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Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Perspectives on spoken grammar

Goh, C. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

English language teachers' opinions on the pedagogic relevance of spoken grammar are beginning to be reported, yet the voices of teachers in East Asia are rarely heard. In this article, the views of teachers from China and Singapore expressed in an online discussion are compared. The discussion, which was part of a taught postgraduate course, focused on the usefulness of British spoken grammar norms and the potential value of spoken grammar knowledge for language learners. There is a broad consensus of opinion about its importance for raising learners' language awareness, but Chinese and Singaporean teachers generally had different attitudes to native speaker norms, while opinions on some pedagogical issues vary more at the individual level. The similarities and differences are attributed to the teachers' sociolinguistic concerns, understanding of learner needs, and beliefs about grammar that are influenced by the written language. The implications of these teacher perspectives for teacher education are highlighted.

An investigation of two ways of presenting vocabulary

Papathanasiou, E. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

The use of semantic links or networks in L2 vocabulary acquisition has been a popular subject for numerous studies. On one hand, there is a strong theoretical background stating that presenting words in related fashion facilitates the learning of L2 vocabulary. On the other hand, research evidence indicates that semantically related vocabulary seems to hinder rather than ease the learning of L2 vocabulary. The aim of the present study is to examine which manner of L2 vocabulary presentation is more helpful for L2 learners. It was conducted in EFL classrooms with Greek EFL students. The subjects were 31 intermediate EFL children and 32 beginner EFL adults. The two different ways of organizing new vocabulary for presentation were tested. The article will focus on the main conclusion that semantically related clustering impedes L2 vocabulary learning at beginners’ level.

Preparing ESP Learners for workplace placement

Wood, D. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Engineering students in North American universities often participate in cooperative education placements in workplaces as part of the requirements for their degrees and professional certification. Students for whom English is an L2 often experience difficulties in these placements due to the fact that while their academic language ability may be sufficient to manage their coursework, they struggle to cope with the communication demands of a workplace context. This paper is a report of a course designed to assist these types of students in augmenting their workplace communication abilities. Students were required to analyse the fluency features and formulaic language of native speaker (NS) models of speech in genres relevant to the professional workplace and to conduct ethnographic research and analysis with NSs in face-to-face communication on similar themes. Results of the course show that fluency and proficiency in general were improved for the majority of the students.

How good is your test?

Kucuk, F., Walters, J. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

This article reports on a study of the validity and reliability of tests administered in an EFL university setting. The study addresses the question of how well face validity reflects more objective measures of the quality of a test, such as predictive validity and reliability. According to some researchers, face validity, defined as the surface credibility or public acceptability of a test, has no theoretical basis since it is based on the subjective perceptions of stakeholders such as teachers and students. However, due to lack of time or resources, or due to a perceived lack of competence, practitioners tend to rely on the ‘appeal’ of language tests, rather than seek empirical evidence. This article describes several ways of evaluating achievement tests, comparing their results in order to shed light on what measures can and should be taken to ensure that achievement tests accomplish their purposes.

Teaching discourse intonation with narrative

Beaken, M. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Brazil’s system of discourse intonation (DI) is critically appraised, and some shortcomings are described. Modifications to DI are suggested, the most important being to recognize that tones have meanings derived from two functions: firstly to indicate the distribution of knowledge between speaker and listener—the analysis of tone in yes/no questions is crucial here; secondly to indicate the respective viewpoints of speaker and listener. With these modifications, a simple system of four basic tones can be constructed. This enables meaningful readings of simple narrative. Narrative is proposed as a register that can be used effectively to teach the basics of English intonation, with a suggested method.

The collaborative development of teacher training skills

Stillwell, C. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

This paper describes ‘mentor development’, a means of collaborative professional development through peer observation that was initiated by the author with 18 peers, all native English speaker EFL teachers at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba, Japan. It shows how such a programme allows teachers to learn from one another through classroom observations and peer mentoring, where observers practise teacher-educator skills by taking on the role of ‘mentor’ in post-observation conferences. A third colleague attends the post-observation conference with the aim of helping both the mentor and observed teacher reflect on and learn from their interaction during the conference, and to explore the implications these discoveries may have for effective teaching and mentoring.

Using online corpora to develop students' writing skills

Gilmore, A. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Large corpora such as the British National Corpus and the COBUILD Corpus and Collocations Sampler are now accessible, free of charge, online and can be usefully incorporated into a process writing approach to help develop students' writing skills. This article aims to familiarize readers with these resources and to show how they can be usefully exploited in the redrafting stages of writing to both minimize the teachers' workload and encourage greater cognitive processing of errors. An exploratory investigation comparing the use of these two online corpora in Japanese university writing classes is then described. This suggests that the participants in the study were able to significantly improve the naturalness of their writing after only a 90-minute training session and that the majority of students found these online resources beneficial, although there was a marked preference for the COBUILD Corpus and Collocations Sampler.

Promoting student autonomy through the use of the European Language Portfolio

Gonzalez, J. A. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

The European Language Portfolio (ELP) is a document launched by the Council of Europe in 2001 which consists of three sections: the Passport, the Language Biography, and the Dossier. It has two complementary functions: a pedagogic function (helping students to reflect on their learning and objectives) and a reporting function (providing a record of their language skills in terms of the levels of the Common European Framework of Reference). The author has coordinated trials of the ELP in two adult language schools in northern Spain. Following a preparatory training period, the project was carried out for a year. A number of problems were detected and solutions for them were found mainly through the use of IT: a web-based resource centre was created, where over 50 ELP-oriented activities and a list of FAQs was uploaded. In addition, students were encouraged to use e-Portfolios and ‘Europass’ as well as the online ‘Dialang’ test to help them in the self-assessment process. With the help of IT resources, the ELP has proved to be extremely useful as a pedagogical rather than a reporting tool. It has raised student awareness about the language learning process and its implications and has promoted learner autonomy to a very high degree.

Grammar is not only a liberating force, it is a communicative resource

Bruton, A. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Giving a voice to teachers and students in an outcomes-based approach

Jones, P. D. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

ELT and the global recession

Pinner, R. S. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

This is a feature in which individuals are invited to express their personal, and sometimes controversial, views on professional issues. These views are not necessarily those of the Editor, the Editorial Panel, or the Publisher. Reaction to Comment features is especially welcome in the form of a letter to the Editor.

Class-centred teaching

Senior, R. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

This is a summary of an online discussion hosted by the IATEFL Teacher Training and Education Special Interest Group (TTEd SIG) in December 2008.

Innovation in ELT

Wedell, M. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Writing academic English--a survey review of current published resources

Tribble, C. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Writing Stories: Developing Language Skills through Story Making

Maley, A. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Teaching Unplugged: Dogme in English Language Teaching

McIver, N. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

The Oxford Guide to Practical Lexicography

Lew, R. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Teaching Children English as an Additional Language: Meeting the Challenge in the Classroom * Teaching English as an Additional Language: A Programme for 7-11 Year Olds * Introducing English as an Additional Language to Young Children

Glasgow, J., Skinner, B. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Tasks in Action: Task-Based Language Education from a Classroom-Based Perspective

Williams, T. A. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Practical Classroom English

Case, A. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Comics

Eastment, D. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Correspondence

Prodromou, L. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Correspondence

Waters, A. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

iatefl

Williams, M. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Annual Index: Volume 63 (2009)

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT

Cumulative index

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:55:33 PDT