Capstone ESL Portfolio

Abstract

This ESL Portfolio reflects all I have learned from two-year study in English Language Learners program, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. I combine academic study during different courses with a variety of practices including fieldtrips, classroom observations, assessment observations and student-teacher experiences, and demonstrate my own interpretation and understanding about teaching English as a second or foreign language. This ESL Portfolio contains three sections: 1) Philosophy of Teaching, 2) TESOL Standards for ESL/EFL Teachers of Adults, and 3) Bridging Theory and Practice. In the first section, I start from Socrates’ iconic concern for teaching and analyze its ultimate teaching goal. Then I move to the comparison and contrast of Chomsky’s idea and Hymes’ idea about linguistics, based on which, I put my focus on theories and methods for the improvement of English language learners. In the second section, I interpret and analyze standards for ESL/EFL Teachers of Adults on the account of four aspects: learners and learning, learning environment, curriculum, and assessment. My artifacts play an important role in understanding and deeply considering the implied meaning of these standards. In the third section, I recall my artifacts as well as my experiences with real classroom teaching and targeted students in order to connect my study in English Language Learners program to practice. And I make a further discussion about what kind of teacher I am going to become in the future classroom.