Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Founded 1966
VOLUMES MENU
CONTENTS
ARTICLES
The Quality of Language Learning Opportunities
9
David Crabbe
Reading in Two Languages: How Attitudes Toward Home Language and
Beliefs About Reading Affect the Behaviors of Underprepared
L2 College Readers
35
La D. Kamhi-Stein
Fine Brush and Freehand: The Vocabulary-Learning Art of
Two Successful Chinese EFL Learners
73
Peter Yongqi Gu
Dueling Philosophies: Inclusion or Separation for Floridas
English Language Learners?
105
Elizabeth Platt, Candace Harper, and Maria Beatriz Mendoza
FORUM
On Reconceptualizing Teacher Education
135
Robert Yates and Dennis Muchisky
Comments on Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, Randi Reppen, Pat Byrd, and
Marie Helts Speaking and Writing in the University:
A Multidimensional Comparison
A Reader Reacts . . .
147
Mohsen Ghadessy
The Authors Respond: Strengths and Goals of
Multidimensional Analysis
151
Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, Randi Reppen, Pat Byrd, and Marie Helt
RESEARCH ISSUES
Some Guidelines for Conducting Quantitative and
Qualitative Research in TESOL
157
Quantitative Research Guidelines
159
Qualitative Research Guidelines
163
ii
TESOL QUARTERLY
REVIEWS
The Practice of English Language Teaching (3rd ed.)
179
Jeremy Harmer
Reviewed by Robert Weissberg
Teachers Narrative Inquiry as Professional Development
181
Karen E. Johnson and Paula R. Golombek (Eds.)
Reviewed by an Cheng
Continuing Cooperative Development: A Discourse Framework for
Individuals as Colleagues
182
Julian Edge
Reviewed by Timothy Stewart
Second Language Writers Text: Linguistic and Rhetorical Features
184
Eli Hinkel
Reviewed by Mary J. Schleppegrell
Genre in the Classroom: Multiple Perspectives
186
Ann M. Johns (Ed.)
Reviewed by Peter Clements
Literature-Based Instruction With English Language Learners
187
Nancy L. Hadaway, Sylvia M. Vardell, and Terrell A. Young
Reviewed by David Johnson
The Power of Tests: A Critical Perspective on the Uses of Language Tests
189
Elana Shohamy
Reviewed by Arieh Sherris
Doing and Writing Qualitative Research
190
Adrian Holliday
Reviewed by Anne Feryok
Language as Cultural Practice: Mexicanos en el Norte
192
Sandra R. Schecter and Robert Bayley
Reviewed by Martin Guardado
BOOK NOTICES
195
Information for Contributors
197
Editorial Policy
General Information for Authors
TESOL Order Form
TESOL Membership Application
REVIEWS
iii
QUARTERLY
Founded 1966
Editor
CAROL A. CHAPELLE, Iowa State University
Reviews Editor
ROBERTA J. VANN, Iowa State University
Assistant Editor
ELLEN GARSHICK, TESOL Central Office
John Levis,
Iowa State University
Lourdes Ortega,
Northern Arizona University
James E. Purpura,
Teachers College, Columbia University
Steven Ross,
Kwansei Gakuin University
Miyuki Sasaki,
Nagoya Gakuin University
Kelleen Toohey,
Simon Fraser University
Jessica Williams,
University of Illinois at Chicago
Devon Woods,
Carleton University
Additional Readers
Jane Arnold, Paul Bruthiaux, Richard Donato, Gene Halleck, Rene Jourdenais, Elliot Judd,
La Kamhi-Stein, Dorit A. Kaufman, Joan Hall Kelly, Janette Klingner, Sandra Kouritzin,
B. Kumaravadivelu, Batia Laufer, Patsy Lightbown, Mary H. Maguire, Nancy Niedzielski, Deborah Poole,
Ben Rampton, Terry Royce, Maria Thomas-Ruzic, Keiko K. Samimy, Mack Shelley, Rita Simpson,
Janet Swaffar, James Tollefson, Dolly Young
Credits
Advertising arranged by Suzanne Levine, TESOL Central Office, Alexandria, Virginia U.S.A.
Typesetting by Capitol Communication Systems, Inc., Crofton, Maryland U.S.A.
Printing and binding by Pantagraph Printing, Bloomington, Illinois U.S.A.
Copies of articles that appear in the TESOL Quarterly are available through ISI Document Solution, 3501 Market Street,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 U.S.A.
Copyright 2003
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.
US ISSN 0039-8322
REVIEWS
Mark Algren
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS USA
President-elect
MICHELE SABINO
University of Houston
Downtown
Houston, TX USA
Past President
MARY LOU McCLOSKEY
Atlanta, GA USA
Secretary
CHARLES S.
AMOROSINO, JR.
Alexandria, VA USA
Treasurer
MARTHA EDMONDSON
Washington, DC USA
iv
Neil J. Anderson
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT USA
Aysegul Daloglu
Middle East Technical
University
Ankara, Turkey
Eric Dwyer
Florida International
University
Miami, FL USA
Bill Eggington
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT USA
Mabel Gallo
Instituto Cultural Argentino
Norteamericano
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Aileen Gum
City College
San Diego, CA USA
Jun Liu
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ USA
Lucilla LoPriore
Italian Ministry of Education
Rome, Italy
Anne V. Martin
ESL Consultant/Instructor
Syracuse, NY USA
Jo Ann Miller
Universidad del Valle de
Mexico
Col. Copilco el Bajo
Mexico DF, Mexico
Betty Ansin Smallwood
Center for Applied Linguistics
Washington,
DC QUARTERLY
USA
TESOL
QUARTERLY
Founded 1966
Editors Note
In this issue, the Research Issues section of the Forum introduces new
guidelines for research that reflect the diverse approaches taken by researchers in our interdisciplinary profession. Having been introduced in this issue,
these guidelines will be available on TESOLs Web site (at http://www
.tesol.org/pubs/author/serials/tqguides.html) rather than published in each
issue of TESOL Quarterly. I would like to remind readers of the call for
special-topic issues of TESOL Quarterly that can be found in Information for
Contributors in the back of this issue and on TESOLs Web site.
In This Issue
IN
THIS
ISSUE Vol. 37, No. 1, Spring 2003
TESOL
QUARTERLY
were considered underprepared for academic study at a U.S. university. Through analysis of think-aloud protocols, questionnaire responses, and indicators of comprehension, she identifies strategies that
learners use in their L1, Spanish, and in English. Within this small
group of seemingly similar ESL learners, she identifies individual
differences that she attributes to the learners different attitudes
toward the use of Spanish for their reading in English. She suggests the
need for further research in the connections between learners beliefs
about the use of their L1 and their reading processes.
Peter Yongqi Gus study describes the vocabulary-learning strategies of
two successful language learners in the input-poor environment of
the Chinese classroom, where the majority of language learning comes
from intensive reading of English texts. Participants were chosen from
a group of successful learners on the basis of responses to a strategy
questionnaire indicating that they took different approaches to vocabulary learning. Results showed that, contrary to popular ideas about
vocabulary learning in the West, the Chinese learners succeed in part
through intensive, explicit study of lists of vocabulary words. The
results demonstrate the value in examining individual learning strategies in view of language learning tasks, individual beliefs, and the
cultural context of language learning.
Elizabeth Platt, Candace Harper, and Maria Beatriz Mendoza present
results of their survey of administrators in Floridas public schools who
oversee the implementation of ESL teaching. The authors review the
origins and philosophies of inclusion and separation approaches to
ESL in the public schools. They report widely varying opinions held by
administrators concerning approaches to ESL, with some arguing for
bilingual education, some for separate ESL classes, and others for
inclusion of ESL learners in mainstream classrooms. Participants
reasons for supporting one approach over another demonstrate the
range of issues that come into play in decisions about ESL programs.
The authors argue that prevailing treatment of these issues in U.S.
public schools and in some other countries fails to take into account
the specialized needs of ESL learners or the potential contributions of
the TESOL profession.
Also in this issue:
The Forum: Based on their experience teaching graduate courses in
TESOL, Robert Yates and Dennis Muchisky raise questions about what
has been called a reconceptualization of teacher education, which advocates
that teacher education in TESOL focus more on the act of teaching
and learning to teach. They argue that this perspective threatens to
deemphasize what they believe language teachers need to know about
language and language acquisition. Mohsen Ghadessy comments on
Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, Randi Reppen, Pat Byrd, and Marie
Helts Speaking and Writing in the University: A Multidimensional
TESOL QUARTERLY
IN THIS ISSUE
10
TESOL QUARTERLY
11
The rest of the specication gives further detail on the purpose of the
standard and the type of information that the learner should be able to
communicate, and on suggested learning and teaching approaches.
How do such outcome statements contribute to quality? A dominant
claim is that educational objectives guide teachers and learners in
developing an effective process to achieve the learning specied. This
point is expressed clearly by Mager (1991) in relation to curriculum
designers:
12
TESOL QUARTERLY
When clearly dened objectives are lacking, there is no sound basis for the
selection or designing of instructional materials, content, or methods. If you
dont know where you are going, it is difcult to select a suitable means for
getting there. (p. 5)
Central to the claim that outcomes thus promote quality by channelling effort in a specic direction is the assessment of how well the learner
has achieved the outcomes specied. At one level, the benet of
assessment is for those directly involved:
[A further] important reason for stating objectives sharply has to do with
nding out whether the objective has, in fact, been accomplished. Tests or
examinations are the mileposts along the road of learning and are supposed
to tell instructors and students alike whether they have been successful in
achieving the course objectives. (Mager, 1991, pp. 56)
At another level, the benet is for those who pay for the education,
whether the individual learner or a sponsor. At this level, there is an
inevitable link between outcomes and accountability. Because outcomes
provide a standard basis for measuring achievement (e.g., against
established norms of achievement in a given period of time), they can be
used as the basis for accountability of the individual and even the
teaching institution, although the extent to which an institution can be
held responsible for the outcomes achieved by a cohort of students is
limited by such factors as initial competence, general motivation, attitude, and ability.
THE QUALITY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
13
TABLE 1
Quality and Accountability in Outcomes
Outcome
Type of accountability
Individual
performance
Individual achieves
against age-group norms
against own previous
achievement
within normal time
expectations
Aggregated
performance of a
cohort of
individuals
14
TESOL QUARTERLY
15
TESOL QUARTERLY
Definitions of Opportunity
Kumaravadivelu (1994) sets out a list of macrostrategies to guide
teachers in developing specic classroom practice. His rst macrostrategy
is maximize learning opportunities.
It is customary to distinguish teaching acts from learning acts, to view
teaching as an activity that creates learning opportunities and learning as an
activity that utilises those opportunities. If we, as we must, treat classroom
activity as a social event jointly constructed by teachers and learners (Breen,
1985) then teachers ought to be both creators of learning opportunities and
utilizers of learning opportunities created by learners. (Kumaravadivelu,
1994, p. 33)
2
The order in which theoretical enquiry and cultural enquiry are addressed is not at issue in
this article (they are seen as parallel enquiries), but Freeman and Johnson (1998) suggest that
the contextual element, an understanding of belief and practice, is the primary driver of what
happens in classrooms, with SLA research playing a secondary role.
17
The term is also used by Spolsky (1989), who proposes 74 conditions that
are relevant to second language learning (p. 16). Seventeen of these
conditions involve the provision of learning opportunities, for example,
No. 57: Opportunity for analysis: learning a language involves an
opportunity to analyse it, consciously or unconsciously, into its constituent parts (p. 23).
Pearson (1993) explicitly talks about opportunity standards, which, he
says,
provide an answer to the question, What evidence is there that you have the
opportunity to participate in a curriculum that would help develop the skills,
understandings, and dispositions that would enable you (to) meet the
standards to which you are being held accountable? (p. 66)
TESOL QUARTERLY
An Opportunity Framework
A schematic view of opportunity and opportunity take-up is presented
in Table 2. In the column labeled opportunity categories are types of
opportunities based on current views of second language acquisition
(SLA). In order to develop full competence in an L2, learners are likely
to need to receive extensive input, participate in interaction, produce
extensive output, rehearse language forms and communicative routines,
get direct or indirect feedback on performance, and have access to
knowledge about language and about language learning. Although this
list of ingredients for language learning is unlikely to be denitive, each
ingredient is well supported by surveys of SLA research (Ellis, 1990, 1994;
Lightbown & Spada, 1999).
An indication of the intended coverage of each of these terms is
provided in Table 3. The ingredients or opportunities are likely to be
accessed by individual learners in various combinations but also to be
mediated through collaborative work, as promoted by studies within a
sociocultural framework (Swain, 1999; Swain & Lapkin, 1998).
Columns 2, 3, and 4 in Table 2 refer to key factors that might affect the
take-up of the opportunities. Whereas the provision of opportunities is a
relatively straightforward matter, the greater challenge for teachers is to
manage groups of learners in ways that take account of how these factors
might be inuencing opportunity take-up. The three broad and interrelated factors identied here are ones that are well supported by SLA
research: affect (Arnold, 1999: Macintyre & Charos, 1996; Schumann,
1997), style and prior experience of learning (Reid, 1995, 1998; Willing,
1988) and motive (Drnyei, 2001).
The two nal columns represent the action of taking up opportunities
on a routine basis and the immediate perceived result of take-up. The
perceived result for a learner will range from positive to negative and
may encourage learners to seek further opportunities and to use them in
the same or different ways. In some cases it may lead them to avoid
further opportunities altogether. The bottom row of the table summarises
in broad terms the responsibility of the teacher.
19
20
TESOL QUARTERLY
Providing and
raising awareness
of opportunities
in and outside the
classroom
Action
Providing informed
feedback and encouraging self-assessment
Perceived result
Contributing to a
positive classroom
and sociocultural
environment
Motive
Style/experience
Affect
Note. An earlier version of this schematic framework was developed jointly with Jim Dickie. The components of the diagram are similar to the model
proposed by Spolsky (1989) but are not derived from it.
Teacher
responsibility
Learning
opportunity access
and use by
language learners
Opportunity
categories
TABLE 2
The Opportunity Framework
TABLE 3
Coverage of the Opportunity Categories
Ingredient
Example
Input
Output
Interaction
Feedback
Rehearsal
Language
Any conscious attention to language that is intended
understanding to lead to an ability to explain or describe or gloss an
aspect of grammar or sociolinguistic conventions
Learning
Any conscious attention to ones own language
Benson (2001);
understanding learning that is intended to lead to a better
Wenden (1998)
metacognitive control over that learning, which would
include a detailed representation of the task of
language learning, an analysis of the difculties
encountered and an awareness of strategies to
overcome the difculties and achieve the task
21
TESOL QUARTERLY
23
MANAGEMENT ENQUIRY
Dening quality requires an initial understanding of theoretical
perspectives on language learning and the cultural context in which
language teaching and learning are taking place. Operationalising and
3
Quality has long been a concern in the business world, represented best by the quality
management standards dened by the International Standards Organisation (ISO). An ISO
denition of Total Quality Management is reported by Dale (1999) as a management
approach of an organisation, centred on quality, based on the participation of all its members
and aiming at long term success through customer satisfaction, and benets to all members of
the organisation and to society (p. 3).
24
TESOL QUARTERLY
achieving quality is by far the most demanding part of the endeavour and
is considered a task of management. The term management here is used
in a broad sense to mean the organisation of collective activity (although
it could also include individual activity) directed toward specic goals
and outcomes.
The aim is to set up a common set of expectations as to what
constitutes quality in any one teaching context and to explore ways of
meeting those expectations. In doing this, one does not want to
discourage new directions or open-ended experimentation by individual
teachers and learners. Divergence can be professionally engaging and
productive, and is a characteristic that is valued highly in many contexts.
Rather, what is sought is a statement on what colleagues can all agree
constitutes good practice in providing learning opportunities and facilitating their take-up. Such a statement in written form would provide a
common reference point both for practice and for debate about
practice.
25
FIGURE 1
Sample TESOL Adult Education Program Standard
Indicator
Measure
Performance standard
III. INSTRUCTION
G. Instructional activities
incorporate grouping
strategies and interactive tasks
that facilitate the development
of authentic communication
skills. Techniques that
facilitate this development
include cooperative learning,
information gap, role play,
simulations, problem solving,
and problem posing.
Interactive tasks or a
variety of grouping
strategies are evidenced by
classroom observation,
teacher logs, written lesson
plans, student journals,
and/or directions related
to the use of classroom
materials.
During classroom
observations, the majority of
the students are actively
engaged in a task that cannot
be completed without
appropriate communication.
A teachers log or lesson plans
show evidence of
communicative pair work or
small group work for %
of class time each day.
26
TESOL QUARTERLY
27
28
TESOL QUARTERLY
Variable responses
to the challenges
of learning and
communication
encourage
learners to
evaluate and
experiment with
solutions.
Learners will be
positively
encouraged to
reect with one
another and the
teacher on taskrelated difculties
that they experience in learning
and communicating.
The sharing of
problem solving
about learning
leads to reassurance that
problems are
often shared by
others. Collective
problem solving is
a productive
process.
Learners will be
provided with at
least 10 different
case studies of
learning or communication difculties experienced by learners
together with
potential strategies to deal with
those difculties.
Exploring the
dimensions of
learning and
communication
difculties leads
to better problem
representation
and better solutions and a better
understanding of
exploiting learning opportunities.
Rationale
(representing a
contestable claim
about language
learning
opportunities)
Modelling and
discussing diverse
learning
approaches
Contributing to
positive classroom
and sociocultural
environment
Providing and
raising awareness
of opportunities
in classroom and
outside
Teacher
responsibility
Understanding the
goals of tasks and
how they might be
achieved leads to a
greater motivation
and ability to
undertake the tasks
both in class and
out of class.
Regularly asking
the question
What is the
purpose and
potential of this
activity? will
encourage a habit
of reecting on
learning and
evaluating its
effectiveness.
Regular reection
on the purpose
and potential of
different learning
activities will be
encouraged.
TABLE 4
Sample Opportunity Standards for Raising Awareness About Language Learning
Self-evaluation of
strategic behaviour
encourages more
effective strategic
planning for continued
language learning.
Learners will be
encouraged to provide
their own evaluation of
how well specic
strategies worked.
Providing informed
feedback and
encouraging
self-assessment
Standards-Setting Issues
The sample standards in Table 4 raise several issues about setting
opportunity standards. Obviously, a number of standards such as these
cannot capture every possible learning opportunity. Opportunity standards cannot, therefore, be seen as limiting. What they do is capture
opportunity targets agreed by an institution or a group of teachers and
the learners, together with an agreed minimum strategy for achieving
those targets. Stating expectations in this way seems a good starting point
in establishing the nature of the program without preempting further
creative ways of providing learning opportunities. New targets and new
ways of achieving targets would in time also be incorporated as standards
into a bank of standards that would be available to select from and work
with for a particular course. Moreover, each set of standards would be the
basis for discussion and reection, when appropriate, by the students,
thus adding further value to their understanding of language learning.
A second point is that drawing up such standards requires a construction of the teaching/learning process that will not be universally shared.
There is likely to be dissonance in views of what it takes to learn a
languagedissonance between local practice and the international
literature, for example, or dissonance within groups of teachers or
between learners and teachers. A degree of dissonance is almost always
present in a teaching/learning situation. A reasonable claim for the
process of dening opportunity standards is that any dissonance between
the practice valued by individual teachers and that valued by others is
more likely to be brought into the open and negotiated to a satisfactory
conclusion than if the dissonance is simply ignored.
A third question is how specic one would want to be in setting up
such standards. I think the answer is, as specic as one needs to be in any
THE QUALITY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
29
Evaluation of Standards
The use of standards as a program management tool will raise the
question of how to evaluate whether or not the use of opportunity
standards is effective in bringing about a change in quality. On the basis
of the arguments put forward above, one would want to see evidence of
some or all of the following when a program adopts a set of such
standards:
participation by teachers in negotiating what counts as good practice, selecting standards and committing to them, a criterion that
draws on the cultural element that is essential in setting the standards in the rst place
evidence of meaningfulness of standards for learners, thus facilitating negotiation of opportunities between teachers and learners and
enhanced learner understanding of language learning
30
TESOL QUARTERLY
FINAL COMMENT
This article has attempted to frame language teaching in a way that is
intended to enhance the quality of learning opportunity in a program in
several ways. First, a framework of learning opportunity standards links
practice and understanding (theoretical or otherwise) by encouraging
teachers and learners to work from basic principles rather than xed
routines as provided by materials or unanalysed tasks. Fixed routines
have their value, but a thinking teacher or learner is primarily a problem
solver following a heuristic path to identify the appropriate learning
opportunities to reach the intended learning goals.
Second, such a framework is intended to foster discussion about
quality. The very fact that a group of teachers sets about selecting a
number of opportunity standards for their program raises the questions
of how they dene and implement good learning opportunities and
what the literature has to say about learning. In this way, standards
emphasise the institutional role in promoting quality beyond the individual teachers role. At the same time, they can be an instrument for
developing the learners role by providing a reference point for learners
to talk about learning. Dialogue about learning works toward the
capacity to self-direct. A framework of opportunities demysties language learning by exposing the underlying processes aimed at by tasks
and materials. Opportunity standards as goals are as relevant to the
learners as they are to teachers.
Third, an opportunity framework provides a proactive basis for
evaluation by stating the salient features of program quality from the
beginning. It does not claim that all quality features of a program can be
describedan unobtainable and undesirable goalbut it provides a
frame of action that is at least a safety net and at best a productive tool for
program development.
Quality is comparative by its nature. Working with quality targets that
have been adopted by a teaching team implies that current practice is
being critically evaluated and compared with a notion of improved
practice. Improved practice may be derived from creative thinking, or it
THE QUALITY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
31
THE AUTHOR
David Crabbe is currently the head of the School of Linguistics and Applied
Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. His interests lie in language
curriculum development and learner autonomy as means to fostering effective
language learning.
REFERENCES
Anderson, J. R. (1995). Cognitive psychology and its implications (4th ed.). New York:
Freeman.
Arnold, J. (1999). Affect in language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Benson, P. (2001.) Teaching and researching autonomy in language learning. Harlow,
England: Pearson Education.
Brindley, G. (1998). Outcomes-based assessment and reporting in language learning
programmes: A review of the issues. Language Testing, 15, 4585.
Checkland, P., & Scholes, J. (1990). Soft systems methodology in action. New York: Wiley.
Coleman, H. (1996). Shadow puppets and language lessons: interpreting classroom
behaviour in its cultural context. In H. Coleman (Ed.), Society and the language
classroom (pp. 6485). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Council of Europe, Council for Cultural Cooperation. (2001). Common European
framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Crabbe, D. (1993). Fostering autonomy: The teachers responsibility. System, 21, 443
452.
Cumming, A. (2001). The difculty of standards, for example in L2 writing. In
T. Silva & P. Matsuda (Eds.), On second language writing (pp. 209229). Mahwah,
NJ: Erlbaum.
Dale, B. G. (1999). TQM: An overview. In B. G. Dale (Ed.), Managing quality (pp. 3
33). Oxford: Blackwell.
32
TESOL QUARTERLY
33
Newell, A., & Simon, H. (1972). Human problem-solving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall.
Ortega, L. (1999). Planning and focus on form in L2 oral performance. Studies in
Second Language Acquisition, 21, 109148.
Pearson, P. D. (1993). Standards for the English language arts: A policy perspective.
Journal of Reading Behaviour, 25, 457475.
Prabhu, N. S. (1987). Second language pedagogy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Reid, J. (Ed.). (1995). Learning styles in the ESL/EFL classroom. Boston: Heinle &
Heinle.
Reid, J. (1998). Understanding learning styles in the second language classroom. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.
Schumann, J. (1997). The neurobiology of affect in language. Language Learning, 48
(Supplement).
Schwartz, S. H. (1997). Values and culture. In D. Munro, J. F. Schumacher, & S. C.
Carr (Eds.), Motivation and culture (pp. 6984). New York: Routledge.
Scottish Qualications Authority. (1994/1995). National certificate module: Unit specification unit, English as a foreign language 1 (Unit No. 7340024). Retrieved June 30,
2002, from http://www.sqa.org.uk
Spada, N. (1997). Form-focussed instruction and second language acquisition: A
review of classroom and laboratory research. Language Teaching, 30, 7385.
Spolsky, B. (1989). Conditions for second language learning. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Stenhouse, L. (1975). An introduction to curriculum research and development. London:
Heinemann.
Swain, M. (1995). Three functions of output in second language learning. In G. Cook
& B. Seidlhofer (Eds.), Principle and practice in applied linguistics: Studies in honour of
H. G. Widdowson (pp. 12144). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Swain, M. (1999). Integrating language and content teaching through collaborative
tasks. In C. Ward & W. Renandya (Eds.), Language teaching (pp. 125147).
Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.
Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (1995). Problems in output and the cognitive processes they
generate: A step towards second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 16, 371391.
Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (1998). Interaction and second language learning: Two
adolescent French immersion students working together. The Modern Language
Journal, 82, 320337.
Taba, H. (1962). Curriculum development: Theory and practice. New York: Harcourt,
Brace & World.
TESOL. (1997). ESL standards for pre-K12 students. Alexandria, VA: Author.
TESOL. (2000). Program standards for adult education ESOL programs. Alexandria, VA:
Author.
Trim, J. (1998). Introduction to European perspectives on modern language
learning: Contributions to the Modern Languages Project of the Council of
Europe. Language Teaching, 31, 206213.
Tyler, R. W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Wenden, A. (1998). Metacognitive knowledge and language learning. Applied Linguistics, 19, 515537.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning meaning and identity. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Willing, K. (1988). Learning styles in adult migrant education. Adelaide, Australia:
National Curriculum Resource Centre.
Willis, D., & Willis, J. (1987). Varied activities for variable language. ELT Journal, 41,
1218.
34
TESOL QUARTERLY
35
BACKGROUND
Research on Cross-Lingual Reading Strategies
The past decade has witnessed growing interest in the cross-lingual
use of reading strategies. Research in this area has relied on the use of
the think-aloud technique, in which readers verbalize their thought
processes while reading a text (Wade, 1990). Cross-lingual reading
strategy research has shown that Mandarin-English bilinguals use similar
strategies when reading in their L1 and L2 (Tang, 1997) and that use of
background knowledge can compensate for low foreign language
prociency (Davis & Bistodeau, 1993).
More revealing is research designed to identify and compare the
metacognitive strategy use of immigrant bilingual middle school readersconsidered successful or less successful as determined by test scores
and teachersfrom a Spanish-speaking background. Comparisons of
such readers have shown that successful readers articulate a multistrategic
approach to reading, focus on unknown vocabulary (although this
attention does not interfere with overall comprehension), and monitor
their reading process. Less successful bilingual readers have been found
to implement counterproductive reading behavior and exhibit a lack of
coordinated strategy use ( Jimnez, Garca, & Pearson, 1995). The results
of research by Blonski Hardin (2001), focusing on elementary school
Spanish-dominant readers considered to be able, average, or less able
readers as determined by the Aprenda test, were consistent with Jimnez
36
TESOL QUARTERLY
37
38
TESOL QUARTERLY
39
40
TESOL QUARTERLY
METHOD
Participants
Four bilingual, native-Spanish-speaking female college freshmen participated in this study (see Table 1). All were considered underprepared
to meet the academic language demands of college-level courses, as
indicated by their scores on (a) the reading skills section of the
California State University (CSU) English Placement Test, (b) the verbal
skills section of the Scholastic Assessment Test, and (c) the English skills
section of the American College Testing examination. Therefore, they
were required to enroll in a series of prebaccalaureate courses, including
TABLE 1
Participants Background
Language used
Partici- Birthpant
place
Years
U.S.
in U.S. schooling
Lupita
Mexico
Grade 5
college
Edith
Mexico
Grade 10
college
Albita
Mexico
17
K
college
Beatriz
El
Salvador
Grade 2,
3, 6, 11
college
At
school
Spanish
in Mexico;
English in
U.S.
Spanish
in Mexico;
English in
U.S.
Bilingual
programs
in K4;
English
starting in
Grade 5
Spanish
in El
Salvador;
English in
U.S.
Test scores
At
home
Placementa
Spanish
139
49
1.50
Spanish
124
23
Spanish
131
37
2.00
Spanish
139
29
2.00
California State University English Placement Test. bGates MacGinitie Reading Test.
41
Materials
The think-aloud texts (see Appendix A) were two excerpts, one each
in Spanish and English, that presented information about minority
women in the United States, a topic that had been addressed in the
Summer Bridge Program. The Spanish text (655 words; Madrigal, 1998),
available in a popular Spanish language magazine published in the
United States, presented a chronological sequence of events. The
English text, published in a book used in the Summer Bridge Program
(850 words; Anzalda, 1995), had features of a comparison-and-contrast
and a descriptive text (Meyer, 1981).
Before each think-aloud task, I assessed the readers prior knowledge
of the topics in the texts by asking them to (a) answer questions about
the topics and (b) dene key vocabulary terms from the two texts
( Jimnez et al., 1995) (see Appendix B). In addition, in an interview
conducted in their language of choice, the readers answered 13 openended questions (adapted from Jimnez et al., 1995) on their views on
reading in Spanish and in English (see Appendix C). The readers also
completed an inventory designed to provide information on their
perceptions regarding their L1 and L2 reading skills as well as their
perceived problems when reading in English (see Appendix D).
Comprehension measures included the readers (a) retelling of the
texts and (b) answers to multiple-choice, true-false, and ll-in-the-blank
questions (see Appendix E). In the retelling task, readers looked over
the text for 12 minutes, turned it face down, and recounted everything
they remembered about the text. The participants were allowed to look
at the text as they answered the questions.
42
TESOL QUARTERLY
Procedures
Data Collection
After completing the self-assessment inventory in a reading class in
which they were enrolled, each participant met privately with me. The
meetings, which were audio- and videotaped, started with an interview
about the readers views of reading. Then I modeled the think-aloud
technique, and the participant practiced using a passage different from
those used for data collection. The actual think-aloud task began when
the students indicated that they were comfortable with the technique.
In completing the think-aloud task, participants were instructed to use
Spanish, English, or both languages as they wished. Readers were
reminded to use whichever language they normally used when reading at
home and to read silently or out loud, as they usually did, and to say
everything that they were thinking when they read (Kamhi-Stein, 1998,
p. 612). Although the texts included red dots after each sentence (Block,
1986), the readers were not required to think aloud after each sentence.
Three dictionaries were readily available during the think-aloud task: (a)
a Spanish-Spanish dictionary (Diccionario de la Lengua Espaola; Real
Academia Espaola, 1970), (b) an English-English dictionary (The New
Grolier Webster International Dictionary of the English Language; Kellerman,
1976), and (3) a Spanish-English and English-Spanish dictionary (Nuevo
Diccionario General Ingls-Espaol, New Comprehensive English-Spanish Dictionary EDAF; Di Benedetto, Nicholson, OKelly, Huerta Tejadas, & Quintela
Ferreiro, 1975). The readers were instructed to refer to the dictionaries
as much or as little as they normally would when reading at home.
Finally, before engaging in the think-aloud task, the participants were
told that, after reading each of the texts, they would perform several
exercises focusing on the texts.
Data Analysis
The analysis involved two phases. First, I calculated comprehension
scores by counting the number and percentage of correct answers on the
multiple-choice, true-false, and ll-in-the-blank questions in English and
in Spanish. Two bilingual readers analyzed the recall tasks in both
languages by reading the recall protocols, determining whether or not
the participants had identied the theses of the texts, and tallying the
number of main ideas present in the recall protocols.
The second phase of the study involved analyzing the four participants reading behaviors and attitudes toward reading. This analysis
involved the following steps:
READING IN TWO LANGUAGES
43
TABLE 2
Classification of Reading Strategies
Not drawing on the readers bilingual status
Drawing on the
readers bilingual
status
Mentally translating: mentally
reprocessing L2
words, phrases,
or sentences in
L1 forms while
reading L2 texts
(Kern, 1994,
p. 442)
44
Comprehensionmonitoring
Detecting comprehension
problems: expressing lack of
understanding
Attempting to solve
comprehension
problems: taking
action to correct
comprehension
problems
Text-based
High-level
Paraphrasing: rephrasing
individual words and
phrases using different
wording
Using the dictionary:
looking up words in the
dictionary
Using context: guessing
the meaning of
unknown words or
difcult text from
nearby information
Recognizing text structure:
identifying important
information, supporting
facts by relying on the
structure of the text, or
both
Rereading: rereading a
portion of the text
Recognizing important
information: identifying
important information
Summarizing important
information: constructing
an oral summary that
integrates information
from different sections
of the text
TESOL QUARTERLY
FINDINGS
This section presents detailed case studies for the four L2 readers.
Each case study includes the results of the comprehension measures (see
Table 3), information on the readers beliefs about reading in English
and in Spanish, and patterns of L1 and L2 reading behaviors uncovered
for each reader
Lupita
Comprehension Measures
Lupita answered correctly all ve multiple-choice, true-false, and llin-the-blank questions for the Spanish text (see Table 3). Additionally,
TABLE 3
Results of the Comprehension Measures for the Spanish and English Texts
Recall task
Comprehension measure
(n correct/total)
Participant
Lupita
Edith
Albita
Beatriz
Spanish
text
English
text
5/5
5/5
5/5
5/5
3/4
3/4
1/4
1/4
Spanish article
English article
Main ideas
Thesis (n correct/total)
Main ideas
Thesis (n correct/total)
+
+
+
+
5/12
5/12
4/12
5/12
+
+
+
4/8
3/8
4/8
0/8
45
she identied the thesis of the text and recalled 5 of the 12 main ideas
contained in the Spanish text. Lupita also answered correctly three of
the four questions on the English text, recalled the thesis of the text, and
recalled 4 of the 8 main ideas contained in the text.
View of L1 as a Resource
During the interview, Lupita explained that she viewed her home
language as a resource. She added that mentally translating into Spanish
when reading in English was a strategy that facilitated the construction of
meaning, involving building a coherent representation of the text:
Leo en ingls y pienso en espaol. Trato de ponerlo en mis propias palabras.
Puedo escoger ms palabras en mi idioma. Puedo ponerme un ejemplo a m
misma; entonces con una palabra saco ms de todo. (I read in English and
think in Spanish. I can put it [the reading] into my own words. I can choose
more words in my language. I can give my own examples; therefore, with one
word, I can understand more.)
46
TESOL QUARTERLY
Two high-level strategies Lupita used as she read the English text were
making inferences about the text and questioning what the text had to
say, as shown respectively below:
(printed text) We shun the white-looking Indian, the high yellow Black
woman, the Asian with the white lover, the Native woman who brings her
white girl friend to the Pow Wow, the Chicana who doesnt speak Spanish, the
academic, the uneducated.
(Lupitas response: making inferences about the text) Trata de decir que
rechazamos a la gente de otras razas, como las mujeres chicanas que no
hablan espaol y an as traen sangre de hispano, traen sangre latina y no
hablan espaol. Por qu razn? Por qu motivo? Porque no se les ense?
47
Lupita interacted with the Spanish text for the purpose of making
meaning, as evidenced in her use of two high-level strategies: making
inferences and reacting affectively to the text:
(printed text) Al poco tiempo de trabajar all, cre nuevos procedimientos de
contratacin y logr una mejor comunicacin con los miembros del sindicato.
La situacin me fue llevando a involucrarme cada vez ms en la ayuda a los
trabajadores. Hoy considero que en aquel momento respond ms a un
llamado que a una decisin personal. (After working there for some time, I
developed new contract procedures, and I developed better communication
with the union members. The situation encouraged me to become more and
more involved in helping workers. Today, I believe that, in those days, rather
than making a personal decision, I was responding to a calling.)
(Lupitas response: making inferences) Es una ventaja que ella tena [hablar
espaol]. Iba subiendo poco a poco. Sufri pero iba subiendo poco a poco
. . . porque ella quera que otra gente no pase tal vez lo que ella mir que su
familia pas . . . por ser gente que el ingls es su segundo idioma. (Speaking
Spanish is an advantage she had. She advanced step by step. She suffered, but
she advanced step by step because she did not want other people to go
through what she saw her family go through . . . because she and her people
speak English as a second language.)
(printed text) Lo que seran sus primeros pasos en las lides sindicales
comenzaron cuando apenas tena 20 anos. (She took what would be her rst
steps in the union arena when she was 20 years old.)
(Lupitas response: reacting affectively) Vaya que no perdi tiempo. (Wow!
She did not waste any time.)
48
TESOL QUARTERLY
In the rst quotation, Lupita hypothesized that Linda Chvez did not
want other people to go through what she had experienced to become
successful. At the same time, she attributed some of Linda Chvezs
difculties in life to the fact that she was an immigrant for whom English
was an L2. The second quotation reects one of the affective responses
to the original text that Lupita provided during the Spanish reading task.
When reading the Spanish text, Lupita used three text-based strategies: paraphrasing, using the structure of the text as a comprehension
aid, and summarizing important information from different sections of
the text:
(printed text) Cuando Linda Chvez-Thompson ocup el puesto de vicepresidenta ejecutiva de la AFLCIO (Federacin Americana del Trabajo y
Congreso de las Organizaciones Industriales) en 1995, millones de latinos
residentes en Estados Unidos se sintieron inmensamente orgullosos de que
fuera una mxico-americana quien llegara a esta importante posicin en la
organizacin sindical ms grande del pas. (When Linda Chvez-Thompson
was appointed executive vice president of the AFL-CIO [American Federation
of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations] in 1995, millions of
Hispanics living in the United States felt immensely proud that a Mexican
American had arrived at this important position in the biggest union of the
country.)
(Lupitas response: paraphrasing) Este . . . . Parecera que lo que sucede es
que esta muchacha es hija de inmigrantes . . . de gente mexicana que vino a
este pas y ella es de una generacin que naci en los Estados Unidos.
Entonces ella ha sobresalido a todo lo del racismo y todo lo que ocurre en
este tiempo . . . . Entonces ella ocupa un puesto muy importante aqu y la
gente mexicana, la gente latina, est muy orgullosa de que ella est alcanzando
esta meta. (Eh . . . . It looks like what is happening is that this woman is the
daughter of immigrants . . . of Mexican people who came to this country, and
she is part of a generation that was born in the United States. Then she
overcame everything related to racism and everything that happens in these
times . . . . Therefore, she has a very important position here, and Mexican
people, Hispanics, are very proud of her achievement.)
(printed text) Su sueo se haba tronchado por el trabajo de limpiar casas y
granjas a cambio de un salario nada envidiable: un dlar por hora. (Her
dream had broken because she had to clean houses and farms in exchange
for the unenviable salary of one dollar per hour.)
(Lupitas response: recognizing text structure) Aqu hay otro ejemplo de que
. . . como ella ha sufrido. (Heres another example of . . . how much shes
suffered.)
(Lupitas response: summarizing important information) No importa que
raza seas, si eres mujer o hombre, si eres inteligente, si sabes salir adelante,
READING IN TWO LANGUAGES
49
nada te detiene, es lo que ella trata de decir. (Your race does not matter,
neither does it matter whether you are male or female; if you are smart,
nothing will stop you. That is what she is trying to say.)
Edith
Comprehension Measures
Edith answered correctly the ve multiple-choice, true-false, and llin-the-blank questions for the Spanish text; additionally, she identied
the thesis of the text and recalled 5 of the 12 main ideas in the text (see
Table 3 above). She answered correctly three of the four questions on
the English text, recalled the thesis of the text, and recalled 3 of the 8
main ideas in the text.
View of L1 as a Resource
During the interview, Edith expressed concern about her lack of
vocabulary in English. She attributed this problem to the fact that, at the
time of the study, she had been in the United States for only 3 years and
had received limited instruction in English. Edith also reported viewing
her home language as a resource. As she explained, mentally translating
into Spanish when reading in English facilitated the construction of
meaning,
Cuando leo en ingls, me pongo a pensar en espaol, si esto, no esto. Al
principio tena que traducir palabra por palabra para entender. Ahora trato
de agarrar el signicado de la lectura en espaol. (When I read in English, I
think in Spanish, Is this right? Is this not right? At the beginning, I had to
translate word for word to understand. Now I try to understand the meaning
of the text in Spanish.)
50
TESOL QUARTERLY
51
52
TESOL QUARTERLY
Albita
Comprehension Measures
Albita answered correctly only one of four multiple-choice, true-false,
and ll-in-the-blank questions in English (see Table 3 above). She
answered correctly the ve questions on the Spanish text. Additionally,
she identied the theses of the Spanish and the English texts and
recalled 4 of the 12 main ideas in the Spanish text and 4 of the 8 ideas in
the English text.
53
(Good readers know how to understand words, what words mean. In my case,
if I am reading a book and dont understand a word, I dont stop reading at
that very moment, but when I nish reading the sentence. And I look up the
word, and that helps me understand what I read. I do this both in English and
in Spanish.)
TESOL QUARTERLY
(printed text) The rst time I drove from El Paso to San Diego, I saw a sign
that read Watch for Falling Rocks. And though I watched and waited for rocks
to roll down the steep cliff walls and attack my car and me, I never saw any
falling rocks. Today, one of the things Im most afraid of are the rocks we
throw at each other.
(Albitas response: paraphrasing) In this text, they do not mean literally
falling rocks. They mean the insults and the prejudice against them.
(printed text) Lo que seran sus primeros pasos en las lides sindicales
comenzaron cuando apenas tena 20 aos. Todo empez cuando su to la
recomend al agente del sindicato local de Lubbock, Texas, la ciudad donde
viva. All necesitaban una secretaria bilinge, debido a que mas del 65 por
ciento de los miembros eran mxico-americanos. (What would be her rst
steps in the union arena started when she was 20 years old. Everything started
when her uncle recommended her to a local union agent in Lubbock, Texas,
where she lived. There, they needed a bilingual secretary because over 65% of
the members were Mexican American.)
(Albitas response: paraphrasing) Linda Chvez es importante para los
mexicanos. Empez a trabajar a los 20 de secretaria. (Linda Chvez is
important to Mexicans. She started to work as a secretary when she was 20
years old.)
As shown in the example below, Albita employed inferencing, a highlevel strategy, when reading in Spanish.
(printed text) Para Linda, todo hubiera marchado bien si su padre no le
hubiera pedido que abandonara los estudios. (For Linda, everything would
have gone well if her father had not asked her to give up studying.)
(Albitas response: making inferences about the text) Tuvo que dejar de
estudiar. Se rob parte de sus sueos. (She had to give up studying. It stole
part of her dream.)
55
Beatriz
Comprehension Measures
Beatriz answered correctly the ve multiple-choice, true-false, and llin-the-blank questions for the Spanish text (see Table 3 above). In
contrast, she answered correctly only one of the four questions on the
English text. Although she was able to identify the thesis of the Spanish
text, she did not identify the thesis of the English text. Beatriz recalled 5
of the 12 main ideas in the Spanish text and none of the 8 ideas in the
English text.
TESOL QUARTERLY
driven by her inability to pronounce it. The following excerpt shows what
Beatriz said when she encountered an unknown word:
(printed text) And though I watched and waited for rocks to roll down the
steep cliff walls and attack my car and me, I never saw any falling rocks
(Beatrizs response) Oh. I dont know what this [cliff ] means. I dont know
how to say it. [She looks it up in the dictionary.]
In contrast, when Beatriz detected a comprehension problem in Spanish, she either kept reading or reread the sentence that she had trouble
understanding:
(printed text) Eran largas horas de faena. (Those were long days of work.)
(Beatrizs response) Faena. Que es faena? (What does faena mean? [She
keeps reading.])
(printed text) Hoy lleva ms de treinta aos hacindolo y, al contrario de lo
que la gente se imagina, Linda no tiene queja alguna de discriminacin en el
cargo que ocupa.
(Beatrizs response) Pero, qu es lo que ella hace? [She rereads.] Oh, que
siempre dicen que las mujeres no pueden hacer nada, ella no se sinti as.
(What does she do? [She rereads.] Oh, they always say that women cant do
anything, but she never felt this.)
57
58
TESOL QUARTERLY
59
Meaning
centered
Multistrategic
Linear
L1 driven
Meaning
centered
Multistrategic
(when
reading in
English)
Linear
L1 driven
Reading as
meaning
construction
Mental
translation
into L1 as
helpful
reading
strategy
Reading as
meaning
construction
Mental
translation
into L1 as a
helpful
reading
strategy
Edith
Approach
to reading
Lupita
Participant
Views of
reading
Vocabulary
Concentration
Rate
Vocabulary
Comprehension
Concentration
Boredom
Self-perceived
difculties when
reading English
When reading in
English,
Mentally
translates into
Spanish
When reading in
English,
Mentally
translates into
Spanish
Drawing on
readers bilingual
status
When reading in
English,
Detects and
attempts to solve
comprehension
problems
When reading in
English,
Uses background
knowledge
Detects and
attempts to solve
comprehension
problems
When reading in
English,
Rereads
Looks up
selected words
after completing
the reading
passage
When reading in
Spanish,
Summarizes
important
information after
reading the article de corridito
When reading in
English,
Rereads
When reading in
Spanish,
Paraphrases
Recognizes text
structure
Summarizes
Text-based
Continued on p. 60
When reading in
English,
Makes inferences
about the text
When reading in
English,
Makes inferences
about the text
Questions the
text
When reading in
Spanish,
Makes inferences
Reacts affectively
to the text
High-level
Comprehensionmonitoring
TABLE 4
Summary of Qualitative Findings
60
TESOL QUARTERLY
Vocabulary
Comprehension
Concentration
Rate
Boredom
Vocabulary
Comprehension
Concentration
Rate
Boredom
Fatigue
Word-bound
Linear
L2 driven
when reading
in L2
Low engagement with the
text
Reading as
word-centered
(meaning of
words)
Bilingualism
as problem
and resource
Reading as
Word-bound
word-centered
(when read(pronunciation
ing in
of words)
English)
Bilingualism
Linear in
as problem
English,
and resource
strategic in
Spanish
L2 driven
when reading
in L2
Low engagement with the
text
Albita
Beatriz
Participant
Approach
to reading
Views of
reading
Self-perceived
difculties when
reading English
Drawing on
readers bilingual
status
When reading in
English,
Detects and
attempts to solve
comprehension
problems
When reading in
Spanish,
Relies on text
structure
Detects and
attempts to solve
comprehension
problems
When reading in
English and
Spanish,
Detects and
attempts to solve
comprehension
problems
When reading in
English,
Looks up all
unknown words
Paraphrases
When reading in
Spanish,
Uses context
When reading in
English and
Spanish,
Looks up every
unknown word
Paraphrases
Text-based
When reading in
Spanish,
Makes a
prediction
Makes inferences
about the text
Summarizes
information
When reading in
Spanish,
Makes inferences
about the text
High-level
Comprehensionmonitoring
TABLE 4 continued
Summary of Qualitative Findings
61
which reading behavior transfers seems to depend on the texts complexity or readers level of prociency in the language of the text. In the
current study, Albita and Beatrizs approach to reading was inuenced by
their beliefs about reading but also seemed to be affected by the
language of the text. In their interviews, Albita and Beatriz reported
viewing reading as a logocentric process, involving understanding the
meaning of words and the pronunciation of words, respectively. When
reading in English, this logocentric approach was realized in a small
repertoire of strategies, all designed to uncover the meaning of unknown
words rather than to negotiate the meaning of the text. Specically,
when reading in English, Albitas and Beatrizs only strategy was to detect
comprehension problems and attempt to solve them by looking up every
unknown word in the dictionary. In contrast, Beatrizs reading process in
Spanish was not bound by the words she did not know. In fact, when
reading in Spanish, Beatriz integrated strategies that characterize good
readers: She looked over pictures and captions, read the title of the text,
and reread sentences when she had trouble understanding their meaning. These ndings suggest that the lack of reading uency observed in
Albitas and Beatrizs English reading may have resulted, in part, from
their view of reading as a word-centered process as well as from their lack
of L2 vocabulary.
Lupita and Edith viewed reading in both languages as a process of
meaning construction, and their approach to reading was consistent with
this belief. When reading in English, both readers employed a multistrategic approach integrating a variety of comprehension-monitoring,
text-based, and high-level strategies, although Ediths reading process
was sometimes short-circuited in that it did not result in accurate
comprehension. When they read the Spanish text, they adapted their
reading strategy to t the perceived demands of the text (Anderson,
1991; Block, 1986; Carrell, 1989; Devine, 1988; Kamhi-Stein, 1998). For
Lupita, this exible strategy use involved text-based and high-level
strategies designed to help her negotiate the meaning of the text.
Equally exible was Ediths approach to reading the Spanish text: In
reading it quickly and repeating it to herself afterward, she adapted her
strategy to the point of exhibiting what at rst seemed to be limited
interaction with the text. On further analysis, this lower level of interaction was attributed to Ediths automaticity in reading, which perhaps
resulted in part from Ediths status as a procient Spanish reader and
from the notion that the text was not difcult to understand.
62
TESOL QUARTERLY
63
CONCLUSION
The results of this study suggest that affective factors, including
readers views of their home language and beliefs about reading, may
play an important role in reading. Further think-aloud studies need to
provide more in-depth information on the relationship between affective
factors and reading behavior in two languages. However, such research
needs to engage readers in two or more reading tasks in each language
to provide a more reliable picture of the relationship between affective
factors and reading strategies in two languages.
Future studies need to focus on three broad areas. The rst is the
notion that the use of mental translation may be a function of the
readers views of their home language. Research in this area would focus
on the following questions: To what extent, if any, is the use of mental
translation related to the views of so-called underprepared L2 readers
about their home language, to their prociency in the target language,
or to the difculty of the reading tasks or texts? Second, future research
needs to investigate whether the ndings of this study, which point to the
notion that L1 and L2 reading behavior is, at least to some extent,
inuenced by readers beliefs about reading, can be replicated. This line
of study would help to answer the following questions: What relationship, if any, is there between the beliefs about reading of L2 readers who
are seen as underprepared, and these readers L1 and L2 strategy use?
Specically, to what extent, if any, are readers beliefs about reading
related to the L1 and L2 reading strategies implemented by readers at
different L2 prociency levels? Finally, the results of this investigation,
which point to the logocentricity exhibited by two of the readers, suggest
64
TESOL QUARTERLY
THE AUTHOR
La D. Kamhi-Stein is an associate professor at California State University, Los
Angeles, where she teaches in the TESOL MA Program. Her teaching interests are
ESL/EFL methodology, the teaching practicum, and computer-assisted language
learning. Her research interests are academic literacy, teacher education, and
nonnative-English-speaking professionals.
REFERENCES
Aferbach, P., & Johnston, P. (1984). Research methodology on the use of verbal
reports in reading research. Journal of Reading Behavior, 16, 307322.
Alexander, P. A., Murphy, P. K., Bueh, M. M., & Sperl, C. T. (1998). The inuence of
prior knowledge, beliefs, and interest on learning from persuasive text. National
Reading Conference Yearbook, 47, 167181.
Anderson, N. J. (1991). Individual differences in strategy use in second language
reading and testing. The Modern Language Journal, 75, 460472.
Anzalda, G. (1995). En rapport, in opposition: Cobrando cuentas a las nuestras. In
P. S. Rothenberg (Ed.), Race, class, and gender in the United States: An integrated study
(3rd ed., pp. 540546). New York: St. Martins Press.
Bernhardt, E. B. (2000). Second language reading as a case study of reading
scholarship in the 20th century. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, &
R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 3, pp. 791811). Mahwah, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Block, E. (1986). The comprehension strategies of second language learners. TESOL
Quarterly, 20, 463494.
READING IN TWO LANGUAGES
65
TESOL QUARTERLY
APPENDIX A
Think-Aloud Texts
En rapport, in Opposition: Cobrando cuentas a las nuestras 1
Watch for Falling Rocks
The rst time I drove from El Paso to San Diego, I saw a sign that read Watch for Falling Rocks.
And though I watched and waited for rocks to roll down the steep cliff walls and attack my car
and me, I never saw any falling rocks. Today, one of the things Im most afraid of are the rocks
we throw at each other. And the resultant guilt we carry like a corpse strapped to our backs for
1
From Race, Class, and Gender in the United States (3rd ed., pp. 540546), by P. Rothenberg,
Ed., 1995. Copyright by P. Rothenberg. Reprinted with permission of Palgrave Macmillan.
67
having thrown rocks. We colored women have memories like elephants. The slightest hurt is
recorded deep within. We do not forget the injury done to us and we do not forget the injury
we have done another. For unfortunately we do not have hides like elephants. Our vulnerability
is measured by our capacity for openness, intimacy. And we all know that our own kind is driven
through shame or self-hatred to poke at all our open wounds. And we know they know exactly
where the hidden wounds are.
I keep track of all distinctions. Between past and present. Pain and pleasure. Living and
surviving. Resistance and capitulation. Will and circumstances. Between life and death. Yes. I
am scrupulously accurate. I have become a keeper of accounts.Irena Klepsz
One of the changes that Ive seen since This Bridge Called My Back was published is that we no
longer allow white women to efface us or suppress us. Now we do it to each other. We have
taken over the missionarys lets civilize the savage role, xating on the wrongness and moral
or political inferiority of some of our sisters, insisting on a profound difference between oneself
and the Other. We have been indoctrinated into adopting the old imperialist ways of conquering
and dominating, adopting a way of confrontation based on differences while standing on the
ground of ethnic superiority.
In the dominant phase of colonialism, European colonizers exercise direct control of the
colonized, destroy the native legal and cultural systems, and negate non-European civilizations
in order to ruthlessly exploit the resources of the subjugated with the excuse of attempting to
civilize them. Before the end of this phase, the natives internalize Western culture. By the time
we reach the neocolonialist phase, weve accepted the white colonizers system of values,
attitudes, morality, and modes of production. It is not by chance that in the more rural towns
of Texas Chicano neighborhoods are called colonias rather than barrios.
There have always been those of us who have cooperated with the colonizers. Its not that
we have been won over by the dominant culture, but that it has exploited pre-existing power
relations of subordination and subjugation within our native societies. The great White ripoff
and they are still cashing in. Like our exploiters who xate on the inferiority of the natives, we
xate on the fucked-upness of our sisters. Like them we try to impose our version of the ways
things should be, we try to impose ones self on the Other by making her the recipient of ones
negative elements, usually the same elements that the Anglo projected on us. Like them, we
project our self-hatred on her; we stereotype her, we make her generic.
68
TESOL QUARTERLY
Linda Chvez 2
Como en un cuento de hadas, la hija de un humilde campesino tejano alcanza una carrera
brillante como dirigente sindical en Estados Unidos. Pero en su historia no hay encantos ni
hechizos, solo dedicacin y mucho esfuerzo.
69
APPENDIX B
Prior Knowledge Assessment
English Text
1. What did the European colonizers do when they came to America?
2. What does efface mean?
3. What does indoctrinate mean?
Spanish Text
1. Qu es una cenicienta?
2. Qu es una organizacin sindical?
3. Conoces a Linda Chvez?
APPENDIX C
Interview Protocol (English Version)3
Would you like to be interviewed in English or Spanish?
1. How did you learn English?
2. What does the word reading mean to you?
3. What are the characteristics of good and poor readers? What are the differences between
good and poor readers? Are you a good reader in Spanish? Are you a good reader in
English? Please explain.
4. What are the characteristics of a reader who has learned ESL and of a reader who is a
native English speaker? Are there any differences between the two?
5. What does a person need to know to be a good English reader? To be a good Spanish
reader? Is there a difference?
6. Does being able to read in English help you to read in Spanish? Explain.
7. Does being able to read in Spanish help you to read in English? How?
8. Does being bilingual help you or hurt you when you read? Please explain.
9. Is reading English different from reading Spanish? If so, how?
10. Why do you read?
11. What kind of materials do you read in Spanish? And in English?
12. Do you ever translate from English into Spanish when reading English? If so, please
describe what you do.
13. Do you ever translate from Spanish into English when reading Spanish? If so, please
describe what you do.
APPENDIX D
Self-Assessment Inventory
The purpose of this questionnaire is to collect information about your reading skills and needs.
Please make an X in the boxes or ll in the spaces below where appropriate.
1. How well would you say you are able to read in Spanish?
very well
well
not well
poorly
very poorly
3
70
TESOL QUARTERLY
2. How well would you say you are able to read in English?
very well
well
not well
poorly
very poorly
3. How well would you say you understand what you read in English?
very well
well
not well
poorly
very poorly
4. How well would you say you are able to read in English?
very well
well
not well
poorly
very poorly
What do you believe are your main difculties when reading in English? Mark all that apply:
Yes
No
5. Vocabulary
6. Comprehension
7. Concentration
8. Speed
9. Fatigue
10. Boredom
APPENDIX E
Multiple-Choice, True-False, and Fill-in-the-Blank Questions
English Text
Answer the questions below. You may look over the article.
1. Gloria Anzalda believes that women of color easily forget when they are hurt or when they
hurt other people.
Right or wrong? Please explain.
2. According to Anzalda, European colonizers conquered by:
a. understanding the natives values
b. destroying the natives cultural system
3. Anzalda believes that colored women are like the colonizers because
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
4. By othering people, Anzalda means:
a. identifying with people
b. disqualifying people
c. believing in people
d. dissenting with people
Spanish Text
Responde las preguntas a continuacin. Puedes mirar el texto.
1. Linda comenz su carrera sindical como __________________
a. secretaria bilinge
b. campesina
c. empleada de limpieza
d. voluntaria
2. La familia en la que naci Linda era muy pequea. Verdad o mentira? Explica tu eleccin.
3. Linda comenz a trabajar cuando cumpli 30 aos. Verdad o mentira? Explica tu eleccin.
4. Cuando Linda termin el noveno grado,
a. entr a la universidad
c. entr a limpiar casas y granjas
b. entr a trabajar en plantaciones
d. entr a trabajar como secretaria
de algodn
en un sindicato
5. Linda siempre estuvo interesada en la lectura. Verdad o mentira? Explica tu eleccin.
71
73
LEARNING STRATEGIES:
PERSON, TASK, AND CONTEXT
Chinese Learners and the Chinese Culture of Learning
Teachers and researchers often describe Chinese learners as rote
learners who learn mechanically without meaningful understanding
(Ballard & Clanchy, 1984; Bradley & Bradley, 1984; Samuelowicz, 1987).
Some researchers kindheartedly attempt to teach their Asian learners
better, deeper, and more sophisticated learning strategies, often resulting in ungrateful resistance from these learners (OMalley, Chamot,
Stewner-Manzanares, Kupper, & Russo, 1985; Politzer & McGroarty,
1985). Anecdotes abound, and feelings are strong. However, surprisingly
little empirical research has investigated how Chinese learners go about
achieving their equally often reported academic success with these socalled rote learning strategies. Still fewer researchers have tried to
explain the apparent discrepancy between learning strategy and learning
result.
The most comprehensive attempt at explaining the paradox of
Chinese learners achieving academic success using rote strategies and
surface learning approaches was a collection edited by Watkins and Biggs
(1996). These researchers argued that learning should be construed in
context and that Chinese learners do not t into Western learning
theories because such theories impose Western cultural concepts on the
understanding of Chinese learners learning process. Biggs (1996), for
example, made a distinction between rote learning, that is, mechanical
learning without meaning, and repetitive learning, which uses repetition as a means of ensuring accurate recall (p. 54). He argued that
whereas the use of repetition as a strategy is more common in Confucianheritage cultures (p. 46) due to traditional beliefs about learning and
Chinas longstanding examination culture, Westerners often mistake
repetition for rote learning. Likewise, Marton, DallAlba, and Tses
(1996) interview study of Chinese conceptions of learning revealed that,
for Chinese learners, memorisation and understanding are not mutually
exclusive. Furthermore, memorisation with understanding could include both memorising what is understood and understanding through
74
TESOL QUARTERLY
memorisation (p. 77). Marton et al. concluded that the Western notion
of rote learning does not seem to capture adequately practices associated
with memorisation and repetition in the Chinese learning culture.
Vocabulary Learning
Applied linguists contend that learning vocabulary in a foreign
language is much more than making form-meaning correspondences
and simply piling up individual words (Nation, 2001; Richards, 1976).
Knowing a word means knowing at least its form, its meaning, and its
basic usage in context receptively and productively. A word is also related
to other words in the mental lexicon along paradigmatic and syntagmatic
dimensions.
A crucial distinction is often made between knowing a word and using
a word; that is, for every vocabulary item, there is a knowledge dimension
and a skill dimension. Knowing a word should only be a prerequisite for,
and does not necessarily entail, using the word automatically in a wide
range of contexts (McCarthy, 1984). In fact, evidence suggests that the
knowledge aspect requires conscious and explicit learning mechanisms
whereas the skill aspect involves mostly implicit learning and memory
(Ellis, 1994).
Vocabulary-learning strategies, therefore, should include strategies for
using as well as for knowing a word. Knowledge-oriented strategies
include those for remembering form-meaning pairs (e.g., most mnemonic devices); skill-oriented strategies involve the use of words in
meaningful contexts and aim to develop automaticity in retrieving and
producing those words (e.g., reading extensively and deliberately using a
newly learned word in ones own writing). And perhaps more importantly, neither knowledge nor skill should be neglected. In other words,
teachers and learners should aim for integration rather than separation
of knowledge-oriented strategies based on depth of processing and skilloriented strategies based on the frequency, recency, and regularity of
appearance and the power law2 of practice.
2
According to the power law of learning, which has been found to be a ubiquitous rule
governing the acquisition of skills (Anderson, 1982; Kolers, 1979; Neves & Anderson, 1981),
rapid increases in speed occur during initial stages of learning and performance, after which
speed improves only slightly and over a long period of time. Expressed in terms of logarithms,
the logarithm of the time to perform a task is a linear function of the logarithm of the number
of practice trials.
75
76
TESOL QUARTERLY
necessary but that neither is appropriate at all times and that students
need to develop exibility (p. 67). Similarly, Sanaouis (1995) case
studies illustrated two distinct styles of vocabulary learning, a structured
approach characterised by systematic planning, organising, and studying, and an unstructured approach with little self-management. Unlike
Parry, however, Sanaoui found that learners who had a structured
learning approach were more successful in retaining vocabulary taught
in their classes than learners who had an unstructured learning approach (p. 26) and that the structured approach was more effective
than the unstructured approach for both beginning and advanced
learners.
3
Word lists here refer to decontextualised lists of words, including lists compiled by learners
from various sources and dictionary-type lists of words in alphabetical order, and including
simple lists of L1-L2 meaning equivalents and more sophisticated lists containing, for example,
L1 equivalents, L2 synonyms, usage information, and examples.
77
METHOD
Participants
Participants were chosen from 978 third-year non-English majors at
Beijing Normal University based on their scores on the annual nationwide English prociency test, College English Test (CET) Band 4. All
students took the test at the end of their fourth semester, about 3 months
before this study took place. All 27 students (fewer than 3%) scoring
above 90 (maximum possible score = 100) were contacted. Eleven
participated in this study; most others were not available due to the
summer holidays.
A preliminary analysis of the data based primarily on the type and
number of strategies these participants used revealed two types of
learners (obtained as described below). Nine of the 11 followed their
textbooks closely and paid meticulous attention to details; the other 2
focused on large quantities of extracurricular reading (cf. active strategy
users and readers in Gu & Johnson, 1996). Two participants, 1 exemplifying each type, were selected for case study in this report (see Table 1).
The top student of the year, Chi Wei,4 who scored 96.5%, epitomised the
4
78
rst group. Another top student, Chen Hua, who scored 91.0%, was
selected to represent the second group. In choosing these 2 subjects, I
considered only how well they represented each of the two groups and
disregarded gender and social class.
Instruments
Task
The task was a familiar one to all participants: read a text similar to
their intensive reading textbook passages and verbalise their strategies
for handling new vocabulary items they encountered during reading.
Any contextual vocabulary learning normally starts from an initial
encounter and handling of a new word. At this stage, students would
quickly decide whether they could guess the word or whether learning
the word required dictionary work or note taking. They would then
decide whether committing the word to memory required conscious
effort. A student might try to use words considered to be particularly
valuable. Decontextualised word-list learning is only one of the stages a
learner might go through in learning words. A student may or may not
employ list learning exclusively (see Ahmed, 1989; Brown & Payne,
1994).
Text
All subjects read an intensive reading passage on pollution in Athens
(Walter, 1982, pp. 4851; see Appendix A). This text was selected
TABLE 1
Participants
Characteristic
Sex
Age
Department
Grade
College entrance English score (%)
CET Band 4 score (%)
Years of English study
Previous school
Parents occupation
Chi Wei
Male
21
Radio electronics
Year 3, Semester 1
80
96.5
8
Provincial key school
Peasants
Chen Hua
Female
21
Chemistry
Year 3, Semester 1
86
91.0
9
Beijing municipal key school
Teachers
79
because it was not available to the participants and because it was similar
in genre and difculty level to the texts in their textbook. A pilot newword density analysis among 13 randomly selected third-year nonEnglish majors at the same university revealed that the texts ratio of
familiar to unfamiliar words was 43.7:1.0 (about 98% vocabulary coverage, the safe threshold for text comprehension and learning; see Laufer,
e.g., 1992, for details).
The text was broken up into meaningful segments, normally sentences or long clauses, depending on the length of the sentence. These
segments were separated by means of small red strokes, which acted as
reminders for the subjects to stop reading and verbalise their thinking
processes (Cohen, 1998).
Think-Aloud Protocols
I obtained think-aloud protocols on reading processes as well as on
vocabulary learning during and after reading. For learning strategy
researchers who focus not only on strategic behaviours but also on the
decision-making processes that lead to these behaviours, the use of
verbal reports, arguably the best available means to get into the learners
mind, so to speak, is standard practice (Cohen, 1998). Most concerns
about verbal reports centre on the intrusive effect of think-aloud
techniques (see Ericsson & Simon, 1993, for a review of the pros and
cons of verbal reports). However, relative to tasks on cognitive processing, thinking aloud should intrude less on tasks that focus on the
conscious strategies being attended to. In addition, careful planning and
training, and thinking aloud at sentence intervals, help reduce the
intrusive effect (Cohen, 1998).
Interviews
To capture information on strategies that think-aloud data could not
reveal, I conducted two types of interviews: immediate retrospective
interviews and general interviews. The immediate retrospective interviews were based on eld notes of subjects performance, and were thus
individualised and spontaneous. In the general interview, however, all
participants were asked roughly the same questions (see Appendix B).
The purpose of the immediate retrospective interview was to elicit taskspecic vocabulary-learning strategies, whereas that of the general interview was to uncover general vocabulary-learning strategies and beliefs as
well as emotional reactions to vocabulary learning.
80
TESOL QUARTERLY
Procedures
To become familiar with the think-aloud procedure, the participants
took part in a 1020 minute training session. They were informed about
the purpose of the study and asked to read a text entitled The Town
That Kids Built (Walter, 1982, pp. 2831) that is similar in new-word
density to the passage used in the study. Subjects were told to read the
passage in exactly the same way as they would usually read a passage from
their intensive reading textbook before the text is taught, a common
practice among Chinese EFL learners. They were asked to verbalise
everything in their minds as they went through the passage. Audio
recordings of all think-aloud tasks after the training session were
obtained with the explicit approval of the subjects.
After the training session, strategies for (a) initially identifying and
handling new words in context and (b) remembering new words after
initial reading were elicited through the intensive reading passage on
pollution in Athens. The participants were then asked what they usually
did after reading and processing their intensive reading text. All participants indicated that they would try to remember the new words in a
decontextualised list, resulting in a list-learning session immediately after
reading. Think-aloud protocols were audiotaped as subjects carried out
these tasks. Immediately after, I conducted a retrospective interview to
elicit specic strategies not voiced during the think-aloud sessions (e.g.,
I notice you paused for a while at Line [X]. What were you thinking at
the moment?). One week later, I interviewed the subjects on their
general learning strategies. To obtain accurate information on strategy
use while not overburdening the participants with L2 processing (Cohen,
1998), I conducted all think-aloud and interview sessions in Chinese.
Data shown in this article are English translations.
Analyses
After transcribing the think-aloud and interview data, I derived
categories from existing research (e.g., OMalley & Chamot, 1990) and
the transcriptions. I then applied these categories to the data to identify
the strategies each participant used, for what purposes, and in what
context. A Chinese EFL teacher who was experienced in teaching college
students in Beijing also coded the data; our coding matched more than
80% of the time. I resolved disagreements through discussion with a
third coder, another experienced learning-strategy researcher. Results of
the strategy analysis along with my observations and the interviews were
used as evidence for how the learners handled vocabulary learning
through reading, and how they tried to remember and use new words.
FINE BRUSH AND FREEHAND
81
RESULTS
Data from the think-aloud protocols and interviews yielded a description of each participants vocabulary learning in general and examples
showing how they had learned a particular new word. In presenting
these data, I describe the following vocabulary-learning activities: how
the learners selectively attended to different vocabulary items, how they
guessed using contextual clues, how they looked up a word in the
dictionary, whether and how the learners noted down the word for later
reference, how the word was committed to memory through list learning, and how the learners used the word. I also draw conclusions about
what might have made the learners successful and how they differed
from each other as language learners. I then relate these two successful
learners strategy patterns to current theories of vocabulary learning,
and attempt to construe their strategies of vocabulary learning in terms
of their particular conguration of task, person, and learning context.
TESOL QUARTERLY
TABLE 2
Chi Weis Treatment of New Words and Phrases
Word or
phrase
honk
horn
smart
choke
sense
Plato
Pericles
sewerage
hem
ruins
in ruin
marble
Parthenon
eat away
treasure
Acropolis
Premier
Constantine
Karamanlis
hinterland
citizenry
killing level
issue
representative
ministry
unclog
in-migration
stay put
master plan
fringe
in the works
literally
suffocate
Initial guessing
(rst reading)
83
FIGURE 1
Excerpt From Chi Weis Vocabulary Notebook
1. Smart: a blow henhen yi ji
vi. ci tong
as as a new pin feichang xiaosa
2. choke the senses
qiang
ganguan
3. Sewerage /su:rid/ n. wu shui, gou qu xitong
4. Hem
n. bian edge
fringe
v. baowei ( . . . in, shut)
enclose, surround
5. In ruin (lie . . ., be laid . . .)
6. Marble dalishi
7. treacherous
treasure jinyin
treasurer ren
8. Premier of the State Council guowuyuan zongli
9. Hinterland qiongxiang pirang
10. A peoples representative renmin daibiao
11. Stay put liu zai yuan chu budong
12. Suffocate, be ed with (by) excitement
13. In the works
Note. Italics represent Chinese characters in the original.
84
TESOL QUARTERLY
After he had read the text three times, Chi Wei usually reinforced
vocabulary items he had identied as unfamiliar or partially familiar
during reading, which included 32 vocabulary items (about 8% of the
entire text). He paid by far the most attention to the words and phrases
he had written in his notebook. First, he glanced quickly at his denition/explanation of each item in either Chinese or English and looked
away to recall the original English word or phrase. Words that he thought
were long or difcult to spellfor example, treasurer he scribbled
rapidly on a piece of paper. He attempted to recall not just the words
referential meaning but everything he had gone through to understand
a particular item, from the contextual meaning to other related or
unrelated meanings, and from words that looked similar, to synonyms, to
phrases and examples he had found in the dictionary (e.g., treasure,
treasurer, treacherous). He also made up sentences using some of the items
of special interest to him. Finally, he went through his list swiftly two
more times, rst from the top down and then from the bottom up. The
whole process, interview time excluded, took roughly 90 minutes.
After getting the gist of the passage, he focused on the details. This
time, he went directly into the dictionary to look up the underlined
word, again using the part of speech to locate the applicable meaning
among all the meanings in the dictionary entry:
Smart is usually an adjective, but it doesnt seem to be an adjective here. Smarts
[reading from dictionary] smart, smart is denitely not an adjective here, so
Ill go for the verb. Oh, there is such a meaning for smart, it means to sting.
He then tried to put the meaning back into the context and test his
hypothesis: No? Smarts the eyes . . . oh, yes, it is to sting. So its this
meaning, then.
After Chi Wei had found the right meaning of smart for the context,
FINE BRUSH AND FREEHAND
85
At this point, he was bemused by the word pin and could not resist
looking it up in the dictionary to learn what it had to do with looking
smart. Realising that he could not solve his problem, he decided just to
remember the phrase as it was and wrote it down in his vocabulary notes.
During the third reading of the text, Chi Wei reinforced what he had
learned during the second reading:
Smog smarts the eyes and chokes the senses. Now here, when I come across
smart, when I read smarts the eyes, I tell myself to remember it, to
remember smarts the eyes, its to sting the eyes painfully. And also chokes
the senses, because I remember I took it down in the notes. Now I better
reinforce it. Its no more than telling myself to pay attention to it, and Ill
certainly read on.
Chi Weis last step in learning the word smart was to use it. During the
list-learning session after reading, he looked at the Chinese equivalents
in his notes, recalled the original English words and phrases, and made
up his own sentences in English for the two phrases that interested him.
He repeated each sentence at least twice: I gave him a smart blow
yesterday; He is as smart as a new pin, telling himself how useful each
sentence was and laughing, perhaps about the contexts in which these
sentences could be used. By this time, Chi Wei was well aware that he had
learned a useful word.
List Learning
Learning English without memorising words, that must be daydreaming! Chi Wei stressed the importance of list learning in the subsequent
86
TESOL QUARTERLY
87
I will normally be able to spell it out if I can pronounce a word, and I seldom
write new words again and again. Words are stored as sounds in my mind. I
remembered only one word letter by letter, student, S-T-U-D-E-N-T, see? And
never again have I ever tried to do that.
TESOL QUARTERLY
vi. Fa e chou
That sh stinks.
He stank of garlic.
stink with money
stink in somebodys nostrils
vt. Stink somebody out
n. e chou
stinker
hem in the enemy baowei zhu diren
Eat away, boys. Theres enough time yet.
Clog /klg/
n. zhangai, fangai
vt. Zhangai, fangai
unclog
suffocate /sfkeit/ vt. shi . . . zhixi
be suffocated by (with) excitement
suffocate the re
vi. men si, zhixi
suffocation n.
suffocative a. shi ren zhixi de
Note. Italics represent Chinese characters in the original.
FINE BRUSH AND FREEHAND
89
apparent attention to usage. She noted suffocation and suffocative together, but they were separate entries following suffocate in the dictionary.
When asked in the immediate retrospective interview about the
criteria she used in choosing new words to give special attention to, Chen
Hua said,
For proper nouns, terminology and words like that, they normally dont need
special attention. I dont try to remember their example sentences and usage.
Knowing what they mean will be enough. But if a word, when I translate it
into Chinese, its Chinese equivalent is used pretty often, Ill try to remember
its usage and the like, because I assume its used pretty often in English as
well. And Ill need to remember its usage and example sentences, so that
when I use it myself, itll sound more idiomatic. And also, when I see a word
with a lot of related meanings illustrated in the dictionary, it must be an
important word and a high-frequency word as well. But when Im reading,
when I cant understand the sentence or the context without knowing a
particular word, that word is a very important word, and I have to look it up.
Chen Hua was an experienced reader. She read the passage the fastest
of all 11 participants and had the least difculty understanding the
content. When dealing with specic vocabulary items, she never lost
sight of the meaning of the whole passage. Her reading process seemed
to combine the two functions of reading: reading for information and
reading to learn, with the former taking precedence. In comprehending
the passage, Chen Hua employed a classic hypothesis-testing approach.
She constantly jumped from individual words, dictionary entries, and
immediate contexts to make global sense of the passage, saying, for
example, A city is dying, this passage must be about this city having
serious problems; Oh, I thought it was an American city at rst, now I
know its in Greece; and This whole paragraph talks about the extent to
which the city is polluted. I guess the next paragraph should be about
how these problems demand attention. At the same time, she paid
highly selective attention to new words, their meanings, and their usage,
limiting her attention to two verbs: stink and suffocate.
TESOL QUARTERLY
transitive verb; and unpleasant smell, noun. What follows here are the
compounds and phrases. So it must be this meaning, this giving out a bad
smell here. Stinking buses, their passengers pale and tired . . . . so were
talking about the buses that give out a bad smell, and the passengers that look
pale and they look exhausted as well. So it must be this meaning.
She then wrote down the Chinese equivalent and the pronunciation
in the margins. As she read the dictionary entry, she realised that
perhaps it was worth noting down in her notebook as well. Stink, stank,
stunk, she mumbled to herself as she did so, repeating the irregular
forms so as to remember them.
Like Chi Wei, after getting the contextual meaning from the dictionary, Chen Hua went on to learn the usage from sample sentences so
that she could use the idiomatic expressions in her own speaking and
writing:
The rst meaning is to give out a bad smell. The example sentence here is:
That sh stinks, and it means that the sh is giving out a bad smell. The next
sentence, He stank of garlic, he gave out this garlic smell. If I said it myself,
I wouldnt be able to use the word this way, so Ill copy this down as well.
Chen Hua copied down a few more sentences illustrating the words
use as an intransitive verb, a transitive verb, and a noun (see Figure 2).
She constantly evaluated her progress and monitored her own learning
behaviour as she wrote:
I think I now have a basic feel of the word.
This is simple; simply copying the sentence down will be enough.
I think I can use the verb form now, and the noun form is much easier.
I wont try all those phrases, because I dont have to remember things that can
be guessed when I see them later.
The whole sentence becomes much clearer after the rst word is understood.
Ill go on.
91
List Learning
Chen Hua employed basically two types of lists: (a) the cards on which
she recorded words encountered in reading and (b) commercially
available word lists. She rarely used vocabulary notebooks.
Vocabulary cards. Chen Hua had developed the habit of collecting new
words on vocabulary cards, described above, early in her English
learning experience, and it was one of her favourite strategies for
vocabulary learning. Cards thus accumulated were bound together in no
particular order with rubber bands. Every week or so, she took out the
cards and went over them once, picking out words she had forgotten at
that point.
When I was little, I had to remember a lot of these words, with my little cards.
But because of the high frequency of those words, I got to see them a lot
during reading, so gradually I could remember them all. I discovered that I
was picking out fewer and fewer forgotten words. Things are different now.
Im getting a lot of cards that I dont remember, because theyre lowfrequency words most of the time, and I dont come across them often
enough.
Volumes of word lists. Like other Chinese learners, Chen Hua made use of
commercially available word lists, simply because her preferred way of
learning vocabulary was too slow and the quantity of words not
enough for exams. She recognised the compensatory nature of this
method while realizing that words thus learned are not as deep as words
92
TESOL QUARTERLY
you remember from your own readings. Chen Hua said that she went
through a 5,000-word list twice and a 10,000-word list one and one-half
times, simply reading the list word by word from A to Z and testing
herself by trying to recall them. It mightve helped, she added,
referring to her attempt at memorising word lists, but its certainly not
as helpful as reading.
In fact, time spent on word lists constituted only a fraction of the time
Chen Hua had spent on English. From memorising word lists, to
collecting and reviewing vocabulary from context on cards, to using
English (mainly by reading), Chen Hua can be said to have employed a
whole range of vocabulary-learning strategies on a continuum from
decontextualised to contextualised.
Using English
Chen Hua stood out from the 11 learners studied because of the
extent to which she had been using English. (In fact, because Chu Wei
spent the overwhelming majority of his time studying English, I cannot
describe his use of English here.) She did a great deal of reading and
listening, and a considerable amount of speaking and writing as well.
I dont think you need to pay special attention to learning grammar, because
grammar sinks itself in naturally when you read a lot. I never tried to analyse
a sentence. Whats the purpose of doing that anyway when you can understand the sentence?
Listening. Chen Hua used four types of materials for listening practice:
(a) listening textbooks; (b) listening practice textbooks, listening skill
books, and test samples for the Test of English as a Foreign Language
(TOEFL); (c) short stories, plays, and adapted novels on audiotape; and
(d) radio programmes. She used the rst two types for intensive listening
and the second two for extensive listening:
I walked around with my Walkman and my earphones. Every evening from
10:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., when other girls were chatting in the dorm, I would
plug my pair of earphones into my ears. When I look back now, it really
worked.
Speaking. Chen Hua used to have a conversation partner, her best friend,
who started learning English with her in the same Primary 5 class. From
junior middle school until they parted to attend different universities,
the two girls chatted in English during every class break, whenever they
met outside class, and over the telephone. She said regretfully,
93
But my university classmates never speak English, so I get very subdued every
now and then, then I have to mumble to myself in English. Occasionally, after
I nish listening to a nice story or after watching an English movie, my
English channel is turned on, so to speak, and I feel the urge to speak in
English. And if I happen to be at home [laugh], my parents have to suffer,
because whatever they say to me in Chinese, I talk back in English. They dont
understand a word, and I dont care either. I mustve done this pretty often to
them, because they seem to have got used to it.
Reading. As intensive reading, Chen Hua claimed that, since Junior 1, she
had read aloud the passages in her textbooks so many times that she had
memorised every one. She had also memorised a few selected readings
that she thought were beautifully written. Not that I wanted to recite
them; they get memorised after you read them a few times. And once
theyre there, they become part of you, the sentence structures, the set
phrases, and the new vocabulary. Obviously, repetition and memorisation
were integrated with understanding and enjoyment (cf. Marton et al.,
1996).
Moreover, Chen Hua had an extensive reading programme. During
her middle school years, she read almost all the simplied readers
available in China. After entering the university, she read original
English prose and novels with Chinese notes and explanations. She also
found chemistry textbooks in the library and studied them on her own.
By the time this study took place, she was reading English works
exclusively in the original (e.g., Readers Digest and novels such as Jane Eyre,
The Great Gatsby, Tom Sawyer, and Gone With the Wind). She said,
I go for content, and I look up a word only if it prevents me from
understanding the paragraph or if it appears again and again and I think its
important to learn to use it myself. I look it up only after I nish reading at
least the whole paragraph.
Writing. Chen Hua did less writing practice compared with other skills.
She wrote in a diary in English two to three times a week, wrote an
occasional letter to her best friend in English, and, like Chi Wei, wrote
English compositions to prepare for examinations.
Chen Hua appeared to be intrinsically interested in English while
seeing its instrumental importance. She knew how much time she
needed to learn English well, and estimated that, during the rst 2 years
of her university life, she spent about two thirds of her time and effort on
English, entirely on her own initiative, and kept a close eye on her
chemistry courses.5 From Junior 1 on, she devoted every vacation to
5
After being in the top third of her chemistry courses in the rst 2 years, she decided to
spend less time on English and concentrate on chemistry courses in order to get a
scholarship. Within a few months she climbed to the top 5%.
94
TESOL QUARTERLY
reading in English. Like Chi Wei, Chen Hua emphasised that she never
forced herself to learn anything and that English learning had always
been natural to her: Ill stop when Im tired. Ill stop before Im
bored. I never care about making mistakes. Mistakes are natural. Its not
my mother tongue anyway.
Chen Hua represents only a small minority of successful non-English
majors. Although the proportion of time she spent on English was not
unusual, the extent to which she used English for authentic and
meaningful purposes was rare among this group of Chinese learners.
Second, Chen Huas overall English use was the best among the 11
learners in the sample, although her score of 91% on the CET Band 4
did not reect this superior skill. Third, as one of the more socially
advantaged learners in the sample, Chen Hua had more resources
available to her than other Chinese learners do. The fact that her parents
were intellectuals and lived in Beijing ensured the availability of books
and contributed to the type of education she received. That said, rather
than discourage other Chinese learners, Chen Huas success should
encourage them to aim for a more communicative approach to learning
in a noncommunicative and input-poor environment. Chen Huas social
background was not unique; her unusual motivation and learning
strategies may have made the difference.
Summary
Chen Hua succeeded in vocabulary learning in a far different way
from Chi Wei. Although their basic procedures of vocabulary learning
through intensive reading were surprisingly similar, Chi Wei focused on
the details of word learning, identifying many new or partially new
words, whereas Chen Hua was more concerned with overall understanding of the passage, focusing only on new words that she found important
or interesting. Chi Wei made up sentences on the spot for his chosen
words, but Chen Hua said she would try to use them later in real
situations. Chi Wei spent a great deal of time learning through the
passage because intensive reading had been his main source of English
input. Chen Hua, on the other hand, spent less time on intensive
reading passages and much more time on extensive reading, which
ensured the natural recurrence of words she had tried to learn in
intensive reading. Chi Wei spent about 90 minutes completing the
learning tasks whereas Chen Hua spent only 40 minutes. If language
learning is an art, then Chi Weis style corresponds to gongbi (ne brush)
and Chen Huas to xieyi (freehand).
95
DISCUSSION
Approaches to Success
Chi Wei and Chen Hua correspond almost precisely to the two types of
vocabulary learners, active strategy users and readers, that emerged from
Gu and Johnsons (1996) cluster analysis results. These two learners
underscore an important point: Not all successful Chinese learners are
alike.
One difference between Chi Wei and Chen Hua was their learning
styles: Chi Wei preferred auditory learning, and Chen Hua might be said
to have a slight preference for visual learning, although both learners
used some strategies consistent with each style. Chi Wei was meticulous
about details and focused mainly on textbooks (the ne brush style)
whereas Chen Hua focused on reading and enjoying extracurricular
material (the freehand style). Motivation was another area of difference.
Chi Wei was learning to excel whereas Chen Hua was learning because of
her intrinsic interest in English. Chi Wei persevered, and Chen Hua
enjoyed her learning process.
Nevertheless, distinct as they were in their approaches to vocabulary
learning, the two learners showed more similarities than differences.
Both demonstrated high levels of motivation, revealing a link between
motivation and the use of strategies (Oxford, 1996), especially metacognitive strategies such as self-initiation. Metacognitively, both learners
had high levels of self-initiation in learning and went well beyond
what was required in their English course
consciously chose to treat different words with different strategies
selected vocabulary to learn based on three criteria: (a) its relevance
to text comprehension, (b) its interest to them, and (c) an on-thespot evaluation of its importance
consciously emphasized multiword units such as phrasal verbs and
idiomatic expressions as well as other words of their choice
Cognitively, both learners
employed a wide range of vocabulary-learning strategies
engaged in frequent contextual inferencing using a variety of clues
used the dictionary for comprehension purposes, negotiating between dictionary denitions and contextual meaning
used the dictionary for vocabulary-learning purposes, taking various
types of notes when they felt necessary
spent considerable time on and demonstrated remarkable skill in
memorising word lists
96
TESOL QUARTERLY
tried to use some of the words they had just learned so as to cater to
the knowledge and skill aspects of vocabulary learning (Ellis, 1994)
tried to nd and create opportunities to use English in authentic or
semiauthentic situations
97
CONCLUSION
Two successful EFL learners from the same Chinese learning context
approached the same vocabulary-learning task in different ways. At the
same time, they demonstrated some patterns of strategy use that were
different from those reported in other learning contexts. As Schmeck
(1988) put it,
If we keep a situation constant and look across people, we see situational
inuences; and if we keep the person constant and look across situations, we
see the inuence of personal style. However, the two are normally operating
simultaneously in a sort of chemical reaction that, in the end, may be
unanalysable. (p. 10)
98
TESOL QUARTERLY
THE AUTHOR
Peter Yongqi Gu is assistant professor at the English Language and Literature
Academic Group of National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. His research interests include vocabulary acquisition, learning strategies, language planning, and computer-assisted language learning.
REFERENCES
Ahmed, M. O. (1989). Vocabulary learning strategies. In P. Meara (Ed.), Beyond words
(pp. 314). London: British Association for Applied Linguistics/Centre for
Information on Language Teaching & Research.
Anderson, J. R. (1982). Acquisition of cognitive skill. Psychological Review, 89, 369
406.
99
Ballard, B., & Clanchy, J. (1984). Study abroad: A manual for Asian students. Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia: Longman.
Biggs, J. (1996). Western misconceptions of the Confucian-heritage learning culture.
In D. A. Watkins & J. B. Biggs (Eds.), The Chinese learner: Cultural, psychological and
contextual influences (pp. 4567). Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong, Comparative Education Research Centre/Australian Council for Educational Research.
Bradley, D., & Bradley, M. (1984). Problems of Asian students in Australia: Language,
culture and education. Canberra: Australian Government Printing Service.
Brown, A. L., Bransford, J. D., Ferrara, R. A., & Campione, J. C. (1983). Learning,
remembering, and understanding. In P. H. Mussen (Ed.), Handbook of child
psychology: Vol 3. Cognitive development (pp. 77166). New York: Wiley.
Brown, C., & Payne, M. E. (1994, March). Five essential steps or processes in vocabulary
learning. Paper presented at the 28th Annual TESOL Convention, Baltimore, MD.
Coady, J., & Huckin, T. (Eds.). (1997). Second language vocabulary acquisition.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cohen, A. D. (1998). Strategies in learning and using a second language. London:
Longman.
Crow, J. T. (1986). Receptive vocabulary acquisition for reading comprehension. The
Modern Language Journal, 70, 242250.
Ellis, N. (1994). Vocabulary acquisition: The implicit ins and outs of explicit
cognitive mediation. In N. C. Ellis (Ed.), Implicit and explicit learning of languages
(pp. 211282). London: Academic Press.
Ericsson, K. A., & Simon, H. A. (1993). Protocol analysis: Verbal reports as data (Rev.
ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of
cognitive-developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34, 906911.
Gu, Y., & Johnson, R. K. (1996). Vocabulary learning strategies and language
learning outcomes. Language Learning, 46, 643679.
Huckin, T., & Coady, J. (1999). Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second
language: A review. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21, 181193.
Huckin, T., Haynes, M., & Coady, J. (Eds.). (1993). Second language reading and
vocabulary learning. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Kojic-Sabo, I., & Lightbown, P. M. (1999). Students approaches to vocabulary
learning and their relationship to success. The Modern Language Journal, 83, 176
192.
Kolers, P. A. (1979). A pattern analyzing basis of recognition. In L. S. Cermak &
F. I. M. Craik (Eds.), Levels of processing in human memory (pp. 363384). Hillsdale,
NJ: Erlbaum.
Laufer, B. (1992). How much lexis is necessary for reading comprehension? In
P. J. L. Arnaud & H. Bejoint (Eds.), Vocabulary and applied linguistics (pp. 126
132). London: Macmillan.
Marton, F., DallAlba, G., & Tse, L. K. (1996). Memorizing and understanding: The
keys to the paradox? In D. A. Watkins & J. B. Biggs (Eds.), The Chinese learner:
Cultural, psychological and contextual influences (pp. 6983). Hong Kong: University
of Hong Kong, Comparative Education Research Centre/Australian Council for
Educational Research.
McCarthy, M. J. (1984). A new look at vocabulary in EFL. Applied Linguistics, 5, 1222.
McNeill, A. (1990). Vocabulary learning and teaching: Evidence from lexical errors
in the spontaneous speech of ESL learners. Institute of Language in Education
Journal, 7, 141153.
Meara, P. (1980). Vocabulary acquisition: A neglected aspect of language learning.
Language Teaching and Linguistics Abstracts, 13, 221246.
100
TESOL QUARTERLY
101
APPENDIX A
Reading Text in Segments
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
102
A City Is Dying
Stinking buses, their passengers pale and tired, jam the crowded streets.
Drivers shout at one another and honk their horns.
Smog smarts the eyes and chokes the senses.
The scene is Athens at rush hour.
The city of Plato and Pericles is in a sorry state of affairs, built without a plan, lacking even
adequate sewerage facilities, hemmed in by mountains and the sea, its 135 square miles
crammed with 3.7 million people.
Even Athens ruins are in ruin: sulfur dioxide eats away at the marble of the Parthenon
and other treasures on the Acropolis:
As Greek Premier Constantine Karamanlis has said,
The only solution for Athens would be to demolish half of it and start all over again.
So great has been the population ow toward the city that entire hinterland villages stand
vacant or nearly so.
About 120,000 people from outlying provinces move to Athens every year,
with the result that 40% of Greeces citizenry are now packed into the capital.
The migrants come for the few available jobs, which are usually no better than the ones
they ed.
At the current rate of migration, Athens by the year 2000 will have a population of 6.5
million, more than half the nation.
Aside from overcrowding and poor public transport, the biggest problems confronting
Athenians are noise and pollution.
A government study concluded that Athens was the noisiest city in the world.
Smog is almost at killing levels:
180300 mg of sulfur dioxide per cubic meter of air, or up to four times the level that the
World Health Organization considers safe.
Nearly half the pollution comes from cars.
Despite high prices for vehicles and fuel ($2.95 per gallon), nearly 100,000 automobiles
are sold in Greece each year;
3,000 drivers licenses are issued in Athens monthly.
After decades of neglect, Athens is at last getting some attention.
In March a committee of representatives from all major public service ministries met to
discuss a plan to unclog the city, make it livable and clean up its environment.
A save-Athens ministry, which will soon begin functioning, will propose heavy taxes to
discourage in-migration,
a minimum of $5 billion in public spending for Athens alone, and other projects for the
countryside to encourage residents to stay put.
A master plan that will move many government ofces to the citys fringes is already in the
works.
Meanwhile, more Greeks keep moving into Athens.
With few parks and precious few oxygen-producing plants, the city and its citizens are
literally suffocating. (Walter, 1982, pp. 2831)
TESOL QUARTERLY
APPENDIX B
General Interview Questions
I. Metacognitive Aspects of Vocabulary Learning
A. Metacognitive Knowledge and Beliefs
About self in vocabulary learning
1. Overall, how do you see yourself as a language learner?
2. Do you see yourself as good at learning vocabulary? In what way are you good at it (e.g.,
having a good memory, found successful strategies, or others)?
3. People have different styles of vocabulary learning. Some must see a word before it is
remembered; others might prefer to hear the word. What is your personal style?
About English vocabulary
4. Do you think English vocabulary is rule governed? Can you elaborate on this?
5. What does it mean to you when you say you have learned a word?
About vocabulary learning
6. How important is vocabulary learning in learning a foreign language? From what
experiences have you generalized the above-mentioned ideas?
7. Are English words hard/easy to learn? Why do you think so?
8. Do you think there are gimmicks that can make vocabulary learning fast and easy? Why do
you think so?
About vocabulary strategies
9. What do you think are the vocabulary-learning strategies that work best for you? And what
are those that dont work for you?
B. Metacognitive Regulation
Planning
10. Do you plan your vocabulary learning? How?
11. Do you deliberately try new strategies to learn vocabulary? How often do you do that?
Monitoring
12. How do you keep track of your progress in vocabulary learning?
Evaluation
13. How do you know that a particular word or expression is worth remembering?
14. When someone tells you about a good strategy to learn vocabulary, what do you do when
you see that it doesnt work for you? (Do you simply abandon it, try it again and see if it
works, blame yourself for not practicing it enough instead of questioning its usefulness, try
to nd better strategies, or fall back on your known strategies?)
103
21. Do you deliberately try to change your passive vocabulary (comprehension only) into
active vocabulary? How do you do it?
104
TESOL QUARTERLY
Dueling Philosophies:
Inclusion or Separation for Floridas
English Language Learners?
ELIZABETH PLATT
Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida, United States
CANDACE HARPER
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida, United States
105
106
TESOL QUARTERLY
grams for these learners. We then discuss the larger equity implications
of these ndings as they relate to students and teachers, both in the
United States and internationally.
Inclusion
A number of social forces have combined to create a favorable climate
for inclusion over the past quarter century: a redenition and expansion
of the term special needs student, a rise in dropout rates, and a greater
number of minority students, including immigrants and refugees
(Kochhar, West, & Taymans, 2000). The Civil Rights movement and
advocacy for groups and individuals are associated with this view, and
those promoting inclusion allude to the individual liberties that stem
from the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. With the shift of
emphasis in the 1960s from the study of human psychology in terms of
illness and neurosis toward one of maximizing mental health and native
potential, normalization was seen as the desired state. Normalization
entailed integrating people with disabilities or other special needs into
community norms as much as possible (Wolfensberger, 1972) and led to
the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975
and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act in 1997 (Kochhar
et al., 2000).
The publication of A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) challenged the educational establishment to
promote both equity and excellence (see Taylor & Piche, 1991, for
further discussion). However, desegregating schools and funding programs for linguistic, cultural, and economic minorities have failed to
affect the existing balance of privilege and power (Tate, Ladson-Billings,
& Grant, 1993). In fact, Cohen and Lazerson (1977) claimed more than
20 years ago that the schools were infused not with aspirations to achieve
equity but with corporate values tied to the goals of the economic order.
Although the discourse of schooling always includes a nod to diversity
and equity, ongoing trends in accountability and standardization of
DUELING PHILOSOPHIES
107
108
TESOL QUARTERLY
Separation
Separation occurs when instructional goals or students needs differ
from those of mainstream students such that they require specialized
curricula or teaching approaches. Despite concerns that separation of
students is inherently discriminatory, the Ofce for Civil Rights (OCR,
1991) species rather that discrimination results when a district fails to
provide needed services to English language learners. Thus, separation
of students for specialized instruction is warranted in order to achieve
educational goals, provided that services in the separate environment
facilitate equal access to the curriculum in a timely and effective manner.
Bilingual Education
Bilingual education has existed in the United States since the 1800s,
with greater or lesser standing depending on the historical context. After
the unanimous Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, Supreme
Court decision in 1954, a national social conscience emerged that
produced the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, its various amendments,
and the 1974 Lau v. Nichols Supreme Court decision (Faltis & Hudelson,
1998). Supporters of bilingual education argue that competence in both
languages facilitates the learning of academic content and literacy and
promotes positive cognitive effects, including an analytic orientation to
language, higher verbal and nonverbal intelligence, and divergent
thinking (Bialystok, 1991; Cummins, 1981; Cummins & Swain, 1986;
Lambert & Tucker, 1972). Baca (1998) has promoted bilingual education on the basis of equal educational opportunity and the potential for
positive interethnic relations, and Thomas and Colliers (1995, 2002)
large-scale research indicates that students in bilingual education programs with long-term support in the home language reach academic
parity with native-English-speaking peers faster than students in other
types of instructional programs.
In spite of such evidence, support for bilingual education has failed to
gain signicant momentum, and reauthorizations of Title VII of the
Bilingual Education Act narrowed the role of home languages and
cultures in favor of a greater role for English. In 1994, the Improving
Americas Schools Act and the Goals 2000: Educate America Act changed
Title VII programming by giving greater control and exibility to the
states. Goals 2000 also sought to ensure equal educational opportunities
through systemic reform and the setting of standards. Recent federal
initiatives of Title I and Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001)
have set the stage for further changes regarding the types of instructional
DUELING PHILOSOPHIES
109
ESL
Like bilingual models, ESL programs separate English language
learners from the mainstream for specialized language and content
instruction. ESL gained a professional identity in the United States in the
1930s (Crawford, 1991). Early ESL instruction was inuenced by a
behaviorist/structuralist approach to language teaching and was geared
toward cultural assimilation and oral language prociency. As late as
1976, the mission statement of TESOL still focused exclusively on the
spoken language, with little attention to literacy or academic competence. The effectiveness of typical ESL programs of the 1970s and 1980s
was called into question. Cummins (1989) labeled such programs
subtractive, supportive of neither academic achievement nor retention of
the home language or culture. Further, Krashen (1984) argued for ESL
programs that provide a range of support (including home language
support) and that gradually move English language learners into the
mainstream. In recent years literacy and academic language prociency
have joined oral communication skills as important learning goals in ESL
(TESOL, 1997, 1999), and content-based ESL and sheltered content
instruction (Short, 1998), the cognitive academic language learning
approach (CALLA; Chamot & OMalley, 1994), vocational ESL (Friedenberg & Bradley, 1984), and adjunct academic programs (Kasper, 2000)
have ourished.
TESOL QUARTERLY
111
112
TESOL QUARTERLY
TABLE 1
Survey Responses and Interviewees by District Category
Surveys returned
District
category
LY population
Administrators
interviewed
1
2
3
4
5
> 8,000
1,0007,999
400999
30399
< 30
5
10
6
11
12
100
77
46
58
71
5
8
4
9
3
44
29
Total
3
This study received funding from Sunshine State TESOL (the state TESOL afliate) and
from a Title VII professional development grant (USDOE T195A970018).
4
The Florida DOE uses the term LY students to refer to English language learners who are
being served in classes that have been designed or adapted for their needs.
DUELING PHILOSOPHIES
113
METHODOLOGY
We conducted interviews to gain a qualitative view of program
rationale and effectiveness by taking the pulse of administrators in
each reporting district. The administrators we interviewed speak with
authority because many have extended experience in their positions and
because they have witnessed the effects of implementation at the
program level in their own districts (although we do not mean to say that
administrators always base their beliefs strictly on facts or hold a
complete understanding of the implementation of the Florida Consent
Decree). Their opinions are informative to the TESOL profession even
though they do not indicate whether separation environments are
superior to inclusion environments for English language learners in
Floridas schools. Although achievement test data are available at the
school and district levels through the Florida DOE (2001c), it will take
years of consistent assessment with the same measures and long-term
maintenance of a districts ESL program before connections can be
drawn among school site, instructional program, and student performance. Moreover, numerical data alone may obscure some of the variables
relevant to program option, teacher effect, demographic factors, and
student performance. (An example is student mobility: Migrant chil114
TESOL QUARTERLY
FINDINGS
The ndings from the interview data are described as they address the
following questions about separation and inclusion programs:
What rationales do the administrators provide for the models
implemented in their districts?
How effectively do the administrators believe each model serves
students and teachers?
115
116
TESOL QUARTERLY
the state standards for the English language arts, with performance
indicators designed by district staff for ESL learners. Beginners and
intermediate learners typically spent two periods each day in an ESL
pullout classroom, while more advanced students spent only one period.
Students were mainstreamed the rest of the day.
In providing the rationale for the ESL program, Ms. Edwards
statements expressed her belief in serving as an advocate for English
language learners. In this district, her centralized ofce assumed the
major responsibility and oversight on their behalf, monitoring teacher
and school compliance with the Consent Decree, asserting that we cant
violate the law and students rights. Another of her concerns was that
the Consent Decree gave teachers with little ESL training too much
responsibility for English language learners (through a grandfather
clause allowing teachers who can document successful instruction of
English language learners to earn an endorsement with 60 hours of staff
development instead of the 300 required of language arts teachers):
People can get an endorsement, but I dont want them being ESOL
teachers! People must go through a process. This statement reects Ms.
Edwards strong belief in the value of the specialized profession of ESL
and the importance of serving English language learners as a special
population.
Inclusion
The administrator who most clearly articulated a rationale underlying
the inclusion model was Frances Inge, the administrator for instruction
for English language learners in a Category 2 district guided by an
overarching philosophy of student learning at all levels and in all
programs. Ms. Inge argued that the school should be a nurturing
community of learners, providing exibility to allow for variability in
length of time to accomplish learning tasks and to recognize students
domain-specic strengths and weaknesses. She explained that each
neighborhood school acknowledged its responsibility for English language learners in implementing the inclusion model.
Ms. Inge described certain attitudes and practices toward English
language learners emerging from this policy. For example, although
teachers and administrators received training in awareness of these
learners differing needs and of ways to meet them, teachers were
reluctant to treat students as different or decient, in accord with the
districts inclusion philosophy. Instead, English language learners were
supported inconspicuously in the content classroom. For example, using
an electronic device, a bilingual aide in the classroom could provide a
translation or explanation in the students language, and only the
DUELING PHILOSOPHIES
117
student, outtted with an unobtrusive earphone, could hear it. Ms. Inge
cited this as an example of the ways in which English language learners
differences were rendered invisible in the mainstream.
TESOL QUARTERLY
TABLE 2
Summary of Administrators Statements on Program Effectiveness
Program type (%)
ESLa
Inclusion
E
Administrators statements on
Bilingual
District
A
B
C
D
E
60
81100
60
020
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
25
6180
4160
100
81100
100
5
30
75
6070 020
4160
6180
80
020
81100
81100
95
100
70
3040
6180
2140
20
510
100
A
B
C
D
100
100
2140
100
6180
100
50
50
020
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
100
100
100
100
81100 100
020
60
100
40
100
100
100
100
40
40
6180
100
020 6180
6080
50
81100 100
Category 1
020
2040
50
020
Separation
Inclusion
xxx
x
x
xx
xxxxx
x
x
xx
8
2
2
4
0
Category 2
x
x
x
xx
x
x
x
xxx
xxx
xx
xxx
xx
xxx
x
xxxx
2
1
2
3
6
5
7
3
Category 3
x
xx
xx
1
2
2
0
Category 4
A
B
C
100
100
6180
100
Totalb
0-20
xxx
xxx
xx
x
xxxxxxx xxxxx
x
x
xx
xxxxxx
x
xxx
Category 5
3
5
12
3
0
2
0
8
3
0
0
0
12/21
5/11
8/20
14/34
86
Note. E = elementary, S = secondary. One administrator from each district was interviewed (total = 29).
Includes a small number of ESL classrooms at the elementary level and sheltered content and ESL
pullout classes at the secondary level. bNo. of administrators expressing view/no. of statements
expressing view.
DUELING PHILOSOPHIES
119
Supporting Separation
Of the 12 administrators who expressed opinions favoring separation,
3 said that if bilingual programming were feasible in their districts, it
would be the best model for English language learners. Ms. Billings,
from her vantage point in a district supportive to bilingual programming, stated that use of the students L1 was the only way for them to be
taught comprehensibly. Yet few specic advantages of ESL were mentioned, and none of those interviewed defended the ESL pullout model
from any instructional or curriculum-theoretic perspective. For the most
part, separating students was seen to be necessary in order to provide
more support. An administrator in a Category 2 district said, Faculty felt
that some LEP students at the fourth- and fth-grade levels needed more
support in English language arts, so now there is a sheltered language
arts program for those LEP students. Even Ms. Inge recognized the
need for sheltered language arts, especially for secondary students with
low levels of English prociency and literacy in the L1 and in English.
Sheltered newcomer programs were favored by 2 administrators in
Category 2 districts.
Another advantage claimed for separating English language learners
was that the ESL classroom served as a helpful and safe haven within the
school. For example, another Category 2 administrator supported the
notion of a comfortable classroom environment where students can
build on what they know and can be made to feel good. Finally, those
who advocated separate, specialized classroom instruction generally
expressed a protective attitude toward English language learners. Like
Ms. Edwards, a Category 3 administrator saw an advantage for students
being taught by specialist teachers, reporting that her district provided
self-contained elementary classrooms for new English language learners
for a maximum of 1 year, after which they were placed with regular
elementary teachers. When asked about the possibility of her district
moving toward inclusion, she said, That would be a big mistake. I think
kids . . . dont get nearly what they get with ESL teachers.
120
TESOL QUARTERLY
Supporting Inclusion
Statements in support of inclusion were made by eight administrators,
four in the largest districts and four in Category 3 and 4 districts. A
Category 1 administrator supported the inclusion model for the more
procient students, claiming that outside evaluators found the model to
be effective. One Category 2 administrator and one Category 3 administrator claimed that inclusion achieved their districts goals of desegregation and site-based management, respectively. Another administrator
from a Category 2 district with a high percentage of English language
learners reported a transformation in her district since it moved to an
inclusion model. She explained that the mainstream teachers were now
carrying the burden of these students. According to Ms. Inge, The
philosophy has created an atmosphere wherein each neighborhood
school acknowledges its responsibility for the LEP students. A Category
3 district administrator claimed that one of the benets of inclusion was
greater awareness by teachers of these learners and better understanding of how to teach them. Two Category 4 district administrators who
emphasized the value of diversity in the classroom said that mainstream
teachers found these students to be pleasant and the diversity rewarding.
From the perspective of English language learners language development and academic achievement, two ESL administrators in Category 4
districts mentioned interaction with native-English-speaking peers as an
DUELING PHILOSOPHIES
121
122
TESOL QUARTERLY
Summary
The three portraits gleaned from our interviews illustrate administrators rationales for their English language learner programs. Two of
these administrators claimed signicant advantages for separating English language learners for specialized instruction, either in the students
L1 or in ESL support settings. The other strongly favored inclusion in
the context of her districts promotion of individualization and exibility.
With respect to the second question on program effectiveness, we
found a broad range of views in support of or critical of separation for
DUELING PHILOSOPHIES
123
DISCUSSION
The variety of administrators views regarding the instructional programs available for English language learners in Florida indicates cause
for concern. Nearly 20 years after the publication of A Nation at Risk
(National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) and 12 years
after the signing of the Florida Consent Decree, we nd that in the
pursuit of excellence, equity remains elusive. On the surface, the
Consent Decree appears progressive and positive, fostering integration
of English language learners into the mainstream, developing new skills
among teachers, and setting high expectations for language and content
learning. However, equity requires both challenge and support for
English language learners. ESL and bilingual classes have traditionally
provided support but have not always challenged students academic
development. Inclusion can indeed be a means to provide this challenge,
but for students with limited educational backgrounds, very low English
prociency, migrant status, or traumatic experiences, the provision of
support in inclusion settings has been serendipitous. According to our
data, where resources are available and where welcoming attitudes are
clearly demonstrated, administrators believe that students can fare well
in inclusion settings. However, where a districts resources are stretched,
or when administrators and teachers lack time, expertise, or the will to
help this special group of students succeed, outcomes are likely to be less
favorable.
According to the administrators working with the largest and most
varied groups of English language learners, the more obvious negative
consequences of inclusion are for vulnerable students with low levels of
124
TESOL QUARTERLY
DUELING PHILOSOPHIES
125
6
Under the rules of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, students with 3 or
more years of instruction in English should be tested along with native English speakers, with
fewer years at the discretion of state and local policy. Although for a time the number of years
before students would be tested in Florida was 2 years, recent changes in Title I of the No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001 have mandated testing after the rst year (Florida DOE, 2002).
7
According to the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (2002), the national average cost
per pupil by state in 20002001 was $8,254, and the average in Florida (ranking 33rd) was
$7,473. Alternatively, the Lake County Education Association (2002), citing Education Week,
reports that Florida ranks 44th, having fallen further behind the national average and spending
$5,982 per pupil. Florida DOEs Florida School Indicators Report (2001a) provides data on schools
in each Florida districts, including cost per pupil. These data indicate differences between
regular and at-risk students.
8
Further cuts are anticipated as the state now must lower class size as a result of a recent
citizens initiative (Florida Constitution, Amendment 9, 2002).
126
TESOL QUARTERLY
CONCLUSIONS
Our ongoing research in Florida on the impact of the Consent Decree
and the increasing use of the inclusion model for English language
learners has highlighted two important concerns. One is the equity
imbalance that may arise when students are not provided the support
they need to achieve inclusive goals in the classroom. The deprivation of
specialized ESL services to students with the greatest need for language
and literacy support runs counter to the guidelines provided by the
OCR, even though full inclusion is promoted at policy levels as the
means to achieve equity. Our research illustrates that ESL administrators
in Florida possess a range of views on the optimum learning environments for English language learners. Yet despite our own critical stance
toward inclusion classrooms, we do not believe that programs that
separate students are necessarily better, particularly when they do not
rapidly prepare students to read, write, and comprehend English well
enough to participate meaningfully (OCR, 1991, n.p.) in regular
classrooms. Unfortunately, ESL as a viable program has been criticized
for lack of academic rigor and for its tendency to place students in a
dependent or marginal status too long. We agree that a comfort zone is
an inadequate justication for a program and that equity cannot be
achieved when students are not challenged. Rather, ESL professionals
must advance the academic program through instruction that is well
integrated with the content and skills of the academic disciplines,
balanced with attention to the language development needs of the
students. We do not wish to take a stand against standards. Indeed,
standards can provide the stimulus for ESL, bilingual, and content area
programs to create appropriate yet challenging learning environments.
ESL Standards for Pre-K12 Students (TESOL, 1997) provides such a
DUELING PHILOSOPHIES
127
framework for integrating language development with content curriculum and assessment.
The other concern is the impact on ESL teachers and the TESOL
profession itself. Language development, the traditional focus of the
ESL/bilingual specialist, now seems a marginal concern in light of the
emphasis on Floridas Comprehensive Assessment Test. ESL/bilingual
teachers are increasingly assigned to mainstream classrooms in Florida
districts. Teachers in formerly self-contained ESL classrooms have become resource persons in support of standard curriculum teachers
objectives, with the result that they spend less time working directly with
the students. In some cases ESL teachers have taken on other duties,
such as record keeping regarding compliance with the Consent Decree,
staff development, tutor training, or curriculum adaptation (see Franson,
1999, for an account of the difculties associated with teacher partnerships in United Kingdom classrooms). When ESL specialists are eliminated or forced to become jacks-of-all-trades in a school, however, their
curricular and methodological expertise is either lost or diluted for
distribution to the general faculty, who often lack fundamental knowledge of language and the L2 learning process and of how to implement
this understanding.
If the current trend toward standardization of curriculum, instruction,
and assessment continues, and if specialized language support is considered peripheral rather than essential to the success of English language
learners, then radically different roles are in store for ESL and bilingual
teachers. During our study of the changing nature of ESL language
policy and practice in Florida over the past decade, state university
teacher education programs have begun to prepare all new teachers for
the roles that ESL/bilingual specialists have traditionally performed.
Whereas many celebrate this development, we fear that many teachers
are not adequately prepared for and are insufciently committed to
these important roles. We believe that the consequences to the TESOL
profession will be profound and that this trend should be acknowledged
and discussed at all levels of the profession. If, as we believe, the Florida
story is typical, then TESOL as a professional practice is clearly at a
crossroads at the beginning of the 21st century. Indeed, in her discussion
of the mainstreaming of English language learners in Australia, Davison
(2001) describes the tension between the philosophical base of the ESL
eld which emphasizes diversity and complexity, and the demands of the
mainstream educational agenda for commonality, simplicity, and homogeneity (p. 29). The TESOL profession must therefore dene more
explicitly and publicly its evolving instructional and curricular identity. If
we as TESOL professionals are unable to articulate and defend our
specialized roles, we may nd ourselves swept away by mainstream
educational reforms.
128
TESOL QUARTERLY
THE AUTHORS
Elizabeth Platt is an associate professor in multilingual/multicultural education at
Florida State University (FSU). In addition to researching the fate of English
language learners in Floridas schools generally, she studies the discourse of teaching
and learning in classrooms and investigates early L2 language learning processes,
particularly from a sociocultural perspective.
Candace Harper is an assistant professor in ESL in the School of Teaching and
Learning at the University of Florida. Her research interests include second language
acquisition and academic achievement among K12 English language learners and
reading processes among L2 learners of varying ages. She is currently the editor of
Sunshine State TESOL Journal.
Maria Beatriz Mendoza is currently a doctoral student in multicultural/multilingual
education at FSU. She holds a BA in TESL from Universidad Metropolitana,
Venezuela, and an MA in multilingual/multicultural education from FSU. She works
as an ESL instructor at the Center for Intensive English Studies at FSU.
REFERENCES
Anton, M., & DiCamilla, F. (1998). Socio-cognitive functions of L1 collaborative
interaction in the L2 classroom. Canadian Modern Language Review, 54, 314342.
August, D., & Pease-Alvarez, L. (1996). Attributes of effective programs and classrooms
serving English language learners (Ofce of Educational Research and Improvement
Technical Report). Santa Cruz, CA: National Center for Research on Cultural
Diversity and Second Language Learning.
Baca, L. (1998). Bilingual special education: A judicial perspective. In L. M. Baca &
H. T. Cervantes (Eds.), The bilingual special education interface (3rd ed., pp. 7697).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.
Baker, C. (1993). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism. Philadelphia:
Multilingual Matters.
Bialystok, E. (Ed.). (1991). Language processing in bilingual children. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Boyd, S., & Arvidsson, G. (1998). The acquisition of literacy by immigrant children in
Sweden. In A. Y. Durgunoglu & L. Verhoeven (Eds.), Literacy development in a
multicultural context: Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 203224). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Brisk, M. E. (1998). Bilingual education: From compensatory to quality schooling. Mahwah,
NJ: Erlbaum.
California Department of Education. (2001). Programs for English learners: Overview of
federal and state regulations. Sacramento, CA: Author. Retrieved October 28, 2001,
from http://www.cde.ca.gov/ccpdiv/Eng_LEARN/CCR2000-EL
Carlson, D. L. (1988). Curriculum planning and the state: The dynamics of control
in education. In L. E. Beyer & M. W. Apple (Eds.), The curriculum: Problems, politics,
and possibilities (pp. 98115). Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Chamot, A. U., & OMalley, J. M. (1994). The CALLA handbook: Implementing the
cognitive academic language learning approach. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Chavez, L. (2000, September). Memo. Sterling, VA: Center for Equal Opportunity.
Retrieved November 8, 2002, from http://www.ceousa.org/html/memo2.html
Cohen, D. K., & Lazerson, M. (1977). Education and the corporate order. In
J. Karabel & A. H. Halsey (Eds.), Power and ideology in education (pp. 373386). New
York: Oxford University Press.
DUELING PHILOSOPHIES
129
Crawford, J. (1991). Bilingual education: History, politics, theory and practice (2nd ed.).
Los Angeles: Bilingual Educational Services.
Crawford, J. (2000/2001, Winter). Bilingual education: Strike two. Rethinking Schools,
15(2). Retrieved July 30, 2002, from http://www.rethinkingschools.org/Archives
/15_02/Az152.htm
Cummins, J. (1981). The role of primary language development in promoting
educational success for language minority students. In Schooling and language
minority students: A theoretical framework (pp. 349). Sacramento: California Department of Education.
Cummins, J. (1989). Empowering minority students. Los Angeles: California Association
for Bilingual Education.
Cummins, J., & Swain, M. (1986). Bilingualism in education. London: Longman.
Davison, C. (2001). ESL in Australian schools: From the margins to the mainstream.
In B. Mohan, C. Leung, & C. Davison (Eds.), English as a second language in the
mainstream: Teaching, learning and identity (pp. 1129). New York: Longman.
Donahue, T. S. (1995). American language policy and compensatory opinion. In
J. W. Tollefson (Ed.), Power and inequality in language education (pp. 112141). New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Echevarria, J., Vogt, M. E., & Short, D. J. (2000). Making content comprehensible for
English language learners: The SIOP model. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Education for All Handicapped Children Act, Pub. L. No. 94-142, 89 Stat. 773 (1975).
Educational Testing Service. (1991). The state of mathematics achievement: NAEPs 1990
assessment of the nation and the trial assessment of the states. Washington, DC: National
Center for Education Statistics.
Educational Testing Service. (2002). Aligning curriculum with standards: A step-bystep guide for teachers. Tampa, FL: Region XIV Comprehensive Center.
Faltis, C. J., & Hudelson, S. (1998). Bilingual education in elementary and secondary school
communities: Toward understanding and caring. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn &
Bacon.
Florida Department of Education. (1990). Consent Decree: League of United Latin
American Citizens (LULAC) et al. v. State Board of Education Consent Decree, United
States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, August 14, 1990. Retrieved
November 11, 2002, from http://www.rn.edu/doe/bin00011/cdpage2.htm
Florida Department of Education. (1995). Inclusion as an instructional model for LEP
students (Technical Assistance Paper No. 019-ESOL-95). Retrieved October 28,
2001 from http://www.rn.edu/doe/bin00011/tapinclu.htm
Florida Department of Education. (2001a). Florida school indicators report. Tallahassee,
FL: Author. Retrieved December 16, 2002, from http://info.doe.state..us
/fsir2001/
Florida Department of Education, Ofce of Multicultural Student Language Education. (2001b). OMSLE publications. Retrieved October 28, 2001 from http://
www.rn.edu/doe/bin00011/omspubpg.htm
Florida Department of Education, Ofce of Minority and Second Language Education. (2001c). 2000/01 annual status report on the implementation of the 1990 League of
United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), et al. v. State Board of Education, et al. Consent
Decree. Retrieved July 3, 2002 from http://www.rn.edu/doe/bin00011/0001esol
/index.htm
Florida Department of Education, Division of Public Schools and Community
Education, Commissioners Ofce. (2002, January 16). Change in FCAT exemption
criteria for LEP students [Memorandum]. Tallahassee, FL: Author.
Franson, C. (1999). Mainstreaming learners of English as an additional language:
The class teachers perspective. Language, Culture, and Curriculum, 12, 5970.
130
TESOL QUARTERLY
Friedenberg, J. E., & Bradley, C. H. (1984). The vocational ESL handbook. Rowley, MA:
Newbury House.
Goals 2000: Educate America Act of 1994, Pub. L. No. 103-227, 108 Stat. 125 (1994).
Gutierrez, K. D. (2001). Whats new in the English language arts: Challenging
policies and practices, y qu? Language Arts, 78, 564569.
Harklau, L. (1999). The ESL learning environment in secondary school. In C. J.
Faltis & P. Wolfe (Eds.), So much to say: Adolescents, bilingualism, and ESL in the
secondary school (pp. 4260). New York: Teachers College Press.
Harper, C. A., & Platt, E. J. (1998). Full inclusion for secondary school ESOL
students: Some concerns from Florida. TESOL Journal, 7(5), 3036.
Harper, C. A., & Platt, E. J. (1999, Fall). Floridas LEP student programs and issues:
A clear picture, or chaos? Sunshine State TESOL Journal, 1020.
Improving Americas Schools Act of 1994, Pub. L. No. 103-382, 108 Stat. 3518 (1994).
Individuals With Disabilities Education Act of 1997, Pub. L. No. 105-17, 111 Stat. 37
(1997).
Kasper, L. F. (2000). Content-based college ESL instruction. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Kochhar, C. A., West, L. L., & Taymans, J. M. (2000). Successful inclusion: Practical
strategies for a shared responsibility. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Krashen, S. D. (1984). Immersion: Why it works and what it has taught us. Language
and Society, 12, 6164.
Lake County Education Association. (2002). LCEAs fast facts research. Retrieved
December 16, 2002, from http://www.lcea.org/LCEAs%20Fast%20Facts
%20Research.htm
Lambert, W., & Tucker, R. (1972). Bilingual education of children: The St. Lambert
experiment. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Leung, C., & Franson, C. (2001). England: ESL in the early days. In B. Mohan,
C. Leung, & C. Davison (Eds.), English as a second language in the mainstream:
Teaching, learning and identity (pp. 153164). New York: Longman.
Lo Bianco, J. (1998). ESL . . . Is it migrant literacy? . . . Is it history? ACTA Background
Papers, 2, 1521.
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Education Research Ofce. (2002). Florida
public schools. Retrieved December 16, 2002, from http://www.miedresearchofce
.org/oridapublicschools.htm
Moore, H. (2001). Who will guard the guardians themselves? National interest versus
factional corruption in policy making for ESL in Australia. In J. Tollefson (Ed.),
Language policies in education: Critical issues (pp. 111135). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Moss, M., & Puma. M. (1995). Prospects: The congressionally mandated study of educational
growth and opportunity. Cambridge, MA: ABT Associates.
Naranjo, C. J. (2000). Making sense: ESOL students in mainstream writing workshops.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Florida, Gainesville.
National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction
Educational Programs. (2002). State elementary and secondary LEP enrollment growth
and top languages, 19992000. Retrieved July 29, 2002 from http://www.ncbe
.gwu.edu/ncbepubs/reports/state-data/2000/
National Commission on Excellence in Education. (1983, April). A nation at risk: The
imperative for educational reform. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing
Ofce.
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110, 115 Stat. 125 (2002).
Retrieved July 27, 2002, from http://www.ed.gov/legislation/ESEA02/
Ofce for Civil Rights. (1991). Policy update on schools obligations toward national origin
minority students with limited-English proficiency (LEP students). Retrieved July 3, 2002,
from http://www.ed.gov/ofces/OCR/docs/laumemos.html
DUELING PHILOSOPHIES
131
Olsen, L. (1997). Made in America: Immigrant students in our public schools. New York:
New Press.
Platt, E. J., & Harper, C. A. (1997). Problems and possibilities of full inclusion of
limited English-procient students in mainstream Florida classrooms. Sunshine
State TESOL Journal, 919.
Platt, E. J., & Harper, C. (2002, April). Changing roles for ESL teachers, coming soon!
Paper presented at the 36th Annual TESOL Convention, Salt Lake City, UT.
Platt, E. J., & Mendoza, M. B. (2002). Influences on ESOL program decision making in
Floridas school districts. Unpublished manuscript.
Platt, E. J., Mendoza, M. B., & Harper, C. (2000, May). What philosophies guide ESOL
programming in Floridas districts? Workshop presented at the Sunshine State
TESOL Conference, Daytona Beach, FL.
Ramrez, J. D., Yuen, S. D., & Ramey, D. R. (1991). Final report: Longitudinal study of
structured English immersion strategy, early-exit and late-exit transitional bilingual education programs for language-minority children. San Mateo, CA: Aguirre International.
Retrieved November 11, 2002, from http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/miscpubs/
ramirez/longitudinal.htm
Short, D. (1998). Program alternatives for linguistically diverse students. Santa Cruz, CA:
Center for Applied Linguistics/Center for Research on Education, Diversity, &
Excellence.
Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (2000). Task-based second language learning: The uses of the
rst language. Language Teaching Research, 4, 251274.
Tate, W. F., Ladson-Billings, G., & Grant C. A. (1993). The Brown decision revisited:
Mathematizing social problems. Educational Policy, 7, 255275.
Taylor, W., & Piche, D. M. (1991). A report on shortchanging children: The impact of fiscal
inequity on the education of students at risk (Serial No. 101-U). Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Ofce.
TESOL. (1997). ESL standards for pre-K12 students. Alexandria, VA: Author.
TESOL. (1999). TESOL statement on the acquisition of academic proficiency in English.
Alexandria, VA: Author.
TESOL. (2000). Integrating the ESL standards into classroom practice: Grades 912.
Alexandria, VA: Author.
Thomas, W. P., & Collier, V. P. (1995). Language minority student achievement and
program effectiveness. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.
Thomas, W. P., & Collier, V. P. (2002). A national study of school effectiveness for language
minority students long-term academic achievement: Final report, executive summary.
Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence. Retrieved July 28,
2002, from http://www.crede.ucsc.edu/research/llaa/1.1es.html
Tikunoff, W. J. (1983). Applying significant bilingual instructional features in the classroom.
Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.
Tollefson, J. W. (1995). Language policy, power and inequality. In J. W. Tollefson
(Ed.), Power and inequality in language education (pp. 18). New York: Cambridge
University Press.
Turnbull, A. P., Turnbull, H. R., Shank, M., & Leal, D. (1995). Exceptional lives: Special
education in todays schools. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.
Turnbull, R., Turnbull, A., Shank, M., Smith, S., & Leal, D. (2002). Exceptional lives:
Special education in todays schools (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Valds, G. (2001). Learning and not learning English: Latino students in American schools.
New York: Teachers College Press.
Wilson-Patton, M. E. (2000). A legal study of the Florida ESOL Consent Decree: From
initiation through fifth year implementation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
Florida State University, Tallahassee.
132
TESOL QUARTERLY
APPENDIX
Interview Protocol
Interviewer: ____________________Interviewee: _________________________
Date: _________________________
District: ____________________________
Would you like a typed summary of this interview (yes/no)? Mailing address (if yes):
Please explain your position in the district (your roles/responsibilities, length of time in
position, and prior background/experience related to this work).
Please verify/clarify your district demographics [taken from returned surveys].
Total number of LEP (LY) students:
Elementary LY students:
Secondary LY students:
Please verify the types of program models serving elementary LY students* [taken from
surveys].
Please verify the types of program models serving secondary LY students* [taken from
surveys].
Please describe any background or details on how these programs are implemented in your
district.
Please provide the rationale for these programs (explain why these programs were selected).
Please express your opinions on the effectiveness of these programs.
Please explain any concerns you may have regarding the following in your district.
Instructional programs for LY students:
LY student achievement/progress:
Other issues regarding LY students:
*Program Model Descriptions: Five program models serving LEP students in Florida [taken from survey]:
ESL pullout: Elementary or secondary LEP students leave their regular classroom to go to an
ESL classroom for at least one class period per day.
ESL self-contained classroom: Elementary LEP students spend most of the day in a selfcontained ESOL classroom.
Sheltered content classes: Secondary LEP students are taught academic content by subject
matter teachers in classes designed specically for their needs.
Inclusion classrooms: Elementary or secondary LEP students are served in mainstream
content classrooms where ESL strategies are being used, where materials are adapted, and/
or where an ESL teacher or paraprofessional assistance is available.
Bilingual or home language instruction: Elementary or secondary LEP students spend at
least part of the day being taught through the home language.
DUELING PHILOSOPHIES
133
THE FORUM
TESOL Quarterly invites commentary on current trends or practices in the TESOL
profession. It also welcomes responses or rebuttals to any articles or remarks
published here in The Forum or elsewhere in the Quarterly.
This proclamation about a quiet revolution appears in the introduction to a collection of articles published by TESOL entitled Teacher
Education, edited by Johnson (2000). The reference to Freeman and
Johnson (1998a), which appears to be the revolutions manifesto, comes
from the lead article to a special-topic issue of TESOL Quarterly (Freeman
& Johnson, 1998b) devoted to research and practice in English language
teacher education. A recent review of the state of language teacher
education (Crandall, 2000) has said that no other volume in the last
decade better portrays the major concerns in language teacher education than this special issue (p. 46), and as such it appears to be an
excellent point of departure for examining the revolution, which calls
for a reconceptualization of the knowledge base of language teacher
education.
The position taken by Freeman and Johnson (1998a) regarding the
knowledge base of teacher education merits careful consideration because it suggests the critical areas of knowledge that should be included
*A version of this commentary was presented at the 35th Annual TESOL Convention, St.
Louis, Missouri, in March 2001.
TESOL QUARTERLY Vol. 37, No. 1, Spring 2003
135
THE RECONCEPTUALIZATION:
MARGINALIZING LANGUAGE
A number of participants in the quiet revolution have painted a
picture of their vision of critical areas for teacher education over the past
15 years. One important paper expressing these views articulated the
need for greater focus in the profession on the act of teaching, but at the
same time it deemphasized what language teachers need to know about
language and language acquisition. Freeman (1989) proposed that
language teacher education serves to link what is known in the eld to
what is done in the classroom. In labeling this link a conuence of
these two streams of research and practice, he claimed that that
conuence will come about not through greater attention to teaching or
research per se, but through a closer examination of how people learn to
teach (p. 30). The absence of the word language in this conuence is
noteworthy because it forecasts the lack of focus on language that
permeates the quiet revolution in language teacher education.
In the 1989 article, Freeman argued that it is teacher awareness that
unies the notions of knowledge, skills, and attitude that a teacher has.
He asked three questions about awareness:
1. Are teachers aware of how they are responding to students? In other
words, are they aware of their attitude toward them?
2. Are they aware of how a particular type of correction is working? Are they
aware of their skills in correcting?
3. Are they aware of what students already know? Are they aware of their
students prior knowledge in relation to the content of the lesson? (p. 34)
These questions are relevant to the eld, but it is not clear whether
research has attempted to address them. Instead of focusing on individual teacher decision making, the agenda appears to have shifted to
questions intended to place individual teachers in their social setting.
136
TESOL QUARTERLY
These three interdependent components are intended to offer a contrasting perspective to the binary distinction between subject matter and
learners on which, Freeman and Johnson claim, most discussions of
language teaching and language teacher education have been based
(Celce-Murcia & McIntosh, 1979; Oller & Richard-Amato, 1983; Widdowson, 1978) (p. 406).
Freeman (1989) asserts that language teacher education is based on
the fundamental misconception that a transmission of knowledge about
applied linguistics and language acquisition is sufcient for a preservice
teacher to become an effective classroom instructor. Based on this
interpretation of language teacher education, Freeman and Johnson
(1998a) make the following statement:
Drawing on work in general education, teacher educators have come to
recognize that teachers are not empty vessels waiting to be lled with
theoretical and pedagogical skills. They are individuals who enter teacher
education programs with prior experiences, personal values, and beliefs that
inform their knowledge about teaching and shape what they do. (p. 401)
137
TESOL QUARTERLY
quences for the kinds of language that learners both comprehend and
produce. From this perspective, for example, errors (or, more accurately,
nontargetlike structures) are not all the same. A reective language
teacher should also ask questions such as what it means to know a
language, how teachers should treat learners nontargetlike forms, how
teachers can assess learners knowledge, whether learning a L2 is similar
to or different from learning an L1, and whether language learning is
similar to or different from learning other subjects, such as mathematics,
social studies, and chemistry.
Encouraging language teachers to reect on so many factors other
than language makes the call for the reconceptualization of language
teacher education incomplete at best and perhaps even misguided. One
of the most distinguished teacher educators in the profession, Marianne
Celce-Murcia, expressed the issue as follows in an interview in which she
was reecting on the profession and her career:
Youve got to know your subject matter. How can you teach the English
language if you dont know English as declarative knowledge? There is much
more to teaching than that, of course. . . . But I really think they are going to
have a difcult time . . . if they dont have an understanding of their subject
matter. (Yoo, 2001, p. 193)
More than 10 years later Freeman and Johnson (1998a) expressed the
same concern about the connection between SLA research and language
teaching: Because the research knowledge per se does not articulate
THE FORUM
139
TESOL QUARTERLY
In the anniversary paper, she maintains the same position that she took
in the rst paper: SLA research should not be the major source of
guidance for the how or the what of second language teaching, but it
can help set realistic expectations for what language teachers and
learners [can] accomplish in the second/foreign language classroom
(p. 431). She notes that over the 15-year period the biggest change in
SLA research is the sheer volume of SLA research that has focused on
pedagogical questions (p. 452).
An earlier paper concerned with theory-research connections, The
Least a Second Language Acquisition Theory Needs to Explain (Long,
1990), summarizes research ndings with relevance for language teaching. Long presents eight accepted ndings about SLA that are very
specic to the domain of L2 learning and would never be considered in
a general teaching practices course. Six of them have clear pedagogical
implications:
1. There are systematic differences in the problems learners of different L1 backgrounds have in learning a particular L2.
2. Age inuences both the rate of acquisition and ultimate attainment
in an L2.
3. Affective factors are subordinate to linguistic and cognitive factors in
development of an L2.
4. Some aspects of learning an L2 require attention to language form.
5. It is impossible to learn some L2 items from positive evidence alone.
6. Much of interlanguage development is often U-shaped, which means
a theory assuming that change in a learners interlanguage is based
on the learners perceptions of the frequencies of forms in the input
is incomplete (p. 660).
The pedagogical implications from the fourth statement in particular
are evident. Doughty and Williams (1998), in Pedagogical Choices in
Focus on Form, present six considerations that we believe all language
teachers must consider: the choice of whether to focus on form, reactive
versus proactive focus on form, the choice of linguistic form, explicitness
of focus on form, sequential versus integrated focus on form, and the
role of focus on form in the curriculum. Following on the conclusions in
THE FORUM
141
Long (1990), Doughty and Williams argue that research on the rst
decision demonstrates that there must be some focus on form in the
language classroom. We would argue that these decisions concerning the
treatment of learners language in the classroom address the critical
domain for language teacher educators more directly than the more
general ones suggested by proponents of the quiet revolution. For
example, Freeman and Richards (1993) advise,
A good teacher is seen as one who analyzes a classroom situation, realizes that
a range of options is available based on the particular circumstances, and
then selects the alternative which is most effective in that instance. (p. 206)
TESOL QUARTERLY
and
With respect to the developing linguistic system, metacognitive awareness
should be developed along with the language itself. Attention is required at
all levels of languagephonological through discoursal and pragmatic. (p.
45)
THE FORUM
143
We would add that the ability of the teacher to provide attention to all
levels of language rests on knowledge based in linguistics and SLA.
Harklau (1994) and Platt and Troudi (1997) show that successful ESL
instruction requires a different environment than that provided for
native speakers and that creating this environment requires a set of
teaching skills that are founded on the knowledge base we are arguing
for.
No doubt other TESOL teacher educators have additional research
studies that raise their students awareness and understanding of the
SLA-related issues situated in their classrooms. In our own SLA classes,
we have found that a number of longitudinal studies of particular L2
learners (Ioup, Boustagui, El Tigi, & Moselle, 1994; Perdue & Klein,
1992; Platt & Troudi, 1997; Schmidt, 1983; Schumann, 1978) are
accessible to our preservice teachers and provide a basis for domainspecic discussion about the teaching problems such learners present in
the classroom.
Finally, as with many trends in our eld, discussion of the quiet
revolution seems to be occurring in North America, where native
speakers of English may be less aware of the linguistic issues involved in
language teaching. It is difcult to see the relevance of this reconceptualization to EFL settings. For example, Delasalles (2001) book, a pedagogical guide for EFL teachers in France, does not marginalize knowledge about linguistics or language acquisition.
CONCLUSION
We have argued that the goal of the quiet revolution to displace
language as central to language teaching is worthy of serious discussion.
This discussion about what should constitute the core of teacher
education in TESOL is particularly timely because of the increasing
numbers of nonnative speakers of English coming into classrooms in the
United States, where mainstream classroom teachers have no specic
preparation in TESOL and where school administrators have turned to
ESL teachers for advice. With so many nonnative-speaking students in
classrooms, it is vital to consider what advice our profession has to offer.
There are important questions about what language teachers do in the
classroom that are unique to L2 teaching and that only research on SLA
has addressed. We are concerned with the direction the quiet revolution
is taking. Ignoring the core subject areas of language and SLA research
will, we believe, cause preservice teachers to be less prepared to teach
ESL/EFL and will cause the eld to lose any coherence as a separate
discipline.
There is evidence for our concern. Hones (2000) identies the
unique features of his language teacher education program as a focus
144
TESOL QUARTERLY
THE AUTHORS
Robert Yates teaches in the MA TESL program at Central Missouri State University.
He is interested in the relationship of second language acquisition and theory to
teaching an L2, the knowledge language teachers need to have about the nature of
language, and developmental writing.
Dennis Muchisky teaches in the MA TESL program at Central Missouri State
University. He has taught in and directed ESL programs in New Mexico and
Nebraska and has published in the area of immigrant writing development in
intensive language programs
REFERENCES
Celce-Murcia, D., & McIntosh, L. (Eds.). (1979). Teaching English as a second or foreign
language. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Crandall, J. (2000). Language teacher education. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics,
20, 3455.
Delasalle, D. (2001). Le future professeur danglais [The future teacher of English].
Paris: Belin.
Doughty, C., & Williams, J. (1998). Pedagogical choices in focus on form. In
C. Doughty & J. Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in classroom second language
acquisition (pp. 197261). New York: Cambridge University Press.
THE FORUM
145
TESOL QUARTERLY
Shulman, J. H. (1992). Case methods in teacher education. New York: Teachers College
Press.
Widdowson, H. G. (1978). Teaching language as communication. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Yoo, I. (2001). Bridging the gap between research and pedagogy: An interview with
Marianne Celce-Murcia. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 12, 187199.
147
148
TESOL QUARTERLY
THE FORUM
149
REFERENCES
Biber, D. (1988). Variation across speech and writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Biber, D. (1995). Dimensions of register variation: A cross-linguistic comparison. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Biber, D., & Finegan, E. (1986). An initial typology of English text types. In J. Aarts &
W. Meijs (Eds.), Corpus linguistics II: New studies in the analysis and exploitation of
computer corpora (pp. 1946). Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Ervin-Tripp, S. (1972). On sociolinguistic rules: Alternation and co-occurrence. In
J. J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (Eds.), Directions in sociolinguistics (pp. 213250). New
York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Ghadessy, M. (1999). Textual features and contextual factors for register identication. In M. Ghadessy (Ed.), Text and context in functional linguistics (pp. 125139).
Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language
and meaning. London: Arnold.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1982). How is a text like a clause? In S. Allen (Ed.), Text processing
(pp. 209247). Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksel.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1985). Register variation. In M. A. K. Halliday & R. Hasan,
Language, context, and text: Aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective (pp. 29
41). Geelong, Australia: Deakin University Press.
Hasan, R. (1996). Ways of saying, ways of meaning: Selected papers of Ruqaiya Hasan
(C. Cloran, D. Butt, & G. Williams, Eds.). London: Cassell.
Martin, J. (1992). English text: System and structure. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Matthiessen, C. (1993). Register in the round. In M. Ghadessy (Ed.), Register analysis:
Theory and practice (pp. 221292). London: Pinter.
Reid, T. B. W. (1956). Linguistics, structuralism, and philology. Archivum Linguisticum,
8, 2837.
Thompson, G. (1997). Introducing functional grammar. London: Arnold.
150
TESOL QUARTERLY
THE FORUM
151
It takes advantage of corpus-based research methodologies to investigate overall patterns of register variation and achieve more generalizable results than in other methodologies.
TESOL QUARTERLY
not regard them as criticisms. They are simply reections of the research
constructs and goals of MD analysis and the ways they happen to differ
from SFL. We see SFL as a complementary theoretical framework, with
different analytical techniques and research goals from our own. We
would welcome a synthesis of perspectives and methods, but we do not
think that either approach should abandon its own goals and priorities
in that effort.
Finally, Ghadessy makes several incorrect statements that reect
misunderstandings or misrepresentations. The rst has to do with the
denition and identication of registers. Ghadessy characterizes MD
analysis as Biber et al.s MD theory for register identication. However,
in the MD approach, registers are named varieties in a culture, dened
in situational terms, like conversation, letters, textbooks, and lectures. As
we explain (p. 10, Footnote 1), registers in this view are not necessarily
well dened linguistically; that is, there can be important linguistic
differences among texts within a register. Similarly, registers are not
necessarily distinguished from one another in their linguistic characteristics. For example, university textbooks and newspaper prose are
completely different registers, but they are similar in many of their
linguistic characteristics. MD analysis was developed to analyze those
linguistic characteristics, addressing the extent to which any two registers
are similar or different along multiple linguistic dimensions of variation.
Ghadessy is not correct in stating that these dimensions are used to
dene or identify registers; rather, the dimensions are used to compare
the linguistic characteristics of predened registers. A complementary
analytical approachanalyzing text typesidenties text categories that
are well dened in linguistic terms (see the references cited on p. 10,
Footnote 1, in our article).
Second, Ghadessy repeatedly states that MD analysis has an impoverished linguistic basis. He states that it is based on the frequency of some
grammatical categories, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, and
articles; that it is restricted almost exclusively to single words or
phrases; and that it consists of a list of words and their collocation
probabilities. On the ip side, Ghadessy suggests that MD analysis
completely disregards clause-level features. Such descriptions are erroneous at best. In fact, MD analysis includes as wide a range of relevant
grammatical classes and distinctions as possible within its corpus-based
approach, including grammatical classes, analysis of grammatical/syntactic
function, and analysis of many clause types and variants. These features
include word classes like nouns, verbs, adjectives, and pronouns. Within
most classes, MD analyses further include grammatical/syntactic distinctions. For example, verb phrases are analyzed for their grammatical
function, distinguishing past and present tense; simple, perfect, and
progressive aspect; and active and passive voice. Adjectives are subclassied
THE FORUM
153
1
Ghadessy cites his 1999 study as evidence that inclusion of thematic features will disconrm
the results of previous MD analyses. In that study, Ghadessy claims to have used a cluster analysis
for this purpose. However, an examination of that study suggests that Ghadessy fails to
understand the statistical basis of MD analysis.
In the MD framework, text types are identied through a multivariate statistical procedure
called cluster analysis; this procedure groups observations that are maximally similar with respect
to certain quantitative variables. In MD studies, the observations are texts, and the quantitative
variables are the dimension scores (see Biber, 1995, chapter 9).
In contrast, Ghadessy (1999) claims to have performed a cluster analysis in a study in which
the observations were individual clauses and the variables were nominal characteristics (e.g.,
whether the theme type of the clause was simple theme, multiple theme, or textual theme). A
statistical cluster analysis is not possible in this case because there are no quantitative variables
that could be used to group the observations. Instead, Ghadessy appears to have relied on a
visual inspection of a cross-tabulation table, which showed the proportional use of each
thematic clause type in each register. From a statistical point of view, the analysis carried out by
Ghadessy is in no way comparable to a cluster analysis, and the results are in no way comparable
to those achieved through MD analysis.
154
TESOL QUARTERLY
that permit generalizable, empirical corpus investigations of their distribution, we agree that thematic features are likely to be important register
characteristics, and we welcome efforts to develop analytical techniques.
Until a utopian time when a single methodological approach can
cover all aspects of language use, we are left with examining register
variation through a variety of approaches. It is our position that all
approaches conducted in principled ways should be welcome. We need
to sit down to a banquet, if you will, rather than expecting any single dish
to include all ingredients, and rather than criticizing a dish for not
conforming to another chefs priorities.
REFERENCES
Biber, D. (1995). Dimensions of register variation: A cross-linguistic comparison. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Biber, D. (in press). Variation among university spoken and written registers: A new
multi-dimensional analysis. In C. Meyer & P. Leistyna (Eds.), Corpus analysis:
Language structure and language use. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Biber, D., Conrad, S., Reppen, R., Byrd, P., Helt, M., Clark, V., et al. (in press).
Representing language use in the university: Analysis of the TOEFL 2000 Spoken and
Written Academic Language Corpus (TOEFL Monograph). Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). The Longman
grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Ghadessy, M. (1999). Textual features and contextual factors for register identication. In M. Ghadessy (Ed.), Text and context in functional linguistics (pp. 125139).
Amsterdam: Benjamins.
THE FORUM
155
RESEARCH ISSUES
In this issue, TESOL Quarterly presents revised guidelines for quantitative and
qualitative research in TESOL. Contributors to the guidelines were Dwight Atkinson,
J. D. Brown, Suresh Canagarajah, Kathryn Davis, Patricia A. Duff, Linda Harklau,
Joan Jamieson, Numa Markee, and Steven Ross.
Edited by CAROL A. CHAPELLE
Iowa State University
PATRICIA A. DUFF
University of British Columbia
157
professional judgment about good practice for quantitative and qualitative research in TESOL. The quantitative guidelines include important
considerations in conducting and reporting rigorous quantitative research, with attention to a studys purpose, participants, measures,
procedures, analysis, and interpretation. These guidelines do not attempt to distinguish among the many types of quantitative studies, but
rather focus on common principles and good practice pertaining to a
variety of such studies. Readers are referred to the many other published
sources in the References and Further Reading section of the quantitative guidelines.
For qualitative research methods in TESOL, about which fewer
textbooks or articles have been written, we provide guidelines for case
study, conversation analysis, and (critical) ethnography as three exemplars, each with its own traditions, variants and alternatives, and conventions. Among these three qualitative methods, overlapping principles are
evident, but so are distinctions. Across all four pieces, whether quantitative and qualitative, an overriding theme is that researchers should be
explicit about the research contexts, populations, procedures, analyses,
and basis for interpretations. This requirement tends to imply long
papers, but because of the limits on the length of submissions, writers
and editors must make informed decisions about what information is
essential to include and what is not.
We did not attempt to squeeze the guidelines for each research
approach into exactly the same mold. In view of the diverse epistemologies associated with the research approaches, it seems natural for each
set of guidelines to be expressed in a different way. What they share,
however, is an expression of accepted practice within a particular
research tradition from the view of researchers within that tradition. In
assembling these guidelines, we did not intend to cover every research
approach that might be applied to a problem in TESOL. For example,
contributors can nd discussion of narrative research with comprehensive references in the Research Issues section of Vol. 36, No. 2 (Summer
2002). In the future, this discussion might be formalized into guidelines
for narrative research, as might other discussions of approaches appearing in Research Issues. These guidelines are the rst in an expanding set
of summaries to be introduced in Research Issues and in the TESOL
Quarterly section of TESOLs Web site. The guidelines, like those previously published in TESOL Quarterly, will naturally evolve and grow over
time. We welcome readers input and suggestions about guidelines for
other types of research.
158
TESOL QUARTERLY
INTRODUCTION
Explain the point of the study. What problem is being addressed? Why
is it interesting or important from a theoretical perspective? Briey
review the literature, emphasizing pertinent and relevant ndings,
methodological issues, and gaps in understanding. Conclude the introduction with a statement of purpose, your research questions, and,
where relevant, your hypotheses; clearly explain the rationale for each
hypothesis.
METHOD
Explain your study in enough detail that it could be replicated.
Participants
Clearly state whether there is a population that you would ideally want
to generalize to; explain the characteristics of that population. Explain
your sampling procedure. If you are using a convenience sample, be sure
to say so. Arguments for representativeness can be strengthened by
comparing characteristics of the sample with that of the population on a
range of variables. Describe the characteristics and the size of the
sample. When appropriate, describe how participants were assigned to
groups.
Measures
Summarize all instruments in terms of both descriptions and measurement properties (i.e., reliability and validity). Provide estimates of the
reliability of the scores in your sample in addition to reliability estimates
provided by test publishers, other researchers, or both; when you make
judgments about performance or when language samples are coded for
linguistic characteristics, include estimates of classication dependability
or coder agreement.
RESEARCH ISSUES
159
Procedure
Describe the conditions under which you administered your instruments.
Design. Make clear what type of study you have donewas your study
evaluating a priori hypotheses, or was it exploratory in order to generate
hypotheses? Was it a meta-analysis? Explain your design, and state
whether your comparisons were within subjects, between subjects, or
both. Refer to standard works such as textbooks for study designs.
Describe the methods used to deal with experimenter bias if you
collected the data yourself. If you assigned participants to subgroups,
explain how you did so. If you used random assignment, tell the readers
how the randomization was done (e.g., coin toss, random numbers table,
computerized random numbers generation). If you did not use random
assignment, explain relevant covariates and the way you measured and
adjusted for them, either statistically or by design. Describe the characteristics and the size of the subgroups. In place of the terms experimental
group and control group, use treatment group and contrast group.
Variables. Dene the variables in the study. Make explicit the link
between the theoretical constructs and the way(s) they have been
operationalized in your study. Dene the role of each variable in your
study (e.g., dependent, independent, moderating, control). Explain how
you measured or otherwise observed the variables.
Power and sample size. Provide information on the sample size and the
process that led to the decision to use that size. Provide information on
the anticipated effect size as you have estimated it from previous
research. Provide the alpha level used in the study, discussing the risk of
Type I error. Provide the power of your study (calculate it using a
standard reference such as Cohen, 1988, or a computer program).
Discuss the risk of Type II error.
RESULTS
160
Explain the data collected and their statistical treatment as well as all
relevant results in relation to your research questions. Interpretation
of results is not appropriate in this section.
Report unanticipated events that occurred during your data collection. Explain how the actual analysis differs from the planned
analysis. Explain your handling of missing data.
Explain the techniques you used to clean your data set.
TESOL QUARTERLY
Choose a minimally sufcient statistical procedure; provide a rationale for its use and a textbook reference for it. Specify any computer
programs used.
Describe the assumptions for each procedure and the steps you took
to ensure that they were not violated.
When using inferential statistics, provide the descriptive statistics,
condence intervals, and sample sizes for each variable as well as the
value of the test statistic, its direction, the degrees of freedom, and
the signicance level (report the actual p value).
Always supplement the reporting of an actual p value with a measure
of effect magnitude (e.g., measures of strength of association or
measures of effect size). Briey contextualize the magnitude of the
effect in theoretical and practical terms. Condence intervals for the
effect magnitudes of principal outcomes are recommended.
If you use multiple statistical analyses (e.g., t tests, analyses of
variance, correlations), make the required adjustments to the alpha
level (e.g., a Bonferroni correction).
Avoid inferring causality, particularly in nonrandomized designs or
without further experimentation.
Use tables to provide exact values; present all values with two places
to the right of the decimal point.
Use gures to convey global effects. Keep gures small in size;
include graphic representations of condence intervals whenever
possible.
Always tell the reader what to look for in tables and gures.
DISCUSSION
Interpretation
Clearly state your ndings for each of your research questions and
their associated hypotheses. State similarities and differences with effect
sizes reported in the literature. Discuss whether features of the methodology and analysis are strong enough to support strong conclusions.
Conclusions
Note the weaknesses of your study. Identify theoretical and practical
implications of your study. Discuss limitations and suggest improvements
to your study. Provide recommendations for future research that are
thoughtful and grounded both in terms of your results and in the
literature.
RESEARCH ISSUES
161
162
TESOL QUARTERLY
Myers, J., & Well, A. (1995). Research design and statistical analysis. Hillside, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Parkhurst, D. F. (1997). Commentaries on significance testing. Retrieved January 29,
2003, from http://www.indiana.edu/~stigtsts/
Roberts, J. K., & Henson, R. (2002). Correcting for bias in estimating effect sizes.
Educational and Psychological Measurement, 62, 241253.
Rosenthal, R. (1994). Parametric measures of effect size. In H. Cooper & L. V.
Hedges (Eds.), The handbook of research synthesis (pp. 231244). New York: Russell
Sage Foundation.
Schmidt, F. (1996). Statistical signicance testing and cumulative knowledge in
psychology: Implications for the training of researchers. Psychological Methods, 1,
115129.
Shadish, W., Robinson, L., & Lu, C. (1999). ES: A Computer Program for Effect Size
Calculation [Computer software]. St. Paul, MN: Assessment Systems.
Smithson, M. (2001). Correct condence intervals for various regression effect sizes
and parameters: The importance of noncentral distributions in computing
intervals. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 61, 605632.
Smithson, M. (2002). Scripts and software for noncentral confidence interval and power
calculations. Retrieved January 29, 2003, from http://www.anu.edu.au/psychology
/staff/mike/CIstuff/CI.html
Thompson, B. (1999). Journal editorial policies regarding statistical signicance
tests: Heat is to re as p is to importance. Educational Psychology Review, 11, 157
169.
Thompson, B. (2000). Various editorial policies regarding statistical significance tests and
effect sizes. Retrieved January 29, 2003, from http://www.coe.tamu.edu/bthompson
/journals.htm
Thompson, B. (2002). What future quantitative social science research could look
like: Condence intervals for effect sizes. Educational Researcher, 31(3), 2532.
Thompson, B., & Vacha-Haase, T. (2000). Psychometrics is datametrics: The test is
not reliable. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 60, 174195.
Thompson, W. L. (2000). 326 articles/books questioning the indiscriminate use of statistical
hypothesis tests in observational studies. Retrieved January 29, 2003, from http://
www.cnr.colostate.edu/~anderson/thompson1.html
Vacha-Haase, T., Nilsson, J., Reetz, D., Lance, T., & Thompson, B. (2000). Reporting
practices and APA editorial policies regarding statistical signicance and effect
size. Theory and Psychology, 10, 413425.
Wilkinson, L., & Task Force on Statistical Inference. (1999). Statistical methods in
psychology journals: Guidelines and explanations [Electronic version]. American
Psychologist, 54, 594604. Retrieved January 29, 2002, from http://www.apa.org
/journals/amp/amp548594.html
RESEARCH ISSUES
163
ASSUMPTIONS
1. In TESOL, a case typically refers to a person, either a learner or a
teacher, or an entity, such as a school, a university, a classroom, or a
program (see Faltis, 1997; Johnson, 1992; Nunan, 1992). In language
policy research, the case may be a country. Case studies may be
included in larger quantitative or qualitative studies to provide a
concrete illustration of ndings, or they may be conducted independently, either longitudinally or in a more limited temporal period.
Unlike ethnographic research, case studies do not necessarily focus
on cultural aspects of a group or its members. Case study research
may feature single cases or multiple cases (e.g., often two to four).
2. Acknowledging multiple realities in qualitative case studies, as is now
commonly done, involves discerning the various perspectives of the
researcher, the case/participant, and others, which may or may not
converge (Yin, 1994). As an interpretive, inductive form of research,
case studies explore the details and meanings of experience and do
not usually attempt to test a priori hypotheses. Instead, the researcher attempts to identify important patterns and themes in the
data. The richness of case studies is related to the amount of detail
and contextualization that is possible when only one or a small
number of focal cases and issues are analyzed. The writers ability to
provide a compelling and engaging prole of the case, with suitable
examples and linkages to broader issues, is also very important.
164
TESOL QUARTERLY
METHODS
Context
Provide sufcient contextual information about the case, including
relevant biographical and social information (depending on the focus),
such as ESL learning/teaching history, L1 background, years of residence in a new country, data collection site(s), or other relevant
descriptive information pertaining to the case and situation.
Sampling
Purposeful sampling is generally used in case study research; therefore, explain sampling procedures and case selection, and the dening
characteristics and typicality or atypicality of the case: Note whether the
case in question is a deviant or extreme case, a critical case, a convenience case, a politically signicant case, and so on (Creswell, 1998; Miles
& Huberman, 1994). Because attrition may deeply affect longitudinal
case studies based on just one or two participants, sampling carefully is
crucial. If multiple cases are used, researchers often provide a detailed
account of each and then some form of cross-case comparison, either in
prose or in a tabular summary (Creswell, 1998). Multiple cases are often
preferable to single cases, particularly when the cases may not be
representative of the population from which they are drawn and when a
range of behaviors/proles, experiences, outcomes, or situations is
desirable. However, including multiple cases limits the depth with which
each case may be analyzed and also has implications for the structure
and length of the nal report.
Data
Draw data either from one primary source (e.g., oral interviews,
journals, or essays) or from multiple sources. As in ethnography, bringing together (triangulating) multiple perspectives, methods, and sources
of information (e.g., from interviews, observations, eld notes, selfreports or think-aloud protocols, tests, transcripts, and other documents) adds texture, depth, and multiple insights to an analysis and can
enhance the validity or credibility of the results. Observations and data
collection settings may range from natural to articial, with relatively
unstructured to highly structured elicitation tasks and category systems,
depending on the purpose of the study and the disciplinary traditions
associated with it (Cohen & Manion, 1994). Data in SLA studies may be
somewhat more restricted (either interviews, tests, writing samples,
think-aloud protocols, or grammaticality judgments), and the analytic
focus may be narrower and more technical as well, such as the development of linguistic or rhetorical structures in oral or written L2 production.
RESEARCH ISSUES
165
Interpretation
Establishing the signicance or importance of themes or ndings is
crucial; the discussion should ideally link these themes explicitly to
larger theoretical and practical issues. However, generalization to populations is not appropriate or desirable in most case studies. Be cautious
about drawing unwarranted inferences because of the small sample size,
particularly if the case is not typical of others in the same set. L2
researchers frequently propose models or principles based on their
results to be supported, tested, compared, or refuted by themselves or
others in subsequent research (e.g., Schmidt, 1983; Schmidt & Frota,
1986).
166
TESOL QUARTERLY
methods of data collection and analysis, either manual or computerbased data management and analysis (see Weitzman & Miles, 1995),
or other equipment and procedures used
RESEARCH ISSUES
167
168
TESOL QUARTERLY
Conversation Analysis
ASSUMPTIONS
CA studies submitted to TESOL Quarterly should exhibit an in-depth
understanding of the ethnomethodological philosophical perspectives
and methodologies of CA research (see Firth, 1996; Firth & Wagner,
1997; Markee, 1994, 1995, 2000; Schegloff, Koshik, Jacoby, & Olsher,
2002; Seedhouse, 1997, 1999; Wagner, 1996). Utilizing these perspectives
and methods in the course of conducting CA research helps ensure that
studies represent credible accounts of participants orientations to the
behaviors they display to each other and therefore to analysts. Reports of
CA studies should meet the following criteria:
1. The kinds of data analyzed should include naturally occurring data
from either ordinary conversation (i.e., ordinary chatting among
friends) or institutional talk (e.g., ESL classroom talk, oral prociency interviews, writing conferences).
2. The report should focus on the usual topics of CA research (see
Drew, 1994). These topics include, but are not limited to, the
organization of sequences (i.e., courses of action), turn-taking and
repair practices, syntax-for-conversation, the structure of speech
events, and the integration of speech and gesture. Analyses should
demonstrate how native speakers/users of English, nonnative speakers/users of English, or both deploy these aspects of interactional
competence to communicate in or learn this language.
3. The research should aim to uncover an emic perspective. In other
words, the study focuses on participants contextualized perspectives
and interpretations of behavior, events, and situations rather than
etic (outsider-imposed) categories, models, and viewpoints (van Lier,
1988).
4. The primary data in the study should be the conversational and
other behaviors that participants produce for each other in real
time. The notion of context is principally understood as the talk that
immediately precedes and follows the conversational object under
study (Heritage, 1988); this is sometimes referred to as the cotext of
RESEARCH ISSUES
169
5.
6.
7.
8.
DATA ANALYSIS
Data analysis is guided by the ethnomethodological philosophy,
methods, and goals of CA research.
1. You should provide a comprehensive treatment of the data under
discussion by demonstrating how participants collaboratively coconstruct their talk. This entails analyzing prototypical examples of
talk-in-interaction, which may consist of either single cases or collections of particular types of conversational objects. Ensure that you
can warrant your claims by pointing to a convergence of different
types of textual evidence and, where relevant, by demonstrating the
characteristics of a particular practice across a variety of contexts
( Jacobs, 1986, 1987).
2. You may use CA ndings to generate hypotheses for subsequent
experimental research. However, this is not the principal aim of CA
research (Schegloff, 1993). If you use quantication, ensure that it
only follows careful analysis of the individual cases that are being
quantied, with categories for quantication emerging from this
170
TESOL QUARTERLY
THE CA REPORT
CA reports submitted to TESOL Quarterly should include the following
information:
1. a clear statement of the research issues
2. a description of the research site, participants, procedures for
ensuring participant anonymity, and data collection strategies
3. an empirically based description of a clear and salient organization
of patterns found through data analysisincluding representative
examples, not anecdotal information
4. interpretations in which you trace the underlying organization of
patterns across all contexts in which they are embedded
5. a discussion of how the data analyzed in the study connect with and
shed light on current theoretical and practical issues in the acquisition and use of English as an L2
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
ON CONVERSATION ANALYSIS
Atkinson, J. M., & Heritage, J. (1984). Transcript notation. In J. M. Atkinson &
J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action (pp. ixxvi). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Boden, D., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1991). Transcription appendix. In D. Boden &
D. H. Zimmerman (Eds.), Talk and social structure (pp. 278282). Cambridge:
Polity.
Brown, G., & Yule, G. (983). Discourse analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Drew, P. (1994). Conversation analysis. In R. E. Asher (Ed.), The encyclopedia of
language and linguistics (pp. 749754). Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Firth, A. (1996). The discursive accomplishment of normality: On lingua franca
English and conversation analysis. Journal of Pragmatics, 26, 237259.
Firth, A., & Wagner, J. (1997). On discourse, communication, and (some) fundamental concepts in SLA research. The Modern Language Journal, 81, 285300.
Goodwin, C. (1981). Conversational organization. New York: Academic Press.
Heritage, J. (1988). Current developments in conversation analysis. In D. Roger &
P. Bull (Eds.), Conversation (pp. 2147). Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
Jacobs, S. (1986). How to make an argument from example. In D. G. Ellis & W. A.
Donohue (Eds.), Contemporary issues in language and discourse processes (pp. 149
167). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Jacobs, S. (1987). Commentary on Zimmerman: Evidence and inference in conversation analysis. Communication Yearbook, 11, 433443.
Markee, N. (1994). Toward an ethnomethodological respecication of second
language acquisition studies. In E. Tarone, S. Gass, & A. Cohen (Eds.), Research
methodology in second language acquisition (pp. 89116). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
RESEARCH ISSUES
171
(Critical) Ethnography
ASSUMPTIONS
Research approaches that use the qualier critical differ from descriptive or interpretive approaches, which historically adopted a more detached, objective, value-free orientation to knowledge, although there is
some convergence between critical and descriptive approaches within
contemporary ethnography. Critical approaches align themselves with
the post-Enlightenment philosophical tradition of situating research in
its social context to consider how knowledge is shaped by the values of
human agents and communities, implicated in power differences, and
172
TESOL QUARTERLY
RESEARCH ISSUES
173
DATA
1. Show evidence of residing or spending considerable lengths of time
interacting with people in the study setting, observing and recording
their activities as they unfolded through means such as eld notes
(see, e.g., Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw, 1995), audio and video recordings, or both. A hallmark of ethnography is extended, rsthand
participant observation and interactions with participants in the
study setting.
2. Record participant beliefs and attitudes through such typical means
as notes or transcribed recordings of informal conversation and
interviews, and participant journals (see Salzman, 2001).
3. Include several different sources of data. Besides participant observation and interactions with participants, these sources might include
life histories (Darnell, 2001) and narrative analysis (Cortazzi, 2001),
photography, audio or video recordings (Nastasi, 1999), written
documents (Brewer, 2000), data documenting historical trends, and
questionnaires and surveys (Salzman, 2001).
4. If called for, as they often are in critical ethnography (as well as in
many cases of descriptive/interpretive ethnography), use additional
sources of data and reection. These include
evidence of how the power differences between you and the
informants/subjects were negotiated. Though it is idealistic to
think that power differences can be totally eliminated, address
how they were managed, modied, or shifted and how they
inuenced the data gathered.
your attitudes and biases toward the community and its culture.
Record how the your perspectives changed during the course of
the research and how these changes shaped the data gathered.
the impact of your activities and behavior on the community.
State whether you involved yourself in the ethical, social, or
political challenges faced by the community. Include in the data
the way such practical engagements may have generated deeper
insights or affected the research (and the ways you negotiated
these tensions).
the conicts and inconsistencies in the statements made by the
informants (or community insiders). Rather than favoring one
set of data over the other or neatly tying all the loose strands to
arrive at generalizations, wrestle with the diversity of insider
perspectives in order to represent culture with complexity.
a broadened understanding of the context of the culture.
Although context is being constantly (re)created through talk
174
TESOL QUARTERLY
175
176
TESOL QUARTERLY
RESEARCH ISSUES
177
Audiovisual techniques, focused group interviews, and elicitation techniques (pp. 150).
Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
Peirce, B. N. (1995). The theory of methodology in qualitative research. TESOL
Quarterly, 29, 569576.
Pennycook, A. (1994). Critical pedagogical approaches to research. TESOL Quarterly,
28, 690693.
Salzman, P. C. (2001). Understanding culture: An introduction to anthropological theory.
Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
Scheurich, J. J., & Young, M. D. (1997). Coloring epistemologies: Are our research
epistemologies racially biased? Educational Researcher, 26(4), 417.
178
TESOL QUARTERLY
REVIEWS
TESOL Quarterly welcomes evaluative reviews of publications relevant to TESOL
professionals.
Edited by ROBERTA J. VANN
Iowa State University
179
180
TESOL QUARTERLY
REFERENCE
Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language (2nd
ed.). Essex, England: Longman.
ROBERT WEISSBERG
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States
REVIEWS
181
TESOL QUARTERLY
183
184
TESOL QUARTERLY
185
Lock, G. (1996). Functional English grammar: An introduction for second language teachers.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
MARY J. SCHLEPPEGRELL
University of California
Davis, California, United States
186
TESOL QUARTERLY
constitute two macro-genres that subsume most, if not all, other genres,
thus constituting an important organizing principle for readers and
writers. The responses that follow, from J. R. Martin of the Sydney
School, Vijay Bhatia of ESP, and Carol Berkenkotter of the New Rhetoric,
raise various objections to Grabes argument, suggesting that his macrogenres ignore the specicity of text, purpose, and situation that genres
embody.
Anyone familiar with Johnss previous work (e.g., Johns, 1997) knows
that she tends toward the ESP/New Rhetoric end of the scale, and the
book reects this standpoint, most obviously in the arrangement of the
chapters, which progresses away from the Sydney School and toward the
New Rhetoric. Nevertheless, while those expecting an explicit how-to
book on using genre in the classroom may be disappointed, readers
not only ESL composition teachers but just about anyone involved in
literacy instructionwill nd a book of truly international scope, with a
diversity of perspectives offering plenty of food for thought.
REFERENCES
Johns, A. (1997). Text, role and context: Developing academic literacies. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
PETER CLEMENTS
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington, United States
187
basals and textbooks that are not only simplied but also pose a
particular problem for the English language learner because they are
frustrating and boring (p. 43). Literature, on the hand, provides the rich
vocabulary and syntax that English language learners need in an
appealing and motivating format. The authors are careful to emphasize
that literature is not a pedagogical panacea: Classroom teachers must
work diligently to incorporate literature into their language or content
lesson. The authors offer ample practical suggestions for doing so.
The 12-chapter book is organized into four sections. Section 1
discusses the current situation of English language learners in K12
settings, theories of SLA, and ways literature can address these issues.
Section 2 covers the connection between literature and the traditional
language development areas of oral skills, reading, and writing. Section
3 reveals how culture can be covered in a literature-based approach.
Section 4 discusses how literature can be a basis for an exploration of
academic content.
The books merits include its lucid argument in favor of literature for
English language learners. The authors point out that ction is not the
only type of literature for English language learners. Indeed, in todays
publishing market there are many nonction trade books that would be
very valid for a range of content and language learning. Other merits
include a sizable list of books that can be used by K12 learners at various
prociency levels. This sort of list is invaluable to both ESL teachers and
content teachers. Equally valuable are the practical suggestions (supported by research and theory) on how to incorporate literature into the
classroom for English language learners. Finally, the sections on poetry,
folklore, and nonction literature explore seldom-discussed avenues
that promise benets for language acquisition.
One potentially negative aspect of the book is that, in their zeal to
promote the use of literature, the authors may leave novice teachers with
the impression that a purely naturalistic approach to all language
learning matters is sufcient. This is not the authors intent, and they
caution against it. Despite this one element, the book would be very
useful for beginning ESL teachers in its review of SLA principles and
their application to this approach. It would be very valuable to experienced ESL teachers and content teachers in its suggestions for the use of
literature and rich list of specic books. Experienced ESL teachers who
are well versed in applied linguistics will nd the rst two chapters a
somewhat supercial treatment of SLA theory and will want to skip them.
Todays language learning pedagogy tends to rely too heavily on drills
and exercises and loses sight of the fact that one of the goals of language
development and literacy is not only the development of academic
language prociency but also the promotion of lifelong reading and
learning. This books strength is that it makes teachers and pedagogues
188
TESOL QUARTERLY
reevaluate some of their educational goals and the avenues for achieving
them.
DAVID JOHNSON
Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw, Georgia, United States
Shohamy has trenchantly articulated the issues that surround the uses
and misuses of high-stakes tests in the current age of near-neurotic
accountability. This book documents the sociopolitical contexts and the
global cultures of power-wielding, top-down authorityquite simply, the
voices of the oppressor and the oppressed. Shohamy is direct, clear, and
cogent. Language is never limp or dehumanizing. The voices of despair
are clear and authentic, as when she recounts the following experience
shared with a fellow scholar in language testing and assessment:
On a memorable night in a bar . . . in . . . the Netherlands, during a
conference on language testing, my friend and colleague Tim McNamara and
myself found ourselves deeply engaged in a conversation with a drug junkie
. . . [who] recalled . . . taking a standardized test in 7th grade and failing it
badly . . . . From that point on his father started rejecting him. This eventually
led to a series of events that turned our conversation partner into an outcast
in his family leading him to leave home and gradually reach the point where
he is at now. Needless to say we felt responsible, a face-to-face encounter with
one of our own victims. (p. 8)
Shohamy is quick to say that the point is not the truth or falsity of this
particular, personal story or, for that matter, the truth or falsity of the
testimony by many other test takers that she felicitously recounts. The
point is the perception of powerlessness by test takers and the sociocultural consequences.
Shohamy argues that tests in and of themselves are not usually the
cause of such an unpleasant state of affairs. The culprit is, rather, what is
done with tests: Sometimes they are deployed as a disciplinarians tool,
forcing the test taker to conform; at other times they are the tool of state
policy in schemes of accountability, compliance, and standardization,
forcing teachers to teach to a test. Shohamy writes, Tests can be used for
surveillance to quantify, classify and punish (p. 17). This book could
REVIEWS
189
TESOL QUARTERLY
REVIEWS
191
192
TESOL QUARTERLY
REVIEWS
193
BOOK NOTICES
TESOL Quarterly prints brief book notices of 100 words or less announcing books of
interest to readers. Book Notices are intended to inform readers about selected
books that publishers have sent to TESOL and are descriptive rather than evaluative.
They are solicited by the Review Editor.
195
196
TESOL QUARTERLY
Because the Quarterly is committed to publishing manuscripts that contribute to bridging theory and practice in our profession, it particularly
welcomes submissions drawing on relevant research (e.g., in anthropology,
applied and theoretical linguistics, communication, education, English
education [including reading and writing theory], psycholinguistics, psychology, first and second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and sociology) and addressing implications and applications of this research to issues
in our profession. The Quarterly prefers that all submissions be written so
that their content is accessible to a broad readership, including those
individuals who may not have familiarity with the subject matter addressed.
TESOL Quarterly is an international journal. It welcomes submissions from
English language contexts around the world.
INFORMATION
FOR
TESOL QUARTERLY
Vol. CONTRIBUTORS
37, No. 1, Spring 2003
197
Carol A. Chapelle
Department of English
203 Ross Hall
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-1201 USA
The following factors are considered when evaluating the suitability of a
manuscript for publication in TESOL Quarterly:
The manuscript appeals to the general interests of TESOL Quarterlys
readership.
The manuscript strengthens the relationship between theory and practice: Practical articles must be anchored in theory, and theoretical articles
and reports of research must contain a discussion of implications or
applications for practice.
The content of the manuscript is accessible to the broad readership of the
Quarterly, not only to specialists in the area addressed.
The manuscript offers a new, original insight or interpretation and not
just a restatement of others ideas and views.
The manuscript makes a significant (practical, useful, plausible) contribution to the field.
The manuscript is likely to arouse readers interest.
The manuscript reflects sound scholarship and research design with
appropriate, correctly interpreted references to other authors and works.
The manuscript is well written and organized and conforms to the
specifications of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.).
Reviews. TESOL Quarterly invites succinct, evaluative reviews of professional
books. Reviews should provide a descriptive and evaluative summary and a
brief discussion of the significance of the work in the context of current
theory and practice. Submissions should generally be no longer than 500
words. Send one copy by e-mail to the Review Editor:
Roberta Vann
rvann@iastate.edu
Review Articles. TESOL Quarterly also welcomes occasional review articles,
that is, comparative discussions of several publications that fall into a topical
category (e.g., pronunciation, literacy training, teaching methodology).
Review articles should provide a description and evaluative comparison of
the materials and discuss the relative significance of the works in the context
of current theory and practice. Submissions should generally be no longer
than 1,500 words. Submit two copies of the review article to the Review
Editor at the address given above.
198
TESOL QUARTERLY
Brief Reports and Summaries. TESOL Quarterly also invites short reports on
any aspect of theory and practice in our profession. We encourage manuscripts that either present preliminary findings or focus on some aspect of a
larger study. In all cases, the discussion of issues should be supported by
empirical evidence, collected through qualitative or quantitative investigations. Reports or summaries should present key concepts and results in a
manner that will make the research accessible to our diverse readership.
Submissions to this section should be 710 double-spaced pages, or 3,400
words (including references, notes, and tables). If possible, indicate the
number of words at the end of the report. Longer articles do not appear in this
section and should be submitted to the Editor of TESOL Quarterly for review. Send
one copy of the manuscript each to:
Cathie Elder
Department of Applied Language
Studies and Linguistics
University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland, New Zealand
Paula Golombek
305 Sparks Building
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802 USA
199
TESOL QUARTERLY
201
11. If the sample of student work (e.g., a signed drawing or signed piece of
writing) will be published with the students real name visible, you have
obtained a signed consent form and will include that form when you
submit your manuscript for review and editing (see http://www.tesol.org
/pubs/author/consent.html for samples).
12. If your research or writing involves minors (persons under age 18), you
have supplied and obtained signed separate informed consent forms
from the parent or guardian and from the minor, if he or she is old
enough to read, understand, and sign the form.
13. If you are working with participants who do not speak English well or are
intellectually disabled, you have written the consent forms in a language
that the participant or the participants guardian can understand.
202
TESOL QUARTERLY