English Faculty Members Research Articles

Career challenges of international female faculty in US universities: from a linguistic profiling perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to review how international female faculty experience linguistic challenges and bias in their US university careers.Design/methodology/approachBy reviewing related literature, the authors explore the career challenges of international female faculty including hiring, promotion and tenure and leadership opportunities from a linguistic profiling perspective.FindingsInternational female faculty have relatively few hiring opportunities, specifically when institutions and fields openly accept linguistic profiling and bias and are less likely to hire non-native English-speaking international faculty. In the promotion and tenure process, international female faculty have struggled with standard academic English criteria and poor teaching evaluations from students because of the faculty’s different English usage such as word choice, grammar and pragmatics. In terms of leadership opportunities, international female professors have faced linguistic bias that non-native English faculty members are not competent, credible, intelligent or skilled because they speak accented English.Originality/valueThis study can help researchers and career development practitioners by adding linguistic profiling specific diversity and inclusion perspectives to existing literature. The findings expand the perspectives and practices related to the career challenges of international female faculty due to linguistic profiling.

Grammatical Ability Assessment Software for ESL Students with Limited English Proficiency

Grammatical Ability Assessment Software for ESL Students with Limited English Proficiency

(Non)-Conformity to Native English Norms in Postgraduate Students' Writing in UK Universities: Perspectives of Native and Non-Native Students and Academic Staff

Postgraduate writing is a major academic feature through which students' learning progress is assessed. It is thus of paramount importance that students must meet the academic writing demands required by their respective academic schools and departments in order to pass their chosen courses. The study strives to explore the extent to which native and non-native English-speaking postgraduate students are required to conform to the norm of native-speakerism preferable to native English faculty members in some United Kingdom (UK) universities. This study is mainly qualitative and it involves three research instruments: (a) open-ended surveys targeting 111 native and non-native postgraduate students and 65 lecturers from different departments, (b) semi-structured interviews conducted with 13 lecturers and 10 students, and (c) an analysis of lecturers’ feedback on 53 students’ written productions. The findings show that the recommendations to conform to native English conventions exist only in some theoretical research. In practice, however, UK universities and academic staff do not save efforts to enable their students to express their ideas in clear comprehensible academic English. These results yield some insightful penetrations not only to the host universities but also to overseas governments as well. In addition, this study offers some implications for postgraduate students.

Interrogating representations of transgressive women: Using critical information literacy and comic books in the Shakespeare classroom

How can instructors and librarians collaborate to provide the interpretive scaffolds for students to critically engage with visual primary materials? The authors, an English faculty member and a faculty instruction librarian at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester (UNH Manchester), used graphic fiction as the textual basis of information literacy (IL) instruction, encouraging students to interpret primary and secondary sources using visual literacy heuristics and critical inquiry skills. Their student-centered, inquiry-based IL session for a Capstone Shakespearean Adaptations course focused on critical thinking and research question design. Using woodcuts from primary historical texts and images from contemporary graphic fiction adaptations of Macbeth, the instructors decentralized the classroom, empowering students to ask probing questions about illustrations of witches in early modern English source materials. Students used their questions to explore interpretations of visual depictions of powerful women in historical primary texts and contemporary graphic adaptations of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Guided by the instructors, students decoded images using the metadiscourse of graphic fiction; generated questions to inform their own inquiry into the topic; applied their IL skills to new texts; and interrogated the biases of received narratives about women who transgress societal norms and expectations, both in the early modern period and in the contemporary world.

Retracted: The future of Ukrainian EFL professional education: Certificates of excellence or certificates of attendance

AbstractThe current post‐secondary educational system for professional preparation of the Ukrainian EFL teachers is not satisfactory. This paper attempts to make an objective comparative analysis of professional training programmes of American ESL teachers versus Ukrainian EFL teachers with the purpose of improving its current state. The questionnaire on professional standards and teachers’ evaluation and second language acquisition was created. English faculty members of Central Ukrainian State Pedagogical University and Uman State Pedagogical University were surveyed. The study pointed out the five mandatory TESOL standards in preparing EFL/ESL teachers such as language, culture, instruction, assessment, professionalism and provided reasoned arguments why it would be prudent to include some of the TESOL fundamental core subjects such as first language acquisition, second language acquisition, bilingual pedagogy and professional ethics into Ukrainian educational curricula. The authors eliminated some deeply rooted and widespread professional stereotypes about teaching English that still exist among many Ukrainian EFL professionals. The research clearly revealed a significant contrast between academically competent and professionally qualified teachers and allowed 55 experienced Ukrainian EFL teachers with advanced postgraduate academic degrees to freely express their opinions about some severe problems that exist in today's national EFL educational system. The study contributes to the body of research concerning the training of professional EFL teachers in Ukraine. Additionally, these findings can be useful for ordinary EFL teachers in their everyday professional practice for improving their classroom instruction and delivery methods or for designing their teaching and learning materials. Context and implicationsRationale for this studyTeachers represent their universities and public education system and, accordingly, play a vital role in the moral, emotional, intellectual, cultural, spiritual preservation of any society. The authors believe that many modern Ukrainian EFL teachers enter their early teaching professionally incompetent and profoundly incapable to meet the linguistic and academic needs of their students, the majority of whom become decades‐long learners without progress in studying English. Thus, it is of great importance that the existing modern US theories, principles and concepts in preparing ESL professionals are analysed and professional training curricula of American ESL teachers are compared with curricula of Ukrainian EFL teachers to check if there are things that may be adjusted or applied to the current Ukrainian EFL educational programme.Why the new findings matterIt is necessary for Ukrainian educators and academic institutions to reshape their thinking and further explore the topic of proper teaching EFL in Ukraine by deeper understanding of this issue, designing proper curricula for professional schools and releasing necessary students’ textbooks. The study contributes to the research concerning the training of professional EFL teachers in Ukraine. Academic institutions may take into consideration the study findings and decide whether some fundamentally needed and occupationally relevant subjects should be integrated. Among them, the authors proposed FLA, SLA, bilingual pedagogics, professional ethics, official bilingualism, independent external school‐exit evaluation adopted from US model professional preparation of ESL teachers in order to improve the quality of EFL teaching in Ukraine.Implications for teachersThe findings can be used by EFL teachers in their everyday classroom instruction and delivery methods, in the design of teaching and learning materials.

Reading competency and academic performance of students

This research study was done to examine the reading competency and academic performance of 185 first year college students of ISU, San Mariano Campus for SY 2020 – 2021. It also attempted to investigate the relationship that exists between reading competency and the academic achievement of the respondents; and to develop an intervention program. Descriptive statistics was used to establish their reading competency level and in analyzing the association that exists between their reading competency and academic achievement, chi – square test for independent, t – test and one way analysis of variance were utilized. About the conclusions of this investigation, only a few numbers of the respondents earned a satisfactory academic achievement. Most of the respondents reading competency level was classed as developing. There was no significant difference between the reading competence of the respondents when categorized according to course and sex. The BSIT respondents had a considerably lower general Weighted Average (GWA) as compared to the BSED, BAT, and BSHM respondents and there was no significant difference between the grades of the male and the male respondents. The respondents with competent level of reading competency earned a considerably higher GWA than the respondents with beginning, developing and approaching proficiency levels. It is proposed that considerable mentorship on reading comprehension must be practiced by English faculty members. In addition, a monthly activity like reading and comprehension competition must be introduced in the campus to increase the reading skill of the respondents and the campus library should serve as an ideal setting where students can do volunteer reading activity.

ESL teachers and students' perceptions toward blended learning during Covid -19 pandemic

The global disruption caused by the COVID-19 epidemic has unquestionably created untold, indescribable, and pervasive issues in the Philippines' educational system. Teachers have been challenged with implementing distance learning modes from the beginning of the pandemic, often without adequate guidance, training, or resources. The researcher was inspired by the influence of COVID 19 on professors and students at Bulacan State University to investigate the feasibility of establishing a transformative learning process that is flexible in context and practice. This study looked at how teachers and students felt about using a variety of blended learning methodologies. It used a mixed method to investigate the relationship between students' and instructors' perceptions of blended language instruction, as well as Creswell's explanatory sequential research design. Thirty students and twenty English faculty members from the chosen university took part in the study. Qualitative and quantitative research tools were used. The data was collected through two questionnaires. For in-depth investigation, semi-structured, virtual interviews were conducted with a focus group composed of deliberately selected five (5) students and five (5) faculty. Overall, the participants were unanimous in their perceptions that Blended Learning did not positively impact the learning of the students in their course "Purposive Communication". Keywords: Blended-Learning, Covid 19-Pandemic, ESL, Perception, Purposive Communication

Technological Proficiency Level of English Faculty Members of a Philippine State University: Application of Cognition Learning Approaches

In today’s digital society, the role of teachers in the classroom has technologically challenged them over the past so many years. New technological tools including interactive videos, digital light processing projectors, and other significant appurtenances of digital learning have become more prevalent amidst its essential impulse to the millennial learners. In conjunction with this, teachers must delve into innovative teaching strategies and how to effectively integrate them into the classroom and adapt these methods with the new digital learning devices. The study notes that teacher technological performance can affect the meaningful change in the pedagogical setup and that learning with the aid of technology is a more interactive and effective process of learning acquisition. The effective use of modern equipment in teaching relies mainly on the exposure of a certain teacher in seminars, training, and other related professional skills of advanced technologies. Under this circumstance, many teachers are still using the conventional way of teaching and perhaps some of them will never intend to use technology as a supplement or rather as a core component of instruction. This study provided a modest understanding of the technological proficiency of the target respondents and the opportunity to know their proficiency level in the utilization of advanced technologies. Henceforth, the study revealed the technological proficiency level of the respondents through the use of digital devices and the integration of these available instructional tools in their classes.
 Keywords: Technological Proficiency, Situated Cognition, Distributed Cognition, Socially Shared Cognition, Cognition Learning Theory

Feature: Underlife and the Emergence of a Two-Year College Writing Program

While Robert Brooke’s discussion of underlife focused on the autonomy of students, in this article I apply his conclusions to the behaviors performed and desires expressed by faculty members, specifically six tenured, two-year college English faculty members who conceptualize their work teaching writing in relation to both individual writing courses and one or more aspects of a writing program.

WRITING SKILLS OF THE PROFESSIONAL STUDENTS –AN ANALYTICAL STUDY

Objectives: To analyse the writing skills of professional students at the undergraduate level and also to suggest some of the ways to rectify their mistakes and refine their writing. Methods/statistical analysis: To test the professional students’ writing skills, 10 students were selected and were allowed to answer the questionnaire given to them. The answer scripts were evaluated by English faculty members mainly to project the mistakes of the students in their writing. Findings: High achievers in English (HAs) and low achievers in English (LAs) were identified through the evaluation. It was also found that professional students made more mistakes in grammar part, specifically, tense forms, prepositions, articles, etc. Application/improvements: Ways to improve their writing skills are suggested. Keywords: Writing Skills, English Language, Low Achievers, High Achievers

Frameworks for Collaboration

Rhetoric and composition scholars have recently called our attention to the value of archival research in the undergraduate classroom, leading to rich collaborations with archivists and librarians at many institutions. As we engaged our own pedagogical collaboration as a university archivist and English faculty member, we realized that, though we might use slightly different language to articulate them or cite different sources in support of them, many of our learning goals overlapped. As we explored these goals together, we realized that they evidenced a correspondence in our disciplines that we had not explored—one that is reflected in our fields’ recent outcomes statements: the 2011 Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing and 2016 Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. In this article, we briefly describe our course and use it as a touch point for comparing these disciplinary statements. We argue that analysis of the overlap between these two documents helps us articulate a new set of reasons for faculty to connect with their allies in libraries and archives to teach undergraduate research and writing.

The Reasons behind Inefficient English Language Teaching Practices in Saudi Universities

This empirical survey has been conducted to investigate the responses of both teachers and students of English Language Department to identify the reasons behind inefficient English language teaching (ELT) at the department. The study utilized quantitative tool of data collection. A 38-item Likert-scale structured questionnaire has been developed and administered to both sample groups: English faculty members at the Foreign Languages Department (FLD) and junior and senior English-major students of FLD. The data gathered from the questionnaire responses has been analyzed and descriptive statistics have been exploited to present the result of this survey. Both groups have agreed to each other related to issues given below: 1) interaction should be activated among students, 2) authentic teaching material should be provided in all classrooms, 3) students' standard is quite week when they take admission in FLD, 4) English language proficiency test should be a condition to promote to the next academic level and 5) remedial courses should be initiated in the department for the weaker learners. It is also found that lack a strict admission policy, learners’ examination-centered attitude and low motivation among students are also reasons in this regard as reported by the faculty. Recommendations have been given to develop the methods of teaching English in Saudi universities.

Job autonomy and Job Satisfaction of English Instructors in the language Centers of some Private Colleges in Muscat, Oman

The purpose of this study to examine the relationship between teachers’ job autonomy and Job satisfaction. The research also investigated the most critical facets of job satisfaction. Variables in this research were measured via two surveys consisting of 70 English faculty members in the language centers of 6 private colleges in Muscat. Results showed that job autonomy is significantly related to job satisfaction. It also showed that the respondents displayed high level of job satisfaction and job autonomy. In addition, this research found that payment was the less satisfactory aspect among the lecturers. There was no significant relation between the instructors’ experience, gender and their job satisfaction and job autonomy. Finally, this study has educational implications for the managers to set a satisfied environment of working for the instructors.

Improving Criminal Justice Students’ Writing Outcomes Through Systematic Writing Instruction

Criminal justice faculty members often express disappointment that their students are not meeting the writing expectations of the discipline. This study was a collaborative project between criminal justice and English faculty members to institute a writing pedagogy intervention to examine if criminal justice students’ writing would improve over the course of a semester. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to examine student attitudes toward writing, documentation style, grammatical correctness, academic diction, and paraphrasing/plagiarism. The results revealed statistically significant improvements in student writing when writing assignments were scaffolded and frequent feedback was provided. Additionally, this study used independent raters to compare student performance on papers from a previous semester, when minimal writing instruction was provided, to the papers from the current study. The results suggest the intervention may improve criminal justice student writing.

Implementing a Computer Assisted Language Learning Training Program for English Teachers

The trend of acquiring English as a Foreign Language (EFL) through Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) has encouraged different educational institutions to develop strategic plans and directions for its onsite implementation and evaluation in order to promote the quality of instruction, enhance student achievement, and better inform and promote society. This paper focuses on the challenge of creating a CALL training program for English faculty members at a major university in Saudi Arabia. The goal of the program was to introduce CALL to English teachers and evaluate its effectiveness on their attitudes towards the integration of technology in their classes. A group of English teachers (n = 30) who were involved in teaching advanced level classes participated in a multiple-phase training program for seven weeks. The analysis of the data from a survey and a semi-structured interview revealed that the participating teachers developed positive beliefs towards the use of CALL in their classes. Although a majority of teachers believed that the skilled use and integration of CALL could lead to more effective language teaching, they reported that lack of appropriate technical, financial, and training supports could be the factors that inhibit the effective implementation of CALL in EFL classes. In the end, several implications of the findings for English language institutes, program administrators, and English teachers at Saudi universities were discussed.

A dialog on teaching an undergraduate seminar in special collections

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a model for the collaborative teaching of undergraduates in special collections and demonstrates how providing students with the opportunities to work rare books can result in meaningful experiences for both students and faculty.Design/methodology/approachCollaborative teaching across disciplines, in this case an English faculty member and a librarian can be challenging and rewarding. This paper is written in dialogue form and highlights both perspectives.FindingsFor academics and librarians interested in incorporating book history and special collections in undergraduate coursework, this paper underscores the benefits and pitfalls in planning such courses.Practical implicationsThis is an honest discussion on methods to engage undergraduates with rare books and exhibit preparations.Originality/valueAs many library professionals seek to make their rare book collections more accessible through class instruction, this paper provides one pedagogical model with reflections on what we would do next time.

Pedagogies of visibility: The full E‐mersion and beyond

AbstractThis chapter shares the experience of several English faculty members of Glendale Community College in their efforts to improve student outcomes in developmental composition classes through extensive use of technology in the classroom. Their pedagogies of visibility––of literacy, of learning, and of research––have allowed them to better understand not only how their students learn, but also how to continue to document progress in ways that can be useful to others.

Tenure, Promotion, and Textual Scholarship at the Teaching Institution

To begin, I want to clarify a term I use here as short hand for those institutions that generally focus on undergraduate rather than graduate education, that are thus categorized by the Carnegie sys tem as either Master's or Baccalaureate institutions, and that are therefore distinct in this way from research universities. I am not using the term to suggest that teaching is the only activity such institutions find important, nor am I using the term to imply that teaching is an activity that research institutions devalue. Teaching is an important activity at research institu tions, and indeed high-quality teaching?even of undergraduates?may be found there, no matter what certain polemicists and pundits say. Likewise, scholarship is an important activity at teaching institutions, and indeed high-quality scholarship goes on there too, no matter what others, includ ing some of our colleagues at research institutions, might think. My own institution, Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, is classified in the cur rent Carnegie Classification system as a Master's institution in the smaller programs subcategory. At Mansfield, English faculty members teach four courses per semester, two of which are usually composition courses. We are a unionized faculty, contractually obligated to demonstrate teaching effectiveness, scholarly growth, and university service in order to have our appointments renewed and ultimately to earn tenure and promotion. Now that you know where I'm coming from, I'll arrive at my main point as quickly as I can. Textual scholarship is devalued across academia,

Chemistry, Poetry, and Artistic Illustration: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Teaching and Promoting Chemistry

This article describes a successful interdisciplinary collaboration among chemistry, humanities and English faculty members, who utilized poetry and artistic illustration to help students learn, appreciate, and enjoy chemistry. Students taking general chemistry classes were introduced to poetry writing and museum-type poster preparation during one class period. They were then encouraged to use their imagination and creativity to brainstorm and write chemistry poems or humors on the concepts and principles covered in the chemistry classes and artistically illustrate their original work on posters. The project, 2�3 months in length, was perceived by students as effective at helping them learn chemistry and express their understanding in a fun, personal, and creative way. The instructors found students listened to the directives because many posters were witty, clever, and eye-catching. They showed fresh use of language and revealed a good understanding of chemistry. The top posters were created by a mix of A-, B-, and C-level students. The fine art work, coupled with poetry, helped chemistry come alive on campus, providing an aesthetic presentation of materials that engaged the general viewer.

Blundering Border Talk: An English Faculty Member Discusses the Writing Center at His Two-Year Campus

This article enacts the difficulties and hopes a compositionist in the English Department perceives in his attempts to establish a collaborative arrangement with the writing center at the regional campus where he works.