Whenever high-stakes assessment/curriculum reforms take place, new textbooks appear on the market. These textbooks inevitably play a significant mediating role in the implementation of any reform and on teaching and learning. This paper reports on a small-scale study which attempts to investigate the role of textbooks in the mediation of a…

This article looks at how specific developments in information and communication technologies (ICT) have impacted on ELT over the past three decades. Of particular interest is the effect on classroom practice, and on the types of materials available for teaching and learning. We take as our starting point Mark Warschauer's and Stephen Bax's…

This paper reports on a study which examined students' attitudes to learning grammar in autonomous contexts and their preferences for the learning materials with which to do so. In all, 38 students were surveyed and 13 of these then spent some time working in a language resource centre (LRC) with web- and paper-based materials. Students then…

In addition to their intended purpose, graded reader texts can be made into a corpus appropriate for use with lower-level learners. Here I consider using such a corpus for data-driven learning (DDL), to make this approach more accessible to intermediate level students. However, how far does grading the corpus in this way compromise the…

This article explores the use for ELT young learners of predictable stories and books. These stories and books originally written for native English speaking children are finding their way into classrooms for second and foreign language learners. This genre can be used to help native English speaking children as well as children learning English…

Self-access centres (SACs) are playing an increasingly pivotal role in supporting the (self-) study of languages. Selecting suitable resources thus becomes more and more important. At the selection stage, identifying problems with available resources is not an easy task, and is made more difficult by a lack of published guidelines. Linked with…

If, as has been widely claimed, our attitudes and beliefs are reflected in the language we use, it should be possible to gain some insight into teachers' views of English-language coursebooks from the metaphors they use to describe them. A small collection of teacher metaphors (and similes), drawn largely from Hong Kong, is presented and…

This article reports on the Slovene share in the European project called Janua Linguarum--The Gateway to Languages. It highlights its forerunners and its outcomes, and gives an illustrative example of how primary school students encounter and explore various languages by using a relatively novel, plurilingual approach. All the materials produced…

Learners often find the area of pragmatics (that is, using speech acts such as requesting, inviting, and complimenting) problematic. Teachers are urged to teach pragmatic aspects of language, and make use of authentic samples of spoken discourse to do so. However, information about the effectiveness of pragmatics-focused instruction of this nature…

Visual organizers are visual frameworks such as figures, diagrams, charts, etc. used to present structural knowledge spatially in a given area with the intention of enhancing comprehension and learning. Visual organizers are effective in terms of helping to elicit, explain, and communicate information because they can clarify complex concepts into…

Examines the extent to which the provision of selected collateral material can enhance students' enjoyment of their writing tasks, and their performance in a context where although English is the official language, it is little used and much resisted by students for whom the language of choice for social interaction is the local Creole.…

Focuses on question-response sequences in academic and work settings and examines the type of description of questioning conventionally offered in published English language teaching materials for higher-level learners. (Author/VWL)

Provides a wide-ranging survey review of business English materials. The review examines titles that have appeared, for the most part, since 1998. (Author/VWL)

Argues that the authenticity of texts in the English language classroom may need to be sacrificed to achieve authentic responses in students. Shows how simple tasks can be devised that exhibit a high degree of authenticity both in terms of task and learner response.(Author/VWL)

Details the design of a hypertext decision-making activity located on the Internet for business English students wishing to review techniques and vocabulary for conducting business meetings (World Wide Web address is given). Provides statistical data on students using the activity worldwide, and makes recommendations for further development of…