, both textbook and computer programs, created for this group of learners that focus on the qualities of native spoken English within situations that adult ELLs in the U.S. will encounter in their day to day lives. 9 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Introduction Developing a successful adult English language program is an in-depth process in which educators must combine research and practice to ensure students are provided the most effective and productive learning environment possible. A successful program is one that has appropriate courses which systematically follow the progression of students‘ learning and needs (Celce-Murcia, 2001; Graves, 2001; Richards, 2001). Non-credit adult English as a Second Language (ESL) programs provide foreign-born adults living in the United States an opportunity to learn English, but programs are not as strong as they would be if innovative approaches based on research and practice were implemented (Chisman & Crandall, 2007; Chisman, 2008; Crandall & Sheppard, 2004; McHugh, Gelatt, & Fix, 2007; Rodriguez, Burt, Peyton, and Ueland, 2009). Research has determined that bringing innovative approaches that have proven successful into the majority of programs in the U.S. is a challenge; teachers and administrators are responsible for bringing the research and practice into the classroom, but are often limited in time and resources (Chisman & Crandall, 2007; Chisman, 2008; Crandall & Sheppard, 2004) However, since textbooks and teaching materials are the most commonly utilized resources in the language classroom a logical solution would be to incorporate innovative research and practice into those materials. Designing textbooks and teaching materials using corpus-based grammar and data, and incorporating the ‗real‘ language that adult English language learners (ELLs) in the U.S. frequently encounter, will benefit non-credit ESL programs and increase English proficiency in the foreign- 10 born adult population in the United States. The purpose of this study is to determine how to strengthen teaching materials that enhance learning through innovative teaching approaches and content that is relevant and useful to the learners, derived from corpora of American Spoken English. Statement of the Problem The foreign-born population in the U.S. continues to grow, with an increase of 6.9 million between 2000 and 2008 (―Migration Policy Institute‖, 2010). While the young children and youth of this population are receiving English language instruction in the public schools, adults are accountable for their English