Date of Graduation

Spring 5-18-2017

Document Access

Project/Capstone - Global access

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

College/School

School of Education

Department/Program

International and Multicultural Education (IME)

First Advisor

Dr. Luz Navarrette Garcia

Abstract

The lack of teacher training and textbook teaching materials for developing pragmatic awareness in ESL (English as a second language) and EFL (English as a foreign language) classrooms has led to a gap in the development of students’ communicative competence in English as a second or foreign language. The purpose of this project is to provide an opportunity for teachers, who may be unaware of how to recognize their own first language pragmatic competence, to learn how to reverse-engineer their innate knowledge and then use those strategies to create practical, teachable lessons for their students to gain pragmatic awareness in their second language. The project, a 2-day, professional development workshop for teachers of adult ESL and EFL students, includes a printable workshop manual for the presenter of the workshop along with PowerPoint slides for easy-to-use visuals in the presentation of the workshop. The presentation materials also include worksheet handouts for hands-on activities for the workshop participants. The use of practical, active-participation training combined with reviewing the theoretical components of pragmatics has the potential to significantly increase the conscious 1st language pragmatic awareness that teachers of language need in order to teach that same awareness to 2nd language speakers. This project is designed to be used in the training of both new and experienced teachers, allowing them to gain valuable knowledge and increase their skills in teaching communicative competence in a foreign language.

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