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Exploring the Orientation and Use of Textbook Lingua-Cultural Resources to Teach and Learn English for Lingua Franca Communication

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Abstract

Despite textbooks serving as a primary educational resource, they are not inclusive. While the argument that the native speaker (NS) lingua-cultural approach or dominance in textbooks may impede English as a lingua franca (ELF)-aware teaching and learning has been accepted by some scholars, this assertion is supported by little empirical evidence obtained from the evaluation of its impact on classroom practice. Besides, English language teaching (ELT) researchers have suggested different ways to use textbooks for communicative teaching and these suggestions have not yet been contested from an ELF perspective. Thus, this paper aims to address these concerns. Questionnaire surveys, textbook analysis, classroom observations, and interviews are employed to conduct an ethnographic inquiry into classroom practice in order to obtain local knowledge about how the NS-based textbooks are used and whether the advice of ELT researchers on using textbooks encourage or discourage ELF-aware pedagogy in local contexts. The results show a minimum impact of the NS approach and of the US dominance on ELF-related classroom practice because teachers and students critically evaluate and skillfully use NS-based textbook and US lingua-cultural resources. Additionally, NS-based textbooks alone do not determine ELF-aware classroom practice. It is how teachers and students rely on and use NS resources in the textbooks that determine how ELF-aware teaching and learning is realized. Lastly, certain strategies for using textbooks and lingua-cultural resources suggested by ELT and ELF scholars effectively facilitate ELF-aware classroom practice. However, not all the pedagogical suggestions proposed by the previous studies are feasible in the teaching situations studied herein.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Melissa H. Yu.

Appendices

Appendix 1: 2011 SYLLABUS-Spring

Composition/Oral Practice II

Instructor: Dr. Grace Chen

Office Hrs: Tue. 12:10–14:00

Textbooks

Porter, P. and Grant, M. (1992) Communicating Effectively in English: Oral Communication for Non-Native Speakers. (2nd ed.) Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Wyrick, J. (2008). Steps to Writing Well with Additional Readings. (10th ed.). Boston: Thomson Wadsworth.

Course Objectives

In Composition II, you will learn:

to organize essays in a logical order (time order, spatial order, emphatic order) and with proper transitions

to analyse your thought patterns inductively as well as deductively

to write well-organized argumentative, comparison-contrast, and cause-effect essays with a clear thesis and supporting details

In Oral Practice II, you will learn:

to control volume, pausing, and rate of speaking, and to improve eye contact, vitality, and posture

to tell a short story clearly and fluently

to conduct an interview using the techniques such as preparing questions, getting more information, giving encouragement, asking for repetition and clarification, restating, and interrupting

to paraphrase and summarize the ideas of others in a group discussion

to give a summary-response speech

Course Schedule and Contents


Week

Oral II

Composition II

1

Solving a problem (Unit 5)

Cause-effect essay (Ch. 9): Strategy 6

2

Ditto

Ditto

3

Ditto

Ditto

4

1st oral presentation

Compare-contrast essay (Ch. 9): Strategy 3

5

1st oral presentation

Ditto

6

1st oral presentation

Ditto

7

Taking a position (Unit 6)

One-on-one writing conference

8

Taking a position (Unit 6)

One-on-one writing conference

9

Mid-term exam

Mid-term exam

10

Ditto

Errors in grammar (Ch. 20)

11

2nd oral presentation

Ditto

12

2nd oral presentation

Punctuation (Ch. 21)

13

2nd oral presentation

Providing Information (Unit 4)

Mechanics (Ch. 22)

14

Ditto

Argumentation (Ch. 10)

15

Ditto

Ditto

16

3rd oral presentation

Ditto

17

3rd oral presentation

Ditto

18

Final exam

Final exam

Assessment


Oral practice

Composition

3 oral presentations 60%

Essay assignments 50%

Participation and discussion 40%

Participation 20%

 

Mid-term exam 15%

 

Final exam 15%

There will be a 10-point deduction on the final grade of each late essay assignment.

Participation

85 + You present yourself as a critical thinker with a good command of the English

language.

80 Active contributions to class discussion

75 More than a few comments or responses during each session.

70 At least one comment or response during each session.

65 Seldom speak in class

60 Late for class

Appendix 2: Two Questionnaire Surveys into Teaching and Learning Materials

  1. I.

    Questionnaire survey into teachers

    1. 1.

      How long have you taught English language in Taiwan?

      figure a
    2. 2.

      What are the criteria adopted to select the coursebooks for teaching Oral Training1 and 2 or the general English training for the first-year undergraduates?

    3. 3.

      What is your priority to select teaching materials for your students?

    4. 4.

      What methods and materials do you most refer to help your students develop their communicative competence?

  2. II.

    Questionnaire Survey into Students

    1. 1.

      How long have you learned English language in Taiwan?

      figure b
    2. 2.

      Are you an English major?

      figure c
    3. 3.

      What are the more frequently used listening materials to train students’ listening skills in the classes which you attend now?

    4. 4.

      What are the more frequently used speaking materials to develop students’ speaking skills in classes which you attend now?

    5. 5.

      What are the activities used more often to train students’ speaking in English classes in which you attend?

Appendix 3

See Table 4.

Table 4 Transcription convention system for content analysis of interviews and classroom practices

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Yu, M.H. Exploring the Orientation and Use of Textbook Lingua-Cultural Resources to Teach and Learn English for Lingua Franca Communication. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 27, 257–266 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-018-0381-6

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