3 Free Article Teasers for Spring 2016
Designing English for Academic Purposes Courses for ESL Students
by James Phillips
University courses in English for Academic Purposes (EAP), a branch of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), are content-based ESL classes that prepare ELs to better use English in their academic majors and careers. Common fields served by EAP teaching include business and engineering (Knight, Lomperis, van Naerssen, & Westerfield, 2010). To develop an EAP course, it is helpful to follow several steps from the Best Practices for English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) - the other branch of ESP - including an instructional needs assessment, interviewing all stakeholders, creating a curriculum, choosing teaching materials, and evaluating the results of the teaching (Lomperis, 2014).
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EdTPA - Successes and Challenges in Teacher Education
by Beth Clark-Gareca and Catherine Box, Teachers College, Columbia University
Created and developed by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE), edTPA was designed "to answer the essential question of whether new teachers are ready for the job" (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 2014; Pearson, 2014). A new performance-based teacher assessment, edTPA was implemented in New York State in 2013-2014 as a required test for preservice teacher candidates to become initially certified in ESL in K-12 environments. Because of its swift implementation, teacher preparation programs in New York State have been reeling with the task of how to help teacher candidates navigate the rigorous process of submitting their edTPA portfolios.
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Using Spanish to Promote Academic Success in English:The Bronx Community College Model
by Andrea Parmegiani and Laura Kaplan
The Mother Tongue as a Resource for English Acquisition
Although it may sound counterintuitive, ESL students' mother tongue is actually a resource for helping them acquire English language and literacy skills. Krashen (1999) provided convincing evidence that in the United States "well-designed bilingual programs produce better academic English" (p. 7). Willig's (1985) and Greene's (1998) use of statistical meta-analysis techniques to examine educational outcomes in bilingual programs indicated that the use of mother-tongue instruction facilitates success in English.
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