LANGUAGES

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Languages for the degree of: Maestría en la Enseñanza del Inglés (MEI) By: Eliška Marina Sudek Montes Thesis Director: M. Fátima Encinas Prudencio December 2015 i ii ABSTRACT 'Dyslexia and children's English language learning in a Mexican elementary school: A crowdsourced intervention study' Eliška Marina Sudek Montes Puebla, Pue. México. December 2015.

This chapter attempts to propose a research approach for understanding classroom literacy practices by situating the practices within a wider context.  The chapter reports on the first phase of a larger project which set out to examine one element in this complex system: English language literacy in a public Mexican university undergraduate ELT program.  The first phase aimed to situate classroom literacy practices within the institution through an analysis of the new curriculum assessed in relation to the outgoing but still in-use curriculum.  The analysis consisted of an examination of literacy features particularly associated with writing articulated in each plan in three broad instructional areas: linguistics, teaching, and culture.  The two plans were compared to better understand the historical context of the institutional literacy goals and to assess the direction of writing practices in the curriculum.  To illuminate the interpretation of those goals, interviews with teachers in the department who participated in the design of the course syllabuses based on the new curriculum were carried out.  Analyses of those two data sets seemed to indicate that forms and quantity of writing have increased in the new plans.  However, descriptions of writing assignments are broad and open to interpretation by teaching staff and students.  Interviews conducted revealed a similar wide interpretation of these curriculum features. In light of these interpretations, this chapter attempts to contextualize writing in this setting within the wider social system to build a larger picture of factors involved in classroom writing.

This study explored fifteen EFL teachers' critical moments. Narrative inquiry was used to analyse first their critical moments' written accounts and a year later, six were interviewed in order to contextualize those moments and understand their relevance in their professional and personal lives. The findings in this study suggest the need to incorporate coaching and scenarios of real teaching situations as well as reflection into in-service teacher education programs.

This paper explores previous research in organization and teacher education studies in an attempt to construct an interdisciplinary perspective (Allen & Eby, 2008) of these two disciplines on mentoring to inform in-service ELT teacher education, continuing education programs and research development in this field. We attempt to entangle the complexity of mentoring relationships in regard to emotional competence, situated required competences, career stage, personal development, family lens, gender, and cultural dimensions and how these effect the quality of developmental networks and relationships

This study explored 6 students’ literacy development processes in a private bilingual school in Mexico. Based on Ferreiro’s and Teberosky’s  (1979) stages of writing development in Spanish and Rubin’s and Galvan’s (2005)  stages in bilingual Spanish-English speakers;  this study analyzes  students’ transition between kindergarten and primary school. The findings indicate that most of these children reached: 1) either a syllabic or alphabetical stage  in both languages at different rhythms  and paces using different tools and support,  2) these stages without affecting either acquisition process significantly and 3) these children’s family context affected their linguistic development considerably. This study’s main pedagogical implication is that there is a need to raise English teachers’ understanding about the importance of this transition especially in bilingual contexts as well as to raise their awareness about the differences in rhythm and pace of each child’s bilingual literacy processes.

This paper focuses on an ongoing international collaboration between two large public universities, one in the US and one in Mexico, through projects in program development, faculty exchange, graduate student/teacher field experiences, student mentoring and joint research in the area of a foreign/second language teaching and teacher development. Insights from the literature on higher education collaboration and teacher exchange are presented, along with an analysis of the characteristics and conditions that have contributed to this particular network of collaborations over a ten-year period from 2004-2014 and still continues today. Consideration is given to ways in which collaborating across diverse cultures is complex and how networks can contribute to teacher learning. We conclude with implications for collaboration, especially in intercultural teacher
education, among diverse higher education participants across geopolitical and cultural boundaries.

The English Language Teaching (ELT) professionalization process in Mexico has faced complex and multidimensional challenges in the different educational levels, language and teacher education policies, as well as socio-cultural practices in the last thirty years. One of the greatest challenges was being acknowledged as a profession
(Hargreaves, 2000) in public universities (Ramírez Romero, 2013).
Although there are a number of isolated documents (Brenes, 1998, Encinas & Sánchez, 2013; Huerta Bortolotti, 2005) that describe the history of the English teacher education programs of the Facultad de Lenguas at Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP); there is no historical document of these programs that allows us to understand and reflect on how we arrived to the present stage of
development of our teacher education programs and the future perspectives and challenges of this discipline. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to contribute to the understanding of the development of professionalization of ELT in BUAP since the creation of the Bachelor’s Program for English Teacher Education in 1984. We will use different evaluation lens to reflect on the factors that have enhanced
and/or hindered the development of ELT profession in our setting.

Este artículo reporta la investigación de las prácticas de escritura en dos programas de doctorado,en Fisiología y Oceanografía Física, para propiciar la construcción de vocaciones científicas desde el pregrado. Se optó por un paradigma cualitativo, utilizando entrevistas a profundidad con estudiantes, investigadores y administrativos, además de grupos focales con estudiantes.  Para el análisis de los datos se utilizó el atlas.ti. Los resultados sugieren que los doctorandos se convierten en especialistas “en el trabajo” en un entorno colaborativo, supervisados y guiados por expertos. En este proceso formativo, los estudiantes juegan roles de autor, lector, crítico, editor y experto local al participar gradualmente en procesos de investigación, comités de política y gestión, paneles de revisión y comisiones de evaluación. Sobre todo, aprenden a escribir artículos, a revisarlos y a someterlos a dictaminaciones de comités científicos disciplinares.

This paper looks at a feature of teacher collaboration within Achinstein's (2002) micropolitics of collaboration but from an intrapersonal perspective. Results discussed feature issues of conflict, borders, and ideologies within each participating teacher rather than between teachers. Unresolved or unacknowledged intrapersonal conflict might lead to interpersonal conflict of the type that does not enrich collaborative efforts. Findings from this study reveal that participating teachers did experience intrapersonal conflicts that fit within Achinstein's micropolitical framework. These intrapersonal conflicts were not regarded as aberrant or pathological behavior, but as a natural effect of collaboration and growth.

This paper explore previous research in organization and teacher education studies in an attempt to construct an interdisciplinary perspective (Allen & Eby, 2008) of these two disciplines on mentoring to inform in-service ELT teacher education, continuing education programs and research development in this field. We attempt to entangle the complexity of mentoring relationships in regard to emotional competence, situated required competences, career stage, personal development, family lens, gender, and cultural dimensions and how these effect the quality of developmental networks and relationships

This paper focuses on an ongoing international collaboration between two large public universities, one in the US and one in Mexico, through projects in program development, faculty exchange, graduate student/teacher field experiences, student mentoring and joint research in the area of a foreign/second language teaching and teacher development. Insights from the literature on higher education collaboration and teacher exchange are presented, along with an analysis of the characteristics and conditions that have contributed to this particular network of collaborations over a ten-year period from 2004-2014 and still continues today. Consideration is given to ways in which collaborating across diverse cultures is complex and how networks can contribute to teacher learning. We conclude with implications for collaboration, especially in intercultural teacher education, among diverse higher education participants across geopolitical and cultural boundaries.