Deborah Hall

Publication Date

4-1983

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Camilla Collins, Lynwood Montell, Ronald Ekard

Comments

Access granted to WKU students, faculty and staff only.

After an extensive unsuccessful search for the author, this thesis is considered an orphan work, which may be protected by copyright. The inclusion of this orphan work on TopScholar does not guarantee that that orphan work may be used for any purpose and any use of the orphan work may subject the user to a claim of copyright infringement. The reproduction of this work is made by WKU without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage and is made for purposes of preservation and research.

See also WKU Archives - Authorization for Use of Thesis, Special Project & Dissertation

Original department Modern Languages & Intercultural Studies / Folk Studies Program

Degree Program

Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology

Degree Type

Master of Arts

Abstract

I used different genres of folklore as examples to show how folklore can be used to teach ESL students at various levels of English proficiency. I related these genres to the grammatical structures and vocabulary appropriately taught at each level and adapted them to the techniques and methods traditionally used in teaching ESL. I showed that folklore motivated students to learn English by providing materials that were relevant to their own experiences through examples of using folklore to teach Indochinese refugees and German businessmen. These examples were also used to explain how folklore can be used to help students adjust to a new culture by pointing out the similarities which exist among all cultures. Using folklore in the ESL class provided an atmosphere of cultural exchange in which the students felt comfortable in attempting to use the new language, in which both the students and the teacher learned to understand and appreciate their own and other cultures, and in which the possibility of cultural misunderstandings and learning hindrances was lessened.

Disciplines

Anthropology | Education | Folklore | Language and Literacy Education | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Download

Share

COinS