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Understanding the Courses We Teach

The University of Michigan Press

Contents

Part 1. Background1. A Time for Local Perspectives John Murphy...............................................................................................................32. Background and General Principles John Murphy...........................................................................................................113. Precursors to the Understanding Collection John Murphy..................................................................................................274. A Framework for Discussion-Part 1 John Murphy and Patricia Byrd.........................................................................................335. A Framework for Discussion-Part 2 John Murphy and Patricia Byrd.........................................................................................52Part 2. General Purposes Instruction6. English in the Workplace at Goodwill Industries Marjorie Terdal, Janice Ruhl, and Carolyn Armstrong.....................................................717. Families as Curriculum Partners in an Urban Elementary Inclusion Classroom Jo-Anne Wilson-Keenan, Jerri Willett, and Judith Solsken.....................928. Community-Based ESL: Exploring "Critical Citizenship" Brian Morgan......................................................................................1159. Building a Community of Adult ESL Learners Robert A. DeVillar and Binbin Jiang..........................................................................13510. An Australian Adult ESL Settlement Classroom Anne Burns and Pam McPherson..............................................................................155Part 3. English as a Foreign Language11. Videoing Conversations for Self-Evaluation in Japan Tim Murphey........................................................................................17912. FocalSpeak: Integrating Rhythm and Stress in Speech-Pronunciation William Acton........................................................................19713. "Extensive Reading" for Japanese English Majors Thomas N. Robb.........................................................................................21814. English for Engineers in Hong Kong Lindsay Miller......................................................................................................236Part 4. University Courses (Credit Bearing)15. EAP Support for Matriculated University Students Janet M. Goodwin......................................................................................25916. A Theme-Based Literature Course: Focus on the City of Angels Donna M. Brinton..........................................................................28117. Canadian Language and Culture: A Course for Nine Academic Credits David J. Mendelsohn..................................................................30918. Teaching "Writing for Proficiency" in Summer School: Lessons from a Foxhole Dana R. Ferris.............................................................32819. A Course in Grammar-Editing for ESL Writers May Shih...................................................................................................346Part 5. University-Preparatory Courses (Non-Credit Bearing)20. Strategic Reading on a Sustained Content Theme Joy Janzen..............................................................................................36921. Theme-Based Instruction: Fieldwork in a Small Connecticut Town Carol Numrich...........................................................................39022. Academic Speaking: Learning to Take "Longer Turns" Janet G. Graham and Susan M. Barone.................................................................40923. English through Web Page Creation Heidi Shetzer and Mark Warschauer....................................................................................42924. Looking Forward: Connectivity through the Internet John Murphy and Patricia Byrd.......................................................................446Bibliography................................................................................................................................................453Contributors................................................................................................................................................479Author Index................................................................................................................................................481Subject Index...............................................................................................................................................487

Chapter One

My left hand hooking you round the waist, My right hand pointing to landscapes of continents and the public road. -Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"

Teachers of English to speakers of other languages have interesting stories to share about the courses they offer. Some of the more compelling stories focus on a specific course and reveal details of a teacher's local approach to language instruction. In teachers' conversations with one another, such stories capture the imaginations of tens of thousands of language teachers all over the world. Unfortunately, far too few of our stories ever appear in written form. In this book, English language teachers share stories and understandings of the courses they teach.

Understanding the Courses We Teach (hereafter, the Understanding collection) provides opportunities to examine descriptions of 18 authentic English language courses as composed by individual, or a collaborative team of, classroom teachers. For too long, the field of English language teaching (ELT) has been dominated by generic discussions that fail to illustrate teachers' and learners' actual experiences within specific courses. Individual teachers' firsthand accounts rarely serve as centerpieces in professional development literatures. The Understanding collection is different. It begins with the assumption that current and prospective language teachers are interested in learning even more than they already know about what happens within other teachers' courses. One of the collection's distinctive features is the opportunity it provides to examine experienced teachers' understandings and explanations of their ways of offering language courses.

Anyone reading this book, already interested in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages, has the good fortune of being part of a worldwide cast. Some of the more visible members of the cast include current and prospective language teachers, language learners, program administrators, materials writers, teacher educators, curriculum developers, researchers, and publishers. In actual practice, distinctions between some of these roles and role relationships are difficult to maintain. Many ELT classroom teachers, for example, contribute to the profession as materials writers, curriculum developers, and program administrators. There are many English language teachers who are second language (L2) speakers of English and former ELT classroom learners. In some settings, learners play significant roles as contributors to the planning and development of language courses in which they participate. Thus, the roles that teachers, learners, and...