PresentationPDF Available

Online ESL Tutors' Teaching Strategies in the Virtual Classroom

Authors:

Abstract

Online ESL teaching has become a platform for Filipino teachers to have a chance to teach international students at the comfort of their homes. Aside from being adept on the use of online applications used in online lessons, online tutors are expected to apply effective teaching strategies to help students improve their communicative skills. Given the fast-growing industry of online teaching in the Philippines, there are more than 10,000 Filipinos working for internet-based teaching sites (Lijuan, 2019). Several studies have focused on the teaching pedagogies used in the formal classroom (Jones, 2003; San Jose & Galang, 2015; Villena & de Mesa, 2015) but there is a dearth of studies showing how online ESL tutors do their teachings online and what strategies they usually employ in their lessons. This paper attempts to describe the best practices commonly used by online ESL tutors in the teaching of oral communication to young learners anchored on Rosenshine’s (2012) principles of effective instructions and Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) seven principles of good practice. A total of 10 recorded actual online lessons will be content analyzed to determine the teaching strategies of online tutors and how they use them in their sessions in the virtual classroom. The findings in this study would provide insights on the best practices as well as points for improvement of the online tutors of English. Implications to teachers of English can also be drawn from this study.
Online ESL Tutors’ Teaching Strategies in the Virtual Classroom
Darren Rey C. Javier
Philippine Normal University, Manila, the Philippines
Baras-Pinugay Integrated High School – Senior High
javier.drc@pnu.edu.ph
Rachelle B. Lintao
University of Sto. Tomas, Manila, the Philippines
rblintao@ust.edu.ph
Online ESL teaching has become a platform for Filipino teachers to have a chance
to teach international students at the comfort of their homes. Aside from being
adept on the use of online applications used in online lessons, online tutors are
expected to apply effective teaching strategies to help students improve their
communicative skills. Given the fast-growing industry of online teaching in the
Philippines, there are more than 10,000 Filipinos working for internet-based
teaching sites (Lijuan, 2019). Several studies have focused on the teaching
pedagogies used in the formal classroom (Jones, 2003; San Jose & Galang, 2015;
Villena & de Mesa, 2015) but there is a dearth of studies showing how online ESL
tutors do their teachings online and what strategies they usually employ in their
lessons. This paper attempts to describe the best practices commonly used by
online ESL tutors in the teaching of oral communication to young learners
anchored on Rosenshine’s (2012) principles of effective instructions and
Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) seven principles of good practice. A total of 10
recorded actual online lessons will be content analyzed to determine the teaching
strategies of online tutors and how they use them in their sessions in the virtual
classroom. The findings in this study would provide insights on the best practices
as well as points for improvement of the online tutors of English. Implications to
teachers of English can also be drawn from this study.
Keywords: online teaching, ESL teaching, pedagogy, oral communication, English
language
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
Article
Full-text available
This paper seeks to determine the correlation between the occurrences of postvocalic-r, intrusive-r and linking-r in Singapore English (SgE) and the users' education levels and socioeconomic status. This paper will also investigate the attitudes that SgE speakers hold toward the use of postvocalic-r and intrusiver in the language. The results show that there is a direct correlation between the education level and socioeconomic status of the speaker and the production of postvocalic-r and intrusive-r in SgE. Speakers of higher education levels and socioeconomic status have a tendency to produce the postvocalic-r; speakers of low education levels and socioeconomic status have a tendency to produce the intrusive-r. The attitudes test also shows that users of postvocalic-r are viewed more positively as compared to users of intrusive-r. The results suggest that postvocalic-r and intrusive-r are not simply concrete, categorical phonological processes, but that their uses are motivated by social factors.
Article
Full-text available
A study investigated the distribution of post-vocalic /r/ in Singapore English as it may relate to social factors, particularly whether usage appears to be perceived as a prestige feature by those who use it. Informants were 21 subjects from various social backgrounds. Three speech styles representing a range of stylistic variation were elicited: subjects were interviewed, read a passage aloud, and read a word list. Frequency of post-vocalic /r/ use in each speech style was calculated, and subjects were ranked by frequency. The effects of other variables (age, gender, peer group influence, self-consciousness) and the phenomenon of hypercorrection were also examined. It is concluded that (r) is a sociolinguistic variable in this group, with post-vocalic /r/ seen as a prestige feature for some speakers. A sound change may also be occurring, with increased frequency of general usage predicted. The reading passage, word list, and data on individual usage patterns are appended. A 14-item bibliography is included. (MSE)
Article
Full-text available
In the past, the vowels of Singapore English (SgE) have often been described with reference to British English (BrE). However, certain idiosyncratic patterns are now emerging, and these often cannot be predicted by referring to any other varieties of English. The vowels in words such as egg, beg, poor, pure, won, one and the first syllable of absorb and abroad are investigated from the data of 38 speakers, and it is shown that a new standard of SgE pronunciation is emerging for the great majority of speakers.
Thesis
In modern urban Singapore, the variety of English spoken evolves through a continual negotiation of adhering to traditionally standard models and creating local norms in the environment of myriad social and substratum language influences. Singapore English (SgE) speakers constantly navigate a multilingual situation which requires them to simultaneously handle the language systems of the society’s main working language, English, and at least one other language while being immersed in a linguistic environment where interactions in countless other languages and varieties take place. Variation, thus, inevitably exists within SgE as depicted in models of variation developed throughout the years. While this variation manifests itself in many forms, this study focuses particularly on the sociophonetic variation of /r/ realisations, an area of SgE in which the little research done previously provides only impressionistic or preliminary descriptions. Here, /r/ variation is studied through an auditory and acoustic investigation of both read and conversational speech data collected from male and female SgE speakers of Singapore’s major ethnic groups (i.e. Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Eurasian). Through the use of an auditory perceptual strength index and a combination of fixed- and mixed- effects statistical modelling methods, this study reveals /r/ variation in SgE on several levels. Results show that SgE speakers produce a range of /r/ variants, both within and between speakers, and also highlight the intertwined roles of language-internal factors (e.g. phonological contexts, word class) and language-external factors (e.g. speech style, ethnicity, speaker sex) in determining variation in both the realisation and distribution of /r/ in SgE. Finer auditory and acoustic distinctions are found in approximant /r/, reflecting both the phonetic complexity of /r/ and the multifaceted nature of SgE. Additionally, supportive evidence for the presence of innovative trends in SgE /r/ realisation (i.e. labiodental /r/) and of fading ones (i.e. taps/trills) is also found. Taken together, these results provide the basis for discussions of a potential situation of natural /r/-weakening and the impacts of speech styles, cross-linguistic influences, and language dominance on /r/ variation. They also postulate trends of change in /r/ realisations in SgE affected by age, ethnicity and speaker sex. Besides contributing to the general on-going discussions of synchronic variation and diachronic change in the story of /r/, this study shares insights into the intricacies of studying linguistic patterns in multilingual urban communities and provides empirical evidence for the need of a multidimensional approach in researching multicultural varieties and/or ‘New Englishes’ like SgE.
Chapter
In this chapter we assess the intellectual quality of the enacted curriculum in Secondary 3 Mathematics and English in a large representative sample of schools in Singapore using criteria and standards identified in part by John Hattie in Visible Learning. In doing so, however, we have expanded Hattie’s particular model of visible learning to include a range of instructional practices that we believe are critical to enhancing instructional transparency and student learning. In particular, we focus on a range of standards that have the potential to ensure greater epistemic clarity with respect to the nature and cognitive demands of the knowledge work involved in the design and implementation of instructional (and assessment) tasks.
Chapter
English in Singapore has been described as serving both as a global language of trade, commerce, science and technology, as well as a local language for interethnic communication. Given the ideological incongruence and often conflicting histories and goals associated with these roles, researchers such as Pakir (1994, 1999, 2001), Rubdy (2001), Wee (2003), Bokhorst-Heng (2005), and Chew (2006) have talked about English in Singapore as being pulled in two opposing directions. Pakir, for example, discusses the competing norms that these divergent ideologies assume: the global orientation necessitates the adoption of an English that is internationally standardized, while the local advocates the development of an indigenized English. In this chapter, I extend the discussion of the global-local tension to offer a model of variation of English in indigenized contexts such as Singapore.1 The model, originally introduced as the Cultural Orientation Model (COM) in Alsagoff (2007), explains variation in relation to the global-local contrast of the cultural orientations of speakers. The discussion here develops the model further by looking at the global-local interactions in relation to the concept of 'glocalization' as originally formulated by Robertson (1995, 1997). Key to Robertson's conceptualization of glocalization is the emphasis of the simultaneity of the global and the local in the process of globalization. Expanding on this concept, I discuss how the co-presence of features of both local and global in the speech of Singaporeans necessitates a change in the approach to describing language variation in Singapore. © 2010 by Hong Kong University Press, HKU. All rights reserved.
Article
Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning and achievement, but this impact can be either positive or negative. Its power is frequently mentioned in articles about learning and teaching, but surprisingly few recent studies have systematically investigated its meaning. This article provides a conceptual analysis of feedback and reviews the evidence related to its impact on learning and achievement. This evidence shows that although feedback is among the major influences, the type of feedback and the way it is given can be differentially effective. A model of feedback is then proposed that identifies the particular properties and circumstances that make it effective, and some typically thorny issues are discussed, including the timing of feedback and the effects of positive and negative feedback. Finally, this analysis is used to suggest ways in which feedback can be used to enhance its effectiveness in classrooms.
Article
The concept ‘English-knowing bilingualism’ is particularly worthy of exploration in Singapore because of the rapidly evolving special nature of ‘bilingualism’ there and the penetration of English into several domains. The discourse of ‘English-knowing bilinguals’ in two main domains—at home and at school—is examined in terms of the range and depth of functional uses previously suggested. The discourse is explained with a new model, that of ‘expanding triangles’ involving an increasing English-speaking base population and two distinctive English speech clines in Singapore, graded on formality and proficiency considerations. The instrumental, regulative and interpersonal functions of language call for the subvariety of English found at the lower ends of the English speech clines in Singapore. The representative or informative and the heuristic functions have been served by the subvariety at the upper ends of the speech clines. The imaginative or innovative function has been traditionally served by a high variety of English but the lower varieties are also increasingly being used in codified texts such as poems, short stories and plays by Singaporean writers. The concept of expanding triangles in English-knowing bilingualism is detailed in this paper to enable some comprehension of an otherwise haphazard and infinite array of linguistic diversity involving the functions of English in Singapore.
How to give effective feedback to your students. USA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
  • S M Brookhart
Brookhart, S. M. (2008). How to give effective feedback to your students. USA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Feedback: The hinge factor that joins teaching and learning
  • J E Pollock
Pollock, J. E. (2012). Feedback: The hinge factor that joins teaching and learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.