How can teacher educators gauge what participants have learnt after taking a course in teaching English as a second language (TESL)? One method that can help both language teacher educators and their students trace conceptual changes as a result of taking a course is the use of concept maps. This paper examines the conceptual changes of a group of…

A feature of language teaching in recent decades has been the development of process-oriented approaches. This orientation towards processes encourages us to facilitate learner choice and individual development. However, it is challenged by the current educational climate, which prioritizes accountability and assessment. In this situation, a new…

Investigations into the most effective ways to provide ESL learners with written corrective feedback have often been overly comprehensive in the range of error categories examined. As a result, clear conclusions about the efficacy of such feedback have not been possible. On the other hand, oral corrective feedback studies have produced clear,…

When teachers hear the word "cohesion", they usually think of grammatical cohesion--an aspect of cohesion reasonably well covered in student books and teacher materials. However, occupying an area that straddles both lexis "proper" and cohesion lies "lexical cohesion". In what follows, it is argued that the teaching and learning of certain aspects…

Extensive reading is believed to have considerable benefits for learners both in terms of learning gains and motivation and seems to be becoming ever more popular in the ELT world. So far, however, there seems to be almost no integration of extensive reading and textbooks. This article argues that textbooks should be encouraging extensive reading,…

It is now generally agreed that some form of focus on the target code is necessary in adult L2 instruction. One question that remains to be answered is whether all aspects of L2 grammar are equally amenable to pedagogic intervention. A number of researchers have examined the effectiveness of instruction with regard to simple vs. difficult grammar…

Research on teachers' beliefs has demonstrated that beliefs have an important impact on teachers' practice. In teacher feedback research, however, not much is known about teachers' beliefs and the extent to which they influence practice. This article reports on the findings from a study that investigated teachers' beliefs and practice in written…

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 paper reports on a longitudinal case study of an adult EFL learner who perceived himself as having difficulty learning English. Both learning difficulty and learner identity are viewed as being constructed in discursive interactions throughout one's life and, hence, amenable to reconstruction. Data collected from classroom interactions,…

The major European testing agencies have calibrated their exams to the levels of language proficiency described in the Common European Framework (CEFR). In Italy, where the Framework has been enthusiastically embraced, external exams are now frequently used within the state education system as they are believed to provide reliable, widely…

This paper analyses the comments of a group of learners on their participation in an English corner on the Chinese mainland. It highlights that the particular "English corner" concerned in this study has become a social community where the participants could find supportive peers and self-assertion opportunities. The learners' participation in the…

The practicum is an important part of most TESL programmes; however, many novice teachers seek practical experiences beyond the practicum as part of their preparation for entering the profession. Collaborative projects between language learners and pre-service language teachers can offer such valuable practical experiences for both groups. The…

As a basis for a systematic approach to investigating the effects of written corrective feedback, this article presents a typology of the different types available to teachers and researchers. The typology distinguishes two sets of options relating to (1) strategies for providing feedback (for example, direct, indirect, or metalinguistic feedback)…

The island of Methodologia lies at the heart of the ELT world. It is here that classroom teaching skills are devised, tested, and popularized. However, many ELT practitioners are familiar only with the parts of the island where they grew up, even though there is much to be gained from an appreciation of the culture and history of Methodologia as a…

Despite long-standing recognition of the importance of sociocultural context in meaning making, criticisms have been levelled at communicative language teaching (CLT) for failing to effectively address this at the level of classroom practice. In fact, it has been argued that the way CLT presents content reveals a fundamentally reductionist view of…