This article describes a three-week project-based unit on entrepreneurship conducted with students in communications classes in an Academic English context. A detailed road map of the project is given, starting with an introduction and ending with final presentations and poster sessions. Students were motivated by their own interests in business…

This article offers five instructional enhancements that help students become better readers. These classroom practices coincide with five key elements of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading instruction: "extensive practice and exposure to print," "commitment to building student motivation," "attention to reading…

Much has been written about strategies for writing effective academic articles. For an excellent overview of issues to consider when publishing an academic article, the authors recommend Malcolm Benson's article in the April 1994 "Forum". Much less has been written about how a focus on the overall structure of the paper can help the reader and…

Students at many universities often fail to reach their full potential as English language learners due to low motivation. Some of the factors that affect their motivation relate to the country's education system in general. Others reflect institutional and cultural views of language learning in particular. Using a problem-solution format, this…

A persistent problem for teachers in English as a Second Language (ESL) situations concerns students who speak their shared common language instead of English in the classroom. Considering the inherent difficulty of the speaking skill, this is understandable. Learners often prefer to interact socially in their native language, allowing them to…

Reading is an important skill for English language learners in today's world; it supports the development of overall proficiency and provides access to crucial information at work and in school. With English being the dominant language of the Internet, international business, and academia (including science), beginning and advanced students alike…

Portfolios are popular in language teaching, both as a learning tool and a process-oriented assessment instrument. They require the compilation of student projects, performances, and other assignments over a semester or school year to record the growth of learning. When portfolios are used for evaluation, they are called an alternative assessment…

An oral-skills lesson is proposed having three dimensions: (1) contextualization, where the students are shown the function and use of a language pattern; (2) drills which stimulate student thinking during mechanical manipulation; and (3) communication, which enables the student to use what they have been practicing. (Author/PJM)

A program was designed to enhance mission candidates' communicative skills and to develop their awareness of United States history, geography, and culture. In the professional record, students gather a diversity of material on a topic of interest. Relevant ideas are entered in a notebook, and students formulate positions on their topics.…

Demonstrates some of the many ways in which a text can be used, not only as a basis for comprehension, but also for practicing grammatical structures, writing, and conversation skills. Such a variety of activities with one text can help to alleviate students' boredom. Sample texts are given. (Author/PJM)

Though the audiolingual approach has lost much of the support that it once enjoyed from methodologists and language teachers, no new method--fully formulated, coherent, and sufficiently in harmony with current developments in psychology and linguistics--has yet arisen to take its place. Many new directions in language teaching are apparent, most…