In LING 4980/5980: Sim-Gaming for Language Learning, students will learn how simulation and simulation-gaming can be used to make language learning not only engaging, but exciting, and directly relevant to real-world situations.

The course will cover not only sim-game design and use, but will also show how to select and adapt existing sim-games, including ones designed for purposes other than language learning (such as board-game style role plays, computer adventure games, and virtual environments such as Second Life). Simulation-games not only motivate students more than traditional instruction, they allow participants to actually communicate in the language they are learning. With sim-gaming, people learn how to communicate by communicating, not by hearing someone explain about it. (more…)

Fatima Esseili and Veronica Jayne, both graduates of our Master’s in English — Concentration in ESL and now doctoral students at Purdue, were involved in the 1st Purdue University Graduate Student Symposium on ESL Studies, Fatima, as one of the organizers, Veronica, as a presenter (“Making a Book with Elementary School Writers: Process, product and problems”). The symposium was held April 4, 2009 at Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana. Here Fatima and Veronica are shown with Prof. Melinda Reichelt of UT.

Prof. Melinda Reichelt was keynote speaker at the 1st Purdue University Graduate Student Symposium on ESL Studies was held Saturday, April 4th at Purdue University. She spoke on “Ten Things I’ve Learned as an ESL Writing Program Administrator”. (more…)

Prof. Melinda Reichelt reports that on Friday, March 20, a workshop hosted at UT entitled “Coding Qualitative Data in Applied Linguistics” took place. Eight MA-ESL students participated in the event (Doria, Hill, Liao, Myers,Vimuttipong, Wherley, Wolfel, and Zhou). The workshop was facilitated by UT English Professor Melinda Reichelt and Colleen Brice, Associate Professor of English, Grand Valley State University. (more…)

The 2009 Conference of the Ohio University Linguistics Department (COULD) will be held Saturday, May 9, all day, on the OU campus. According to the organizers,

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  This conference is an opportunity for research projects to be presented by all interested professionals and students of Ohio University and other academic institutions across the state. Submissions are encouraged from a range of related disciplines, including, but not limited to, Linguistics, TESOL, Language Learning, Hearing and Speech Sciences, and Psychology

Proposals are due April 1, 2009. For details, see the attached PDF: could-2009.pdf.  This is a fine venue at which to make your first professional presentation and/or to get to know other graduate students from around the state.

The English Department’s free Basic ESL Tutorial, offered as a community service to adults in the Toledo area, will restart in the first week of February.  This non-credit class is for adults at the beginning and low-intermediate levels.  For more information, or to get a full-sized version of the poster above, see the Basic ESL Tutorial link in this website’s right sidebar.

The attached file contains a list of the required courses for the MA programs in ESL which are offered in Spring 2009.  Those required for both the MA in English — ESL and the MA-Ed. in ESL are highlighted in yellow.  Other courses listed, including those required only for the MA-Ed. and those which might count as options courses for the MA, are also listed.  The file is in Adobe Acrobat format: spring-2009.pdf.  In addition to these, remember that students are permitted one independent study to count toward the MA.

Call for Abstracts for the Twenty-Ninth Annual Sigma Xi Student Research Symposium and Second Annual Scholars’ Celebration Student Research Symposium

Sponsored by: The UT Chapter of Sigma Xi (The Scientific Research Society), Office of Undergraduate Research, and the UT Graduate Student Association. The Symposia will be held on Saturday, November 1, 2008 in the Student Union, University of Toledo, from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm. Both oral and poster presentations are encouraged in all areas of research and scholarly activity conducted by graduate and undergraduate students attending the University of Toledo. Abstracts accepted for the Symposia will be published in the UT Scientia, the Journal of Student Research at The University of Toledo.  Deadline for abstract submission: October 17, 2008.  For details, including information on how to submit an abstract, go to

http://www.utoledo.edu/utlc/undergradresearch/scholarssigmaxi2008c.html.

The attached PDF document contains some guidelines intended to help graduate students in ESL get started on their master’s theses / projects (updated 10/5/08): thesis-guidelines.pdf.

There are only three days left before the deadline to submit an abstract for The Michigan Linguistic Society Annual Conference (MLS), which will take place this year at Wayne State, in Detroit. Organizers encourage proposals from graduate students. The 2008 MLS website address is: http://www.clas.wayne.edu/mls38/.