In this article, the author talks about academic jibberish. Alfie Kohn states that a great deal of academic writing is incomprehensible even to others in the same area of scholarship. Academic Jibberish may score points for the writer but does not help research or practice. The author discusses jibberish as a career strategy that impresses those…

This paper is motivated by the premise that little is known about the use of requestive strategies in request emails in Chinese English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) context. Specifically, the paper examines and compares requestive strategies in request emails between two groups of university students, namely English majors (EM) and non-English…

Provides theoretical background to Exploratory Practice (EP) and illustrates how the framework of EP can be invoked in the context of doctoral research. Reports on a doctoral study that focuses on one the researcher's professional development as an EP teacher-consultant. (VWL)

Investigates English-as-a-Second-Language classes in Auckland, New Zealand to compare the frequency and characteristics of incidental focus on form episodes occurring in these classes. (Author/VWL)

The article addresses the long-standing issue over the role of the mother tongue in the foreign language classroom. In the first part it is argued that the mother tongue lays the cognitive foundations for all subsequent language learning. Double comprehension as the basic requirement for learning to take place is explained. The second part is…

Illustrates the significant contribution journal writing can make to deepening researchers' understanding of all facets of the research processes. Argues that such journals can provide other researchers with illuminating insight into the research process. (Author/VWL)

Describes an approach to the study of writing processes based on the analysis of temporal aspects of the writing event. The approach involves recording the keystroke presses made during production of a text using a word processor, and analyzing such features as pausing, fluency, and revision activity. (Author/VWL)

Illustrates subtleties and complexities of gender in language education, and suggests implications of research for educational practice. Demonstrates alternatives for research into gender and language classrooms, showing both how the more familiar approaches can be fruitfully developed and how researchers can go beyond them. (Author/VWL)

The argument put forward here is that we are witnessing the emergence of a concept of English as a lingua franca, which creates a set of attitudes about correctness and in particular "grammatical correctness". The traditional "native-speaker" as final arbiter can only apply to English as a national language. It is the non-native speaker who is…

While ELT has long recognized the need to address student anxiety in language learning situations, it has all too often assumed that such anxiety is primarily competence-based. Consequently, there has been insufficient recognition of the fact that identity-based anxiety, too, can have significant effects on language learning in the classroom. In…

The author first talks about the current situation of teaching EFL in higher education institutions in Taiwan, and indicates that the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Approach has been the most popular language teaching approach lately. Then he addresses the hybrid course approach which seems to be a trend as well as an appropriate way for…

In attempting to provide empirical qualitative data analysis, the researcher has to work within many constraints. There are ethical issues that need to be considered and evaluated in the managing of data, especially one that is naturally occurring. One of the more popular methods of "capturing" this data is through audio recording and to be able…

Focuses on the aim of the Cultural Inglesa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which is the development of a new, fully sustainable concept for classroom-based research--exploratory practice--and its assimilation into the normal working and professional-development practices of Rio Cultura teachers. (Author/VWL)

The benefits and costs of the impact of textbooks on teaching English-as-a-Second-Language courses are discussed. This paper examines the role of commercial textbooks in instruction, reasons for their present status, and the consequences of that status. (10 references) (Author/LB)

A genre analysis of 284 essay examination prompts reveals specific discoursal characteristics that function to communicate what type of response will be considered legitimate. The finding suggests that, for test-takers to decode prompts, they must draw from the same functional/linguistic knowledge of genre that the test constructor did. (15…