History and Methods of ASE
History |
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| In 1986 the University of Florida responded to concerns about the effectiveness of ITAs in state university classrooms by initiating language and cultural training for teaching assistants whose first language was not English. | |
| The pilot courses have been refined and new offerings added to reflect the university's concern for the success of its international students and its focus on teaching excellence. The current program guidelines were established by the Graduate Council in 1988. | |
| Each semester Academic Spoken English trains some 50-80 students from graduate programs across the University of Florida. | |
Method |
| Most ASE students have had considerable previous language study but little opportunity to communicate with English speakers. Instructors therefore devise exercises to activate previously learned grammar and vocabulary skills, often basing them on student-generated, situation-specific material. |
| Academic Spoken English builds oral English skills through student-centered, discipline-specific practice. For example, students practice pronunciation using high-frequency words from their fields of study. Class work consists of actively practicing the public speaking and interpersonal communication techniques which learners will need to be successful as graduate students, teaching assistants, and researchers. Small classes facilitate individualized diagnosis and practice. |
| One of the defining characteristics of ASE courses is the method of consistently putting learners into real-life communication situations, recording the resulting speech on video- or audiotape, and systematically analyzing the factors which made the communication successful or not. In each course, this practice is based on different speaking situations. |
| All ASE courses include practice in pronunciation, in various language tasks (explaining, questioning, negotiating), and in forms of academic discourse (participating in and leading discussions, giving prepared and extemporaneous oral presentations). Courses also focus on cultural information, especially in the ways in which culture is reflected in language. For example, ASE students learn that there are specific ways in which English speakers are used to receiving information and entertaining requests--and that negative consequences result when these unconscious norms are violated. |
| ASE teaches strategies for learning from the English-speaking environment. To combat the cultural and linguistic isolation which many internationals experience during demanding graduate studies and research, students are given tasks which force them to interact with native speakers. They learn to relate to English speakers in culturally appropriate ways. They also learn how to continue their language development after the ASE class by practicing techniques which will enable them to monitor and evaluate their own speech and that of native speakers. |
Copyright © 2006 Academic Spoken English UF
Last modified 19 August, 2006
Programming: drjdg <drjdg(at)ufl(dot)edu>
