Center for World Languages and Culture Receives $1 Million Grant to Provide ESL Technology Training for Teachers

By Melissa Fassel

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition has awarded UMass Boston's Center for World Languages and Culture a $1,050,000 grant to implement an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher-training project in collaboration with Cambridge public schools.

The project's primary goal is to provide opportunities for teachers to be certified in ESL and develop expertise in technology and teacher education. The project will begin by preparing 30 Cambridge public school teachers, with a five-year goal of training a total of 150 teachers. The grant also allots funds for 30 much-needed scholarships over a five-year period for linguistic minority students or their teachers.

Through this grant, the center and the graduate program in Applied Linguistics have the opportunity to develop what Donaldo Macedo, graduate program director and principal investigator of the grant, defines as cutting-edge technology in language education.

"This technology will address the many needs of non–English speakers while also addressing literacy development in general," Macedo explains. "Many bilingual and ESL students come to the United States as semiliterate or functionally illiterate not only in English, but also in their own languages." In addition, he predicts the interactive nature of the medium will invariably motivate students to practice their English skills, particularly written–language skills.

According to Macedo, empirical evidence has shown that ESL students who have access to technology do better in acquiring English than those who are taught with traditional teaching. "Not only will the grant enable teachers to develop technical skills in addressing the needs of non–English speakers, but the introduction of technology in the classroom will aid in narrowing the digital divide between immigrants and traditional students," says Macedo.

Computer instruction programs will be used to explore many methods and approaches to both teaching and learning English as a second language. Through a variety of programs at UMass Boston and Cambridge public schools, as well as an expanded use of online teaching through UMass Online, the program will train people to become "master teachers," who will, in turn, teach others. The Internet, which opens up possibilities for teachers and students to access cultural and linguistic resources normally not available in a traditional classroom, will also be used for language education.

In the classroom, non–English speakers are often segregated from native speakers due to incongruous cultures and languages. Technology will create a common bond between these different cultures and provide access to non-native speakers and a feeling of belonging that they are often denied. Such increased mainstream entry will enhance the rich linguistic input that is a prerequisite for language acquisition.

Eventually, these technical language labs in Cambridge schools will be linked to classrooms in many other schools, including those in foreign countries, thus creating a medium for exchange of ideas among teachers and students and sharing of experiences through "pen-pal" situations. UMass Boston and Cambridge public schools will also be working with other agencies with expertise in computer technology in education, and in the long run, aspire to include other universities and schools.

The grant also provides UMass Boston with resources to hire a full-time professor with an expertise in language pedagogy and technology in language education. With the initial help of the grant and support from the university, Macedo predicts that UMass Boston's Applied Linguistics program will become a leader not only in language teaching, but also in how to use technology in language education in order to maximize language teaching and learning.

Given the graduate program in Applied Linguistics' track record of pedagogical innovation, the dedication of the Center for World Language and Culture, and their close relations with Cambridge public schools, this high-quality program is a guaranteed trendsetter in addressing the many needs encountered in the community by learners of English.