Academic Skills Development

Dear Madman, I need helps!

Sally Ashton-Hay — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 16:12:50 PDT

For such a time as this...

Sally Ashton-Hay — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 16:10:01 PDT

Uncovering EAP: how to teach academic writing and reading

Sally Ashton-Hay — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 22:47:02 PDT

Financial reporting: towards socially inclusive support for international students

Sally Ashton-Hay et al. — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 23:18:26 PDT

Recent government initiatives emphasise the need for social inclusion in higher education to enhance participation, learning outcomes and increase retention rates. Australian Indigenous students, socioeconomically disadvantaged and non-English speaking migrants are included, yet operational strategies for supportive programs related to international students and partner institutions with varying standards, advanced standing course credits, and academic and assessment literacy gaps are not. The challenges faced by international students in higher education have been well documented (Doherty & Singh, 2005; Louie, 2005; Ryan & Carroll, 2005; Taylor, 2011) and continue to stimulate ongoing policy and practice innovation. While new government policies define appropriate procedures, few evidence-based studies have been published to show indicators and measures of success. This paper focuses on a collaborative program initiated by an Australian university to support international accounting students from an offshore partner institution. An online content-specific workshop and a face-to-face academic language and learning skills workshop targeted a major assignment in Financial Reporting. The aim of the program was to highlight sustainable and inclusive practice, enhance assignment outcomes and improve on previously high failure rates for international students enrolled in the course. Assignment results show statistically significant evidence that targeted support is beneficial for international students, especially those in offshore partner programs. Inclusive practice is socially responsible, sustainable, and creates positive impact for English language learners.

Here's a story: using student podcasts to raise awareness of language learning strategies

Sally Ashton-Hay et al. — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 23:54:28 PDT

Thirty-five years ago, a landmark article entitled What the “Good Language Learner” Can Teach Us suggested that if more was known about what “successful learners” did, then those strategies could be taught to poorer learners to enhance learning (Rubin, 1975: 42). Since publication of this article, language instruction has begun to encompass technological applications (Chinnery, 2006) through mobile-assisted language learning (MALL or m-learning) like podcasts. Podcasting extends the classroom, offers convenience for diverse learners, and provides authentic listening opportunities. Although the effects of podcasting in higher education have yet to be investigated (Educause, 2007), this paper describes how action research lead to the creation of an innovative student learning strategy webpage featuring peer podcasts and successful language learning strategies in higher education.

Presentations in English: find your voice as a presenter

Sally Ashton-Hay — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 22:36:06 PDT

With estimates of more than thirty million given each day, presentations have become an integral part of modern society. They can signify the difference between gaining or losing a job, or being successful or unsuccessful at university and a future career. Presentations in English, combining a 128-page book and DVD, is an innovative and complete course aimed specifically at non-native speakers of English.

EAP essentials: a teachers guide to principles and practice

Sally Ashton-Hay — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 22:29:09 PDT

Book review - Ancient scholars once journeyed across the Alps to study Italian law while some sailed the Mediterranean to learn Greek philosophy or examine Arabic scripts on science, medicine and mathematics. Devotees of philosophical and religious thought migrated to the Orient in search of transcendental wisdom. Today, the quest for knowledge has not changed as English-medium universities experience unprecedented internationalisation. This book is a publication for such a time as this. The authors invite readers to "join the tribe" (Becher, 1998) and learn the specific academic discourse and culture of English for Academic Purposes (EAP).

A study of patterns of participation of Arnhem Land Aboriginal students in a non-Aboriginal urban secondary school

Sally Ashton-Hay — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:37:21 PDT

Aboriginal students are identified as one of the groups most at risk in Australia today. They have low levels of achievement and school retention coupled with high levels of failure, absenteeism and behaviour problems. All available statistics support this perspective (National Review 1994 in Groome 1995:70). DEET (1991:165)also recognises the need for further research and material and curriculum preparation for the specific English language educational needs of Aboriginal learners. Although our education system is largely failing Aboriginal learners, this project documents evidence of success. It is a study of four Aboriginal girls from a remote area of Arnhem Land who are learning ESL in a non-Aboriginal urban private secondary school on the Gold Coast. Even though the school accepts some international enrolments, staff have little experience or understanding of Aboriginal learners in this situation, including the researcher. The purpose of the study was to identify patterns of participation reflected by Aboriginal students in a non-Aboriginal learning environment. Although this report is condensed, the discussion of data is designed to assist ESL and mainstream teachers to meet the needs of similar students in such learning contexts.

The value of education in a developing country

Sally Ashton-Hay — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:23:02 PDT

There's nothing to compare with teaching in a foreign country for professional development and appreciation of the value of education. Ataturk, the fther of modern Turkey, once claimed that teachers are the saviours of a nation. As modern revolutionaries, teachers may spread progressive educational change wherever they work, including in a developing nation like Turkey.

Creating positive attitudes towards English as a foreign language

Selma Elyildirim et al. — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:43:05 PDT

Most members of the language teaching profession realize that their students’ learning potential increases when attitudes are positive and motivation runs high. The research into the connection between positive attitudes and successfully learning a second language supports this simple observation, although it is important to understand that many variables are involved because we are dealing with complex social and psychological aspects of human behavior. For example, students’ ability to learn a second language can be influenced by their attitudes towards the target language, the target language speakers and their culture, the social value of learning the second language, and also the students’ attitudes towards themselves as members of their own culture (Ellis 1994). In addition, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers should recognize that all students possess positive and negative attitudes in varying degrees, and that the negative ones can be changed by thoughtful instructional methods, such as using materials and activities that help students achieve an “understanding and appreciation of the foreign culture” (Brown 2000, 181). This article will describe some of the research about attitudes, motivation, and language learning; it will then discuss a project that examined educational factors that affect motivation and evaluated the effect of introducing special methods, materials, and activities to make attitudes more positive. The project utilized classroom action research, which is a useful method with clearly defined stages to allow teachers to identify, investigate, apply solutions to, and report on results and make recommendations about how to improve teaching strategies and educational policy.

Teaching English poetry to Turkish undergraduates: comprehension strategies matter

Sally Ashton-Hay — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:26:36 PDT

This paper explores and highlights some of the strategies used to challenge, encourage and support the communicative learning process for two large classes of Turkish learners in their third and fourth years of the English Language and Literature Department at a large university in eastern Turkey. Many of these students are expected to become English teachers in the future. The learning strategies cover a range of areas including cognitive reading strategies, rigorous learning standards, learning styles and multiple intelligences, meaningful content and building cultural knowledge in order to assist learners in realizing their full potential. These strategies may be adaptable to other contexts and inspire teachers to teach what matters most in their own classrooms.

Completing the jigsaw: ESL and EFL undergraduate views on interactive peer-based learning

Sally Ashton-Hay — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:26:35 PDT

English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students often face incongruence with Western teaching methods and learning expectations. The aim of this paper is to explore the potential for interactive peer-based learning to engage ESL and EFL language learners provide authentic communication experiences and accelerate learning through two case studies in different contexts. A study was undertaken to investigate student ‘voice’ (Rudduck, 1999, 2005; Rudduck & Flutter, 2004) during an intervention of communicative language teaching using peer-based learning strategies. This article describes unique similarities and subtle differences between ESL and EFL undergraduate learning in two different cultural contexts, using a 'stages of learning matrix' teaching tool to encourage civic skills and self-efficacy. It also suggests ways for teachers to improve on inconsistencies in group-based learning in order to promote more inclusive and congruent learning experiences for English language learners.

Drama: engaging all learning styles

Sally Ashton-Hay — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:09:44 PDT

Drama is highly regarded as an effective and valuable teaching strategy because of its unique ability to engage reflective, constructivist and active learning in the classroom as well as enhancing oral skills development (Di Pietro, 1987; Via, 1976; Heathcote cited in Wagner, 1976; Mezirow, 1990; Schon, 1991; Donato and McCormick, 1994; Lukinsky, 1990; Miccoli, 2003). As teachers, we often search for effective ways to improve our classes, motivate the students that we teach and appeal to a range of learning styles. This paper will discuss some of the benefits of using drama as a teaching strategy, its power to engage all learning styles and offer some practical classroom teaching activities which incorporate various learning styles in English as a foreign or second language. Teachers are encouraged to try some of these strategies and provide a more active and engaging learning experience for students in the classroom.

Culture and English language teaching: raising awareness

Ece Sarıgül et al. — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 23:59:48 PDT

This paper examines the various roles of culture in language teaching with the aim of increasing awareness for English teachers. Graves (2001) claims that culture is receiving increasing attention; Hymes (1972) views it as communicative competence; Larsen-Freeman (2001) as a fifth skill in addition to reading, writing, speaking and listening; and Kramsch (1993) as not just a fifth skill or even an aspect of communicative competence but the underlying dimension of all one knows and does. Regardless of how we perceive culture, the importance of culture in English Language Teaching has never been more important. Raising awareness of aspects of culture such as various pronunciations, translatable and untranslatable words, approaches to culture, who should teach culture, strategies for teaching language and culture, as well as several innovations and new studies involving culture and ELT will be discussed here.

Constructivism and powerful learning environments: create your own!

Sally Ashton-Hay — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 23:50:43 PDT

Recent educational reforms have been gaining increasing attention across Europe, particularly for the creation of powerful learning environments (Buchberger, 2001; Gerjets & Hesse, 2005; Lesgold, 2004; Palincsar & Herrenkohl, 2002; Van Petegem, De Loght, & Shortridge, 2003) based on constructivist educational theory. Most of these innovations are responses to raising educational standards and creating more engaged, active learners. Powerful learning environments aim to improve the quality of learning experiences by creating more active, student-centered classrooms in schools and universities, particularly through the use of technology. The notion of 'powerful' is emphasized in contrast to 'weak' learning environments where students are mainly required to digest or memorize facts. This constitutes contrasting views of education depending on whether students are required to respond, engage and participate in their learning experiences or remain passive and inactive as in more traditional behaviorist learning situations. Such contrasting views of education are one of the reasons for the increased interest in what powerful learning environments have to offer and what they mean in terms of educational reform.

Patterns of participation in classroom learning: a study of Aboriginal girls from a bush setting

Sally Ashton-Hay et al. — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 23:41:38 PDT

This study is concerned with the learning experiences and strategies of secondary Aboriginal girls from Elcho Island in the Northern Territory as they study in an urban school in the Gold Coast, Queensland. The girls were learning English as their second and third language. The study details how the ESL teacher/author tried to understand how to meet the needs of these girls who came with such different learning strategies and styles. The teacher/author's visit to their homeland in Elcho Island immediately helped her to understand how the grils' different social and learning experiences had influenced them, and how different their lives were at the new school. The account of observations and analysis of their patterns of participation in their new school give important insights into their learning styles.

Case study of collaborative learning in two contexts: what do English language learners gain?

Sally Ashton-Hay et al. — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 23:07:24 PDT

This chapter describes the use of collaborative learning as an approach to enhance English language learning by students from non-English speaking backgrounds. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) principles were applied to two case studies, one comprising of undergraduate English as Foreign Language Learners in Turkey and the other involved English as Second Language learners in Australia. Social constructivism inspired communicative language teaching using collaborative learning activities such as team work, interactive peer-based learning, and iterative stages of learning matrix were incorporated to enhance students' learning outcomes. Data collected after the CLT intervention was made up of field notes, reflective logs and focus group interviews which revealed complementarities, as well as subtle differences between the two cases. The findings were summarized as learning dispositions; speaking fluency and confidence; learning diagnostics and completion deficiencies; task engagement, flow theory and higher order thinking skills; in addition to self efficacy and development of student identity. CLT has the potential to provide a more inclusive and dynamic education for diverse learners through vital outcomes and benefits which resonate with the real world

Case study of collaborative learning in two contexts: what do students gain?

Sally Ashton-Hay et al. — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:37:00 PDT

This book presents important research advances in the study of teaching and teacher research as well as a review of motivation in education; mentoring; an evaluation of online learning; educational change and computer-assisted teaching.