By Dr Jeremy Koay
A limited view
The popularity of mechanical grammar drills in language teaching, still prevalent in some parts of the world, is influenced by the view that grammatical structures are the basic building blocks of language. It is assumed that individuals will be able to use...
By Dr Jeremy Koay
A limited view
A traditional approach to sociolinguistic competence is to use and teach language that is appropriate based on the expectations and norms of the inner circle countries, namely Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA. This approach is problematic for two...
By James Jenkin
It’s a truism amongst teachers we shouldn’t ‘teach to the test’. It’s common to hear statements such as:
Not only do students and teachers hate it, but the practice has been shown to actually harm student learning (Singer, 2016)
and
[Teaching to...
By Dr Jeremy Koay
A limited view
Hyme’s (1972) notion of communicative competence consists of four competences: linguistic, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic. Linguistic competence refers to the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. Traditionally, English language teaching focused on...
By Dr Jeremy Koay
A limited view
When communicative language teaching (CLT) was first introduced, the term communication in CLT was often misunderstood as conversation. As a result, there was a noticeable focus on speaking activities in language classrooms. Although conversations are a form of...
By James Jenkin
Online English teaching – collaboration-based learning – is booming. In China, demand for online classes is growing at 25% a year (ICEF, 2014).
It’s easy to see why. Learners can potentially access a teacher from anywhere, at any time. An ever-growing variety of...
By Dorothy Cleary
FINDING AUTHENTIC LISTENING MATERIALS
As I said in my introductory blog, authenticity of materials is one of the key elements in supporting learners to feel confident in New Zealand workplaces. It is relatively easy to find authentic written materials, and learners who are...
By Dr Jeremy Koay
A limited view
Going to school is good for you! Says who? What are the goals of teaching and learning? Is education neutral? Is it politically driven? Or is it influenced and driven by ideology and a particular worldview?
Traditionally, teachers were perceived as the source of...
By Dr Jeremy Koay
A limited view
Teachers and learners are often attracted to universal rules that they can apply in all situations. Although such rules do exist, they are often too general and often not very useful in helping learners write effectively. For example, some teachers and learners...
By Dr Jeremy Koay
A limited view
Learning English language in an exam-oriented environment, I was unfamiliar with the idea of revising and editing one’s writing. Essays were often written under time constraints and the focus was on producing an essay in one sitting. In this situation, I...
By Dr Jeremy Koay
A limited view
A common misconception of the sociocultural theory of learning (SCT) is the idea that learners passively receive knowledge from experts, that is teachers or other adults, and that learning is basically a passive copying process.
This misconception is mainly due to...
By Dorothy Cleary
I’ve been involved in teaching English for the Workplace (EWP) classes in New Zealand for over ten years now, and my first comment on the title of this blog is ‘the’ workplace? That large homogenous mythical place where everyone has the same values and...
By Dr Jeremy Koay
A limited view
Being critical is sometimes associated with being judgemental. In other words, reading a text critically is commonly misunderstood as reading to identify only its weaknesses. This misconception is sometimes seen, for example, in undergraduate students’...
By Dr Jeremy Koay
A LIMITED VIEW
Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein, and Romeo and Juliet are examples of some of the most well-known literary texts. Such texts are usually the works of authors from decades or centuries ago, and the language they use is different from modern English. However, the...
By Dr Jeremy Koay
A LIMITED VIEW
You need a singular verb! Check your spelling! These are some common examples of feedback in a language classroom. Such comments can be categorised as corrective feedback because their main goal is to address a particular error. From my experience, frequent...
by Dr Jeremy Koay
A LIMITED VIEW
Vocabulary learning is fundamentally about knowing words. However, the idea of knowing a word is not always well understood. Some say that knowing a word means knowing what a word means. Others say that it means knowing the written form (e.g., spelling)....
By James Jenkin
As I mentioned in my previous post, there’s little evidence for the widespread view that Chinese students don’t like speaking in class. In fact, a number of large-scale studies (e.g., Littlewood, 2001, 2010; Kim, 2006) show students from the PRC question...
By James Jenkin
We’ve heard the stereotype: Chinese students don’t like speaking in class, expressing opinions, or playing games.
Is it true?
THE TRADITIONAL VIEW
In fact, for decades this view of Chinese learners was received opinion in the literature.
Chinese students were...
by Dr Jeremy Koay
A LIMITED VIEW
Based on my teaching experience in Southeast Asia, there seems to be an admiration for people who are able to speak in English with a ‘native speaker’ accent. If one investigates further, the idea of ‘native speaker’ is often...
by Dr Jeremy Koay
A LIMITED VIEW
Grammar is probably the most common word that parents, students and teachers use when they talk about English language learning. English grammar is often understood as a set of universal rules that governs the language. Where do these rules come from? Who set...
