Assignment 1: Annotated Bibliography

Yue Mei-Yun's, Cohesion and the Teaching of EFL Reading, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, OFFICE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROGRAMS Home English Language Programs, English Teaching Forum, Volume 31 Number 1http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol31/no1/p12.htm
Yue Mei-Yun's article is sited on the American Government Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs site and has articles published on other government education sites in America and China.
Yue's practical demonstrations in types of ‘cohesive chains’ and how they are used, makes this article relevant in classroom situations and is an aid to lesson programming. However the language and tone is complicated and difficult to read, it is written for an academic audience and may be inaccessible to non-academics. Because of this I would advise people reading this article to start with the conclusion as this gives a concise accessible summary the author’s argument, then go back to the beginning of the text for the more complex detail.
Yue’s “Cohesive chains” offer a conceptual ideology which can be coupled with the linked to Nunan’s articles (below) on “authentic data” and “listening skills” to create a deeper level of experience and understanding for ESL learners. However the complex and academic nature of the article means it may not be so relevant to teachers of other subjects with ESL learners in their classes.David Nunan, Listening In Language Learning, The Language Teacher The English Centre, University of Hong Kong. http://jalt-publications.org/tlt/files/97/sep/nunan.html

Dr David Nunan was President of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages; teaches at Hong Kong University and is President of Anaheim University. He is a well known and prolific author on the subject of ESL. (http://www.nunan.info/)
Nunan’s article is written for ESL teachers. It is a task based article that talks about the kind of listening activities that can be included in individual lessons. Nunan stresses the need for varied texts and text responses to develop situational listening skills in ESL learners. Nunan also suggests a number of ways that make “listening”, a more complete learning experience with an emphasis on making the text contextual to the student.The conclusion in particularly useful for ESL teachers, giving strategies for making “authentic” learning experiences for the ESL learner. It is also useful for teachers of other subject with ESL learners in their classes to use different ways of giving information to increase the retention of their ESL students. David Nunan, Aspects of Task-Based Syllabus Design, Karen's Linguistics Issues, December 2001, The English Centre, University of Hong Kong, December 2001.http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/syllabusdesign.htmlNunan's expected audience in this text is ESL teachers, specifically those who program curriculum content. This article emphasis the need to create varied curriculums that give ESL learners experiences in real life or "authentic data" situations. Nunan shows that acquiring language is as much about the ability to interpret text meanings and predict outcomes from incomplete data, as it is about learning the correct grammatical usage, both of which offer important skill acquisition opportunities. This links to the "cohesive" learning experiences discussed by Yue in article one. "Authentic data" (Nunan) combined with an understanding of "cohesive chains and...devices" (Yue) allows the ESL learner to effectively extrapolate incomplete or idiomatic texts.
These exercises also offer the ESL teacher a broader understanding of how individual ESL students learn and so will show how to develop further curricular activities to maximise their current levels of ability and understanding. This makes it useful for teachers of other subjects who need to cater to individual ESL students in their classes. David Martin, How to be an Effective EFL Writing Teacher, Elf Press, Japan. http://www.eflpress.com/how_to_be_an_effectwrt_efl.html
David Martin is a teacher of English as a Foreign Language in Japan. This article is written for Elf press, which is specifically for a teaching EFL in Japan.
It is a task based article that can be included in a broader curriculum structure. Although it is specifically developed for Japan it is useful for ESL teaching in promoting strategies for helping students to "think" in English. It is also relevant for English teachers as it talks about teaching how to write creatively in "freestyle" then return to the piece and editing it.
"Freestyle" creativity that is then self edited is useful task that can be used in any creative writing class regardless of linguistic or literary ability. Because this technique includes intense scaffolding for the development of creative writing in specific and basic terms, it maximise the creative process which develops free thinking, which then is turned into an academic experience suitable for any age group.
Martin's activity gives contextual meaning, which Nunan says makes it more accessible to the student. It also allows the student to explore "cohesive chains" (Yue) that link free speech with academic knowledge enabling greater extrapolation in "listening" (Nunan) in English.

Liang Wenxia, Teaching Weak Forms (China,) Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, OFFICE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROGRAMS, Home English Language Programs, English Teaching Forum, Volume 41 Issue 2. http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol41/no2/p32.htm
Liang article is on the American government education site and is included in other educational sites in America and China.
This is an academic article stressing the importance of teaching "weak forms" of English pronunciation to ESL students. Although this is primarily an academic article it is also activity based which makes it useful and relevant for both ESL and English teachers developing class lesson plans.
Liang explains the "weak forms" of English and gives practical examples of how to teach these to ESL students. Liang stresses the importance of this as a listening task to enable ESL students to became fluent in speaking and understanding English outside of the class room, but it is also relevant to mainstream English teaching when looking at written texts to help identify author meaning, for example; plays and poetry, which may be open to wide a wide range of interpretive issues.
This listening exercises links with Nunan's ideology that teaching a variety of listening techniques is an essential part of ESL teaching to create a real learning experience.

Taiwan Teacher, Child’s play: Playing Games in the EFL Classroom. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/1979/games/articles/eflgames.html
This is a personal reflective journal of teaching practices by an ESL teacher. It is non-academic but has relevant and useful information for any classroom teacher of children. The subjects covered include how to use fun and games in the classroom to teach content, methods of maintaining student focus and classroom management techniques, all issues that affect teacher’s every day.
Game learning tasks are related to Nunan’s “authentic data” tasks because children of all ages play games, it is their natural behaviour. Game playing lessons also uses a variety of language identification skill including visual and listening abilities which links this teacher’s experiences with Martin’s “thinking in English” ideology.