This article reflects upon foreign-language education in Iran. Contrary to its political and historical reputation in the world, Iran has not been well presented regarding its educational system in general and its foreign-language education in particular. Of course, a critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the Iranian education…

Examines three broad categories for selecting television news stories for the English-as-a-Second/Foreign-Language classroom: content schemata, formal schemata, and linguistic difficulty. (Author/VWL)

Explores dilemmas posed in the design of strategy instruction (SI) for adults learning a range of languages in a distance learning context. Recent approaches to SI are reviewed and attempts to resolve the issues are described. (Author/VWL)

Discusses aspects of English-as-a-Second/Foreign-Language teacher evaluation posted on the TESL-L email list from the period from November 1998 through July 2002. (Author/VWL)

Presents the case for using chat (synchronous online communication) in the language classroom from the point of view of a teacher with positive experiences and a balanced awareness of the potential of the medium. Discuses how to integrate chat in language learning, examines the advantages and disadvantages of chat to the language learner, and…

Focuses on the role of "noticing" and "noticing the gap" in second language acquisition. Argues that this notion has gained wide support on the basis of intuition and assumption rather than on findings of appropriate and exhaustive empirical research. Considers the theoretical constructs that underlie the role of noticing and assesses the validity…

Highlights the life of one Chinese English-as-a-Foreign-Language teacher who uses computer-mediated communication and the Internet to provide his students with communicative language experiences. (Author/VWL)

Explores the contradiction between communicative theory and practice in beginning and intermediate English-as-Second-or-Other-Language (ESOL) materials and compares this situation with that prevailing in early first language literacy instruction. Proposes that ESOL teachers create and use materials that are primarily designed to appeal to adult…

Describes the U.S.-SiberLink Project that linked universities in Santa Barbara, CA, Washington, D.C., and Yakutsk, Siberia. Discusses the project's multimedia Web site and traces development of the project as students in the three cities discuss topics, find research materials, share writing for peer review, and communicate via e-mail and…

This discussion consists of insights from a number of individuals on the use of students' first language in foreign language classrooms or learning environments. The contributions first appeared as posts on the TESL-EJ email list for English-as-a-Second-Language/English-as-a-Foreign-Language (ESL/EFL) classroom pedagogy between May 2000 and June…

Reports on how language and gender issues have been integrated into the discussion of letter writing, speech making and writing, and the long essay in an advanced English composition course at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. The teaching was done with the main goal of enhancing students' writing skills, while also making them…

Discusses the conception and inception of TESL-EJ, a new refereed journal in the English-as-a-Second-Language area with a particularly wide mandate. Special attention is paid to the properties of electronic journals, how these bear on ESL, and how TESL-EJ could interact with its discipline to construct new ways of developing academic discourse.…

There are relatively clear definitions of what is meant by authenticity in relation to language-teaching materials and texts; there is much less agreement about what constitutes authenticity of context and of task activity. Article explores different notions of authenticity in language classroom. A crucial point often overlooked is that the…

Proposes that newspapers on CD-ROM can be used as effective resource for materials production in British or U.S. civilization and current-affairs courses and English-for-Specific-Purposes courses. Provides ideas for using newspaper articles as basis for materials design, language-learning exercises, project work, computer-assisted…

Discusses how English-as-a-Second-Language students are seeking help at U.S. college and university writing centers. This trend emphasizes the complementary role of the writing center and ESL writing instruction in improving ESL writing skills. Writing center and ESL writing pedagogy share process and collaborative approaches, which emphasize the…