Questions: The first step in crafting a proposal
What social factors lead a live language to become a dead language, or lead languages to stop evolving and fall out of use?
In what ways are the IELTS tests inaccurate in assessing the verbal and written performance levels of ESL learners?
What are the characteristics of romance languages, which set it apart from non-romance languages?
Should knowledge of English be a requirement for permanent citizenship in the United States?
What are the benefits of using a content based approach for teaching English as a second language?
II. Questions you want to be considered now. There may be three separate questions, from distinct topics. If that is the case, try to indicate what your preference is. Alternatively, you may have settled on a topic, and have a core question with two (or more) sub-questions, as we discovered often co-exist.
I have a high level of interest in ESL, so I really want to pursue one of the questions which I pose that is related to learning or testing a secondary language.
Primary Question:
What are the benefits of using a content based approach for teaching English as a second language ?
Subquestions:
What is a content based approach?
What are the benefits of content based instruction?
What benefits does it pose for ESL learners, specifically ?
Why is it more effective than alternate methods?
How should it be implemented / are there tools techniques and recommendations regarding its use with ESL learners?
Primary Question:
In what ways are the IELTS tests inaccurate in assessing the verbal and written performance levels of ESL learners?
Subquestions:
How does the IELTS Test learners?
Why is IELTS used ?
In what ways is it inaccurate?
Can its accuracy or usefulness be improved?
I recently read a study which showed that content based instruction is very effective in teaching adult ESL learners. It gave statistics on improvement on student learning as a result of implementation, but it did not explore why it works or how it should be implemented. As such, I tried to formulate a question that would lead my research based on that interest, and which could help me answer who, what, when, where, why and how for that topic. I also wanted to pose questions that would help me formulate a meaningful hypothesis, and which was a fully answerable question.
III. Try to formulate a very preliminary hypothesis, based on your question (if you have three distinct questions, use your preferred one; if you have a central question and corollary ones, you might need to work on integrating pieces of each in pursuit of a hypothesis. If constructing the hypothesis seems challenging, describe the challenge(s).Hypothesis:
Hypothesis:
There are flaws in the IELTS testing system which not only pose a disadvantage for ESL students, but which inadequately measure their speaking, writing, and listening ability, because they measures skills which are not inherent to the objective of the specific test section, as a result of poor design.
Related Sources:
Anderson, J. R. (1990). Cognitive psychology and its implications (3rd ed.). NY: W. H. Freeman.
Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2010). Unpacking the language purpose: Vocabulary, structure, and function. TESOL Journal, 1, 315–337
Genesee, F. (1994). Integrating language and content: Lessons from immersion. Educational Practice Report 11. National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning.
Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Song, B. (2006). Content-based ESL instruction: Long-term effects and outcomes. English For Specific Purposes, 25(4), 420-437. doi:10.1016/j.esp.2005.09.002
