Masters Students Tutor English Language Learners on Pronunciation

Through the leadership of Dr. Veronica Sardegna, many of our M.A. FLE students are tutoring students at ESL Services on pronunciation improvement. These efforts are contributing to the continuing success of our students at UT.  On her tutoring portfolio, M.A. student Ashley Sallee reflected: “I feel that the tutoring sessions were vital to my understanding of the material and its application. As I learned the material, reviewed it, created and revised lesson plans, and revisited lessons, I felt more and more capable to teach pronunciation.” International Ph.D. student Li-Tang Yu also commented: “Teaching pronunciation to other non-native speakers of English pushed me to study pronunciation rules and internalize them so that I could apply them in the tutoring session. This tutoring was a great opportunity for us to apply what we learned in class.” The ESL students that took the lessons appreciated the quality of the lessons they received, as one ESL student noted in her feedback report to one of the international student teachers: “Today’s class was really useful. Awesome!” Comments such as this were very common throughout the tutoring.

In addition, some MA FLE students also volunteered to teach ESL students on academic writing during Fall 2012 and Spring 2013. Under the supervision of Dr. Sardegna, six doctoral students are now conducting research on the efficacy of this endeavor and the influence of learner and teacher factors for enhancing the learning experience.