Research on ESL Instruction on Campus (Classes for Experimentation)

There are three programs that provide ESL instruction on the campus. These are the English Language Institute (ELI), University of Hawai‘i English Language Program (UHELP), and the New Intensive Course in English (NICE). All differ in their aims, procedures, times of instruction, and clientele, but may be approached for research purposes.

Students who wish to conduct research in these programs will need to plan well in advance with the administrators if they intend to use classes to evaluate methods, materials, tests, etc. Graduate students should be aware that it takes a considerable amount of manipulation to implement research procedures in a class which has a specified goal, a syllabus which spells out that goal, materials to implement the goal, and a set of teaching procedures designed for the class—hence the need for careful planning well in advance.

All requests for use of classes should be made through the appropriate administrators who will then guide and/or direct the student to the appropriate instructor(s).

The Department of SLS has prepared “Guidelines” for making such requests to units within the department. These are to be found in the section under Research in the Department of SLS. In addition, all research carried on by UHM faculty and students must be exempted or approved by the UH Committee on Human Studies, information about which is provided in Human Studies Guidelines in the Policies section of this Handbook.

The administrators of the different programs are:

There are other ESL programs on O‘ahu which may be suitable for experimental work. These include: Hawai‘i Pacific University, Honolulu, Kapi‘olani and Leeward Community Colleges, and Brigham Young University–Hawai‘i, Transpacific Hawaii College, as well as a number of private language schools. In seeking permission to carry out research work, the student should inquire with the appropriate administrator in each case. In practice, most research work has been done on the UH-M campus because of the convenience of having classes close by.