bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Language Proficiency andNNESTs
Authors: Eslami Zohreh R. , Harper Kelsey
Published: January 2018

The language proficiency of non‐native English‐speaking teachers (NNESTs) is an issue that continues to gain significance as NNESTs become a focus of research in TESOL and Applied Linguistics. With the still controversial NNEST status, the field has realized that it has yet to investigate and address the issues of NNESTs, including language proficiency. NNESTs' language proficiency level is far too often based upon how closely the NNEST sounds like a native English speaker. The tendency to gauge NNESTs' language proficiency using native‐speaker norms can leave NNESTs with a negative sense of self‐efficacy. It can also adversely affect their English‐language proficiency and pedagogical competence. To overcome the concerns related to NNEST language proficiency and self‐efficacy, what makes up language proficiency must be understood. In addition, teacher preparation programs should provide the support that NNESTs need for success.
Native‐Speakerism
Authors: Holliday Adrian
Published: January 2018

Native‐speakerism is a neo‐racist ideology that has wide‐ranging impact on how teachers are perceived by each other and by their students. By labeling teachers as separate “native speakers” and “non‐native speakers,” it falsely positions them as culturally superior and inferior with separate roles and attributes. While Western in origin, native‐speakerism is present across the profession and results in employment discrimination and a divisive professional discourse. The depth of embeddedness in professional life requires that radical action be taken to remove the use of “native speaker” and “non‐native speaker” as labels and to recognize the diverse cultural and linguistic contributions of all teachers in all sectors of the profession. Authentic content in English language teaching (ELT) also needs to be redefined as related to students' existing cultural and linguistic experience rather than to “native speaker” language and culture. In teacher education and research, treating teachers as separate speakerhood groups with easy acronyms should be discouraged.
Identity and the Ownership of English
Authors: Norton Bonny
Published: January 2018

The ownership of English is best understood in the context of debates on identity, legitimacy, and power. Diverging from a focus on binary distinctions between native and non‐native English‐speaking teachers, this entry argues that as legitimacy becomes more complex and dynamic in a mobile, transnational world, it is more productive to focus on classroom practices and student learning than the native tongue of the English teacher. To the extent that English language learners are invested in the teacher's pedagogy and classroom practices, the legitimacy of the English teacher will be enhanced, whether the teacher is native or non‐native. As language learners appropriate a wider range of identities from which to learn English, there is greater possibility that relations of power, in both local and global sites, will be more equitable, and educational opportunities more promising.
Methods in NNEST Research
Authors: Llurda Enric
Published: January 2018

Interest in research into non‐native English teachers is relatively recent and has originated out of the need to overcome the traditional predominance of native speakers over non‐natives in the language teaching profession. This entry presents a brief outline of the birth and development of this research, together with a description of the main methods and topics developed in twenty years of research.
NNEST Caucus/Interest Section of the TESOL International Association
Authors: Brady Brock
Published: January 2018

The NNEST Caucus/Interest Section of the TESOL International Association has had a critical influence on the non‐native English‐speaking teachers (NNEST) movement. While a few studies in the early 1990s laid important groundwork, TESOL's NNEST Caucus became the home for what would become the NNEST movement, a movement dedicated to validating and empowering non‐native English speakers in the face of discrimination, and stressing more generally the need to advocate for the professionalization of the TESOL field. The Caucus also gave birth to a new area of research: NNEST Studies. Activities of the NNEST Interest Section have focused on research, advocacy, and professional support. The success of the Interest Section has been due in part to its home within a professional association with similar values and to the support and sense of identity it provides to its members—both NESTs and NNESTs.
NNEST Movement
Authors: Braine George , Selvi Ali Fuad
Published: January 2018

In recent years, parallel to the unprecedented global spread of English as an international language, the growing issues related to non‐native English‐speaking professionals in TESOL have received tremendous attention. Today, this growing trend is considered a professional movement (“the NNEST movement”) which aims to institutionalize discourses of multilingualism, multiethnicism, and multiculturalism and to build a more participatory, democratic, collaborative, and inclusive future of TESOL, both as an activity and a profession. Operationalized along the axes of research efforts, policy and advocacy initiatives, and teaching activities, the NNEST movement generated a bona fide area of scholarly inquiry in TESOL and applied linguistics (“the NNEST studies”). Although the momentum it has generated over the past couple of decades deserves much attention and applause, the future trajectories of the movement necessitate a diversification of voices, efforts, and empowerment across the world.
World Englishes and
NNESTs
Authors: Matsuda Aya
Published: January 2018

Insights from the World Englishes (WE) studies challenge various assumptions and practices in English language teaching. This entry explores how the WE research complicates the notion of native English speakers and non‐native English speakers (NESs and NNESs), and by extension, native English‐speaking teachers and non‐native English‐speaking teachers (NESTs and NNESTs). It also suggests ways to incorporate the WE perspective into teacher preparation in order to de‐/re‐construct the notion of
native speakers
and facilitate the paradigm shift in the way that the required knowledge, skills, and experience for English language teachers are defined.
Comprehensible Input
Authors: Lee James F.
Published: January 2018

Comprehensible input is closely aligned with Krashen's input hypothesis, and while the theoretical framework no longer enjoys the status it once did, providing learners with comprehensible input is seen as a necessary part of second language acquisition. In addition to input being comprehensible, it must also be meaning‐bearing. Research findings have demonstrated that learners can acquire new vocabulary, morphology, and syntax from comprehensible input. Teachers have various linguistic and extra‐linguistic means at their disposal to help make the language they address to learners more comprehensible.
Corrective Feedback
Authors: Nassaji Hossein
Published: January 2018

How to treat learner errors has been an important issue both for second language teaching and language research. There is considerable controversy about the role and importance of corrective feedback in L2 acquisition. This entry begins by defining corrective feedback and its various types. It then discusses research that has examined its role in L2 acquisition. The article concludes with implications of the issues discussed for classroom teaching.
Developmental Sequences
Authors: Dyson Bronwen
Published: January 2018

This chapter aims to provide an up‐to‐date overview of research findings on ESL/EFL developmental sequences and stages, and the pedagogical implications of these findings. It opens by defining and exemplifying key terms and surveying previous approaches, focusing on the morpheme order studies and frequency analysis. This section highlights the advances made by these approaches, particularly in the identification of developmental sequences, as well as some of their major limitations, specifically the lack of a clear explanation for sequenced development and a precise definition of acquisition. The next section presents the major, contemporary theory positing developmental stages: Processability Theory (PT) (Pienemann, 1998, 2005). This section shows how, by addressing the shortcomings of previous work, PT offers a coherent explanation of developmental stages and variation within them, as well as a principled criterion of acquisition. This section also presents the developmental stages for ESL morphology and syntax, including the well‐known question stages. The final section explores the rich literature on the practical applications of the ESL developmental stages. By outlining PT's pedagogical suggestions and discussing major criticisms of them, it offers ESL/EFL teachers a time‐tested way of matching pedagogy with the developmental readiness of students.
Discourse Grammar
Authors: Frodesen Jan
Published: January 2018

The teaching of language as communication requires consideration of the ways in which language users' grammatical choices in speaking and writing may be motivated by cognitive, interactional and textual factors beyond the sentence. Discourse‐based studies in functional linguistics and corpus linguistics have revealed grammatical patterns governed by communicative goals such as information flow and management, topic continuity, and expressing stance, as well as differences in grammatical patterns and functions across spoken and written registers and genres. These studies and the corpus‐based resources derived from them offer a basis for the development of materials and activities to help English learners understand and use grammar in communicative contexts.
Teaching Grammar: Form–Meaning Mapping
Authors: Gardner Sheena
Published: January 2018

With advances in corpus‐informed descriptions of patterns in English grammar, research has revealed a wealth of detailed, specific, and meaningful form–meaning mappings and frequency information that provide teachers with attested examples of items with similar grammatical patterns and similar meanings. Starting from a discourse‐ or genre‐based approach has led to a complementary set of meaning–form mappings. Both sets can usefully inform grammar instruction, teaching materials, and syllabus plans.

With connectionist research exploring form–meaning mappings in the brain through studies of processing time, and SLA theorists arguing for deep processing for effective learning, there has been a rise in popularity of approaches to teaching grammar that aim to encourage learners to work at making the connections between grammatical forms and associated meanings. A range of techniques compatible with this general approach are presented in this entry within a discussion of principles for teaching grammatical form–meaning mappings.
Grammar Dictation (Dictogloss)
Authors: Nabei Toshiyo
Published: January 2018

Grammar dictation or dictogloss is known as a grammar teaching task. After taking brief notes of a passage read to them at normal speed, learners doing the task are asked to reconstruct the original text collaboratively; during that stage, they are driven to pay more attention to language and reflect on their linguistic knowledge. This widely used task in L2 pedagogy and research has demonstrated that it can effectively make learners pay attention to and talk about language. It contains great potential for L2 development; however, implementation of the task in practice needs some attention in terms of comprehension of the task passage, learner interaction, and feedback.
Grammar and Language Proficiency
Authors: Iwashita Noriko
Published: January 2018

After reviewing studies in language testing/assessment and second language acquisition (SLA), this entry presents an overview of the contribution of grammatical competence to overall oral language proficiency. We argue that despite the inclusion of grammar in the communication‐oriented approach to second/foreign language teaching, understanding of the varied levels of grammar's contribution to overall proficiency seems limited. Recent cross‐fertilization of research from language testing and assessment and second language acquisition, however, provides further insights into this issue as well as the construct of proficiency.
Interaction and Learning Grammar
Authors: Abbuhl Rebekha , Ziegler Nicole , Mackey Alison , Amoroso Luke
Published: January 2018

This entry discusses the interaction hypothesis and how input, output, feedback, and attention are believed to facilitate the acquisition of second language (L2) grammar. Following a brief overview of the central tenets of the approach, the entry addresses recent research on the role of interaction, including negotiation for meaning and corrective feedback, and how empirical findings might be practically applied in the L2 grammar classroom.
Noticing Hypothesis
Authors: Leow Ronald P.
Published: January 2018

Since the 1990s, Schmidt's noticing hypothesis has been viewed as one of the most influential theoretical underpinnings in the SLA field for its contribution to the centralization of the roles of both attention and awareness (consciousness) in the L2 learning process. This entry provides a concise review of the major tenets of Schmidt's noticing hypothesis and, based on his hypothesis, the subsequent empirical findings on learners' cognitive processes involved during the early (intake) and later (knowledge) stages of the L2 learning process, as revealed by two online data‐elicitation procedures (think‐aloud protocols and eye‐trackers) employed to operationalize and measure the constructs of attention and awareness. Samples of psycholinguistics‐based classroom tasks and activities premised on the roles of attention, noticing, and depth of processing are provided, with pedagogical implications that warrant a renewed view of explicit learning, that is, learning with awareness, in the classroom setting.
Overgeneralization
Authors: McKercher David A.
Published: January 2018

Overgeneralization is a phenomenon in which language learners—first, second, or additional—apply a rule or a pattern in a situation where it does not apply in the target language, resulting in a nonconventional form. It is most obvious in morphology, where it is often referred to as overregularization, but can also be found in the domains of argument structure, syntax, and phonology. Overgeneralization provides evidence of rule application, analogical reasoning, or use of a template, as opposed to rote memorization. As such, it demonstrates evidence of acquisition of a language as a system and of a language learner's ability to extract regularities and apply them.
PPP: Presentation–Practice–Production
Authors: Ur Penny
Published: January 2018

In many classrooms and coursebooks new grammatical features—and other language items as well—are commonly taught by the process of teacher presentation, followed by learner practice, and culminating in use of the feature by the students in their own production (PPP). The use of this sequence has been criticized in the literature for a variety of reasons. However, it is probably a useful component of an effective language methodology that includes also a range of other types of texts and tasks, provided that the three components are used flexibly, and the practice feature is not limited to conventional form‐focused drills but includes meaningful and communicative exercises which give learners opportunities to create meanings while also paying attention to form.
Processing Instruction
Authors: VanPatten Bill
Published: January 2018

Processing instruction is a particular type of pedagogical intervention or focus on form derived from insights on input processing. Unlike other techniques, it is not concerned with the teaching of rules but the processing of morpho‐lexical units in the input. It consists of referential and affective activities that manipulate input in particular ways that push learners away from less than optimal processing strategies. To date, there have been dozens of studies examining a variety of factors and issues, all pointing to robust findings of the positive effects of processing instruction.
Self‐Correction
Authors: Goo Jaemyung
Published: January 2018

The role of self‐correction in L2 development has drawn much scholarly attention. Research has indicated that self‐correction may facilitate L2 learning by providing opportunities for cognitive processing that likely generates learner noticing, pushed output, and proceduralization of declarative knowledge. Empirical findings support this claim by showing successful self‐correction can be an important predictor of L2 performance, and that other‐initiation moves resulting in self‐correction were found to be more effective than other‐correction. These findings and relevant issues discussed here in this entry offer important insights that should be considered with respect to how self‐correction can be utilized to maximize its pedagogical potential in language classrooms.
Tasks Versus Exercises
Authors: Lambert Craig
Published: January 2018

Over the last three decades, communicative tasks have taken on a progressively more important role in second language (L2) instruction. However, conceptions of tasks have differed greatly in scope, making it difficult for teachers to use the term consistently to distinguish tasks from other L2 learning activities and to employ them consistently in instruction. This entry focuses on tasks as a specific type of pedagogical tool and distinguishes them from exercises based on their role in L2 development. It also provides a foundation for decision‐making regarding the use of tasks in L2 instruction internationally.
Tracking and Ability Grouping in Kindergarten to 12th Grade Settings
Authors: Harklau Linda , Lew Shim , Yang Anna
Published: January 2018

Tracking, the practice of sorting students by perceived academic ability into different groups for instruction, has been a controversial issue due to its potentially deleterious and discriminatory effects on underprivileged groups. Proponents have argued that tracking provides more effective instruction by best tailoring instruction to students' needs in a homogeneous group; however, detractors assert that tracking systems have consistently proven to be neither egalitarian nor meritocratic and, rather, aggravate existing schooling inequalities. English learners are in a particularly vulnerable position in tracked systems since language ability is often confounded with academic capability. Though there have been detracking efforts, alternative suggestions include eliminating tracking in favor of heterogeneous classrooms with differentiated instruction and learning supports (supported by professional developments), delaying tracking until later in schooling, explicitly coaching immigrant families about tracking systems, frequently reevaluating track levels, and providing bilingual education and rigorous
ESOL
curricula.
Administrative Issues in Collaborative Teaching
Authors: Dellicarpini Margo
Published: January 2018

Collaborative teaching is a pedagogical practice that in the past was associated most closely with inclusion and special education in the United States. Also known as team teaching, co‐teaching, partnership teaching. or teacher collaboration, this pedagogical practice has been extended to be practiced in English‐language education settings. While the research on the benefits of collaborative teaching suggests that it is a promising practice both for the teachers involved and the students they teach, the management and implementation of collaborative teaching can be a challenge. This entry summarizes collaborative teaching in English‐language instruction and findings that provide evidence for the efficacy of this practice and discusses administrative issues in the effective planning, implementation, and support of collaborative teaching in
ELT
.
Standards‐Based Reform
Authors: Musetti Bernadette
Published: January 2018

This entry addresses the issue of standards in TESOL, both in terms of teacher preparation and in teaching English learners, within a global context, but where the primary focus is on K–12 students within the United States, offered here as a case example. Arguments both in favor of standards as well as critiques of them are offered, as are pedagogical recommendations intended to promote greater educational outcomes for English learners in the current era of high‐stakes standards, assessments and accountability.
Community‐Mediated Educational Practices
Authors: Durán Leah , Hikida Michiko , Martínez Ramón Antonio
Published: January 2018

This entry considers community‐mediated educational practices and their relevance to the field of TESOL. Focusing primarily on U.S. contexts, the entry begins with a discussion of the foundational concepts and issues surrounding community‐mediated educational practices, describing the evolution in the perspectives (and attendant terminology) that have been adopted in addressing them by scholars and teachers. The majority of the entry is devoted to an overview of the research literature. Here, it references both foundational scholarship and more recent research, highlighting the relevance and importance of findings on community‐mediated educational practices to TESOL. Finally, the entry offers suggestions for administrators and organizations hoping to work alongside families and communities to support student learning.
Institutional and Community Engagement
Authors: Harden Susan B. , Brown Katie E.
Published: January 2018

Community engagement is intentional activity which contributes to the common good. Institutional engagement occurs when organizations engage their communities to advance the common good. Best practices of community engagement include a strategic commitment from institutional administration, community‐focused teaching and research, service‐learning opportunities for students, and mutually beneficial partnerships. Incorporating service learning in
TESOL
instruction has been shown to have multiple benefits for students, including improved language acquisition, academic growth, personal growth, civic engagement, and cultural learning.
Language, Literacy, and Community
Authors: Fránquiz María E.
Published: January 2018

This entry presents a case for understanding the factors that support or constrain the development of students' language and literacy in K–12 schooling. Two separate studies illustrate ways that particular classroom communities draw on students' language and literacy beliefs and practices from outside of school. Best practice samples from an elementary school in Texas and a high school in Colorado serve to endorse the importance of providing culturally relevant mentor texts to young and adolescent readers and writers. The samples provide evidence that teachers who practice a humanizing pedagogy with culturally relevant mentor texts are instrumental in fostering healthy educational orientations among language and literacy learners, which in turn results in their academic resiliency (Fránquiz & Salazar, 2004) against all odds.
Online Course Delivery
Authors: Plaisance Michelle
Published: January 2018

For a variety of reasons, in US post‐secondary contexts the growth of online course enrollment continues to moderately outpace registration in traditional face‐to‐face courses offered by institutions of higher education. Online language learning is also gaining popularity. Much of the existing research has focused on comparisons between online versus traditional course delivery. However, online teaching requires a new discussion of the pedagogical implications of teaching in a virtual classroom, as there are unique considerations for online teaching. Such considerations include the need to support social presence, create a sense of community, design authentic methods of conducting field work, and employing innovative and creative means of assessment.
School Cultures
Authors: Alarcón Jeannette D.
Published: January 2018

This entry offers an understanding of school cultures growing from an anthropological definition of “culture” as a conceptualization of humans as individuals who are bound together by common understandings and elements. Applying this definition to the educational settings encourages identifying and exploring how senses of belonging are communicated in schools. Working from this premise promotes an understanding that the cultures developed and maintained within schools are crucial in fostering students' academic development. This construct is particularly relevant when considering educators and students as individuals who coexist together in schools. Schools are places bound and defined by certain institutionalized practices such as schedules, procedures, language use, and behavioral expectations. These elements are powerful mechanisms for creating the school's environment and identity.
Study Abroad and Volunteerism
Authors: Jakubiak Cori
Published: January 2018

This entry describes the intersections among TESOL, study abroad, and volunteerism. Special attention is given to short‐term, volunteer English language teaching in the Global South, orEnglish‐language voluntourism. Framed as development or educational assistance, English‐language voluntourism has grown exponentially since the mid‐1990s. Participation in English‐language voluntourism programs requires neither professional educator credentials nor language teaching experience. Instead, organizational sponsors stress inner‐circle, prestige‐variety English language speaking skills as the main qualification for being a short‐term teacher. Some of the organizational and pedagogical implications of English‐language voluntourism are explored.
Welcoming Schools
Authors: Noguerón‐Liu Silvia
Published: January 2018

This entry discusses the practices, programs, and theoretical foundations that can make schools welcoming places for diverse students and their families. Key recommendations are drawn from research informed by ethnographic, critical, and participatory approaches, which capitalize on the strengths of cultural and linguistic practices in immigrant households. Concepts that reposition non‐dominant parents as critical educators include the notion of funds of knowledge, dialogue, and participatory methods to build coalitions and communication opportunities between home and school. Recommended practices include family journals and storytelling with culturally relevant texts, guidelines for after‐school programs and meetings, and adult learning opportunities for immigrant parents and caregivers.
White Privilege in Classrooms and Institutions
Authors: Kim Jung E.
Published: January 2018

This entry defines white privilege and briefly discusses its history and main tenets. It also provides some more contemporary critiques, as well as pedagogical/institutional implications for
TESOL
.
Grammar‐Translation Method
Authors: Benati Alessandro
Published: January 2018

Language teachers have used the grammar‐translation method for many years. It is one of the most traditional methods in foreign language teaching that was originally used to teach languages and literatures such as Latin and Greek. This method involves very little spoken communication and listening comprehension. The primary skills to be improved are reading and writing skills. Its main characteristics are: learners should learn the grammatical rules of the target language and apply them in translating from one language into the other; learners should learn vocabulary through direct translation from the native language; learners should read in the target language and then translate directly in the native language. The popularity of the grammar‐translation method began to decline in the 19th century because of the importance of and demand for developing oral communication. Nevertheless, traces of this method can be found in some practices today, especially in courses where reading and translation are key skills to develop in order to take a proficiency test.
Audio‐Lingual Method
Authors: Rilling Sarah
Published: January 2018

The audio‐lingual method (ALM) was developed in the 1940s in the US, paralleling the British “structural‐situational method.” ALM continued as a packaged methodology through the 1970s with some techniques still being used in second and foreign language classes in a variety of teaching contexts today. Dialogues, drills, and language labs were prominent features of ALM with a focus on mimicry and memorization of dialogues and language patterns. Listening was the first skill to be developed and grammar was taught implicitly through pattern drills prior to brief explicit explanations.
Competency‐Based Language Teaching
Authors: Boillos Mari Mar
Published: January 2018

Rooted in the importance given in competency‐based education to outcomes, competency‐based language teaching (CBLT) is a foreign language teaching approach that focuses on the importance of achieving the abilities and knowledge needed to survive in the target society. This procedure highlights the importance of recognizing learners' needs to design a method that will help them communicate effectively and face real‐life situations successfully. This approach demands an active role of the learner, a facilitating role of the teacher, materials directed to output, and tasks and assessment methods oriented to identify what the learner is able to do with the language being learnt.
Silent Way
Authors: Abu‐Rmaileh Sufian
Published: January 2018

The silent way of language teaching was created by Caleb Gattegno in 1963. Gattegno believes that “teaching is subordinated to learning.” The silent way rests on the fact that the teacher is almost silent in the process and the learner is the one who does the talking. The teacher uses a set of colored wooden Cuisenaire rods, a set of wall charts with functional vocabulary printed on them, sound charts or Fidel charts to help learn the language and the spirit of the language. He may also use other audiovisuals like movie and audio clips for advanced learning. The learner is at the center of learning who uses his own inner criteria to learn the target language. Learners are also autonomous in how they learn, using creative problem‐solving techniques to maneuver through their attempts to internalize and produce various language forms. The learner takes charge of the learning process, internalizing the various language forms at their own pace. The teacher uses colored rods, colored sound, and word charts to help learners acquire the target language successfully.
Total Physical Response
Authors: Bui Gavin
Published: January 2018

This entry offers a comprehensive introduction to the total physical response (TPR) approach to language teaching. It starts with a brief description of the history and background of TPR, and goes on to discuss its theoretical underpinnings and principles which are followed by a summary of empirical research in TPR. Then the strengths and weaknesses of this teaching method are critically evaluated. In the last part of this entry, pedagogical implications of TPR are delineated in the areas of pre‐class preparations, during‐class implementation, and post‐class assessment.
Whole Language Approach
Authors: Fukada Yoshifumi
Published: January 2018

The whole language approach developed in the 1980s as a practical philosophy or a set of beliefs on how people's language learning, especially their learning of literacy skills, are promoted. In the approach, language is taught as a whole. Each language literacy skill or strategy is nurtured within authentic literacy events, and all language skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking are used integrally in language experiences. The lessons are organically related to other school subjects and permeate other aspects of the school curriculum. The language experiences are meaningfully and authentically integrated with students' lives, relating the language experiences to the students' real‐life settings. Students' progress or achievement is also measured as a whole based on their test results, their class performance, and their class works. This summary introduces the tenets and specific features of whole language approach, and its theoretical and research background, and also some pedagogical implications.
Lexical Approach
Authors: Racine John P.
Published: January 2018

The lexical approach is an approach to language teaching in which lexis (i.e., vocabulary) and, in particular, lexical chunks (units of prefabricated language) are the central focus. Developed in the 1990s, the approach emphasizes the teaching and learning of these chunks at the expense of sentential grammatical structures, which had traditionally been the target content of language syllabuses. Classroom practice typically involves the use of activities designed to raise awareness of the use of vocabulary and lexical chunks as they occur in natural contexts.
Situational Language Teaching
Authors: Smith Megan , Loewen Shawn
Published: January 2018

Situational Language Teaching (SLT) was developed by British applied linguists Harold Palmer and A.S. Hornby. SLT bridges the gap between grammar translation approaches to language teaching and Communicative Language Teaching, and is similar to audio‐lingualism in the United States. SLT was known for introducing second language grammar and vocabulary in natural situations and for emphasizing oral and aural skill development prior to focusing on second language literacy. Although SLT is no longer widely adopted, it marked an important shift away from grammar translation approaches to language teaching.
Task‐Based Language Teaching (
TBLT
)
Authors: Moore Paul J.
Published: January 2018

Task‐based language teaching (TBLT) represents an approach to language learning and teaching grounded in the expanding database of second language acquisition (SLA) research. Having grown out of the communicative approach to language teaching (CLT), TBLT proposes
task
as the unit of analysis in SLA research and language pedagogy. While there are several proposals for understanding and implementing TBLT, these have in common an experiential “learning by doing” philosophy, informed by analyses of real‐world tasks and by the design, staging, and implementation of related pedagogic tasks. Identifiable challenges exist in implementing TBLT, as shown by investigations in various contexts, but it is argued that the shared unit of analysis provides an improved potential for synergies among theory, research, and contextualized practice in language learning and teaching.
Role Play
Authors: Benati Alessandro
Published: January 2018

Role play is a language teaching technique in which learners are presented with a real or an artificial situation and they are requested to play specific roles. Role plays are a very important technique in the communicative language teaching approach as they provide learners with the opportunity to practice language in a number of contexts and social roles. Role plays can be of two types: (1) closed (learners are given specific information on who they are and what they have to say), and (2) open (learners are given information about who they are and the situation they are in but they need to determine what to say). Incorporating role plays in the language classroom is very effective as it stimulates the use of target language in real situations, it engages learners in creative learning and it is fun and motivating for learners.
Problem Solving
Authors: Magharabi Shamsa Al
Published: January 2018

Problem solving is a learning and teaching strategy that was introduced to education as long ago as the time of Socrates, who was famous for using it in his teachings. It is based on John Dewey's views of meaningful learning (i.e., creating and investigating) and the sociocultural learning theory of how language and interaction facilitate learning. Problem solving is a learning technique that involves using the problems as a starting point for the acquisition and integration of new knowledge. It begins with a problem that the students have to solve using different strategies and following a certain model. The proposed problem‐solving model here has five sequential stages that students need to follow to address the question, i.e., (1) identify the problem, (2) represent the problem, (3) select a strategy, (4) carry out the strategy, and (5) analyze and evaluate the results and the process. This entry will describe the problem‐solving approach, its model, goals, theoretical foundations, and pedagogical implications.
Information‐Gap Tasks
Authors: Ashcraft Nikki
Published: January 2018

In an information‐gap task, learners have incomplete information and must exchange information with other learners in order to accomplish a task. Information‐gap tasks are a prominent activity type in communicative and task‐based language teaching since they promote learner interaction and negotiation of meaning. Information‐gap tasks have also been an important tool in second language acquisition research for eliciting learner production and fostering learner interaction. Information‐gap tasks can be designed to practice reading, writing, listening, and speaking as well as grammar and vocabulary. They can be adapted to most learner populations and teaching contexts, including content‐based instruction. Information‐gap tasks can be created from authentic materials and implemented using communication technologies. Information‐gap tasks can also be employed in communicative language testing, particularly for the assessment of speaking.
Presenting New Language Items
Authors: Taguchi Naoko
Published: January 2018

This entry presents several points that are worthy of consideration when presenting new language items: (1) enhancing saliency of the new items in order to draw learners' attention and promote noticing; (2) presenting items in context so learners focus on form‐function mappings; (3) providing sufficient input and output opportunities; (4) providing extensive controlled practice so the knowledge becomes proceduralized; and (5) considering learners' current knowledge base when selecting target items.
Organizing Feedback
Authors: Oltra‐Massuet Isabel
Published: January 2018

In the context of teaching, feedback is defined as information that is given to the learner about their performance of a learning task, generally with the objective of improving their performance and helping them develop skills and strategies for future learning. There are a number of factors and contextual variables that determine the organization of feedback, which can be divided into six categories: (1) the target and focus of feedback, (2) the methodology (techniques and strategies), (3) the source and the recipient of feedback, (4) the timing, (5) the scope of feedback, and (6) other factors. Proper organization of feedback thus requires the teacher to be sensitive to and knowledgeable about the type of linguistic error or problem and its most appropriate treatment, as well as the student's needs, their proficiency level, and the instructional context.
Adult Learners
Authors: Swoyer Jennifer Gilardi
Published: January 2018

Adult ELLs (English language learners) represent a rapidly expanding population of culturally and linguistically diverse individuals in the United States. Instructional techniques include awareness of adult learning theory combined with second language acquisition research and seek to respond to students' individual needs as well as requirements of funding agents. Government support of adult ELL education has been prevalent since the 1960s, with preference to English needed for civic engagement, advancing general education, and employment. Though students continue to participate in traditional style face‐to‐face classroom environments, opportunities for online and hybrid classrooms are gaining in popularity. In addition to constant needs for curriculum that meets students' wide range of proficiency goals, from basic literacy to English for specific purposes and English for academic purposes, there are also calls for effective standardized assessments to measure student progress at the most extreme levels.
Needs Analysis
Authors: Ozdemir Neslihan Onder
Published: January 2018

Learners should be equipped with the competence and skills needed for their education and work while learning English language, which calls for considering their needs in the course design process. Needs analysis is recommended as a cornerstone and prerequisite in the process of curriculum development for effective English language teaching. Given its significance, implementations of needs analysis increased considerably in education through the creation of different types of needs analysis, including present situation analysis, target situation analysis, and critical needs analysis. However, recently, the methodology employed in the process of identification of needs raised some criticisms on account of the lack of common standards for the reliability and validity of findings, which are underresearched. Thus the literature highlights the importance of collecting data through triangulation of sources and methods and by employing both qualitative and quantitative methods for reliable and valid findings for the enhancement of the needs analysis conducted.
Interaction in the Classroom
Authors: Liu Jun , Xu Yueting
Published: January 2018

This entry intends to draw together research on classroom interaction to inform TESOL teachers' pedagogical practices. It starts by framing the issue to the dual goals (i.e., pedagogical and natural), followed by a summary of theoretical frameworks such as the initiation‐response‐feedback model and the output hypothesis. It then pinpoints two central inquiries of classroom interaction research as whether and how classroom interaction facilitates student learning. After critically examining key variables of teachers, students, classroom environment, and larger sociocultural issues, it proposes four pedagogical principles, respectively addressing issues of classroom environment, students' sociocultural competence and language preparation, and teacher awareness, in the hope that teachers will maximize the effectiveness of classroom interaction by utilizing them in their practice.
Immersion
Authors: Dormer Jan Edwards
Published: January 2018

Language immersionis a school program specifically designed for the acquisition of a new language through the learning of academic content. From its beginning in Canadian French immersion in the 1960s, the language immersion program, sometimes called bilingual education, has spread around the globe and includes both one‐way and two‐way models. Students in language immersion typically develop the immersion language to much higher levels than do students in foreign language classrooms. However, full language competence is sometimes not developed, especially in the productive skills of speaking and writing. Key factors determining the effectiveness of immersion programs are methodologies that balance content learning and language acquisition, specific teacher preparation for immersion programs, and long‐term program planning and implementation.
Classroom Atmosphere
Authors: Lee Icy , Mak Pauline
Published: January 2018

Classroom atmosphere is a vital component of teaching and learning that helps establish and maintain rapport between teacher and students, build motivation and confidence among the learners, and facilitate the processes of teaching and learning. Drawing upon psychological and sociocultural perspectives, this entry examines classroom atmosphere in the light of key theoretical considerations and research findings. On the basis of this discussion, a number of pedagogical implications are proposed. It is concluded that classroom atmosphere is co‐constructed by teacher and learners and that both parties play a contributing role in creating a classroom environment conducive to teaching and learning.
Single‐Sex and Mixed‐Sex Classes
Authors: Hoelker Jane
Published: January 2018

Single‐sex classes are the norm in traditional societies where the primary contribution of girls is in the home. Mixed‐sex classes are numerous around the globe and often assume that
same
is
equal
. However, coed education has not consistently resulted in equal treatment. Girls‐only schooling seems to encourage higher female interest and enrollment in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classes. Boys‐only classes strive to encourage greater male interest and enrollment in English, social science, and the arts. However, reports circulate of a decrease in male scholastic achievement, attributed in part to the alleged “feminization” of curricula, written to nurture girls' interest in STEM. Perhaps the question of which classroom benefits learners actually simplifies what is a complicated issue, especially in light of the context and an increasingly competitive future. A gender‐inclusive approach might best deliver the curriculum, whether offered in single‐sex classes, mixed‐sex classes, or single‐sex classes in a coed school.
Teaching Large, Mixed‐Ability Classes
Authors: M. Winke Paula , Rawal Hima
Published: January 2018

Large and mixed‐ability classes have always been an issue for English language teachers. Although small classes are desirable and provide ample opportunities for students to interact, teaching a large class of students is inevitable in many countries around the world. Even large classes can be taught effectively. Teachers only need to make maximum use of the rich resources that a large mixed‐ability class contains.
Teacher Preparation in English for Speakers of Other Languages
Authors: Turner Jonathan
Published: January 2018

Teacher preparation is as varied as teaching itself, encompassing everything from informal exchanges between teachers in a staff room to doctoral level study and research. This summary of teacher preparation discusses the range of available options for teacher preparation and what the implications of these options are, for the individual teacher and the teaching profession as a whole.
Research in English for Speakers of Other Languages
Authors: Barkhuizen Gary
Published: January 2018

Research in ESOL varies considerably with regard to its epistemologies and related methodologies, reflecting research ideas and practices in fields such as general education, psychology, and other social sciences. This entry gives a brief overview of research traditions in the field and then outlines who the participants are in ESOL research, how they go about their research work, and what topics they pay attention to. It explores different conceptions of research, discusses what the purpose of research is in ESOL, and suggests new directions for future research.
Formal Characteristics of Learner Language
Authors: Christison MaryAnn , Alexeeva Maria
Published: January 2018

In order to help students improve their speaking skills, language teachers must be familiar with units that make up the speech stream and be able to teach language learners to recognize and manipulate these units. This entry describes three different types of units—segments, syllables, and suprasegmental features. In addition, it explains their value in achieving intelligibility and provides practical suggestions for teaching these units in a classroom setting.
Cognitive Perspectives in Teaching Speaking
Authors: Hardacre Bahiyyih , Güvendir Emre
Published: January 2018

The second language (L2) speech production system is conceptualized within the information‐processing model of human cognition. Depending on the learner's proficiency, the production of speech is a challenging and conscious process rather than a natural and automatic one. It involves risk to “face,” so planning, monitoring, and rehearsal may be extensively utilized to cope with the lack of linguistic resources. When students are given the chance to practice the L2 in meaningful situations, it creates opportunities to negotiate meaning and receive online feedback. This communicative interaction helps learners construct a store of concrete “exemplars” that include associations of form‐meaning mappings, which can later be recalled to produce novel utterances. Thus, students' interaction during classroom activities facilitates access to information they have previously learned, and they incorporate it with new information they receive as they perform the task, allowing for their interlanguage to evolve.