Fostering the development of writing skills in the EFL classroom

Often characterized as the “Cinderella” of the four language skills, writing is one of the most difficult and challenging areas that teachers and learners of a foreign language have to tackle with. It is though undoubtedly one of the most important skills that learners of a foreign language need to possess. In the last decades,Continue

Designing materials for developing listening skills

Being the key to speaking and thus to communication, listening is perhaps one of the most important skills in language learning. As Ur argues, “effective speaking depends on successful listening for L2 learners” (1984: p.16). Due to the critical role of this skill, knowledge of the listening process and the strategies used by the listenersContinue

Error analysis, interlanguage development and foreign language learning

Second language learning, as Brown (2000:162) states, is a “creative process” of constructing a system by “consciously testing hypotheses” about the target language (TL) from a variety of “sources of knowledge”: knowledge of the TL, knowledge of the mother tongue, and knowledge about language and life in general. Based on this assumption, learners are notContinue

Authenticity and the listening skill

Anderson and Lynch (1988:33) describe the kinds of knowledge we need in order to understand a spoken message. KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORLD: Objects, events, topics, places, etc. KNOWLEDGE OF SCHEMA: Scripts for familiar series of events PROCEDURAL KNOWLEDGE: The way discourse is organised KNOWLEDGE OF CONTEXT: Situation, setting, participants, co-text (past and future) KNOWLEDGE OFContinue

Discovering new knowledge: brainstorming tasks and the EFL classroom

In their book on second language teaching (1988:51) , W. Rutherford and S. Sharwood Smith talk about the notions of “explicit” and “implicit” knowledge and the impact these have had on second language acquisition. They argue that helping our learners achieve the much desired goal of “spontaneous, unreflecting language use” will depend on many factorsContinue

Developing writing fluency in the EFL classroom

When designing writing tasks for the language classroom, we first of all need to keep in mind that some of our learners may already be quite skilful when it comes to producing written works in the L1. Nevertheless, they may find difficulties expressing themselves though writing in the TL. This may happen for a varietyContinue

Vocabulary learning strategies: ‘noticing’ new words or concepts

A model of vocabulary learning One models of learning a new word, largely derived from cognitive views of language learning would be 1 Students notice new word/concept for which they have no word 2.Students understand the wordform/meaning/use etc. 3. Students consolidate word form/ meaning/ use (practice) 4.Students use the word Noticing new words or conceptsContinue

Teaching large EFL classes: On managing classroom activity, creating student groups, monitoring and effective feedback

In his book Looking at Language Classrooms (1997:59),Bampfield, A. gives a list of useful strategies for teaching mixed level classrooms. Creating student groups GROUP DYNAMICS We have the following options (Harmer 2001: 120-122): Friends: discipline problems, mother tongue use, lack of focus Language level/ability Chance (tip: cut a photograph, stand in line-birthdays) Managing group andContinue

Corrective feedback and grammar teaching: the role of concept questions, scaffolding and noticing

Research on Corrective Feedback Lyster & Ranta (1997) studied the different types of corrective feedback used by teachers. They identified 6 types of feedback: CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK TYPES Explicit correction, – correction of the error by the teacher. Recasts – reformulation by the teacher of the error without repeating it Clarification requests – asking a questionContinue

The role of pragmatics in foreign language teaching: some key concepts

“Human communicative behaviour relies heavily on people’s capacity to engage in  reasoning about each other’s intentions, exploiting not only the evidence presented by the signals in the language code but also evidence from other sources, including perception and general world knowledge.” Spencer-Oatey and Zegarac 2002: 75 “Communication is not merely a matter of a speakerContinue