Introduction
As our world grows more interconnected, so too grows the necessity for effective language instruction. While English International schools and curriculum are prevalent throughout the world, many teachers recruited to work at such schools are lacking a formal basis in effective L2 pedagogical strategies.
Furthermore, many English-based curriculums emphasize students-based inquiry learning. Students guiding their own learning, and developing a passion for the material is essential in developing life-long learners and critical thinkers.
A teacher’s role in the 21st century classroom is as a guide and facilitator for learners. Teachers need to identify difficulties, and target interventions to help students develop as well-rounded learners.
For language learners, developing strong capacity in the target language is essential. Without this, students will struggle to meaningfully engage in their learning.
This website has been designed to address the question,
What are the specific needs of Chinese English language learners? How does positive and negative transfer from Chinese affect their English ability?
As Nassaji (2014) notes in The role and importance of lower-level processes in second language reading, a great deal of focus is put on higher-level reading strategies (such as inference, contextualization, and logical deduction) in L2 classrooms, but teachers need to also focus on specific interventions targeting lower-level reading processes.
Therefore, this Knowledge Mediation Portal was developed to provide teachers of Chinese ELLs with a survey of recent research into the strengths and deficits that their learners face.
Research articles are provided in plain-language summaries, making it easy for readers to gain a general idea of their content. Also included are strategies for using this information in the classroom to help develop your own curriculum.
As it stands, this website is the beginning of a KMb Mediation Portal first outlined in August 2017 for Queen's University's GDPI 813. This current stage of the portal has been developed for the PME 842 course in literacy interventions. A link to the proposal can be found here. Implementation is currently on track and this page will be updated accordingly.
Thank you for visiting.