Paraphrasing is a key skill for EAP students, and there are numerous techniques and tools that they can use to help them paraphrase. Whether they use these tools effectively to produce good paraphrases, though, is another question. A question, in fact, that Carol Bailey and Judi Withers at the University of Wolverhampton (UK) investigated in detail. This article is the report on their study, with its interesting findings and some useful take-aways for EAP teachers. Context & Research Bailey and Withers noticed students making poor use of helpful tools (e.g. within Microsoft Word), and use ..read more

Using corpora in teaching language has been shown to be effective for already known items such as words and collocations. An exploratory study by Kuei-Ju Tsai published in 2019 looked at how well students learn new vocabulary using a corpus and a dictionary. Article Kuei-Ju Tsai (2019): Corpora and dictionaries as learning aids: inductive versus deductive approaches to constructing vocabulary knowledge, Computer Assisted Language Learning, DOI: 10.1080/09588221.2018.1527366 Introduction Previous work on DDL (data driven learning) has shown that using concordances is good for consolidating alre ..read more

Many language teachers observe that listening often falls behind other L2 competences, and bemoan a lack of truly effective methods for training listening skills. Jiang, Kalyuga and Sweller (2018) thus investigated what constitutes effective training in listening skills for L2 learners: reading, listening, or both. Their results show that certain approaches to instruction may benefit learners at different levels. Background The research takes cognitive load theory as a basis. The theory derives from work into human memory and the ‘architecture’ of cognitive structures. The term ‘cognitive load ..read more

English language classrooms outside of English-speaking countries are becoming increasingly multilingual. Sadly, many language teachers may be unsure of how to best cater to these more mixed groups of learners. In this article, Veera Illman and Paivi Pietila report on a study they conducted in Finland. Their findings highlight experiences of multilingualism in ELT classrooms, and strategies for utilizing linguistic and cultural diversity to benefit language learning. Illman, V. & P. Pietilä, (2018), ‘Multilingualism as a resource in the foreign language classroom’, ELT Journal, 72.3 ..read more

Listening is a major part of ELT, and in particular ELT materials, with a listening section consisting of comprehension questions and gap-fill questions being a standard part of any coursebook unit, though ostensibly used merely to present language to be used in a speaking stage (Ableeva & Stranks, 2013). Bottom-up listening skills are frequently overlooked in the listening section of coursebook units but may be hidden away in the pronunciation section. In this study, Wilson and colleagues (2011) make the case for teaching sound discrimination by linking it to the second language proficien ..read more

Fluent listening involves both the bottom-up process of segmenting the boundaries between words, automatically recognizing morphological endings and using other linguistic cues to parse meaning. Likewise, fluent listening also involves top-down processes such as using prior knowledge, expectations, and context to aid in understanding. This occurs “in harmony” in L1 and advanced L2 listening but can be a struggle for lower-proficiency learners. What is the best way to address this in the classroom? Does it require a focus on top-down approaches (e.g. strategy instruction), bottom-up approaches ..read more

While the history of approaches to teaching ELT has witnessed many ideas come and go, Communicative Language Teaching (henceforth CLT) has stuck around for a while. Not without its critics, though! This article by John Klapper (2003) explores some criticisms of CLT put forward by proponents of Task-Based Language Teaching approaches (henceforth TBLT) and evaluates TBLT ideas that aim to counteract these, though do not manage to do so without encountering their own problems. Some criticisms of CLT unclear what constitutes ‘communication’, which is both the aim and also the means of learning no ..read more

Does this teacher’s description of how they felt when they first started teaching ring any bells for you? It sounds as if this teacher may not have started teaching directly after their initial teacher preparation course, in which case the gap they refer to is chronological. Time away made them feel disconnected and less able to apply their training directly to classroom. This, however, is not the only kind of challenging “gap” experienced by novices moving from trainee to teacher, and it is certainly not the most profound kind. Gaps, obstructions, detours, and dead-ends abound. No matter how ..read more

Ekaterina Tour’s 2015 paper attempts to answer three questions regarding language teachers and education technology through the lens of Literacy Studies: How do they use digital technologies in their everyday lives and teaching? What shapes the way in which they use technologies? And what is the relationship between their personal and professional use of technologies? Tour, the author, is motivated by the gap between the idea of integrating new literacies approaches to language teaching and the real applications of digital technologies in language classrooms. In her introduction, she identifie ..read more

There is an interview with Henry Widdowson up on youtube at the moment (posted by Richard Smith) in which he talks about his own career and the value of research. It’s well worth a look but this one quote stood out for me: “My hope has always been that teachers could enquire into their own practices.” This interview popped into my mind as I was reading this paper by Carol Ebbert-Hübner and regular ELT Research Bites contributor, Clare Maas. While I think the topic – translation and its benefits – is interesting and will be of value to all teachers (in particular those who teach students ..read more