An updated guideline for tertiary ELT in China has shifted the emphasis to the development of learners' ability to communicate in English. Using group work and getting learners actively involved in the actual use of English are highlighted more than before. This article focuses on adapting cooperative learning methods for ELT with tertiary…

Many UK universities offer degree programmes in English Language specifically for non-native speakers of English. Such programmes typically include not only language development but also development in various areas of content knowledge. A challenge that arises is to design courses in different areas that mutually support each other, thus…

Drawing on data from three English classrooms at two Chinese universities, this paper documents the turn-taking patterns that the teachers and students developed over time and explores how these patterns affected students' opportunities to participate in classroom discourse. The data were collected through observations, audio- and video-taping,…

Blogs have developed in two major ways: as a personal diary online and as a technologically enhanced multimedia diary that can be manipulated to suit the user's needs. This paper investigates one such blogging programme in India vis-a-vis its effect on autonomy. As a part of their curriculum, the students were asked to create their own blogs. The…

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…

This paper looks at two specific problems faced by second-language university students attending courses in English for Academic Purposes: expository texts and reading-to-write tasks. A reading reaction journal (RRJ) can provide a forum for students as they activate a variety of reading strategies when reading expository text and in addition, can…

For more than twenty years the benefits of extensive reading have been proclaimed to the ELT community, but the inclusion of extensive reading in ELT programmes is far from universal. Extensive reading appears to be particularly absent in higher educational and English for Academic Purposes settings. This paper reports on the implementation of an…

It is commonly recognized that, for lecturers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in a university setting, the goal of their teaching is to develop learners' ability to communicate appropriately in this language. This means that teaching practices should pay attention not only to the key features of the linguistic system of English, but also to…

This article gives an overview of a piece of qualitative research conducted at a women's university in the United Arab Emirates. The aim of the study was to evaluate the English language peer tutoring programme in order to highlight benefits and challenges, and to make informed improvements. The study drew particularly on participant perceptions…

This article examines some of the issues that arise when two disparate cultures of learning engage with each other. It draws on various theories of language pedagogy and cultural appropriacy to suggest how such issues might be resolved. A snapshot of a specific teaching experience at a Gulf university is presented to illustrate some of these…

This article investigates the relatively unexplored field of reflective journal writing by an on-line tutor, in this case working with a group of Chinese learners of English attending an intensive communication skills programme at a tertiary-level institution in Singapore. The results reported highlight the role of the reflective journal in…

One English-as-a-Foreign-Language teacher describes how she encourages students to extend their reading skills by undertaking a range of tasks that lead to the production of a portfolio of work connected with a particular title. Provides an overview of the work carried out over a period of 3 years with seven groups of students at university and…

Looks at using feature films in the English language classroom. Provides an outline description of a film workshop conducted by students of the Bilkent University School of Applied Language. The effects of the workshop on students are discussed, and suggestions are made for ways to use feature films in the English language classroom. (Author/VWL)

Explores the background to the quality debate in language education as it affects both the private and the state sector, noting similarities and differences between them. Looks at definitions of quality as they manifest themselves in schemes of quality assurance for the private language school sector, and for the state further and higher education…

Describes the development of an online course that aims to help tertiary students improve their English oral presentation skills. The course aims to allow learners to prepare their presentations out of class and then practice these skills in class with peer and teacher feedback. (Author/VWL)