Lise Winer

Spinach to Chocolate: Changing Awareness and Attitudes in ESL Writing Teachers

This paper uses data from student journals in a TESL writing practicum to trace the process by which practice of and reflection on specific activities change awareness of and attitudes toward writing and the teaching of writing. Students highlighted four areas as problems: dread of writing, boring or intimidating topics, insecurity about writing skills, and insecurity about teaching skills (particularly providing feedback). Students also identified five strategies on the part of the instructor as most helpful in effecting change: having students design and respond to writing tasks, requiring mandatory revision, guiding peer coaching, providing guided practice in topic development, and developing understanding of the writing process. In contrast to contemporary polarized models, the paper demonstrates the necessity of integrating training and development in teacher education.

Variation and Transfer in English Creole—Standard English Language Learning

This chapter examines the nature. of errors in the written standard English of native speakers of an English Creole, with particular attention to the sources of variation in errors. Presented are the findings of a previous macrostudy on the number and nature of errors in written English compositions of secondary school students in Trinidad, West Indies. A microstudy of a small subset of these compositions is then used to illustrate sources of errors, particularly negative transfer, in a creole/related standard language situation. Implications for appropriate language teaching approaches in this situation are discussed.

Grasping the Nettle: Handling Flora Entries in Dictionaries

When working with flora in dictionaries, lexicographers who are not botanists, or botanically inclined, face particular difficulties with identification, synonyms, and description of plants. Working cooperatively with a botanist and following the guidelines outlined here can help ensure accuracy and completeness; these guidelines include criteria for inclusion of common names, collaborating with herbaria and botanists, finding sources for citations, and orthography. Botanical challenges for lexicographers include botanical terminology, scientific name change, source or locality for common names, availability of reference sources, and variation in ascription of medicinal properties. Challenges for both botanists and lexicographers involve polysemy and synonymy of common names within and between regions. This paper uses the Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad & Tobago as an example, but the principles would apply to lexicographers in any area and to many specialist areas.