American English Institute
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The American English Institute (AEI) has provided English language instruction since 1978 to international students and educators who want to enter American universities or who want to learn English for personal or professional reasons. It is the mission of the AEI to enhance individual growth and global understanding in the international community through English language and inter-cultural learning, teaching, and research opportunities.
AEI is fully accredited by the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA) and agrees to uphold the CEA Standards for English Language Programs and Institutions. AEI is also a member of the American Association of Intensive English Programs (AAIEP) and University and College Intensive English Programs (UCIEP).
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Item Open Access The Effects of Listening Journals in the Development of University Students' Listening Skills(2018) Ruiz Nascimento, Mariana; Halvorsen, Andy; Sheppard, BethThis paper presents the implications of the use of listening journals in an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course, exploring the results and difficulties faced by students after the implementation of this activity. Considering that the use of different listening materials can facilitate the students’ development of listening skills and reduce their resistance and anxiety, the purpose of this action research was to check whether listening journals could reduce students’ resistance when doing listening exercises. A questionnaire was used in order to analyze how this activity affected learners, and then the data collected were described and analyzed. It can be concluded that the activity affected students in a positive way and made them feel more capable of attending a lecture in English. The results show that they showed less resistance to the listening skills as they felt more comfortable, confident, and prepared to attend lectures and classes in English.Item Open Access Student Dropout in Ethiopian Police University College Peacekeeping Language Center(2018) Wozie, Geremew Garda; Halvorsen, Andy; Sheppard, BethThis study investigated the reasons why learners drop out of the Ethiopian Police University College Peacekeeping Language Center. The data for this research was generated through questionnaires and interviews to collect the opinions of language center teachers, learners, and former learners. The results show that learners mainly drop out because of pressure from their working places. Learners said they would drop out less if they could learn the whole day, or off duty.Item Open Access Using Short Stories to Enhance ESL Teaching and Learning: A Case Study of Egyptian Students(2018) Osman Abdel Haliem, Rasha; Sheppard, Beth; Halvorsen, AndyThe integration of literature into the curriculum is advocated to improve students’ language skills, their communicative and cultural competence, and enhance their critical thinking skills. Research showed that using literature in language teaching is very beneficial as it motivated students, enhanced critical thinking skills and led to developing linguistic knowledge and cultural awareness. This research paper shows how short stories were integrated in the general English classroom in the Higher Technological Institute, Egypt, Students were surveyed and interviewed to identify changes in their motivation and critical thinking skills. An analysis of students’ written reflections on the stories also indicates improved language skills.Item Open Access Flipped Classrooms: A New Perspective to Enhance Students' Questioning Skills(2018) Ruiz, Reina; Halvorsen, Andy; Sheppard, BethThis action research project explores the use of a flipped classroom model for pre-service teachers in Venezuela. After struggling with an insufficient allocation of class time for teacher training courses and a lack of critical engagement in the classroom, the researcher chose to implement a flipped classroom approach. In particular, research looked at the impact of a flipped classroom model on the development of student questioning skills. Data collected through surveys, journals, and analysis of classwork suggest that students in this context responded positively to the implementation of a flipped classroom. In-class student questioning increased, and level of critical inquiry in the classroom overall was impacted positively. This research suggests that the flipped classroom model may be one way to strengthen student engagement and critical questioning skills in an in-service teacher training context.Item Open Access The Effect of Short Story Books on Students' Attitudes and Motivation Toward Reading Comprehension(2018) Palenfo, Augustin; Sheppard, Beth; Halvorsen, AndyIn a public high school in Burkina Faso, English learners showed limited motivation and skill. With the support of school administration and parents, students began reading short stories, completing reading sheets, and presenting information from the stories. For three months, they read a story every two weeks. Data collected from reading sheets, observations of presentations, and student interviews showed that students’ attitudes and motivation improved. They were more confident and autonomous, and they participated more actively.Item Open Access Teacher Investigations of ELT Practice: ACE Action Research 2018(American English Institute, University of Oregon, 2018) Ruiz, Reina; Haliem, Rasha Osman Abdel; Pacheco, Luiz Carlos; Wozie, Geremew Garda; Palenfo, Augustin; Younas, Muhammad; El Haj Hassan, Sandy; Haj Hassan, Zeinab; Nascimento, Mariana Ruiz; Sheppard, Beth; Halvorsen, AndyIn 2017, the University of Oregon welcomed the first cohort to its Advanced Certification in ELT (ACE) program. Educators from more than 20 countries exchanged ideas, formulated teaching philosophies, analyzed and revised the courses they teach, developed skills in an area of specialty, and planned an action research project. In this volume, we are pleased to present eight articles reporting on action research projects completed by ACE alumni in 2017 and 2018. In action research, teachers use techniques such as surveys, observations, and document analysis to systematically collect information within their own teaching context. The process begins with reflection to identify problems or issues that affect the classroom. This kind of reflection is central to teaching, and so is the practice of reading or discussing these issues to identify possible solutions. In action research, teachers take the further step of planning for systematic data collection before, during, and/or after the implementation of their proposed solution. The collection and analysis of this data allows action researchers to move forward with greater confidence as they adopt their solution into regular classroom practice, or further refine their ideas for another round of research. It also allows action researchers to share their findings with other teachers in reports like the ones in this volume.Item Open Access The Effectiveness of Scaffolding in Learning Punctuation for Primary Level EFL Students: Action Research in Pakistan(2018) Younas, Muhammad; Sheppard, Beth; Halvorsen, AndyThe aim of this action research project is to discover the effectiveness of scaffolding in learning punctuation marks for better writing skills at the primary Grade 5 level in my school. The action research is also being conducted to bring changes in my own teaching practices for better quality teaching. For the purposes of the investigation, I divided Grade 5 into two main groups which were experimental and control. The control group was not provided the scaffolding during class activities, and they were supposed to get assistance from peers only. On the other hand, the experimental group was provided proper scaffolding during different individual or group tasks until they became autonomous. A pre-test and post-test were conducted to investigate the effect of scaffolding. The results showed that scaffolding helped the learners to acquire knowledge of punctuation marks. The research has some implications in providing training to teachers about scaffolding with punctuation to achieve better results in EFL classroom situations.Item Open Access Motivating Zootechnical Students Through Innovative Materials and Authentic Texts(2018) Pacheco, Luiz Carlos; Sheppard, Beth; Halvorsen, AndyTwo types of authentic materials were introduced in a Brazilian high school, including popular songs and texts from the students’ field of specialization. Following this intervention, student motivation was explored through interviews, class observations, and a comparison of student grades. Students described dissatisfaction with their previous English learning experiences and expressed enjoyment of the new texts, even requesting more. They were actively engaged during lessons with the new materials and earned higher course grades than students in another section of the same course. The use of innovative materials and authentic texts appears to be associated with higher student motivation in this study.Item Open Access Introduction for Teacher Investigations of ELT Practice: ACE Action Research 2018(American English Institute, University of Oregon, 2018) Sheppard, Beth; Halvorsen, AndyItem Open Access 21st Century Skills and the "4Cs" in the English Language Classroom(American English Institute, University of Oregon, 2018) Halverson, AndyFor many language teachers around the world, the classrooms of today may look and feel very different to those that we remember from our own childhood. In teacher training workshops and professional development activities, you may have heard talk about 21st century skills and “new literacies.” Many of us have realized that our students today need new sets of skills to prepare them to be successful participants in the globalized society of the future. But for many busy teachers, these new skills and concepts may be unclear or you may be struggling with how to implement them in the actual classroom. In this text, we’ll be considering some of the fundamental changes that are currently taking place in 21st century education by looking at the 4Cs, and, importantly, we’ll also consider how these changes can and should be impacting English language teaching and learning around the globe.Item Open Access Using TED Talks as Authentic Videos to Enhance Students' Listening Comprehension and Motivation(2018) El Haj Hassan, Sandy; Haj Hassan, Zeinab; Halvorsen, Andy; Sheppard, BethThis action research paper explores using authentic video material in our EFL classrooms and the advantages of using video materials in our teaching. Nowadays videos are considered an important educational tool for the classroom. The rationale for this action research is to examine the benefits of using authentic audio-visual material in teaching and learning the English language. Literature suggests that teachers can expand students’ interests in the activities, and consequently their motivation, through the use of appropriate video materials. This action research paper was started due to a problem we were facing while teaching military personnel at the Air Force School in Lebanon. We decided to solve this problem through using TED Talks, and we gathered data through classroom observations, analysis of student work, surveys, and interviews. The results showed that our students felt they became better in retaining information and were able to focus more on the task given since the videos were appropriate for their age. It was also revealed that their English listening comprehension skills increased after learning with authentic videos and that they had a positive attitude toward using such videos.Item Open Access Tell Your Story in English: Reading and Writing Skills for Language Learners(University of Oregon, 2017) Sheppard, Beth; Heitman, Char; Tasker, ThomasIn this packet you will find stories, vocabulary lessons, grammar lessons, and writing assignments. We suggest that you work on one unit at a time. First, read the example stories. If possible, talk about the stories with someone else who is doing this packet. What did you like in the story? What was hard to understand? Then read the language lessons and do the practice exercises (NOTE: An Answer Key for all practice exercises is at the end of the packet). If you are confused, find someone who knows English and ask them about it. Finally, work on writing your own story in English. The stories you read can be examples for your writing. You will learn more if you write a story yourself! This material was developed for a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) created by the University of Oregon in 2016. It is designed for intermediate-level English language learners to improve their reading and writing skills. Students can use the materials independently, or teachers can use this packet in their classes. We have included the stories we wrote for the MOOC, as well as some excellent stories written by MOOC participants. The grammar lessons focus on the use of past tense forms and correct sentence structure. The vocabulary lessons focus on skills and important words for storytelling. The writing lessons help language learners through the steps of creating a story in English. We hope you will enjoy telling your story in English.Item Open Access Handbook of Resources for English Camps 2017(American English Institute, University of Oregon, 2017) Opp-Beckman, LeslieThe purpose of this handbook is to provide English language teachers of students ages 10-15 with support for their summer camps.Item Open Access A sociolinguistic study of rhoticity in American film speech from the 1930s to the 1970s(Indiana University, 2000-01) Elliott, Nancy C.; EThis dissertation examines rhoticity, the presence or absence of a pronounced syllable coda /r/, in the speech of actors and actresses in American films from the mid-1930s to the late 1970s. Rhoticity is examined from the viewpoints of diachronic change and sociolinguistic factors for variation in order to define the shape of change and explain the nature of variation in social contexts. Over two hundred actors and actresses were studied in films of a variety of genres from the five-decade period. A steady decrease in the rate of r-less pronunciations was found in the speech of both individual subjects and the group as a whole. This decade-by-decade change in pronunciation trends indicates a shift in the prestige norm that actors and actresses imitated, from the non-rhotic model of British or New England speech to the rhotic model of Midwestern and Western speech. Patterns of change that differed for male and female subjects studied reveal a difference in the extent of imitation of the norm for the two genders, with female speech exhibiting the characteristics of the prestige norm to a greater extent than male speech. Relevant conditioning factors in rhoticity variation include, in addition to time period of film and gender of subject, sociolinguistic accommodation to the pronunciation of a co-star, pronunciation modification towards the prestige norm by male speakers when addressing female co-stars, and the use of different pronunciations to portray a character's status, moral qualities, and in a few cases, regional origin. Finally, shifting of pronunciation styles by a subject was used to express certain dramatic intents such as strong emotion and relational attitudes towards other characters in the drama.Item Open Access Levels of Phonological Regularity in the Chinese Writing System(1991) Kraemer, Stephen M.The phonetic aspect of the Chinese written language is an area of Sinology that has been investigated by a number of scholars, both Chinese and Western. Most early researches have been concerned with (1) the historical development of phonetic compound characters and (2) the organization of these characters into series according to their common phon.etic elements. Chinese scholars such as Xu Shen and later Chinese philologists, as well as Western scholars such as Chalmers (1911), Soothill (1911), and Wieger (1927) have contributed substantially to our knowledge . of phonetic compounds and the role they play in the Chinese writing system. Bernhard Karlgren (1923) has made use of phonetic series in his reconstructions of Ancient and Archaic Chinese, and has made a number of statements regarding the phonological changes which phonetic compounds have undergone in various stages of the language.Item Open Access Sound Clues in Mandarin Character Phonetic Series(1991) Kraemer, Stephen M.This paper describes the clues to the pronunciation of Chinese characters in Mandarin inherent in many phonetic compound character series.