Academic language and literacy socialization through project-based instruction

ESL student perspectives and issues

Gulbahar H. Beckett | University of Cincinnati, USA

Project-based instruction has been heralded as a most promising activity that can socialize students into academic language and literacy skills (e.g., Beckett, 1999; Stoller, 1997). However, there is scanty research on project-based instruction in general and fewer still on ESL students’ perceptions of it (Thomas, 2000); furthermore, the few available studies show conflicting results (see Beckett, 2002). This article reports the findings of part of a larger research study conducted to understand how secondary school immigrant ESL students were socialized (taught) to acquire academic language and literacy skills in a public school in Vancouver, Canada. The findings of the study confirm the findings of earlier studies that ESL learners actively construct meaning from project-based instruction, and that some clash exists between language policy, teacher perceptions, and ESL students’ perceptions of this activity. I conclude by taking the discussion of clashes between teachers and students beyond the current cultural model and by making recommendations for further research and practice.

Published online: 30 June 2005
https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.15.1.12bec

Cited by

Cited by 12 other publications

Abdo, Ibrahem Bani & Gerald-Mark Breen

2010. Teaching EFL to Jordanian Students: New Strategies for Enhancing English Acquisition in a Distinct Middle Eastern Student Population. Creative Education 01:01 ► pp. 39 ff.

Beckett, Gulbahar H., Carla Amaro‐Jiménez & Kelvin S. Beckett

2010. Students’ use of asynchronous discussions for academic discourse socialization. Distance Education 31:3 ► pp. 315 ff.

Rodrigo CALATRONE PAIVA

2017. In Blucher Education Proceedings, ► pp. 780 ff.

Duff, Patricia A.

2010. Language Socialization into Academic Discourse Communities. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 30 ► pp. 169 ff.

Gibbes, Marina & Lorna Carson

2014. Project-based language learning: an activity theory analysis. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching 8:2 ► pp. 171 ff.

Grujicic-Alatriste, Lubie

2013. A response to DePalma and Ringer's article “Toward a theory of adaptive transfer: Expanding disciplinary discussions of ‘transfer’ in second-language writing and composition studies”. Journal of Second Language Writing 22:4 ► pp. 460 ff.

Kato, Fumie, Ryan Spring & Chikako Mori

2020. Incorporating project-based language learning into distance learning: Creating a homepage during computer-mediated learning sessions. Language Teaching Research ► pp. 136216882095445 ff.

Korosidou, Eleni I. & Eleni A. Griva

2013. “My Country in Europe”: A Content-based Project for Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Young Learners. Journal of Language Teaching and Research 4:2

Tatzl, Dietmar

2015. Case meetings for teaching English for specific academic purposes in a tertiary aeronautical engineering programme. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching 9:3 ► pp. 191 ff.

Vaca Torres, Ady Marcela & Luis Fernando Gómez Rodríguez

2017. Increasing EFL Learners’ Oral Production at a Public School Through Project-Based Learning. PROFILE Issues in Teachers' Professional Development 19:2 ► pp. 57 ff.

Zhao, Juanjuan

2015. In Contemporary Approaches to Activity Theory [Advances in Human and Social Aspects of Technology, ], ► pp. 108 ff.

Zhu, Xinhua, Elizabeth K. Y. Loh, Guoxing Yu, Loretta C. W. Tam & Xian Liao

2019. Developing 21st century skills for the first language classroom: Investigating the relationship between Chinese primary students’ oral interaction strategy use and their group discussion performance. Applied Linguistics Review 0:0

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 10 february 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.