A ‘Big-picture’ Snapshot of Teaching Grammar in TESL/TEFL

January 15, 2018

Grammar is tough, for most of us. It’s tough to teach. It’s tough to learn about for our professional development. So, some of us gravitate towards approaches that we think eschew the teaching of grammar. Celce-Murcia (2015), however, shows how grammar instruction has a noticeable presence even in communicative approaches to language teaching. She provides the reader with an accessible introduction to grammar instruction in ELT and to its roll in communicative language teaching.

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An Updated Take on the Ethical Treatment of L2 writers

December 4, 2017

Benefitting from 20 years of development in the fields of L2 writing and Writing Program Administration (WPA), Tardy and Whittig provide a timely update to Silva’s ethical imperative that moves beyond mere classroom concerns to how L2 writers are positioned by dominant discourses in the institution and how L2 writing specialists must be prepared to serve as an advocate for these students.

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Silva’s “On the Ethical Treatment of L2 Writers”: Still Very Relevant

November 20, 2017 3 Comments

This entry looks at a classic piece from the early years of the field of L2 writing that is still shockingly relevant in today’s higher education environment of increasing international student enrollment targets. Specifically, it discusses the ethical treatment of L2 writers and writing at Western universities. TL;DR: Go read Silva (1997)!

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Is Flipped Learning Really Worth the Trouble? Or, Flipped Learning and Learning Gains in the ESL/EFL Context

September 26, 2017

Flipped learning has become a popular tool to increase student agency over learning and to create variety in the ways that students can engage with educational content. Recently, there has been some question about how students respond to flipped learning and whether or not it is effective in achieving educational goals. This article seeks to address that gap.

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