Marsha Chan | Mission College (original) (raw)

Papers by Marsha Chan

Heinle cengage learning eBooks, 2006

1. Money, Power, and Everyday Life in the Ancient World 2. Is Big Business Controlling Your Mind?... more 1. Money, Power, and Everyday Life in the Ancient World 2. Is Big Business Controlling Your Mind? 3. Survival of the Fittest on the World Wide Web 4. Reaching Out Across Cultures 5. People in White Coats Are Watching Out for You 6. Is It Love, or Is It Money?

Learning and Teaching Pronunciation in Diverse Contexts

This teaching tip describes the difficulty in distinguishing the /n/ and /l/ phonemes in English ... more This teaching tip describes the difficulty in distinguishing the /n/ and /l/ phonemes in English by speakers of Cantonese and Southwestern Mandarin and provides instruction on how to teach students to improve the position of the tongue in the mouth with the help of a chopstick to articulate these sounds more successfully. An instructional video clip is included for use with learners.

■ This article is a personal statement of the ways in which technology has affected the author’s ... more ■ This article is a personal statement of the ways in which technology has affected the author’s teaching of oral communication skills. Both low-tech and high-tech means are presented. She begins with the use of simple household devices as visual and kinesthetic aids, describes how readily audiotape and videotape can be used for receptive and productive skills development, and outlines how comprehensively an interactive language lab can contribute to oral skills development. She explores the benefits of accessing sound files on CD-ROM, in presentation software, and on Web pages. She introduces the telephone and voice mail for oral practice and illustrates the advantages of using voiced email for oral development and assessment. The author concludes with a description of the ways technology has affected her teaching overall. She lists the downsides of using technology and closes with the opportunities that technology has brought her students.

The CATESOL Journal, 2018

This article summarizes research on body language, embodiment, and the incorporation of proprioce... more This article summarizes research on body language, embodiment, and the incorporation of proprioception, physical movement, gestures, and touch into second language education, particularly with regard to the pronunciation of English. It asserts that careful attention to breathing, vocalization, articulatory positions, pulmonic and tactile pressures, pitch and duration, scope and synchrony of body movements, in addition to the systematic use of gestures, enables more effective pronunciation. It presents ways that teachers of English can embody features of pronunciation—making them more perceptible and representing them in clear and obvious ways to enhance perception, pronunciation, and retention. Classroom techniques described include pronunciation workouts such as breath training and articulator exercises; the use of simple devices, hands, and fingers to illustrate aspects of articulation and prosody; and larger body movements, such as the “Stress Stretch,” “Haptic Syllable Butterfly...

Journal of Second Language Pronunciation

Esp Journal, 1984

Since 1978, increasing numbers of scholars from the People's Republic of China have been going ab... more Since 1978, increasing numbers of scholars from the People's Republic of China have been going abroad for advanced training and research. To prepare them to function in English-medium universities, institutes offering various forms of cultural orientation and language training have been set up in many locations throughout China. The training programs at some of these institutes are based on needs assessments which include the scholars' own perceptions of what they will need in order to succeed in an English-speaking environment. In this paper, we report on an investigation of perceived academic needs of two groups of scholars: students entering the Graduate School English Language Center in Beijing, and visiting scholars who have been in American universities for at least six months. The latter, initiated group attached different degrees of importance to certain academic activities or skills than the former, uninitiated group. The findings have implications for curriculum planners, particularly those involved with language training in China, but also for those undertaking ESP projects elsewhere.