Suarez 1

Valeria Suarez
Olivia Rines
UWRT 1101 002
27 Apr, 2015
Teachers of English as a Second Language
Nowadays, English has become a really extended and universal language, even though
it is not the most spoken one around the world. However, a lot of are deciding to learn English
because of the advantage that means mastering two or more languages in this modern world. I
think that is admirable that people of any age are deciding to learn another language and expand
their horizons. I also think that the labor of those who dedicate their lives to teach a language to
people that can have absolutely none knowledge on it is the most admirable thing of this whole
situation. I believe that the only way to do that is to be passionate about education and about
providing others with the knowledge that you already have. For this reason, I decided to study a
small group of teachers of English as a second language (ESL) as my discourse community.
The observation group I worked with for this project is formed by the teachers at the
English Language Training Institute (ELTI) of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte,
United States. This institution has seven levels where they place their students, depending on
their English level, and has twenty seven teachers.
I will present a micro - ethnography that Im working on for my English 1101 class,
which is created with the purpose of showing if the group I selected fits the concept of a
discourse community that was introduced to us in class. For this course, our professor presented

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us the concept of a discourse community according to John Swales, from his article The
Concept of a Discourse Community. Therefore, this project is based on the six characteristics of
a discourse community that Swales describes in that article to make it understandable for
everyone. Those characteristics are: Sharing a common set of goals, having intercommunication
mechanisms and having participatory mechanisms to deliver information and get feedback,
possessing one or more genres within the community, knowing an specific lexis, requiring
pervious knowledge or education in a field relevant for the community and holding a basic
number of members to work in the community (Swales 220 -222). By using these characteristics,
we can clearly see if one selected group can be considered a discourse community or not.
Common teaching goals
Based on my observations, the teachers that are part of the ELTI community want to help
the students to learn English, even if they are looking to use the language for different purposes.
Based on Swales, this group meets the first characteristic, because even when they dont post a
common goal in their main office for everyone to see it, they do present a common goal in their
website: Excellence in Teaching Since 1978. ELTI provides intensive English instruction for
international students planning to attend U.S. universities or for anyone wanting to improve
general English skills (ELTI). However, during the time that I spent doing this research I had the
opportunity to interview two of the teachers that work for this program, and they evidenced that
all of them have a common goal, but many times each person just explains it with their own
words. Stephanie Wallace, a teacher and coordinator of the sixth level of ELTI, explained to me
that the main goal she believes that all the teachers usually have in common is to help students to
highly improve their English and become proficient on it and to provide them with knowledge

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about the educational institutions in America. I believe that these professors usually go further
than just teaching about educational topics, but also about the American lifestyle and culture.
Communication is the key
While working with such a large community, communication is such a fundamental thing
that it cant be left aside. The English Language Training Institute is a small institute or
community that is part of the University, but it has its own internal organization. In the microethnography, they are presented them in three hierarchic levels: The Directive staff will be the
first one, formed by the director of the program, the office manager, the administrative associate
and one assistant. The second level will be formed by the teachers and coordinators. Lastly, the
students form the third level of this community. To being able to have a good communication
system between this three parts of the community there are several methods that can be used and
result in a success. The most common one is the email. Every individual that is part of the
community has a reachable email where it will be possible to contact them, which turns this into
the first communication line between anyone in the community. In addition, telephone is
commonly used among community members that belong to the directive staff and teachers,
because is not used to contact students unless is a special situation. Is important to stablish that
these communications methods are used by the entire institute. Therefore, the teachers use it to
communicate with anyone immersed inside of the institute.
In the main office of ELTI theres a mailbox for each one of the twenty-seven teachers
that is part of the institute. This is a place to communicate easily between anyone that wants to
reach the teachers, it is simple but efficient. Students can bring homework and place it there or
the staff members can give any information needed to the teachers through these mail boxes.
However, general communication ways like meetings, lectures and group discussions are also

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common to provide information to the teachers or from the teachers to someone else within the
community. According to this, ELTI also fits the criteria for this characteristic.
Opinions count
To manage the program, there are mechanisms to receive feedback from the three parts of
the community. The teachers have a coordinator for each level, to keep the information on track
between the directive staff and the teaching staff. Also, there are student evaluations that are
provided to have record of how the teachers are directing their classes and the opinion of the
students about each course.
On midterms, the teachers have meetings to evaluate the progress of their students. In
some particular cases, they might even consider promoting students to the next level in the
middle of the semester, if they show an excellent development in the level they are currently in
and they are able to manage the pressure of the next level for the rest of the semester. Meetings
are common in among the members of the institute for a variety of circumstances, which makes
easier to provide information and receive feedback.
To be a teacher in the ELTI, besides prior education requirements, the new teachers will
attend to an orientation prior their start in the program. Such orientation lasts two days and they
go through all the information they need to know about the program: policies and procedures,
good practices to use in class while dealing with the demographics of the students in the institute
and they also receive handouts with most of the information summarized. During the orientation,
they also share and exchange experiences with other teachers that have been in the program
before, along with participation in a questions and answers period. Therefore, ELTI meets the
characteristic that swales describes about feedback.

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Genres for English teachers?

All these communications skills and teaching ways are directly associated with the ELTI
community. In the same way, they have genres in common that are used every day in class.
Emails, class schedules, Power Point presentations in class, Moodle, books and in class activities
and assignments are some of the genres that all the parts of the community use, but mostly
teachers and students in their classrooms on an everyday basis.
However, most of these genres are different to each other depending on the class, the
level, the teacher and the student. They can be considered genres because of the common use that
they receive in the institute. Moodle, which is the online platform of the university, is the special
tool inside of all these genres, because is widely used to provide any kind of information,
assignments, grades or any important announcement. All teachers also use textbooks for each
level, and they are very important in the daily work in classes. While I was interviewing Casey
Shirey, she also explained and showed to me a planner that she has and adjusts for each class she
teaches, and this little chart can also be considered a genre for these community because many
teachers use it, with some variations in format. Having so many genres, this groups fits the
characteristic about that topic in Swales concept.
What to know if you teach
Teachers need to have a really extended knowledge of the content they are teaching.
Therefore, ESL teachers need to possess knowledge about everything they can. In this point, I
mean that they know everything they need grammatically and about their class goals, but they
also need to know a lot about their own culture. Considering my observations, teaching a second

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language means that the students can have questions about anything related to the country or the
new culture they are living in during the class time, and the teachers always try to answer them.
Education cant be limited by a frame where the students are only allowed to ask about a large
variety of topics. In the classes they dont necessarily dedicate time to explain culture itself, but
that will depend on what topic the teacher decides to use to teach a particular thing about the
language. For example, if a Listening & Speaking teacher decides to assign presentations to
practice the pronunciation of the students, the topic could be about culture, which leads the
students to both manage the language and learn a little about different cultural environments.
Understandably, they need to master the lexis of the English grammar to be able to show it to
their students in whatever way is needed to make possible for them to understand and use it
perfectly and that makes them fit into the characteristic described by Swales.
How to qualify
As I interviewed Ms. Stephanie, she explained a little about the requirements that people
who want to be part of this community of teachers. To qualify, they must have at least a masters
degree in a major thats related to linguistics or another field that could be related to language.
Also, two years of experience teaching ESL are considerably important for the institute. Its not
necessary but a good advantage is to have had a living abroad experience. Casey Shirey, teacher
in the ELTI and my second interviewed, explained to me how good is to have a living abroad
experience as a ESL teacher because it helps you to understand better the situation that your own
students might be living at some point in the semester. Also, she pointed out that most of the
teachers in the institute had a living abroad experience.
In the same way they are accepted in the institute, anyone who is a teacher in this
community is free to leave at any time they decide, following the proper legal ways specified in

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their own contracts, but they are not restricted to stay for a specific time. Its not common for
teachers to leave in the middle of the semester, but if it was necessary, is possible. ELTI doesnt
have an exact threshold level of members they need to teach, because they need enough teachers
to cover as many students as they have and that number can change. However, they usually need
between 27 to 34 teachers in the fall and spring semesters, and at least 15 to 16 during summer
semesters. Having this amount of teachers allows them to have about 15 students per class, and
the goal is to keep that number or lower.
ESL teachers are a really interesting community to observe because they have the ability
to provide class content to their students and at the same time discuss cultural related topics.
Overall, this institution meets the criteria of a discourse community based on Swales
characteristics.
I find really interesting that both Casey and Stephanie told me teachers never stop
learning from their students, and in this particular cases could see why during my observations
can see why. After this research, I can conclude that these teachers love education and are ready
to find any way they can to teach their students, knowing that sometimes it can be harder than
others, they still taking the risk. It is an admirable labor and while I observed this community I
realized that everyday these teachers seem to have more passion for their work.

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Works Cited
English Language Training Institute. University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Web. 26
April 2015.
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Genre Analysis: English in
Academic and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32. Print.