This article describes Instructed Second Language Acquisition, the aim of which is to identify causal relationships between language teaching and learning with the ultimate goal of improving L2 learning or teaching.
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.
This post explores cognitive load theory and its relevance for education in general and language education in particular.
This article describes a motivational framework called directed motivational current (DMC), which advocates getting a focused vision, blasting into hyperdrive, staying in the zone, riding a directed motivational current, experiencing eudaimonic well-being and authenticity, and finally landing with feelings of joyful fulfillment, job done.
Reading to Learn: A Reading and Writing Pedagogy
This Research Bite looks at the Reading to Learn (R2L) method as well as additional research on its effectiveness.
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This article argues that the lesson plan templates most commonly promoted on teacher training programmes are inappropriately premised on an outcomes-based approach to teaching, and instead proposes an affordance-based approach to planning, giving practical suggestions for modifying the template and its role in lesson observations.
A meta-analysis by Spada and Tomita (2010) shows that explicit grammar instruction may be more effective than implicit grammar instruction.
Kirschner and colleagues look at the evidence against minimally guided instruction (e.g. discovery learning, inquiry-based learning) and in favor of direct instruction. In particular, they look at how minimally guided instruction does not consider what we know about the cognitive elements of learning.
This study examines the rhetorical moves frequently found in different phases of EAP lessons and the particular language features common in each phase. The insight from this study may enable teachers to create more accessible and easily navigable lessons.