by Dara Richard National University of Singapore (Singapore) TeacherTube – www.teachertube.com Teachers TV – www.teachers.tv Since the 1990’s educators have promoted the use of video in the classroom. Compared to print or audio material, video provides a rich source of information. Students not only learn new content but also observe its context (Norton & […]
Month: August 2009
Teaching Reading in an ESL and EFL Setting: A Comparison
by Chitra Varaprasad National University of Singapore (Singapore) Keywords: discourse-based teaching, schema theory, teaching reading, text structure Abstract This paper explains the use of a discourse-based method to teach reading in ESL and EFL settings and shares insights from the classroom about this teaching experience in both these settings. It compares students’ backgrounds, […]
The Case for Abstract Grammar: Formal Grammar and Linguistic Communication
by Jeanette K. Gundel and Hooi Ling Soh University of Minnesota (Minnesota, USA) A question that is sometimes raised about formal grammar is whether it is relevant for understanding our ability to use language to communicate. We believe that it is, and that part of the controversy surrounding this question is due to (i) […]
The Case against Abstract Grammar: Against Non-Communicative Grammars
by Martha C. Pennington Georgia Southern University (Georgia, USA) A grammar that is not intimately connected to communication is highly artificial and abstracted from anything that could describe or produce human language behavior (Pennington, 2002). Yet in both (i) the traditional models of language that inform the grammars which most language teachers and students […]
The Case against Writing Centres
by Albert Weideman University of the Free State (Bloemfontein, South Africa) The case for applied linguistics Faced with the problem of bad student writing, administrators who may have little knowledge of or respect for applied linguists as professionals adopt the intuitive and quickest solution: to teach writing. And those who derive a livelihood from […]
The Case for Writing Centres
by Deng Xudong National University of Singapore (Singapore) In institutions of higher learning, writing is prevalent in students’ academic life as it often constitutes an essential part of their academic requirements. This prevalence is probably based on the premise that writing helps promote thinking and intellectual development, sustain the knowledge learnt from a subject […]
Mission Possible: How to Make Writing More Meaningful and Fun for Learners
by Maria Luz Elena N. Canilao Ateneo de Manila University (Manila, Philippines) Keywords: collaborative learning, student motivation, task-based learning, teaching writing Abstract How do you make writing a more relevant learning experience for learners? How do you make it more enjoyable for them? How do you make them fall in love with it? These […]