Critical Teacher Talk: Successful English for Academic Purposes Classroom Practices in a Global Campus.

Spurred by economic and technological globalization (Stromquist, 2007), colleges and universities worldwide participate strategically in growing internationalization as "process of integrating an international, intercultural, or global dimension in the purpose, function, or delivery of postsecondary education" (Knight, 2003, p. 2). Cross-border international student mobility is a major form of transnational higher education worldwide (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2004). Accordingly, higher education in the U.S. as a global model for contemporary international higher education encounters new impact on policies and practices as the worldwide trends of accelerating globalization (Altbach & Knight, 2007) and ensuing internationalization (Stromquist, 2007) are expected to continue. In particular, considering international student enrollments in colleges and universities in the U.S. that mark continual records high during the 2006-2015 period (Institute of International Education, IIE, 2015), economic, academic, and cultural benefits of transnational student mobility foresee unprecedented growth (NAFSA, n.d.).However, it begs a question whether institutions' and educators' readiness and success keep pace with the current international student mobility trend. Further, it is worth noting that little mainstream attention is paid to non-degree students including those enrolled in Intensive English programs whereas the majority of the international students study for their academic degrees. Considering the fact that Intensive English for Academic Purposes is ranked the seventh in top fields of study of international students, it is a tall order to include in the strategic efforts to envision higher education practices the need of the neglected population of 49,233 students, 5% of total international students, a 13.3 percent increase from the previous year (IIE, 2015).Thus, this study aims to explore the key features of successful English for Academic Purposes (EAP) educational practices in class with international learners of English as a Second Language (ESL). The overarching questions that guided this study follow:1. What is the nature of teacher-student verbal interaction during EAP classroom instructional time?2. In what ways, if any, does the teacher's talk influence international students' learning English?THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKLanguage proficiency is understood from the pedagogical standpoint as 'process'-mediated by a myriad of individual and sociocultural factors-in the continuum of developing "mastery of skills and knowledge" (Ravitch, 2007, p. 173) for a target language, rather than a permanent end-state of a given linguistic ability. Motivated by first and second language acquisition literature on caretaker speech and foreigner talk (Ferguson, 1975), teacher talk, as a conceptual construct, means teacher's speech adjusted as a function of the proficiency of language learners in teaching and learning contexts (Gass & Selinker, 2008). As such, teacher talk needs to be conceptualized in the perspective of 'development' to respond to the multivoiced complexities of learner language (Wertsch, 1991). Previous research on teacher talk has contributed to addressing the ultimate goals of research on classroom instruction that makes a difference in learning (Chaudron, 1988; Norris & Ortega, 2001).Still, it is important to note a paradigmatic gap in the research efforts in that previous inquiries were predominantly grounded on a formalist, psycholinguistic epistemology (Eckman, 1994) that views learning solely as an individual cognitive activity measured in 'product' or tests. Considering constant, transnational interactivity in new times, this study turns to learning in 'process' or 'participation' (Robbins, 2003) for further investigation and is drawn on sociocultural perspective that "recognizes the central role that social relationships and culturally constructed artifacts play in organizing uniquely human forms of thinking (Lantolf, 2004, p. …