In this article, the author describes how to use "story retelling wheels" as scaffolding devices to support young learners as they develop the important skill of being able to retell stories that they have heard and comprehended. This tool can be adapted to meet young learners at different English language and literacy levels. It…

Cognitive research has shown that the human brain processes images quicker than it processes words, and images are more likely than text to remain in long-term memory. With the expansion of technology that allows people from all walks of life to create and share photographs with a few clicks, the world seems to value visual media more than ever…

Integration of the four language skills can be enhanced by focusing on back translating--translating an English text into the students' first language and then back into English. This article describes a three-step process for using back translation in reading classes as a way to help students identify gaps in their English competence.

Creating specific lessons for different language skills is challenging and time consuming for English teachers, but it is definitely worth the effort. In the author's experience, teaching language skills through mechanical exercises and traditional fill-in-the-blank, true/false, and multiple-choice assessments does not interest students as much as…

In this article, the authors endorse a model that uses themes as springboards for language improvement, accompanied by the added benefit of content learning, though to differing degrees depending on the instructional setting. The themes that teachers choose to integrate into their language classrooms may reflect serious issues (e.g., elections,…

Many English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students who seek admittance to a university where English is the medium of instruction do not have sufficient language skills to understand lectures, comprehend textbooks, participate in class discussions, or generate satisfactory written work. Oftentimes, they have only experienced teacher-centered…

For many university teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL), the study of literature is indispensable because it exposes students to meaningful contexts that are replete with descriptive language and interesting characters. Structuring lessons around the reading of literature introduces a profound range of vocabulary, dialogues, and prose.…

This article argues that exposure to culture will help students develop complex linguistic and cultural skills. The authors discuss the use of graded literary readers, audio resources, and films. They present a detailed description of the implementation and results of two simplified novel modules in an EFL program. One module was taught to…

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…