IATEFL 2016 Birmingham Conference Selections

International
Association of Teachers
of English as a Foreign
Language
IATEFL 2016
Birmingham Conference Selections
Edited by Tania Pattison

Published by IATEFL
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Copyright for whole volume IATEFL 2017
Copyright for individual reports/papers remains

vested in the contributors, to whom applications for
rights to reproduce should be made.
The views expressed in this book are of the author(s) and

do not necessarily reflect the views of IATEFL except
where explicitly stated as such.
First published 2017
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Education
Tania Pattison (Ed.)
IATEFL 2016 Birmingham Conference Selections
ISBN PRINTED: 978-1-901095-89-0

DIGITAL: 978-1-901095-91-3
For a complete list of IATEFL publications including

Conference Selections from previous years, please write to
the above address, or visit the IATEFL website at www.iatefl.org.
Cover photographs 2016, Rachid Tagoulla.

Copy-edited by Simon Murison-Bowie, Oxford.
Designed and typeset by Keith Rigley, Charlbury.
Printed in Britain by Hobbs the Printers Ltd., Totton, Hampshire.
Contents
Editors introduction 8
1 Ready to learn: psychological aspects of learning

1.1 Plenary: Shifting metaphors: from computer input to ecological
affordances to adaptation Diane Larsen-Freeman 10
1.2 Exploring psychology in language learning and teaching
Sarah Mercer 20
1.3 The joys of second language learning: a positive psychology
framework Sin Etherington 21
1.4 Learnance: towards a new relationship to teaching learning
Stephen Scott Brewer 23
1.5 Teachers views on motivation in relation to their motivational
practice Mariia Prykhodchenko 25
1.6 Language learner autonomy: teachers perceptions and practices
Kasim Koruyan and Nazife Aydinoglu 27
1.7 Zen zone: meditation in the EFL classroom Monique Simpson 29
2 Approaches to teacher education

2.1 ELT Journal /IATEFL Debate: Teacher training is a waste of time
Peter Grundy and Penny Ur 32
2.2 Promoting creativity through teacher training Daniel Xerri 35
2.3 Changing the way we approach learning styles in teacher education
Carol Lethaby and Patricia Harries 37
2.4 Rethinking reflection on the intensive TEFL course Daniel Baines 39
2.5 Personal learning from the CELTA: an auto-ethnography approach
Bethany Miall 41
2.6 The Hornby Scholars panel presentation: Teaching practice: some
local perspectives on a global practice Convenor: Martin Wedell,
with the A. S. Hornby Scholars at IATEFL 2016 43
2.7 Experiments with e-portfolios for teacher training and
development Marcela Cintra 47
2.8 Instilling a passion for research in pre-service teachers
Elena Onchevska Ager 49
2.9 Teacher educators voices on undergraduate TEFL curriculum
innovation in Chile Loreto Aliaga-Salas 51
2.10 Signature Event: The Teacher Trainer journal 30th birthday panel
Tessa Woodward, Varinder Unlu, Briony Beaven and
Seth Lindstromberg 53
3
IATEFL 2016: Birmingham Conference Selections
3 The big picture: issues in ELT methodology

3.1 Plenary: 1966 and all that: a critical history of ELT
Scott Thornbury 56
3.2 Airdrop your students: immersion learning principles in the
classroom Tony Penston 65
3.3 Using learners own language in teaching English: revisioning the
L1L2 relationship John Simpson 66
3.4 Accelerating input and exposure in the English language
classroom Mike Bilbrough 69
3.5 Gamification for language learning Wade P. Alley and
Enrique Barba 70
3.6 Game-inspired course design: creating opportunity for agency
Vilhelm Lindholm 72
3.7 Moving beyond technology in the classroom Rhoda McGraw 74
3.8 ELT Conversation: ELT as an industry Philip Kerr and
Andrew Wickham 75
4 Working towards inclusivity in ELT

4.1 Plenary: The native factor: the haves and the have-nots and
why we still need to talk about this in 2016 Silvana Richardson 79
4.2 Im a non-native English speaker teacherhear me roar!
Dita Phillips 89
4.3 National Geographic Learning Signature Event: What does it mean
to be a global citizen? Hugh Dellar, Hetain Patel, Gavin McLean
and Gillian Davidson 91
4.4 Prejudiced against your own students? Teachers unconscious bias
Ali H. Al-Hoorie 94
4.5 Supporting learners with English as an Additional Language in
London schools Jill Coleman 96
4.6 Covert syllabuses Jill Hadfield 98
4.7 Too PC for ELT? The invisibility of non-sexist language in
coursebooks Jemma Prior 99
4.8 How to spot dyslexia: a field guide for teachers
Anne Margaret Smith 101
4.9 Visual learning tools for students with dyslexia Julia Koifman 103
4.10 Deaf-blind to inclusion? Adapting examinations fairly for
disabled candidates Diana Metzner 105
5 Working (and playing) with words

5.1 Plenary: Who would of thought it? The English language
19662066 David Crystal 107
4
Contents
5.2 Vocabulary learning practices and vocabulary learning outcomes:

match or mismatch? Mario Lpez-Barrios 115
5.3 The Academic Word List: teachers practice, attitudes and beliefs
Chris Banister 117
5.4 Students use of wordlists and its impact on written assessment
Neslihan Erbil 119
5.5 Teacher-driven corpus development: the online restaurant review
Chad Langford and Joshua Albair 120
5.6 Creative vocabulary: playing with words Charlie Hadfield 122
5.7 Dada machine, or (re)imagining activities for the classroom
Roy Bicknell 124
6 From critical thinking to academic writing

6.1 The language of critical thinking Edward de Chazal 127
6.2 Ways of engaging learners in critical thinking at the university
level Zeynep skenderolu nel 129
6.3 Teaching caterpillars to fly: nurturing EFL students learning
through inquiry Blerta Mustafa 131
6.4 Undergraduate collaborative essays: constructive, not a cop-out
Peter Levrai and Averil Bolster 133
6.5 Paraphrasing: improving skills and attitudes in ESL students
Alexander M. Lewko 135
6.6 How to optimise EAP tutorial time: introducing the 20-minute
structured format David Jay 137
6.7 Building better Turkish L1 English academic writers
David Reed Albachten 139
6.8 Stimulus materials for teacher-writers in the classroom
Stephanie Xerri Agius 141
7 From listening to speaking

7.1 Using transcription to improve noticing and develop effective
learning plans Robert J. Werner 144
7.2 Teacher awareness of classroom conversation analysis: pedagogy
and practice Bede McCormack 146
7.3 It doesnt reflect my identity: learner reactions to natural English
Carol Griffiths and Adem Soru 148
7.4 Teaching discussion in the academic settings using genre-based
methodology Anna Makarova 150
7.5 Scaffolding the development of academic speaking skills online
Vasiliki Celia Antoniou 152
7.6 Teaching pronunciation using the prosody pyramid: simplicity is
the key Judy B. Gilbert 154
5
IATEFL 2016: Birmingham Conference Selections
7.7 They dont do Scottish accents Robin Walker 156

7.8 Designing bespoke EAP listening and speaking materials
Lesley Kendall 158
8 English for specific (academic) purposes

8.1 ESP teacher education: an online, in-service, ESP teacher training
course Elis Kakoulli Constantinou and Salomi Papadima-Sophocleous 160
8.2 An English quality strategy for vocational education in Saudi
Arabia Paul Woods and Waleed Bajouda 162
8.3 Motivating media students with ten-second self-produced social
media videos Diane Nancy Brown 165
8.4 English for library staff: creation of an ESP course
Caroline Hyde-Simon 166
8.5 An online EAP collaboration for science graduates Anna Rolinska
and William Guariento 169
9 Working with young learners

9.1 Realbooksto picturebooks: 30 years of illustrated literature in
ELT Sandie Mouro, Gail Ellis, Janice Bland, Smiljana
Narani Kova and Opal Dunn 171
9.2 Six strategies for six year olds: teaching English to young learners
Samel Lefever 175
9.3 Top tips for teaching teens Sophie Handy 177
9.4 Englishphobia among secondary school students: symptoms,
diagnosis and treatment Mercedes Agueda Foligna 179
9.5 Task-based tests for diagnostic purposes: a school-networkinitiated
project Sandra Lucietto 181
9.6 Embracing students digital literacies in our teaching
Jodi Wainwright 183
9.7 Supporting teachers in using technology for ELT in school systems
Radhika Gholkar 185
9.8 My health! My environment! Project work with teenagers
Lindsey Clark 187
9.9 Multimodal reviewing activities: children talking about their
English learning Nayr Ibrahim 188
9.10 Teaching English at a public school in Rio de Janeiro
Patricia Santos 191
10 Learning through literature and the arts

10.1 Contemporary poems in ELT: after-text exercises and activities
Kirill Ignatov 193
6
Contents
10.2 Improving speaking skills in English through drama activities

Geeta Goyal 195
10.3 Drama as global text and techniques for EAP classes Stella Smyth 197
10.4 Moving stories: narrative and video in ELT Kieran Donaghy 198
10.5 Lets start with the video Anna Whitcher 200
10.6 Motivating students into creative writing through art and literature
Maria Barberi 202
11 Innovative uses of technology

11.1 Shaken not stirred: blended learning for connoisseurs Nicky Hockly 204
11.2 iPad in the EFL classroom: perceptions and practices
Valentina Morgana 206
11.3 Mobile learning and wikis to enhance writing skills Ruby Vurdien 208
11.4 Using online dialogue to co-construct texts with students
Guy Meredith 210
11.5 Not just the writing on the wall Amadeu Marin 212
11.6 Can learners learn alone with only a phone? Experiences with
mobile learning in the Palestinian Territories Andrew Foster 214
11.7 Instant messaging with learners: creepy treehouse or chilled-out
chatroom? Kat Robb 216
11.8 What do your learners think? Let their smartphones tell you
Tilly Harrison 218
12 Initiatives in teacher development

12.1 PEP talks for teacher development Nick Bilbrough 220
12.2 Mentoring effectiveness in the eyes of mentors and mentees
Afaf Mishriki and Amani Demian 222
12.3 Blending professional development to support inexperienced
teachers Phil Bird and Celine Castelino 224
12.4 Addressing quality assurance and professional development for
online teachers Kirsteen Donaghy 226
12.5 Bumpy ride or smooth transition? Moving from CELTA to EAP
Andrew Preshous 228
12.6 How to start writing for publication: a teachers personal journey
Nergiz Kern 230
12.7 Exploring in-house video training materials for reflective teacher 232
development Teti Dragas
12.8 Using metaphors: rethinking thinking in reflective practice
Leslie Turpin 234
12.9 A framework to increase teachers autonomy in professional
development Daniella Seong Hui You 235
7
Editors introduction
In 1967, 125 delegates gathered in London for the first conference of what was then
called the Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language, or ATEFL. Fifty
years later, this small gathering has evolved into the worlds most international ELT
organisation, with an unparalleled international influence and range of activities.
The 50th Annual International Conference and Exhibition, held at the International
Convention Centre in Birmingham, was a chance to reflectto consider where we
have been and to think about where we are going as a profession.
The 50th Anniversary Conference attracted a record 3,100 delegates from 111
countries, and there was plenty for them to enjoy. Three of the plenary speakers took
the opportunity to look back over the last fifty years. Diane Larsen-Freeman [1.1]
explored metaphors related to ELT, from computer input to ecological affordances;
Scott Thornbury [3.1] gave us a review of teaching methodology since the 1960s; and
David Crystal [5.1] discussed changes in the English language that have taken place
since the first conference, when delegates might have worn winklepickers and talked
on their trimphones. Silvana Richardson [4.1] brought us right up to date with a
much-discussed plenary talk on the status of non-native English-speaking teachers
surely an issue to pay attention to as we move forward. Storyteller Jan Blake was as
entertaining as ever at the closing plenary.
Over four days (five, if we include the pre-conference events), delegates were spoilt
for choice, with individual talks, forums, workshops, posters, debates, publishers
demonstrations and signature events on offer. Every IATEFL conference raises key
issues within the profession, and many of those are included in this volume. One
chapter in this volume is devoted to the topic of inclusivity; the needs of students
with physical and learning disabilities are discussed here [4.8, 4.9, 4.10], as are topics
related to teacher prejudice [4.4] and stereotyping in ELT materials [4.5, 4.6]. Other
topics raised in these papers include whether to allow the use of the L1 in class [3.3],
how to deal with Englishphobia among teenagers [9.4] and whether the use of tech-
nology in the classroom is overrated [3.7]. The ELT Conversation [3.8] addressed the
topic of ELT as an industry, while in the ELT Journal /IATEFL debate [2.1] Peter
Grundy and Penny Ur discussed the value (or otherwise) of teacher training courses.
Other papers address topics related to psychological aspects of learning; creativity; the
teaching of English for young learners, academic purposes and specific professions;
ongoing teacher development; and more.
Outside sessions, the Exhibition enabled delegates to explore new materials, while
the Jobs Market matched job seekers with potential employers. Evening events, such
as the Quiz Night and Pecha Kucha, were as popular as ever, while Shakespeare was
celebrated in drama and song by IATEFL luminaries. Many topics raised during the
daytime sessions were further discussed over meals and drinks in the redeveloped
Brindley Place area just over the bridge from the conference centre. For those wishing
8
Editors introduction
to explore further afield, options included a walking tour of historic Birmingham and
a visit to Stratford-upon-Avon.
Sadly, not every IATEFL member can make the journey to the UK, and as is custom-
ary, IATEFL once again teamed up with the British Council to present Birmingham
Online. Many sessions and interviews were available for viewing through the IATEFL
website, thus making the Conference available to thousands of IATEFL members all
over the world who were not able to attend in person. IATEFL remains thankful to
the British Council for their support of this important venture.
The papers presented here are just a sample of the many sessions on offer. As
always, some very difficult decisions had to be made. Conference Selections is a refereed
publication, and all submissions are read blind (in other words, with identifying
details removed) by an editorial committee; I am grateful for the valuable feedback
provided by Edward de Chazal, Chris Lima and Amos Paran. Chris is stepping down
from her role after three years; I would like to thank her for her hard work on this pub-
lication and to welcome Jennifer MacDonald to the team. I would also like to thank
our copy-editor Simon Murison-Bowie and our designer and typesetter Keith Rigley
for their work on this publication; thanks are also due to the IATEFL Publications
Committee, led by Margit Szesztay, to President Marjorie Rosenberg, and to Jon
Burton and the Head Office team for their ongoing support of Conference Selections.
Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to all presenters who took the time
to send me their reports. It was a privilege to read all of your submissions, successful
or not. I very much hope to meet many of you in person at a future IATEFL event.
I hope you will enjoy reading this volume, and I will see you in April 2017 in
Glasgow!
Tania Pattison
Editor, IATEFL Conference Selections
cseditor@iatefl.org
9
1
Ready to learn: psychological
aspects of learning
The opening chapter in this volume focuses on the learner and the learning process. In
her plenary paper, Diane Larsen-Freeman outlines the metaphors that have guided
discourse on language learning; she moves away from computer-related metaphor and
towards an exploration of affordances: two-way relationships between the learner and
the environment. Next, Sarah Mercer presents three key aspects of language-learning
psychology: beliefs, the self and affect. Sin Etherington then argues in favour of
the positive psychology movement and outlines its applications for language learners,
while Stephen Scott Brewer introduces the new concept of learnance, or readiness
to engage in learning. The next two papers present research into how teachers see
their own roles in promoting learning: Mariia Prykhodchenko reports on research
into teachers perceptions of their own motivating practices, while Kasim Koruyan
and Nazife Aydinoglu presents the results of a large-scale study of teachers percep-
tions and practices related to learner autonomy. The final paper in this chapter is
by Monique Simpson, who wonders whether meditation has a positive effect on
students readiness to learn.
1.1Plenary: Shifting metaphors: from computer input to

ecological affordances to adaptation
Diane Larsen-Freeman University of Michigan and University of Pennsylvania,
USA
Introduction
An anniversary is a good time to look back, to take stock and to think about the
future. IATEFLs 50th anniversary conference seems a particularly auspicious time to
do so, so I will begin my discussion of language learning by looking back. Then, I will
take stock with regard to my main themethe changing metaphors that have guided
language learning and teaching over the past 50 years. I will conclude on a related note
by suggesting that we teach our students to adapt as a way for them to cope with the
massive amount of change in the world that we are all experiencing.
A computer metaphor
Fifty years ago, research into the relatively new field of investigation which later
became known as SLA (second language acquisition) was just underway. Many schol-
ars mark its founding (at almost exactly the same time as IATEFL) in 1967 with the
10
Plenary: Shifting metaphors
publication of Edinburgh University professor S. Pit Corders article The significance

of learners errors. In the article, Corder maintained that many learner errors could
not be simply attributed to interference from the learners native languages. There
was evidence of L1 influence to be sure, but there were also errors that indicated that
learners were making incorrect inferences about the rules of the new language they
were learning. In other words, the learners were more cognitively engaged than they
had previously been given credit for. It is important to understand that, at the time,
Corders claim was exciting. It reflected a break with dominant behaviourist thinking
and instead linked SLA to the cognitive revolution that was occurring in a number of
related fields, especially linguistics and psychology.
Other SLA research attested to the systematic nature of the learners language,
suggesting the existence of universal sequences of development and acquisition orders.
Unable to explain the orders any other way, researchers focused on the nature of the
raw material the learners were exposed to, i.e. the input. I myself published an article
in 1983 called The importance of input in second language acquisition. Not only
was the input thought to be the raw material that the learners had to work with,
linguistic input was also thought to be a driving force in second language develop-
ment. Researchers sought to demonstrate the effect of the input on what was called
learners output.
But, as happens to all metaphors over time, it became clear that there was a down-
side to this way of thinking and speaking:
Metaphors can become so familiar that we forget they are metaphorical and start to
see them as the truth Terms such as input and output became just the normal
way to talk about listening and speaking. In downplaying or disregarding differences
between the domains of the analogy, there is a risk of building too high on meta-
phorical foundations. When speaking becomes output, for example, we can lose
sight of how humans construct meaning through social interaction (Larsen-Freeman
and Cameron 2008: 1213).
An ecological metaphor
It is also the case that metaphors are a product of the zeitgeist. It is not surprising, then,
that at the time of the cognitive revolution in the middle of the last century, computer
input/output metaphors were prevalent. Similarly, it is perfectly understandable that
with todays consciousness concerning the environment, a computer metaphor might
give way to an ecological one. It is also the case that any metaphor today would reflect
our feeling of being interconnected with others, a feeling which has been heightened
through movement of populations, technological innovations, the interdependence
of national economies and the increasingly transnational lives that many are leading.
As Lam and Kramsch put it, the recent metaphor of ecology attempts to capture the
interconnectedness of the psychological, social and environmental process of SLA
(2003: 144). Kibler and Valds say:
Add to this a recognition of the increasing complexities of language use in a global
society, and it is clear that simple answers to the question, how does one teach
language? (or who are learners?) will not be forthcoming (2016: 110).
11
Chapter 1: Ready to learn: psychological aspects of learning
It is clear that seeking answers to these questions amid the complexity will require
a new mode of thinking. Human notes:
What current processes of globalization and global warming are bringing forth is a
need to develop means by which we can better understand the complexity of the
world around us, which is not reducible to some central or single essence (2015: 2).
In other words, rather than seeking to understand complexity through reduc-

tionism, which has been the modus operandi in science for centuries, an ecological
metaphor demands a more holistic account. Offering such an account is Complexity
Theory (CT), a theory that I have been drawn to for some time (Larsen-Freeman
1997). Rather than reducing a complex phenomenon to simple elements, CT attempts
to account for patterns that emerge out of the interaction of the parts that comprise
it. An example that is often given to explain this perspective is that of a bird flock. A
bird flock arises from the interaction of individual birds. There is no central authority
directing the birds behaviour, and yet they take off, fly and land in coordination. CT
is a relational theory. This means that researchers do not simply focus on one level of
a complex system, i.e. individual birds pecking on the ground or on groups of birds
flocking together, but rather they look for the connections between the levels.
Moreover, the patterns exist in flux. An example to help with this concept is that
of an eddy in a stream. The whorl in the water is continuous, even though the water
droplets passing through it are never the same. The pattern persists, shaped by the
contour of the stream bed and the flow of water. However, the pattern can change as
the eddy adapts in response to changes in its environment. Once the snow melts in the
spring, the eddy might take on a different configuration, or it might disappear entirely.
It is thus spatially and temporally situated in an environment, although changes to the
environment and thus changes to the pattern could occur unpredictably at any time.
From time to time, I will return to this ecological understanding of complex sys-
tems, in particular, their interconnectedness and relation to the environment, their
emergence and their unpredictability.
Affordance
An ecological perspective was also the genesis of the concept of affordance, which van
Lier (2000, 2004) introduced us to. Writing recently, Anderson observes:
The term affordance was coined by the psychologist James J. Gibson, and has
been borrowed by a number of writers on language learning, including van Lier
(2004) who preferred it to the term input to describe the way in which the learning
environment provides opportunities (which may be both positive or negative,
effective or ineffective) for the learner to learn (2015: 229).
In the case of human beings, affordances do not simply apply to the physical envi-
ronment; for instance, they can be emotional as well (Aronin and Singleton 2012a).
Importantly, a fact that is often overlooked when it comes to affordance is that the
term has two different definitions. They might be called first-order and second-order
affordances. The first order calls for locating affordances in the environment. What are
the properties of the environment, natural or introduced, that affect some outcome?
12
This was the question that I attempted to answer when I described what accounted
for the eddy.
Of course, we in education are interested in affordances in the environment that
support learning opportunities. For example, a bilingual education policy could be
said to support multilingualism. Such a policy might be called a designed affordance,
one that is introduced into the environment to provide a positive opportunity that
would otherwise not exist. Aronin and Singleton say:
It is important that not only researchers and practitioners (teachers, educators,
parents, community and political actors) but also language users and learners
themselves should be aware of how to identify or, if necessary, design new
affordances for language acquisition and learning (2012a: 311).
So what is a teachers role with this first definition of affordance in mind? First-order
affordances call for the teacher to design opportunities for their students to learn. For
instance, last year at an IATEFL plenary in Manchester, Joy Egbert proposed that the
role of the teacher is to provide opportunities for engagement. And I, myself, have
discussed how it is the teachers responsibility to create rich contexts of use. Another
designed affordance would be for teachers to arrange for differentiated instruction,
whereby different practices and materials are used in teaching so that all students can
learn effectively regardless of differences in learning style or skill. Still another is for
teachers to make use of technology. Developments in technology have provided the
means for students to learn outside of regular classroom lessons and to encounter
many opportunities for authentic language use.
Notice that these threeopportunities for engagement in rich contexts of use,
differentiated instruction and technologyall involve manipulating properties in the
environment. Indeed, for some researchers, this is exactly what creates an affordance
(Scarantino 2013). In contrast, the second order of affordance depends not on the
properties in the environment, but rather on the relationship between the properties
and a perceptive, active agent. Indeed, the learners perception of, and active relation-
ship with, potential affordances is what counts. Anderson says:
Critically, in van Liers use of the term [affordance], the learner is not a passive recipient
of data, but an active participant in the process, such that learning opportunities arise
as a consequence of participation and use. The learner [establishes] relationships
with and within the environment , directly perceiving and acting on the ambient
language around her/him (2015: 228).
In other words, authentic materials are finebut in order to engage students, they
must be authentic to them. The materials must be perceived by students as something
that they can learn from and that are important to their learning. So second-order
affordances move us from a property-centred view to a relational one.
It is this second definition of affordance that helps me make sense of the reaction
I got one day when I was speaking to an audience about the inadvisability of using
repetitive ALM drills. Following my presentation, I received a message from an audi-
ence member, who has given me permission to quote it:
13
Learning the skill aspects of language has never been boring or meaningless to me.
I suppose one could argue that I was so motivated to learn Portuguese that the
meaningfulness was in my personal goal, and so the repetitive drills didnt bother
me. In fact, I rather liked them. I do remember making the drills more interesting by
changing the names of the people in the drills to names of people I knew. When it did
get tedious, Id play around with the meaning. Another reason I liked the ALM aspect
of the practice was that it was so controlled [that] I was able to focus on one thing
at a time and master it (form and pronunciation) before I had to use it. In a sense,
the ALM practice was the pedagogical equivalent of the sub-vocalized rehearsing
learners often doit was non-threatening and necessary (Elsas message, as recorded
in Larsen-Freeman 2003).
Elsas attitude seems to be a perfect illustration of the relational nature of affordances.

Elsa saw for herself an opportunity to learn with the ALM drills, and she acted upon
it. Her message also illustrates her adaptive abilities. Here we see the agency of the
learner workingcreating learning opportunities for herself. Rather than tune out
from boredom, Elsa changed the names in the drill and played around with the
meaning so that she would be more engaged. Elsa was clearly a highly motivated
learner. Not all learners would see ALM drills as felicitous. As teachers know, learning
outcomes from particular activities are contingent, not predictable. Indeed, as Aronin
and Singleton write:
There is no place for strictly predictable outcomes in a complex system. Common
experience tells us that some people see opportunities, where others do not see
them, and that, even if perceived, not everyone grasps them. Affordances offered by
an environment may be neglected for various reasons (2012b: 180).
Thus, when it comes to perceiving affordances, every individual is unique, some-

thing to which all teachers can attest. Researchers, however, seek to generalise, and by
so doing, to describe the average learner (Larsen-Freeman 2009). As Rose, Rouhani
and Fischer argue:
Traditional models often assume that insights about the population automatically apply
to all individuals (Molenaar 2013). This assumption is simple, it is understandable, and
it is necessary to justify the use of averages to understand individuals. However, it is
also wrong! (2013: 152)
As I said, we humans seek simple answers. For instance, my statement criticis-

ing ALM drills was a simple, unqualified, statement about the drills. Elsas response
showed me that it wasnt the drills that were boringit was the relations between
her and the activity that was key. Her adaptiveness made drills work for her. So, it is
crucial to consider the second order of affordancesto include the agents/learners
perceptions and actions. Cameron underscores this point:
Affordances emerge when aspects of the environment are in interaction with an
agent (Gibson 1979). Affordances are a dynamic and adaptive version of the more
static notions of resources or opportunities (2015: 11).
14
Thus, second-order affordances are dynamic, adaptive and contingent. It is not

simply the properties of the environment but the agents relational stance towards
them that creates an affordance. It is also not a question of a teacher providing an
affordance; the agency still rests with the individual. On the other hand, it is not solely
with the individual. Constructing a learner as slow because he or she doesnt seem to
be getting it is attributing a property to the learner, when it is really a relationship
between the learner and what there is to learn.
My role as a teacher is not only about managing the properties of the environ-
mentthat is first order. I have a second-order responsibility as well. It is about man-
aging the relationships between my students and the environment. It is not making a
judgement, but rather dropping all attachment to the outcome and truly looking at
what a student is doing (Moran 2004). Furthermore, it is looking for cues about what
the student is doing in light of the students starting pointor initial state depend-
ence in CT terms. It is guiding students to perceive and act upon the communicative
affordances in the environment. This is why van Lier stressed moving from input to
affordance.
As Biesta (2007: 1011), quoting Sanderson (2003: 341), observes the question
for teachers is not simply what is effective but rather what is appropriate for
these children under these circumstances? This means, Biesta argues, that inquiry
and research can only tell us what is possibleor, to be even more precise, they can
only show us what has been possible. [They] can tell us what worked but cannot tell us
what works (2007: 16). Two CT educators put it this way:
With a complex and open-ended understanding of process, it becomes possible to
conceive of the educational process as an exploration or movement into that which
cannot currently be conceived as a possibility (Osberg 2008: 255).
One way of understanding this is to see teaching as guiding learning by expanding

the space of the possible and creating conditions for the emergence of the as yet
unimagined (Davis 2004: 184).
To ground these lofty thoughts about possibility and emergence in a real classroom,
I turn to recent research by Thoms (2014). Thoms discusses an error correction strat-
egy which many teachers use, namely a recast. As depicted in the SLA literature, a
recast is a form of corrective feedback in which the teacher restates what a learner has
just said, correcting it by reformulating it. By examining the discourse of a content-
based university course on colonial Spanish literature, Thoms shows that a teachers
simple reformulation of a students contribution in class, which might be termed a
recast in traditional SLA terms, can be reframed as an access-creating affordance in
the hands of a skilful teacher. The teacher in the classroom that Thoms observed cor-
rects a students error but does so in a way that broadens the focus and embroiders the
language in order to involve the other students as well. As Thoms comments:
However, to assume that that the instructor is merely interested in providing feedback
to students, especially in the context of a whole-class discussion is problematic and
may even be reductionist. By contrast, if one takes a multi-perspectival view that
includes the teacher and the students, the interaction resulting from the content-
15
enhancing reformulations involves an instance of reformulating as interpreting,

in the sense of turning it into comprehensible Spanish and also in the sense of
enhancing it from the perspective of content (2014: 738).
Thoms point is that rather than simply categorising a recast as a form of corrective
feedback, think of it as managing an affordancefocusing on the relationalan
improvisation on the part of the teacher rather than a restatement. As Jonas-Simpson,
Mitchell and Cross say, Each emergent learning moment is unpredictable and unique
and cannot be predicted or predetermined beforehand (2015: 2). Nevertheless, our
students ability to operate between languages (MLA 2007) will not be so much a
matter of bringing their message across accurately and appropriately, but of creating
affordances, i.e. relationships of possibility (van Lier 2004: 105) (Kramsch 2008:
403). The affordance construct recognizes that language learning is not an isolated
activity within the implicit causality of input and output but of a dynamic process
that mandates that learners be an active participant in the language learning environ-
ment (Thoms 2014: 727).
Adaptation
Inspired by the ecological metaphor, another relevant concept is that of adaptation.
It, too, is relational. Part of our responsibility is to help learners relate to the language
environment outside of the classroomto help them cope with the massive amount
of change that is transpiring in todays world, or at least that part of the change that
has to do with enacting their language resources. Kramsch and Whiteside note that
when it comes to communicative language teaching, the prototypical dialogues in
textbooks
usually includes two or three interlocutors, who all conduct the interaction in the
same standard target language, all agree on what the purpose of the exchange is
and what constitutes a culturally appropriate topic of conversation, all have equal
speaking rights and opportunities (2008: 6456).
But, in reality, the English that our students will use in multilingual settings will
be vastly different. So how can we help our students learn to adapt their language
resources to the environment that they will encounter outside of the classroomso
that they can put their language resources towards creating and participating in a
future that they can imagine for themselves, given a changing environment?
In situations of instructed language learning, the language that is the goal of learn-
ing is necessarily rendered less dynamic (Larsen-Freeman and Freeman 2008). How-
ever, this bounding of language for pedagogical purposes does not prepare students to
handle the unbounded language of the environment. Not being able to handle it has
been called the inert knowledge problem. It seems to me one way of ameliorating the
problem is to teach our students to adapt their language resourcesto use them for
their own purposes. I do not mean adaptation in the Darwinian sense of survival of
the fittest. Rather, it is about teaching students to mould their language resources to a
dynamic, ever-changing situationsomething we do quite naturally in communica-
tionin language with which we have fluencybut not so much in a language we
dont.
16
Of course, students have to adapt to a certain extent in order to carry out certain
pedagogical activities, such as role plays. However, the question is how can we help
them learn how to adapt? In order to teach adaptation, we might begin by asking how
adaptation is carried out in a natural environment. The answer seems to be that
very small undirected changes in the physical environment can sometimes improve
the level of adaptation between an organism and its environment, but large changes
are almost always detrimental (Pianka n.d.).
So, one way of teaching adaptation is to build on Earl Stevicks idea of technemes
(Larsen-Freeman 2013). When teachers change the conditions for completing a task
successfully from one time to the next, however slightly, a new challenge is presented.
For instance, if the students have to complete the same task a second time, but do so
taking less time, students have an opportunity to learn to adapt their language resources.
Teachers who fear that students might just repeat infelicitous utterances the second
time could follow Boers (2014) recommendations to modify such an activity, such as
giving students planning time or providing them with a model before they begin. The
point is that we can help students to adapt their language resources through successive
activities under slightly different conditionschanging the task, not the text.
However, adaptation cannot take place without options. At IATEFL 2015 in
Manchester, Elicker and Frstenberg cited Larsen-Freeman (2003) on the need for
teachers to help learners see that they have choices to make and that the choices they
make have consequences for the meaning they intend and the identities they wish to
construct.
A second way, then, to help learners adapt is to help them recognise that when
they speak or write, they are making choices. One way to do so is to use a think
aloud technique, freezing the action momentarily from time to time and explaining
the choices that exist at that moment of language use and what consequences might
follow if one were to exercise one option over another.
Conclusion
It goes without saying that learners have to be exposed to ambient language in order to
cultivate their language resources. However, the term input is problematic. Through
their perceptions and actions, people are changing and determining what is important
in their worldcreating and remaking the world in which they live. Learning is not a
matter of assembling an internal model of an external reality. Adopting an ecological
metaphor helps us see this more clearly.
Among other things, input draws a line between the learner and the environment,
which is antithetical to a CT perspective. In contrast, the concept of affordance reu-
nites the two. But the metaphor of ecology and with it affordances must encompass
more than properties in the environment. It must be about relationships and seeing
teaching as the management of them. Finally, the metaphor of ecology might also
inspire us to think about teaching adaptation so that learners can be the authors of
their relationship with the world outside the classroom. Mercer writes:
At present, we are only just at the outset of working explicitly with complexity
theories. Only with time will we be able to more thoroughly evaluate their potential
17
for furthering our understandings of ELT on theoretical, empirical and practical levels.
However, as Hardman (2010: 6) explains, perhaps the more immediately tangible
insights come from applying complexity not to the descriptions of systems but to the
limitations of our understanding (2016: 482).
I believe Mercer is correct. If nothing else, CT reminds us of the enormity of

the challenge when it comes to understanding language learning. Nevertheless, given
the nascence of this understanding, I believe it is better to make modest, provisional
claims than simplistic ones. And, for this reason, I like to close my talks on CT with
these words from Varela, Thompson and Rosch (1991: 144), in which I find inspira-
tion for taking the next step towards understanding.
Knowing how to negotiate our way through a world that is not fixed and pregiven,
but that is continually shaped by the types of actions in which we engage is a chal-
lenge of being human.
dianelf@umich.edu
References
Anderson, J. 2015. Affordance, learning opportunities, and the lesson plan pro forma. ELT
Journal 69/3: 22838.
Aronin, L. and D. Singleton, D. 2012a. Affordances theory in multilingualism studies.
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching 2/3: 31131.
Aronin, L. and D. Singleton, 2012b. Multilingualism. Philadelphia and Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
Biesta, G. 2007. Why what works wont work: Evidence-based practice and the democratic
deficit in educational research. Educational Theory 57: 122.
Boers, F. 2014. A reappraisal of the 4/3/2 activity. RELC Journal 45/3: 22135.
Cameron, L. 2015. Embracing connectedness and change: A complex dynamic systems
perspective for applied linguistic research in T. Lillis (ed.). AILA Review 28: Theory in Applied
Linguistics Research: Critical Approaches to Production, Performance, Participation. Amsterdam
and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Corder, S. P. 1967. The significance of learners errors. International Review of Applied
Linguistics 5: 16170.
Davis, B. 2004. Inventions of Teaching: A Genealogy. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Elicker, M. and U. Frstenberg. 2016. Beyond myths and rituals: developing a grammar
of choice in T. Pattison (ed.). IATEFL 2015 Manchester Conference Selections. Faversham:
IATEFL.
Human, O. 2015. Complexity: E-Special introduction. Theory, Culture & Society (E-Issue)
3: 120.
Jonas-Simpson, C., G. J. Mitchell and N. Cross. 2015. 'Emergence: complexity pedagogy in
action'. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice 5.
Kibler, A. and G. Valds. 2016. Conceptualizing language learners: Socioinstitutional
mechanisms and their consequences. The Modern Language Journal 100 (Supplement 2016):
96116.
Kramsch, C. 2008. Ecological perspectives on foreign language education. Language Teaching
41/3: 389408.
18
Kramsch, C. and A. Whiteside. 2008. Language ecology in multilingual settings. Towards a

theory of symbolic competence. Applied Linguistics 29/4: 64571.
Lam, W. S. E. and C. Kramsch. 2003. The ecology of an SLA community in a computer-
mediated environment in J. Leather and J. van Dam (eds.). Ecology of Language Acquisition.
Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
Larsen-Freeman, D. 1983. The importance of input in second language acquisition in R.
Anderson (ed.). Pidginization and Creolization as Language Acquisition. Rowley, Mass.:
Newbury House.
Larsen-Freeman, D. 1997. Chaos/complexity science and second language acquisition.
Applied Linguistics 18/2: 14165.
Larsen-Freeman, D. 2003. Teaching Language: From Grammar to Grammaring. Boston: Heinle
& Heinle.
Larsen-Freeman, D. 2009. Prediction or retrodiction? The coming together of research and
teaching in K. Losey and C. Pearson (eds.). Spotlight on Re-search: A New Beginning. The
selected proceedings of the 2008 MITESOL Conference. Raleigh, N.C.: LuLu Press.
Larsen-Freeman, D. 2013. Complex, dynamic systems and technemes in J. Arnold Morgan
and T. Murphey (eds.). Meaningful Action: Earl Stevicks Influence on Language Teaching.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Larsen-Freeman, D. and L. Cameron. 2008. Complex Systems and Applied Linguistics. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Larsen-Freeman, D. and D. Freeman. 2008. Language moves: The place of foreign
languages in classroom teaching and learning. Review of Research in Education 32: 14786.
Mercer, S. 2016. Complexity, language learning and the language classroom in G. Hall (ed.).
The Routledge Handbook of English Language Teaching. Abingdon: Routledge.
Moran, P. R. 2004. Plenary Address: 2004 Sandanona Conference. Unpublished document.
School for International Training: Brattleboro, Vt.
Osberg, D. 2008. The logic of emergence: An alternative conceptual space for theorizing
critical education. Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies 6/1: 13361.
Pianka, E. R. n.d. Adaptation. Biology Encyclopedia. Available at http://www.biologyreference.
com/A-Ar/Adaptation.html.
Rose, T., P. Rouhani and K. W. Fischer. 2013. The science of the individual. Mind, Brain,
and Education 7: 1528.
Sanderson, I. 2003. Is it what works that matters? Evaluation and evidence-based policy
making. Research Papers in Education 18/4: 33147.
Scarantino, A. 2003. Affordances explained. Philosophy of Science 70: 94961.
Thoms, J. J. 2014. An ecological view of whole-class discussions in a second language literature
classroom: teacher reformulations as affordances for learning. The Modern Language Journal
98: 72441.
Van Lier, L. 2000. From input to affordance: social-interactive learning from an ecological
perspective in J. P. Lantolf and S. L. Thorne (eds.). Sociocultural Theory and Second Language
Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Van Lier, L. 2004. The Ecology and Semiotics of Language Learning: A Sociocultural Perspective.
Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Varela, F., E. Thompson and E. Rosch. 1991. The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and
Human Experience. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
19
1.2 Exploring psychology in language learning and teaching

Sarah Mercer University of Graz, Austria
Learning and using a language is inherently a social undertaking; it involves other
human beings and relationships between people. The relational perspective highlights
the fact that teachers psychology influences that of their learners and vice versa. This
means that although we focus our discussions on learners and their psychology in this
talk and in the literature more broadly, all of the issues raised affect teachers and others
involved in the educational process in similar ways.
The principal aim of this talk was to raise awareness of the importance of teacher
and learner psychologies, focusing on three key areas: beliefs, self and affect. These are
discussed in more depth along with other facets of psychology in Williams, Mercer
and Ryan (2015).
Beliefs
It is well established that our beliefs can have a profound effect on how we behave as
teachers and/or learners. However, one set of beliefs has a particularly powerful influ-
ence on various aspects of our psychologies; this is referred to as implicit theories or
mindsets. The key researcher in this area is Carol Dweck (2006). Her work has shown
that some people tend to believe that a certain personal trait or ability is fixed and can-
not be changed, while others may believe it is malleable and thus can be developed.
In reality, most people lie somewhere along a continuum of such beliefs. Such beliefs
remain relatively under-researched in SLA; however, we believe they are potentially
very powerful in the domain, given the prevalence of people who believe language
learning ability stems primarily from some kind of natural gift. Similar discussions
also surround teaching competences and supposed natural-born teachers. The area
is complex, but one point worth stressing is that the discussion is not whether apti-
tudes or talents exist but what the effect is of strongly believing that your competence
depends predominantly on an ability that you either can or cannot change. Ideally,
we want all learners and teachers to believe they can improve. While we do not want
them to hold unrealistic expectations, we need to encourage them to believe in their
potential for growth.
Self
Related to mindsets are the thoughts and feelings that represent our sense of self. These
are not the facts about ourselves but rather what we believe and feel is true about
ourselves. As with mindsets, our sense of self functions in domain-specific terms. This
means we can hold multiple sets of beliefs and evaluative feelings about our self in dif-
ferent areas of our lives, and it is possible for these beliefs to be potentially contradic-
tory. For teachers, having a positive sense of self has been found to be a key ingredient
in helping to prevent burnout. Among learners, a healthy sense of self is important for
motivation and self-regulatory behaviours. However, care must be taken that learners
are supported in developing a positive but realistic sense of self as an unhealthy sense
of self can lead to problem behaviours.
20
The joys of second language learning
Affect
Finally, we turned our attention to affect, which is at the heart of all learning and
teaching. We considered the commonly researched construct of anxiety explaining
the distinction between facilitative and debilitative anxiety. We argued that rather
than taking an inherently deficit-oriented view, we also need to learn to focus on how
we can promote positive emotions; these not only protect against more debilitating
emotions but can also broaden our thinking, promote creativity and sociability and
thereby improve our emotional as well as cognitive states (Fredrickson 2009). Positive
emotions are also more than just fun and include complex emotions such as joy, pride,
gratitude and meaningfulness.
Conclusion
To conclude, the talk highlighted the importance of psychology in language learning
and teaching. We need to recognise more consciously that the human dimensions of
language learning are crucial to successful teaching and learning. While good materi-
als, tasks and approaches will always be needed, without a healthy learning climate
and positive psychologies between learners and teachers, all other contributing factors
will struggle to achieve their true potential.
sas_mercer@yahoo.com
References
Dweck, C. S. 2006. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House.
Fredrickson, B. 2009. Positivity. New York: Three Rivers Press.
Williams, M., S. Mercer and S. Ryan. 2015. Exploring Psychology in Language Learning and
Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
1.3The joys of second language learning: a positive psychology

framework
Sin Etherington University of Salford, UK
Introduction
This presentation introduced the positive psychology movement and its application
within second language learning and teaching (SLLT) and proposed questions which
teachers could explore within their own practice.
Sharing stories of positive emotion
The presentation began by asking participants to share a positive emotional experience
from their own teaching or learning context. Participants enthusiastically recounted
stories involving emotions such as happiness, flow, resilience and pride. The presenter
shared her own positive thinking approach when faced with a situation of potential
anxiety and fear (conference presentations). These stories served to set personal con-
texts for the consideration of positive emotions in the L2 classroom.
21
The role of positive emotions

Psychological research has identified a classic model of six basic emotions: anger,
disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise. The traditional emphasis on negative
emotions stems from their role in the survival needs of early humans. Particular nega-
tive emotions trigger strong, predictable reactions, which govern subsequent behav-
iour: fear leads to flight or fight; disgust leads to revulsion at potentially poisonous
food. Traditionally, psychologists believed that positive emotion had no specific role
in human development; however, the work of Frederickson (2001) places positive
emotion in a more significant light.
Fredrickson argues that when people experience positive emotions, they become
better able to engage in a broader range of actions, which serve to enhance and build
their long-term personal, social and physical resources (the broaden-and-build model).
These new ways of interacting with the world help learning and development. Fred-
ericksons work has identified a positive spiral of transformation, as growing personal
resources enable people to experience more positive emotions and develop further.
Her research also indicates that positive emotions can help to undo the physiological
harm caused by negative emotions, such as stress, anxiety and fear. Thus, positive emo-
tions contribute much more than simply indicating the absence of negative emotion.
Positive psychology
Fredericksons work is a key part of the positive psychology (PP) movement (Seligman
and Csikszentmihalyi 2000). This approach departs from the conventional psycho-
logical focus on abnormality and sickness to consider instead well-being and flourish-
ing. Two useful tools within PP are the Values in Action (VIA) inventory and the
PERMA framework. The VIA sets out six distinct areas of core virtues and associated
character strengths: wisdom and knowledge, courage, humanity, justice, temperance
and transcendence. The PERMA framework provides areas of focus for those who
seek to live a better life. The acronym stands for
Positive emotion (P);
Engagement with activities that use ones character strengths (E);
Developing positive interpersonal relationships (R);
Finding meaning by serving a cause beyond oneself (M); and
Recognising areas of accomplishment and achievement (A).
Mindful engagement with both frameworks is seen to help people move towards
stronger well-being and happiness.
The PP movement is not without its critics, however. It has been seen by some as
pop psychology without a serious academic grounding. Others have referred to the
the tyranny of positive attitude, which has little patience for those who fail to remain
positive. Nevertheless, PP has great potential to transform lives and working practices.
Its role within teaching and learning in general, and the second language classroom in
particular, is worth further investigation.
Positive psychology in second language learning and teaching
SLA research interest in PP has been led by MacIntyre, Gregersen and Mercer. Their
recent edited volume (2016) brings together research on many positive emotions in
22
Learnance: towards a new relationship to teaching learning
SLLT, including well-being, joy, resilience, peace, empathy, hope and passion. There
was little time to discuss much of the research within the presentation, but the roles
teachers can play in supporting positive psychology in SLLT were highlighted. For
example, learners enjoyment of the foreign language can be influenced through
teacher creation of a comfortable class atmosphere and good personal relations. Teach-
ers can also use interventions to develop learners emotional intelligence in support of
their language learning.
Questions for teachers
The final part of the presentation considered questions which teachers might explore
further within their own contexts. These included:
the use of VIA and PERMA frameworks as agenda for enquiry;
how aspects of PP might work in different cultural settings;
a reconsideration of difficult aspects of L2 classrooms from a positive perspective;
teachers understandings of and engagement with PP;
teachers own positive emotions, teacher enjoyment, and resilience; and
how schools or universities can promote positive psychology.
Working together
The presentation concluded with a warm invitation for participants to join an EFL
teacher research network for PP. Participants were encouraged to email the presenter
if they wished to be involved.
s.etherington@salford.ac.uk
References
Fredrickson, B. L. 2001. The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: the broaden-
and-build theory of positive emotions. The American Psychologist, 56/3: 21826.
MacIntyre, P. D., T. Gregersen and S. Mercer (eds.). 2016. Positive Psychology in SLA. Bristol:
Multilingual Matters.
Seligman, M. and M. Csikszentmihalyi. 2000. Positive psychology: an introduction. The
American Psychologist 55/1: 514.
1.4 Learnance: towards a new relationship to teaching learning

Stephen Scott Brewer Universit Paris-Est Crteil, Paris, France
What is learnance?
The neologism learnance signifies the intrinsic, neuro-culturally rooted asset that
predisposes and enables human beings to learn, grow and adapt to new and chang-
ing circumstances across the lifespan. Although the term is recent (from the French
apprenance, Trocm-Fabre 1999), the idea of learnance can be traced back to Aesops
well-known fable about the goose that laid the golden eggs. Whereas the golden eggs
represent the result of a production process, learnance has to do with that precious
organic asset that allows the goose to lay golden eggs in the first place. I contend that,
23
likewise, we human beings possess our own type of biological yet deeply socially con-
structed asset that underlies our extraordinary ability to come to know things about
the world and our place in it. My second contention is that school plays a critical role
in the development of human learnance, both for the better and for the worse. When,
for example, the school system systematically attaches so much importance to the
golden eggs of students academic results that it neglects to nurture, or in some cases
even damages, their inherent capacity to learn, then we must dare to incriminate the
institution for acting upon pupils learnance in a way not so different from what the
misguided farmer did to his ill-fated goose and urgently try and remedy the situation.
Why is students learnance so important?
Our students production capability as learners is vital in a 21st-century world filled
with promise and uncertainty. Knowledge of English and other foreign languages is
increasingly recognised as a key professional and personal asset. Yet, as every language
teacher knows, learning a language is a complex and often challenging undertaking.
The way in which youngsters learn to engage in and remain personally committed to
the learning of a new language that interests them is at least as important as the aca-
demic outcomes that they themselves, their parents and teachers hope they ultimately
achieve. As young people mature and inevitably face the challenge of having to take
on more responsibility for themselves and their actions in connection with academic
endeavours, it is their developing sense and power of learnance that can greatly deter-
mine the direction their learning careers take.
The three worksites of learnance
If we conceptualise teaching learning as occurring in a kind of triadic system that
unites the forces of person, action and situation (Pajares 2006), learnance by extension
invites teachers to reflect on the quality of their work at three distinct levels. These lev-
els or worksites focus respectively on the development of students aptitudes, motiva-
tion to learn and inner resources (person), the development of their learning practices
and strategies (action) and the learning environment or context (the situations) which
teachers are largely in charge of designing and orchestrating within the spatial and
temporal confines of the classroom.
The recognition of learnance as a key educational concept urges teachers to con-
tinue doing what they have always done when striving to create conditions conducive
to their students learning. But what the concept also suggests is that it is equally
important to endorse a specific educational responsibility concerning the develop-
ment of those critical thinking and behavioural contributions that stem from inside
the learners themselves, and which typically may not receive much attention.
Teachers can learn about their students language learning motivation and posi-
tively influence how they perceive themselves and their abilities as language learners.
Teachers can also help shape the sometimes problematic beliefs that students come
to adopt about the language learning process and their role in that process (Williams
et al. 2015). As a complex and multidimensional object of study, a foreign language
offers many different types of learning which are closely interrelated and often difficult
to coordinate. In this regard, language teachers can also function as coaches who help
their students find strategies to link actions, emotions and thinking as part of the
24
Teachers views on motivation in relation to their motivational practice
challenging task of finding ones voice and sense of self in a non-native language and
culture.
Teacher learnance
Learnance not only concerns our students and their potential as learners, but also our
own learning potential as teachers. Teaching is known to be a particularly stressful and
demanding job. To meet the challenges they face and produce the results expected of
them, teachers need a robust production capability which, no less than that of their
students, depends on healthy, thriving relationships to context, others and self.
stephen-scott.brewer@u-pec.fr
References
Pajares, F. 2006. Self-efficacy during childhood and adolescence in F. Pajares and T. Urdan
(eds.). Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Adolescents. Greenwich, Conn.: Information Age Publishing.
Trocm-Fabre, H. 1999. Rinventer le mtier dapprendre. Paris: Editions dOrganisation.
Williams, M., S. Mercer and S. Ryan. 2015. Exploring Psychology in Language Learning and
Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
1.5Teachers views on motivation in relation to their motivational

practice
Mariia Prykhodchenko Queen Mary University of London, UK
Introduction
As a result of the 1990s shift in motivation theory towards its more practical applica-
tions, teachers were identified among significant others who can influence students
motivation, and lists of motivational strategies were drawn up to help teachers moti-
vate their students. These strategies were validated in research, which has shown a
positive correlation between teachers motivational practice and students motivated
behaviour (Guilloteaux and Drnyei 2008), thus proving that teachers are able to
motivate their students. Little research has been done to date into teachers own views
on their motivational potential and this studys main purpose was, therefore, to fill
this gap and find out whether teachers perceive themselves as motivators.
Context
The study was conducted in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) context in the
pre-masters programme at Queen Mary University of London, where three teachers
agreed to participate. This programme is designed for international students who want
to enter postgraduate studies at British universities and who either need to improve
their English and study skills or lack subject-specific knowledge. This research had
a qualitative orientation and relied on semi-structured interviews and unstructured
observations as its main data collection tools. Data analysis was inductive and informed
by the relevant literature in the field, in particular, Drnyeis classroom motivational
strategies framework (2001), shown in Figure 1.5.1. This process-oriented model of
25
motivation, which takes into account changes in students motivation over a course of
learning and contains strategies to address those changes, was used to measure teach-
ers practice and interpret their views.
Figure 1.5.1: Drnyeis motivational strategies framework
Findings
There were two major lines of findings in this study: the answer to the main research
question on teachers views, and motivational implications for the EAP context.
Teachers views elicited were as follows:
1 On the importance of motivation: all the teachers unanimously agreed with the
significance of motivation and even stated that its absence made teaching difficult.
2 On the sources of students motivation in this programme: these were reported to be
mostly extrinsic, ranging from students desire to achieve the necessary grade to
pass the course to the financial and psychological pressures exerted by parents; the
latter were counter-productive for students motivation because they hampered
concentration.
3 On their motivating role: teachers opinions diverged. Teacher A agreed that teach-
ers were responsible for students motivation and emphasised the importance of
creating the right sort of learning and motivational environment. Teachers B and
C preferred their students to be self-motivated; Teacher B still emphasised the
importance of motivating students on the part of the teacher, while teacher C
doubted whether teachers can motivate students at all, while expressing readiness
to maintain it.
4 On teachers motivational practice: this was analysed on the basis of teachers inter-
view responses to different aspects of motivational activity as well as observations
of their lessons. Results were quite varied, and the strategies applied covered all
four levels of the process-oriented model of motivation. Thus, all three teachers,
regardless of their attitude towards motivation, motivated their students, although
the teacher who was a conscious motivator was more successful in this.
26
Language learner autonomy: teachers perceptions and practices
Motivational implications for the EAP context involve helping students to integrate
successfully into the new academic environment both academically and socially. Stu-
dents academic integration is often hampered by their misguided ideas about learning
in the new system; this reduces their initial motivation, making them feel resistant
to the unfamiliar. This resistance comes from the previous systems of education and
teaching methods engrained in students minds, which often differ significantly from
those in the UK. In terms of social integration, students who struggled most came
from Southeast Asia; they felt they could not communicate as effectively as others.
All these integration issues are psychologically challenging for students, with the
result that they cannot concentrate properly on their studies. The teachers agreed on
the need for a careful resolution.
Conclusions and implications
Teachers seem to be rather under-aware of their own motivational practice and par-
ticularly of the importance of the generating initial motivation stage, which appears
to be most significant in this context. This study highlights the importance of raising
teachers awareness of the importance of motivating, its process-oriented nature and
the potential to facilitate even a complex process such as students integration into a
new academic environment.
mariaprykhodchenko@gmail.com
References
Drnyei, Z. 2001. Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Guilloteaux, M. J. and Z. Drnyei. 2008. Motivating language learners: A classroom-oriented
investigation of the effects of motivational strategies on student motivation. TESOL
Quarterly, 42/1: 5577.
1.6Language learner autonomy: teachers perceptions and

practices
Kasim Koruyan King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and
Nazife Aydinoglu Izmir University, Turkey
Introduction
Language learner autonomy (LLA) is defined as the ability to take charge of ones own
learning (Holec 1981: 3). Some researchers conceptualise LLA as part of independent
learning (Holec 1981), others as a form of interdependence/collaborative learning
(Kohonen 1992). Only limited studies address what LLA means to language instruc-
tors and how they promote LLA in their practice. The aim of this study is to expand
on Borg and Al-Busaidis (2012) project to identify language instructors perceptions
and practices related to LLA. We obtained mixed results between and within the
contexts.
27
Data collection
From 2013 to 2016, data was collected from 1,789 EFL university language instruc-
tors from 13 countries and regions: Saudi Arabia (n=1057), Turkey (n=311), northern
Cyprus (n=89), Greece (n=86), Brazil (n=67), the UK (n=57), Australia (n=43), the
US (n=32), Germany (n=12), Dubai (n=11), Switzerland (n=7), Austria (n=7), Abu
Dhabi (n=6) and Canada (n=4). Data collection and processing followed a mixed-
method design using interviews, focus groups, discussion groups and questionnaires.
Workshops
We sent out professional development handouts consisting of workshops adopted
from Borg and Al-Busaidi (2012) and adapted to suit specific contexts. Teachers read
about LLA before the workshops; these consisted of definitions of LLA; a discussion
of teachers and students roles in supporting LLA; an introduction of different frame-
works, divided into content and process, for promoting LLA in the classroom; strate-
gies for increasing learner autonomy; and a discussion of the desirability and feasibil-
ity of LLA in teachers contexts as well as potential hindrances to LLA. We delivered
four workshops to 278 instructors. The first workshop started with a brainstorming
session based on YouTube videos of classrooms where LLA was present. Instructors
were asked to discuss the videos in groups of five and to compare their classrooms with
what they had seen. Teachers were then asked to reflect on the handouts they had read
about LLA and to share their views.
In the second workshop, teachers were asked to reflect on LLA frameworks and
strategies for increasing LLA. Before the third workshop, they were asked to apply
those frameworks and strategies to their own classrooms. We elicited their reflections
on the desirability and feasibility of LLA in their classrooms and on potential pitfalls.
In the last workshop, instructors were asked to reflect on the extent to which LLA had
positively influenced their professional practice.
Teachers perceptions and practices related to LLA
The questionnaire results showed that all language instructors had positive percep-
tions of LLA. They all agreed on the importance of LLA and its role in language
learning and they all indicated that LLA was crucial in the language learning process.
LLA was recognised by most instructors to make a contribution to L2 learning and
to student motivation. However, even though almost all participants agreed on the
desirability of LLA, there were opposing views about its feasibility:
There can be a positive attitude towards learning and the problem of motivation
can be solved if the learners are proactively committed to their own learning.
(Turkey)
It is highly desirable and feasible, as I would like my students to take ownership of
their learning; learning becomes more effective that way. (Switzerland)
very desirable and feasible. (Australia)
It is quite desirable yet not so feasible in my context. (Turkey)
It is very desirable and feasible to promote learner autonomy in my context.
(Saudi Arabia)
28
Zen zone: meditation in the EFL classroom
It is not feasible or desirable because students are used to being spoon-fed by the
teacher. (Saudi Arabia)
It is certainly desirable, however, fairly unfeasible as I am teaching those who are
used to be spoon-fed. (Dubai)
The interview findings indicate that implementing strategies to increase learner
autonomy in the classroom may be desirable, but it may not be feasible depending
on the educational system of the country in general and/or on the teachers beliefs
or practices in particular. Some of the instructors in Saudi Arabia appreciated the
workshops, saying the workshops showed them how to help their students to exercise
control over the learning of English, which improved learning in their classrooms; for
example, strategies like encouraging them to use oxfordlearn.com, peer correction,
encouraging students to suggest materials, self-evaluation and critical reflections
helped to promote LLA. As a lead teacher, I observed those practices in the classrooms
after the workshops. Instructors in our contexts would appreciate these kinds of pro-
fessional development workshops.
Conclusion
There are various factors that affect language instructors perceptions and practices
regarding LLA, such as their cultural and teaching backgrounds. Although teachers in
this study strongly agreed with the desirability of LLA, they had less optimistic views
on the feasibility of promoting learner autonomy in practice. These findings suggest
that professional development workshops can help those instructors to understand
the importance of LLA and its contribution to language learning. Teachers should be
given more time, space and freedom to implement strategies to promote LLA in their
classrooms, as it is their responsibility to guide their students and promote LLA.
kkoruyan@my.open.ac.uk
nazife.aydinoglu@izmir.edu.tr
References
Borg, S. and S. Al-Busaidi. 2012. Learner Autonomy: English Language Teachers Beliefs and
Practices. London: The British Council.
Holec, H. 1981. Autonomy and Foreign Language Learning. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Kohonen, V. 1992. Experiential Language Learning: Second Language Learning as Cooperative
Learner Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1.7 Zen zone: meditation in the EFL classroom

Monique Simpson Freelance, Otavalo, Ecuador
Introduction
Recently, more educators in the United States are experimenting with yoga and medi-
tation in the classroom. Thus, research is needed to see how EFL students respond
to meditation. During my workshop, I explained how I used guided meditation and
reflective writing in an action research study on writing anxiety and meditation.
29
Context
The study took place at Yachay University in Ecuador. Twenty-three students in my
advanced and intermediate English classes agreed to participate; one student declined,
stating meditation was against his Christian faith. I led the guided meditation once a
week for five minutes. After meditating, students wrote in their journals about a topic
related to the meditation or the days lesson for ten minutes. The script of the guided
meditation was based on the format provided in Guided Meditation in the English
Language Classroom (Jenkins 2015). Prior to the start of meditation, students took
anxiety and mindfulness surveys. At the end of the semester, students took condensed
versions of the surveys.
Guided meditation example
A sample mediation was conducted during the workshop. The following is the script
that I read.
Now clear your mind of all your outside thoughts. Be present, be here in this moment.
Lets focus on one thought: happiness. Happiness is the state of being happy or very
content. What does happiness mean to you? Think of a moment when you were
happy. Close your eyes. Picture yourself. Where were you? Who were you with? What
were you doing? Why were you happy? Breathe in, see your picture. Breathe out, let
yourself feel the happiness. Breathe in, see your picture. Breathe out, let yourself feel
the happiness. Silently say to yourself, I am happy. Feel yourself relax. Feel happy.
Breathe in, breathe out. I am happy. Breathe in, breathe out. I am happy.
After the meditation, participants wrote about an influential person. A discussion

was then held in which participants shared their feelings about meditation, applying
it to their classes, alternative methods of meditation and past experiences with medita-
tion.
Data collection
We then discussed the results of my action research. It must be noted that the research
was greatly flawed as a result of Yachay being new and administrators making unpre-
dictable academic changes. Many students stopped attending English classes because
of changes to the academic schedule, the location of English classrooms and/or their
belief that their English class was not included in their overall GPA.
Only eight students completed the post-survey; thus, this studys results are dif-
ficult to assess and validate. However, in examining the five questions from the post-
anxiety survey, the following data can be reported. When asked if they felt stressed
when writing English compositions when there was limited time, seven students ini-
tially responded sometimes or usually; one student responded rarely. In the post-
meditation survey, two students responded rarely. Another question asked whether a
student froze up when unexpectedly asked to write English compositions. Half of the
respondents showed a decrease in anxiety. When asked if English words came easily
when writing, half of the respondents showed no change in the pre- and post-surveys.
This is of great interest given that one could have expected the words to come more
easily, given that meditation is supposed to create clearer thinking.
30
Zen zone: meditation in the EFL classroom
Teachers perspective
During the research, I kept a journal to participate in the meditation as a teacher and
to reflect on it as a researcher. In the workshop, I noted that several students requested
meditation sessions after there was an unexpected break in the class teaching. A stand-
out moment occurred when one student started a discussion on the meditation topic
of integrity in relationship to Abraham Lincoln and his freeing of American slaves.
These events showed the potential for meditation to have an impact in the EFL
classroom. More research is needed in a stable university environment with a regular
group of students to make any findings significant and applicable to the advancement
of EFL.
As a teacher, I found that meditation provided a method of relieving work stress.
Several workshop participants asked about research on meditation and EFL teachers;
further research is needed.
Conclusion
My workshop was based on my action research on meditation and writing in EFL.
Because of an unstable academic environment, the results are hard to validate. Yet
from my observations, there is potential for meditation to enrich the classroom by
sparking discussion and critical thinking. Workshop participants were interested in
understanding how to apply meditation to EFL classrooms for students and teachers.
ms_msimpson@hotmail.com
Reference
Jenkins, A. 2015. Guided meditation in the English language classroom. English Teaching
Forum 3538.
31
2
Approaches to teacher
education
Is teacher training a waste of time? This was the question posed in the annual ELT
Journal /IATEFL debate; Peter Grundy and Penny Ur outline their arguments for
and against the motion in the opening paper of this chapter. The next few papers
address specific approaches to teacher education. Daniel Xerri argues in favour of
including training in creative practices in the classroom; Carol Lethaby and Patricia
Harries explore how the neuromyth of learning styles is best approached in teacher
training courses; and Daniel Baines calls for a new approach to reflection in teacher
training. Next, Bethany Miall analyses her own experiences as a trainee, using an
auto-ethnography approach. With the focus still on the trainee, the next group of
papers discuss teacher education in various contexts. The A. S. Hornby Scholars
paper, coordinated by Martin Wedell, compares approaches to teaching practice
in various parts of the world. Marcela Cintra then picks up on one of the themes
discussed in the Hornby paper, that of assessment, and outlines the use of e-portfolios
in a Brazilian context; Elena Onchevska Ager describes how she encouraged her
Macedonian trainees to engage with research; and Loreto Aliaga-Salas discusses the
roles and perceptions of teacher educators in a new Chilean training curriculum. We
end with the report from a Signature Event, that of the The Teacher Trainer journal
30th birthday panel, convened by Tessa Woodward and with contributions from
Varinder Unlu, Briony Beaven and Seth Lindstromberg.
2.1 ELT Journal/IATEFL Debate: Teacher training is a waste of time

Peter Grundy UK and Penny Ur Israel
Chair: Graham Hall ELT Journal Editor
Peter Grundy, proposing the motion

I began my argument that teacher training is a waste of time by recalling my own
experiences as a trainee teacher, which included the oratorical dullness of our lectures
and the lack of instruction in such basic skills as reading aloud, producing a handout,
use of the board, marking, managing a classroom and setting homework. To this
could be added the limited quantity and very doubtful quality of the support reading
and the arbitrariness of what was considered essential knowledge, as evidenced by
the variety of more or less irrelevant optional courses on the programme. And what
could I really hope to learn from just one visit of my supervisor during a whole term
of school-based teaching practice? Such memories may be anecdotal, but they are
also the lived experiences of a trainee and not, I think, out-of-step with those of the
32
ELT Journal /IATEFL debate: Teacher training is a waste of time
309 other people on the course I took and the thousands who continue to pursue
Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).
I had already written a pre-conference blog post for the ELTJ Debate webpage
drawing attention to the widely agreed shortcomings of four-week training courses of
the CELTA and CertTESOL type, which include the need for trainees to conform to
a very narrow view of classroom techniques inappropriate in the post-method era; the
failure to acknowledge the importance of the local in language teaching, preferring
instead a standardised course validated by a British institution; an approach to language
privileging atheoretical accounts of grammar and morphology over pragmatically
informed accounts of language in use; and a teaching practice experience with stooge
learners quite unlike the real world of teaching. This meant that, in the debate, I
was able simply to ask who would let a priest with four weeks of training loose on a
congregation, or a four-week lawyer on a client, or a four-week doctor or dentist on
a patient, and turned instead to the more substantial one-, two-, three and four-year
courses leading to QTS. Noting first of all that the worldwide failure rate on such
courses is just 1 per cent, I used the current situation in England as an illustration of
just how unsuccessful teacher training continues to be. I observed that one in three
trainees who achieves QTS has been so disheartened by their training experience that
they never enter the profession, and I referred to the National Association of Head
Teachers 2014 survey, in which 73 per cent of head teachers reported inadequate
classroom management skills amongst new recruits, 58 per cent reported inadequate
subject knowledge, and 56 per cent reported inadequate understanding of pedagogy
and child developmentall this after training!
I went on to discuss the shift to school-led initial training following criticism of the
quality and relevance of HE-based training that, in 2013, led the UK government to
guarantee continuing training places to only 14 per cent of providing institutions. I
drew attention to the principal findings and recommendations of the Carter Review of
2015, which identifies shortfalls in virtually every area you can think of and stresses
the need for such apparently overlooked fundamentals as a relentless focus on pupil
outcomes (including pupil progress, achievement and well-being) and practical
advicetangible strategies for new teachers, grounded in evidence.
Of course, its important to understand this issuewhich is not that teacher
training per se is a waste of time or that anyone can just walk into a classroom and do
a good job. Whats under debate isnt a metaphysical question of this kind, but rather
that teacher training as we know it in virtually every country in the world is a waste of
time (and money) and could be done very much better. Those who voted against this
motion must either have been deaf to reason or wilfully protective of an unsatisfactory
status quo.
Penny Ur, opposing the motion
English teacher training courses are most emphatically not a waste of time, so I began
by refuting some arguments against teacher training.
It is claimed that some gifted teachers can teach without training. True (though
even gifted teachers can benefit from extra learning in courses). Similarly, completely
incompetent teachers cannot be made into good ones by training: for these, indeed,
training courses may be a waste of time. It is also true that some teacher training
33
Chapter 2: Approaches to teacher education
courses are ineffective: boring, or badly planned, or too theoretical, or promoting

fashionable methodologies that may be completely inappropriate for the target
teacher population, and so on. Finally, individuals may indeed have had initial teacher
training experiences from which they gained little or no benefit.
But the motion before this house was not teacher training courses may, in specific
instances, for some individuals, be ineffective. It was teacher training is a waste of
time. None of the arguments I have summarised above provide support for such a
generalisation. The fact that some English lessons are ineffective for some students
does not mean that English teaching is a waste of time: if it were, we should all go
home, IATEFL should disband and the publication of ELT Journal should cease.
I then moved on to more positive arguments.
First, there is the evidence from the field. The research evidence is that although
there are substantial criticisms of particular programmes, in the vast majority of cases
graduates nevertheless say that the courses provided good preparation for teaching.
The postings on the blog relating to this debate on the ELTJ website reveal a similar
conclusion.
Second, let us consider for a moment what happens to teachers without initial
training. For one thing, they are at far higher risk of dropout after their first year
because they do not have the basic survival skills to cope with sometimes challenging
teaching situations. Even if they do not drop out, they may find themselves teaching
the way they were taught, because they have had no opportunity to learn new
approaches, methods or practical techniques. Finally, for those teachers who do
survive and progress, they find themselves having to re-invent the wheel: learn things
through their own experience or mistakes, when an initial course could have provided
the information that would have saved them the trouble and enabled them to develop
faster.
Third, let us look at the components of typical training courses that participants
can benefit from. There are the actual practical teaching ideas and skills that the
trainer, usually an expert teacher him/herself, can provide: primary practical
professional guidance that enables novice teachers to function adequately before they
have accumulated their own ideas based on experience. There is the opportunity to
practice-teach: to experiment with teaching real classes in a low-risk situation with
trainer support and feedback. There is the encounter with research findings providing
evidence and insights that can furnish a basis for more effective teaching procedures
and save the teacher from making time-wasting mistakes.
Note that initial training provides for many teachers the only opportunity they
will ever have to enjoy the last two componentsto gain teaching practice and
encounter the research literature. The majority of teachers in the world have few if any
opportunities for in-service courses, and very few are privileged to attend conferences
like this one.
In conclusion, I hope it has become clear that the statement teacher training is
a waste of time is false, unsupported either by the available evidence or by rational
argument.
grundypeter@btinternet.com
pennyur@gmail.com
34
Promoting creativity through teacher training
Reference
Carter, Sir A. 2015. Carter Review of Initial Teacher Training (ITT). https://www.gov.uk/
government/publications/carter-review-of-initial-teacher-training.
2.2 Promoting creativity through teacher training

Daniel Xerri University of Malta, Msida, Malta
Introduction
There seems to be a tacit agreement among many English language teachers that
nurturing learners creativity in the classroom is fundamental because, in so doing, their
language learning experience will be more rewarding. Such teachers seem to believe
that a learner-centred classroom environment necessarily involves the cultivation of
creative practices. This means that the development of creativity should not be seen as
a distraction from exam-oriented classroom activities but as a counterbalancing force
that probably has an even bigger potential to stimulate learner achievement. However,
the attainment of creativity in the classroom is dependent on teachers own creative
practices. These could be cultivated by means of teacher training programmes aimed
at promoting teachers creativity via the adoption of a number of creative roles.
Teachers creative roles
Through pre- and in-service training, teachers can develop the knowledge, skills and
beliefs needed to position themselves in a variety of creative roles in the classroom
and in their professional lives. Some of these roles are: bridge builders, multimodal
communicators, creative practitioners and improvisers.
Teachers who act as bridge builders are capable of engaging in what Koestler (1964)
calls bisociative thinking, which is the formation of a new matrix of meaning through
the act of combining elements from previously unconnected matrices of thought.
By means of bisociative thinking they build bridges in their lessons, establishing
connections between subjects, topics and perspectives. They build bridges in the
minds of their learners, enabling them to foster latent abilities and exploit these not
only for language learning but for lifelong education, too. They build bridges between
the past, present and future because creative language teaching transforms learners
experiences, thoughts and emotions and makes them inquisitive human beings who
are themselves willing to engage in bridge building.
Teachers who act as multimodal communicators are able to engage in the
crafted integration of two or more ways, or modes, of communication, so that
their combined meaning as a whole is greater than either mode separately or their
simple combination (Dressman 2010: 71). A teachers ability to bring a text to life
by the careful combination of print, audio, video and hyperlinks can make it highly
engaging for language learners. In order for teachers to foster creativity in the learning
environment they need to be equipped with the capacity to think creatively and
generate innovation. Knowing how to employ a multimodal approach is one means
by which teachers can achieve this form of creativity.
35
Teachers who identify themselves as creative practitioners are able to engage in

creative activities in the classroom together with their learners. For example, teachers
who encourage learners to practise creative writing join in the activity and write
creatively together with the learners. The benefits of this attitude are underscored by
research: when teachers embrace the professional identity of writer, their practices
as teachers of writing undergo a transformation that enhances the experience of and
performance in the writing of their students (Locke et al. 2011: 273).
Teachers who act as improvisers are capable of creatively dealing with the
unpredictability and spontaneity of the classroom by thinking on the spot and
improvising a course of action. In the context of teacher training, improvisation is
somewhat frowned upon given that detailed lesson planning is considered fundamental.
Nonetheless, teaching is a form of performance and the ability to improvise is crucial in
order to respond to situations that one would not have anticipated, as well as to better
cater for learners needs. Not everything can be pre-empted in the planning phase:
in order to maximise learning, it is sometimes necessary to engage in improvisation.
Some people argue that the ability to improvise is acquired through experience. While
that is true to some extent, actor training shows us that it is also possible to prepare
inexperienced performers for improvisation.
Conclusion
It is high time that teacher training transcended the idea that practitioners need only
be provided with practical tips for the classroom. Teachers pedagogical understanding
should be complemented by the knowledge, skills and beliefs needed to engage in
creative teaching. Teacher training has the potential to foster true creativity in the
learning environment by equipping teachers with the means to empower learners to
think for themselves and produce their own innovations. Encouraging teachers to
adopt different creative roles as part of their training might help them to discover their
own latent creativity and thus assume the stance of teachers who are willing to teach
English in a creative fashion.
daniel.xerri@um.edu.mt
References
Dressman, M. 2010. Lets Poem: The Essential Guide to Teaching Poetry in a High-stakes,
Multimodal World. New York: Teachers College Press.
Koestler, A. 1964. The Act of Creation. London: Hutchinson.
Locke, T., D. Whitehead, S. Dix and G. Cawkwell. 2011. New Zealand teachers respond to
the National Writing Project experience. Teacher Development: An International Journal of
Teachers Professional Development 15/3: 27391.
36
Changing the way we approach learning styles in teacher education
2.3Changing the way we approach learning styles in teacher

education
Carol Lethaby The New School, New York, USA and Patricia Harries Freelance,
Vancouver, Canada
Introduction
In 2015 we carried out a short survey regarding teachers beliefs in so-called
neuromyths, primarily focusing on the idea that accommodating learning styles
enhances learning, also called the meshing hypothesis. This presentation represents
the follow-up to the study, as we realised as teacher educators that we needed to
change how we dealt with the subject of learning styles in English language teacher
training.
Learning styles as a neuromyth
Neuromyths are misconceptions about the brain and how the brain works;
neuroscientists point out that they are rife in the field of education, where they are
sometimes used to steer classroom practice. An example of a neuromyth in education
is that learners learn better if they are classified according to their preferred sensory
learning style (visual, auditory or kinaesthetic (VAK)) and if teaching caters to the
preferred style.
So why is this considered a neuromyth? Firstly, there is neuroscientific evidence
that although visual, auditory and kinaesthetic information is processed in different
parts of the brain, the tremendous interconnectivity between the regions of the brain
means that it is incorrect to assume that only one sensory modality is involved with
information processing (Dekker et al. 2012: 2).
Secondly, there is the issue of definition and attribution of learning styles
although VAK is by far the most popular model, there exist at least 13 other models.
Added to this is the fact that researchers have found little correspondence between
what learners self-report and the results of standardised questionnaires, indicating that
learning styles dont appear to be consistent, measurable attributes.
Thirdly, there is no convincing empirical evidence that matching teaching to
learning style improves learning (the meshing hypothesis) and reliable evidence that
it does not.
In our 2015 survey we wanted to uncover brain-based beliefs in ELT and particularly
the scope of the view that catering to learning styles enhances learning.
Our study
Based on a study conducted by Howard-Jones et al. (2009), we asked 128 English
language teachers in Canada and the US to agree or disagree with statements about
brain-based learning. Their replies showed that a large number of these teachers agreed
with statements considered to be neuromyths. Eighty-eight per cent of respondents
agreed with the statement Individuals learn better when they receive information
in their preferred learning style (e.g. visual, auditory, kinaesthetic). Responses also
indicated that, overall, 59 per cent of surveyed teachers had received some input
37
related to the statements on their teacher education courses and 91 per cent of these
said the input influenced their teaching.
Changing what we do in teacher education
As a teacher on a certificate and masters program in the US it was uncomplicated to
discuss with teachers and future teachers that the meshing hypothesis was considered
a neuromyth and to record and analyse reactions. Carol also had the opportunity to
give presentations in Mexico on the topic as well as during a course comprising 36
Brazilian teachers visiting San Francisco. In all these situations the ubiquitous nature
of learning styles in education was revealed, and much interest was generated in the
idea of accommodating learning styles being a neuromyth.
On the other hand, contradicting something that is on an international syllabus
(CELTA) and included in the assessment process presented more of a challenge. There
is little time on an intensive course to discuss learning styles in a meaningful way and,
in order to meet assessment criteria on the Cambridge English CELTA, candidates are
expected to take learning styles into account in planning for teaching practice as well
as in a key written assignment. It would be unfair to not teach something that is on
the syllabus and which will be assessed!
The way forward
Our research and experiences lead us to make some observations and conclusions
about learning styles in teacher education:
Learners have preferences about how they prefer to learn, and variety in the class-
room can be good for motivation and for learning, but the chosen sensory mode(s)
will depend on the content.
The learning styles neuromyth has a strong hold on the profession as evidenced by
our 2015 study and subsequent discussions with teachers.
We need to talk openly with teachers about neuromyths in teacher education, as
they are so pervasive in popular culture.
Encouraging teachers to identify and accommodate VAK learning styles should be
removed from mainstream syllabuses such as Cambridge English CELTA, DELTA
and ICELT.
There are teaching strategies and interventions that do have a research base and it
would behoove the profession to spend more time in teacher education focusing on
these.
clethaby@clethaby.com
patti.harries@gmail.com
References
Dekker, S., N. C. Lee, P. Howard-Jones and J. Jolles. 2012. Neuromyths in education:
prevalence and predictors of misconceptions among teachers. Frontiers in Psychology 3/429:
18.
Howard-Jones, P., L. Franey, R. Mashmoushi and Y. Liao. 2009. The neuroscience literacy
of trainee teachers. Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual
Conference, University of Manchester, UK, 5 September 2009.
Lethaby, C. and P. Harries. 2016. Learning styles and teacher training: are we perpetuating
neuromyths? English Language Teaching Journal 70/1: 1627.
38
Rethinking reflection on the intensive TEFL course
2.4 Rethinking reflection on the intensive TEFL course

Daniel Baines British Council, Prague, Czech Republic
Introduction
This talk focused on the role of post-lesson reflection on intensive four-week initial
training courses. It proposed that it may be time to rethink how we implement
reflection on such courses and that rather than require and assess teacher reflection,
we should teach trainees how and encourage them to reflect for developmental reasons
rather than to meet course requirements.
Background
Despite reflection being an integral part of teacher training courses (both EFL and
non-EFL), there has been little to no evidence to suggest that reflection on initial
intensive courses brings any benefits at all, whether immediate or long-term, to the
course participants. Consequently, I undertook a study with the goal of finding out
if there was any link between the amount of post-lesson reflection by the trainees and
performance on the course.
Observations
While the study revealed nothing conclusive in terms of direct correlation, it did
produce some interesting insights:
In the early stages trainees struggled to reflect in any depth, possibly due to a lack
of methodological knowledge.
More successful trainees tended to engage in open reflection (Farr 2011) that is
not prompted by the assessor.
There was evidence, in at least one case, of trainees using the post-lesson reflection
as a way to increase their grade or to rescue unsuccessful lessons. This was due to
reflection being worth 10 per cent of the final lesson grade.
I concluded that while self-initiated reflection can be an important development
tool, requiring trainees to reflect when they have little genuine reflection to offer can,
in fact, be counter-productive and may hinder development rather than nurture it.
Furthermore, having reflection as an assessed and required course component could
lead to trainees using this as a tool to score higher grades or simply tell the tutor what
they think they wanted to hear, rather than as a tool for genuine teacher reflection,
something also observed by Hobbs (2007).
Reflection training
In response, I devised a series of activities to be used as an input session on the course,
designed to highlight the benefits of reflection and to provide a framework to guide
trainees through a reflective process. The goal was to remove reflection as a requirement
and to encourage genuine reflection.
Step 1
Trainees are presented with stages of reflection, ranging from identifying and naming
a classroom event, to seeking solutions, to eventually testing these solutions in the
classroom.
39
Rationale: To present reflection as a rigorous process, not as just thinking about

what happened.
Step 2
Trainees are given a series of problematic classroom events and asked to determine
possible causes. After initial brainstorming, trainees then try to think of solutions to
all the problems.
Rationale: To get trainees into the habit of exploring different possibilities and
hypothesising about solutions.
Step 3
Trainees are presented with a series of teacher reflections and asked to categorise them
according to the focus of the reflection. The categories are:
reflection that recounts the objective facts of the lesson;
reflection that focuses on the effectiveness of activities and how they could be
improved;
reflection that focuses on the rationale behind the different activities in the lesson;
and
reflection that focuses on wider-reaching curricular issues.
Rationale: To highlight the different approaches to reflection that can be taken.
Step 4
Trainees analyse the reflections from Step 3 once again and consider what the
reflections suggest about the teachers beliefs about teaching, how language is learned
and how those beliefs are aligned with their own and the general principles of CLT.
Rationale: To get students to think more deeply about their reflections and to
analyse their beliefs and what they know about contemporary methodologies.
Conclusion
The session was incorporated into the first week of the course when the trainees were
informed about teaching practice. They were told that post-lesson reflection would
not be required if they had nothing to say; however, space was made after every lesson
for those who wished to take the opportunity to reflect. From informal observation
of the course after implementation of this approach, it seemed that fewer trainees
were offering insincere reflection simply to increase their grade, as the change to the
marking criteria made this impossible. The volume of reflection in feedback seemed to
decrease, but the quality and depth of reflection showed the opposite.
danbainestefl@gmail.com
References
Farr, F. 2011. The Discourse of Teaching Practice Feedback. Abingdon: Routledge.
Hobbs, V. 2007. Faking it or hating it: can reflective practice be forced? Reflective Practice
8/3: 40517.
40
Personal learning from the CELTA: an auto-ethnography approach
2.5Personal learning from the CELTA: an auto-ethnography

approach
Bethany Miall Queen Mary University of London, UK
Introduction
Auto-ethnography is a research approach which enables structured reflection on
personal experiences. My talk outlined how I used auto-ethnography to reflect on
my experience of completing the CELTA, my reflections on the course and the
implications of my research.
Context
I conducted this research as part of a masters degree in Applied Linguistics for English
Language Teaching. The research formed the basis of a 10,000-word dissertation in
which I critically reflected on my experiences of completing the CELTA.
Auto-ethnography
Auto-ethnography is a research approach which links the researchers own life and
experiences with those of the culture or group they are studying. Unlike conventional
approaches which require the researcher to remain impartial, with auto-ethnography
the researchers experiences and reflections form the basis of the research.
Three main methodological tools make auto-ethnography more structured
than basic storytelling or journaling. Firstly, thick description (Geertz 1973) is used
to interpret rather than simply observe events; a factual description is given, but
then suggestions are made as to the causes and consequences of the event. Thick
description is used closely alongside the second tool: reflection on events and thoughts.
This involves questioning why an event or thought occurred, its significance, the
researchers reaction and thought process and the possible causes of this way of
reacting or thinking. The third tool is linking these descriptions and reflections to
relevant academic literature; this allows for further analysis and unpicking of personal
experiences in light of what others have written or said about the topic.
Using auto-ethnography to research the CELTA
The CELTA is an initial teacher training qualification in TEFL designed for people
with minimal prior teaching experience. It is offered by various institutions which
base their course on a core Cambridge syllabus. Courses therefore vary between
institutions.
I used auto-ethnography to research my experience of completing a full-time four
week CELTA course. I kept a daily word-processed journal in which I employed
thick description and reflection to record my experiences. I further reflected on
these experiences through weekly email discussions with my dissertation supervisor.
I initially focused on my experiences of a variety of topics which had interested me
during my masters studies, but by the end of the course I had narrowed my focus to the
topic I reflected upon most: teaching approaches and ideology. Following the course, I
used content analysis of my journal to systematically generate data for the discussion
41
section of my dissertation, where I linked my experiences to relevant literature; this

ensured that I did not subjectively select journal extracts to fit a particular argument.
In conventional research terms I was both the sole participant and the researcher, my
daily journal was my data, and the discussion linking my experiences to literature
constituted the findings of my research.
Findings and implications
The overarching conclusion I came to based on my experience of the CELTA is that
it prioritises teaching approach over learner needs. It focuses heavily on methods and
less so on showing trainees how they can adapt their teaching to different contexts and
types of learners. A valid counterargument to this was offered by an audience member
at the talk who suggested that encouraging inexperienced trainees to modify methods
risks lowering the overall quality of their teaching.
I also reflected that some of the methods trainees at my institution were required
to use could be considered outdated based on current applied linguistics literature,
namely pronunciation drilling and avoidance of learners native languages (L1) (Cook
2001). Finally, I suggested that the CELTA ignores documented problems in using
heavily communicative approaches to teaching in countries that hold contrasting
educational beliefs (Kumaravadivelu 2006).
The implication of this research is that changes need to be made to the CELTA. I
would suggest the following changes:
Highlight to trainees the varying teaching contexts and learner types they are likely
to encounter.
Show trainees how to appropriately select and adapt methods.
Review aspects of the syllabus, such as L1 avoidance, to ensure it is in line with
current literature.
Conclusion
Auto-ethnography enables researchers to reflect critically on personal experiences
in a structured way, which links subjective interpretations to the writing of fellow
academics. In this case, the approach allowed me to analyse my CELTA experience
and suggest real-life changes that could be made. Reflection on teaching practice,
whether conducted formally as with this research or informally, is vital for professional
development and can be done at all stages of a teaching career.
bethany-g-c@hotmail.com
References
Cook, V. 2001. Using the first language in the classroom. Canadian Modern Language Review
57/3: 40223.
Geertz, C. 1973. Thick description: Toward an interpretive theory of culture in C. Geertz
(ed.). The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Kumaravadivelu, B. 2006. TESOL methods: Changing tracks, challenging trends. TESOL
Quarterly 40/1: 5981.
42
The Hornby Scholars panel presentation
2.6The Hornby Scholars panel presentation: Teaching practice:

some local perspectives on a global practice
Convenor: Martin Wedell University of Leeds, UK, with the A. S. Hornby Scholars
at IATEFL 2016: Mohammed Omer Babikir Bashir Sudan;
Allwyn S. DCosta India; Larissa Goulart da Silva Brazil; Urmila Khaled
Bangladesh; Mara Soledad Loutayf Argentina; Vuyokazi Yolanda Makubalo
South Africa; Erkin Mukhammedov Uzbekistan; Alireza Safar Iran;
Shaike Sefalane South Africa; Pipit Prihartanti Suharto Indonesia;
Praphatsorn Wongchaiwa Thailand; Abdullah Yousif Sudan
Introduction: teacher learning and teaching practice

Some form of teaching practice (TP), which we here define as the part of the initial
teacher training period which student teachers (STs) spend teaching in a school, trying
out what they have learned, is a component of initial (language) teacher education
(ITE) curricula in most education systems. The 2016 scholars have taken different
routes into teaching. However, apart from Mohammed and Abdullah, whose course
as language graduates in Sudan did not include TP and who thus had to learn to teach
through teaching, they all experienced some form of initial teacher training, and so a
period of TP.
Although widely agreed to be important, the forms that TP takes in different
education systems vary greatly, even between institutions in the same countries.
A central factor influencing how TP is conceived, and thus what experiential
opportunities it provides or encourages, is how the national or institutional context
responsible for designing teacher education views the process of learning teaching.
Four (partly overlapping) models of learning teaching are summarised in Table 2.6.1.
Craft model Applied science Reflective model Sociocultural

model model
Learning teaching Learning teaching Learning teaching Learning teaching
through observing though learning through thinking through
experienced teachers theories about about/discussing understanding the
and then trying to language, learning ones own teaching context and
do what they do and/or teaching experiences community in
approaches and (reflecting), and which the teaching
then applying them over time takes place, in
developing personal order to be able to
classroom make appropriate
approaches that choices
work
Table 2.6.1: Models of learning teaching
The model, or combination of models, an education system or initial teacher
education (ITE) institution sees as the basis of learning teaching will affect the status,
form and content of the TP experience within their ITE curriculum. For example,
43
if a purely craft model of learning teaching prevails, TP will probably provide

opportunities for the ST to observe and be observed over time by an expert teacher.
An applied science model, on the other hand, would need to provide a TP context
that offered opportunities for STs to try out and become able to use the teaching
and learning theories that their prior study promoted. A reflective model, which saw
learning teaching as experiencing and thinking about experience, might structure TP
time to provide both classroom teaching and opportunities to think and talk about
teaching experiences with fellow STs and more expert teachers or tutors. Finally, a
sociocultural model of learning teaching might emphasise the importance of using
TP as an opportunity for STs to begin to understand the context of different types of
classrooms (for example private and public/rural and urban schools) and how different
contexts affect the teaching decisions that are appropriate.
Local versions of a global practice
Documents suggested that the broad aims and objectives of TP in the scholars
countries emphasised the need to provide STs with opportunities to:
develop teaching and classroom management skills, knowledge, and attitudes
appropriate to their educational setting, and so to begin to feel confident in front
of a classroom;
relate theory to practice through using a range of teaching and learning approaches,
strategies and aids to plan and implement stimulating and challenging lessons in
their special teaching areas;
introduce new teaching methods or criteria agreed upon by the Ministry of
Education; and
reflect on their teaching performance as committed, resourceful teachers who are
able to pursue CPD.
However TP differed between countries in four main areas:
where responsibility for the design of TP lay: Bangladesh has national guidelines,
but elsewhere TP design is left to individual ITE institutions;
the point at which TP took place (usually towards the end of the ITE programme);
the type and quantity of information that STs were given before their TP began;
and
the length of TP, which varied from less than 100 academic hours in Argentina,
Indonesia, South Africa and India to 100300 hours in Bangladesh, Brazil and
Uzbekistan, and 540 hours in Thailand.
Iran was different, with little or no teaching practice taking place at any public
universities. Almost all initial training for English teachers (including TP) is sponsored
by approximately 8,000 private language institutes. These recognise the need to invest
in their teachers to survive in a commercially competitive market.
Support for TP
While all TP systems emphasised the need to support STs during TP, the type and
extent of support varied.
44
The Hornby Scholars panel presentation
Support from prior training

Prior training during the ITE programme helped STs in their TP in different ways.
All ITE programmes promoted a communicative approach to teaching English.
Most scholars were trained to teach the four skills, although writing was ignored in
Bangladesh, and Thailand emphasised receptive skills (listening and reading). Some
ITE programmes tried to help STs relate theory to practice. For example, in South
Africa ITE lecturers used case studies or videos to discuss the relevance of theory to
classroom reality.
Before beginning actual teaching most scholars had opportunities to spend time
in schools (often those where they would do TP later) observing teaching, noting
how teachers used professional skills such as time and classroom management, and
learning techniques for enabling interaction.
Once in schools, STs in Brazil, Bangladesh, and India found a mismatch between
approaches promoted during their training and those used by classroom teachers, who
could be resistant to their attempts to introduce new practices.
Support from the people involved
Scholars believed that a combination of support from the teachers whose classes they
taught and their university lecturers was most beneficial for STs. In all countries except
Bangladesh, STs were allowed to prepare their own classes. In Argentina, South Africa
and Thailand they were encouraged to try to use the methods or practices they had
learned in the teacher training course. In contrast, in Iran, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh
and Brazil, STs were expected to adapt to the methodological norms of the schools
they were in, and in Indonesia while they could in principle plan as they wished, the
main emphasis was on covering the syllabus.
The greatest degree of personal support was provided in Indonesia, where the class
teacher sat in and discussed classes with the ST throughout the TP, and in Brazil,
where the lecturer was responsible for discussing a class with the trainee at least once
in a week. In Argentina and South Africa, however, lecturers were responsible for so
many STs that they usually observed few classes. In Brazil, Uzbekistan, Thailand,
Bangladesh and Argentina the ITE provider organised seminars for STs to discuss their
TP experiences. Peer support was another form of support in Brazil and Argentina,
where TP was done in pairs, and in Thailand, South Africa and Indonesia, where some
STs met informally to share TP experiences.
Assessment of TP
This usually consisted of a single (or occasionally several) checklist-based classroom
observation by a university supervisor or a school-based mentor. Since supervisors
could be responsible for up to 50 trainees, it is not surprising that observations were
limited. However, scholars doubt whether this mode of assessment alone provides a
valid picture of ST capacity.
As the iceberg illustration in Figure 2.6.1 shows, an observer can only see the
immediate visible classroom behaviour of the teacher. Beneath the surface lie a range
of other factors (experiences, beliefs, feelings and understandings) which may help
explain observed behaviour. Genuine understanding of an STs classroom behaviour
45
can only be achieved by discussing what was observed with the ST. Supervisors and
mentors frequently did not do this.
Figure 2.6.1: Visible and invisible factors in student teacher observation

Scholars suggested that two other possible assessment modes might better enable
assessors to understand (more of ) what is happening below the surface of the ST
iceberg.
Reflective writing
Four scholars had experience of reflective writing as part of their TP experience and
assessment. In the most developed scheme, in South Africa, STs were expected to
make weekly entries throughout both their training and their TP, outlining what they
found to be of value and interest in their lectures; they were also asked to consider
what went well, and why, during TP, and how future teaching might be improved.
The rationale for insisting on such reflective writing is that it is not sufficient to simply
have an experience (for example, of teaching) in order to learn: without reflecting on
an experience, it may quickly be forgotten, and its learning potential is likely to be lost.
TP portfolios
Particularly where it is not practical for teacher educators to carry out regular
observations to assess STs progress, TP portfolios (a collection of STs best lesson
plans, descriptions, observation notes, pictures, audiotapes and videotapes) offer a
means of finding out more about how the trainee has understood the experience of
learning teaching. In Bangladesh, portfolios are given one-third of the total weighting
in the assessment of TP; some institutions in South Africa, Indonesia and Thailand
also include portfolios in assessment.
Scholars acknowledge that STs may need to be trained as reflective writers, and/or
to understand how to put together portfolios which adequately reflect their teaching
competencies. Assessing such writing and/or portfolios is also labour intensive. Both
of the above make the use of these assessment methods less practical in contexts with
few resources and large numbers of STs such as India. In addition, compared to
direct assessment of an STs classroom performance, they can be considered indirect,
meaning that in some contexts their validity may be questioned.
Scholars believe that, ideally, two or three TP assessment tools would be used in
combination, to provide teacher educators with a more complete appreciation of an
STs overall development. However, as with assessment more generally, the tension
46
Experiments with e-portfolios for teacher training and development
between validity, reliability and practicality usually plays out in favour of practicality,
and thus checklists remain the norm!
Conclusion
TP has the potential to play an important role in enabling STs to learn teaching. Its
stated goals in most scholars contexts refer to supporting the learning of teaching
through providing opportunities
to develop skills and relate theory to practice by experiencing classroom teaching;
and
to reflect on and better understand their teaching experiences to improve future
practice.
For resource or cultural reasons the reflective goal is rarely achieved, since little
or no time is spent on it; where it does occur, it is carried out informally and is
not assessed. Since TP is part of formal teacher education, assessment is necessary.
However, only using an observation checklist, as is usual in most scholars contexts,
implicitly promotes an idea of one right way of teaching, a model consistent with
craft and applied science approaches to learning teaching.
Throughout education systems worldwide the nature of the TP assessment
influences what is valued by both teachers (supervisors/mentors) and students (STs).
If we really believe that reflective and/or sociocultural models of learning teaching are
also important for learning teaching, then we need to reconsider the manner in which
we assess TP in ways that explicitly acknowledge that importance.
Two final fundamental questions about TP remain unanswered:
Why, if learning teaching is seen as a skill to be developed over time, and through
practice and reflection on practice, is TP always situated at the end of the training
process? Shouldnt it be ongoing throughout?
Why do we continue to have such huge variations between the design, length of
and support for TP in different contexts? Could we work to develop shared global
guidelines for TP, which could then be adjusted to meet local realities?
m.wedell@education.leeds.ac.uk
2.7Experiments with e-portfolios for teacher training and

development
Marcela Cintra Cultura Inglesa, So Paulo, Brazil
Introduction
Teacher training and development require a solid structure to support the development
of professionalism and the quality of teaching. Technology plays an important role in
education, and it can also be used more frequently in teacher education. The aim of
my talk was to share how the implementation of electronic portfolios in pre-service
teacher training in a large language teaching organisation in Brazil helped professionals
develop their skills and the quality of their lessons over the course of a semester.
47
Context
The three-week pre-service training course involved a group of 65 teachers, mostly
with some experience in teaching English. The course is part of the selection process
before they join a group of 500 other teachers in the LTO. Our experience showed
engagement and eagerness to work during the training course, but they had difficulty
linking this work to subsequent teacher development initiatives. The e-portfolios were
kept on Moodle to facilitate accessibility (by teachers, trainers, coaches and managers)
before, during and after the training course.
Task types
The e-portfolios consisted of a range of documents produced by teachers and tutors;
they could not be accessed by peers. The tasks proposed included:
videoed lesson observation tasks;
an essay on research carried out prior to the course about language acquisition or
teaching approaches;
teachers KASA (knowledge, awareness, skills and attitude strengths and weakness-
es) framework (Freeman 1989) as a self-assessment tool, with a plan for professional
development;
a short essay describing their understanding of teaching in the LTO and changes to
their teaching;
an account of an institutional cultural event they attended;
their lesson plans, post-lesson reflection and subsequent feedback from trainers;
a report on how they believed they had developed;
other tasks proposed during input sessions (e.g. summaries of group discussions);
and
a final report by tutors.
Follow-up
When the training course was over, teachers still had access to their e-portfolios and
were able to use them as springboard to the strategic planning of their development,
supported by a coach (a senior teacher). Together, teacher and coach could check how
the teacher developed, the level of reflection and the developmental needs to focus
on during the first semester (for example, to guide the four observations carried out
during the term).
Also, branch managers were able to check what the teachers produced, how their
teaching had been assessed by trainers and their level of commitment as illustrated by
the teachers amount of effort explicit in tasks. It is important to say that teachers were
encouraged to do all the tasks proposed, but some of them chose the core tasks only
(for example, lesson plans and reflection tasks).
Teachers perspectives
Teachers who took part in the training course reported that the e-portfolio encouraged
them to develop accountability for their development because it was clear that they had
accomplished tasks (or not) as they added them to their e-folders. The fact that trainers
and managers could check their portfolios and give them feedback encouraged them
48
Instilling a passion for research in pre-service teachers
to contribute with higher-quality work, as it would be available for their appreciation.

The e-portfolios also contributed to teachers autonomy in organising tasks, doing
further research for their development, sharing ideas with peers to enrich their essays,
and reflection tasks. The online tasks (such as video watching and research) and
feedback given also served as loop input (Woodward 2003) for what trainers wanted
teachers to do with their own learners.
Conclusion
The use of e-portfolios made the perception of progress more evident than with tasks
on paper as teachers could look at their progress every time they added a task to their
e-folder. From the perspective of tutors, feedback played a crucial role in teachers
development during and after the course, and comments made were palatable and
catalytic (Smith and Lewis 2015: 141) to encourage teachers to develop.
The fact that the portfolio was kept electronically made it easily accessible to all
stakeholders and facilitated editing where necessary. The structure was also helpful
considering the size of the organisation. In future studies we intend to analyse its effects
and efficacy in long-term developmentwhether the addition of lesson observation
notes and reports on courses, readings will help teachers professional development.
marcela.cintra@hotmail.com
References
Freeman, D. 1989. Teacher training, development, and decision-making. TESOL Quarterly
23/1: 2745.
Smith, M. and M. Lewis. 2015. Towards facilitative mentoring and catalytic interventions.
ELT Journal 69/2: 14050.
Woodward, T. 2003. Loop input. ELT Journal 57/3: 3014.
2.8 Instilling a passion for research in pre-service teachers

Elena Onchevska Ager Ss Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Republic of
Macedonia
Context and puzzle

My talk reported on my work in engaging pre-service teachers in research. My
experience had shown that without such support, it is unrealistic to expect them
to critically consider others research and/or conduct their own, the latter being a
compulsory university requirement to graduate. The students involved in my study
were 20 English language pre-service teachers in the final year of their undergraduate
studies at Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. They attended my academic
writing course, which was partly geared towards exposing them to others research
in preparation for writing their own graduation papers. On this course I noticed
my students lack of enthusiasm when I invited them to engage with journal papers.
This suspicion was later confirmed in their reflective notes. To make my students
experience of engaging with research more worthwhile, I decided to look into ways to
make it more relevant and personal for them.
49
Storytelling and creativity

Usher argues that research is essentially story-like and criticises common misconcep
tions such as the following: We think of story-telling as unserious, as fictional,
whereas the dominant image of research is that it is about finding the truth and
therefore an altogether more serious business (2001: 47). I felt this myth needed
dispelling in my classroom as research papers easily lend themselves to being retold as
stories, possibly due to having a similar structure: both contain characters, settings, a
plot, sometimes conflict and some sort of resolution.
Retelling research stories also has the potential to support the development of
students creativity, understood here as entailing both originality and effectiveness
(Runco and Jaeger 2012: 92, as cited in Saleem et al. 2016), i.e. approaching a research
paper playfully and re-packaging it successfully in a format not typically associated
with research papers, such as a story. Saleem et al. (2016) argue that creative thinking
is central to life in general and to conducting research (from its very conception to its
sharing with a wider audience) in particular.
Materials and presentations
I then invited my students to present research in the format of a story, understood in
a broad manner to include short stories, news items, banners, photography, music,
etc. In a class discussion we brainstormed more storytelling formats: role play (for
example, acting out an interview with the author, a phone call or a political speech,
retelling a research story from the perspective of the author, their family or their pet),
email, Skype chat, text message, etc. This time, instead of published research papers, I
assigned the students past graduation theses to choose from.
The students eagerly accepted this non-compulsory course challenge and two thirds
of the class took part in the project presenting a research paper of their choice. They
adopted a variety of narrative formats, one of the most amusing for the audience
being a dubbed excerpt from The Ellen DeGeneris Show. Below is the opening of this
adaptation, inspired by a graduation thesis on teacher talk (TT) and student talk (ST):
Ellen DeGeneris: Hi, welcome to our show! You recently conducted a very interesting
research on TT in the EFL classroom. Tell me, what did you discover? Did the amount
of TT surpass the amount of ST?
Jennifer Aniston: My expectations about TT proved correct.
Ellen DeGeneris: Did they?!
Jennifer Aniston: Yes, I nailed it.
Student response
Some of my students positive reactions were accessible to me as a moderator of the
research presentations session. Their project reflections confirmed this impression
and suggested additional appreciation of learning about the structure of a graduation
paper. Some reported developing their audience awareness skills, important not only
for research presenters but also for teachers. The students enjoyed the opportunity to
get to know their peers better, too. One student said, What amazed me [] was the
limitless creativity I got to witness in practice.
50
Teacher educators voices on undergraduate TEFL curriculum innovation in Chile
A few students expressed reservations about the project: one didnt find the task
appealing, another was not impressed by the quality of some presentations and yet
another was confused about how presenting research was connected to academic
writing at all.
Implications
I finished my talk arguing that adopting creative approaches to engaging pre-service
teachers with research can:
raise awareness of the story-like potential of research;
instil interest in engaging with research stories in pre- and in-service contexts;
encourage subsequent use of research in ones own teaching contexts;
support teachers in making the first steps in doing their own research; and
develop creative thinking as a life skill and as a specific research skill.
elena.oncevska@flf.ukim.edu.mk
References
Runco, M. A. and G. J. Jaeger. 2012. 'The standard definition of creativity'. Creativity Research
Journal 24/1: 926.
Saleem, M., Teak, K., Mercer, S. and D. Xerri. 2016. Creativity in ELT research. ELT
Research 31: 224.
Usher, R. 2001. Telling a story about research and research as story-telling: postmodern
approaches to social research in C. Paecher, M. Preedy, D. Scott and J. Soler (eds.).
Knowledge, Power and Learning. London: Paul Chapman Publishing Ltd.
2.9Teacher educators voices on undergraduate TEFL curriculum

innovation in Chile
Loreto Aliaga-Salas University of Leeds, UK
Initial teaching education in Chile

The impact that an inspiring teacher can have on learners is undoubtedly a great one,
and initial teacher education (ITE) is responsible to a great extent for who student
teachers will become. In Chile, there are over 100 ITE programmes educating teachers
of English, which usually last five years. They mostly have fragmented curricula
consisting of isolated skills and specialist subjects, such as listening as a single subject,
and over five grammar subjects; this may influence how teachers teach English at
schools. Student teachers know little or no English when they begin their training,
so ITEs are responsible for developing student teachers language proficiency to the
governments expected level of C1 (MINEDUC 2014) as well as their teaching skills
and knowledge. This paper explores the teacher educators experiences in an ITE that
underwent curriculum change in 2011.
An innovation
This presentation reflected on the experience of four teacher educators (TEs) on a five-
year ITE in a private university in Santiago, Chile, which has developed an integrated
51
curriculum. The integrated curriculums exit profile aims at educating critical teachers
who, through language teaching, promote social change and reduce inequality. This
curriculum aims at linking the content and experiences from all curricular strands, i.e.
methodology, education, school internships and Integrated English Language (IEL).
IEL is at the core of the curriculum, comprising 60 per cent of the total teaching hours.
It is based on principles from CLIL and the task-based approach. TEs collaborate with
student teachers to choose topics of interest when planning for the IEL. Classes are
mostly based on discussion of these topics. This presentation draws on interviews with
TEs, exploring their views of working in this innovative context.
Teacher educators voices
Interviews with TEs identified the following as the most pressing issues: the complexity
of teamwork and communication; curriculum implementation, such as coordination
within and among curricular strands; feasibility of the exit profile; and organisational
learning. TEs reported that teamwork is critical to enable the curriculum; TEs teaching
the same level plan together to use the same materials on the same day with the same
group of student teachers, so they all have similar teaching/learning experiences. This
often requires great flexibility, for TEs usually need to adjust their planning on a
daily basis. Also, they show that they are not aware of what occurs on the strands
outside the IEL as reported by one of the TEs: They [other strands TEs] know exactly
what were doing. They know how it works, and they know whats going on. Its all I
know about the other teachers. This suggests that there is still a lack of full coherence
between strands.
Regarding the exit profile, TEs agree that classes foster a critical thinking
environment where discussions develop student teachers awareness of the local
context and show that it is possible to promote changes. However, TEs consider it
is difficult to develop equal proficiency among student teachers, noticing imbalance
between their fluency and accuracy, and their knowledge of hard contents, such as
grammar, since they have not been taught those contents directly.
Finally, TEs agree that implementation of the integrated curriculum demands a
high workload; although this is unpaid, they feel committed to the programme. In
the words of one TE: You are actually changing student teachers lives; youre actually
doing something for them. This is your payment. TEs suggest doing fewer readings for
each class, to reduce both TEs and student teachers burden, advocating quality instead
of quantity. TEs most relevant concern, however, is to what extent student teachers
will fit into the Chilean school context, since this has largely remained unchanged:
Some of the challenges might be that our students dont know how to teach in a
school because were training them not to teach in the way schools are teaching.
Contribution
This study aims to understand what teacher educators think about the integrated
curriculum and how they implement it, for they are the ones enabling it with student
teachers. Knowing what TEs think and do will help all stakeholders (university staff,
TEs and student teachers) to reflect on implementation issues and will inform their
decision-making about how this curriculum will evolve in the future. Additionally,
this research expects to contribute to the discussion of English language teacher
52
Signature Event: The Teacher Trainer journal 30th birthday panel
education in Chile, and it provides an opportunity to reflect on the critical role that
TEs play in this process.
loreto.aliaga.salas@gmail.com
Reference
MINEDUC. 2014. Language proficiency certification for teachers teaching English in
Chilean schools in Cambio Curricular para Implementar los Estndares Pedaggicos de
Ingls. PUC: Ministerio de Educacin.
2.10Signature Event: The Teacher Trainer journal 30th birthday

panel
Convenor: Tessa Woodward OISE, Canterbury, UK, with Varinder Unlu
IH London, UK; Briony Beaven Freelance, Munich, Germany;
Seth Lindstromberg OISE, Canterbury, UK
Introduction
The Teacher Trainer, a practical journal for those who train, educate or mentor TESOL
teachers, celebrated its 30th volume in 2016. The panel discussion was therefore
designed to help audience members to learn more about the journal; to hear views on
becoming a trainer, on creating motivation with teacher education materials and on
modifying trainer behaviours in different training contexts; and to encourage those
attending to contribute articles to the journal. The panel discussion had four panellists.
First, Tessa Woodward, the founding editor of the journal and the chair of the panel
started, out with a talk on the history of the journal, giving its main aims and why it is
unusual in our fieldnot simply for its readership focus but for its mentoring of new
writers. The next three speakers give their summaries below.
Varinder Unlu
My talk, about moving from teacher to manager, was based on my own personal
experiences and also on a mini action research study I carried out earlier in the year
of all the academic managers and directors of studies (DOS) I know. The question I
asked them was Why/how did you become an academic manager/DOS?
I started my talk by giving the answers I had received to the above question, the
main one received being By accident/I just fell into it. This was followed by these
answers: I did something terrible in a past life!, By being in the wrong place at the
wrong time! and Cream floats to the top! There was quite a lot of agreement from
the audience on these motivations.
I moved on to talk about what academic managers/directors of studies do by using
a picture of the Indian goddess Durga with her ten arms to show how much multi-
tasking is required in this role. Interestingly, this one slide was the one that most
people said they really liked when they came up to me after the talk and during the
rest of the conference. Its the one that made the most impact.
I went on to discuss the challenges of moving from a teaching role into a teacher
training or DOS role, either within the same organisation or in a new organisation.
53
In both of these situations, there is the same challenge of acceptance of you by the
teachers and a need to understand that any changes you want to implement will
take time and patience. You will also need to understand that change doesnt need to
happen just for the sake of it. I looked at the qualities of a good academic manager/
DOS, from being good at crisis management to having nerves of steel; from someone
who develops and coaches/mentors teachers to being calm and a good listener.
The final part of the talk looked at the sort of training that middle managers should
think about to help them with their role of academic manager or DOS.
Briony Beaven
My talk was on creating motivation with teacher education materials, and the role of
L1/L2.
Teacher education materials need to take account of three significant differences
between training courses and English classes. Firstly, teachers (pre-service or in-
service) may be native English-speaking teachers (NESTS) or non-native English-
speaking teachers (NNESTS). In the NNEST group some are native-like, some
competent, some lower-level users of English. This can lead to mixed levels in one
training class. Secondly, the materials that teacher educators use with teachers may
influence their choice of materials to use with their English learners. Thirdly, teacher
educators need to sustain teachers professional motivation and bring it to fruition.
The tasks trainers set, represented in and enacted through materials, could affect the
teachers persistence and involvement in their teacher education course and, possibly,
their future professional commitment.
Where do we find materials that fulfil these requirements? One can fairly easily
locate EL learner materials, advice on using EL learner materials in teacher education,
ideas for teacher education course design and ready-made materials for teacher
education. However, these sources dont help us to conceptualise principles for teacher
education materials. In my talk I proposed three principles for selecting or designing
teacher education materials. Such materials should:
1 help teachers to enable learners to use language for meaningful communication;
2 give L1 and L2 teachers skills and opportunities to interact socially and negotiate
meaning (a) in their classrooms, and (b) in the wider professional community; and
3 encourage teachers to attend mindfully to the learning processto be critical and
reflective.
As little research or recent theory relating to principles for the development of
materials for teacher education is available, the suggestions are based on my own
reading, my thinking about the adaptation of principles for ELT materials, and my
experience in teacher education. One useful source for principles relating to ELT
materials was Tomlinson (2010).
In my panel talk, I explicated only the second principle in depth. Quotations from
classroom instructions attested to the necessity for both NESTS and NNESTS to
work on teacher language for interaction in classrooms. This interaction includes
classroom management in English but in a communicative classroom needs to go
beyond classroom language or English-for-teaching, acknowledging the class as a
social group in which, for example, holidays and celebrations will be discussed, and
54
Signature Event: The Teacher Trainer journal 30th birthday panel
sympathy or pleasure will be expressed. Teachers also need to interact with their peers
in the local and wider professional community. To do this, teachers need to learn the
professional discourse of ELT, and to be able to read and understand the literature
in our field. They need to become articulate in making sense of teaching experiences
with colleagues. Examples of materials that extend teachers communication skills in
the classroom with their learners and that develop teachers communication skills with
other teachers out of the classroom were examined.
Seth Lindstromberg
I approached the topic of my talk by observing that L2 teacher trainers (including
mentors and teacher educators) work in a wide variety of situations and by remarking
that situations might be so different that they call for adjustments to the trainers
customary way of working or, more specifically, the trainers demeanour or way of
behaving. As an example, I suggested that in some situations a trainer would be wise
to avoid any behaviour, including any verbal behaviour, that might strike participants
as teacherishas opposed, say, to teacherly. I offered the latter term as a positive
qualifier with associations of competence, professionalism and tact. Teacherish (cf.,
childish, churlish) seems a rather negative qualifier applicable to teacher behaviours
that are stereotypical (another negative qualifier). Teacherish behaviours might
be appropriate, occasionally, in some situations; but overall they have considerable
potential to dissatisfy or to raise the hackles of the people they are directed at, especially
if these people are adults. I gave four examples of what I had in mind: sitting behind
a desk at the front of the class; using bossy language such as Now I want you to ;
showing a tendency to insist that there is only one correct way to do this or that
exercise; and persistent echoing of correct participant responses.
I then described one of my training situationsone in which I feel it is extra
important for me to avoid teacherish behaviours. Briefly, it is as follows. I often
work with groups of Dutch-speaking teachers who come to England for a short
course designed to help their English a bit in professionally relevant regards and to
showcase some methods and techniques of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated
Learning). Few of these participants are novice teachers. Most have more than ten
years of teaching experience. Some have more than 30. Most are already confident
users of English, especially when teaching their subject (such as history). They tend
to be confident generally, and very forthright. Having said all this to the audience,
I solicited suggestions about teacherish behaviours I should probably avoid when
working with my Dutch teachers. Members of the audience mentioned nearly 20
behaviours before time ran out, including agreeing with everything that participants
say (which I was doing).
mail@tessanseth.onmicrosoft.com
varinder.unlu@ihlondon.com
brionybeaven1@t-online.de
References
Tomlinson, B. 2010. Principles of effective materials development in N. Harwood, (ed.).
English Language Teaching Materials: Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Unlu V, 2013. Moving out of teaching and into management in The Teacher Trainer 27/3: 78.
55
3
The big picture: issues in ELT
methodology
This chapter takes us into the classroom and presents perspectives on some of the key
issues that have arisen in ELT methodology over the last 50 years: the teaching of
grammar, the use of the L1, immersion approaches, silence, gamification, the use of
technology, and more. In the opening paper Scott Thornbury looks back over 50 years
of ELT methodology, outlining the driving forces behind ELT discourse in the 1960s
and offering his perspective on where we are today. Then, Tony Penston wonders
whether immersion principles should be applied in the L2 classroom; John Simpson
looks at the use of the L1 in the classroom, specifically in the context of sub-Saharan
Africa; and Mike Bilbrough shows how the use of silence and gesture can promote
learning. The next two papers address the currently popular topic of gamification:
Wade P. Alley and Enrique Barba demonstrate an example of gamification, while
Vilhelm Lindholm shows how student agency can be increased through gamification.
Next, while Chapter 11 in this volume is dedicated to innovative uses of technology,
Rhoda McGraw relates how she has come to see her classroom as a haven from
technology. Finally, in the report of the annual ELT Conversation, Philip Kerr and
Andrew Wickham discuss the trend towards ELT as an industry, with implications
for teaching and testing.
3.1 Plenary: 1966 and all that: a critical history of ELT

Scott Thornbury The New School, New York, USA
On the occasion of both IATEFLs and TESOLs 50th anniversaries, it is instructive
to look back at the period during which both organisations were founded (in 1966
and 1967 respectively), and take stock of what has changed since then, andmore
tellingly, perhapswhat has not.
In 1966 alone, a number of key events seemed to presage a major shift in
thinking that, with hindsight, we recognise as the first intimations of the advent of
communicative language teaching (CLT). It was in that year, in a lecture at Yeshiva
University in New York (subsequently revised and published as Hymes 1972), that
Dell Hymes posited the notion of communicative competence, i.e. competence as to
when to speak, when not, and as to what to talk about with whom, when, where, in
what manner (Hymes 1972: 277). In so doing, he effectively re-oriented language
and, by extension, language learningfrom a purely linguistic or psycholinguistic
standpoint to a sociolinguistic one, i.e. a view that language use is socially determined
and that language learning is both socially motivated and socially constructed.
Communicative competence, it followed, involves more than having a command of
the sum of the grammatical structures that were enshrined in the typical pedagogical
56
Plenary: 1966 and all that: a critical history of ELT
syllabus of the time. Communicative competence was to become, in Howatts (2004)

words, the big idea that undergirded the communicative approach.
In the same year, a paper by Leonard Newmark (republished as Newmark 1979)
dealt another blow to the hegemony of the structural syllabus and the accuracy-driven
approach that was predicated upon it, by arguing that an atomistic and incremental
approach to language instruction would prolong the learning process indefinitely: If
the task of learning to speak English were additive and linear, as present linguistic and
psychological discussions suggest it is, it is difficult to see how anyone could learn
English (Newmark 1979: 160). By contrast, Newmark advocated an approach that
involved learners attempting to reproduce and perform coherent chunks of language,
in the form, for example, of dialoguesa precursor of task-based learning.
Also reacting against the current practice of teaching according to a pre-specified
list of grammatical structures, and also in 1966, S. Pit Corder argued that language
is not knowledge, but a set of skills. The teaching of it, therefore, must be different
from the teaching of a content subject like science (Corder 1966: 5). It was in
the following year that Corder (1967, republished in 1974), anticipating both the
concept of interlanguage (Selinker 1972) and the acquisition order studies that were
to flourish in the 1970s, proposed yet another reason why the cumulative learning of
grammar structures was essentially flawed: learners bring to the task their own built-
in syllabus which resists or subverts any externally imposed syllabus of grammatical
structures. Corder concluded that we shall never improve our ability to create [the]
favourable conditions [for language learning] until we learn more about the way a
learner learns and what his built-in syllabus is (Corder 1974: 27). Both Corders
and Newmarks pedagogical approaches have been characterised as being non-
interventionist (Long 2015), i.e. approaches in which the role of instruction is not to
tamper with the language itself, but to focus on the learners, providing students with
plentiful access to comprehensible samples of the L2 and opportunities to use it for
communication (Long 2015: 18). In the end, as Newmark argued, an important test
of our success as language teachers is the ability of our students to choose to say
what they want (1979: 163, emphasis added).
Nevertheless, the prevailing wind was still firmly oriented towards intervention.
1967 saw the publication of what was to become one of the best-selling textbook series
to date, Louis Alexanders Practice and Progress, in the first book of which Alexander
advised that the student should be trained to learn by making as few mistakes as
possible (1967: xii). Similarly, in a compilation of substitution tables published in the
same year, H. V. George boasted that with these Substitution Tables you can speak
and write many thousands of English sentences, without making a single mistake
(George 1967: n.p.). And, the following year, in the Teachers Book for another highly
successful course, Success with English (Broughton 1968), the degree to which the
course designers favoured intervention and ignored the idea of a built-in syllabus is
well captured in this statement:
In designing a course of this kind, the writer draws up a plan of what structural items
he is going to include. Then he decides in what order to teach them and how quickly.
The same is done with the vocabulary items of course, the lexis. But the structure
comes first (Barnett et al. 1968: 20).
57
Chapter 3: The big picture: issues in ELT methodology
So, while Hymes was proposing a social dimension to language proficiency, and
Newmark was arguing against interfering in language learning by imposing a
structural syllabus, and Corder was promoting the view that errors were an inevitable
consequence of interlanguage development, materials writers and methodologists
were still doggedly committed to a view of learning that was predicated on grammar
learning, habit formation and error avoidance. At the same time, it was apparent to
L. G. Kelly, author 25 Centuries of Language Teaching: 500 BC1969, that competing
discourses of this type are ideologically driven, and that changes in methodology
relate ultimately to the provenance of ideas (Kelly 1969: 3), adding that an idea is
accepted not only on its intrinsic worth, but also because of its appeal to those who
are to apply it (op. cit.: 391). William Mackey, the foremost scholar of methods at the
time, was less circumspect: Linguistic method has surpassed religion in its capacity to
arouse controversy and create feuds (Mackey 1967: 9).
In fact, the provenance of ideas was generating a major disruption in education
in general, to which the relatively insular world of English language teaching was not
immune. For example, in 1969 Postman and Weingartner published Teaching as a
Subversive Activity, which offered a blueprint for radical educational reform whose
purpose was
the development of a new kind of person, one who is an actively enquiring,
flexible, creative, innovative, tolerant, liberal personality who can face uncertainty and
ambiguity without disorientation, who can formulate viable new meanings to meet
changes in the environment which threaten individual and mutual survival (Postman
and Weingartner 1969: 204).
And, in the following year, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed was published, in which
Paulo Freire invoked a dialogic pedagogy, one thatin contrast to a pedagogy that
involves the teacher transmitting bits of informationconfers a degree of agency
on the learners, who, no longer docile listenersare now critical co-investigators
in dialogue with the teacher (Freire 1970/1993: 61). To this end, dialogue and
communication are prioritised, because only through communication can human
life hold meaning (op. cit.: 58). Indeed, as Howatt (2004) argues, the notion of
communication was very much a feature of the educational and ideological climate
at the end of the 1960sa climate that was both progressive in spirit and pragmatic
in terms of its educational goals. For language teachers, of course, the notion of
communication had intuitive appeal. In fact, as early as 1964, Clifford Prator was
suggesting that the most significant trend in methods of teaching English as a
second language may well prove to be the attempt to assign to communication its
proper role in the classroom (Prator 1964, cited in Byrne 1969: 42). And this attempt
to assign to communication its proper role was the driving force behind the Council
of Europe Modern Languages Project that was launched at Rschlikon, Switzerland,
in 1971, and which effectively marked the inception of CLT, coming to fruition a
few years later with the publication of a number of courses based not on a syllabus of
grammatical structures but on a syllabus of communicative functions. As an epigraph
to one of the first of these courses, Strategies (Abbs et al. 1975) the writers quoted
David Wilkins, a consultant on the Council of Europe project, to the effect that what
58
people want to do through language is more important than the mastery of language
as an unapplied system (Wilkins 1976: 42).
It seemed as if, momentarily at least, the discourse of communicative competence
and low intervention, anticipated in the work of Hymes, Newmark and Corder a
decade before, had triumphed.
To summarise, then: both TESOL and IATEFL emerged at a time when two
educational discourses (labelled, for convenience, A and B) were competing to
occupy the rapidly expanding domain of English language teaching. These competing
discourses were diametrically opposed across a number of dimensions, according to
the position they adopted with regard to theories both of language and of learning,
and to instructional goals, syllabus organisation and instructional processes and
sequences. These dimensions are summarised in Table 3.1.1.
Discourse A Discourse B
theory of language structural functional
theory of learning habit formation socially constructed
instructional goals native-like accuracy communicative competence
syllabus organisation atomistic/ synthetic holistic/ analytic
(grammatical structures) (functions; tasks)
instructional processes interventionist; non-interventionist;
transmissive dialogic
instructional sequence accuracy first: fluency first: task-based
present-practise-produce instruction
[PPP]
Table 3.1.1: Competing educational discourses in the 1960s
So, what happened? As is well known, the wholesale abandonment of a structural

component met considerable resistance, primarily because of the residual conviction
that mastery of the structural system is still the basic requirement for using language
to communicate ones own meanings (Littlewood 1981: 77). By 1986, the tension
between structural and functional descriptions had been decided categorically in favour
of the former, as evidenced by the publication of the first of the Headway series (Soars
and Soars 1986) and its unapologetically grammar-based syllabus, from which there
has been no turning back. As Waters (2011: 311) concludes, in a survey of current ELT
publishing, coursebooks are nowadays characterised by an overall focus on language
work despite the widespread criticisms of all forms of PPP in the professional
literature in recent years. In similar vein, Larsen-Freeman (2015: 264) notes that survey
research reveals that grammar is still being taught traditionally in most classrooms in a
non-integrative manner. Indeed, it is sobering to compare the teachers guide to Success
with English (Barnett et al. 1968: 20) and its injunction that the structure comes first
with the first of the design principles underlying the latest edition of the New Headway
series, published nearly half a century later (Soars and Soars 2012) i.e. that grammar
has a core place in language teaching and learning. Plus a change.
59
In a talk at the IATEFL Conference in Dublin in 2000 (Thornbury 2000) I

used the term grammar McNuggets to describe what other writers have called
accumulated entities (Rutherford 1987) or discrete items, i.e. the way that language
is packaged into bite-sized linguistic units of one kind or another (Long 2015: 17),
thereby making it easier to deliver, consume andultimatelytest. It was clear, of
course, that by then the communicative approach, as originally conceived, had been
subverted, and that the parameters had been re-set to the default mode that had
prevailed for much of the 20th century, a conclusion that is shared by a number of
scholars, such as Kramsch (2015: 462):
Practitioners in language teaching and learning are still very much held to a
structuralist approach to teaching languages, if only through the pressure to test
students knowledge of linguistic or discourse structures
and Tarone (2015: 447):

The central problem for classroom learners of course is that foreign language
textbooks and online programs have continued since 1925 to present explicit rules
for [the target language] derived from linguistic research, in spite of research showing
that the learners study of those rules does not result in unconscious internalisation
and ability to use those rules in oral communication.
Why, in the face of research evidence to the contrary, has the grammar syllabus,
with its explicit rules and insistent focus on accuracy, persisted? Is it simply because,
as Kramsch suggests, it is easier to test? In order to gauge the opinion of practising
teachers on this question, a survey was distributed online, offering at least seven
possible reasons for the persistence of the grammar syllabus. The two reasons ranked
highest by the more than thousand respondents were as follows:
Students expect it.
ELT publishers are unwilling to take risks with alternative ways of organising
coursebooks.
These were followed closely by:
Most examinations test grammar, so a grammar syllabus is the best preparation.
In a follow-up survey aimed at evaluating the degree of consensus on a number
of statements elicited in the first survey, there was strong support for the following
statements:
Students expect to be taught grammar because thats what they have done at school.
Its traditional. For many people learning a language means learning grammar.
On the other hand, there was general disagreement with the statement
Grammar is the first and most essential factor in any language.
These results suggest a degree of discrepancy between what teachers believe (about
the role of grammar) and what they actually do in class (i.e. foreground grammar),
largely due to their perceptions of what students expect. This recalls Canagarajahs
suspicion regarding teachers resistance to adopting a task-based curriculum in Sri
60
Lanka: Since teachers thought that students thought that grammar was important,
this is what they gave them (1999: 116). It raises the question as to whether students
themselves have ever been canvassed as to their preferences and expectations.
Also noteworthy was the fact that at least ten per cent of the respondents dismissed
the findings of second language acquisition research as irrelevant. These findings had
been summarised in the following quotations:
Instruction cannot affect the route of L2 development in any fundamental way
(Ortega 2011: 98).
Grammatical syllabuses cannot easily accommodate the essential nature of L2
acquisition (Ellis and Shintani 2014: 8081).
Rejection of research evidenceor wilful misreading of itis, of course, not
unknown in other professional domains, unquestioning allegiance to homeopathy
by some medical practitioners being just one example. But language teaching seems
to have had more than its fair share of deniers, often using the argument of common
sense to vindicate the prioritising of grammar teaching (see, for example, Swan 2012).
Grammar teaching is tried and tested, it is claimedbut seldom are we told how or
by whom.
Nevertheless, for anyone raised in the exhilarating heyday of CLT, the survey
results are somewhat dispiriting, not least because they suggest that teachers themselves
have little confidence in their power to effect change, either on their learners or on the
system as embodied in published materials and examinations.
In this sense, the survey reflects a sense of helplessness that pervades education
generally, as it becomes increasingly circumscribed by the demands of neoliberal
economic policies. As Lin (2013: 525) observes, Language teaching is increasingly
prepackaged and delivered as if it were a standardised, marketable product. This
commodifying ideology of language teaching and learning has gradually penetrated
into school practices, turning teachers into service providers. One manifestation
of this commodification is the increased granularisation of pedagogical content, as
epitomised in Pearsons recently released Global Scale of English, which, according
to the Pearson English blog is a new standardised, granular scale from 10 to 90,
which measures English language proficiency. We have added over 950 new learning
objectives to those already created for the Common European Framework of Reference
(Hayes 2016). The metaphor of grammar McNuggets has never seemed so apt. Nor,
in the face of these commodifying tendencies, has the need to revisit the 50-year old
discourse of Hymes, Newmark and Corder seemed so pressing.
Meanwhile, what choices do we have? Is there any way of reconciling the competing
discourses that have shaped language teaching in the last half century? I suggest that
there are at least three positions we might take.
The first is what might be called the pragmatic option. It entails accepting the status
quo, to a certain degree, and construing the teaching of English (or any language for
that matter) as just another subject in the curriculum on a par with all the rest, with
their associated infrastructure of syllabuses, textbooks, and assessments. As such, the
transmissive teaching of (granular) content, such as in the form of explicit grammar
rules, is consistent with the very real need for many learners to pass standardised
tests. This may also mean re-calibrating the curricular goals in order to align them
61
more realistically with institutional, cultural and socio-economic exigencies. In some

contexts, communicative competence, for example, might not be an achievable, or
even a desirable, goal. The pragmatic option has its precedents, notably the Reading
method that was introduced in the United States in the 1930s for the teaching of
modern languages in schools. Following on from the Coleman Report (Coleman
1929), in which it was concluded that spoken fluency was not a realistic goal, given
the limited time and resources available, it was recommended that the curricular goals
be scaled back and that the primary objective should be the ability to read the foreign
language with moderate ease and with enjoyment for recreative and for vocational
purposes (Coleman 1929: 107). Nowadays, this might be re-envisaged in terms of
a more selective configuration of CEFR objectives. Arguably, the improvements in
success rates resulting from more limited objectives would have benefits in terms of
motivation that might offset the negative effects of a more transmissive pedagogy.
By resisting or rejecting the status quo, a second option, a critical or transformative
one, is diametrically opposed to the pragmatic path. Resistance may take the form
of abandoning textbooks entirely, on the grounds that they instantiate the current,
positivist educational mindset, and adopting a dialogic pedagogy, where learning
consists of acts of cognition, not transferrals of information (Freire 1970/1993: 60).
It may also mean rehabilitating the notion of communicative competence, not as a
monolingual inventory of functional exponents or granularised learning objectives, but
as the interpretation, creation, and exchange of meanings within and across linguistic
and cultural systems (Leung and Scarino 2016: 91). And, given the inherent diversity
of all situations of language use and learning, a major objective for learners would be
to acquire new voices and new ways of articulating experiences and ideas. The culture
of the classroom group would need to place high value on such diversity and multi-
vocality and to assert it as a key attribute of the language class (Breen 1999: 60).
Finally, a third or dialectic route might be one that aims to merge the traditional
and the transformative by, for example, collapsing the distinction between learning
and use, and by dissolving the barrier between classroom and the real world, while
still retaining features of the former. As long ago as 1956, Peter Strevens argued that
language is not a sterile subject to be confined to the classroom. One of two things
must be done: either life must be brought to the classroom or the class must be taken
to life (Strevens 1956: 69). A recent example of this principle is the Language learning
in the wild project (http://languagelearninginthewild.com/) in which a number of
Nordic countries are participating. Based on the idea that language classrooms should
open up to the world outside to provide students participation in real life and to
help students build their own participation in communities of practice (Wagner
2004: 615), learners combine classroom learning with tasks in the wild, where their
interlocutors (such as shopkeepers) have been primed in ways to make interactions
optimal sites for learning. As Eskildsen and Theodrsdttir (2015: 18) argue,
This, in effect, breaks with a long tradition of teaching language as a decontextualised
object in classrooms and instead entails a mutually constitutive relationship between
L2 speakers everyday practices and the classroom which then comes to be a
pedagogically enhanced world in which a view of language as situated and locally
contextualised is propagated.
62
The reverse process, whereby, using simple technology, a target language user
enters the classroom, and engages in communicative activities with the learners
who have little or no opportunities to use English outside the classroom, is movingly
demonstrated in Nick Bilbroughs Hands up project (http://handsupproject.org).
Children in marginalised communities combine traditional learning activities with
synchronous on-line interaction with a native speaker, as well as performing chants,
stories and drama activities for children in other, similar contexts.
Both the Language learning in the wild and the Hands up projects blend
learning and use, intervention and non-intervention, the cognitive and the social, the
classroom and the real world, in ways that are sensitively adapted to local conditions,
and use relatively simple means to create optimal learning opportunities. And they are
faithful to the spirit of 1966.
Scott.Thornbury@gmail.com
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Kelly, L. G. 1969. 25 Centuries of Language Teaching: 500 BC1969. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury
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Kramsch, C. 2015. Applied linguistics: a theory of practice. Applied Linguistics 36/4: 45465.
Larsen-Freeman, D. 2015. 'Research into practice: grammar learning and teaching'. Language
Teaching 48/2: 263-80.
Lin, A. 2013. Toward paradigmatic change in TESOL methodologies: building plurilingual
pedagogies from the ground up. TESOL Quarterly 47/3: 52145.
Littlewood, W. 1981. Communicative Language Teaching: An Introduction. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Leung, C. and A. Scarino. 2016. Reconceptualising the nature of goals and outcomes in
language/s education. Modern Language Journal 100: Supplement.
Long, M. 2015. Second Language Acquisition and Task-Based Language Teaching. Oxford: Wiley
Blackwell.
Mackey, W. F. 1967. The meaning of method in W. R. Lee (ed.). E.L.T. Selections 2: Articles
from the Journal English Language Teaching. London: Oxford University Press.
Newmark, L. 1966. How not to interfere with language learning. International Journal
of American Linguistics 32. Reprinted in C. Brumfit and K. Johnson (eds.). 1979. The
Communicative Approach to Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ortega. L. 2011. Sequences and processes in language learning in M. H. Long and C. J.
Doughty (eds.). The Handbook of Language Teaching. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Postman, N. and C. Weingartner. 1969. Teaching as a Subversive Activity. Harmondsworth:
Penguin.
Prator, C. P. 1964. English as a second language: Teaching. In Overseas. Cited in D. Byrne
(ed.) 1969. English Teaching Extracts. London: Longman.
Rutherford, W. E. 1987. Second Language Grammar: Learning and Teaching. Harlow:
Longman.
Selinker, L. 1972. Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics 10: 20931.
Soars, L. and J. Soars. 1986. Headway Intermediate (Students Book). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Soars, L. and J. Soars. 2012. New Headway Intermediate (4th edition). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Strevens, P. 1956. Spoken Language: An Introduction for Teachers and Students in Africa.
London: Longmans, Green and Co.
Swan, M. 2012. Language teaching is teaching language in M. Swan, Thinking about
Language Teaching: Selected Articles 19822011. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tarone, E. 2015. Second language acquisition in applied linguistics: 19252015 and beyond.
Applied Linguistics 36/4: 44453.
Thornbury, S. 2000. Plenary: Deconstructing grammar in A. Pulverness (ed.). IATEFL 2000
Dublin Conference Selections. Whistable, Kent: IATEFL.
Wagner, J. 2004. The classroom and beyond. Modern Language Journal, 88/4: 6126.
Waters, A. 2011. Advances in materials design in M. H. Long and C. J. Doughty (eds.). The
Handbook of Language Teaching. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Wilkins, D. 1976. Notional Syllabuses. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Airdrop your students: immersion learning principles in the classroom
3.2Airdrop your students: immersion learning principles in the

classroom
Tony Penston Freelance, Greystones, Ireland
The purpose of this workshop was to see if attendees were in agreement with the
idea of using immersion learning principles as guidelines for implementing the
Communicative Approach. This would require an examination and analysis of the
success factors involved, and an assessment of our willingness to implement them.
I opened the workshop with the statement that Communicative Language
Teaching is widely misunderstood and misapplied (Scrivener 2011: 31) and asked
attendees if they agreed with this. A large majority did. I then continued with another
quotation, this about immersion learning: Theres probably still a better success rate
for people who have actually been airdropped into the country where the language
is spoken (Thornbury, in Harmer and Thornbury 2013: 01:02:42). Most attendees
agreed with this, wholeheartedly. This led to an important question: if we agree that
immersion learning is so successful (at least for earlier levels), then why dont we
implement its success factors in the classroom?
After a discussion on the success factors of immersion learning I showed Table
3.2.1, which would agree with most findings.
Immersion learning success factors

L1 (immersion) L2 Immersion
Visuals, listening (lots of ) Visuals, listening (lots of )
Praise and encouragement Praise and encouragement
Speaking without inhibitions Speaking without inhibitions?
Repeating Repeating?
Soft correction (recasting) Soft correction (recasting)
Concept before the written word* Concept before the written word*
Table 3.2.1: Immersion learning success factors
Interestingly, as the table shows, theres little difference between the success factors
of L1 and L2 immersion learning. After further discussion attendees agreed that
these could be implemented, to some extent, in the classroom. Speaking without
inhibitions does depend on personality type, but social environment will play a
large part in encouraging production, as, importantly, does the skilled teacher in
promoting mutual respect and trust. Repeating is also difficult to replicate in the
(adult) classroom, simply because, in my opinion, the skill of drilling is not taught
confidently or comprehensively on TEFL courses; indeed, there seems to be a dearth
of knowledge about this aspect of language learning.
*The final factor in the table, Concept before the written word, is experienced
mainly in L1 learning, but we should also note its operation in L2 immersion learning.
People in an immersion situation, like children, are not asked to guess the meaning
of words on a board. Nor do they undergo other (classroom) frustrations, such as
65
having to listen to some inaccurate attempts at definitions, having to wait until the
end of a reading text or task to confirm the meaning of a word, and so on. Time did
not allow further work on this, especially regarding how concept before the written
word applies to pre-reading, but readers may email me for that material if they
wish.
Not included on the list is grammar or other aspects of language, but most of
us have noted how children sometimes stop in mid-flow and search for a word or
phrase, and how L2 learners (in an immersion situation) ask questions about grammar
and vocabulary. We therefore can, and should, teach grammar in a classroom where
immersion principles are being followed. Ideally, this would be when students show
a desire for it, but I believe most modern coursebooks have well-researched syllabuses
and the good teacher can use the language items in each unit as student needs dictate.
Many immersion principles consist of more Donts than Dos, either because we
have built up bad habits or because certain techniques are taught on TEFL training
courses without having been rigorously evaluated. The following list was presented:
1 Dont use meta-language (e.g. T: Fall? Past tense?).
2 Dont repeat an erroneous form (e.g. T: She arrived to London? Is that right?).
3 Dont use fingers as words (written words are code enough already).
4 Dont ask teacher questions.
Teacher questions include Is a horse bigger than a cat?; Give me a sentence with
sarcastic; Do you all know what an adjective is?; Can you define this word? (valid
on certain occasions); and yes/no concept questions.
Also up for discussion was the value of certain tasks/exercises, such as mark the
correct phrase/sentence (why show incorrect language to learners?); matching tasks
(how high in learning value is searching through a list for what you already know?);
and asking students to repeat a sentence with a different intonation (does this happen
in immersion learning?).
There was a lot to think about in this workshop, the subject of which is an ongoing
project. Attendees showed great interest and I was grateful for their comments.
antopenston@gmail.com
References
Harmer, J. and S. Thornbury. 2013. Communicative language teaching. The New School.
Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoUx036IN9Q.
Scrivener, J. 2011. Learning Teaching. Oxford: Macmillan Education.
3.3Using learners own language in teaching English: revisioning

the L1L2 relationship
John Simpson British Council, Sub-Saharan Africa, Kigali, Rwanda
Introduction
For much of the 20th century, dominant approaches to ELT kept learners own language
at arms length. In recent years, however, ELT thought leaders have recommended
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Using learners own language in teaching English
this practice. My talk presented key arguments for such as well as findings from sub-
Saharan Africa on own language use in ELT and EMI.
20th-century ELT and the outlawing of own language
A widespread ban by 20th century ELT theorists and methodologists on the use of
learners own language rested on the assumption that a new language should be taught
and learned monolingually without explicit reference to or use of own language.
The dominant direct method espoused four main principles: (1) teach the spoken
language first; (2) relate the words of the new language directly to their referents in the
outside worlddont translate; (3) repeat many times; and (4) work hard to gain and
keep learners interest (Howatt 2004). Despite its disappearance from ELT theory and
methodology texts, own language has survived, in part due to ease of implementation.
The use of own language is so compelling that it emerges even when policies and
assumptions mitigate against it (Lucas and Katz 1994: 537).
Arguments for own language use
Reasons advanced for own language use are wide ranging (Hall and Cook 2013).
Theoretical arguments include own language being a natural reference system and
pathfinder for learning new languages; the notion that (L2) learning best proceeds
when it is scaffolded onto existing knowledge (in L1); and that learning is more
efficient if teachers draw students attention to the similarities and differences between
the languages. The pedagogic rationale includes the efficient conveying of meaning,
class management and teacherlearner rapport. It is also considered an effective
way of learning vocabulary, through use of bilingual dictionaries and as a teaching
strategy. A moral argument for own language use recognises learners as individuals,
communicating respect and concern and creating a positive affective environment for
learning.
Promoting own language use within CPD
The British Councils CPD framework for teachers incorporates multilingual
approaches to teaching as one of 12 professional practices contributing to quality
in the classroom. Elements of this include: recognising and valuing the multilingual
nature of societies, schools and classrooms; giving learners appropriate opportunities
to use their home languages to support and demonstrate their understanding of
content; and assessing individual learners in a manner that takes their linguistic
background into account.
Own language use in sub-Saharan Africa
Despite sub-Saharan Africa being one of the most multilingual world regions,
and despite many of its education systems being bilingualusing two languages
sequentially for teaching and learningpolicy frequently dictates monolingual
classrooms with only one language permitted for teaching and learning in a given
phase of education, including for ELT. (See Figure 3.3.1.)
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Figure 3.3.1: The use of language in sub-Saharan Africa
Education ministries in sub-Saharan Africa are often identified as sources of support

for English-only teaching. Commonly advanced reasons for a monolingual ELT and
EMI policy include the following: using more than one language for teaching and
learning confuses students; if teachers are allowed to use the mother tongue along
with English theyll not move to teaching in English; if students are allowed to use
their mother tongue along with English they will become lazy; and we learned English
without recourse to the mother tongue, so why shouldnt present-day learners?
Strategic code-switching in ELT classrooms in sub-Saharan Africa
Notwithstanding official embargoes on own language in sub-Saharan African classrooms,
teachers can be observed using and encouraging its use for various purposes: preparing
learners to talk in English about a new topic and/or eliciting prior knowledge of it; on
encountering a new concept or challenging term, encouraging them to first talk about
it in the L1; and, in moments of conceptual difficulty, comparing the meaning of key
words and phrases in the two languages or using culturally meaningful expressions in
the L1 to help learners make sense of new content, in both ELT and EMI classrooms.
Conclusion
At a time when ELT thought leaders are recommending own language use, many
teachers in sub-Saharan Africa report a sense of guilt in adopting a pedagogic
practice not sanctioned by ministries. To date, the benefits of code-switching or
translanguaging for learning purposes are not well known by ministry officials or
language-in-education policy makers. While judicious use of own language can indeed
help expedite teaching and learning, official attitudes and policies unfavourable to use
of own language in ELT and EMI classrooms are likely for the time being to remain
an obstacle to its legitimate and encouraged use.
john.simpson@britishcouncil.org
References
Hall G. and G. Cook. 2013. Own language use in ELT: exploring global practices and
attitudes. ELT Research Papers 13/1. London: British Council.
Howatt, A. P. R. 2004. A History of English Language Teaching (second edition). Oxford:
Oxford University Press
Lucas T. and A. Katz. 1994. Reframing the debate: the roles of native languages in English-
only programs for language minority students. TESOL Quarterly 28/3: 53761.
68
Accelerating input and exposure in the English language classroom
3.4Accelerating input and exposure in the English language

classroom
Mike Bilbrough Seville University, Spain
The context
In Spain, during the late 1990s, the English language competency level among the
countrys citizens was trailing that of the rest of Europe (Bonnet 2000). The rapid
increase in the number of private English language academies in the country reflected
parents concerns and demands for teaching their children better communicative
skills. This was the English language learning climate I encountered when I opened
an academy in Seville in 1995. I worked closely with my teachers in exploratory
classroom research to find an alternative to grammar and text-based learning methods
prevalent in Spanish state primary schools and instead to emphasise English exposure
through oral practice.
Origins and development
We first experimented with the pictureword technique developed by William
Chuckney called the Skeleton Approach (1987), where a flashcard represented each
word of a sentence and the cards were presented in front of the class for uttering. We
then went a step further and transferred the visual referent from a picture-on-a-card
to a hand gesture. This new approach allowed for faster input and eliciting of lexis
in the classroom: a direct cause and effect, a kinaesthetic reaction to meaning similar
to the dynamic of the Total Physical Response tool. The significant deviation from
Ashers approach, however, is that the teachers silent gestures elicit students gestures
plus the utterance, one gesture per word-meaning, rather than call upon students to
carry out actions via spoken imperatives. We devised over two thousand iconic and
representational gestures and set them down in a dictionary.
The rationale behind the benefit of gestures is that beginner students are exposed to
and participate in holistic oral language (English in full spoken sentences) while being
able to focus on a sentences separate lexical parts. Gestures become the principal
conveyor of meaning in the classroom and text becomes unnecessary in its all too
common role as a facilitator of material for speaking activities.
The nature of a gesture class
I showed the workshop participants a video from a recent gesture lesson. The group
of students involved were nine year olds from a primary school near Seville, CEIP
Pedro Primero. The school took part in a collaborative research project with Seville
University into the use of gesture in the English language classroom. The experimental
group of 19 students received gesture-based classes during the academic year of 2014
2015 and were compared with peer control groups. Pre-tests and post-tests on oral
competence were carried out on all groups.
The video demonstrated the technique used to present and elicit English L2
through gestures. Firstly, the teacher showed the students a picture projected onto
a screen at the front of the class, which was taken from a short humorous story. The
teacher presented new language orally using the picture and for each word presented
69
performed an iconic gesture. The students imitated the gestures and uttered the
words. No words were written. After this presentation phase, the teacher then said to
the students: Tell me the story. This following technique is called silent sign. The
teacher proceeded to gesture the words of the story in silence. In chorus, the students
called out the words while gesturingword by word, sentence by sentence to the end
of the story. The teacher spoke only to read back each sentence after the students had
uttered it or briefly clear up language doubts.
Gesture: the ultimate cloze exercise
The conference participants were asked to answer questions on a handout while
watching the video and give their verdicts at the end. One of the questions was: How
many gaps did students fill during the cloze test? It was concluded that as the students
had to comprehend each gesture and utter the corresponding word, and there were
160 words in the story, 160 gaps had been filled in a space of six minutes.
Another question was: How were students exposed to grammar? Some participants
had perceived that the same gesture represented all parts of a verb and that the students
were required to conjugate from context and utter the verb in the correct person,
present or past tense.
Krashen and Terrell say that the ability to speak fluently and easily in a second
language emerges by itself after a sufficient amount of competence has been acquired
through input (2000: 20). Indeed, this emergence from minimal explicit instruction
but heightened and accelerated comprehended input is the strategy being researched
here.
mike.bilbrough@gmail.com
References
Bonnet, G. 2002. The Assessment of Pupils Skills in Eight European Countries. Commissioned
by the European Network of Policy Makers for the Evaluation of Education Systems.
Available at https://www.eva.dk/projekter/2002/evaluering-af-faget-engelsk-i-grundskolen/
projektprodukter/assessmentofenglish.pdf
Chuckney, W. 1987. The Skeleton System. Co-published by Pilgrims Publications, Friendly
Press and Hellenic.
Krashen, S. D. and T. D. Terrell. 2000. The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the
Classroom. Harlow: Longman.
3.5 Gamification for language learning

Wade P. Alley and Enrique Barba Universidad Panamericana Guadalajara,
Mexico
Introduction
Gamification may be defined as the addition of game elements and game-like
structures to a non-game activity. Our presentation demonstrated how we used
points, awards, suspense and fun to increase student engagement and autonomy in
our EFL classroom.
70
Gamification for language learning
Context
There are roughly 4,000 students at the Universidad Panamericana Guadalajara
campus where our gamified courses take place. The students who participated in
our gamified courses had already had an average of eight years of English language
instruction, though this was insufficient for them to test out of their language learning
obligation.
Why we gamified our EFL classroom
We opted to gamify an upper level of English at our university with the goals of
increasing attendance and encouraging more communicative production. A third goal
was to reawaken the students sense of creativity and autonomy.
How we gamified our classes
We decided to make our classes into a serious game and created a fictitious company
called Creative Inc. from which all assignments would emanate. All of our students
were called associates while instructors were called guides. They would help students
with their English and offer suggestions, but only if they were asked.
A typical class day
Our presentation was designed to involve IATEFL participants just as we would our
own students. Like our pupils, attendees were awarded a sticker for arriving early. They
were offered a lateral thinking puzzle to solve, and then the main part or problem of
the class was given. Students work in groups to solve a creative problem. In the case of
our workshop, members were invited to solve a problem involving a name tag.
Creative problems
We passed out standard name tags and asked participants to explain what a name
tag really does. Typical responses were They say your name and They say where you
work. Then participants were asked, How can it be improved upon? and What
else could a name tag do? This is what we refer to in class as a simple complication.
Attendees formed groups to come up with a name tag that could explain to the world
pertinent information about the wearer. Our workshop allowed only ten minutes for
groups to come up with some improvement on the name tag.
Feedback
Participants were asked to present their name tags to the entire audience, which was
generally very supportive. Because we are seeking a higher level of engagement and
seeking more creativity, we announced that while these name tags were very good, our
company managers had decided to ask participants to come up with something more
elaborate.
Creative complication
Participants were told: Creative Inc. likes your ideas, but what they really want is
a name tag that says as much about you as possible without using words, letters,
numbers or any kind of company logo. They need your working prototype in 45
minutes. A few participants immediately came up with ideas ranging from the use of
QR codes to virtual reality markers.
71
Increased language production

Just as in our workshop, students are required to explain their ideas to one another
and to the class as a whole. In the case of our students, this project would require
them to add even more production in either a written or spoken form because their
prototype would have to be functional in order to get the points required.
Conclusion
Our workshop ended with a question and answer session. Some of the questions we
were asked were:
Q. Do we teach grammar as part of the class?
No. Class time is strictly for production.
Q. How do you control what goes on in the class? It seems noisy.
We dont control anything. Students are told what they have to do and are expected
to complete the task. They can even leave the room if they want or need to.
Q. How do you assess students?
We give points for everything. We use a standard grading rubric for all projects,
tasks and tests. Our tests are jigsaw type collaborative assessments that require stu-
dents to present a final task based on what they learned during the exam.
Q. Has gamifying your courses been successful?
Yes. Our students have received scores on the TOEIC test that are just as high as
any of our standard classes, our student reviews are 95 per cent excellent, and these
courses are generally full.
Q. Where else can we find this information?
This website contains all our workshop material: www.creativeinc.mx.
walley@up.edu.mx
ebarba@up.edu.mx
3.6 Game-inspired course design: creating opportunity for agency

Vilhelm Lindholm Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, Finland
In my presentation, I attempted to provide contrast to the general idea of gamification
in teachingthat is, adding game-like aspects into courses and classes. I focused on
the aspect of agencythe sense that your decisions have meaningful impactwhich
is often experienced by players in more immersive games.
I started off the talk with a simple, meaningless game where the audience members
were asked to think of a number, and then raise their hands or stand up if they
were thinking of particular numbers. Just as students often are, the audience was very
responsive and willing to take part in this diversion, showing that games as a source
of escapism are useful as light filler activities. Still, if the results of these activities have
no impact on the rest of the class or the course, the players feel no sense of agency in
the process.
I introduced some examples of agency creation in games like Stardew Valley
(2016) and Mass Effect (2007), where, in the former, players establish and maintain
72
Game-inspired course design: creating opportunity for agency
relationships with in-game characters, and in the latter, dialogue options create the
perception of agency, even in cases where the choices do not affect the gameplay.
In contrast, I mentioned in-class, game-like platforms like Kahoot, which, despite
having game-like features, often has no impact on progress in the course or the
class.
Through these demonstrations I aimed to show that agency means that the course
should be designed in a way in which students feel their actions are directly linked
to progression in the course. To put it in another way, instead of adding games to
an existing course, the course should be designed in a game-like fashion, where the
players actions drive progress.
To give a concrete example of such a course, I presented the structure of my Business
Communication course, in which students must complete tasks in order to qualify for
the final exam. These project-like tasks are worked on until all task objectives are met.
One of the most significant changes from traditional course structure is that after the
first introductory session there is no nominal mandatory attendance. Instead, students
are informed that group tasks must be performed in the classroom, and that I will be
available for help with any of the tasks or for guidance regarding course-related issues
during class time.
During a typical session, I start by inquiring from the students present what
their plans are for that session. Any groups wanting to perform a group task get
my primary attention, since those need assessment. Other teams are free to observe
these performances and to use the best parts in their own efforts. If there are no
performances that session, I walk from group to group, which often takes me out of
the classroom, as teams are free to practise and work wherever they want. I check on
their progress, ask them to rehearse some critical areas or discuss their schedule for the
course in general.
Instead of forcing students to attend every session, my goal is to make them feel
that there is value in the classroom, in the form of help, advice and support. When
groups practise for performances, I listen and intercede to help them avoid the most
common pitfalls. By addressing only issues that come up from the actions of the team,
I can be assured that I am using teacher talk in ways that are perceived to be relevant
to the students.
The task descriptions are all available on the Moodle course platform, which
students autonomously read as part of their preparation for the tasks. This material
consists of task descriptions, learning objectives, warning flags for critical errors, case
descriptions, role cards, and so on. Currently, the course in which I use this type
of teaching focuses on oral interactions in meetings. The concept can, however, be
applied to courses with any content.
From a game-design point of view, the learning environment on Moodle represents
a game framework, including levels and missions, with deadlines that are flexible to
a point, if students are proactive. My role is that of the tutorial, coach or help file,
who can be called on to clarify confusing tasks or concepts. Also, I act as gatekeeper
between thresholds, overseeing performances and determining whether or not a task is
acceptable. The student is the agent; the teacher is part of the game mechanics.
lavili@utu.fi
73
References
Mass Effect. 2007. Electronic Arts, developed by Bioware.
Stardew Valley. 2016. Chucklefish Games, developed by ConcernedApe.
3.7 Moving beyond technology in the classroom

Rhoda McGraw Freelance, Paris, France
Many EFL learners now have easy access to written and spoken English through
electronic media, and they spend much of their time interacting with machines, with
fewer and fewer opportunities to interact with other humans (Weisberg 2016). How
does the language classroom fit into this context? Should it be an extension of the
electronic world we live in, or can it provide an alternative? If so, how? In my talk I
explored these questions through my own experience.
I teach compulsory 1530-hour English courses to multilingual students in
European higher education. For most of my career I could not imagine teaching
without electronic media, especially since I work with a content focus. I spent a lot of
my time looking for appropriate audio and video recordings and adapting to changing
technology in order to use them in class. I thought these materials were essential to
my students learning. Then, a few years ago, I began to realise that the students
were finding more and better audiovisual documents on their own. Even when I
managed to find a recording that might interest everyone in the group, I knew that
the learners could experience the same document outside class in a more comfortable
and relaxed setting. I started to wonder how my courses could embrace and enhance
the experiences the learners were having outside. I began to think about how I could
better allocate the precious resource of classroom time in order to give priority to
human interaction.
Lately I have been using less and less technology in my classroom, and I have come
to prefer using none. I have begun to see the classroom as a potential haven from
an electronic life, possibly providing better learning opportunities by being a place
that stands out for its lack of machines. When I prepare classes, instead of asking
myself what audiovisual documents I will use and how I will use them, I try to figure
out ways to manage without them. Without technology, my courses are still highly
structured, with a clear focus on specific content areas and on learners contributions.
I use all sorts of paper documents in the classroom (Jabr 2013), both as class texts
and for sustained silent reading, and I require students to read and write regularly at
home. I also ask them to report to their classmates about what they are listening to
and watching on their own and to share sources and make recommendations. Outside
class I may communicate with students by e-mail, send them electronic documents
and suggest websites. But in class I try to create a calm atmosphere for peaceful
reflection and exchange among humans. I encourage participants to listen to each
other and to value what they hear.
Now that I teach whole sessions without sacrificing classroom time to interaction
with machines, I am enjoying my teaching more than ever, and I have been surprised
74
ELT Conversation: ELT as an industry
at the positive response from learners. They do not appear to miss the electronic media
that I had thought so important, and they seem to enjoy the increased opportunities
for talking together. Recently, a student told me that he liked my class because it was
the only time in his life when he was not involved with a screen.
After describing my experience, I concluded the talk by suggesting that we can
meet many of the expectations of learners accustomed to an electronic world without
reproducing it. In a technology-free classroom, such learners can find interesting
content, variety, choice, and collaboration in a way that may seem attractive to them
because it is less standardised and commodified than what they find elsewhere. They
may appreciate communicating without being tracked. And they can take pleasure in
just being with humans in the natural world.
In the final discussion, one audience member said that she felt forced into using
technology, sometimes against her better judgement. I hope that my presentation
offered something to teachers like her, helping them to take a critical stance and to
realise that there may be alternatives, even when the use of electronic media is being
promoted. An open approach to technology in the classroom, aiming to manage it
more thoughtfully, could be especially helpful in settings where financial and logistical
constraints make it hard to use, or where students are looking for something different.
rhoda.mcgraw@mail.enpc.fr
References
Jabr, F. 2013. Why the brain prefers paper. Scientific American November: 359.
Weisberg, J. 2016. We are hopelessly hooked. New York Review of Books February 25: 69.
3.8 ELT Conversation: ELT as an industry

Philip Kerr Freelance, Vienna, Austria and Andrew Wickham Linguaid, Paris,
France
ELT publishing, international language testing and private language schools are
all industries: products are produced, bought and sold for profit. English language
teaching (ELT) is not. It is an umbrella term that is used to describe a range of
activities, some of which are industries, and some of which (such as English teaching
in high schools around the world) might better be described as public services. ELT,
like education more generally, is, nevertheless, often referred to as an industry.
Education in a neoliberal world
The framing of ELT as an industry is both a reflection of how we understand the term
and a force that shapes our understanding. Associated with the idea of industry is
a constellation of other ideas and words (such as efficacy, productivity, privatisation,
marketisation, consumerisation, digitalisation and globalisation) which become a part
of ELT once it is framed as an industry. Repeated often enough, ELT as an industry
can become a metaphor that we think and live by. Those activities that fall under the
ELT umbrella, but which are not industries, become associated with the desirability
of industrial practices through such discourse.
75
The shift from education, seen as a public service, to educational managerialism

(where education is seen in industrial terms with a focus on efficiency, free market
competition, privatisation and a view of students as customers) can be traced to the
1980s and 1990s (Gewirtz 2001). In 1999, under pressure from developed economies,
the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) transformed education into a
commodity that could be traded like any other in the marketplace (Robertson 2006).
The global industrialisation and privatisation of education continues to be promoted
by transnational organisations (such as the World Bank and the OECD), well-funded
free-market think-tanks (such as the Cato Institute), philanthro-capitalist foundations
(such as the Gates Foundation) and educational businesses (such as Pearson) (Ball
2012).
Efficacy and learning outcomes
Managerialist approaches to education require educational products and services to be
measured and compared. In ELT, the most visible manifestation of this requirement
is the current ubiquity of learning outcomes. Contemporary coursebooks are full
of can-do statements, although these are not necessarily of any value to anyone.
Examples from one unit of one best-selling course include Now I can understand
advice people give about hotels and Now I can read an article about unique hotels
(McCarthy et al. 2014: 74). However, in a world where accountability is paramount,
they are deemed indispensable. The problem from a pedagogical perspective is that
teaching input does not necessarily equate with learning uptake. Indeed, there is no
reason why it should.
Drawing on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
(CEFR) for inspiration, new performance scales have emerged in recent years. These
include the Cambridge English Scale and the Pearson Global Scale of English. Moving
away from the broad six categories of the CEFR, such scales permit finer-grained
measurement, and we now see individual vocabulary and grammar items tagged
to levels. While such initiatives undoubtedly support measurements of efficacy, the
problem from a pedagogical perspective is that they assume that language learning is
linear and incremental, as opposed to complex and jagged.
Given the importance accorded to the measurement of language learning (or
what might pass for language learning), it is unsurprising that attention is shifting
towards the measurement of what is probably the most important factor impacting on
learning: the teaching. Teacher competency scales have been developed by Cambridge
Assessment, the British Council and EAQUALS (Evaluation and Accreditation of
Quality Language Services), among others.
The backwash effects of the deployment of such scales are yet to be fully experienced,
but the likely increase in the perception of both language learning and teacher learning
as the synthesis of granularised bits of knowledge is cause for concern.
Digital technology
Digital technology may offer advantages to both English language teachers and
learners, but its rapid growth in language learning is the result, primarily but not
exclusively, of the way it has been promoted by those who stand to gain financially.
In education, generally, and in English language teaching, more specifically, advocacy
76
ELT Conversation: ELT as an industry
of the privatisation of education is always accompanied by advocacy of digitalisation.

The global market for digital English language learning products was reported to be
$2.8 billion in 2015 and is predicted to reach $3.8 billion by 2020 (Ambient Insight
2016).
In tandem with the increased interest in measuring learning outcomes, there is fierce
competition in the market for high-stakes examinations, and these are increasingly
digitally delivered and marked. In the face of this competition and in a climate of
digital disruption, companies like Pearson and Cambridge English are developing
business models of vertical integration where they can provide and sell everything
from placement testing, to courseware (either print or delivered through an LMS),
teaching, assessment and teacher training. Huge investments are being made in pursuit
of such models. Pearson, for example, recently bought GlobalEnglish and Wall Street
English, and set up a partnership with Busuu, thus covering all aspects of language
learning from resources provision and publishing to off- and online training delivery.
As regards assessment, the most recent adult coursebook from Cambridge
University Press (in collaboration with Cambridge English Language Assessment),
Empower (Doff et al. 2015) sells itself on a combination of course material with
integrated, validated assessment.
Besides its potential for scalability (and therefore greater profit margins), the appeal
(to some) of platform-delivered English language instruction is that it facilitates
assessment that is much finer-grained and actionable in real time. Digitisation and
testing go hand in hand.
Few English language teachers have been unaffected by the move towards digital. In
the state sectors, large-scale digitisation initiatives (such as the distribution of laptops
for educational purposes, the installation of interactive whiteboards, the move towards
blended models of instruction or the move away from printed coursebooks) are
becoming commonplace. In the private sectors, online (or partially online) language
schools are taking market share from the traditional bricks-and-mortar institutions.
These changes have entailed modifications to the skill sets that teachers need to
have. Two announcements at this conference reflect this shift. First of all, Cambridge
English launched their Digital Framework for Teachers, a matrix of six broad
competency areas organised into four levels of proficiency. Secondly, Aqueduto, the
Association for Quality Education and Training Online, was launched, setting itself
up as an accreditation body for online or blended teacher training courses.
Teachers pay and conditions
In the United States, and likely soon in the UK, the move towards privatisation
is accompanied by an overt attack on teachers unions, rights, pay and conditions
(Selwyn 2014). As English language teaching in both public and private sectors is
commodified and marketised it is no surprise to find that the drive to bring down
costs has a negative impact on teachers worldwide. Gwynt (2015), for example,
catalogues cuts in funding, large-scale redundancies, a narrowing of the curriculum,
intensified workloads (including the need to comply with quality control measures),
the deskilling of teachers, dilapidated buildings, minimal resources and low morale in
an ESOL department in one British further education college. In France, a large-scale
study by Wickham, Cagnol, Wright and Oldmeadow (Linguaid 2015; Wright 2016)
77
found that EFL teachers in the very competitive private sector typically had multiple
employers, limited or no job security, limited sick pay and holiday pay, very little
training and low hourly rates that were deteriorating. One of the principle drivers of
the pressure on salaries is the rise of online training delivery through Skype and other
online platforms, using offshore teachers in low-cost countries such as the Philippines.
This type of training represents 15 per cent in value and up to 25 per cent in volume of
all language training in the French corporate sector and is developing fast in emerging
countries. These examples are illustrative of a broad global trend.
Implications
Given the current climate, teachers will benefit from closer networking with fellow
professionals in order, not least, to be aware of the rapidly changing landscape. It
is likely that they will need to develop and extend their skill sets (especially their
online skills and visibility and their specialised knowledge), to differentiate themselves
from competitors and to be able to demonstrate that they are in tune with current
demands. More generally, it is important to recognise that current trends have yet to
run their full course. Conditions for teachers are likely to deteriorate further before
they improve. More than ever before, teachers who want to have any kind of influence
on the way that marketisation and industrialisation are shaping their working lives
will need to do so collectively.
philipjkerr@gmail.com
andrew.wickham@wanadoo.fr
References
Ambient Insight. 2016. The 20152020 Worldwide Digital English Language Learning Market.
http://www.ambientinsight.com/Resources/Documents/AmbientInsight_2015-2020_
Worldwide_Digital_English_Market_Sample.pdf.
Ball, S. J. 2012. Global Education Inc. Abingdon: Routledge.
Doff, A., C. Thaine, H. Puchta, J. Stranks and P. Lewis-Jones. 2015. Empower. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Gewirtz, S. 2001. The Managerial School: Post-welfarism and Social Justice in Education.
Abingdon: Routledge.
Gwynt, W. 2015. The effects of policy changes on ESOL. Language Issues 26/2: 5860.
Linguaid. 2015. Le March de la Formation Langues lHeure de la Mondialisation. Guildford:
Linguaid.2n
McCarthy, M., J. McCarten and H. Sandiford. 2014. Touchstone 2 Students Book (second
edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Robertson, S. L. 2006. Globalisation, GATS and Trading in Education Services. Bristol:
Centre for Globalisation, Education and Societies, University of Bristol. http://www.bris.
ac.uk/education/people/academicStaff/edslr/publications/04slr.
Selwyn, N. 2014. Distrusting Educational Technology. New York: Routledge.
Wright, R. 2016. My teacher is rich or not! English Teaching Professional 103: 546.
78
4
Working towards inclusivity in
ELT
One of the key themes at IATEFL 2016 was the need for inclusivity and equality
within the ELT profession. This chapter brings together those teachers and learners
who may be marginalised within ELT and explores ways in which ELT can become
a truly inclusive endeavour. Starting with teachers, Silvana Richardsons plenary
talk outlines the status of non-native English-speaking teachers, or NNESTs around
the world; this theme is continued by Dita Phillips, who shares advice on what
trainers can do to empower NNEST teachers. Next, in the National Geographic
Learning Signature Event, Hugh Dellar, Hetain Patel, Gavin McLean and
Gillian Davidson show how members of minority groups and speakers with non-
RP accents may feel alienated. Bias against students from certain racial groups may
even stem from teachers; this is explored by Ali H. Al-Hoorie. Jill Coleman then
reports on a successful programme designed to help EAL students to integrate into
the British school system. The next two papers pick up on a theme introduced by
Dellar et al., that of ELT learner materials development. Jill Hadfield shows that
while covert syllabuses can be negative, they can also serve to enhance group dynamics
and student identity; and Jemma Prior shows how teachers can steer learners away
from language that discriminates against women. The final group of papers addresses
the needs of another minority group: students with learning differences. Anne
Margaret Smith gives advice on how to recognise dyslexia, and Julia Koifman
presents strategies for working with dyslexic students. The chapter ends with a paper
by Diana Metzner, who discusses the testing of learners with visual and auditory
impairments.
4.1Plenary: The native factor: the haves and the have-nots

and why we still need to talk about this in 2016
Silvana Richardson Bell Educational Services, Cambridge, UK
It is often claimed that much has changed in the field of English language teaching
since Peter Medgyes first described the struggle of non-native teachers for due
recognition in 1983. However, away from academic circles, where the discourses that
equated the ideal teacher with the native speaker have been critiqued, the situation
has barely changed for the professional teacher of English whose first language is not
English. This article critically examines the key issues and factors that account for this
unfavourable state of affairs for the vast majority of the EFL teachers in the world
the so-called non-native English-speaking teachers30 years on.
79
Chapter 4: Working towards inclusivity in ELT
Its not only words

The term non-native English-speaking teacher (NNEST) has been repeatedly
condemned by a number of authors and teachers associations. Irrespective of the
arguments put forward to explain why and how NNEST is an inappropriate term,
it is nonetheless still commonly used within the fields of Applied Linguistics and ELT
to refer to English language teachers who started life speaking a language other than
English and who learnt English later on in life. Given its ubiquity and resilience, it
seems necessary to explore the term once again to notice its connotations.
The phrase non-native English-speaking teacher is an instance of the figure of
speech known as litotes, a form of understatement that consists of negating one
quality to assert its opposite. For instance, when someone describes a person by saying
that they are not tall, they are in fact asserting that they are short. However, the use
of litotes in the term non-native poses a number of questions. What positive quality
is being emphasised by stating that someone is a non-native English-speaking teacher?
How is asserting what a teacher is by negating what they are not a respectful and
constructive way of referring to them? More importantly, why does the ELT industry
still refer to an aspect of the professional identity of over 80 per cent of the teachers
of English in the world as a non? How is it possible that the term NNEST is a
legitimate term in the professional discourse of English language teachers, managers,
employers, publishers and academics in 2016? Given that, as Moore (2004) warns, a
discourse has the power to internalise itself and guide our thinking and actions, the
need for the ELT profession, its organisations and other relevant stakeholders to find
a constructive term to refer to professionals whose first language is one other than
English is long overdue.
It is beyond the scope of this paper to propose a new term to replace the phrase
non-native English-speaking teachers once and for all. For the purposes of referring
to the two groups of teachers which are the topic of this paperi.e. those whose first
language is one other than English, and those who started life speaking English
the terms NNEST and NEST will be used respectively between inverted commas
in order to signpost the authors views on the inappropriacy of such terms and her
discomfort using them.
The monolingual bias
In order to understand how in many parts of the world it is still acceptable to
discriminate against professional teachers of English who lack the native factor in
favour of those who have it, it is necessary to look back a hundred years, when the
popularity of the Direct Method meant that foreign language teaching came to be
dominated by the monolingual bias for much of the 20th century. For the purpose of
brevity, the Direct Method can be summarised in one basic rule: the use of the students
own language was not allowed in language lessons. This practice of using English only
as the language of instruction and communication in the classroom was informed by
an idealised view of the native speaker, underpinned by three assumptions: first, that
the ultimate goal of foreign language learning is the acquisition of native speaker-like
competence; second, that the best route for learning a foreign language is emulating
first language acquisition; and third, that the native speaker of a language is the best
80
Plenary: The native factor
model for learning that language (Cook, G. 2010). The flip side of these assumptions
was a deficit view of the learners own language, considered a source of interference
and an obstacle to foreign language learning. The natural consequence of this negative
view of the students own language was a related deficit view of the non-native
speaker as a defective communicator curtailed by an underdeveloped communicative
competence (Firth and Wagner 1997). By implication, these assumptions meant that
a non-native speaker who teaches English is neither an ideal teacher nor an ideal
model.
By the end of the 20th century the notion that the native speaker is the ideal
teacher came under attack by critics such as Davies (1991), who condemned it as
a fine myth and Phillipson (1992), who referred to this idea as the native speaker
fallacy. Despite such criticisms, the view that NESTs are better linguistic models
continues to hold great sway almost two decades into the 21st century, as evidenced
by job advertisements for EFL teachers seeking the services of native speakers, as
well as by teacher development frameworks which use terms such as native speaker
competence in descriptors specifying the language proficiency required of English
language teachers to do their job successfully.
Perhaps one of the most toxic effects of the native speaker fallacy has been the
emergence of a pernicious competence/incompetence dichotomy, with NNESTs
being perceived as deficient or less competent than NESTs (Selvi 2011). This
dichotomy has led to a pointless separation of teachers into us and them camps
(Kaplan 1999, in Kamhi-Stein 2005). English language teaching has become a
profession divided by accidents of birth.
The plight of the have-nots
In many countries today scores of professional teachers who began life speaking a
language other than English continue to experience situations which evidence the
fact that the ELT industry is fundamentally lacking in social justice. The author has
personally experienced discrimination in the workplace on the basis of not being a
native speaker. She has also been the reluctant witness of incidents where highly
competent professionals she worked with were either rejected or considered less
competent than their native speaker colleagues by both managers and students
espousing a firm belief in the native speaker fallacy. Since her plenary on which this
paper is based, the author has been approached by countless teachers who wished
to share their own stories of discrimination, struggles to find work as qualified EFL
teachers and unequal terms and conditions of employment for NESTs and NNESTs
in their professional contexts. Almost invariably, as these colleagues narrated their
moving accounts, the detrimental impact of their experiences on their self-efficacy
and in some cases, on the subsequent direction of their professional careersbecame
clearly palpable.
What, then, are the main causes of the inequality between those teachers who
have and those who lack the native factor? Here are three suggestions: (1) a widely
held perception that customers prefer teachers who are native speakers; (2) largely
unregulated, discriminatory recruitment practices in many parts of the world; and
(3) the legacy of a monolingual teacher training orthodoxy that has by and large
81
perpetuated conditions of privilege for NESTS and of disadvantage for NNESTs.

These three causes are explored below.
Customers prefer native speakers
The perception that customers prefer being taught by NESTs rather than by NNESTs
is often expressed as a universally acknowledged truth. However, in many cases this
claim is unfounded and unsupported by reliable datafor example, data gathered
through a survey on student preferences systematically administered to all the learners
in a given school. Instead, managers and school owners who hold this view tend to
rely on subjective impressions resulting from a few memorable encounters with vocal
students or agents with strong views and are typically unable to ascertain the exact
number of students who have expressed a preference for NESTs.
The research literature on the way in which students perceive NNESTs paints a
different picture. Common conclusions include the findings that students generally
value professional and personal qualities over nativeness, that they often consider
it important that their teachers are able to translate into their own language, and
that both NESTs and NNESTs are perceived to be competent teachers, each with
unique strengths. The issue of student preference itself remains rather inconclusive,
with some studies indicating a preference for both NESTs and NNESTs, others
showing a preference for NNESTs, and others reporting a preference for NESTs.
(Benke and Medgyes; Lasagabaster and Sierra; and Pacek, in Llurda 2005; Cheung
2002; Cook, V. J. 1999; Kelch and Santana-Williamson 2002; Liang 2002; Mahboob
2003; Moussu 2002, 2006; Walkinshaw and Duong 2012). As V. J. Cook (in Llurda
2005: 56) noted, Students are not necessarily as impressed by native speaker teachers
as one might suppose.
The market forces discourse
An argument frequently put forward by many employers for the apparent need to
hire NESTs exclusively is that their customers demand them, and therefore, they
have no choice but to employ native speakers, which means that many competent,
professional NNEST candidates are not selected. As Cinzia, an Italian newly
qualified EFL teacher explains, At almost each interview I have attended so far, I have
been told that students usually prefer a native English speaker and because of this the
companys hands are tied (Guerriero 2016). Both anecdotal evidence from many
teachers like Cinzia and research studies on discriminatory recruitment practices in
different parts of the world (Clark and Paran 2007; Mahboob and Golden 2013;
Selvi 2010) come to similar conclusions, namely, that discriminatory practices against
NNESTs continue to exist and that nativeness is considered to be an important
criterion in recruiting EFL teachers (for example, by 72.3 per cent of the UK-based
managers in Clark and Parans study and in 79 per cent of advertisements from EFL
recruitment websites from East Asia and the Middle East in Mahboob and Goldens
research).
If ELT is to become an equitable industry, then it is crucial to refute the helplessness
discourse often used by employers to justify their recruitment practices and to unmask
the fact that, when language teaching organisations fail to acknowledge their own
agency and responsibility for their choices and actions, they are choosing to collude
82
with prejudice and inequality, and ultimately engaging in discriminatory recruitment

practices.
It is equally important for employers to become aware of the detrimental effect of
job announcements for teaching posts which list native English or native-like fluency
as required qualities on the profession as a whole. The impact of such advertisements is
lucidly described in CATESOLs Position Paper Opposing Discrimination against Non-
Native English Speaking Teachers (NNESTs) and Teachers with Non-standard Varieties
of English (2013):
Teaching job announcements that indicate a preference or requirement for a native
speaker of English trivialize the professional development teachers have received
and teaching experience they have already acquired. Such announcements are also
discriminatory [] [and] ultimately harm all teachers (native or not) by devaluing
teacher education, professionalism, and experience.
Pedagogy of the native speaker
During the second half of the 20th century the field of second language acquisition
(SLA) focused almost exclusively on the study of language as an internal cognitive
process isolated in the mind of the individual learner, a mind largely detached both
from the person it inhabits and the context in which the individual is situated
(Richardson and Thornbury 2016). This confined cognitivist theoretical space resulted
in the development of approaches to language teaching which largely ignored the
social, historical and cultural contexts in which language learning takes place, as well
as the language(s) used in those contexts. As Selvi (2014) points out, such approaches
are essentially monolingual and monocultural, and hence arguably relatively easy to
implement around the world with little inconvenience to the monolingual NEST.
Examples of these approaches and methods include the Audio-Lingual Method,
Communicative Language Teaching, Task-Based Learning and the Lexical Approach.
The enduring appeal of the native speaker as the ideal teacher has meant that
this pedagogy of the NEST has been exported largely unquestioningly to many
countries, where it has been reproduced over the years. Its prolonged hegemony has
been facilitated by activities and artefacts such as theory and research, publishing,
teaching and learning materials, assessment bodies and instruments, teacher education,
and hiring practices, all of which have remained essentially native-speakerist until
relatively recently (Braine 2010; Selvi 2014).
This unquestioned dominance of native-speakerism had a number of consequences
for many. One important consequence has been the unequal distribution of
opportunities for career advancement and privileges (including economic and material
benefits) between NESTs and NNESTs in many parts of the world, as globally
mobile native speaker teachers and teacher trainers have generally benefitted, often
at the expense of competent and qualified local teachers.
Another effect of the predominance of monolingual approaches has been a significant
muffling of the impact of practices, underpinning theories and research studies which
provided evidence that was dissonant with the dominant orthodoxy. A case in point
is the sustained marginalisation of the practice of using of the learners own language
to facilitate foreign language learningthe only possible workable alternative for
the monolingual native speakereven when not only is there no research evidence
83
on whether students learn better in an impossible to code-switch classroom

environment (Macaro in Llurda 2005), but also after findings have indicated that in
some circumstances, teaching which excludes use of the students own language from
the classroom may be less effective [] than translation, and that [] some student
populations deeply resent it (Cook, G. 2010). Despite the fact that a considerable
body of evidence supports affective, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic and pedagogic
arguments for the use of the language(s) the students are proficient in to learn a new
language, the belief that code-switching is bad practice in the EFL classroom is still
deeply engrained among many teachers, both NESTs and NNESTs.
Finally, the issue of the cultural and educational lack of fit of monolingualism
for export cannot be underestimated. Given its perceived superiority and exclusive
omnipresence in the SLA literature, teacher education syllabi and EFL materials, the
NEST pedagogy, which had originally developed in Anglophone countries, was
willingly adopted by many language teaching organisations and teacher educators
and consequently, by many teachersin different parts of the world. In many cases,
this adoption took place with little attention to its appropriacy to the local context,
with mixed results at best, and with problematic consequences, particularly in cultural
and educational environments which were significantly different from those where the
various monolingual approaches had first originated. In such contexts teachers were
left to their own devices as they tried to work out how to manage communicative
activities designed for small classes with very large classes, how to provide a range of
native-like models of language when these were either scarce or simply unavailable to
them, and how to succeed in completely banning the use of their students language
as it kept creeping spontaneously over and over again, at times offering efficient
shortcuts to conveying and understanding meaning. In short, teachers were required to
appropriate and left to implement a pedagogy which in many cases felt uncomfortable
and ineffective to themselves and their students, precisely because it differed markedly
from their own experiences of learning (English) in their own local contexts.
Pathological discourses of NNESTness
Having to work in environments which either consciously or unconsciously promote a
disconnect between ones own language, culture, educational background and personal
histories of learning on the one hand, and an alien methodology underpinned by a
deficit view of non-native speakers competence on the other may cause such teachers
to suppress or separate out essential dimensions of their own identity. This repeated
effort on a daily basis, coupled with their own identification with the deficit view can
be both stressful and profoundly damaging for NNESTs.
In trying to articulate the impact of this phenomenon on NNESTs self-
esteem, self-efficacy and confidence authors have borrowed language used to refer
to psychopathologies. Examples in the NNEST literature include terms such as
NNEST schizophrenia (Medgyes 1983); NNEST inferiority complex (Reves and
Medgyes 1994); I-am-not-a-native-speaker syndrome (Suarez 2000); NNEST
Stockholm syndrome (Llurda 2009, in Bigelow and Johanna Ennser-Kananen 2015);
and NNS impostorhood syndrome (Bernat 2008). These terms denote feelings of
inadequacy and fraudulence frequently experienced by NNESTs, resulting from
their awareness of being in the role of experts in a language that is not their own
84
(Bernat 2008), a language they feel they will never be able to master as well as the
native speaker, who has historically been held up as the ultimate model. While
the futility of this comparison has been pointed out by many, and the idea that the
English language is owned only by its native speakers was questioned over 20 years
ago (Widdowson 1994), this introjected self-perception of inadequacy is very real to
many NNESTs. These feelings of inauthenticity can be exacerbated when language
teaching organisations require teachers to pretend to be a different nationality to
disguise the fact that they are not native English speaking teachers (Kerr 2014).
In such situations, what is left for NNESTs is to deploy dysfunctional impostor
strategies for their professional survival.
Impostor strategies
The two strategies described below have been observed by the author or brought to
her attention in conversations with colleagues and other NNESTs.
Shying away from using English
At times, NNESTs shy away from either modelling language confidently, or from
using English as the language of communication during classroom interaction,
particularly in contexts where teachers and students share a common language. This
shying away is sometimes the result of messages received and introjected by these
teachers during their initial teacher educationfor example, advice against modelling
language themselves, as their own pronunciation was judged as lacking in authenticity,
and encouragement to use authentic native speakers models instead. It is not difficult
to see how such messages might cause these teachers to feel ambivalent about their
own language proficiency, and how this ambivalence could then have an impact on
their confidence using English in class.
Hiding own identity
In contexts where English is the official language, NNESTs sometimes either conceal
from their students the fact that they are not native speakers of English altogether,
or initially conceal this information until their students get to trust them and like
them, and only then reveal the truth. In both cases, their perceived need to hide
an important aspect of their identity for fear of losing face means constructing a
professional persona that is not entirely genuine, which in turn entails having to live
with contradictory thoughts and feelings about their own worth as teachers of an-
other language.
The future of the native factor
As large numbers of NNESTs are still grappling with the issues described above,
a crucial paradigm shift currently unfolding, known as the multilingual turn. The
fact that multilingualism has become the norm in recent years due to globalisation,
increased transnational mobility of the population and the spread of ICT (Cenoz
and Gorter 2015) is ushering in profound changes in perspective which might have
an impact on the future of ELT. The first of these is a shift from the deficit view of
the learners own language to an asset view, which recognises the students proficiency
in the language(s) they know as a valuable resource for learning other languages.
The second shift concerns the way in which many people have come to perceive the
85
ultimate goal of language learning, as near-native competence is no longer thought

of as either a realistic or desirable target by many. This shift has been described as one
from a native speaker view to a bilingual or multilingual view, as an increasing number
of learners, teachers and other stakeholders now believe that the main purpose of
language learning is to become bilingual or plurilingual. Finally, the third shift entails
a change of perspective regarding the main task of language teaching from second
language acquisition to plurilingual development (Hlot and De Meja 2008; Jenkins
2006 in Conteh and Meier 2014; Larsen-Freeman 2012).
A pertinent question to raise is how the multilingual turn could affect those
teachers who speak only English, particularly those working in EFL contexts. Some
authors have speculated that it might disadvantage monolingual English teachers, as
an increased focus on bilingual or multilingual development will necessitate teachers
who can successfully model bilingualism or plurilingualism and facilitate language
learning as a process essentially characterised by learners construction of a bi/
plurilingual identity (Butzkamm and Caldwell 2009).
Overcoming the dichotomy
Given the artificial and pernicious nature of the NEST/NNEST dichotomy, it is
imperative to conceptually re-present the profession in a different way. One alternative,
suggested by Pasternak and Bailey (2004), is to view professionalism as a continuum,
with proficiency in English as only onealbeit importantaspect of professionalism.
Such a continuum would allow for other key dimensions of professionalism to be
taken into account, such as teacher preparedness, knowledge and competence.
The task of overcoming the dichotomy requires a concerted and sustained industry-
wide effort by ethical and principled professionals to take a stand against existing
prejudices, discrimination, inequality, social injustice and unprofessionalism in ELT.
Some suggestions for taking action follow.
Teachers could find out more about NEST/NNEST issues, join advocacy campaigns
(one example is the TEFL Equity Advocates campaign; see http://teflequityadvocates.
com/) and contribute to raising industry awareness by promoting advocacy initiatives
on social media, writing about equality for NESTs and NNESTs, initiating
discussions about equal opportunities employment in their workplace, or conducting
their own research.
As teacher educators have a crucial influence on their teacher learners knowledge,
understanding and attitudes, it is crucial that they review the scope of the programmes
they teach. The following questions might assist them in critically evaluating such
programmes:
1 What is the ultimateperhaps unstatedgoal of the programmes I teach? Is it to
develop well-rounded, critical professionals whose practice is underpinned by both
pedagogical and ethical principles? Is it to produce technicists skilled in monolin-
gual and monocultural approaches?
2 How broad is the content and methodology taught? Are participants given oppor-
tunities to explore the native speaker construct as well as mainstream SLA topics
critically? Is there a native-speakerist bias in the taught approaches and method-
ologies? Do the programmes adequately prepare trainees to integrate global and
local contexts while successfully maintaining the contributions of the latter? Do
86
they equip teachers to work in bi/plurilingual contexts using their students own
language(s) as a learning resource and to support their learners in their develop-
ment of a bilingual identity?
3 (How well) do the programmes support the learning of teachers who need to
further develop their English language proficiency, language awareness or literacy,
irrespective of their home languages?
Language teaching organisations which do not have an equal opportunities policy
should consider putting one in place, while those which have one should ensure that
it is effectively implemented and actively promoted. Reference to the organisations
equal opportunities policy can be an effective tool to challenge customers prejudices
and to explain the organisations recruitment strategy. Also, workplace settings should
recruit teachers on the basis of their qualifications, experience, teaching abilities and
language proficiency, and they should create an inclusive organisational culture that
values equality and diversity.
While a number of teachers associations have recently issued statements against
the discrimination of NNESTs (see, for example, the statements issued by TESOL,
CATESOL and TESOL France), more associations could follow in their example. Also,
associations could join forces to create alignment maps of professional qualifications
for teachers of EFL at regional, national and international levels. As Selvi (2014)
suggests, they could also encourage their members not to apply for positions where the
advertisement is discriminatory and to contact the employer telling them the reasons;
organise awareness-raising and advocacy events and initiatives, and commission and
promote research.
The challenge and the opportunity we are faced with is the re-construction of a
profession where all competent, professional EFL teachers are treated equally and
the diversity we all bring is valued. This can only come true when professionals and
organisations unite to reject our common adversary: discrimination, prejudice and
unprofessionalism.
silvana.richardson@bellenglish.com
References
Bernat, E. 2008. Towards a pedagogy of empowerment: the case of impostor syndrome
among pre-service non-native speaker teachers in TESOL. English Language Teacher
Education and Development Journal 11: 18.
Bigelow M. and J. Ennser-Kananen (eds.). 2015. The Routledge Handbook of Educational
Linguistics. New York: Routledge.
Braine, G. 2010. Nonnative Speaker English Teachers: Research, Pedagogy, and Professional
Growth. New York: Routledge.
Butzkamm, W. and J. Caldwell. 2009. The Bilingual Reform: A Paradigm Shift in Foreign
Language Teaching. Tbingen: Narr Studienbcher.
California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. 2013. CATESOL Position
Paper Opposing Discrimination against Non-Native English Speaking Teachers (NNESTs) and
Teachers with Non-standard Varieties of English. http://64.8.104.26/nnest.pdf.
Cenoz, J. and D. Gorter. 2015. Multilingual Education: Between Language Learning and
Translanguaging. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
87
Cheung, Y. L. 2002. The Attitude of University Students in Hong Kong towards Native and Non-
native Teachers of English. Unpublished M Phil. Thesis, The Chinese University of Hong
Kong.
Clark, E. and A. Paran. 2007. The employability of non-native-speaker teachers of EFL: a UK
survey. System 35/4: 40730.
Conteh, J. and G. Meier. 2014. The Multilingual Turn in Languages Education: Opportunities
and Challenges. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Cook, G. 2010. Translation in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cook, V. J. 1999. Going beyond the native speaker in language teaching. TESOL Quarterly
33/2: 185209.
Davies, A. 1991. The Native Speaker in Applied Linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press.
Firth, A. and J. Wagner. 1997. On discourse, communication, and (some) fundamental
concepts in SLA research. The Modern Language Journal 81/3: 285300.
Guerriero, C. 2016. Introducing Cinzia Guerriero. http://d9e2.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/
introducing-cinzia-guerriero.html.
Hlot, C. and A. M. de Meja (eds.). 2008. Forging Multilingual Spaces: Integrated Perspectives
on Majority and Minority Bilingual Education. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Kamhi-Stein, L. 2005. Research perspectives on non-native English-speaking educators in P.
Bruthiaux, D. Atkinson, W. Eggington, W. Grabe and V. Ramanathan (eds.). Directions in
Applied Linguistics. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Kelch, K. and E. Santana-Williamson. 2002. ESL students attitudes towards native- and non-
native-speaking instructors accents. The CATESOL Journal 14: 5772.
Kerr, P. 2014. Translation and Own-language Activities. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Larsen-Freeman, D. 2012. From unity to diversity to diversity within unity. English
Teaching Forum 50/2: 2838. http://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/english-teaching-
forum-2012-volume-50
Liang, K. Y. 2002. English as a Second Language (ESL) Students Attitudes toward Non-native
English-Speaking Teachers (NNESTs) Accentedness. Unpublished Masters Thesis, California
State University, Los Angeles.
Llurda, E. (ed.). 2005. Non-Native Language Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges and Contributions
to the Profession. New York: Springer.
Mahboob, A. 2003. Status of Non-native English-Speaking Teachers in the United States.
Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.
Mahboob, A. and R. Golden. 2013. Looking for native speakers of English: discrimination in
English language teaching job advertisements. Voices in Asia Journal 1/1: 72.
Medgyes, P. 1983. The schizophrenic teacher. English Language Teaching Journal 37/1: 26.
Moore, A. 2004. The Good Teacher: Dominant Discourses in Teacher Education. Abingdon:
Routledge.
Moussu, L. 2002. English as a Second Language Students Reactions to Non-native English-
Speaking Teachers. Masters Thesis, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No ED 468 879).
Moussu, L. 2006. Native and Non-native English-Speaking English as a Second Language
Teachers: Student Attitudes, Self-Perceptions, and Intensive English Program Administrator
Beliefs and Practices. Ph.D. Dissertation. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind. (ERIC
Document Reproduction Service No ED 492 599).
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I'm a non-native English speaker teacherhear me roar!
Pasternak, M. and K. Bailey. 2004. Preparing nonnative and native English-speaking teachers:
issues of professionalism and proficiency in L. D. Kamhi-Stein (ed.). Learning and Teaching
from Experience: Perspectives on Nonnative English-Speaking Professionals. Ann Arbor: The
University of Michigan Press.
Phillipson, R. 1992. Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Reves, T. and P. Medgyes. 1994. The non-native English speaking EFL/ESL teachers self-
image: an international survey. System 22/3: 35367.
Richardson, S. and S. Thornbury. 2016. Whats new in ELT beside technology? Cambridge
Papers in ELT Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Selvi, A. F. 2010. All teachers are equal, but some teachers are more equal than others: trend
analysis of job advertisements in English language teaching. WATESOL NNEST Caucus
Annual Review 1: 15681.
Selvi, A. F. 2011. The non-native speaker teacher. ELT Journal 65/2: 1879.
Selvi, A. F. 2014. Myths and misconceptions about nonnative English speakers in TESOL
(NNEST) movement. TESOL Journal 5/3: 573611.
Suarez J. 2000. Native and non-native: not only a question of terminology. Humanizing
Language Teaching 2/6. http: www.hltmag.co.uk/nov09/mart.htm.
Walkinshaw I. and O. T. H. Duong. 2012. Native- and non-native speaking English teachers
in Vietnam: weighing up the benefits. TESL-EJ 16/3: 117.
Widdowson, H. G. 1994. The ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly 28/2: 37789.
4.2 Im a non-native English speaker teacherhear me roar!

Dita Phillips British Study Centres, Oxford, UK
In this presentation, I shared five strategies to boost the confidence of non-native
English-speaker teachers and to help them be open about, and proud of, the fact that
they are non-natives. These are strategies that I have developed as a teacher trainer over
the last seven years.
1 Provide role models
When I started my first EFL teaching job in the UK, I was worried because I believed
that students wanted native-speaker teachers. But in fact, when I revealed to my
students that I was a non-native, their response was overwhelmingly positive: they
were interested and pleased, and they began to view me as a kind of role model. I
believe that all non-native speaker teachers deserve a Eureka moment like this.
As teachers and/or trainers we should make the most of our potential as role models
and be open about our background. We should also make students aware of other
potential role models, for example through websites such as NNEST of the Month
(https://nnestofthemonth.wordpress.com/) or (if possible) by inviting non-native
speaker teachers to talk at our schools as guest speakers.
2 Create discussion
Teachers who visit the UK to study on refresher courses often state that they expect
their trainers to be native speakers. This creates a dilemma for non-native trainers
89
like me. If I reveal that I am not a native speaker, teachers can sometimes react in a
negative way. In my experience, the best way to deal with this issue is to raise the topic
of native- and non-native teachers for discussion.
On courses with both types of teacher, this topic often comes up naturally, but this
can degenerate into a discussion of individual teachers weaknesses. A more objective
way to create discussion is through the topic of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF).
An excellent resource for this is a BBC radio programme of the same name, available
at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013q210. This always generates good
discussion, and teachers can decide themselves how much of their personal experience
they wish to reveal.
3 Build teachers confidence about their English
I have met many non-native English-speaker teachers with language level C2 or above
who feel self-conscious about their English. Such teachers often forget that language
proficiency is only one element of teacher proficiency.
It is essential for teachers to keep improving their English, but as trainers, we
also have to build their confidence about what they know already. I have found that
using authentic materials (chosen with the teachers specific needs in mind) can help
to do this. For example, I use a recording from a football press conference (http://
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/scotland/21031682) to elicit a list of what students might find
challenging about such a listening task (jargon, noise, etc.). Teachers are typically able
to list up to 20 points, but, most importantly, they have little difficulty understanding
the listening themselves; this helps to make them feel more confident about their
English.
4 Focus on teaching pronunciation
I once heard a teacher say that she couldnt teach pronunciation because she wasnt a native
speaker. It is crucial for trainers to help teachers distinguish between pronunciation
and accent, and to enable them to see that while the former matters, the latter does
not. I believe that teachers should finish a training course feeling positive about
teaching pronunciation. To encourage this, they need to have the opportunity to try
out pronunciation tasks themselves. These should be chosen with the needs of the
particular group in mind, but activities from pronunciation resource books (such as
Mark Hancocks Pronunciation Games) typically prove very popular.
5 Connect peers
Non-native speaker teachers sometimes lack confidence because (as non-natives) they
feel somewhat isolated. They are also often unaware of opportunities that exist for
non-native speaker teachers in other countries, including English-speaking countries.
In order to deal with this, trainers need to help teachers connect with other non-native
speaker teachers, for example, by encouraging courses that bring together teachers
from different countries and backgrounds, or through programmes such as the EUs
Erasmus+ funding that give teachers the chance to train with non-native speaker
teachers working in other countries.
In addition, trainers need to make teachers/trainees aware of the enormous global
community of non-native teachers and their supporters. This can be done via social
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National Geographic Learning Signature Event
media, such as the Facebook groups NNEST, Equity Advocates, Budapest nNEST,
etc., or websites such as TEFL Equity Advocates (https://teflequityadvocates.com/) or
Non-native English Speakers in TESOL Interest Section (http://nnest.moussu.net/). For
further reading, I recommend the blog https://multilingually.wordpress.com/.
dita.phillips@british-study.com
Reference
Hancock, M. 1995. Pronunciation Games. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4.3National Geographic Learning Signature Event: What does it

mean to be a global citizen?
Convenor: Hugh Dellar National Geographic Learning/London Language Lab,
London, UK, with Hetain Patel London, UK; Gavin McLean National
Geographic Learning, Winchester, UK ; Gillian Davidson EC, Manchester, UK
Introduction
Back in 2010, Audrey Osler, director of the Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights
Education at the University of Leeds claimed that education for living together in an
interdependent world is not an optional extra, but an essential foundation (Osler and
Starkey 2010). In the intervening years, the idea of being a global citizen has become
increasingly present in much educational discourse. Indeed, few would now dispute
that educators have a central role to play in helping our students to develop a sense
of global citizenship. It was with this in mind that National Geographic Learning
decided to focus on this areaand in particular on the place and status of English
within the global communityas the theme for their signature event at Birmingham
IATEFL.
The event consisted of a 30-minute presentation by renowned artist and TED
speaker Hetian Patel, followed by brief presentations on the theme by a panel that
featured Hetain, Hugh Dellar, Gavin McLean (Global ELT publisher, National
Geographic Learning) and Gillian Davidson (Group Academic Director, EC Schools).
Finally, there was an open slot where audience members added comments of their
own and asked the panel questions.
Hetain Patel
In his talk, Hetain explored the way in which any question about where one is from
is increasingly hard to answer for many in the modern world, and how the underlying
meaning of the question itself can vary wildly depending on who is asking itand
why. Born in Lancashire to parents of Indian descent but who had emigrated from
East Africa, Hetains mother tongue was what he described as a low form of Gujarati,
and it was only at primary school that he started really taking English on board.
Of course, as he was studying at a local state school, the main input he received
was a defiantly Bolton variant, generally delivered in a broad accent that suggested
pride in working-class roots, and that spoke of the solidarity of blue-collar workers.
91
On leaving school, Hetain studied in Nottingham, where he found himself living

in shared accommodation with other students from right across the British Isles. It
was during this time that he became fascinated with the way geographical distance
from ones roots can lead some to exaggerate their own accents and, indirectly, their
identities and yet can also lead to a modification, a reduction of ones accent as one
seeks common ground with others from elsewhere.
This process of moderating and adapting the way we speak in order to bring ourselves
closer to those were engaging with is what Howard Giles has called communication
accommodation. Giles argues that when people interact they adjust their speech,
their vocal patterns and their gestures, to accommodate to others (1979) and he also
discusses in great detail the twin notions of convergence and divergencethe very
thing Hetain noticed while living in shared digs.
The process of adaptation continued when he moved to London and found himself
in the art world, mixing firstly with more middle- and upper-middle-class people, but
also with a wildly diverse mix of international speakers of English, too. The question
of where the authentic self resides amid all of this linguistic shape-shifting, and the
degree to which we can even be said to have one single authentic self, lies at the heart
of the art Hetain produces, and his idea that we learn who we are by copying others
clearly struck a chord with many in the room.
The panel
There then followed three brief responses from the other panel members. I kicked this
section off myself. As the child of a middle-class northern mother and a working-class
London father, and as the first child in my family to go to university, I found that
Hetains descriptions of taking on different accents as one moves between different
worlds was one that resonated very deeply with me personally. Also, of course, as a
teacher Ive long been aware of the way in which my classroom voice differs from
what might perhaps be called my pub voice, while my conference-speaker voice is
a similar, but slightly more pronounced version of that which I teach with. Gavin
McLean and Gillian Davidson noted that the talk had made them instantly more
aware of the degree to which they both fell into a more Scottish mode of expression
when talking to each other, in terms of both accent and lexical choicesand how
natural and comfortable it felt to do so.
The discussion then moved on to what the implications of all of this may be for the
English language classroom. There were suggestions that perhaps there ought to be a
slightly reduced role for both native-speaker-rooted cultural content and idiomaticity
in the English we teach (see English as a Lingua Franca: A Corpus-based Analysis by
Luke Prodromou for a more thorough overview of this position), though this also
was tempered by a recognition that a consideration of learner level was of central
importance when it comes to making decisions about what doesand doesntbelong
in any particular course. In addition, there was general agreement that publishing has
started moving away from the days of what might be termed a tourist board approach
to representing British culture (see Alastair Pennycooks Linguistic Imperialism for a
rigorous critique of this phenomenon), an approach that had always left all of the
panellists feeling slightly disenfranchised due to its very southern, very white, very
middle-class RP bias, and that there has been a markedand most welcomemove
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National Geographic Learning Signature Event
towards representation of different English users around the world, certainly within
the National Geographic Learning material we were most familiar with.
Questions and comments from the floor
Finally, there was 15 minutes of audience-led interaction. Perhaps most striking was
the number of people who wanted to share their own experiences of having to learn
a range of different accents within their own mother tongues, and who felt that this
was often a reflection of moves into new roles and identities. The general feeling was
that this was frequently driven by geographical relocation, but also on occasion the
result of moving into different social circles within the same physical setting one had
lived in for some time.
There was also plenty of anger about what is widely perceived as continuing
prejudiceboth within society at large, but also, sadly, within ELT as welltowards
accents that dont match the outdated RP models still prioritised with some material.
Two teachers, one from the north of England and one from Trinidad, shared their
own experiences of enduring negative comments about the way they spoke, and there
was general consensus that more still needs to be done before full equality of phonetic
variation is achieved. It should, however, be noted that the self-selecting members of
this particular audience may not be fully representative of the profession as a whole,
and there may well have been some preaching to the already converted involved with
regard to these issues!
Perhaps the most positive aspect to emerge from this part of the session was
something captured in a comment by a young teacher from the Caribbean, currently
working in the Netherlands. Frustrated by what she saw as the Anglo-centric
nature of the classroom material she had been given to work with, and by the fact
it contained absolutely no representation of her own national culture whatsoever,
she had started making her own materials and teaching students about what she saw
as cultural cornerstones of Caribbean life, such as Carnival. The move by teachers
who feel excluded or under-represented in traditional ELT materials towards materials
creation and the development of greater cross-culture awareness in their students is
truly exciting, and is, of course, made all the more enticing by the way these creations
can be instantly shared with a global audience via technology.
Final thoughts
To conclude, it seems apt to summarise a few of the key points that were made during
the signature event.
There needs to be a greater effort to include a wide range of both native and non-
native accents in ELT materials, to ensure students are exposed to the language as it
truly spoken. As a National Geographic author myself, this is something Ive tried
hard to integrate and its been heartening to also see others picking up this baton.
An individuals accent is often intimately connected to personal identity and this
may well be just as true in a second language as it is in a first.
At the same time, learners of a second language may have particularly strong rea-
sons for wishing to imitate and take on a particular accent from within a native-
speaking country. For instance, a Japanese student with a passion for Liverpool
Football Club may make serious efforts to sound Scouse.
93
Part of teaching students to become truly global citizens involves instilling the val-
ues of tolerance and acceptance, along with a recognition of linguistic and cultural
diversity.
We should all be aware of our tendencies to make assumptions about others based
on their accents, names, backgrounds, and so onand through being conscious of
this, attempt to resist it.
ELT materials have come a long way in the last 20 years, but the move for greater
representation and acceptance of diversity is a journey rather than a destination,
and its a journey we are all still on.
hugh@londonlanguagelab.com
References
Giles, H. and P. Smith. 1979. Accommodation theory: optimal levels of convergence in H.
Giles and R. N. St. Clair (eds.). Language and Social Psychology. Baltimore: Basil Blackwell.
Osler, A. and H. Starkey. 2010. Teachers and Human Rights Education. London: Trentham
Books.
Pennycook, A. 1992. Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Prodromou, L. 2010. English as a Lingua Franca: A Corpus-Based Anaylsis. London:
Bloomsbury.
4.4Prejudiced against your own students? Teachers unconscious

bias
Ali H. Al-Hoorie Nottingham University, UK and The English Language Institute,
Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia
Is it possible that you are prejudiced? For many people this is an unnerving question.
Especially teachers. In this modern world, almost everybody would like to think
of themselves as holding egalitarian views. However, unconscious biases can exist
alongside conscious impartiality.
In this paper, I will first briefly describe the idea behind implicit attitudes and then
summarise three empirical studies on the effect of implicit attitudes on perception
and behaviour. Finally, I will consider the relevance of these findings to the language
classroom.
Implicit attitudes
The term implicit attitudes refers to unconscious biases. These biases could be
related to different domains, such as gender, race, social class and religious affiliation.
As an illustration, if you ask somebody whether women should be entitled to have
professional careers, that person might stare blankly at you, wondering whether you
are in the right century. However, psychological research has shown that beneath
this egalitarian surface, it is still possible to have a more gloomy view. This idea has
support from neuroscience research, which shows that explicit and implicit attitudes
are related to different regions in the brain.
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Prejudiced against your own students? Teachers' unconscious bias
Three empirical studies

In one study, Hugenberg and Bodenhausen (2003) showed their participants faces of
White or Black persons on a computer screen. The faces changed slowly from angry
to happy or vice versa. The participants were instructed to click a button once they
perceived a change in the expression of the face they were looking at. The researchers
also collected the participants explicit racial attitudes (through a questionnaire) and
implicit attitudes (through a reaction-time psychological test). The results showed
that implicit, but not explicit, prejudice was associated with greater readiness to
detect anger in Black, but not White, faces. The researchers conclude that European
Americans high in implicit racial prejudice are biased to perceive threatening affect in
Black but not White faces, suggesting that the deleterious effects of stereotypes may
take hold extremely early in social interaction (2003: 640).
In a second study, Lynch (2010) examined humour. Lynch asked his participants
to watch a standup comedy routine performed by Bill Burr. The jokes that the
comedian told had some racial and gendered overtones. The researcher videotaped
the participants while they were watching the show and examined the Duchenne
smile, which can be used to determine whether laughter is genuine or not because
it is hard to fake. The results showed that those with implicit racial bias laughed at
racial jokes while those with implicit gender bias laughed at gendered jokes. Lynch
concluded that the result support the folk psychological belief that we find things
funny because we think they are true (2010: 141).
In a third study, Green et al. (2007) examined the implicit attitudes of real-life
doctors. At the explicit level, the doctors did not show any preference for either
White or Black patients, which is what we expect from professional physicians. At
the implicit level, however, the researchers did find implicit preference for Whites in
terms of perceptions of cooperativeness. More disturbingly, the higher the pro-White
bias, the higher the likelihood that the doctors prescribed to White (but not Black)
patients the correct medical procedure (thrombolysis for myocardial infarction in this
case). The researchers concluded that physicians unconscious biases may contribute
to racial/ethnic disparities in use of medical procedures (2007: 1,231).
Applications in the language class
It is not hard to see how these findings can be relevant to the classroom. If doctors,
whose decisions can be a matter of life and death, can be implicitly influenced by
aspects like race and perceived level of cooperativeness of difference races, then
teachers might be in the same boat. If teachers have implicit attitudes that students
from a certain minority are less cooperativeespecially boysthen this implicit
attitude might be reflected in the teachers day-to-day behaviour in the classroom.
This behaviour may in turn lead to self-fulfilling prophesies, thus causing a downward
spiral of events.
On a more optimistic note, this research does not suggest that people are just
hopeless when it comes to their implicit attitudes. Conscious knowledge of a potentially
negative attitude can help one counteract it. In the Green et al. study on medical
doctors, for example, the researchers had one group of doctors who were informed
95
in advance of their potential implicit bias. This knowledge helped to neutralise their
implicit attitudes. As the saying goes, knowledge is power.
hoorie_a@jic.edu.sa
References
Green, A. R., D. R. Carney, D. J. Pallin, L. H. Ngo, K. L. Raymond, L. I. Iezzoni and M. R.
Banaji. 2007. Implicit bias among physicians and its prediction of thrombolysis decisions
for black and white patients. Journal of General Internal Medicine 22/9: 12318.
Hugenberg, K. and G. V. Bodenhausen. 2003. Facing prejudice: Implicit prejudice and the
perception of facial threat. Psychological Science 14/6: 6403.
Lynch, R. 2010. Its funny because we think its true: Laughter is augmented by implicit
preferences. Evolution and Human Behavior 31/2: 1418.
4.5Supporting learners with English as an Additional Language in

London schools
Jill Coleman The Bell Foundation, Cambridge, UK
The context
There are over a million 518 year olds in UK schools who are speakers of other
languages, and few concessions are made to the pupils with poor or non-existent
English. They are expected to follow the National Curriculum while learning the
language in which it is delivered. The dedicated funding which existed to support
these pupils has been subject to financial cutbacks in recent years.
The project
I described a partnership between the Bell Foundation, a charity with a five-year
programme to improve educational outcomes for children in the UK with English as
an Additional Language (EAL) and Renaisi, a social enterprise employing Bilingual
Advisers (RBAs) who work in London schools, offering one-to-one mentoring,
interpreting and signposting, and building relationships between schools and families.
Recruited mainly on the strength of their languages and people skills however, these
RBAs had not received much classroom practitioner training.
This project sought to address through five workshops demonstrating practical
activities the RBAs could use with pupils and their parents to develop the skills
required to speak, listen, read and write in English, and to improve vocabulary and
grammar knowledge. We explored ideas on the EAL Nexus website (https://eal.
britishcouncil.org/teachers/eal-nexus-resources), an excellent resource managed by
The Bell Foundation. Part of each workshop was devoted to the exploration of specific
problems and possible solutions. Each participant produced a portfolio describing the
approaches they piloted with one or some of their learners and the progress made.
Some positive outcomes
One success story involved a 15-year-old Bangladeshi pupil, born in the UK but
speaking Bengali at home. Having only a poor level of academic English and therefore
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Supporting learners with English as an Additional Language in London schools
being reluctant to read, she lacked motivation. The RBA gave her targeted classroom
one-to-one support, asking concept-checking questions to ensure she had understood
the lesson content and the teachers instructions, and providing differentiated support
with the tasks, such as scaffolding or (for reading) simplification. Co-operation
between the teachers and the RBA was necessary to facilitate this, and indeed one of
the aims of the project had been to increase the RBAs confidence and assertiveness
in this regard.
Another advisor helped four students who, arriving from South America aged 15,
faced a critical exam period. She helped them prepare for GCSE exams by giving
them resources in both English and Spanish and study packs to practise English at
home. She also paired them with existing Spanish-speaking buddies and provided
homework clubs to monitor self-study time and assist when there were problems. Two
got top grades in their exams, and are now studying for A Levels. One of them was
also standing for election to Islington Youth Council. The other two did well and are
studying Health and Social Care at College, hoping for careers in childcare.
Another advisor worked with a Somali family with three children aged 11, 8 and 6,
who had come to the UK via Sweden. The parents were culture-shocked and initially
hostile, and there was little homeschool communication. The RBA decided to focus
on the mother, engaging her in informal playground chats, and encouraging her to join
an outreach programme. She was given support with simple verbal communication,
for example, how to make small talk, what to say when phoning the school to report
an absence, how to make a doctors appointment. We explored ideas on how to give
training for this in one of our workshops. This advisor also set up a meeting between
the parents and the school staff (and acted as interpreter for this), which resulted in
a much better relationship between them, and had a gradual beneficial effect on the
childrens attendance and attainment.
Conclusions
The RBAs are dedicated workers with highly developed interpersonal skills, able to
encourage participation by all (as advocated by The Ofsted Good Practice Guide for
EAL, 2014). They are role models for EAL learners, and understand the potential
problems they face (having in some cases had similar experiences themselves).
Given enhanced classroom skills, the impact they can make on learner attainment is
considerable.
On a personal level I gained many things from this project, including a better
understanding of the types of classroom practice which are ideal for EAL learners.
These are hands-on activities where possible, and those which promote interpersonal
skills, cultural sensitivity and natural reasons for communication. Other learners can
also benefit from these in many ways. Finally, I realised that the first language can be
an important learning tooland this turned out to be a bit of a theme at this years
conference!
jill.coleman@bellenglish.com
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4.6 Covert syllabuses

Jill Hadfield Unitec, Auckland, New Zealand
The term covert syllabus, which refers to the unwritten, unofficial, and often
unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn in school (edglossary.
org/hidden-curriculum/) usually has a negative connotation. In EFL materials
this could mean, for example, unconsciously sexist or racist materials. Some older
textbooks contain many stereotypes, such as the following:
Mrs. James: Youve been drinking whisky.
Mr. James: Only one, dear.
Mrs. James: Youve been smoking cigars.
Mr. James: Only one, dear.
Mrs. James: Youve been kissing girls.
Mr. James: Only one, dear. (Granger and Hicks 1978)
Participants discussed more modern covert agendas in textbooks and suggested
these: a middle-class cast of characters; an emphasis on travel and holidays which
their students were unable to afford; and an emphasis on competition, materialism or
glorification of the celebrity culture.
Covert syllabuses mostly seem to stem from a lack of inclusiona lack of women,
a lack of cultural diversity, etc.but sometimes they may spring from unconscious
over-inclusion, for example, from the materials writers core energies. This is my term
for the particular forces that drive a writer and give colour to their writing, but it can
also mean that their writing shows a bias towards certain types of activity (Hadfield
2014). These energies can, of course, be positive in themselves, leading the writer to
design creative and engaging activities, but the writer should be careful that their own
bias does not lead to an over-reliance on one kind of activity. It could be argued that
online courses which depend on a limited range of mechanical exercises with only one
right answer, such as drag and drop, matching and gap fill, have the covert agenda
that creativity, experimentation and affect have nothing to do with language learning,
whereas research shows that they have a positive effect.
However, covert syllabuses do not have to be negative. I first used this term in a
positive sense in my book Classroom Dynamics (1993), using it to mean activities
which have an overt language learning aim but a kind of secret group dynamic aim
tucked inside the language learning aim, which is invisible to the student and thus
non-overt. The teacher does not say to the students, Now we are going to do an
activity which will help you empathise with other group members, but instead does
an activity which overtly practises, say, the present simple, but in a way that encourages
empathy by asking students to complete a questionnaire as if they were their partner
(see I Am You from Classroom Dynamics).
Since then I have expanded my use of positive covert syllabuses in materials written
for Motivating Learning (2014) to include other things such as an L2 identity-building
syllabus which can co-exist with the overt language learning syllabus throughout a
course.This is based on research by Bonny Norton and Tan Bee Tin showing that
creative activities increase student sense of empowerment and contribute to L2
identity. I would argue therefore that inclusion of creative activities such as writing
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Too PC for ELT? The invisibility of non-sexist language in coursebooks
and drama should be part of a positive covert syllabus, written in by the author.
For example in Motivating Learning I designed activities to heighten awareness of
language learning strategies and possible obstacles to learning as a rap creation and a
film scene creation respectively, rather than analytic activities in order to build a sense
of L2 identity.
Why should such syllabusesa group dynamic-building and an identity-building
syllabusbe covert? These syllabuses are rarely if ever included in course syllabuses,
so will not form part of the overt course aims. Further, these processes are affective,
not cognitive; therefore, they operate best at an affective, non-explicit level. Indeed,
it would rather undermine the activity if they were made overt, for example, with the
teacher saying, Now we are going to do an activity which will increase your cohesion
as a group, or This activity will help to build your second language identity.
My final question was: How can we avoid a negative covert agenda and also build
in a positive group agenda? My suggestions for this included various checklists and
self-evaluation procedures. For example, for avoiding negative covert syllabuses the
checklists focused not only on avoiding various undesirable agendas but also on being
aware of your own unconscious bias in designing activities. Different checklists were
also presented to participants for inclusion of a sufficient variety of activities, for a
group dynamics syllabus and for an identity-building syllabus.
charjill@xtra.co.nz
References
Granger, C. and T. Hicks. 1978. Contact English 2. Oxford: Macmillan Education.
Hadfield, J. 1993. Classroom Dynamics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hadfield, J. 2014. Motivating Learning. Abingdon: Routledge.
4.7Too PC for ELT? The invisibility of non-sexist language in

coursebooks
Jemma Prior Free University of Bozen/Bolzano, Italy
How often have your learners said something like a doctor should know how to deal
with his patients or a policemans job is to catch criminals? Particularly for teachers
working with learners who have a grammatically gendered first language, this sexist
or gendered language can be very common, even at higher levels. However, for many
proficient speakers of English, this language usage is at best awkward and at worst
offensive.
Despite non-sexistotherwise known as gender-neutrallanguage being actively
promoted in international contexts including education, business and publishing
among others, and its widespread use not only in English-speaking countries but
worldwide, where English is used as an international language of communication,
current ELT coursebooks, including those in EAP, contain little reference to gender-
neutral language. This implies that any teaching of this aspect is left to the discretion of
individual teachers. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that learners are often completely
unaware that using gendered language might be problematic.
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So, what is sexist language?

Some of the more common examples that are often produced by learners of English
include:
using the generic pronouns he and him when referring to people in general;
including gender in job titles, e.g. businessman, police woman;
using Mrs and Miss for womens titles, especially in professional contexts; and
starting a letter or email with Dear Sir.
Other examples of this type of language, which you may have never considered
before, are:
male firstness, e.g. men and women, male and female; and
equivalents where semantic derogation has made the female version less presti-
gious or there are sexual connotations, e.g. master/mistress, bachelor/spinster.
Very simply, sexist language is language that creates an unfair distinction between
the sexes; very often this type of language excludes women or renders them powerless
and even invisible.
Whats the situation today?
Over the past couple of decades, legislation prohibiting sex discrimination in the
workplace has created a need for gender-neutral occupational terms (like chairperson,
firefighter) in job advertisements and descriptions, and employment contracts and
laws. Moreover, in education, concern about the effects of sexism in educational
materials which play a role in the socialisation of children has led to the adoption of
gender-neutral language by many publishers.
And in ELT?
Over the years there have been various studies on gender imbalance in ELT coursebooks
focusing on critical content issues including poor representation of female characters
and the stereotyping of personality traits and professional roles.
However, despite Tomlinsons (2013: 29) assertion that materials should expose
the learners to language in authentic use and they should reflect the reality of
language use, ELT coursebooks do not provide language input to help learners deal
explicitly with using gender-neutral language. This is even more surprising when
examining EAP coursebooks that are used with advanced-level students, who often
continue studying in an English-language institution, or who might be seeking a job
in a company in an international English-language context where sexist language is
not acceptable.
Integrating gender-neutral language into the classroom
Given the total invisibility of this language feature in coursebooks, it would be useful
for teachers to introduce it themselves. Some activities that could be used are as
follows:
1 Provide learners with example sentences such as the ones below and ask them to
discuss the situations, without drawing their attention to gendered language. Then
once they have discussed them, where they will have inevitably used the generic
male pronouns, discuss why this happened (Wallwork 1997).
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How to spot dyslexia: a field guide for teachers
a. A manager realises an employee is stealing from the company. How should the
manager deal with this situation?
b. A pedestrian sees a cyclist involved in a road accident. What should the
pedestrian do?
2 Provide learners with sexist sayings, such as mans best friend or no man is an
island and ask them to try to make them gender neutraltry it for yourself!
3 Use a search engine to find images of professions and compare results. You will
find jobs such as doctor or manager will almost exclusively produce images of
men, while nurse will produce images of women. Discussion will then ensue.
4 Teach singular they, which is becoming more and more acceptable, even in more
formal writing.
Conclusion
So, is this topic too PC for ELT? I dont believe it is, but the total invisibility of
explicitly referencing non-sexist language in modern ELT/EAP coursebooks does
not reflect language in use and could cause learners serious difficulties when using
language in real life. Integrating some of these activities would therefore redress the
balance and help your learners deal with this important aspect of modern English.
jemma.prior@unibz.it
References
Tomlinson, B. (ed.). 2013. Developing Materials for Language Teaching. London: Bloomsbury.
Wallwork, A. 1997. Discussions AZ Advanced. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4.8 How to spot dyslexia: a field guide for teachers

Anne Margaret Smith ELT well, Lancaster, UK
Even if none of our students have been officially identified as having dyslexia, some
specific learning differences (SpLDs) may become apparent in the language classroom.
It is important that English teachers know what to be on the lookout for, and to
undertake thorough and systematic observations of any learner that they have concerns
about, so that appropriate interventions can be put in place and learners do not fall
behind their peers and lose motivation.
This talk outlined a few simple tasks that teachers could incorporate into their
usual classroom practice that help identify students who have SpLDs such as dyslexia.
Even if students or their parents are reluctant to discuss and address the issue, it is
still possible for teachers to find out more about how the learners cognitive profiles
are affecting their language learning, by considering these things: the students
backgrounds, their development of L1 literacy practices, their memory, their speed of
processing and their phonological processing.
Background information
First of all, and most importantly, we need to find out as much as possible about the
students linguistic profiles (which languages they can use or have been exposed to);
101
their general health (including their eyesight and hearing); their previous educational
experiences; and their family situations. This may be done through asking students to
complete questionnaires, such as those found in the CAML assessment suites (Smith
2015), or by asking the class to write (or produce orally) a short autobiographical
piece, including these key pieces of information. The opinions of other teachers that
work with the student should also be gathered to see if any difficulties noticed occur
in all classes, or only in certain situations.
If the perceived difficulties cannot be accounted for by anything we discover
this way, it would be worth conducting tasks that allow us to evaluate our students
cognitive functioning.
Literacy development
If the learners have developed literacy practices in their first or strongest languages, it
is worth giving the class some blank paper and ten minutes to do some free writing in
their own languages. Watch as they write, and note which learners are slower to start
writing, who write much less than their peers, as well as whether or how they check their
work. Learners who have not had the chance to develop literacy in their own languages
may be asked to do some copying of geometric patterns instead, to allow observation
of pen control and visual perception, which underpin literacy development. If these
are weak, targeted intervention would be needed to strengthen these skills.
Memory
Activities that enable the evaluation of memory include My aunt had a party and she
invited [add members of the class] for auditory memory, and Kims game for visual
memory. Both of these could be done as a small-group activity, while the teacher
observes who is doing well with it and who is struggling. These tasks could lead into
discussions of memory strategies, which would be helpful for all learners.
Speed of processing
In the normal course of teaching it can be observed which students need more time to
complete tasks than their peers. However, there are also short tasks that could be done
with students, such as seeing how quickly they can name a series of familiar objects or
a string of numbers (using their own language if possible). This allows us to see how
quickly students are able to retrieve verbal information in response to a visual prompt.
Students who find these tasks challenging may have slower-than-typical processing
and may require extra time in exams or coursework tasks.
Phonological processing
There are several aspects of phonological processing that can be evaluated through
whole-group activities, including students sense of rhythm and their ability to
manipulate individual sounds in words. Asking the class to reproduce a given rhythm
is one way to see if anybody lacks a secure sense of rhythm, which may need attention
in order to acquire accurate sentence stress patterns. Asking students to remove an
individual sound from a familiar word (for example, say cat without /k/) may reveal
students whose phonological manipulation skills are weaker than usual and may need
more explicit phonics input.
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Visual learning tools for students with dyslexia
Only qualified assessors can formally identify dyslexia, of course, but by getting to
know our learners better, we can see who may be at risk of dyslexia. Most importantly,
this investigation makes it possible to adapt our teaching to suit the needs of students
who learn in a different way.
ams@eltwell.co.uk
Reference
Smith, A. M. 2015. Cognitive Assessments for Multilingual Learners: Young Learners version /
Cognitive Assessments for Multilingual Learners PLUS. Lancaster: ELT well.
4.9 Visual learning tools for students with dyslexia

Julia Koifman Beit Ekshtein High School, Rupin, Israel
Introduction
Visual online ESL lessons, in addition to traditional ones, are widely practiced in
Israeli schools for students with specific learning differences (SpLDs). OConnell et
al. say, Technology use can be a key factor for some students in turning a learning
disability into a learning difference (2010:4). A great deal of research shows that visual
learning tools help students with dyslexia and other SpLDs retrieve and remember
information better. My students download them on their personal laptops, cell phones
and iPads in order to complete the task and to bypass an area of difficulty (Young and
McCormack 2014).
Concentration and motivation
According to Lavoie (2015), The key to motivating the child with attentional
problems is to modify and adjust the learning environment. Although technology
works well to involve SpLDs students in learning, some of my students still find it
difficult to focus in class; this applies mainly to those who have both dyslexia and
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Therefore, I try to reduce the level
of distraction in the room and seat distractible children close to me. After I have
caught their attention, it is time to start teaching.
The research in both educational theory and cognitive psychology tells us that
although SpLDs students are not the same and have different learning styles, visual
learning is among the very best methods for teaching students of all ages how to think
and how to learn. Thanks to visual learning tools such as pictures, graphic organisers,
videos and more, dyslexic students learn how to follow computerised instructions and
do self-checking tasks. (OConnell et al.). As a result, they become more motivated
and achieve greater academic success.
Dyslexia and visual learning strategies
Since students affected by dyslexia have difficulties with reading and writing, they can
learn new information by seeing it. Presenting pictures as a part of the instruction
avoids misunderstanding and motivates them. Using online pictures and videos,
especially while teaching new vocabulary, grammar and storytelling, is one of the
103
most effective strategies. While storytelling online, students can see the images and
listen to the stories at the same time (OConnell et al.). This method greatly enhances
their skills of listening comprehension and speaking when they retell the stories later.
Since many dyslexic students are good at art and handcrafts, they can prepare their
own pictures and images and share them with their classmates while working in pairs
and groups. This form of multisensory teaching is highly recommended by the Israeli
Association for Children with SpLDs.
Another strategy to use with dyslexic students is using colour. My students like it
and prefer highlighting all the necessary information. Thus, while teaching spelling,
highlighting specific letter combinations works well. Teachers can use traditional
flashcards or sites for overcoming dyslexia with a large variety of spelling drills and
gap-fill exercises, which they can check themselves. Highlighting in bright colours is
also effective while teaching certain grammar structures, mainly because it attracts
the students attention. While reading e-books, they can see the spelling of the words
highlighted and pronounced simultaneously, which makes them repeat, memorise
and learn new vocabulary. Finally, in order to avoid misunderstanding, highlighting
the online instructions in different colours prevents frustration, reduces stress and lets
students focus on what is really important.
Graphic organisers and diagrams are also helpful to students with dyslexia. It is
another great strategy, which provides a great visual representation of information
(Young and McCormack 2014). There are many free graphic organisers on the
Internet, so teachers can download them for teaching spelling, vocabulary, grammar
and storytelling. Students can use them for giving creative, colorful, multimodal,
and enjoyable presentations in class (Lavoie 2015). I practise this activity in order
to develop their speaking and listening skills. Many ESL textbooks with graphic
organisers, approved by the Israeli Ministry of Education, are very popular in the
local SpLDs schools.
Conclusion
Dyslexic students face greater challenges in learning ESL than their peers and need
more support from their teachers, who can teach both traditional lessons with printed
textbooks, pictures and flashcards and computerised ones. According to modern
researchers, downloadable visual tools, which appear all the time, work better to meet
the individual needs of SpLDs students. With the help of these simple techniques,
teachers can prepare interesting, motivating and success-oriented lessons to get
dyslexic students involved in the classroom activities and to help them succeed in
their future studies.
f3djd@yahoo.ca
References
Lavoie, R. 2015. Motivating the Child with Attention Deficit Disorder. http://www.ldonline.
org/article/19975/.
OConnell, T., G. Freed and M. C. Rothberg. 2010. Using Apple Technology to Support Learning
for Students with Sensory and Learning Disabilities. https://www.apple.com/education/docs/
L419373A-US_L419373A_AppleTechDisabilities.pdf.
Young, G. and J. McCormack. 2014. Assistive Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities.
http://ldatschool.ca/technology/assistive-technology/.
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Deaf-blind to inclusion? Adapting examinations fairly for disabled candidates
4.10Deaf-blind to inclusion? Adapting examinations fairly for

disabled candidates
Diana Metzner telc language tests, Frankfurt, Germany
Inclusion and testing

Inclusion is one of the buzzwords in education at present. In the last decade
mainstream education in many parts of the world has begun to embrace the idea
of inclusive teaching. The topic of adapting language examinations for disabled
candidates aroused my interest at a meeting of ALTE in Munich where I happened on
a Goethe Institut advertisement for examinations which could cater to five different
types of disability.
I started my talk at Birmingham by showing a short video clip I had taken at an
examination for five deaf candidates administered a few weeks before by telc language
tests. In this clip two sign language interpreters could be seen in action relaying the
standard listening comprehension texts they heard from the CD via sign language to
the candidates so that they could answer the multiple choice questions on their exam
papers.
Fairness and adaptation
The talk proper began with slides quoting relevant passages from the UN Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This convention was signed by the UK
and Germany in 2007 and ratified in 2009 and 2012 respectively. In the same way
that candidates with a disability have the right to a valid, reliable and fair test of their
language competence, the examination provider has the responsibility to ensure that
the candidates are able to demonstrate their command of the language in question.
I illustrated this with an image of a tall, a medium and a short child trying to watch
a football match over a high fence, where only a judicious arrangement of boxes to
stand on affords all three the same chances. In examinations there are obstacles which
must be removed for the sake of fairness, but the actual performance (here: reporting
on the match) must be assessed according to the same objective criteria.
At each of the six stages of test productiondeveloping, assembling, administering,
marking, grading and reportingadaptations can be made. I outlined some of the
more obvious ones, such as not choosing reading texts about music when assembling
an exam for the deaf, or providing exam papers in large print for the visually impaired.
Access arrangements and their implementation in a real examination
I described in some detail an examination in Dsseldorf, Germany, which I had
observed. Five deaf candidates took the Deutsch-Test fr Zuwanderer (DTZ),
an examination provided by telc language tests aimed at migrants to Germany. If
they reach B1 on the CEFR in all parts of this examination, they can be awarded
German citizenship. I emphasised that telc is not primarily concerned with how a
deaf candidate manages to attain B1 level in a language. The job of the test provider
is to afford the candidate with appropriate access to the examination so that his or her
performance can be assessed fairly. I did mention, however, that the candidates I met
had been brought up using the sign language of their home language, and once in
105
Germany they had had to learn not one but two new modalities. They had to master
not only the specific visualgestural German sign language known as Deutsche
Gebrdensprache but also the oralaural mainstream German language in which they
were now being tested.
Some photos of the examination room led to a discussion of the telc pamphlet
Guidance to Access Arrangements, with its four sections: Registration, Approval of
Access Arrangements, Administration of the Accessible Examination and Evaluation.
I demonstrated how the examination centre went consecutively through these four
stages, stressing the importance of adhering to the strict regulations of the DTZ to
ensure that the results of this high-stakes examination will be officially recognised.
I reminded the audience that the candidates had to prove that their German was at
B1 level and showed examples of B1 descriptors for the CEFR in Sign Language. Then
we looked at the speaking and the listening subtests in more detail and discussed (alas,
briefly) the viability of assessing the response of a deaf person to a prompt when the
examiners only hear this response through the filter of the Sign Language interpreter.
Conclusion: personal opinion
It is definitely possible to adapt a standardised test aligned to the CEFR for disabled
candidates and to assess them fairly. It is, however, important, that the agreed procedure
is adhered to by all parties. The modification affects all stages of the test development
and use cycle. Examination providers should be committed to inclusive testing.
References
Council of Europe. 1916. Sign Languages and the Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages. http://www.ecml.at/Portals/1/mtp4/pro-sign/documents/Common-Reference-
Level-Descriptors-EN.pdf.
telc language tests. 2011. Guidelines for Access Arrangements. http://www.telc.net/fileadmin/
user_upload/Informationsmaterial/guidelines_for_access_arrangements.pdf.
United Nations. n.d. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Optional Protocol.
http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/convention/convoptprot-e.pdf.
106
5
Working (and playing) with
words
The focus of this chapter is language, primarily lexis. We start with David Crystals
report of his plenary talk, in which he reflects on the lexical, grammatical and
phonological changes that have taken place within the English language in the last
50 years. The next three papers focus on the development of vocabulary acquisition.
Mario Lpez-Barrios then reports on a study carried out to determine what
vocabulary learning strategies learners use and how effective these are. Word lists are
the focus of the next two papers. Chris Banister discusses the use of the Academic
Word List (AWL) among EAP instructors, and Neslihan Erbil shows how students
in a Turkish context use wordlists to improve their vocabulary. The development of
a corpus is the subject of Chad Langford and Joshua Albairs paper, which sheds
light on the lexis, grammar and discourse features used in one specific genre. Turning
our attention to classroom activities, Charlie Hadfield invites us to play with words
and offers practical suggestions for creative classroom activities, and Roy Bicknell
continues the theme of play by introducing some Dada-inspired activities.
5.1Plenary: Who would of thought it? The English language

19662066
David Crystal University of Bangor, UK
One of the questions Im most often asked is why I find language so interestingwhy
did I become a linguist? I have a very simple answer: Two wordslanguage change.
Whatever a language was like yesterday, it is different today, and it will be different
again tomorrow. The fact of change is even more evident in the case of a language
like English, with a global reach and over two billion speakers. I find this fascinating.
Many of you, doubtless, find it infuriating. It is certainly one of the most common
regrets expressed by teachers of Englishthat the language they have spent a lifetime
learning to teach will not stand still. But that is the way with languages. The only
languages that dont change are dead ones.
Army generals used to say Know your enemy. So, if the enemy is language change,
it will pay us all to get to know it betterwhat drives it, where to look for it, how to
alert our students to it. And I begin with the most obvious index of language change:
vocabularythe loss of old words and senses and the arrival of new ones. How big an
issue is this? How much lexical change takes place in English?
Lexical change
The major dictionary companies are the first place to look for information. Every
year they have a celebratory moment, reporting the new words they have added to
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Chapter 5: Working (and playing) with words
their dictionary, and sometimes voting one of them as word of the year. Last year,
according to the Oxford English Dictionary, it was an emoji, the face with tears of
joy. Collins announced binge-watch (watching an entire series of episodes on
DVD). Merriam-Webster, based on frequency of look-up, went for a suffix, -ism. The
Society for the German Language opted for refugees. Dictionary.com went for identity,
reflecting the increased attention being paid to gender and sexuality. My favourite
was the Australian word of the year, according to the Macquarie Dictionary: the
blend mansplain (the act of a man explaining to a woman something she already
knows).
Vocabulary change is always difficult to quantify because we never know which of
the new words we hear around us are going to be permanent features of English, and
which are transientthe slang and fashionable usage of the moment. Looking at the
new words and phrases which were being used in English during the 1960s, as many
as half of them ceased to be used after quite a short period of time.
To give you a sense of how words go out of use, lets look at some of the ones
that were coming into use when IATEFL was born. You wont have heard or read
any of these recently, though some of them will certainly ring bells in the heads of
older IATEFLers. The 1960s was the decade when decimal coinage was coming in, so
people talked about D-Day (decimalisation day) and new penny. It was the decade of
hippies, so we find regular reference to beautiful people, flower children, peaceniks and
yippies (politically active hippies). Socially, if you were a dolly bird, you were probably
wearing winklepickers (seriously pointed shoes), which were a go-go (fashionable)
in those days; and at a dance youd be doing the hully gully or the frug. Depending
on your politics, in fashion you might wear a Mao (Mao-Tse-Tung cap) and discuss
Ostpolitik in Germany, Reaganism in the USA, Powellism in Britain and UDI in
Rhodesia (unilateral declaration of independence). In your newspaper you might see
the report of the latest confrontation between mods and rockers. You could pick up
your trimphone and tell your friends about it.
Teaching materials can date very quickly, as a result, and that is why its important
for publishers to be continually monitoring the lexical range of the conversational
extracts they include. The speed of change also suggests caution when using the
Internet as a source of up-to-date vocabulary. Up-to-date it may be, but it is also
idiosyncratic, often to the point of eccentricity, and may have a very short life. These
days, anyone who decides, like Lewis Carrolls Humpty Dumpty, that a word can
mean whatever they want it to mean, can have their private view incorporated into
an online dictionary, such as the Urban Dictionary. Even though the usage might
be liked by a large number, dont fall into the trap of thinking that this is in any
way representative. And if you do use such a source, especially with teenagers, use it
regularly and consistently, otherwise you will continue to think that a particular word
is fashionably cool, when in fact no teenager would dream of using it any longer.
When IATEFL was born, young people were still calling each other daddy-o, saying
that things were groovy, and bidding farewell with see you later, alligator.
That there should be so many new words and phrases entering the language should
come as no surprise when we consider the many walks of life which motivate them,
such as the arts, business, computing, the environment, leisure, medicine, politics,
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Plenary: Who would of thought it?
popular culture, sports, science and technology. But note: words and phrases. Here are
some of the neologisms on CUPs dictionary blog in the first few weeks of this year:
http://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/tag/neologisms/.
slashkini: a one-piece swimsuit with lots of cut-outs, giving the appearance of hav-
ing been slashed
manel: an exclusively male panel
wasband: a former husband
calm! : good; cool
dude food : food that is said to be favoured by men, often including meat
Skype family : a family in which one parent is living overseas and contact is main-
tained through Skype
grey gapper: a person of retirement age who takes a year out of their normal life to
go travelling
pocket dial : to call someone by accident with a phone that is in your pocket
Two points should be noted. First, over half the expressions in the blog contain
more than one word, and this is typical of lexical change: when we talk about new
words entering the language, we mean multi-word expressions as well as single words.
Second, several of these items reflect a history of related forms. We cant understand
slashkini, manel and wasband without knowing the underlying forms. And grey gapper
makes no sense without an awareness of gap year.
Grammatical change
Grammatical change, by its nature, is far less noticeable at any one point in time.
Only when we step back, and look at decades, and at large quantities of data, do
trends become apparent. This is the value of the many corpus studies of English
that have taken place in recent years: they have brought to light changes in usage
that, once pointed out, we intuitively recognise as having been part of our linguistic
consciousness for some time. Im not here talking about contentious usages, such as
the one I use in the title of this paper. These are immediately noticeable. A spelling
confusion of preposition of and unstressed auxiliary verb have, motivated by their
identical pronunciation, is one of the most frequent errors noted by those who see
literacy standards as falling. Clearly, there has been a teaching failure at some point, if
children have managed to grow up without learning this distinction in standard written
English. But critics are wrong to see this as an exclusively modern phenomenon. On 5
September 1819 the poet John Keats sends an apologetic letter to his publisher John
Taylor, in which he writes: Had I known of your illness I should not of written in
such fierry phrase in my first Letter.
Keats knew the correct form: in the same letter he writes You should not have
delayed. And doubtless, if he had used the of version in a poemthis was an age when
spelling correctness was considered a priorityit would have been editorially altered,
as happened routinely with the manuscripts of Jane Austen, William Wordsworth and
many other authors. When we read them, we do not read what they wrote; we read
what their editors at the time would like them to have written. Its difficult to discover
early usage preferences, as a result: we have to go back to surviving manuscripts.
Never trust online versions of older texts when looking for grammatical change. The
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Gutenberg text of Keats letters, for example, silently corrects his of to have in the
above example.
Examining the usage of a poet like Keats quickly shows the extent to which
grammatical change has taken place over the past 200 years. Here are some other
typical early 18th-century usages, two more from Keats, and two from Austen:
Keats
I was much disappointed
I have been several times thinking
Austen
You look very nicely indeed
He seemed watching her intently
Changing our focus to the past 50 years, the large corpus studies have now
identified several processes of grammatical change, each of which is likely to continue
throughout the next fifty. Here are three examples.
Modal verbs
The frequency of modal verbs is generally declining (Close and Aarts 2010). Some
modals, like shall, must and may, have shown major declines, especially in American
speech, and also in some other varieties, such as Scottish English, in both speech
and writing. In one big study, using the Diachronic Corpus of Present-Day Spoken
English, we see between 1960 and 1990 the use of must reducing by 51 per cent, shall
by 45 per cent and may by 36 per cent in all text categories represented. They have
been replaced by semi-modal constructions, such as have to, be going to and want
toin colloquial speech hafta, gonna and wanna.
Intuitively, we feel the changes, once they have been pointed out. Illustrating from
the replacement of must by have to: which are you more comfortable with today? First,
the obligational sense of must:
You must be more careful.
You have to be more careful.
The first is authoritarian: I am telling you; the last is more sympathetic: Im worried
about you. The same trend occurs with the epistemic use of must, where the verb
expresses the speakers confidence in an event:
The calculation must be right. Im totally confident
The calculation has to be right. I have a lurking doubt that it might not be
And the same trend appears also in the performative use of must. I have to say youre
wrong gives a somewhat greater impression of reluctance than I must say youre wrong.
In each case what we see is a lessening of the strength of a commitment. There seems
to be a social and psychological change taking place towards equality and seeing the
other point of view. A less egocentric view of the world.
The progressive aspect
The progressive aspect is on the increase (Aarts et al. 2010). The McDonalds slogan is
probably the most frequently quoted example: Im lovin it. In the 1960s, this would
much more likely have been I love it. Stative verbs that once upon a time would only
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have been heard or seen in simple form have begun to be used dynamically. The
change hasnt affected all verbs at the same rate. How would you rate the acceptability
of the following?
Im wanting a new fridge.
Im intending to apply for a new job.
Im needing a new coat.
Its concerning me a lot.
Its mattering to me greatly.
Im knowing the answer.
This last one is interesting, for know seems to have largely resisted the change so far.
But not in some parts of the English-speaking world: it is commonly heard in Indian
English, for example. So I do not think know will be an exception for much longer.
And indeed, it seems likely that all stative verbs will develop dynamic uses over the
next 50 years.
Relative pronouns
An interesting change has also taken place since the 1960s in the use of the relative
pronouns that and which in such constructions as:
the book which I bought
the book that I bought
the book I bought
There has been variation in the use of these pronouns since the Middle Ages, but
recent decades have seen a striking trend in formal written English (not so much with
the zero form, which has remained stable, typical of informal spoken English). That
has come to be used much more than which, and the use of which is dramatically
diminishing. The interesting question is why?, and a research paper that came out
recently provides an answer (Hinrichs et al. 2015). It argues that the change is the
direct result of antagonism towards the use of which by the prescriptive grammatical
tradition. A review of 20th-century style guides shows the widespread nature of this
antagonism, and indeed I have first-hand experience of it, having lost count of the
number of times I have had my whichs (I am a natural which user) corrected by
copy editors when I have sent in the manuscript of a new book. I used to object, but
not anymore. The trend has become too dominant, reinforced by online grammar
checkers, which also (being a product of the same kind of pedant) have taken against
which. In Britain, the trend has also been influenced by American English, where the
change from which to that appeared earlier. But above all, it has been influenced by
what has been called the increasing colloquialisation of written English in the decades
since 1966. Constructions which a generation ago would have been thought to be
inappropriate in a formal setting (such as the contracted forms of verbs) are now often
seen. The association of which with more formal styles of expression, accordingly, has
been another factor promoting its demise, and replacement by the less formal that.
Phonological change
Two major changes have affected English accents in Britain over the last 50 years. The
attitude of people towards accents has altered in ways that were unpredictable 30 years
111
ago; and some accents have changed their phonetic character very significantly over
the same period. The main change in attitude has affected Received Pronunciation
(RP). RP continues to have a strong presence in public broadcasting, but its phonetic
character has changed. Accents never stand still, and radio is the chief medium where
accent change can be traced. Anyone listening to radio programmes made in the
1920s and 30s cannot fail to be struck by the plummy or far back sound of the RP
accent thenwhen, for example, lord sounded more like lahdbut even the accents
of the 1960s and 70s sound dated now. And changes continue to affect RP.
The BBC, or any other national broadcaster, does not introduce language change.
Rather it reflects it, and thereby fosters it, by making it widely known. This has been
the case with so-called Estuary English, a variety which became noticed when it
attracted media attention in the early 1990s, though the phenomenon had been
evolving over many years. The estuary in question was that of the River Thames, and
the people who were noticed as having an Estuary accent lived on either side of it,
chiefly to the north. The variety is characterised not only by accent, but also by certain
words and grammatical constructions, such as the use of right as a tag question (It
starts at six, right?) or innit (isnt it?). Phonetically it can be roughly placed as a set of
accentsnote the pluralintermediate between RP and Cockney.
One of the most noticeable pronunciation trends since 1966 has been to hear the
way features of Estuary have radiated from the London area to other parts of the
country. They have travelled north towards Yorkshire and west towards Devon, and
they are widespread in East Anglia and Kent, and along the south coast. It is not that
they have replaced the local accents of these areas (though this sometimes happens);
rather they have modified the phonetic character of those accents, pulling the vowels
and consonants in different directions. Old-timers in a rural village now sound very
different from the younger generations who live there. It is this proliferation of accents
which is the national pattern today. People sometimes claim that accents are dying
out. What they have noticed is the disappearance of old rural ways of speech as the
people who used them pass away. But the people who now live in these localities still
have accents, albeit very different in character. The Estuary heard in Hampshire is very
different from that heard in Leicestershire.
Nor is Estuary the only contemporary pronunciation trend. In the major population
centres of the country we hear a new phenomenon: a remarkable increase in the range
of accents within the community, brought about largely by the influx of people of
diverse ethnic origin. In Liverpool, there used to be only Scouse; today we can hear
Chinese Scouse, Jamaican Scouse and an array of accent mixes reflecting the growing
cosmopolitan character of that city. London, of course, is where this trend is most
noticeable. There are well over 300 languages spoken in London now, and the English
used by these ethnic communities inevitably reflects the linguistic background of the
speakers. New combinations of sounds, words and grammatical constructions can be
heard, such as the mix of Bengali and Cockney used by members of the Bangladeshi
community in east London. Every British city today displays such accent and dialect
mixes.
It is not that one accent replaces another. Rather, features of two accents combine
to make a third. When an RP speaker is influenced by a regional accent, or vice
versa, the result has been called modified RP, and there is modified Scouse, modified
112
Geordie, modified everything these days. Some phoneticians now think that these
mixed accents have become so widespread that it is no longer useful to talk about RP
at all. The latest edition of Gimsons Introduction to the Pronunciation of English, for
example, drops it, talking instead about General English (analogous to the older term
General American).
As regional speech achieved a greater public presenceboth privately, through
increased social mobility, and publicly, through the new broadcasting scenario
attitudes towards individual accents began to change. Sociolinguistic research since
the 1980s has identified two major trends: an increase in positive attitudes towards
certain regional accents, and an increase in negative attitudes towards RP. Several
regional accents now achieve strongly positive ratings such as warm and customer-
friendly, whereas RP has begun to attract negative ratings such as insincere and
distant. And organisations which rely for their income on voice presentation have
noticed the change. Call centres and television commercials provide convenient
indications of change. Formerly, the voice answering the phone at a national enquiry
centre would have been RP, with local accents heard only in regional offices (and not
always then). During the 1990s, there was a noticeable increase in the use of local
accents at national level. Similarly, it is rare these days to hear RP in a TV commercial,
and voice agents take pains to find actors who can reflect the accent of a particular
region, as Ben and I reported in You Say Potato (Crystal and Crystal 2014).
It is probably in pronunciation that we will see the most noticeable ongoing
change, as we switch perspective from the last 50 years and look ahead to the next 50.
There seems to be no slowing down of the way the New Englishes of the world are
adapting English to express local identity. These varieties are distinguished primarily
by vocabulary and pronunciation, and one trend is widely heardthe development
of syllable-timed (rat-a-tat-a-tat) speech, as opposed to the stress-timed (tum-te-
tum-te-tum) speech characteristic of traditional British accents. Any of you from a
language background where syllable-timed speech is normaland that means most
of you, for three-quarters of the worlds languages have some sort of syllable-timing
will have spent a great deal of time and emotion trying to instil in your students a
reasonable quality of stress timing. This will become less of a priority over the next
half century.
Global varieties
Finally, note how we are becoming increasingly aware of emerging global varieties of
English through the work of the poets, novelists and dramatists who wrote in their
local dialects, writers such as Benjamin Zephaniah (Caribbean), Chinua Achebe (West
Africa) and Kamala Das (India). Today, we continue to experience non-indigenous
varieties of English in British writing, as a new generation experiments with non-
standard styles of expression. Novels such as Jonathan Safran Foers Everything is
Illuminated or Suhayl Saadis Psychoraag illustrate fresh voices which rely for their effect
on a blend of standard and non-standard usage, both within and across languages.
These books illustrate the increasingly multidialectal character of contemporary
writing. Earlier novels such as Irvine Welshs Trainspotting or Roddy Doyles Paddy
Clarke Ha Ha Ha tap into rich veins of indigenous Celtic expressionScots and Irish
respectively. But the notion of indigenous is itself no longer clear-cut. Saadis novel,
113
for example, is written in a mixture of standard English, Glaswegian and Urdu. There
is frequent code-mixing: Sheila Cs music seems tae slip like silence fae wan silver disc
tae another. Khamoshi, khamoshi, khamoshi. Ahve nivir been thur but Ah wish Ah
hud (2005: 50) [khamoshi = quiet] He himself was born in Yorkshire; and Glasgow
has many British-born Asians, several born in Scotland. Plainly, the traditional
divisions between Germanic and Celtic, native and foreign, and first language and
second language are blurred when we consider the language and languages used today
in multi-ethnic Britain.
The published literature is but the tip of an iceberg of ethnic expression which is
increasingly being given a public presence on the Internet. The proliferation of accents
which we have seen to be a feature of contemporary Britain has its counterpart in a
proliferation of dialects, many of which are now being written downoften for the
first time. In the absence of a literary tradition, there is a great deal of uncertainty
about how exactly to write them down. Different spelling conventions are used by
different authors, and there is often inconsistency within the same author. What Saadi
writes as fae another writer in the same dialect might represent as frae, nivir as niver,
and so on. What we are seeing repeatedly in contemporary writing is the struggle of
regional and ethnic dialects to achieve a coherent literary identity within a writing
system that has for over 200 years been tuned to the sounds and structures of Received
Pronunciation and standard English.
It is crucially important to avoid confrontation. It is all too easy for pedants to
condemn the non-standard English of young people on the Internet or the new literary
voices, and to interpret these processes of language change as language deterioration.
Conversely, it is all too easy for the new generation to revel in the linguistic freedom
which the Internet provides and to disregard the literary canon, much of it written
in standard English, which is their heritage. One of the most urgent tasks facing
teachers at present, accordingly, is to devise an appropriate philosophy and practice
of language management, in which the different forms and functions of standard and
non-standard English are brought into a mutually enlightening relationship. If there
are trends in usage which are genuinely damagingsuch as the use of obfuscating or
insulting vocabularythese need to be identified and corrected. If there are trends
which are artificially constrainingsuch as the imposition of unreal prescriptive
rulesthese need to be identified and avoided. It is no easy task, given the speed and
multidimensional complexity of contemporary language change. But its got to be
done, and I predict that IATEFL will play an especially important role in developing
this relationship over the next 50 years.
The unabridged version of this lecture, as given at IATEFL 2016, can be read
at www.davidcrystal.com. Parts of the lecture are based on David Crystal (2010)
Language developments in British English in M. Higgins, C. Smith and J. Storey
(eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
davidcrystal1@icloud.com
References
Aarts, B., J. Close and S. Wallis. 2010. Recent changes in the use of the progressive
construction in English in B. Cappelle and N. Wada (eds.). Distinctions in English Grammar,
Offered to Renaat Declerck. Tokyo: Kaitakusha.
114
Vocabulary learning practices and vocabulary learning outcomes
Close, J. and B. Aarts. 2010. Current change in the modal system of English: a case study of
must, have to and have got to in U. Lenker, J. Huber and R. Mailhammer (eds.). The History
of English Verbal and Nominal Constructions. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Crystal, B. and D. Crystal. 2014. You Say Potato: A Book About Accents. London: Macmillan.
Hinrichs, L., B. Szmrecsanyi and A. Bohmann. 2015. Which-hunting and the Standard
English relative clause. Language 91/4: 80636.
Saadi, S. 2005. Psychoraag. Edinburgh: Black and White Publishing.
5.2
Vocabulary learning practices and vocabulary learning
outcomes: match or mismatch?
Mario Lpez-Barrios Universidad Nacional de Crdoba, Argentina
Introduction
This talk reported on part of a research project which studied the impact of individual
factors on the development of lexical competence. I aimed to determine the
relationship between the lexical competence of adult elementary EFL learners and
their reported use of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS), as well as the effect of
the intensity of instruction. Subjects were 25 learners in both extensive (two hours
a week) and intensive (six hours a week) courses; 12 were in the extensive course
and 13 in the intensive. Lexical competence was measured through specially
designed vocabulary tests, and strategy use was tapped by means of a structured
questionnaire. For EFL teachers, knowing which VLS relate more significantly to
lexical competence may help them to raise their learners awareness and to enhance
classroom practices.
Lexical competence is a combination of different aspects of vocabulary knowledge,
vocabulary use, speed of lexical access and strategic competence (Laufer 2005). In our
study, lexical competence was determined by the students performance in two tests
designed on the basis of the course materials, and we considered an attainment of
70 per cent and above to be a good performance. VLS, one of the individual factors
influencing lexical competence, affect the process by which lexical information is
obtained, stored, retrieved, and used (Schmitt 1997). In our study we considered four
VLS: dictionary look-up, memory, other vocabulary learning techniques and contact
with the L2 outside class.
Effect of the four VLS on lexical competence
Regarding dictionary look-up, results revealed that 48 per cent of learners with the
best test performances always, frequently or sometimes used this VLS, whereas 76
per cent of learners used them regardless of their LC. Results here do not show a
conclusive relationship between course type, lexical competence and strategy use.
The second VLS involves different memory strategies learners were asked to
select. Most learners with the best performances stated that they repeated the words
aloud whereas other strategies like associating words with pictures, associating words
with others that sound or look similar, and repeatedly writing the words were selected
115
less often regardless of course type. Learners in the extensive course made use of
more varied strategies, whereas in the intensive course no clear pattern of VLS
could be found. In all, learners with good test results in both the extensive and
intensive courses reported using a similar number of memory strategies: 19 and 14
respectively.
Thirdly, to determine the effect of other VLS on lexical competence learners
ranked five strategies according to their perceived use. The most selected options in
decreasing order were (1) writing word meanings in a notebook; (2) doing exercises
in the course materials; (3) highlighting new words in course materials and writing
down their meanings; (4) reviewing the words; and (5) doing exercises on websites.
The same percentage of learners with high and low lexical competence chose options
1 and 3, whereas most learners with low lexical competence selected option 2 and
learners with high lexical competence favoured options 4 and 5 mostly. Regarding
the impact of course type, learners in the intensive course with the highest lexical
competence ranked the strategies in the order indicated above twice as often as those
in the extensive course. Regardless of test results and course type, a sequencing pattern
can be observed: (1) write word meaning; (2) do exercises in course materials; and (4)
review words (4). This typical sequence could very probably have been induced by
class work.
Lastly, to examine the effect on lexical competence of individual contact with the
L2 outside class, learners ticked the following options: (1) listen to songs; (2) watch
films or TV series; (3) try to talk to L2 users; (4) surf the net; (5) chat; and (6)
read newspapers and magazines. The first four cases reveal positive interaction with
lexical competence, as the most lexically proficient learners chose them more often
whereas the two last strategies were only chosen by two and one subjects respectively.
Proficiency level and learners interests could probably account for these choices.
Regarding course type, learners in the intensive course report using twice as many of
these VLS than those in the extensive course.
Conclusion
This exploratory study intends to show the impact of vocabulary learning strategies on
lexical competence and inquires whether intensity of instruction influences the choice
of VLS. While some strategies like dictionary use do not account for a difference in
lexical competence, memory strategies and attempts to communicate in the lexical
competence outside class do. Regardless of test results and course type learners display
a similar path of VLS use. These findings can shed light on subjective impressions of
what constitute successful VLS.
lopez@fl.unc.edu.ar
References
Laufer, B. 2005. Focus on form in second language vocabulary learning. EUROSLA Yearbook
5: 22350.
Schmitt, N. 1997. Vocabulary learning strategies in N. Schmitt and M. McCarthy (eds.).
Vocabulary. Description, acquisition and pedagogy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
116
The Academic Word List: teachers practice, attitudes and beliefs
5.3 The Academic Word List: teachers practice, attitudes and

beliefs
Chris Banister Regents University London, UK
Background
Coxheads (2000) Academic Word List (AWL), the most prominent word list in English
for Academic Purposes (EAP) contexts over the last two decades, is a frequency-
based list of general-purpose academic vocabulary. It consists of 570 items (such as
analyse or benefit), said to widely occur across a broad range of academic disciplines
(Coxhead 2000).
Researchers have created specialised, technical word lists based on the AWL, and
it is embedded in numerous established EAP learning publications. However, as a
teacher recently in transition from EFL to EAP teaching, I was somewhat sceptical
about the appeal of the AWL as a pedagogical tool. Word lists were associated with
a previous era of language teaching, a view corroborated by the literature (such as
Thornbury 2002). My research, therefore, aimed to explore the potential tensions
between use of frequency based lists like the AWL and the attitudes and beliefs of
teachers schooled in communicative methods, including how this might impact
uptake at classroom level. Interestingly, when I outlined this rationale to IATEFL
delegates, it seemed to resonate with many present. My research could also be seen as
timely, given the creation of some new word lists for academic English claiming to be
improvements on the AWL (such as Gardner and Davies 2014).
In my poster presentation I highlighted my research, in which I explored the
interplay of attitudes and beliefs underpinning adoption or rejection of the AWL as a
pedagogic tool. This was done through gathering responses from nearly 200 teachers
of academic English via an online survey, complemented by a smaller number of
follow-up interviews.
Results
The survey sample (n=193) was as follows:
Gender: 44 per cent male, 56 per cent female
Age: majority (68 per cent) 3554 years old
Location: 90 per cent based at universities, 70 per cent in the UK
Role: 63 per cent of total respondents were EAP lecturers
When asked if they had ever used the AWL directly with their students, over 70 per
cent of a subsample of 116 respondents said they had. (See Table 5.3.1.)
Q: Have you ever used the AWL directly with your students?
Yes n=83 (71%)
No n=31 (27%)
Dont know n=2 (2%)
Table 5.3.1: Direct use of the AWL among the subsample (n=116) confirming AWL awareness
117
In other words, the survey responses revealed that AWL use was high among those
aware of it. Use was diverse: many introduced the AWL briefly then encouraged
autonomous use, while others worked systematically and repeatedly with the list in class.
However, what came through most strongly in the data was the popularity of online
tools promoting greater interaction with AWL items. The overall positive attitudes
held by the vast majority of AWL users (n=71 or 90 per cent) were underpinned by
belief it represented a principled basis for teaching academic vocabulary, providing a
clear goal for learning.
This is in contrast to the overall negative attitudes of a small subsample (n=25 or
10 per cent), who described the AWL as uncommunicative and dull and open to
potential misuse and misappropriation as a teaching tool. Despite the small size of
this group, the intensity of word choice evidenced in their responses (for example, the
AWL beguiles, It lulls teachers into a false sense of security) should give pause for
thought. Also, it is worth noting that even those expressing positive attitudes overall
towards the AWL voiced some of the same misgivings.
When discussing my poster it was noticeable that IATEFL delegates picked up on
this point about misuse. I explained that these concerns centred on the fact that the
AWL might encourage students and teachers to think that the list items alone would
be enough to understand academic texts. I added that other research participants felt
the words of the AWL often had varying meanings across disciplines, and therefore
presenting these words as if they retained a sufficiently transparent commonality of
meaning could be misleading.
Conclusion and implications
My research confirmed widespread but not uncritical use of the AWL, highlighting
a complex interplay of attitudes and beliefs at the heart of praxis in this area of
second language vocabulary teaching and learning. Teachers of academic English
believe the AWL is valuable only if used in the right way. Therefore, teachers
contemplating the use of the AWL and other academic vocabulary lists should be
made aware of best practice in this area and future list compilers provide this guidance
and support the design of tools which learners can harness to engage more deeply
with lexis. Ultimately, as I mentioned in my presentation, my findings suggest that the
continued or future popularity of the AWL and other academic English vocabulary
lists will be intertwined with the provision of accompanying tools facilitating this
deeper engagement.
banisterc@regents.ac.uk
References
Coxhead, A. 2000 A new academic word list. TESOL Quarterly 34/2: 21338.
Gardner, D. and M. Davies. 2014. A new academic vocabulary list. Applied Linguistics 35/3:
30527.
Thornbury, S. 2002. How to Teach Vocabulary. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.
118
Students' use of wordlists and its impact on written assessment
5.4Students use of wordlists and its impact on written

assessment
Neslihan Erbil Bilkent University School of English Language (BUSEL), Turkey
Introduction
Vocabulary is seen as the core component of language proficiency as it is the necessary
element for the development of the four skills: reading, writing, listening and
speaking. Although the use of wordlists is criticised heavily in literature for being
decontextualised or outdated (Kripps 2013; Khoii and Sharififar 2013), it is a common
practice at the Bilkent University School of English Language (BUSEL). The purpose
of this research was to learn more about how learners perceived vocabulary learning,
how they made use of wordlists to increase the breadth and depth of their vocabulary,
and whether their use of wordlists had an impact on their performance in written
assessment tasks.
Context
The study was conducted in a pre-sessional intensive English programme at BUSEL,
designed to prepare learners for their future academic studies. There are five levels
based on the CEFR, each of which lasts eight weeks. At the lower levels (A1 and A2)
students are taught general English, while at the higher levels (Low B1, B1 and B2)
there is a focus on academic English. At each level, students are required to complete
various components of formative assessment including achievement tests, learning
portfolio tasks and quizzes; they also have a summative assessment at the end of the
level.
Data collection
This was a mixed methods study combining qualitative and quantitative data. The
study included 22 Low-B1 students. The data was collected through a questionnaire,
vocabulary quizzes, writing tasks and semi-structured interviews held with six
students, who were selected on the basis of their formative assessment performance.
Research design and implementation
At each level, there is a unit wordlist for the course book and a level wordlist adapted
from Paul Nations Academic Wordlist and English Profile: The CEFR for English (http://
www.englishprofile.org/). On the unit wordlist, words are categorised according to
their parts of speech; however, on the level wordlist, the words are in alphabetical
order and students can see the other forms and common collocations of those words.
As students usually have great difficulty handling the wordlists because of the high
number of words to learn, I made a chart and allocated five words for each day to
study. I tried to select the high-frequency words that are active and usually tested
on our exams. Since students were only given five words a day, I expected them to
study these words in a detailed way by looking at their other forms and collocations
on the level wordlist and by analysing example sentences in a monolingual English
dictionary. I modelled how to record a word in a journal by using the level wordlist
and an online dictionary to set my expectations.
119
It was our routine to start each day with a vocabulary exercise for that days
words; we focused on form, meaning and pronunciation. Students were free to refer
to their vocabulary journals while doing the exercise. Keeping a journal was a part
of their portfolio studies, and it was graded at the end of the course. They had the
flexibility to study the wordlists in their own way instead of following the approach
introduced in class. Their performance was assessed through vocabulary quizzes and
writing tasks.
Discussion and conclusion
According to the questionnaire and interview results, students employed determination
strategies (such as checking monolingual and bilingual dictionaries for meaning and
example sentences or recording words in a journal) more than strategies necessary for
the consolidation and retention of learning (such as rote-memorisation or revising
notes regularly). As for the written assessment tasks, however, they mostly displayed
a narrow range of vocabulary in their essays and had difficulty with word building
in quizzes. This suggests that they focused more on receptive vocabulary knowledge
rather than on productive skills.
Although the students were monitored closely and guided by their teacher to make
better use of the wordlists, the teacher did not have much control over the revision
of the words outside class, which actually made the great difference in students
performance on assessment tasks.
All these findings show that students should be
given better guidance on which strategies to employ for better retention of the
words and how to use those words productively;
convinced that the depth of vocabulary knowledge is as important as the breadth;
and
assigned a limited number of words to study on a daily basis rather than leaving
them alone with a huge wordlist.
aksan@bilkent.edu.tr
References
Khoii, R. and S. Sharififar, 2013. Memorization versus semantic mapping in L2 vocabulary
acquisition. ELT Journal 67/2: 199209.
Kripps, A. 2013. Vocabulary building for Arab learners. TESOL Arabia Perspectives 21/3:
1420.
5.5Teacher-driven corpus development: the online restaurant

review
Chad Langford and Joshua Albair University of Lille, France
Introduction
The aims of our talk were fourfold: we reported on our experience creating a corpus;
we described, following Bhatia (1993), the generic characteristics we discovered when
examining a large number of online restaurant reviews; we outlined the classroom
120
Teacher-driven corpus development: the online restaurant review
applications we have developed to introduce the genre to our learners; and we

commented on corpus-driven materials development.
Rationale
Our adult learners navigate online environments regularly. Over time, the online
restaurant review emerged as a dynamic way to expose learners to non-specialist,
context-embedded language. It has enabled us to address sub-skills in reading and
writing while providing opportunities for individual point-of-need treatment in
learners emergent language. In addition, platforms such as Yelp and TripAdvisor
provide a ready-to-use canvas for the online publication of meaningful, experience-
based opinions; this provides learners in EFL contexts with what they too often lack:
a bona fide readership outside the classroom.
In creating a learning module centred on such reviews, exploiting genre analysis
was the obvious angle. However, our intuitions as to what characterised this genre in
terms of lexis, discourse and grammar were impressionistic. What we needed was to
learn more about the genre ourselves, and the creation of a corpus of representative
examples of the genre was the obvious solution. Our interest in using corpora as
advocated by Timmis (2015) rendered the idea of actual corpus creation at once
doable and exciting.
Corpus creation
We thus decided to create a fully searchable one-million-word corpus of user-generated
restaurant reviews. Fairly quickly, we became aware that we were creating five sub-
corpora within our corpus, a reflection of the five-tiered rating system used by the
platform we chose. We decided that a guiding principle behind our research would be
the notion that there might be clusters of characteristics specific to individual tiers. This
helped to guide the way we organised and tagged our data in the processes of extraction
and clean-up necessary to render the data appropriate for a range of software packages.
Genre description
Once our corpus was complete, a pilot investigation revealed some clear generic
features that guided our understanding of the genre, the introduction of it to our
learners and the materials development our investigation helped us to undertake. The
following is but a sample.
Lexis
Keyword analysis, using the BNC as our reference corpus, enabled us to analyse and
categorise the top one hundred keywords for the tier-levels excellent, average and
terrible. We found a high concentration of evaluative adjectives as well as other
restaurant-related lexis, which was shown to fall into discrete semantic sets, including
experience, description, and food/drink/meal. This provided a reliable indicator of
the authentic lexical preferences of people who master the genre rather than our own
uninformed lists of food and restaurant vocabulary.
Discourse
We discovered that markers such as but, although and however have a very high
level of keyness in tier-3 reviews, yet were not among even the first 500 key words
for tier-1 and tier-5 reviews. Given their function, we see their comparatively high
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use in reviews ranked average as the trace of a lukewarm experience, neither entirely
negative (expensive, but good), nor entirely positive (good, but expensive). We
also discovered that the more negatively oriented latter case was about three times
as common as its positively-oriented counterpart: an average restaurant experience is
more likely to accentuate the negative than the positive.
Grammar
We found a high incidence of both subjectless clauses (Ate here last night) and satellite
noun phrases and adjective phrases (that is, grammatically functionless constituents
not incorporated into a clause: Extremely rude waitress.; Very poor.). Reviews were
also found to be replete with cases of determiner ellipsis (Food was disappointing.),
which we feel is inadequately addressed with our learners when addressing article use.
While all three of these characteristics may be qualified as being part of a telegraphic
style, examples are very often embedded within prose that is otherwise not telegraphic.
Materials development
We concluded our talk by presenting the two strands of materials we have developed,
following Reppen (2010): materials informed by our pilot corpus study, and corpus
discovery activities via which learners themselves are exposed to a selection of corpus
examples and draw their own conclusions. Both material types have generated
enthusiasm and yielded results.
Conclusion
All lesson plans and materials generated by our project as well as a summary of our
genre analysis are available for use on a dedicated website: https://rpn.univ-lille3.
fr/public/clangford/iatefl/. We welcome inquiries and the opportunity to develop
collaborations with other teachers interested in working with and creating corpora
for classroom use.
chad.langford@univ-lille3.fr
joshalbair@gmail.com
References
Bhatia, V. K. 1993. Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. London: Routledge.
Reppen, R. 2010. Using Corpora in the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Timmis, I. 2015. Corpus Linguistics for ELT: Research and Practice. Abingdon: Routledge.
5.6 Creative vocabulary: playing with words

Charlie Hadfield Waikato Pathways College, University of Waikato, Hamilton,
New Zealand
This workshop presentation was really a game of two halves. In the first half I referred
to theory and to some of the background to my personal development as a language
teacher and language learner (I originally trained as a teacher of modern languages),
underlining my belief in creativity as a powerful intrinsic force behind/within all
my teaching and training activities. Reference was made to some of the recent theory
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Creative vocabulary: playing with words
around vocabulary work with quotations from Oxford (1990), Schmitt (2000) and
Nemati (2009).
We then moved onto illustrating these underlying principles through practical
classroom activities which participants could easily adapt to their own teaching contexts
and levels. We did five activities together, with participants working together in pairs
or small groups around the hall, but given time constraints we unfortunately did not
have time to do more than share the results very briefly. The activities illustrated ways
of using grouping and repetition, creative gap and rhyme as different approaches
to vocabulary work. The activities were as follows:
Word pictures (aka concrete poetry)
Learners are encouraged to create a picture using a limited number of vocabulary
items. This is a very valuable disguised copying activity which can greatly help low-
level learners, particularly those whose L1s use non-Latin scripts, to repeat and refine
their handwriting and spelling. I gave the example of classes where we worked on the
expression A picture is worth 1000 words, with learners filling in a large poster with
precisely one thousand words.
Atmosphere haiku
Examples of short three-line poems were shown with accompanying atmospheric
photos. Learners write their own haiku, without giving a title or background. Partners
have to read/listen to the haiku and guess the situation, the backstory and a possible
title.
Shopping lists
A number of rhyming words fitting with a lexical set are given to learners, who then
write a short poem using the rhyming words. The example used was based on shopping
items (jam/ham, money/honey, steak/cake, etc.). Rhyme is a difficult concept for
many learners, and this is perhaps more suited to intermediate/advanced learners.
Emotional weather report
The teacher asks the class to suggest links between emotion words (such as bored,
tired, happy, excited) and weather words (cloudy, raining, overcast, sunny, windy).
Learners write their personal weather reports for the past week, and their classmates
try to guess what moods they were in on each day.
Recipes for success
Work with the framework of a kitchen recipe: ingredients, method (cut, slice, stir,
mix). For example, the recipe for a happy family day might be: Take a can of smiles,
2 kilos of laughter, a litre of love. Heat the love gradually, stirring in the smiles one by
one, and adding the laughter. Top with a hug and a kiss. Learners then write recipes
for such activities/events as a family reunion, a first date, a trip to the seaside.
The second half of the workshop covered several areas of interest, giving suggestions
rather than concrete illustrations, and drew partly on my own experience of taking
beginner te reo Mori lessons as a newcomer to New Zealand. I discussed sounds, and
how learners perceive English words as friends or enemies on the basis of how they
sound, with illustrations from my own experience of different languages; I showed
why some of these sounds are less, or more, attractive to me as an L1 English speaker.
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Teachers can encourage learners to experiment with sounds, reflecting on their

attitude to English sounds. Students can play with sounds that they like; with
students one knows better, one can begin to discuss English sounds which they find
less attractive/more difficult. Participants were asked to tell each other their favourite
English word on the basis of its sound alone. Suggested activities are as follows:
Work with onomatopoeic English words (Smash!, Bang!, Whoosh!) and animal
sounds, comparing them with those in the learners own L1, possibly inventing new
onomatopoeic words/sounds.
Creating new words (neologisms), as long as they conform to regular English spell-
ing rules: in Shakespeares 400th anniversary year, this seems particularly appropri-
ate.
Use the classic BBC radio game of Tennis, Elbow, Foot as the basis of small group
vocabulary practice. In small groups, people take turns in order to respond to the
preceding word with one which matches it in some way. So, for instance: Student
1: Tennis; Student 2: Elbow, or Student 3: Foot; Student 4: Ball; Student 1: Game
and so on.
Sort lists of words into groups according to conventional and less conventional
criteria (e.g. words a mother might use to a baby, words for a musician, useful
words for a bus driver, etc.).
Emphasise the importance of working with numbers (themselves vocabulary items)
and the ways I try to practise numbers in te reo Ma-ori: counting/practising single
digits; working with the teens and double digits, then larger numbers; saying car
number plates while walking to work; encouraging learners to do mental arithmetic
with English numbers when shopping.
Finally, participants were encouraged to contact me for a copy of the PowerPoint
slides, and to join the Creativity C-group.
chadfiel@waikato.ac.nz
References
Nematis, A. 2009. Memory, vocabulary learning strategies and long-term retention.
International Journal of Vocational and Technical Education 1/2: 1424.
Oxford, R. 1990. Language Learning Strategies. New York: Newbury House.
Schmitt, N. 2000. Vocabulary in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5.7 Dada machine, or (re)imagining activities for the classroom

Roy Bicknell Interlingua, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
The purpose of this workshop was to show how more creativity and improvisation
can be brought into our teaching while exploring techniques that foster student
responsiveness and agility. This (re)imagining of classroom activities takes as its starting
point the iconoclastic approach to language which inspired the early 20th-century
Dada artists. I first introduced to the audience the language principles underpinning
Dada and suggested that there is a parallel with the work of educators such as Dewey
(1997) and Langer (1997).
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Dada machine, or (re)imaging activities for the classroom
These writers stressed the importance of using novelty and adopting new perspectives
to raise learner alertness and awareness. Their framework of reference is analogous to
Dadas playful approach to language. The key idea that I wanted to address is that
Dada techniques could be used to innovate in the classroom, stimulating students
to perceive and explore new paths in their learning. After this general introduction,
I asked the audience to reflect on their views of learning and how this related to the
proposed learning framework.
Doing cut-ups
The first Dada technique that I presented was the cut-up, which had first been
conceived by Dada artist Tristan Tzara. In 1920, Tzara demonstrated this technique
on a Parisian stage by cutting up a newspaper, throwing the snippets into a top hat
and reading those same snippets out loud as he reproduced them at random from
the hat. This theatricality is typical of Dada. There is an appropriate parallel with the
classroom, which can also be seen as a stage where teachers and students perform.
So, I had the audience participate in a re-enactment of the 1920 event. An audience
member was asked to cut up a pre-selected text into strips which were then put into
a top hat. I then randomly asked audience members to draw text fragments from the
hat and read them out loud. As I went around the room, audience anticipation rose as
we witnessed the live reconfiguration of the cut-up text.
The audience really enjoyed participating in the cut-up, but it also helped point
to how this recontextualisation of language could lead to meaningful learning. I then
took this text reconfiguration one step further. I showed the text fragments in random
order on a slide and asked them to reconfigure the fragmented text. I maintained the
performance idea, inviting audience members to come forward and wear in turn the
top hat as they read out their own reconfigurations. Again, the audience enjoyed
the theatricality of what they were being asked to do. It was also becoming clearer
what didactical considerations underlie a classroom activity which highlights the
deconstructing and reconstructing of language.
One of the implications we discussed is that this encourages students to reflect
playfully on a wide range of grammar and vocabulary issues. In other words, students
are put into a learning situation in which they need to rethink and reconsider their
language usage. And as students work to create meaningful structures, we in turn have
the opportunity to observe how they understand key elements of learning, such as their
use of syntax. I also pointed out the importance of noticing during these activities
and gave examples of how my own students made a strategic selection of fragments as
they were cutting up the selected text. The students were already looking at potentially
meaningful structures with a view to recontextualising the text fragments.
The Dada wheel
Another Dada-inspired activity that struck a chord with the audience was the Dada
wheel. This is a digital spinning wheel, a playful, random method which I created for
selecting didactical parameters. The idea is simple: I edited a digital wheel app, adding
parameters which could be used to create new classroom activities. I then asked
random audience members to press and spin the wheel. Good audience participation
was guaranteed, as is the case with my own students, and we soon had parameters that
125
could be used to create a short speaking activity. The parameters obtained through this
random selection were: use technology; introduce slow conversation; and adjust the
listening mode. In small groups they were then asked to think up a speaking activity
which would incorporate these parameters. We then discussed how this would fit their
teaching approach.
In the final review of the activities we explored, there was a consensus that using
Dada techniques was a valid approach and that randomness and improvisation can
be used as working-principles to create meaningful classroom activities. If applied
judiciously, this should engage teachers to rethink or reset their approach to classroom
learning.
roy.bicknell@besig.org
References
Dewey, J. 1997. How We Think. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications. (first published 1910)
Langer, E. J. 1997. The Power of Mindful Learning. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus Books.
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6
From critical thinking to
academic writing
This chapter focuses primarily on English for Academic Purposes. First, Edward de
Chazal provides an overview of the language learners will need in order to express
critical thoughts. This is followed by two papers which describe strategies used
to encourage critical thinking. Zeynep skenderolu nel shows how Socratic
questioning elicits critical responses, while Blerta Mustafa describes the use of an oral
history project with undergraduates in Kosovo.
Next come three papers on approaches to writing in various contexts. Peter
Levrai and Averil Bolster show how collaborative essay writing proved successful
for undergraduates in Macao; collaboration was also a component of successful
paraphrasing at a university in Egypt, as explained by Alexander M. Lewko; and
David Jay describes a tutorial system in the UK, implemented as a form of in-
sessional support. David Reed Albachten then reports on a longitudinal study of
Turkish university students academic writing in English. Finally, Stephanie Xerri
Agius shifts the focus away from the student onto the teacher; her paper outlines the
benefits of the teacher writing in class along with the students.
6.1 The language of critical thinking

Edward de Chazal Independent, Lulworth, UK
Overview
This workshop moved from the cognitive processes involved in critical thinking to the
language students need in order to communicate their critical thoughts.
Introduction
Participants first discussed whether they accepted uncritically everything they had
seen and heard in conference sessions; the resounding response was no. Participants
then responded animatedly to ten quotes I had collected during the conference. One,
from Penny Ur, was: You cant transform a totally incompetent teacher into a good
teacher. This activity emphasised the essential human instinct of scepticism, whereby
we naturally question new information.
Critical languages
Arising from this task, I introduced the notion of cognitive language, which is both
innate and influenced by environmental factors such as parenting and education.
Cognitive skills are generative and transferrable to new contexts. In contrast, the
English languagein particular the language of critical thinkinghas to be learned.
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Chapter 6: From critical thinking to academic writing
Cognitive language: an AEIOU

In groups, participants proposed critical processes for each vowel. Their choices included
assess, estimate, investigate, oppose and unlearn. I particularly liked unlearn: we
critically assess and eventually unlearn many things. I then presented mineanalyse,
evaluate, interpret, observe and understandand offered five essential cognitive
activities and a sample question to illustrate each process.
For analyse I suggested that we focus on the material (for example, an idea, claim,
issue, argument); deconstruct and reconstruct its parts; apply criteria including
whether a given part of the material is subjective or objective; make connections,
for instance by working out that X and Y are related as cause and effect; and explore
perspectives like political, ethical and cultural.
To evaluate means to consider the evidence: How reliable are the sources?; assess
the strength of the argument; compare to other material (evaluation is inherently
comparative); formulate a stance by seeing how the material fits in with our existing
views; and finally act, for example by using an extract from the material in our own
written or spoken text.
When we interpret we work out the essential meanings, whether explicitly stated
or more implicit; speculate: Will this material still be relevant in five years time?;
generalise: Which parts would work in different contexts?; identify the authors
stance and how this is expressed; and respond: How might this material have an
impact on me?
To observe is to notice things like how the author structures the material, and why;
identify what is included and excluded (for instance counter-arguments may be
left out to avoid weakening the main argument); reflect: How might the material
be seen in different cultures?; personalise: Which parts can I adopt and use?; and
lastly draw conclusions.
Finally, when we really understand something we experience it, either physically or
cognitively; internalise, through memory and reprocessing; engage with the mate-
rial, perhaps by communicating it to other people; connect, through relating it to
and extending what we know; and ultimately consciously learn something.
English language
This exploration of cognitive processes contextualised the language of critical thinking
based on corpus analyses by Biber et al. (1999), Carter and McCarthy (2006) and
Swales and Feak (2004), among others. I grouped this language into structures and
patterns, a selection of which follows:
Verb-centred frames include: I think/feel/believe (that); It appears/seems; It
can/may be seen. Frequently-used modal verbs are: must, will, should, can,
could, might, may and would.
Students can also learn adjective-centred patterns: It is [evaluative adjective] that;
X is likely/unlikely to be [evaluative adjective]; It is possible to; It is (not) surpris-
ing that. There are many evaluative adjectives, for example interesting, significant,
comprehensive, influential, obvious, regrettable, difficult, necessary, appro-
priate.
There are several possible noun-centred structures, which incorporate a stance
noun at their heart, such as doubt, possibility, value, clarity, failure, success,
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Ways of engaging learners in critical thinking at the university level
importance, problem, opportunity, significance. These can be used in structures

like: There is little/no/considerable doubt/possibility that ; X lacks clarity; Xs
failure/success/achievement.
Another set of critical language are adverbials. One-word examples are: apparently,
perhaps, probably, clearly, greatly, definitely, certainly, surprisingly, while
phrases include to a certain/great/significant extent. Idiomatic adverbials are also
frequent: no doubt; of course; as a rule; in most cases. Another type of adverbial
links material to express contrast or logical connection: nevertheless; however;
thus.
Prepositions can also express such meanings: despite; rather than; as opposed to.
Finally there is a wide choice of complement clauses: I feel that ; X seems
satisfied that ; It is known/believed that ; It is clear that ; We propose
that
Conclusion
I concluded by emphasising that our students, just like us, enjoy being critical. As
teachers we can develop tasks and language to nurture this criticality.
edward@emdechazalconsulting.co.uk
References
Biber, D., S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad and E. Finegan. 1999. Longman Grammar of
Spoken and Written English. Harlow: Longman.
Carter, R. and M. McCarthy. 2006. Cambridge Grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Swales, J. and C. Feak. 2012. Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential Skills and Tasks
(third edition). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
6.2Ways of engaging learners in critical thinking at the university

level
Zeynep skenderolu nel Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey
Introduction
Critical thinking (CT) can be defined as a process which requires individuals to
conceptualise, apply, analyse, synthesise and/or evaluate information based on
observation, experience, reflection, reasoning and/or communication (Scriven and
Paul 1987). This process may involve asking vital questions, recognizing and assessing
assumptions and communicating effectively among many other skills (Paul and
Elder 2006a: 4). This study aimed to see how Socratic questioning (SQ) would help
improve students critical thinking and whether this would be observed in students
writing, as a means of academic communication.
Setting
Sabanci University is an English-medium university where all students take common
compulsory courses for a two-year period before they select a major. One of these
first-year university courses is Freshman English (I and II), for three hours per week,
129
in which students develop skills in communication, critical analysis and study/

research skills, as well as an awareness of contemporary issues. Students are expected
to transfer these skills to other university courses where they also need to analyse and
synthesise information from various texts, write essays, take part in discussions and give
presentations.
The study
Freshman English uses a variety of texts for the students to read and analyse, to make
assumptions, to draw conclusions and to produce claims and arguments. These texts
may be selected from films, literature, essays and speeches.
This study is actually one component of the presenters course. Starting from
the beginning of the semester, while analysing texts the instructor used the Socratic
questioning (SQ) technique in the class. The SQ technique was also used with student
essays when students received written feedback and in one-on-one tutorials. With the
help of a flow of questions, students were led to see how their essays were or were not
developing a claim.
Paul and Elder (2006b) define SQ as a disciplined dialog with the aim of pursuing
thought. In practice, the questioner continuously asks respondents questions following
their answers without responding to them. A very brief sample of such a sequence of
questions can be seen in the following:
How do Adorno and Horkheimer define media? How does their being Jewish influence
their opinion on media? How do they describe the audience? Can audience keep away
from media products? Do they have a control? Can they do critical thinking?
Starting as early as the second week, the students brought their own questions on
the texts and they asked them in class. The quality of the questions was also discussed
and feedback for improvement was offered both in class and in tutorials. Students
took over in small groups of four or five and ran the discussion in class in the last six
weeks of a 14-week semester.
Data collection
Various qualitative data collection methods were used for different purposes. Through
observations and video recording data on students participation in class was collected.
How much the students participated, the quality of their questions and their answers
were analysed with the help of experienced colleagues. Also a check sheet was used to
keep track of the quantitative side of participation and completion of assignments.
Data on CT in student writing was obtained by analysing student essays with
another experienced colleague. CT indicators expected in student essays in this study
include a clear, well-developed claim, relevant examples, relevant and well paraphrased
quotes to support the claim, smooth and effective integration of citation (voice).
Results and discussion
The comparative analysis of data showed that students who were fully engaged (regular
attendance and participation over 80 per cent) demonstrated CT skills in their essays.
Students were required to complete assignments to be considered engaged. Some
of these were:
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Teaching caterpillars to fly: nurturing EFL students' learning through inquiry
reading and watching texts before coming to class;

writing and asking questions;
joining class discussion;
responding to fellow students work (feedback to presentations, essays);
reflecting on their experience (writing reflection papers);
writing drafts for their essays; and
revising and editing their essays considering the feedback they received.
Conclusion
Although this is a valuable outcome of the study, it was not explicitly observed that
students had transferred these skills to other university courses. This led to further
research to shed further light on this issue. It can be concluded that in order for
CT skills to be transferred to other contexts, in this case other university courses,
instructors need to explicitly integrate them in their teaching and assessment. This
may mean the training of instructors, but it is worth the effort since students will
internalise the process of thinking and writing.
onel@sabanciuniv.edu
References
Paul, R. and L. Elder. 2006a. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools.
The Foundation for Critical Thinking. https://www.criticalthinking.org/files/Concepts_
Tools.pdf.
Paul, R. and L. Elder. 2006b. The Thinkers Guide to the Art of Socratic Questioning.
The Foundation for Critical Thinking. https://www.criticalthinking.org/TGS_files/
SocraticQuestioning2006.pdf.
Scriven, M. and R. Paul. 1987. Defining critical thinking. Paper presented at the 8th Annual
International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education Reform, Summer 1987.
http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766.
6.3Teaching caterpillars to fly: nurturing EFL students learning

through inquiry
Blerta Mustafa University of Prishtina, Kosovo
Introduction
Pulling students out of the conventional classroom and into the real world to conduct
oral history projects creates an opportunity for them to develop various skills.
One of the main objectives of an oral history is to conserve memories, accounts
and interpretations of a persons life, an event, a place, a way of life, or period
(Whitman, 2004: 1). The aim of this talk was to share the experiences of second-year
undergraduates majoring in English at the University of Prishtina as they conducted
their first oral history project.
Context
Equipping students with 21st-century skills is essential to helping them succeed in
the global market. However, preparing 21st-century learners in education systems
131
that focus predominantly on memorisation, exam-based assessment and teacher-

centredness can be extremely challenging. Kosovo is no exception in this regard.
Students in such a system are spoon-fed, experiential learning is off limits and a one-
size-fits-all approach dominates.
Changing practice
An opportunity to acquire skills and knowledge and to take ownership of learning
was created for these students through an oral history project. This unconventional
assignment, which took students out of their comfort zone and connected them to
the community, also aimed at fostering inquiry. In groups of four or five, 146 students
conducted interviews with elderly people from their region on a topic of their choice.
Through continuous guidance, systematic teacher and peer feedback and differentiated
instruction, students worked on their projects for 13 weeks. At the end, they presented
their findings at a student conference, accompanied by various end products: short
videos, books, newspaper articles, booklets, leaflets and so forth. Lastly, each group
wrote an essay where they summarised lessons learned from oral history interviews.
Lessons learned
Students perceptions about their experiences were collected via reflection reports
and a questionnaire collected at the student conference. An overwhelming majority
of students found this unorthodox approach to learning extremely beneficial. One
student commented, I strongly recommend to continue this brand-new method
in all the courses for it is really attractive and very helpful method of learning.
Though challenging at the beginning to work without a coursebook, students enjoyed
learning from the community members: I liked the fact that we gathered information
ourselves, we did not have to search on the Internet or anywhere else, we went and
talked to people face to face, which was a different feeling altogether. Despite feeling
empowered to have taken ownership over learning and enriching their understanding
of their culture and the past, students reported that they had developed many skills
such as creativity, critical thinking, time management, presentation skills, writing
skills, use of media and technology, and collaboration. Interestingly, they reported
that their teachers belief in them and the supportive feedback they received was very
useful in ensuring successful implementation of their projects and in developing skills.
However, the journey was described as challenging, particularly in its initial stage
where students felt very anxious and afraid of failure: The first days on this project
were the most challenging days of my life accompanied with strange feelings like
fear, anxiety, preoccupation and mostly the fear of failure, making me feel like I am
competing with the impossible Some students initially considered dropping out
of the course because the task seemed very difficult; however, they felt very lucky not
to have done so because they overcame difficulties through teacher and peer support.
Nonetheless, some of the students found working under time-constraints and
presentation in front of a large audience to have been the most challenging experiences
in this journey. Others found it challenging to find interviewees and/or to conduct
interviews. A recommendation was also made to increase the number of contact hours
(beyond the 90 minutes per week) and for the teacher to have more control over what
each group member does.
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Undergraduate collaborative essays: constructive, not a cop-out
Conclusion
Introducing new teaching practices can be a challenging experience for both students
and teachers. Though they initially find it difficult, students can take charge of their
learning if they are challenged academically, guided, supported and believed in. The
growth and development of skills that will survive beyond a course can be achieved
even through small-scale projects. Therefore, engaging students with practices outside
their comfort zone can be very beneficial in the long term.
blerta.mustafa@gmail.com
Reference
Whitmen, G. 2004. Dialogue with the Past: Engaging Students and Meeting Standards through
Oral History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
6.4Undergraduate collaborative essays: constructive, not a

cop-out
Peter Levrai and Averil Bolster University of Macau, Macao SAR
We were tasked with developing an EAP course at the University of Macau, an
English-medium university. The course adopted a process approach to writing where
students considered outlining, drafting and redrafting. They worked on one main
essay over the semester, and it was decided that essays should be developed in groups
rather than individually.
While there was an initial logistical motivation for this due to large class sizes (24
students per class) and a teacher having multiple classes (typically five), the decision
to proceed with group essays was based on the benefits of collaborative writing. Shin
(2015) outlines the added benefits of collaboration (such as teamwork and critical
thinking) which can in turn increase students employability (Wigglesworth and Storch
2009). Collaborative writing can also result in better quality essays (Wigglesworth
and Storch 2009), which exhibit better task fulfilment, higher grammatical accuracy
and increased complexity (Storch 2005).
In the pilot year, the course followed an approach which would be suitable for
an individual essay (Figure 6.4.1), with students doing some individual work with
sources and paragraphs before drafting the essay together as a group.
Figure 6.4.1: Pilot year approach
133
This approach led to some difficulties as the individual writing elements had a
negative impact on the first and second drafts. Rather than a coherent whole, drafts
tended to be an amalgamation of disparate parts. While this was something that could
be dealt with during the drafting process, it was an issue that needed to be addressed
for subsequent cohorts. Other concerns arising from the pilot year were that there
wasnt enough support or scaffolding to help students through the group writing
process, that students had difficulty arranging times to meet and that the balance of
work was not always equal within groups.
To mitigate these issues, a more robust system was introduced the following year
(Figure 6.4.2). The group aspect of the assignment was made explicit as students were
asked to produce ground rules at the start of the project, review how their group was
working mid-way through and reflect on how the group had worked at the end. More
individual writing elements were introduced to give students more writing practice
but, crucially, these were introduced around the essay writing process rather than as
part of the essay itself. Prior to writing students discussed input texts on a Moodle
forum and the sources they planned to use in their essay via Stormboard, a free online
whiteboard/brainstorming tool. This allowed the teacher to see early on who was
engaged in the process and who may be not contributing as much as they should.
Figure 6.4.2: Year Two approach

This revised approach helped make the collaborative aspects of the assignment
explicit, allowed for greater insight into how groups were working and provided scope
for awarding a mix of individual and group marks, which addressed the concern about
students getting fair reward for their work.
At the end of the course the students were surveyed to determine their perceptions
of collaborative essays. The response during both years was very positive. Students felt
that they understood what made a good essay and had improved at essay writing. Their
perceptions were supported by the qualitative change in their writing from the start of
the semester, where they moved from very basic writing to a more sophisticated style
better suited for university.
Students were asked if they would recommend group essays, and in both years
around 85 per cent responded that they would. The most common reason why a
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Paraphrasing: improving skills and attitudes in ESL students
minority would not was that they felt group essays led to too many ideas that were
hard to organise. Concerns about working in a group with members who do not
contribute enough was also raised by a small number of students. For the students
who would recommend group essays, the main reason was that there were more ideas
in a group and it was felt that collaboration led to better-quality ideas and better
essays. The teamwork and communication aspect of collaborative writing was also
valued, as was the support and help available when working in a group.
In conclusion, collaborative writing tasks are successful if supported by the teacher.
Rather than using a similar approach as with individual essays, there has to be explicit
scaffolding of the group writing process. Students have a positive perception of
collaborative writing and there is the potential for wider learning gains. As well as an
understanding of essay development, students also have the opportunity to develop
their communication, teamwork and critical thinking skills.
peterlevrai@gmail.com
averilbolster@gmail.com
References
Shin, M. 2015. Collaborative learning. English Teaching Professional 97: 1113.
Storch, N. 2005. Collaborative writing: product, process, and students reflections. Journal of
Second Language Writing 14/3: 15373.
Wigglesworth, G. and N. Storch. 2009. Pair versus individual writing: effects on fluency,
complexity and accuracy. Language Testing 26/3: 44566.
6.5 Paraphrasing: improving skills and attitudes in ESL students

Alexander M. Lewko The American University in Cairo, Egypt
Introduction
When paraphrasing, a student aims to capture the specific meaning of a source text
while using with his or her own choices of vocabulary and grammar. This can be a very
difficult skill to master. Source texts need to be well understood before a successful
paraphrase can be written, and a students own writing skills can determine how good
the paraphrase may be. Another issue is that students often do not realise the utility of
paraphrasing beyond avoiding plagiarism; this can limit their motivation to learn how
to execute the skill well (Hervela and Du 2003). A series of interrelated collaborative
activities presented below allows students to develop skills in paraphrasing. It
is intended that as students improve their skills, they realise the importance of
paraphrasing to their overall academic language development.
Context
The instructor teaches in an intensive English program at an English-medium
university in Egypt. Students in this program are provisionally enrolled in the
university assuming successful completion of the course within three semesters. As
part of the curriculum, students are required to give an oral presentation. Among
135
tasks required for the oral presentation, students choose a topic and select at least two
relevant articles to paraphrase and synthesise. Activities discussed below are designed
to assist them with paraphrasing.
Data collection
After students completed the in-class sequence of activities presented below, they
completed their own final paraphrases for the oral presentation project and uploaded
them to turnitin.com to be reviewed by the instructor. The instructor created brief
surveys containing short-answer questions for the students to complete regarding
issues around paraphrasing such as its definition, how to do it successfully and
attitudes toward the skill. These surveys were collected before and after the activities
were administered to students.
Sequence of activities
Students are introduced to the paraphrasing instruction with an awareness-raising
discussion regarding paraphrasing. Following this, they receive a paragraph along with
a number of paraphrases of it of varying quality. Groups review these paraphrases and
discuss among themselves and the class why particular paraphrases are stronger or
weaker.
Next, the students are expected to paraphrase. The instructor generally adapts an
article related to politics or economics for students to read, annotate and paraphrase
at home. The following day, the class evaluates the instructors own paraphrase of the
article. Students are then divided into pairs to evaluate each others paraphrase with
the aid of a peer review sheet to guide them.
The following final activities are meant to reflect paraphrasing task students must
accomplish for their own presentations. The instructor divides students into four
groups in order to read and paraphrase articles related to the topic The reasons that
lead to an increase in traffic in urban areas. Two groups receive an article related
to traffic in Cairo, and the other two groups receive an article about traffic in the
United States. Both groups are asked to read and annotate the articles at home for
understanding. Students, in their groups, then paraphrase the articles in class with
help from the instructor when needed. Once complete, groups that paraphrased the
same article compare their paraphrases. Finally, two new groups are formed, both
comprising a mix of students who read either one article or the other, to synthesise the
information in an outline to support the topic.
Results
The instructor reviewed the individual paraphrases uploaded to turnitin.com for
their own oral presentation projects. In comparing the final paraphrases students
wrote for their oral presentation projects, stronger readers and writers were generally
more successful at using a selection of different words and structures than those who
performed less successfully in writing and reading.
Students own views of paraphrasing were encouraging. Students saw the need for
understanding sources for successful paraphrasing, meaning they were aware of the
importance of reading. They also recognised that paraphrasing helps them learn to
better understand sources and that it is a good skill for research. Not all students
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How to optimise EAP tutorial time
said that they thought it was a useful skill, but many did, and several noted that they
needed to practise this more before they would be proficient at it.
Conclusion
This experience demonstrated three key things. First, instruction can help students
paraphrase at a level appropriate to how they perform in reading and writing. Second,
while paraphrasing is a difficult skill, students can be motivated to learn it if they
are aware of its benefits, such as improving their reading and writing. Finally, a
collaborative environment in the classroom may also contribute to the motivation of
students toward improving their abilities in this skill. The more students are motivated
to learn and see reasons why they are learning paraphrasing, the better the outcome
will be.
lewkoa@aucegypt.edu
Reference
Hirvela, A. and Q. Du. 2013. Why am I paraphrasing?: undergraduate ESL writers
engagement with source-based academic writing and reading. Journal of English for Academic
Purposes 12/2: 8798.
6.6How to optimise EAP tutorial time: introducing the 20-minute

structured format
David Jay Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK
Introduction
One of the most highly valued mechanisms for academic English support is the
consultation service, in which individual students can seek help from a specialist tutor
(Fenton-Smith and Humphreys 2015). In my talk, I reported on the development
of a service of this type for international students at Anglia Ruskin University. The
experience of delivering the service over several years suggests that an effective EAP
tutorial should last 20 minutes and have a defined structure. The reasons for this are
set out below.
Background
Anglia Ruskins In-sessional Support Service is timetabled weekly in two three-hour
sessions. It is open to students from a wide range of subject backgrounds at both
undergraduate and postgraduate level; support is offered with various aspects of
academic English (assignment and dissertation writing; speaking for seminars and
presentations; reading and research; lecture listening).
Initial challenges
In the early stages of delivering the service, tutorial sessions proved challenging in two
ways. On some occasions, a large number of students would attend at the same time,
all with different needs which could not be adequately addressed in a single session.
On other days, fewer students would attend, often requesting proofreading of written
137
assignments without prior notice. These students received as much as 60 minutes of

tutorial time, with the bulk of the effort falling on the tutor in the role of re-writer
(Hind 2011: 2). Neither of these patterns seemed ideal for teaching or learning.
The solution: an appointment system
A system of 20-minute individual tutorial appointments was introduced. Students were
able to book in advance and were encouraged to email a 500-word sample of written
work to the tutor 24 hours before the appointment. The structure of each tutorialsee
Table 6.6.1 for an exampleallowed the tutor to give focused feedback on ways in
which the students could improve their work, as well as specific suggestions for relevant
learning resources. The new system received very positive student feedback across a
wide range of subjects and won Customer Service Excellence awards in 2014 and 2015.
Why 20 minutes?
Tutorials in the new system are scheduled for 20 minutes because this period is usually
sufficient for an effective consultation while also fostering learner autonomy: the
time limit does not allow the focus to shift onto the tutor as proofreader. Rather, it
encourages students to absorb feedback before implementing it autonomously after
the tutorial. A further practical advantage is that three appointments fit into a one-
hour session, meaning that tutorials can be scheduled efficiently.
Practical example
Table 6.6.1 shows the structure of a typical individual tutorial for a written assignment.
In the first five minutes, the student has an opportunity to talk about how the work
is developing, before the tutor introduces the key feedback points from the 500-
word sample. A maximum of two of these points are then explored in detail in the
central phase. Learning resources relevant to these points are provided. In the final five
minutes, the tutor and student make a plan for the next phase of writing.
Timing
(mins) Stage Purpose
5 Opening Progress update
Overview of 500-word writing sample
10 Focus Feedback on a maximum of two points, e.g.
Paragraph structure
Language accuracy
Referencing
Use of reporting verbs
Academic style
Recommendation of relevant learning resources
5 Closing Arrangements for next stage of writing process
Table 6.6.1: Structure of a writing tutorial
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Building better Turkish L1 English academic writers
In this example, each 20-minute tutorial marks one stage in a process-driven

approach to EAP writing (Dovey 2010). However, the same structure can easily be
adapted for skills other than writing. For example, when support is needed with
presentation skills, after a five-minute opening discussion with the tutor, the student
can deliver a section of the presentation in the central ten-minute phase, with feedback
given afterwards in the five-minute plenary.
Suggestions for wider applications and research
The 20-minute format could have uses beyond the in-sessional context. For example,
it could be exploited on pre-sessional courses, where precise, individualised feedback
is essential for skills development in a limited time-frame. It could also be applied to
private academic English support tutoring, or to distance learning via online video
conferencing. Further research would allow a more detailed exploration of these
possible applications.
Conclusion
The 20-minute structured tutorial is particularly effective for academic English
support because it gives enough time for individual diagnosis and support in the
writing process; fosters learner autonomy and reduces dependence on proofreading;
and allows institutions to maximise service uptake while maintaining quality provision.
david.jay@anglia.ac.uk
References
Dovey, T. 2010. Facilitating writing from sources: a focus on both process and product.
Journal of English for Academic Purposes 9: 4560.
Fenton-Smith, B. and P. Humphreys. 2015. Language Specialists views on academic language
and learning support mechanisms for EAL postgraduate coursework students: the case for
adjunct tutorials. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 20: 4055.
Hind, M. 2011. Discipline discourse range & resourcefulnessthe challenges of the one-to-
one in-sessional dissertation tutorial. Poster presented at the BALEAP English for Special
Academic Purposes PIM, University of Sheffield, UK, November 2011.
6.7 Building better Turkish L1 English academic writers

David Reed Albachten Istanbul ehir University, Turkey
Background
For Turkish L1 university students, and I dare say for any non-English L1 students,
the process of English academic writing is challenging. We EFL teachers thought
that with enough practice, feedback and revision, our students would eventually
acquire the fundamentals of good written academic discourse. However, a recent
major report commissioned by the Ministry of National Education in Turkey and
Economic Policy Research Foundation (TEPAV) openly questions the effectiveness
of teaching academic English to Turkish L1 university students (West et al. 2015).
While it is true that the level of academic English among Turkish students at English-
139
medium universities is inadequate and Turkish students particularly struggle with

their English productive skills (epik 2011), pursuing an English-medium education
is not pointless and remains a desired option for many Turkish L1 students. Just
witness the explosive growth of English-medium universities in Turkeys largest city,
Istanbul, with new English-medium universities popping up every year and one of the
countrys oldest and most prestigious, Boazii University, increasing student intake.
The study
This summary paper is the outcome of a large (959-student) and long-term (six-year)
longitudinal study of Turkish L1 students academic writing in English at Istanbul ehir
University, a private English-medium university, where all students are non-native
speakers and most (80 per cent) are Turkish L1. This study exclusively used Turkish
L1 students as subjects. Using objective and consistent measures, both computer-
aided and teacher-performed, an immense longitudinal database was created from
these English learners very first paragraphs in their preparatory/foundation year to
their Freshman English academic research papers (1,000-plus words) to their masters
dissertations. Two computer programs were used to collect the data, ETS (Educational
Testing Service) e-rater Scoring Engine (for grammar, punctuation and usage) and
iThenticate (for similarity, documentation and plagiarism detection); in addition,
there was controlled teacher evaluation (for organisation). The study collected over
50 discrete data categories for each text, including more than 30 grammar, structure
and usage groupings, as well as six organisational dimensions (such as thesis, topic and
concluding sentence existence or absence). Overall, 50,000 data points were collected
from 8,300 pages and 2,400,000 words of student academic writing.
Results and context
There are many interesting results from this extensive study and the interpretation and
analysis of this data has only just begun. However, one result in particular is striking
and noteworthy. Contained within the results of this study is a surprisingly consistent
small handful of grammatical, lexical and stylistic errors that make up more than 80
per cent of all inaccuracies found in Turkish L1 English academic papers at these
levels. This limited set includes the items categorised in Table 6.7.1.
Error Type Frequency (errors/100 words)

articles (either missing or wrong) 4.1
prepositions (missing or wrong) 1.7
spelling 1.4
punctuation (missing comma
(relative clause or series) .5
subject-verb agreement .5
Table 6.7.1: Top errors, representing 80 per cent of all errors found
It is worth repeating for emphasis that these five errors make up 80 per cent
of all errors made by Turkish L1 students writing academic English in this study.
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Stimulus materials for teacher-writers in the classroom
Additionally, the vast majority of these results are tightly correlated to differences
between Turkish grammar and usage and English grammar and usage. For example,
the most frequent error is articles, which is nearly two and a half-times more common
than the second issue, and which alone comprises 50 per cent of all errors. There is
no, or very limited, use of articles in the Turkish language, thus Turkish L1 students
do not know how, where or when to use articles. In another example, prepositions are
used very differently in Turkish and English; their placement differs (in Turkish they
are postpositions), and Turkish has fewer than English, with different or multiple/
contextual meanings. Nevertheless, teachers use standard ELT textbooks, published in
the USA or the UK, where L1 is not taken into consideration when teaching articles
and prepositions.
The way forward
This result points to the need for Turkish L1-specific changes in the English academic
writing curriculum using these common errors as a starting point to develop a
comprehensive strategy to reduce these errors (as supported in studies by Lee 2013
and others). Also needed are additional assessments to confirm student understanding
and modification of teaching approaches to avoid these academic writing mistakes
from becoming imbedded in these students. This is a prescription specifically for
Turkish L1 programs, teachers and students; this L1-specific approach will vary for
other learners struggling to write academic English.
dalbachten@aol.com
References
epik, . 2011. The impact of testing system on academics in Turkey. Energy, Education
Science and Technology Part B: Social and Educational Studies 3/4: 51926.
Lee, I. 2013. Research into practice: written corrective feedback. Language Teaching 46:
10819.
West, R. et al. 2015. The State of English in Higher Education in TurkeyA Baseline Study.
Ankara: Yorum Basn Yayn Sanayi Ltd.
6.8 Stimulus materials for teacher-writers in the classroom

Stephanie Xerri Agius University of Malta, Msida, Malta
Introduction
The potential of a teacher-writer is often neglected or under-stimulated as a result of
deadlines and marking duties, as revealed by classroom research conducted in Malta.
Cultivating the creativity of a teacher is as important as that of students. The aim
of my talk was to suggest some ideas to strengthen the teacher-writers voice in the
classroom.
Who is the teacher-writer?
The identity of a teacher-writer is defined and refined through practice and time. The
latter, however, often undermines opportunities for writing. The result is that teachers
141
write at home and present the sample pieces in class. This affords them control but
the writing is far from spontaneous and often feels rehearsed, as teachers pretend that
the writing is taking place in class (Cremin and Baker 2010). Consequently, students
cannot grasp the processes that their teachers would have been immersed in while
writing, and it is not surprising that students write an essay expecting to get it right
immediately.
On the other hand, the teachers who write in class offer students more realistic
insights into the painstaking but rewarding processes of planning, writing, editing
and revising. It is true that teachers are placed in a delicate position, where they must
think on their feet and take risks. Despite this, teachers who write in class model
perseverance and dedication. They also provide students with authentic moments of
writing from which to learn.
Stimulus materials for the teacher-writer
Stimulus materials can provide opportunities for writing without overthinking, for
teachers who are not fully prepared or convinced to write in class. Stimulus materials
can either be visual, verbal or auditory prompts (AQR 2015). Activities range from
writing very short text (such as using social media to write 140-character tweets) to
longer pieces (such as photography for descriptive writing). The common factor is
that teachers and students are inspired by prompts that appeal to the senses. When
teachers use stimulus materials to co-create with their students it boosts the confidence
and motivation for writing for both parties.
Classroom research as a teacher-writer
For a number of lessons, I carried out action research by trialling a number of activities
using stimulus materials, either by writing individually or together with students. The
common denominator was that I had not prepared any writing at home. For the
individual writing task, I sat at my desk and wrote while the students wrote their
pieces. Some important points emerged here. First of all, as students watched me
write, they initially thought it was odd. However, it had a ripple effect as they felt
more comfortable when writing. As we further discussed the activity in a focus group,
they said that it was surprising to see me write spontaneously rather than present a
sample piece. They also remarked that when I modelled my writing, they were more
willing to share theirs. Finally, students felt they could better understand the editing
required, as they saw me write, scribble, correct and present two pieces of writing (the
draft and the final version). I was unwittingly teaching them self-discipline and to see
themselves as writers rather than as students.
For classroom research involving writing with students, I used different media.
For instance, on a couple of occasions I used poems to stimulate discussion and we
responded by writing a poem together. In another situation, the stimulus was a music
video and we created the storyboard for it. The result was that students almost forgot
they were writing but had fun creating. These are some examples and benefits of using
stimulus materials as a teacher-writer.
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Stimulus materials for teacher-writers in the classroom
Conclusion
During the talk I presented some ideas to encourage teachers to consider and position
themselves as writers too. Another important outcome was to share the suggestion
that anything can be used to stimulate an interest in and a desire for writing as a
creative outlet. Moreover, by sharing my experiences as a teacher-writer, I explored
the attitudes of students that had changed, as they became more cognisant of writing
processes and the challenges. Above all, writing in class fostered an environment
where authentic writing was appreciated, it matter[ed] because the choices made
were more complex (Zuidema et al. 2014: 3). Finally, writing in class enables teachers
to forge their identity and find their voice as creatives, whom the students can admire
and emulate. The teacher-writer who uses stimulus materials can also embrace writing
as a rewarding experience and impart to students the lesson of creativity beyond the
classroom.
stephanie.xerri-agius@um.edu.mt
References
Association for Qualitative Research. 2015. The Hub of Qualitative Thinking. http://www.aqr.
org.uk/glossary/stimulus-material.
Cremin, T. and S. Baker. 2010. Exploring teacher-writer identities in the classroom:
conceptualizing the struggle. English Teaching: Practice and Critique 9/3: 825.
Zuidema, L. A., S. Hochstetler, M. Letcher and K. Hawley Turner. 2014. Writers who care:
advocacy blogging as teachersprofessorsparents. Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing
Teacher Education 3/1: 819.
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7
From listening to speaking
The focus of this chapter is listening and speaking, including pronunciation. First, we
have two papers which focus on increasing awareness of spoken English: Robert J.
Werner explores the use of transcription of students speech as a means of highlighting
their strengths and weaknesses, while Bede McCormack shows the benefits of
conversational analysis in the classroom, with implications for teacher training.
Next, Carol Griffiths and Adem Soru discuss students reluctance to use features
of the spoken grammar of English, citing reasons related to learner identity. Anna
Makarova then shows how a genre-based approach can be used to develop students
oral production skills, and Vasiliki Celia Antoniou describes the use of Moodle in
supporting the development of academic speaking skills. The next two papers address
aspects of pronunciation. Judy B. Gilbert shows how the use of a prosody pyramid
makes pronunciation teaching more effective, while Robin Walker discusses the
treatment of accents in the classroom. Finally, Lesley Kendall outlines the principles
guiding the development of listening and speaking materials for a UK university.
7.1
Using transcription to improve noticing and develop effective
learning plans
Robert J. Werner Kanda University of International Studies, Chiba, Japan
Introduction
This talk looked at how Japanese university students were able to use transcripts
of their own English conversations to better recognise strengths and weaknesses
and develop effective learning plans. Since learners need to be aware of features of
language in order to notice them (Schmidt 1990), the study was concerned with
whether transcribing their own speech helped students to notice more strengths and
weaknesses and whether transcripts helped them to write better plans to improve their
speaking.
Context
The research was conducted in a first-year English communication class at a medium-
sized Japanese university. It was a year-long course consisting of two 15-week semesters,
and participants were 19 students in a class for English majors.
Data collection
This qualitative study was based on a course assignment that was completed three
times per semester. Students recorded a ten-minute conversation with a proficient
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Using transcription to improve noticing and develop effective learning plans
English speaker, listened to it and wrote a reflection (answered set questions). Two
new components were added for this study: a transcript of the students own speech
(once per semester), and a reflection question designed to draw students attention
to their strengths and weaknesses while listening to the recording, transcribing their
speech and reading the finished transcript. Five participants were interviewed at the
end of the year to learn more about their thought processes. Data came from student
recordings, reflections and interviews.
Usefulness of transcripts
Reflections and interview transcripts were analysed through TAMS Analyzer, a
qualitative analysis tool, and emergent themes were coded. Students found transcripts
to be useful for noticing weaknesses at two different times: during the transcription
process and after completing it. The usefulness of the process itself was an unexpected
finding. For example, while listening to the conversation many times to make a
transcript, one student (Asami) noticed that she overused fillers. She said, I use[d]
so so many times, but it did not have meaning. This might have been a language
transfer issue, as so is a Japanese backchannel that expresses agreement and can be
repeated for emphasis. In an example of the second instance, another student (Yosuke)
found that it was useful to read his completed transcript because he could clearly see
his hesitation in speaking, thereby exposing a weakness in fluency and giving him an
area to pursue in his learning plans. He noticed that he frequently paused, saying, I
I speak, I I like.
One way the transcripts were not useful was in recognising new vocabulary. Another
student (Yumi) identified vocabulary as a weakness, but could not understand one
of the words her partner said, despite listening to the recording many times. She
therefore missed an opportunity to learn new words.
Learning plans
The second part of the study examined students learning plans (last reflection question)
and whether the transcript component led to better plans. Learning plans consisted
of areas students wanted to improve (such as grammar, fluency or vocabulary) and
how they would go about it. In one plan, Yumi wrote, When I finish talking with a
native speaker, I ask him/her to write on a piece of paper about my English, because
if I use wrong grammar but I dont notice [it], I can see this paper whenever I want
and fix my English. It was the first time (in four years) a student had written this
idea, which could help with learning from past mistakes and reviewing grammar. In
another plan, Asami wrote, In order to improve [grammar], I can explain to myself
[what happened] at the end of the day. When I explain about happenings, I have to
use the past tense. Its practice to use the past tense. While students have previously
written about speaking English alone, this is the most detailed because she chose to
focus on a specific tense.
While students learning plans improved throughout the year, this could not be tied
directly to the inclusion of transcripts. Instead, it seemed to be more an indication of a
particular students work ethic. Conscientious students plans improved through trial,
self-reflection and incorporating teacher feedback, while less serious students plans
did not. Still, the transcripts were useful in pinpointing weaknesses.
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Chapter 7: From listening to speaking
Conclusion
Overall, the transcript component was a valuable learning experience. Even though
it did not directly help to improve learning plans, the process of making it was more
important. Coupled with the strengths/weaknesses reflection question, students were
able to notice more weaknesses both during and after transcribing. This led to a better
focus on areas to improve, thereby increasing confidence and helping students to
become better English speakers.
rjwerner@gmail.com
Reference
Schmidt, R. 1990. The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics
11/2: 12958.
7.2Teacher awareness of classroom conversation analysis:

pedagogy and practice
Bede McCormack LaGuardia Community College, CUNY, Queens, N.Y., USA
Introduction
Despite the established practice of using authentic oral texts in CLL classrooms
(Richards and Seedhouse 2005), the majority of instruction in oral skills tends to
sanitise conversation into discrete sentences. This is reflected in typical ESL teacher
education training programmes, which rarely pay close attention to the minute details
of the system of conversation such as turn taking, floor holding, preference, repair, and
topic initiation, pursuit and shift. This study seeks to address this gap by investigating
how students on an MA TESOL course learned about issues related to conversation
analysis (CA) as described by Psathias (1995), and then planned and taught lessons to
ESL learners based on their understanding of those issues.
The setting
The setting for this study was an adult ESL MA-TESOL practicum course in an
urban setting in the Northeast US. The textbook used was Wong and Warings (2010)
Conversation Analysis and Second Language Pedagogy. Throughout the course, students
worked alone or in pairs to prepare CA-based lesson plans and material which they
then used to teach a group of ESL learners who joined the practicum class each
week.
Research questions and data collection
The study was conducted as an action research project with the MA students and
focused on addressing the following three questions:
1 Do MA students recognise how CA might be applied to L2 classroom instruction?
2 Can a focus on conversational moves be feasibly included in the development of
communicative lesson plans and materials?
3 To what degree can ESL students awareness of conversational phenomena be
raised as a result of those lessons and materials?
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Teacher awareness of classroom conversation analysis: pedagogy and practice
Methodology
Student teachers were required to find examples of CA phenomena covered in class and
then create activities and lessons based around those phenomena. At the start of each
lesson, the ESL learners would be exposed to an activity to gauge their understanding
of the learning objective of the lesson, followed by instruction, discussion and practice
of the target form, and then another activity which checked uptake. All lessons were
video recorded with permission. MA students were required to view each video, select
and transcribe a section of the video and post their transcription and a comment on our
Blackboard discussion platform. Of particular interest were instances of a particular
CA move when the ESL learners were off-task and talking among themselves.
An example can be seen in the following transcript in which M and P are talking
about a near death story another student had just told:
1. M: She was being very serious
2. P: Sometimes she was being very serious
3. M: Like pay attention re:ally [concentrated on what she was doing]
4. P: [concentrated because E was talking] about
5. something very serious
6. M: Yeah, right. [Some]times she interrupted (laughter)
7. P: [what]
8. [laughter]
9. P: She was interrupting o:h oka:y?
10. M: Yes
The MA student who selected this excerpt made the following comments:
Overlap: In lines 34 P eagerly tries to complete Ms thought and takes a short turn
(lines 45), but M gets the floor back in line 6.
Using a turn-entry device: M uses this typical utterance Yeah, right (line 6) to
agree with what P is saying, but also to grab a turn.
Self-selection: (line 3) M self-selects herself to continue on the chosen topic. I
guess she was first-selected by P to comment on the conversation, so she knew she
had the floor.
Results
The video record indicated ESL learners were able to increase their accuracy and
frequency of CA phenomena they were introduced to. Additionally, the learners
developed a degree of meta-knowledge about conversational moves and even
commented on this to each other (lines 6 and 9 above).
MA student teacher survey results indicated high levels of perceived usefulness
of CA in the classroom. They also reflected an awareness for the need to develop
authentic models of targeted phenomena for learners, as well as learner-centred, open-
ended activities which avoid the type of scripted dialogues common to many ESL
textbooks.
Conclusion
Student teachers seemed to gain a sense of the importance of focusing narrowly
on conversation when teaching oral skills. A one-year post-course survey indicated
147
teachers continued to include aspects of CA in their teaching, or at least realised there

is an orderliness to conversation which is teachable. Finally, making the language
of CA a normal part of ESL teacher education practice can potentially increase the
professionalisation and effectiveness of the ESL field.
bmccormack@lagcc.cuny.edu
References
Psathias, G. 1995. Conversation Analysis: The Study of Talk-in- Interaction. Thousand Oaks,
Calif.: Sage.
Richards, K. and P. Seedhouse. 2005. Applying Conversation Analysis. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Wong, J. and H. Z. Waring. 2010. Conversation Analysis and Second Language Pedagogy: A
Guide for ESL/EFL Teachers. New York: Routledge.
7.3It doesnt reflect my identity: learner reactions to natural

English
Carol Griffiths Fatih University, Istanbul, Turkey and Adem Soru Sakarya
University, Turkey
Spoken grammar, or natural English
In recent years, there has been considerable interest in teaching what has been called
the spoken grammar of English (SGE). For instance, when Timmis (2002) surveyed
almost 600 teachers and learners from more than 45 countries, he concluded that
two thirds of the participants considered SGE features important. More recently, a
Handbook of Spoken Grammar (2012) has had as its stated aim the development of
natural English.
In order to explore issues related to this phenomenon, a small-scale action
research study was set up at a Turkish university. The aim was to investigate the
teachability of spoken grammar features and the reasons for the observed uptake or
lack of uptake.
The study
This study was reported in System (Soru and Griffiths 2015). Students in a
Turkish university preparation class received instruction in the use of vague
language (for example, about an hour), placeholders (such as thingummy and
whatshisname), lexico-grammatical units (like actually or I mean ) and ellipsis
(such as Looks good). According to a pre-test, students used no vague language,
placeholders or lexico-grammatical units, although six students used ellipsis. After
the treatment, four students were noted using vague language, three using
placeholders, eight using lexico-grammatical units, while the use of ellipsis remained
the same (six). By the time of a delayed post-test three weeks later, the use of vague
language and placeholders had returned to zero, the use of lexico-grammatical units
had halved (to four), though there was a slight increase in the use of ellipsis (to
seven). When interviewed and asked what they thought might explain these results,
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It doesnt reflect my identity: learner reactions to natural English
students reported feeling fake or artificial and explained that it doesnt reflect my
identity.
Identity
The issue of identity is another area which has aroused much interest in recent years.
Norton Peirce (1995) pointed out that learner identity affects the willingness to invest
time and effort in the learning endeavour. In the years since, others have taken up the
theme, and multiple definitions can be found in the literature. It would seem that
identity is what defines an individual; it is complex rather than unitary; it is dynamic
rather than fixed; and it may change over time and according to context.
Implications for teaching practice
From a language teaching point of view, it has long been assumed that the native-
speaker model is the one which should be taught, and to which learners naturally
aspire. Increasingly, however, this assumption is being challenged. It has been
suggested that learners may resist native-speaker norms because they may conflict
with their own sense of identity. In the case of the study noted above, there was a
notable lack of uptake of all the presented forms with only one exception: ellipsis. This
phenomenon might, perhaps, be explained by the fact that ellipsis occurs commonly
in Turkish, so that this particular form already feels quite natural, and therefore does
not conflict with the students own sense of identity.
The findings from this study might therefore suggest that, although it may well
be useful to raise awareness of SGE features, care should be taken to avoid student
resistance, which may well be counterproductive in terms of achieving the desired
learning outcomes. Furthermore, it should be accepted that, although it may be useful
to expose students to such forms so as to promote understanding, the degree to which
students may wish to use them in their own speech should be a matter of individual
choice according to a learners own sense of identity.
Conclusion
Although there was a small increase in the use of the target spoken grammar features
between the pre-test and the immediate post-test, this was not maintained until the
delayed post-test. When asked to explain, students used expressions such as artificial,
fake and it doesnt reflect my identity.
From a research point of view, it could be useful for other studies to be conducted
with larger numbers of participants and in a wider variety of locations in order to
determine whether results might be similar across contexts. An interesting observation
from a research point of view is the fact that this study set out to explore the teachability
of spoken grammar. In fact, however, the most interesting finding turned out to be
the relationship to identity, an outcome which was not anticipated at the beginning.
We would like to suggest, therefore, that researchers should always remain open to
finding something slightly different to, but perhaps more interesting than, what they
originally set out to investigate.
carolgriffiths5@hotmail.com
adem_soruc@hotmail.com
149
References
Norton Peirce, B. 1995. Social identity, investment and language learning. TESOL Quarterly
29: 931.
Soru, A. and C. Griffiths. 2015. Identity and the spoken grammar dilemma. System 50,
3242.
Timmis, I. 2002. Native-speaker norms and international English: a classroom view. ELT
Journal 56: 2409.
7.4Teaching discussion in academic settings using genre-based

methodology
Anna Makarova University of Bremen, Germany
Introduction
Genre is defined by most linguists as a type of text produced for a specific
communicative purpose. A genre-based approach in language teaching means using
target texts as models for familiarising students with the features of genres relevant
to independent production of their own texts for similar contexts. Although this
methodology has been widely used in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) for teaching written genres, such as essays or
research articles, its application for oral genres has been limited. The aim of this talk
was to present practical recommendations of designing materials for teaching the
genre of discussion in the academic settings of the University of Bremen, Germany,
which were developed on the basis of findings in action research (Makarova 2013)
conducted by the speaker.
Stages of genre-based approach
The suggested framework for designing speaking activities, which draws on the
combination of ESP and SFL approaches, includes the following stages:
1 selecting authentic texts for using texts (genres) as models;
2 analysing texts by teachers/designers of activities;
3 analysing texts together with students; teaching the identified features of genres
(texts);
4 providing opportunities for students to create their own texts for specific context;
and
5 evaluating texts produced by students, comparing them with models.
Using the framework for teaching the genre of discussion

The framework was used for teaching the genre of argumentative discussion to students
in an ESP course at the University of Bremen. The talk described each of the stages.
Stage 1
Texts for modelling a genre are expected to meet certain requirements, such as
authenticity, suitable length and quality. As a result of my search, several ten-minute
150
Teaching discussion in academic settings using genre-based methodology
extracts of video recordings of TV discussions on the BBC (such as The Big Questions)
were selected as representative of the genre of argumentative discussion.
Stage 2
At the stage of analysing the transcribed recordings, the aim was to identify the
features which are both characteristic of the genre of discussion and relevant to
teaching. The innovativeness of the approach was in viewing an oral genre as a multi-
dimensional construct with such dimensions as organisation which is reflected in lexis
and grammar; sound reflected in phonology and intonation, and behaviour reflected
in non-verbal features. The analysis revealed specific features of the genre of discussion
for all these three dimensions. Speaking activities were developed to teach students the
identified features.
Stage 3
At the stage of modelling students were asked to analyse the selected recordings and to
identify the structure of the genre as well as its specific lexico-grammatical, phonological
and non-verbal features. One of the tasks was to explain differences between similar
discussions in students culture and the BBC recordings. The role of the teacher was
seen as giving support, like scaffolding, to students and co-constructing knowledge.
Stage 4
At the next stage, the students had a task to take part in a discussion on a controversial
topic (for example, Technological advances lead to the destruction of nature) which
was organised as a role play with a host and half of the students being in favour and
half of them being against the statement. Students who were watching the discussion
were asked to provide feedback.
Stage 5
For evaluation of students contributions, discussion assessment forms were developed.
A semi-structured assessment form was used to assess students performance according
to the following criteria: expressing a point of view clearly; providing stretches of speech
without long pauses spontaneously; taking turns when appropriate; using appropriate
rhetorical features and intonation for highlighting; and using a wide range of grammar
and vocabulary. In a structured discussion assessment form, descriptors with scores
were developed on the basis of CEFR. As a result of this action research, discussion
on a controversial topic was made part of an oral examination for the ESP students.
Conclusion
In course evaluation questionnaires, students who participated in the course gave
positive feedback to the teaching approach. Here is one of the representative quotes
from the students comments: I think this kind of teaching is very good because it
motivates to speak freely. The advantage of the approach is that it draws attention
to the importance of providing opportunities for students to create their own texts.
It equips students with skills of genre analysis necessary for learning other oral
genres. The study has demonstrated the effectiveness of genre-based methodology for
preparing students for using language in real-life oral communication.
anna-mak@hotmail.co.uk
151
Reference
Makarova, A. 2013. An Examination of the Concept of Genre as a Tool for the Design of Speaking
Activities for ESP. Doctoral Thesis, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
7.5Scaffolding the development of academic speaking skills

online
Vasiliki Celia Antoniou University of Essex, Colchester, UK
Background
The purpose of this talk was to explore how Moodle can support EAP students in
becoming successful autonomous academic speakers. Therefore, the focus of the
presented study was on finding a balance between providing adequate scaffolding and
support for online learning with opportunities for students to monitor and assess their
progress in EAP speaking skills development.
Pedagogic approach and scaffolding
Course management systems (CMSs), such as Moodle and Blackboard, are
sophisticated virtual environments designed to enable real-time computer-mediated
interaction. During this online process the learners actions require support. Bruner
(1975: 60) defined the term scaffolding as a process of setting up the situation
to make the learners entry easy and successful and then gradually pulling back and
handing the role to the learner. The scaffolding framework used for the presented
online course was adapted by Yu (2009) and included the following features: (a)
reflective social discourse features (such as comment boxes, peer-evaluation and a
notification system with message alerts); (b) process prompts (such as built-in hints for
task completion); (c) process displays (such as task completion and progress indicators
and learner portfolios); and (d) process models (such as exemplary answers, concept
maps and external links).
Target academic speaking skills and materials
The specific speaking skills that were addressed during this training were the following:
enabling students to create an academic oral presentation and introduce a topic;
helping students develop and plan the steps of giving a presentation; and
assisting students in sequencing, comparing and contrasting information, illustrat-
ing points by examples and summarising/concluding in academic speaking situa-
tions.
All students were working in a lab in front of a computer and logged into Moodle;
the tasks were designed by the researcher. The participants included student volunteers
(n=13) and a language tutor. Their native languages included Chinese, Arabic, English,
Hungarian and Greek. The students were enrolled in a general English course at an
upper-intermediate level (level C1 according to the CEFR) and were also attending
an MA course in the Department of Linguistics.
152
Scaffolding the development of academic speaking skills online
The speaking course teaching cycle

The purpose of this section is to present an overview of the project within which
the teaching cycle stands which is of crucial importance in order to understand the
instruction process. The general structure of the model for course learning design is
shown in Figure 7.5.1.
Day 1 Course orientation - 1. Developing reading and

understanding of keywords
Day 2 Day 3
Tutor facilitated activities and student: student peer feedback sessions
Reading and Vocabulary Preparing Learning
understanding to presentation notes activities
develop conceptual and note-taking
and critical thinking
Concept map Review quizzes, multiple Concept map Tutor
creation, quizzes, choice tests, open-ended creation, multiple- marked or
gap-fill exercises tasks choice questions, reviewed
quizzes tasks
Final outcome:
Online course completion // Progression to face-to-face delivery of an oral
academic presentation
Figure 7.5.1: Model of course learning design
Student evaluation of the scaffolding features

The evaluation cycle comprised of a mixed methods approach to data collection
and analysis in order to gather introspective and empirically based information.
The students attitudes towards the scaffolding features were very positive as 95 per
cent of the respondents agreed with the initial arrangement. Regarding the students
perceptions of the usefulness of various scaffolding features, the following two where
perceived as offering the most support: Having access to model answers during the
tasks (88 per cent of the students) and receiving notifications about task updates (86
per cent).
In terms of the four broad scaffolding techniques, the recordings of the students
online activity revealed that the process models (i.e. accessing exemplary answers,
concept maps, external links, etc.) were viewed as having the highest support with
almost 60 per cent of the students indicating this support level as major. The reflective
social discourse features (i.e. comment boxes, peer-evaluation) were rated second as
50.81 per cent indicated they offered major support. Process prompts (i.e. built-in
hints) were rated third as 43.67 per cent indicated they offered major support. Finally,
process displays were the least supportive features with only 20.41 per cent indicating
they offered major support.
153
Conclusion
As a result, the students revealed that the overall training scaffolding experience offered
them the opportunity to develop conceptually by gradually developing and employing
speaking strategies that allowed them to deliver oral presentations effectively. In this
respect, it was found that 11 out of 13 students were able to combine skills, synthesise
information critically and present it effectively by the end of the training. The Forum
area, glossary and peer-assessment workshops were very frequently commented on
during the post-training interviews.
vanton@essex.ac.uk
References
Bruner, J. 1975. From communication to language: a psychological perspective. Cognition
3: 25587.
Yu, F. Y. 2009. Scaffolding student-generated questions: design and development of a
customizable online learning system. Computers in Human Behavior 25: 112938.
7.6Teaching pronunciation using the prosody pyramid: simplicity

is the key
Judy B. Gilbert Freelance, Orinda, Calif., USA
What problem did this presentation intend to solve?

Overheard at a teacher conference: I just hate to teach intonationits so artificial.
Another teachers comment: Pronunciation is so full of little picky details! When
students become overwhelmed with the work load, they are harder to teach. How can
lessons be simple enough to be productively teachable? I believe we should begin with
the highest priority aspects, and then add more detail as time allows.
What should come first?
The highest priority pronunciation concept for a student to learn is how English calls
attention to the point that the speaker most wants the listener to notice. Every language
has a way to do this: some with word order, some with grammatical construction, some
with a post-particle. But English depends more than most other languages on musical
signals (prosody) for this crucial task. Consider the meaning of the punctuation in the
following two sentences, which have exactly the same sequence of words.
1 John said, The Boss is an idiot!
2 John, said the Boss, is an idiot!
Unless students learn about the prosodic signals of punctuation, they tend to miss
the crucial element here: Who is speaking?
Transference of the first language emphasis system tends to seriously reduce
intelligibility and listening comprehension in English. Furthermore, because English
prosody affects the timing and clarity of individual sounds, it is inefficient to work
on accuracy in English sounds before students achieve a threshold level of the English
prosody system.
154
Teaching pronunciation using the prosody pyramid: simplicity is the key
This session presented a way to make pronunciation teaching more effective, using
a simple pyramid image of the prosodic cues (prosody) of spoken English (Figure
7.6.1).
Figure 7.6.1: The prosody pyramid

1 The foundation of the pyramid is the thought group (a short sentence, clause or
phrase): How do you spell easy?
2 In each thought group there is one focus word: easy.
3 In the focus word there is one most stressed syllable: ea.
4 In the stressed syllable is one peak vowel sound: /i:/. The peak vowel carries the
peak of information.
Signals for stress in a word
It is common to assume that stress is shown by loudness, but we can distinguish the
vowels by length and clarity even when somebody is talking at a low whisper. Research
suggests that there are two more useful signals:
1 Contrastive length
From the point of view of teaching production of stress, length is the variable that
most students find easiest to control and is a reliable marker of stress (Brown 1999).
Lengthening the vowel can be taught kinaesthetically by contrastively stretching a
rubber band at the crucial syllable while saying a multisyllabic word. This is a simple
means to focus learners attention on the contrastive length.
2 Contrastive clarity
The peak vowel must be easily noticed and, by contrast, vowels around it must be
made less noticeable, so they are systematically reduced. These vowels (generally
referred to as schwa sounds) are hard to identify. Schwa does not exist in the alphabet
or in printed English, so it tends to be a barrier to listening comprehension and
intelligibility. That is why teaching this system is crucial for hearing and speaking
English.
155
Signal for emphasis in a thought group

Word stress and thought group emphasis are not the same thing. The most significant
signal of emphasis is a marked change in pitch on the peak vowel of the focus word. The
pitch change is usually upward change, but any noticeable change, up or down, calls
attention to this particular syllable. Unlike many languages, English emphasis does
not depend on rules but varies according to the speakers communicative intention
(Bolinger 1972). Word stress patterns are just a potential and will only be noticed
when that particular word is the speakers focus of information. That is why the peak
vowel in the focus word is the peak of information for the whole thought group.
Conclusion
Because the prosodic system of spoken English is fundamental, it is essential that
students reach a threshold level of competence in this system before moving on to
other elements. The prosody pyramid image works equally well for both UK and US
English: it is just necessary to choose the appropriate vocabulary, stress pattern and
peak vowel symbol to fill in the levels.
judybgilbert@comcast.net
References
Bolinger, D. 1972. Accent is predictable (if youre a mind reader). Language 48/3: 63344.
Brown, G. 1990. Listening to Spoken English. London. Longman.
Gilbert, J. 2014. Myth: intonation is hard to teach in L. Grant (ed.). Pronunciation Myths:
Applying Second Language Research to Classroom Teaching. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press.
7.7 They dont do Scottish accents

Robin Walker EnglishGlobalCommunication, Lieres, Spain
This talk examined the pedagogical implications of accent variation for the teaching
of pronunciation and related listening skills. I began the talk with an extract from a
comedy sketch showing two men trapped in a voice-activated lift because of their
Scottish accents. I wanted to bring out the idea that accents are an inherent but
potentially problematic aspect of English given its global spread.
The sketch lead me in to a brief review of attitudes to accents. Though Jennifer
Jenkins has explored this area in depth with respect to English as a lingua franca,
I looked at attitudes beyond the strict confines of ELF, focusing on the stances of
different key players in ELT: linguists, trainers and teachers.
In particular, in this part of the talk I challenged the attitude of applied linguists
such as Szpyra-Kozowska who take what I called a best accent approach to ELT,
claiming that for teaching purposes the model accent should provide learners
with increased chances of an educational and professional career, both in their own
country and outside it. It is doubtful whether this requirement can be satisfied by
non-standard or regional accents (Szpyra-Kozowska 2015: 30).
I went on to show how such a view of what constitutes a good accent permeates
down to teachers when they express the opinion that it would be easier for students
156
They don't do Scottish accents
in the Netherlands (and Europe) to focus on one particular generally accepted accent
instead of teachers frantically trying to expose them to materials dealing with all sorts
of varieties of English accents (Hermans 2015: 44).
This approach, I explained, is unrealistic given what we know about living languages
and phonological variation. I closed this section of the talk indicating my complete
agreement with Cauldwell when he states that all the accents that we have seen
are legitimate ways of speaking English, and that we all have accentsno one
is accent freeand our accents give a flavour or a colour to the sound substance of
speech which learners have to acclimatise themselves to (2013: 159).
The aim of this long first section was to demonstrate that although accents are
characteristic in any living language, they can generate contradictory and subjective
reactions from listeners, and that these often resurface in a restricted vision of the place
of accents, and any training to deal with accents, in the ELT classroom. In addition,
adopting a best accent approach leads us into the impossible task of choosing a
single, best accent.
The second part of the talk focused on the classroom, where the reality of accent
variation creates major issues for ELT practitioners. Firstly, there is an urgent need to
increase awareness, understanding and acceptance of accent variation as the norm,
rather than the notion as accent as failure or deviation. Here I introduced the key
difference between accent and intelligibility. I stressed that all ELT practitioners
need to grasp this relationship, as well as making their learners aware of it, too. Such
awareness is a key step in generating a constructive response towards the phenomenon
of phonological variation in present-day classroom practice. The need is equally urgent
with respect to major ELT institutions, particularly exam boards, given the powerful
backwash effect of external assessment criteria.
Once I had established the reality and inevitability of accent variation, I went on
to present a number of variation-centred activities that can be incorporated into the
existing ELT framework of listening skills training. More specifically, I presented
ways to expose learners to the multiple accents they will encounter in natural English
language settings, but very especially in settings where English acts as a lingua franca.
Such exposure is especially important for shared-L1 (monolingual) groups given the
natural tendency that speakers in these groups have of converging on the speakers
L1 phonology in order to achieve local intelligibility during classic communication
activities. I demonstrated how teachers can make use of suitable websites in order to
expose learners to multiple NNS accents in a controlled environment.
In addition to activities to provide exposure to different accents, I presented activities
developed recently to facilitate the teaching of receptive accommodation skills. These
include peer dictation and also tasks designed to promote the use of negotiation
of meaning as a key resource for improving receptive and productive phonological
accommodation skills needed to survive in a world populated by multiple accents.
robin@englishglobalcom.com
References
Cauldwell, R. 2013. Phonology for Listening. Birmingham: Speech in Action.
Hermans, F. 2015. Near-native pronunciation? Who cares?. Speak Out! 45: 426.
Szpyra-Kozowska, J. 2015. Pronunciation in EFL Instruction. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
157
7.8 Designing bespoke EAP listening and speaking materials

Lesley Kendall Durham University, UK
The context
This was a 30-week pre-sessional course, general EAP due to the varying levels and
disciplines of our students, 40 hours per term for three ten-week terms for the listening
and speaking module.
The issue
Learners feel that listening is often the most difficult skill to master (Hasan 2000 and
Graham 2003, in Kurita 2012) and is often a source of great anxiety, as is speaking.
Feedback from our EAP students concurred with this and forced us to review our
listening and speaking modules. We realised our listening and speaking module
materials were not doing what research suggested they should be doing, and so we
needed new materials. Published listening and speaking materials were not entirely
suitable. Firstly they were generally not academic enough. Secondly, model listenings
often did not really replicate the length, complexity or spontaneity of a real lecture.
Finally, speaking activities did not practice the variety of speaking skills our students
would need to master. More importantly, we wanted a topic fit with our other modules
in order to give students the experience of immersing themselves in a topic in all four
skill areas, as would be the case in an academic programme.
The solution
The solution was to create 120 hours worth of bespoke listening and speaking
materials. We researched theories of listening and decided which elements we could
incorporate practically into our materials.
Literature on listening instruction indicates that students need to be taught how to
listen and be made aware of the processes and approaches to listening; this prompted
us to create materials that focused on teaching skills and strategies for listening and
speaking rather than simply practising these skills. We incorporated basic listening
processes such as activating schemata, checking key vocabulary and predicting content
into each piece of listening material. Materials needed to be situated in an academic
context for them to be relevant to our students and provide them with practice in
the same specific tasks they would have on their academic programmes; therefore,
we chose to base materials mainly on lectures and talks, seminars, presentations and
scenarios usually encountered in a university context. Not only did the materials need
to be situated in an academic context, they also needed to teach academic skills. Over
the 120 hours of materials some of the skills we concentrated on in the listening
materials taught students how to distinguish between relevant and non-relevant
information; how to concentrate on and understand long stretches of talk; how to
use various note-taking techniques including practice on integrating the incoming
message with information derived from other media such as handouts, visualisers
and PowerPoint (Flowerdew 1994); and what to do with notes post-listening. For the
speaking materials we concentrated on longer speaking turns, organising speaking
158
Designing bespoke EAP listening and speaking materials
content in advance and integrating sources, and also recognising and using linguistic
devices to signal organisation.
Wenden (1998) states that when listeners know how to analyse the requirements of
a listening task; activate the appropriate listening processes required; make appropriate
predictions; monitor their comprehension; evaluate the success of their approach,
they are using metacognitive knowledge for successful listening comprehension. As
this is critical to the development of self-regulated learning we wanted to incorporate
a strategy approach into our materials to help raise students awareness of how to
listen and how they as individuals listen, thus helping students to work out how they
can understand authentic texts and hopefully furnishing them with a useful skill for
listening in their academic department. Written into all materials was a section to
encourage students to reflect on which strategies they had used and, more importantly,
what had worked for them, be it notetaking in L1 or L2, notetaking using the Cornell
method, writing prompts for a seminar, and so on.
Materials also needed to include language input and correction, so for each set
of materials we had a different language focus that presented itself in the listening;
these could also be useful for speaking, for example, signposting language in a lecture
or using figures to discuss data. We had a variety of peer- and teacher-led correction
techniques written into the materials with self- and peer-evaluation sheets. We also
recorded speaking and encouraged students to record themselves and transcribe
sections for language analysis in order to highlight individual errors.
Outcomes
We are currently using the new materials for the first year; both teacher and student
feedback has been entirely positive.
lesley.kendall@durham.ac.uk
References
Flowerdew, J. 1994. Academic Listening: Research Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Kurita, T. 2012. Issues in second language listening comprehension and the pedagogical
implications. Accents Asia 5/1: 3044.
Wenden, A. 1998. Metacognitive knowledge and language learning. Applied Linguistics 19:
51537.
159
8
English for specific (academic)
purposes
This short chapter presents papers from various parts of the world on the teach-
ing of English for specific academic and vocational purposes. First, Elis Kakoulli
Constantinou and Salomi Papadima-Sophocleous emphasise the need for in-
service training for ESP practitioners and point out that few ESP educators have
such training. Then, Paul Woods and Waleed Bajouda relate the challenges encoun-
tered in the establishment of EMI colleges in Saudi Arabia. Moving to specific subject
areas, Diane Nancy Brown shows how the creation of short videos was beneficial
to Japanese media students; Caroline Hyde-Simon describes the development of
an ESP course for library staff; and Anna Rolinska and William Guariento intro-
duce a collaboration between a UK university and one in Gaza, with benefits for both
sides.
8.1
ESP teacher education: an online, in-service, ESP teacher
training course
Elis Kakoulli Constantinou and Salomi Papadima-Sophocleous
Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus
Introduction
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses at tertiary level are increasing as English
gains a leading place in curricula worldwide (Httner et al. 2009). Nevertheless, ESP
teacher education is a very poorly researched area, and the majority of ESP educators
are general English (GE) teachers with no specialised training in ESP (Basturkmen
2010; Bracaj 2014). Literature reveals the need for ESP teacher training in various
parts of the world including Cyprus and Greece. The need for ESP teacher train-
ing expressed in literature and our personal experience at the Cyprus University of
Technology Language Centre are the factors that instigated our interest in proceeding
with this technical action research.
The purpose of the study
The aim of this technical action research, which is still in progress, is to improve
on the existing problem of insufficient ESP teacher training in general, and in the
Cypriot and Greek context in particular. We propose the development of an innova-
tive, online, short-term, in-service ESP teacher training course based on ESP prin-
ciples, the latest trends in teacher training and our analysis of ESP practitioners needs
in Cyprus and Greece.
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ESP teacher education: an online, in-service, ESP teacher training course
Methodology
The study follows the spiral processes of action research evolving in a series of stages,
each of which consists of certain steps. Stage 1 involves the collection of data on which
the design of the programme will be based; Stage 2 focuses on the implementation,
review and refinement of the programme; and Stage 3 involves repetition of Stage 2
and the drawing of final conclusions.
Our interactive talk focused on Stage 1, reporting and exchanging views on the
findings from data collected through the following:
a review of the literature in ESP and current ESP teacher training practices, which
covered a wide range of peer-reviewed academic papers and books in the field, dat-
ing from the 1970s until today; and
an analysis of ESP practitioners needs in Cyprus and in Greece, elicited through
a survey. For this purpose, an electronic questionnaire was used with closed-ended
(multiple response and Likert scale) and open-ended questions administered to 67
ESP practitioners in higher and vocational education (29 from Cyprus and 38 from
Greece).
Findings
The findings carry important implications for the design and implementation of the
ESP teacher training programme that this study aspires to propose. Some of the most
important are the following:
1 Literature shows an intense need for ESP teacher training worldwide. Moreover, it
presents useful findings that could constitute a basis for future ESP teacher train-
ing programmes. This short report can only refer briefly to some general aspects of
the findings, but according to the literature, any ESP teacher training programme
should be governed by the principles of ESP and the multifaceted role of the
ESP practitioner. Moreover, it should be built on the idea that the ESP learning
process should be the result of collaboration and cooperation between the ESP
practitioner, content teachers, professionals, students and other ESP educators.
Finally, ESP teacher training should be based on the idea of continuing profes-
sional development and life-long learning.
2 The needs analysis survey reveals useful findings related to the ESP teacher train-
ing programme that the present study will propose upon its completion. First of
all, the profiles of the ESP higher and vocational education practitioners in Cyprus
and Greece are identified, as well as the aspects of their ESP teaching practices that
need improvement. Furthermore, conclusions can be drawn regarding preferable
modes of teaching, as well as regarding components that ESP practitioners would
like to be included in an ESP teacher training course. Finally, the survey illustrates
that most of the practitioners consider ESP teacher training to be useful and that
they would be willing to participate in such training.
Conclusions
Literature worldwide illustrates the need for ESP training that should be continu-
ous and life-long. The findings of Stage 1 of this study constitute the basis of the
ESP teacher training course that this study will propose in its following phase and
161
Chapter 8: English for specific (academic) purposes
also yield important implications for any future endeavours in the area ESP teacher
education.
elis.constantinou@cut.ac.cy
salomi.papadima@cut.ac.cy
References
Basturkmen, H. 2010. Developing Courses in English for Specific Purposes. London: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Bracaj, M. 2014. Teaching English for specific purposes and teacher training. European
Scientific Journal 10/2: 409.
Httner, J., U. Smit and B. Mehlmauer-Larcher. 2009. ESP teacher education at the interface
of theory and practice: introducing a model of mediated corpus-based genre analysis. System
37/1: 99109.
8.2An English quality strategy for vocational education in Saudi

Arabia
Paul Woods Chester, UK and Waleed Bajouda Colleges of Excellence, Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia
Internationalisation, English and the Colleges of Excellence initiative
Technical and vocational education at tertiary level in Saudi Arabia has traditionally
been delivered by colleges set up under the auspices of the Technical and Vocational
Training Council (TVTC) through the medium of Arabic. But an ambitious reform
of vocational and technical education involving internationalisation, the establish-
ment of publicprivate partnerships and the introduction of English as the medium
of instruction is now underway, led by Colleges of Excellence (CoE). Worth over
$1 billion dollars of investment, these colleges are using education as a primary tool
for producing citizens with a good command of English. In order to maximise expo-
sure to western best practice and knowledge through English-medium technical and
vocational training, more than 30 English-medium branch campuses of established
international organisations and consortia have been set up since 2013.
The CoE vision and mission
The CoE vision is Connecting learners to world class training, opening the door to
a successful future and their mission We foster relationships between top-quality
training providers, learners and local employers. The goal for EFL as set out in the
Quality Assurance Strategy is to provide high quality EFL provision which enables
vocational students to enter and succeed on internationally recognised Saudi Skills
Standards vocational programmes and to communicate effectively in English in the
workplace and wider society (Colleges of Excellence 2015).
Issues with English as the medium of instruction
When the first wave of colleges opened in 2013 it quickly became apparent that there
were a number of issues related to the choice of English as the medium of instruction.
162
An English quality strategy for vocational education in Saudi Arabia
Some of the political and economic considerations underlying this choice have been
outlined by Phan and Barnawi (2015). The entry level of students in some colleges,
where up to 70 per cent were not literate in English, was not anticipated by manage-
ment and teachers. Syllabi, schemes of work and materials developed for institutions
in other countries were not always appropriate to the needs and interests of Saudi
learners. Student attitudes and motivation could be problematic, and there were some
issues with teacher recruitment. Teachers faced the conflicting demands of teaching
the Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills needed to pass KET/PET exams and
the Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency needed for the vocational/technical
programme, while some providers lacked experience in running technical and voca-
tional programmes in the Gulf region. One year had been allocated as a Foundation
Year, at the end of which students were required to reach A2 on the CEFR in the
KET exam in order to proceed to the Associate Diploma vocational programme.
Exam results on PET/KET in the first wave of 11 colleges in 2013/14 were poor, with
only 17 per cent achieving the required CEFR A2 level to proceed to their technical/
vocational courses.
The quality improvement project
Following a tendering process, CoE appointed a team of consultants to identify the
issues and come up with a plan for quality improvement. A six-month mini-project
was carried out from February to July 2015. The project had six components. An
initial needs analysis took place in February 2015, during which a team of ten inter-
national consultants visited all 33 colleges. Two-day training workshops for English
teachers were held in regional centres during March 2015, along with a two-day
workshop for managers. A website for managers, teachers and students was created.
Figure 8.2.1: Percentage of learners who scored at A2 and above
163
Figure 8.2.2: Achievement at A2 and above by gender
Individual consultancy/mentoring visits and college-based follow-up workshops took

place in July 2015, and a set of legacy documents was created, including an EFL
Quality Strategy for English, Quality Framework and Standards, Handbook, Toolkit
for Teachers, Teacher Profile and Teacher Induction pack. The Strategy included
recommendations on the QA process, and covered four key domains: (1) student
outcomes; (2) teaching, learning and assessment; (3) leadership and management; and
(4) facilities and resources.
Demonstrable results
Whether as a result of this project, of other factors such as improved appropriacy of
curricula and materials, improved selection processes, learning from experience or
some combination of all of these factors, there have been demonstrable improvements
term on term. The latest external exam results from first wave colleges in the second
term of 2015/16 show that an average of 60 per cent of students passed the KET at A2
level, enabling them to proceed to vocational/technical training, an improvement of
over 300 per cent on the 2013/14 results; there were no significant differences when
results were disaggregated by gender. (See Figures 8.2.1 and 8.2.2.)
rphwoods@gmail.com
References
Colleges of Excellence. 2015. EFL Quality Assurance Strategic Plan. Unpublished document,
Colleges of Excellence, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Phan, L. H. and O. Z. Barnawi. 2015. Where English, neoliberalism, desire and
internationalization are alive and kicking: higher education in Saudi Arabia today Language
and Education, July. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2015.1059436.
164
Motivating media students with ten-second self-produced social media videos
8.3Motivating media students with ten-second self-produced

social media videos
Diane Nancy Brown Sapporo University Womens Junior College, Japan
Introduction
This talk described a classroom-based research project at Sapporo University, Japan.
Low-level ELL media students integrated current news stories with a social media
application to produce ten-second movies in English. This multidimensional project
motivated students by personalising their learning experience, deepened their com-
prehension, engaged them in purposeful tasks, and utilised new technologies.
Context
This media English class of 25 non-English-major female freshmen was an elective.
Class met once a week for 90 minutes over 15 weeks. Students were introduced to
news articles from newsinlevels.com, an ELL website which uploads current news
stories in three levels. Students performed tasks based on the content of these news
stories to produce and practise reading, writing, speaking and listening. To add
another dimension to their learning experience, students utilised LINE, a social media
application, to record and share ten-second social media videos for their class (http://
www.line.me).
Process
I used Level 2 news stories from newsinlevels.com, which were a simplified version of
the original news story. We made a private group chat on LINE. First, I posted a news
story from newsinlevels.com on LINE with a link to view the same story on YouTube.
Reading/writing tasks included looking up ten challenging but practical and useful
vocabulary items from the story. Next, students had to produce four Wh- questions
with answers based on the content of the article. Reading tasks included repeating and
shadowing in chorus and individually. I also prepared discussion questions based on
the content of the news stories to serve as an outline to support their movie scripts.
Speaking/listening tasks included practising their Wh- questions and answers, and
giving answers to the discussion questions to check their grammar, pronunciation
and fluency. Students also practised speaking in pairs and groups. They answered the
discussion questions in complete sentences, which became the basis of their social
media movie script. Students added visuals to narrate or chose appropriate locations
to appear in their movies. All student work was posted on LINE, allowing for instant
sharing and feedback.
Results
Evaluation of student participation, tasks, movies, and student feedback from ques-
tionnaires for this classroom-based research project proved this was a positive chal-
lenge for even the most reluctant English language learners. Reviewing the vocabulary
words and generating Wh- questions and answers was a doable challenge and they
were able to demonstrate their comprehension of the news stories. Students were
actively engaged in their learning instead of being passively spoon-fed. They had
165
many chances to practise speaking in English. The discussion questions encouraged

students to connect the story with their personal experiences. Answering the discus-
sion questions encouraged them to share their opinions, ideas and beliefs. This was
novel to them because they were not English majors and did not have high expecta-
tions or much motivation for English learning. These practical tasks invited them to
think, produce and practise English.
Unfortunately, their ten-second movies made using the LINE application were lost
due to a technical error. However, the students were so enthusiastic about making the
movies, they used the video functions on their cell phones or other movie applications
instead. Their ten-second movies increased to two minutes. Sample student work for
the talk included movies about their annual school festival, a famous landmark in
Sapporo, the Sapporo Clock Tower, and driving around their northern island with its
icy winter roads and wild animals.
Conclusion
Self-produced social media videos helped students to make a transition from their
grammar-translation-based high-school classroom to a communicative college class-
room. This project effectively utilised authentic content based on current news sto-
ries to practice the four skills. Students produced and practiced English with the
Wh- questions they generated. Written answers to the discussion questions I prepared
fostered personal and meaningful English language learning. This project was sat-
isfying and rewarding for the students because the materials were current and the
activities to integrate the four skills were productive. However, it was utilising the
discussion question answers as guidelines to make a movie script that inspired their
English learning. Making the movies was achievable because this multidimensional
project integrated ELL tasks together with technology that is always at their fingertips:
their smartphones and social media. Even in a low-level English class for non-Eng-
lish majors, students were creative, communicative and collaborative, and they used
critical thinking for their self-produced English movies. Their confidence increased
through experience and they were more motivated to produce and use English by
themselves and for themselves. Attendees were impressed by the simplicity and prac-
ticality of integrating ELL tasks with smart phone technologies and social media and
were keen to implement this project in their classrooms.
abcdiane3@gmail.com
8.4 English for library staff: creation of an ESP course

Caroline Hyde-Simon Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland
Introduction
The field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is a well-documented, well-served
branch of ELT. However, as is the case with any aspect of language learning and
teaching, ESP is an ever-expanding field. This talk focused on an under-represented
area of ESP, which I have newly termed ELIP (English for Library Purposes).
166
English for library staff: creation of an ESP course
Context
Numbers of international students at universities across the world, including
Switzerland, continue to rise, and most of these students have English as their pre-
ferred second language. The consequence is that university library staff are increas-
ingly expected to employ English in their everyday working life, yet they often lack
the specialised vocabulary and phraseology in the library context to perform this
task effectively. A specially designed ESP course was therefore created at the Zurich
University of Applied Sciences in order to increase confidence in dealing with enqui-
ries in English. The main aim of the course was to improve practical skills rather than
aiming at overall language development.
Course design
Course design gave rise to both methodological and practical considerations. Based
on the higher education context described above, the ELIP course was clearly needs-
related with a heavy emphasis on practical outcomes. Two approaches were therefore
adopted: task-based (PresentPracticeProduce), where the tasks informed the par-
ticipants use of language (based on needs analysis) and deep-end (Dudley-Evans and
St John 1998), where the activities carried out in normal, day-to-day tasks informed
the language to be incorporated into course activities.
A further methodological consideration was for the teacher to act as the language
consultant and for the expertise of the participants to be employed during course
delivery; as Alexander et al. say, Language teachers bring linguistic expertise and
knowledge of teaching methodology Students bring expertise in their subject dis-
ciplines, which teachers need to call on (2008: 7).
Finally, as a course to be delivered in a working environment, it was crucial that
the material be revisitable, that is, that the participants would be able to use it as a
reference while carrying out their job in the library upon completion of the course.
From a practical point of view in designing the course, it was important that the
teacher had a certain understanding of the library (for example, structure, everyday
duties, layout) in order to compile a topic list for course content. To this end, research
trips to the library were undertaken and discussions held with the head of the library.
Syllabus
Research prior to course design uncovered a distinct lack of ELIP literature. Therefore,
original material was created. Since the syllabus was designed with a practical outcome
in mind, emphasis was laid on productive skills (vocabulary extension, role-play) and
receptive skills (listening). A number of how to focus points were therefore devel-
oped. These encompassed the tasks which a member of library staff may need to carry
out during a typical day:
How to library information
Keeping in touch
Finding your way around
People
Resources
167
How to ... services

Borrowing/loans/returns
Digital Services
How to ... support
Counter/telephone/email enquiries
Using the photocopiers
Booking study rooms
Referring library users to other services
How to ... troubleshooting
Rules and regulations
Lost library cards
Damaged items
Lost property
Dealing with complaints
The format of the course was such that after working through the material in the
classroom, participants were able practically to apply the knowledge gained by carry-
ing out real-life tasks in the library.
Conclusion
This ELIP course was designed specifically to meet the needs of staff at a university
library who are in contact with international students, and who therefore need to
use English in their work. The participants involved in this course reported positive
outcomes which link with the methodological and practical considerations outlined at
this start of this paper. For example, in response to the question What is your opinion
of the course material and the topics covered? What areas worked well? Do any need
improvement? participants gave the following answers:
The course materials were very extensive. They are great if you want to look up
something. The practical exercises were great.
The practical exercises helped me to identify where gaps were in my knowledge.
Comments received showed that the participants appreciated the needs-related,
practical nature of the course, and demonstrate that the aims of the course, and of
ESP in general, have been met.
The future of ELIP
Due to the success of this ELIP course, plans for a follow-up course are underway.
Furthermore, talks are being held concerning publication of an ELIP coursebook.
Both of these will play a part in putting ELIP on the ESP map.
hyde@zhaw.ch
References
Alexander, O., S. Argent and J. Spencer. 2008. EAP Essentials: A Teachers Guide to Principles
and Practice. Reading: Garnet Publishing Limited.
Dudley-Evans T. and M. St John. 1998. Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A Multi-
Disciplinary Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
168
An online EAP collaboration for science graduates
8.5 An online EAP collaboration for science graduates

Anna Rolinska and William Guariento University of Glasgow, UK
Context
Every summer English for Academic Study (EAS) at the University of Glasgow runs
a subject-specific EAP course for international students seeking to study on post-
graduate courses at a British HE institution. One of the disciplines offered is Science,
Engineering and Technology (SET), which attracts prospective electrical, civil,
mechanical and software engineers as wells as geologists, statisticians and mathemati-
cians. The students work on improving their language skills to achieve an overall
IELTS 6.5 equivalent with a view to starting their masters or PhD in September. In
terms of assessment, in previous years, they had to produce an individually written
1,500-word report following a situationproblemresponseevaluation structure on a
discipline-related topic of their choosing and an oral presentation summarising their
findings.
Challenge
Although the format worked well and the students were developing both language
proficiency and a range of study skills necessary for succeeding on their future courses,
we felt the learning experience could be improved to better address the expectations of
the prospective engineers, namely the need to work effectively in international teams
in networked environments. It was also crucial to improve engagement with content
in a way that is more interactive than reading subject-specific materials. However,
as the majority of pre-sessional courses take place when the relevant faculty staff are
on leave, instituting such opportunities proved a challenge. In order to extend the
outcomes to include the most desirable prerequisites, such as becoming a scholar, a
lifelong learner and a global citizen (Biggs and Tang 2011), we established a partner-
ship with the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) and piloted an innovative English for
Academic Study Telecollaboration (EAST) with Palestinian science and engineering
graduates in August 2015.
EAST project
Unemployment among engineering graduates in the Palestinian Territories is high,
and one way of addressing the issue could be to work remotely. In order to develop
the necessary e-working skills, the project organisers agreed that the Gazan students
would take on the role of mentors as this would allow them to develop and hone a
number of relevant attributes, such as online communication or collaboration. To lay
the foundations for such a development, EAS offered online constructive feedback
training, a sequence of tasks following an explorationintegrationapplication frame-
work, culminating in the students writing up feedback on a fictitious students written
sample, a task closely aligned with their future role during the pre-sessional course.
Next, pairs of IUG students devised a range of Gaza-related engineering problems,
such as Groundwater salinity in Gaza or Development of Arabic OCR. On arrival
in Glasgow, the pre-sessional SET students formed groups of three, avoiding any
monolingual groupings, and chose a Gaza-related problem to research. Throughout
169
the next five weeks they worked closely with their Palestinian partners to develop a
thorough understanding of the context and offer appropriate solutions. As planned,
the Gazans acted as mentors providing content-related guidance, leaving the job
of language-focused feedback to the EAP teachers in Scotland. The student groups
remained in contact via social media, such as Facebook, which facilitated the sharing
of relevant materials, articles, videos as well as interactions crucial for ongoing refine-
ment and critical evaluation of ideas. While the students worked collaboratively on
researching the scenarios, the final reports were produced individually in order to
retain the course gate-keeping function. However, the presentations were delivered in
groups with the Gazan mentors attending and providing feedback via a videoconfer-
ence link.
Evaluation
The project was evaluated highly, with positive comments from both groups in regard
to the development of language, team-working and problem-solving skills; and the
enhancement of content knowledge, cross-cultural awareness and digital literacies.
The Glasgow-based students particularly appreciated working with real-life scenarios
from a country that is very much in need of sustainable solutions, while their Gazan
counterparts commented on the opportunities for international collaboration to make
the voice of Gaza heard.
As organisers, we recognise the lack of balance in the set of outcomes for both
groups and we are striving to address it in the next iteration of the project in August
2016. However, for the time being we feel that by a simple refocusing of the course
towards Gaza, and the exploitation of technology for educational purposes, we helped
foster understandings of the interrelationships of people worldwide, thereby prepar-
ing [our students] to participate meaningfully as global citizens (Crawford and Kirby
2008: 71).
For more information, our project website is at https://easttelecollaboration.
wordpress.com
anna.rolinska@glasgow.ac.uk
References
Biggs, J. and C. Tang. 2011. Teaching for Quality Learning at University. Buckingham: Open
University Press, McGraw Hill.
Crawford, E. and M. Kirby. 2008. Fostering students global awareness: technology
applications in social studies teaching and learning. Journal of Curriculum and Instruction
2/1: 5673.
170
9
Working with young learners
This chapter brings together a number of papers related to the teaching of children
and teenagers. Starting with very young children, the chapter opens with a symposium
report: Sandie Mouro, Gail Ellis, Janice Bland, Smiljana Narani Kova and
Opal Dunn discuss the use of illustration in childrens literature over the past 30
years. Next, Samel Lefever presents some useful strategies for working with six-
year-old children, and Sophie Handy does the same for working with teens. Working
with teens is also the topic of Mercedes Agueda Folignas paper; she shows how the
phenomenon of Englishphobia among secondary-school students can be addressed
by teachers. Moving to testing, Sandra Lucietto reports on an initiative to design
diagnostic tests for Italian teenagers. The next two papers address the use of digital
technology with teenagers. Jodi Wainwright offers suggestions for using technology
to motivate teenagers, specifically in a French context, while Radhika Gholkar
reports on the benefits and challenges of introducing technology to schools in India.
Next, Lindsey Clark describes how innovative projects resulted in an immersion-
type experience for Italian teenagers. In the next paper, Nayr Ibrahim explores the
perspectives of the young learners themselves and shows ways to encourage self-review.
The final paper in this chapter is by Patricia Santos. Her heartfelt account of teaching
in a Brazilian school illustrates the fact that many children are trying to learn in very
difficult circumstances.
9.1Realbooks to picturebooks: 30 years of illustrated literature in

ELT
Sandie Mouro Nova University, Lisbon, Portugal, Gail Ellis British Council,
Paris, France, Janice Bland University of Munster, Germany,
Smiljana Narani Kova University of Zagreb, Croatia and Opal Dunn
Freelance, UK
Introduction
The objective of this symposium was to reinforce the expanding potential of
picturebooks, also known in ELT as realbooks, for language education. It began with
a definition from Bader: A picturebook is text, illustrations, total design; an item
of manufacture and a commercial product; a social, cultural, historic document;
and foremost, an experience for a [reader/beholder]. As an art form it hinges on the
interdependence of pictures and words, on the simultaneous display of two facing
pages, and on the drama of the turning page (1976: 1).
There was a brief discussion around the preference for picturebooks over language
171
Chapter 9: Working with young learners
learner literature, which emphasised the authenticity of both pictures and words in
picturebooks. The five speakers shared their views and experience of working with
picturebooks from different perspectives.
Responding to picturebook design and aesthetics: Sandie Mouro
A picturebook usually contains 32 pages and so, in many cases, the illustrations overflow
into the other parts of the picturebookthe front and back covers, the endpapers,
the copyright and dedication pages and the title page. When looking at picturebooks
children respond to the whole picturebook, the pictures, the words and its design.
Mouro (2012) has adapted a theory of literary understanding (Sipe 2000) with
five response categories for the EFL classroom: an analytical response, an intertextual
response, a personal response, a transparent response and a performative response.
The analytical response has five sub-categories which manifest a response to:
the narrative meaning: children predict, describe the narrative plot and make infer-
ences, often about the illustrations;
the illustrations: children identify, label and describe action;
the words: children savour the spoken word and respond to its graphic features on the
page;
the book as object: children talk about the book as object, e.g. discussion around its
endpapers; and
the linguistic codes (L1 and L2): children translate from and into the L2, correct each
other, compare words and codes and show evidence of thinking about language.
The intertextual response is evidenced when children make associative connections
with other texts, such as another picturebook or a film. The personal response shows
children making personal connections and sharing opinions about characters actions.
The transparent response is an emotional or physical one revealed when children
spontaneously interact with characters and relive the picturebook experience, such as
gasping, laughing or asking for the story again. Finally the performative response is
creative and pre-meditated and is usually entertaining to observe.
The session shared several short films of children responding to a picturebook
and highlighted that response was something to take seriously: it is multifaceted,
meaningful and multilingual, and it requires a response from the picturebook
mediator, often in the form of rephrasing into English, confirming and encouraging.
Promoting learning literacy through picturebooks: Gail Ellis
Picturebooks provide a rich and motivating resource to develop basic vocabulary
and phrases related to the content of a story, but they can also be used to develop
multiliteracies. These include visual, emotional, cultural, nature, digital and moving
image literacy; they also include learning literacy, defined as an ethos, a culture and
a way of life which involves being ready to develop our own learning capacities,
develop the behaviours we now need as individuals, including being willing to learn
continuously, as competencies essential to thriving in a globally connected, digitally
driven world (Wynn 2016). The Important Book (Wise-Brown and Weisgard 1949)
was used as an example of how learning literacy can be integrated into primary English
language pedagogy by applying the plandoreview cycle (Ellis and Ibrahim 2015).
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Realbooks to picturebooks: 30 years of illustrated literature in ELT
The Important Book describes the major attributes of everyday familiar things, such
as a spoon, an apple and the sky; each paragraph begins and ends with the key attribute.
The rhythmic paragraphs assign a dream-like quality to reality: the important thing
about the sky is that it is always there. The format provides children with a model of
how to write a good paragraph with a topic sentence and supporting sentences; it also
encourages creating and thinking critically as it invites children to construct their own
opinions about everyday things and their world. It provokes discussion as peers may
or may not agree with the key attribute chosen.
Working through the three stages of the plandoreview cycle, children are
informed of the aims of the activity, they identify success criteria, they draft and
refine their paragraphs, and then they review what they did and learnt, how they
learnt and how well they did in order to identify next steps. This process enables the
teacher to create learning environments that develop learning literacy by providing
opportunities for systematic reflection and experimentation and the development of
metacognitive and cognitive learning strategies.
Global issues in picturebooks: Janice Bland
Intercultural competence calls for an approach to language education that takes into
account the actual, the imagined and the virtual worlds in which we live (Kramsch
2011: 366). Narratives are an important pedagogic medium. When they are compelling
as well as comprehensible to the L2 learner as they can offer optimal input (Krashen
and Bland 2014). They metaphorically represent many aspects of culture and as such
offer windows onto other worlds. They also act as mirrors, as the imagined world
reflects a new light onto the readers own world. Stories support humankinds drive
to construct coherence and meaning, and they can take the reader on educational
journeys.
The pictures in childrens literature frequently provide convincing access to cultural
details and involve the affective dimensionthey are physically present and frozen in
timestrongly drawing the reader/beholder into the story-world. The pictures may
transform into mental images that remain in the readers repertoire of experience,
anchoring ideas, concepts and feelings along with language. Picturebooks reflecting
cultural diversity move readers towards flexibility of perspective, away from the
rather monolithic and often stereotyped input on other cultures provided in school
textbooks. This is the meaning of intercultural competence, a competence that is
designed to build bridges.
The use of English worldwide in different contexts is sometimes referred to as Global
English(es), and global issues as subject matter fall within the remit of intercultural
education. Contemporary and innovative creators of literature on serious themes
are increasingly turning to visual narratives, and multicultural picturebooks on
globally relevant topics can make a breadth and depth of understanding achievable
for young learners as demonstrated in the array of picturebooks shown in the
presentation.
Picturebooks in FL teacher education: Smiljana Narani Kova
Picturebooks are an indispensable resource in teaching English to young learners, and
so they should be addressed in English language teacher education. Three areas should
173
be considered when planning a programme: theoretical considerations, familiarity

with published picturebooks and practical issues.
Theoretical considerations may include such topics as understanding the semiotic
model of a narrative picturebook, its intermediality, its flexibility as a form and the
complex relationships established between the verbal and the visual layers. Another
goal is to help students develop an ability to approach picturebooks critically from
different perspectives and to recognise their specific model of narrative communication,
which involves and activates the reader in the reading process, including re-readings.
Familiarity with published picturebooks provides an insight into a brief history
of picturebooks together with the experience of reading a number of high-quality
examples, including classic and contemporary authors. This makes it possible for
students to understand the role of the reader and the learner and to assume those
perspectives. It also involves spotting picturebooks that can be useful for EFL learners,
which links to the next area.
Practical issues embraces the evaluation of picturebooks according to their
quality and usefulness for the EFL classroom or individual reading, understanding
the potential of picturebooks for language learning and an ability to autonomously
develop teaching materials and design activities for young learners which are based
upon individual picturebooks and tailored to learners needs.
The study programme for primary teachers of English at the Faculty of Teacher
Education at the University of Zagreb is designed to meet most of the above-
mentioned needs. This was exemplified during the presentation through several
examples of activities for young learners based upon specific picturebooks created by
individual students of the Primary English major.
Picturebooks and parents: Opal Dunn
If English is introduced at a young age, it is likely to be most successful when the
learning triangle of parents, teacher and child (Dunn 2013) is actively set up.
Picturebooks are an excellent English experience for parents who want to use English
at home in enjoyable ways. This is motivating for children as it shows parents are
interested in their English learning experience. In this session ten tips were shared to
promote positive parent participation with picturebooks. These are as follows:
1 Inform parents how children learn a language, how you are going to teach it and
the relevance of their support. Share your aims and objectives and include infor-
mation about picturebooks you will use.
2 Provide a list of picturebooks for parents to read at home and criteria for selecting
picturebooks, e.g. consider books for boys.
3 Set up a book borrowing classroom library system.
4 Provide tips for reading and sharing English picturebooks (see Dunn 2010).
5 Suggest how to re-use home language teaching strategies when sharing English
picturebooks, e.g. stressing important words, speaking slowly and giving generous
encouragement.
6 Suggest when to use the home language e.g. rephrasing childrens comments from
L1 to L2; requesting short summaries of the story in the L1.
7 Provide ideas for picturebook follow-up tasks.
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Six strategies for six year olds: teaching English to young learners
8 Explain any picturebook take-home activities clearly, so parents and child can
complete these successfully.
9 Provide regular information on progress in emails, class blogs and closed Face-
book groups by featuring favourite picturebooks, related projects and photos of
childrens work.
10 Be sensitive to the individual needs and preferences of parents.
Teachers can encourage parents, even with little spoken English, to playfully
mediate English picturebooks, thus ensuring the learning triangle succeeds, for
through English picturebooks it is possible for enjoyable English experiences to be
extended into the home.
sjmourao@gmail.com
References
Bader, B. 1976. American Picturebooks from Noahs Ark to The Beast Within. New York:
Macmillan.
Dunn, O. 2013. Introducing English to Young Children: Spoken English. London: HarperCollins.
Dunn, O. 2010. Learning English through Sharing Picture Books. LearnEnglish Family Booklets
British Council. https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/helping-your-child/learning-
english-through-picture-books.
Ellis, G. and N. Ibrahim. 2015. Teaching Children how to Learn. Peaslake: Delta.
Kramsch, C. 2011. The symbolic dimensions of the intercultural. Language Teaching 44/03:
35467.
Krashen, S. and J. Bland. 2014. Compelling comprehensible input, academic language and
school libraries. Childrens Literature in English Language Education Journal 2/2: 112.
Mouro, S. 2012. English Picturebook Illustrations and Language Development in Early Years
Education. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Aveiro, Portugal.
Sipe, L. 2000. The construction of literary understanding by first and second graders in oral
response to picture storybook read-alouds. Reading Research Quarterly 35/2: 25275.
Wise-Brown, M. 1949. Weisgard, L. (Illus.). The Important Book. New York: Harper Collins.
Wynn, J. 2016. World Bank 16th Education Fast Forward Learning Literacy by Design Debate.
http://www.effdebate.org/debates/previous-debates/eff16/.
9.2Six strategies for six year olds: teaching English to young

learners
Samel Lefever University of Iceland, Reykjavk, Iceland
This talk discussed classroom strategies that teachers can use to make English learning
fun and interactive while helping to ensure a comfortable and engaging learning
environment for young learners.
Characteristics of young learners
Children are naturally inquisitive and open to new experiences. They learn by doing
through play, movement and interaction with others. It is natural for children to
negotiate meaning from language input in their surroundings. They are attuned to
holistic learning and are more likely to reach for the overall meaning of a story rather
175
than individual words or details. Children learn best when they feel safe and secure.
It is important that teachers create a supportive learning environment for learners
which recognises their individual needs and levels of development. Teachers play a
key role in motivating children by listening to what they have to say and giving them
lots of positive feedback. They also serve as role models of English use and set the
groundwork for future language learning.
What follows are six strategies that teachers can use to create a supportive and
motivating learning environment for children who are beginning to learn English.
The strategies are aimed at young children, for example six year olds, but can be
applied to both younger and older learners.
Strategies
1 Fun and playful activities
It is important to provide young learners with a variety of activities and engaging
materials, such as stories and songs to keep their motivation for learning languages
high. Stories provide them with contextual input that helps them to negotiate meaning
and become familiar with natural language use. Songs suit children well because they
enjoy singing along, which gives them practice in pronunciation and using language
chunks. Rhymes, chants and games help children to participate in using English in a
fun way and provide learners with opportunities to play with ideas and language freely
and spontaneously.
2 A multisensory approach
Children are multisensory learners, so using activities that draw on the different senses
will appeal to their different strengths and learning styles. There are many ways that
teachers can spark a childs interest: through pictures, objects, sounds, tastes, or with
a question or a problem. Activities that include visual and aural input and movement
are favourites of young children.
3 Imagination activities
Children love to use their imaginations. They enjoy pretending to be someone else,
like superheroes, adults or imaginary creatures. Activities that employ make-believe,
play-acting or fantasy can be tapped into for language learning. For example, let
children choose a character from a set of pictures of professions like astronaut, singer,
teacher, doctor; action figures or fairy-tale characters. They can pretend to be the
character and role-play a particular situation. Help the children with basic phrases
that they can use in interacting with each other. Encourage them to dress up and
use props to help them stay in character. Set up an imaginary situation that they are
familiar with, such as buying food at a grocery store, a family trip or thieves pulling off
a bank robbery. Add to the learning experience by video-recording the pretend play
and using it for expansion of language learning, reflection on learning and sharing
with peers and family.
4 Interactive language use
Children need opportunities to use their emergent language to construct and
communicate their own personal meanings; this helps develop their fluency and self-
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Top tips for teaching teens
confidence. It doesnt matter if children make mistakes when they try something new;
errors often indicate that children are stretching their language knowledge.
5 Routines and repetition
Using routines in the classroom provides security and supports language development.
Familiar routines and contexts help children to understand and predict meaning. By
adding variation or something new to a routine you can introduce more complex
language. The combination of a familiar routine with new language provides a space
for language growth. Children need a framework in which to develop creative use of
language; routines and repetition provide that framework.
6 Praise and encouragement
Children learn best when motivated. Teachers can give them a feeling of achievement
by displaying their work, praising them and encouraging them to share their thoughts
and experiences. Above all, it is important to have high expectations for children, even
though they are beginners. Know your learners and expect a lot from them!
By using the strategies above, you can help ensure that the children in your
classroom will be happy and successful language learners.
samuel@hi.is
9.3 Top tips for teaching teens

Sophie Handy British Council, Paris, France
Introduction
In the current economic climate, many parents prioritise their childrens learning over
their own further education in order to provide their children with language skills for
the future. This has led to an unprecedented rise in young learner classes. However,
for those of us with little or no experience of teaching teenagers, adolescents are often
seen as problem students, and this can be an intimidating and daunting prospect for
some. My presentation looked at different factors affecting teenage motivation, and
how to tap into it, sustain it and develop teenagers potential for learning.
The presentation
I first looked at the differences between three age groups (1113, 1315 and 1517
year olds) and examined how a knowledge and understanding of what teenagers are
going throughphysical and emotional changes, including changes in their cognitive
development, their deep need for peer approval and their search for identity and self-
esteemcould help the teacher to work with them to help them achieve their full
potential.
I then went on to show what tweaks could be made to ones teaching practice in
the planning stage and also how to exploit on-the-spot strategies in order to tackle
low-level disruptive behaviour across the age groups. Here are a few of the strategies
and suggestions.
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The first strategy is to welcome your students with (mentally) open arms: to literally
stand at the door of your classroom and welcome them in by greeting them and asking
simple questions like How was your weekend? or How did you do on your maths
test? This helps you to show interest in your students, their lives and concerns and
that you enjoy being in their company. Standing at the door also shows that youre
looking forward to seeing them and that you have time for them. Engagement is less
likely to occur from the start if you have your back to the students, fussing with your
materials as they enter the classroom.
Another top tip is to never challenge a teen in open class. This sounds simple, but
weve all made that rookie mistake of asking the offender to just put that mobile
phone away in front of all her peers. And its to no effect because either shell
challenge youI wasnt doing anything or So-and-sos doing it over there, tooor
shell grudgingly put it away and then minutes later shell be on her phone again. As
the fabulous teacher that you no doubt are, you obviously walk around your class,
monitoring and helping your students, stopping to praise or elicit. Its at this point,
when you notice what shes doing, that you give her a choice: ask her whether shed
like to put it away or hand it in to you. Do so quietly, so as not to attract attention
and to allow your student to save face. Youre still reprimanding, but in a less face-
off way, and although your student might not know it, youre still in charge while she
believes she actually has a choice in the matter.
Finally, lets look at proximity praise. If you are using your proximity to deal with
little disruptions here and there, then this strategy will come naturally: praise a student
who is sitting near or next to the one you want to improve. That praise, if effusive
and done often enough, will, little by little, have an impact on the student nearby. For
example, say Marco has done quite well. Youll be hovering nearby and praising him
for the effort put into his handwriting/thoughtful answers/spelling/whatever. Janet
next to him will hear what youre saying. Despite attempts to ignore you, students
are extremely sensitive to a teachers praise, even if they appear not to care; this is but
a front for the benefit of their peers. Marco will welcome the praise (and do better
next time) and Janet will usually try a little harder next time to get some of that praise
come her way.
Conclusion
The practical tips, strategies and advice covered in this presentation have been gleaned
from many years of trial and error in the classroom, colleagues insights and discoveries
as well as formal training in teaching foreign languages in secondary state schools. I
hope that, above all, the suggestions have helped teachers face their classes without
having to go through all the anguish and agony I encountered. I believe that armed
with the right knowledge, approach and tools, teachers can and will find teaching
teenagers a fascinating and rewarding experience. Indeed, once they are engaged,
teens may well be the most exciting students of all (Harmer 2007: 83).
sophie.handy@britishcouncil.fr
Reference
Harmer, J. 2007. The practice of English language teaching. Harlow: Pearson.
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Englishphobia among secondary school students
9.4Englishphobia among secondary school students: symptoms,

diagnosis and treatment
Mercedes Agueda Foligna Instituto Superior Palomar de Caseros, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
International House Training and Development Scholarship winner
Context
I am a teaching practice trainer at a tertiary-level college in the suburbs of Buenos
Aires, Argentina. My trainees practise at secondary state schools, in buildings which
often have poor facilities. Their students have had English classes since they were eight
years old; however, when they are around fifteen, which is when they are working
with my trainees, not only do they not know English, they also show signs of what I
have called Englishphobia: they refuse to learn. Their attitude shows a lack of interest
and, if asked, most of these students will state that it is impossible for them to learn
English. I have witnessed this for at least ten years, which has led me to look into the
problem and design a solution.
Englishphobia is the manifestation of a high affective filter, a concept that was
introduced into the realm of ELT by Krashen (1982) as part of his Language
Acquisition Theory. It has been described as a mental wall influenced by emotional
factors and which affects the learners input and how much input is converted into
intake, that is to say, how much remains as knowledge (Hui 2012: 1508).
Treatment
There are three factors that contribute to building this mental wall: high anxiety, low
self-confidence and low motivation. Here I propose some strategies to address each
of them.
To reduce anxiety
Slow introduction of L2
To step into these classrooms speaking only English is a passport to failure. If we want
to reach our students souls, we need to develop rapport with them; in this context,
we can only achieve this in the language students feel most comfortable with. Trainees
hold the first class mostly in Spanish. They shift to the target language in a gentle and
inviting way, eventually using mostly English after the fourth class.
L2 accent reduction
When students with Englishphobia hear teachers who, in their view, speak weird,
using places and manners of articulation they cannot even find in their mouths, they
lose self-confidence and their anxiety increases. On certain occasions the teacher
may have to adapt their pronunciation to their students schemata (to use a Spanish
accent), especially when students start producing the language orally.
To raise self-confidence
Scaffolding
The lesson plans are based on themes students have already dealt with in other subjects
of the curriculum. This offers a scaffold to learn the language and a context they feel
familiar with.
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Intercomprehension
Intercomprehension (McCann et al. 2003) is a method that proposes reciprocal
understanding between two speakers or writers of different languages, each using
their own language. Students are presented with authentic texts, where there are
elements (proper nouns, numbers, cognates, etc.) that help learners deduce meaning
by transferring their knowledge of their own language. They produce in Spanish, but
the source of information is in English. For the first time they realise they know much
more than they thought they did.
To raise motivation
Creative tasks + digital technology
Creativity sparks motivation. Lesson plans should lead to a final objective that involves
the students use of other intelligences apart from the linguistic one. They perform
tasks that dare them to connect, to paint, to move, and most importantly, to find that
they like what they are doing. This can be enhanced by incorporating the students
smartphones in the learning event.
Negotiation and participation
Students have a say in what they are going to learn and how they are going to learn it.
Every class there is an instance of negotiation, with options for some of the tasks they
will perform or the order in which they will do certain activities.
Why English?
One of the causes of Englishphobia is political prejudices. A crucial part of the learning
process is to discuss the role of English as a lingua franca in a globalised world, and
this is what trainees do on their first encounter with their students.
Conclusion
The treatment for Englishphobia was designed with the conviction that quality
education should be available for all. Englishphobia develops because of low-quality
teaching over a long period of time. We need to change this. I want my trainees to
have a view of the profession as one that has power: the power to include or exclude
our students. I hope these future professionals will continue working to eradicate
Englishphobia from our classrooms at state schools.
foligna@hotmail.com
References
Hui, N. 2012. The effects of affective factors in SLA and pedagogical implications. Theory
and Practice in Language Studies 2/7: 150813.
Krashen, S. 1982. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. New York: Pergamon.
McCann, W. J., H. G. Klein and T. D. Stegman. 2003. The Seven Sieves: How to Read All the
Romance Languages Right Away. Aachen: Shaker.
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Task-based tests for diagnostic purposes
9.5Task-based tests for diagnostic purposes: a school-network

initiated project
Sandra Lucietto Dipartimento Della Conoscenza Provincia di Trento, Italy
In this workshop I briefly illustrated a school-based project for the design of diagnostic
entry tests for level A2 of the CEFR in a localised context. I then involved participants
in analysing two such tests, stimulating discussion and providing opportunities to
reflect on transferability to their own contexts.
Context, mandate and actors
The project involved 18 lower- and upper-secondary schools in a highly localised
network (South Trentino). A long-standing problem needed solving: in the transition
between two school cycles at 14, students were often assessed significantly higher in
English/German on leaving lower-secondary (June) than on entering upper-secondary
(September). The headteachers, interested in promoting continuity, mandated an
innovative continuing professional development (CPD) programme: one teacher
per foreign language (FL) per school would collaborate to design new entry tests
into upper-secondary. Thirty-seven teachers with different levels of experience and
qualifications participated in 20132014, thirty-two in 20142015. (See Table
9.5.1.) A colleague and I were the group facilitators.
Teachers of English Teachers of German

Lower sec. Upper sec. Lower sec. Upper sec.
20132014 12 6 12 7
20142015 11 6 10 5
Table 9.5.1: Teachers divided per school cycle and language
The CPD programme

We based our programme on professional dialogue among reflective practitioners,
providing input on test design principles and skill constructs and designing the
specific tests in same-language mixed-cycle groups of three. All decisions were shared
and agreed in plenary. We facilitators supported the groups from text selection to
task production, prepared accompanying documents (see below), interpreted try-out
results and guided test revision. As time per year was limited (ten hours for four
face-to-face meetings, and ten hours for long-distance support), everybody added
unacknowledged overtime.
Test-design methodology
In 20132014 we established common knowledge and designed the tests; in 2014
2015 we concentrated on try-out, analysis and revision. We designed three tests
for listening and three for reading per language, aiming at different components of
skill constructs. Making explicit reference to the new, competence-based, provincial
curriculum and to CEFR descriptors (A2), we abandoned the de-contextualised skills
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approach of standardised tests in favour of authentic texts within a purpose-driven

scenario (Purpura 2015) and guided goal completion through authentic (or semi-
authentic) tasks. One example discussed at the workshop was an Internet-based two-
minute video-recipe:
Scenario: For the end-of-year party, your school will organise a sale of cakes from
all over the world. You have decided to prepare an English cake and have found a
video-recipe on the Internet.
Tasks (n.3): Watch the video and write down the recipes name, ingredients and
phases, so that you can make the cake for the party.
The diagnostic dimension
We agreed that the tests should be given not hastily at the beginning of the school
year but over the first two months, as they are not meant to be used for initial marks
(judgmental approach) but to get to know individual students strengths, weaknesses
and attitudes to learning, as well as what they can do (developmental approach).
To enhance the diagnostic dimension, we prepared self-assessment sheets so that
students could rank the tests according to level of difficulty, indicate the most difficult
tasks, explain what they did to overcome difficulties and tell us what would help
in the future. The students feedback, intended to promote teacherstudent dialogue
in class, is not only invaluable for the teacher in preparing class-tailored annual
teaching plans but is also a good starting point for authentic assessment (Wiggins
1993).
Products
Freely downloadable from the provincial Research Institute website (Pozzo and
Lucietto 2016): 12 entry tests (3 listening and 3 reading, 3 in English and 3 in
German); 16 self-assessment sheets (one per test and one per skill); 4 sets of teachers
notes (correction criteria, keys, sources, and transcripts); guidelines (test rationale,
administration procedures, and data interpretation criteria); 1 observation sheet; 12
Excel files (for inputting data).
Conclusions
The entry test-design project was a school-based CPD programme, where teachers
from two adjacent school cycles collaboratively designed new entry tests into upper-
secondary education in English and German. No teacher had ever worked in a
longitudinal group before or shared assessment and testing knowledge and principles,
let alone across the two FLs. Yet, thanks to their commitment, the actual products
exceeded the original mandate. Except for time constraints and anxiety caused by
test administration procedures, the teachers reported positive outcomes, especially
Working with colleagues in mixed-level groups, Connecting tests to real-life aims,
and Going beyond KET tasks and textbook exercises. While they appreciated this
new approach to initial assessment, they considered it necessary that the head teachers
provide supportive conditions (time and recognition) for its full application.
sandra.lucietto@vodafone.it
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Embracing students digital literacies in our teaching
References
Pozzo, G. and S. Lucietto. 2016. Approdi. APprendere con le PROve DIagnostiche. Trento:
Provincia Autonoma di TrentoIPRASE. http://goo.gl/FwbXSc or http://trilinguismo.
iprase.tn.it/pubblicazione/-/dettaglio/at/approdi-apprendere-con-le-prove-diagnostic-1.
Purpura, J. E. 2015. Innovations in the development of language assessments: Incorporating
learning in scenario-based language assessments. Paper presented at Seminario Nazionale
Lend Educazione Linguistica e Innovazione: Curricula, Metodologie e Strumenti, Rome,
Italy, 2324 October 2015.
Wiggins, G. 1993. Assessing Students Performance. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
9.6 Embracing students digital literacies in our teaching

Jodi Wainwright Freelance, Bourges, France
Introduction
Todays students are engaged in a range of activities outside school which use new
technologies, thus creating new literacies. Life as a teenager has been digitally updated:
a new generation now exists that expects a constant stream of new media in order to
stay alert and focused. Teenagers no longer need to remember factsthese are stored
at their fingertips on the mobile devices that they all carry.
Students have different expectations and bring with them experiences and identities
that also require education to have a new and updated approach. This study provides
an example of our challenge, as language educators, to find creative and effective
ways to use our students investment in social networking to promote and facilitate
language learning.
Context
The setting for the study was a secondary school in central France with classes of around
20 students, all of French origin and with French as their L1. Classes had an equal
number of male and female students, but there was a diverse range of socio-economic
backgrounds within the school. The students were aged 11 to 15; most of them had
been learning English for one to two years and were working towards CEFR level A2.
Methodology
The study involved the introduction of a new approach, blended learning, using a new
technology. Blended learning encompasses a combination of forms of instructional
technology, including traditional forms of learning used in conjunction with web-
based approaches.
The technology used, Moodle, is a free and open-source management system based
on the social constructionist model of pedagogy. The design of Moodle emphasises
the creation of collaborative interaction and student-centred online learning
environments. Opportunities for cognitively challenging activities can be provided in
different Moodle modules that instruct language learners to think about and represent
particular topics in multiple ways. The forum module is a useful space for stimulating
183
discussion and can enable learners to bring different perspectives and knowledge to
a theme, thus promoting the abilities of meaning negotiation and critical thinking.
Results
Web 1.0 tools deliver information to people; Web 2.0 tools allow the active creation
and exchange of user-generated content. The use of technology in this study enabled
a traditional classroom to be connected to the real world. This allowed students to put
together personalised strategies for language development and language maintenance
which go beyond just the academic setting.
At school students often operate in one literacy universe, and out of school
they operate in another. By creating opportunities for students to produce work
using shared, collaborative and interactive means that incorporate multimedia and
multimodal methods, a link was made between the literacies students experience out
of the classroom and those inside. School in France is very linear and individualistic
(Marsh 2010), and teaching is highly geared towards testing with predominantly one-
dimensional, paper-based texts. Although teachers are trying new technology, many
are just replicating paper-based activities using a new medium. The results showed
that students prefer to use new technology in new ways rather than the old wine in
new bottles approach (Lankshear and Knobel 2006).
Forums are a type of social media, and the multiple opportunities they provide
for communication, information exchange and collaboration have become invaluable
partners for education. The authentic, interactive environments of social media are
especially relevant for language learning where they lead to highly motivated and
autonomous language practice.
When observing the students it was clear that some students who had low self-
perception and negativity in the traditional classroom engaged with the technology
and participated in the lessons a lot more. One of the aims of the study was to
encourage those who found it difficult to take part in traditional classroom activities
and to use the scaffolding that pair/group work provides to develop their potential;
the results show that this was achieved.
Conclusion
This study shows that by implementing a blended learning approach and using tools
that have affordances of social media, we can embrace the digital literacies that students
have outside formal learning. Students are aware of the skills they will require for their
future lives and are motivated to learn and use these skills at school. By embracing
their literacies, we, as educators, can realise the potential of their digital habits.
jodi.wainwright@hotmail.co.uk
References
Lankshear, C. and M. Knobel. 2006. New literacies and the challenging of mindsets in New
Literacies: Everyday Practices and Classroom Learning (second edition). Maidenhead: McGraw-
Hill/Open University Press.
Marsh, J. 2010. New literacies, old identities: young girls experiences of digital literacy at
home and school in C. Jackson, C. Paechter and E. Renold, E. (eds.). Girls and Education
316: Continuing Concerns, New Agendas. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill/Open University
Press.
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Supporting teachers in using technology for ELT in school systems
9.7Supporting teachers in using technology for ELT in school

systems
Radhika Gholkar British Council, Mumbai, India
Introduction
Governments in India increasingly want education systems to adopt digital solutions
for improved learning outcomes, to compensate for a lack of skilled teachers or to
reach more students. This is an additional strain on teachers who struggle with their
low English language levels, lack of quality teaching practices and a considerable
lack of technological knowhow. This leads to an ineffective use of technology and a
negative impact on learning outcomes.
In this paper, I will present practical ideas for successfully integrating technology
into systems and share challenges and solutions.
Context
The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has over 1,000 schools
in eight media of instruction including English. As part of an ongoing teacher
development project, we introduced a self-access DVD for English for learners. To
ensure teachers are supported in using this DVD in their classrooms, I implemented
an integration plan that involved working closely with teachers.
Integration plan
I adopted an incremental approach in this context. An incremental approach is
defined as planned such that stakeholders have the time and resources to adapt to the
changes (Gruba and Hinkelman 2012: 13). This involved five stages: familiarisation,
orientation, guided support, limited scale-up, full scale-up. This plan could potentially
be used for integrating any technology into systems.
Familiarisation
To familiarise teachers with simple technology they were introduced to a range of
digital resources, such as an English teaching radio series and short classroom films,
and were encouraged to form communities of practice via Facebook and WhatsApp.
Orientation
Teachers received a one-day orientation to the DVD content and how to use it on
a laptop. For many teachers this was their first time using a laptop, so this stage was
crucial. Orientation involved a range of activities to introduce teachers to the DVD,
a demonstration lesson to link the DVD content to the current textbooks and an
opportunity to explore content.
Guided support
Ten schools with appropriate infrastructure were identified and teachers and
head teachers from these schools attended a workshop. This workshop involved
demonstration lessons to show how the DVD content could be used with the current
textbooks. Teachers were further guided to map the content from DVD to textbooks,
185
plan lessons using templates that could be used as planning tools for future lessons.
Teachers were paired with other highly skilled teachers in a unique buddy system to
ensure ongoing support for teachers to do these lessons in classrooms eventually. Head
teachers also received a short orientation to ensure their buy-in.
Result
There were several blocks at the lesson delivery stage and therefore at the further
scaling-up stages. Infrastructure was not up to date or was dysfunctional. Schools had
computer laboratories, but these were not accessible to all learners and teachers. There
was no organisational buy-in, and teachers lacked basic quality teaching practices so
using technology was further challenging for them despite the familiarisation.
Re-action
We then focused on working with teachers who wanted to use technology in their
classrooms. Two teachers volunteered, and their schools had supportive head teachers
who had created an environment of experimentation and innovation. Teachers received
intensive one-to-one support to co-plan and trial lessons along with infrastructural
support in the form of speakers and laptop. The DVD content had to be adapted to
suit the available infrastructure. So teachers focused on interactive and engaging songs
and stories and turned them into whole class lessons rather than self-access.
Observations
Learners enjoyed engaging with technology and expressed a preference for more
lessons of this kind. Teachers also found value in doing such lessons; however, they
acknowledged that doing regular lessons using technology would be difficult given
the unavailability of simple technological infrastructure that teachers are comfortable
with. They expressed a need for simple gadgets such as computers, printers and
speakers instead of tablets.
Conclusion
Despite a thorough plan, teachers required more intensive support and schools
needed more awareness about the implications of technology use. For technology to
be integrated effectively, the following ideas could be considered:
Start small and encourage teachers to volunteer for such initiatives. This could be a
long road to integration, but starting with teachers who see value in it can create a
positive ripple effect. Strengthening the buddy system further could make it more
systemic and sustainable.
Schools could be encouraged to develop an environment of experimentation and
innovation instead of providing gadgets without building maintenance systems
around them.
Learners need not wait for teachers to catch up. Self-access resources could be a way
forward for a generation of learners who are ready to use technology.
radhika.gholkar@britishcouncil.org
Reference
Gruba, P. and D. Hinkelman. 2012 Blending Technologies in Second Language Classrooms.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
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My health! My environment! Project work with teenagers
9.8 My health! My environment! Project work with teenagers

Lindsey Clark The London School, Vicenza, Italy
Background and aims

Much of our work is in Italian state schools, where rote learning is still common and
pair and group work is rare. As a result, critical thinking and collaborative learning
are not often nurtured. When we received the brief to propose a two-week course for
75 to 100 teenagers between 15 and 17, we felt it was important to address this issue.
We carried out market research and discovered that parents wanted an immersion
experience for their children without having to send them on potentially perilous
journeys overseas. The students themselves, on the other hand, prioritised the study
of English through their own fields of interest. As a school, we felt it was important
to provide an overarching theme which would hopefully help develop a sense of
social and personal responsibility in these young people who would soon be reaching
adulthood.
Course content and structure
The resulting proposal was based around the theme of the natural environment and
personal wellbeing. The sessions consisted of morning classes and afternoon project
work.
Morning sessions
There were six teaching groups in the mornings to which students were assigned
according to level (B1B2+). The learners were instructed by a team of language
teachers. Work carried out was generally task based and prioritised life skills, such as
giving presentations and project management. Some examples:
Project management: Dragons Den
Students watched an episode of this popular TV programme in which entrepreneurs
sell an innovative idea to a panel of judges. Groups were asked to come up with
a proposal for an environmentally friendly project to improve their school and to
demonstrate how they would manage it, allocating responsibility and roles. Meanwhile
the judges prepared questions for the presenters and a list of criteria to be met. The
ideas were then pitched and subsequently evaluated by the dragons.
Presentations: saving resources
A lecture was given by an established architect on passive housing and sustainable
living. With the assistance of the language teachers, groups of students created posters
with their own ideas for saving water, energy or fuel. The resulting posters were
presented to other groups, who asked questions and voted for the best presentation.
Afternoon sessions
Students could choose one of six projects, each of which was run by an English-
speaking expert in that field, who was not a language teacher or a speaker of Italian. In
this way we hoped to guarantee an immersion-type experience. We also felt that it was
important to produce something tangible that could be shown to the other students
187
and parents. In order to do this, on the last day of the course there was as Expo which
was attended by everyone involved in the course.
The projects
The art of recycling: Students created art from recycled material. Resulting pieces were
displayed at the Expo.
Body and mind: The group learned how to practise yoga. They also produced a treasure
hunt for the final day of the course.
Waste not want not: These students learned how to prepare a wide array of food
products, and they learned about minimising food waste. They also made their own
blogs with recipes.
Representational photography: The learners were given technical instruction on how to
take photos, then taken on field trips to find suitable subjects. The photos were edited
and collated. Each student displayed a photography booklet of their work at the Expo.
Stomp: Musical instruments were created from recycled materials. This group was
responsible for orchestrating the choreography for the flash mob at the final Expo.
Expo: These students had to liaise effectively with all of the other groups in order to
arrange the final event. They made a video, designed a poster and tickets, and arranged
for the local press to be present.
Outcomes and benefits
One delegates query was But how does teaching English come into all this? The
answer is that everything was carried out solely in English, thus (we hope) providing
optimum conditions for language acquisition.
The valuable lesson that I learned from the project was that learners are capable of
much more than we give them credit for. A comment from the yoga instructor struck
me in particular. During the treasure hunt she admitted that shed had no idea how
the students had put the game together and that it was completely over her head.
An educator does not need to teach students everything they know, but should
encourage learners to think, reason and criticise.
linzjoclark@gmail.com
9.9Multimodal reviewing activities: children talking about their

English learning
Nayr Ibrahim British Council, Paris, France
Introduction
Reviewing is a fundamental aspect of the learning process. Not only does it help children
evaluate their learning, it also drives improvements in performance and maximises
and enhances learning time (Ellis and Ibrahim 2016: 4). However, reviewing is very
often absent from the English language classroom, as children are deemed too young,
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Multimodal reviewing activities: children talking about their English learning
not cognitively ready and unable to express their views in the target language. This
session explored the benefits of a multimodal approach to integrating systematic and
explicit reviewing in English lessons.
What is reviewing?
Reviewing is about encouraging children to reflect on and make judgments about
what they are doing, what they are learning, and how they are learning. This helps
children develop better understanding of the learning process, thus making them
more confident, resourceful and independent learners. Reviewing teaches children to
monitor their progress and identify their weak and strong points and empowers them
to make decisions about what steps to take next (Ellis and Ibrahim 2015).
What is multimodal reviewing?
Reviewing can take many forms and use a variety of modes, such as drawing, oral
and written accounts, diagrams or charts, photo and film, constructing models,
movement and puppets (Ellis and Ibrahim 2016). Using a multimodal approach best
reflects childrens unique ways of communicating and their creativity in conveying
meaning. It establishes children as active participants, and not passive objects in the
learning process. It elicits childrens voices by allowing them to work in their preferred
language (Clark and Moss 2011: 54), thus, moving away from a verbocentric to a
more participatory and child-centred approach.
Classroom observations of multimodal reviewing activities
Classroom observations of reviewing activities highlight the role of multimodality as
the key to eliciting childrens views on their learning. The following examples, based
on observations of children aged four to ten in France, illustrate the benefits of using
appropriate activities, materials and techniques for reviewing learning:
Puppets. In a class of four year olds, the teacher used a puppet to conduct a plenary
session in French and English on what the children had liked most. Children relate
to puppets as they play an affective and interactive role in fostering collaboration
and encouraging children to voice their opinions. In this sequence one child men-
tioned the song and the rest of the class spontaneously sang the song in English,
using the actions, thus reviewing vocabulary and reinforcing learning. This multi-
lingual puppet signalled to the children that they could use their mother tongue or
shared classroom language to talk about their learning.
Code-switching. In a plenary sequence with nine-to-ten year olds, the teacher moved
between the target language and French in order to scaffold childrens understand-
ing of the review questions. This gave a message to the children that replying in
French was acceptable. The teacher also translated the childrens French utterances,
thus modelling the language of reviewing.
Drawing. Drawing not only develops childrens creativity but also allows pre-literate
children to express their feelings and ideas on paper. The illustration in Figure 9.9.1
is a childs reflection on his use of English outside the classroom. The childs multi-
modal, transnational and multilingual communication is embedded in his drawing
of a side-view of a computer as he describes his use of English with his grandparents
via Facetime.
189
Figure 9.9.1: A child reflects on his use of English outside the classroom
Oral reviewing and social media. Another teacher created a short video of chil-
drens work, which he uploaded on to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=DxyVe5bSS5s. In an oral review of their participation in this project, the
children described the process of creating the videos, the collaborative aspect of the
project and what they needed to improve:
We learned how to make a song. We learnt that working together and singing in a
group was good. It is good to sing and that when we sing we can also learn words.
I dont think I have good pronunciation. Its good but I can do better speak more.
It was good for a first time but I think we need to improve.
Written reviewing. Children can also be encouraged to record their learning out-
comes in an English language portfolio. The illustration in Figure 9.9.2 demon-
strates how the childrens comments about what they learnt reflect the aims of the
lesson (pronunciation) and the criteria for assessing their learning.
Figure 9.9.2: A childs written reflection on his lesson
190
Teaching English at a public school in Rio de Janeiro
Conclusion
Classroom observation shows that children benefit from a multimodal approach to
reviewing learning. They demonstrate increased motivation as they become more
personally involved in their learning and take on a more active role. Ultimately,
multimodal activities gives children the means to voice their opinions about their
learning experiences.
nayr_ibrahim@hotmail.com
References
Clark, A. and P. Moss. 2011. Listening to Young Children: The Mosaic Approach (second edition).
London: NCB.
Ellis, G. and N. Ibrahim. 2015. Teaching Children How to Learn. Peaslake: Delta.
Ellis, G. and N. Ibrahim. 2016. Reviewing, reviewing. ETp. 103: 47.
9.10 Teaching English at a public school in Rio de Janeiro

Patricia Santos Escola Municipal Embaixador talo Zappa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
LT123 Brazil Scholarship winner

I had been working as a teacher for 15 years in the private sector when I started working
at a state school. On my first day in the classroom I realised the students had low self-
esteem and many other hindering learning issues. I welcomed their needs as much as
possible. They were curious to know about me and asked lots of questions related to
my financial situation. What they wanted to know was whether I really knew what it
was to have nothing. I answered almost all their questions by looking into their eyes,
by sitting on the floor and creating a rapport they had never experienced.
After my first year I knew I had to celebrate every victory they experienced. For
some teachers, having a student who can recognise a number or a letter from the
alphabet can be such a silly goal, but for me that is a dream come true because my
students have to deal with so much more. The place where the school is located can
sometimes be violent. The families who live there have to follow a set of rules decided
by a group of people, and if they do not follow them they may end up dead. Some
of my students have already seen a relative, a neighbour or someone they know shot
to death right in front of them. Sometimes it is too hard for them to concentrate in
class when the sound of the bullet is louder in their heads than my voice. There is not
much I can do as a teacher other than to respect their moment; I let them be quiet if
they feel like that or talk about it if they prefer.
My students also struggle with the fact that they live in extremely small houses
with a large number of siblings. Some of them are unaware of who their parents are
or wish they did not know their parents because they are neglected and/or suffer
psychological and physical abuse. I believe it is my responsibility to pay attention to
my students and check if they have bruises on their skin or if they exhibit dramatic
behavioural changes; these are reported to the principal and social service. Sharing
what my student is going through with other people can end up saving his life.
191
It may seem unbelievable these days, but some of my students just go to school
because it is the only place they have a meal. These kids are hungry because they
have nothing at home to eat or because their parents spend the little money they
have on alcohol. Last year a nine-year-old boy arrived 30 minutes after lunch. It
was the first day of class, and he did not ask my name or say hello; he just asked if
the other students had already eaten, and when I answered he cried and kicked his
friends chairs. I took him downstairs and gave him food. When he came back to
the classroom he was much calmer. Dealing with hunger in such a big city as Rio de
Janeiro is unacceptable. There is no competing against hunger in my class; if a child
is hungry, she is not able to concentrate, she might feel weak or angry, she sometimes
cries quietly or she screams at the top of her lungs. There are many problems in my
school, but not foodwe take it seriously and provide it daily. My main goal is to
teach these children English, but sometimes it is just about showing them I care and
I will do everything possible to ease their hard lives.
In 2015, the British Council in Brazil conducted a study on teaching English in
Brazilian state schools. One public school manager said he did not understand why
students had to learn English if they were probably going to be pulling carts on the
streets and selling sweets. It is cruel to know that so many state school teachers and
managers think a child does not need to learn English because she is going to be
unemployed anyway when she grows up. It is heartless to deny English to these kids;
it is only through education that they can change their future. What I want them to
be able to do is to dream, and I am responsible for leading their minds into making
these dreams come true through love, patience, tenderness and English!
patcarneirosantos@gmail.com
References
British Council. 2015. O Ensino de Ingls na Educao Pblica Brasileira. https://www.
britishcouncil.org.br/sites/default/files/estudo_oensinodoinglesnaeducacaopublicabrasileira.
pdf.
192
10 Learning through literature
and the arts
Poetry, drama, film and painting all feature in this chapter, which shows how the arts
can be used to deliver successful lessons. Kirill Igantov opens the chapter, with a
discussion of how to use poetry in the EFL class. Two papers on drama follow: Geeta
Goyal describes how drama activities were useful to postgraduate students in India,
while Stella Smyth explores the use of drama to enhance seminar skills in EAP classes.
Film is the topic of Kieran Donaghys paper, which discusses the use of narrative film
and video in the language class; Anna Whitcher also explores the use of video, but
from an ELT materials development perspective. Finally, Maria Barberi outlines a
variety of arts-related activities designed to engage and inspire learners.
10.1
Contemporary poems in ELT: after-text exercises and
activities
Kirill Ignatov Moscow State Lomonosov University, Moscow, Russia
The first stage of working with modern poetry in ELT classes is the selection of poems
for the course, made on the basis of emotional maturity and the needs of the audience,
as well as the aims and specificity of the course. In the second stage a poem from
the selection is introduced to the students, which should be done in such a way that
students become interested in its text and all the difficulties, linguistic or cultural, are
resolved. Then comes the third stage, namely, after-text activities and exercises.
Native speakers studying poems in the course of language or literature studies are
prompted to carry out stylistic analysis. Yet, questions routinely posed to schoolchildren
at GCSE tests such as What imagery does the poet use? or How does the poem use
language? (Newman 2011) can puzzle if not frighten off foreign students. We suggest
a way that reaches the same objectives gradually, tackling consecutively the content of
the poem, its language and structure and finally its message.
Concentrating on the content of the poem
To make sure the students understand what the poem is about, two techniques are
suggested: (a) mind-mapping and (b) timeline drawing. The former is suitable for
lyric or elegiac poems, as it is a visual representation of hierarchical information that
includes central concepts described in the text surrounded by connected branches
of associated topics, ideas and things mentioned in passing. The latter, which is a
graphical representation of a period of time, on which important events presented in
the text are marked, is better suited for narrative or dramatic poems.
Drawing mind maps is better done as a brainstorm when all the students work as a
class, throwing in ideas, with the teacher listing them on the board. Then together they
193
Chapter 10: Learning through literature and the arts
try to establish the links between the listed items, grouping them in clusters. Developing
timelines is better done in small groups; findings are then discussed in class.
Concentrating on the language and structure of the poem
The focus here is on the key words of the poem, crucial for its understanding. This can
be organised as small group discussions or individual exercises in class or at home, as
they involve work with monolingual or translation dictionaries. The exercise is devised
in the form of questions. For example, the following may be asked about the title of
the poem Brand New Ancients (Tempest 2013): What is brand new and with which
words is this phrase typically used?; What does ancient mean as a noun?; and Dont
the meanings of the words new and ancient contradict?
If students are not particularly averted to terms from formal poetics (verse, stanza,
rhyme, meter), they can be encouraged to use them in the discussion of the poem
structure. This can add a flavour of professionalism to their opinions thus further
stimulating their interest.
Concentrating on the message of the poem
Interpreting a poem can be a daunting task for foreign-language students who often
feel that their lack of linguistic proficiency might hinder the correct understanding
of the poem. That is why its important to show them that it is their feelings and
impressions that matter, and not some canonical interpretation. Thus, the question
of the message of the poem can be substituted for the following, What emotions
or feelings does this poem evoke in you? This task is better done individually as
homework in a written form.
Figure 10.1.1: Impression Meter: basic emotions and words expressing them
194
Improving speaking skills in English through drama activities
To facilitate the answer to the question, students are given a copy of the Impression
Meter (Figure 10.1.1). The picture is a modification of the famous Wheel of Emotions
(Plutchik 2003), where all the descriptive nouns have been substituted for adjectives
and present participles. They can be used as complementation to active (feel ...)
and passive (makes me ...) verbs, easily modified by adding adverbs. The passive
participles can be turned into active ones and used to characterise the poem itself.
This is a recurring exercise for each of the poems, so at the beginning the task
is explained to students and they are presented with the Impression Meter. After
three or four classes they become quite proficient in creating short essays where they
describe and explain their feelings. As they progress, the meter can be modified by
substituting the adjectives with their synonyms or more complex structures that
describe feelings. Soon, students are able to come up with amazingly thoughtful and
original analysis, which demonstrates the great creative potential of poetry.
kirill72@yahoo.com
References
Newman, M. 2011. Philip Allan Literature Guide (for GCSE). Deddington: Philip Allan.
Plutchik, R. 2002. Emotions and Life: Perspectives from Psychology, Biology, and Evolution. New
York: American Psychological Association.
Tempest, K. 2013. Brand New Ancients. London: Picador.
10.2 Improving speaking skills in English through drama activities

Geeta Goyal R.K.S.D. College, Kaithal, Haryana, India
IATEFL Ray Tongue Scholarship winner
Introduction
English is taught as a second language in Haryana state, India. The majority of
students in this region consider it the most difficult subject; even at postgraduate
level, they find it difficult to express ideas in English which they otherwise follow
and understand. However, given the worldwide acceptance and importance of the
language, it is necessary for them to learn communication skills. Therefore, it is a
challenge for an English language teacher to help students acquire these skills. In a
second language classroom where the focus is on verbal communication, participation
and interaction, the use of drama activities can contribute a great deal. Studies suggest
that drama activities can promote interesting ways of motivating language learners
and teachers (Maley and Duff 2001; Phillips 2003). It may prove helpful in reaching
out to those students who are too afraid or nervous to attempt expressing themselves
in English. In drama activities, neither teacher nor student feels at risk, but they
willingly change roles and status to achieve the aims of the lesson (Wessels 1987: 15).
Objective
The presentation discussed experiments carried out by the author for improving
speaking skills in English and facilitating the learning of the second language through
drama activities.
195
Methodology
A workshop of one months duration was organised for 30 students on a graduate
course at R.K.S.D. College Kaithal, Haryana, India. Working in groups of four or five,
students were assigned tasks in the form of simple drama activities, such as dialogue-
in-situation, ad- and scene-enactment, mock interviews and newspaper reporting.
With mutual discussions and exchange of ideas, they framed and created dialogues and
scripts for these activities. In dialogue-in-situation, students worked in pairs to exchange
dialogue exchange in local contexts, such as a meeting between friends at a wedding or
at a railway station. Likewise, in ad- and scene-enactment, situations included a scene
related to the use of drugs on college premises and an advertisement for a product. In
mock interviews, students assumed the roles of interviewer and interviewee. Similarly,
in newspaper reporting, students played the roles of news reader, correspondents,
photographer, interviewer and interviewee to present news stories such as a flood
or public enthusiasm for an ongoing cricket match, etc. The teams used additional
materials such as costumes, music, dance and visual aids like posters, placards and
banners to depict the situations. Rehearsals of two to three hours duration per day were
undertaken, which were observed, monitored and video-recorded by the author. The
workshop concluded with inter-group competitions and feedback from the participants.
Results and discussion
In the beginning, most of the students were not comfortable as they were rather afraid
and nervous of speaking even small sentences. But after seven or eight rehearsals it was
observed that even shy and withdrawn participants started gathering the confidence
for speaking. Gradually, they were observed improving their performance by using
expressions, gestures and body language. In final competitions, the majority of them
were able to speak naturally without using the written script. From the feedback, it
was revealed that 95 per cent of students found the workshop beneficial as it helped
in reducing their fear and hesitation about speaking English. Most of them felt more
confident and were enthusiastic about carrying forward this practice in future. Moreover,
the role of the teachers was found to be a major factor in involving and guiding the
participants. When asked about the value of organising such workshops in the future,
86 per cent of students favoured the inclusion of such activities in their curriculum.
Conclusions
The study revealed that use of drama in the ESL classroom can be quite helpful in
improving the communication skills of the learner as it provides them with a natural
context and speaking environment. Further, it was revealed that the motivation from
the teacher in involving the learners in such activities is a vital factor. The results
suggested that simple drama activities should be made a part of classroom teaching to
help the student learn communication skills in a second language.
geetaktl@gmail.com
References
Maley A. and A. Duff. 2001. Drama Techniques in Language Learning: A Resource Book of
Communication Activities for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Phillips S. 2003. Drama with Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wessels, C. 1987. Drama (Resource Books for Teachers). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
196
Drama as global text and techniques for EAP classes
10.3 Drama as global text and techniques for EAP classes

Stella Smyth Queen Mary University, London, UK
This workshop explored the use of drama to teach seminar skills in EAP classes of
intermediate- to advanced-English language level. It focused on two dramatic extracts
which link very well to popular EAP topics, such as globalisation, corporate social
responsibility and freedom of expression. The extracts were from the following:
Henrik Ibsen (1882) An Enemy of the People, Act 2: 18690.
Arthur Miller (1950) An Enemy of the People, Act 2: 8893.
Both plays centre on authentic social, scientific and political issues that Ibsen
(1882) and Miller (1950) researched, then used as a platform for stimulating public
debate through theatre. In sum, the scene represented in each extract concerns a
scientist, Dr Stockmann, who discovers that the spa water on which his town depends
for its revenue through tourism and other related industries is contaminated. When
he attempts to give his citizens a lecture on the health hazards of using these waters,
he is vilified by the vested commercial and political interests of the town.
In this scene, Dr Stockmanns task of giving a presentation is similar to students
requirements to give presentations on many EAP and British university degree
courses. However, instead of assuming that the talk will go smoothly and that the
audience will be supportive and interested in the findings, the scene is an appropriate
text for students to discuss the ways in which Dr Stockmann could have improved his
presentation and how he could have dealt with interruptions and hecklers, rather than
allowing his talk to fall apart.
Participants at the workshop considered the rationale for using this drama by Ibsen
or Miller on an EAP speaking syllabus. Points raised were as follows:
The linguistic complexity of the extract(s); class and self-study time for using it in
relation to the overall design of a syllabus for academic English speaking skills.
The provision of a substantive critical topic for an interdisciplinary group of L2
university undergraduates or postgraduates.
The contemporary relevance for global students of the issues in the excerpt.
Discoursal and cultural variations between Ibsen and Millers versions of the play.
The teacher and/or students opportunity to create a follow-up simulation around
a similar central problem to the one depicted in this scene from either Ibsen or
Millers An Enemy of The People.
Classroom tasks presented in the workshop
The workshop then discussed how the Ibsen and the Miller extracts could be used
together or alone for students to identify some of the following ideas, language and
communicative functions; for example, students were asked to find evidence for the
following in each extract:
(a) We live or die on what the world outside thinks of us.
(b) Rights are sacred until it hurts for somebody to use them.
(c) Interruptions to speakers.
(d) References to political corruption.
197
(e) Ways of dealing with interruptions.

(f ) A summary of Dr Stockmanns arguments.
(g) Environmental, ethical or economic questions that Dr Stockmann raises at the
meeting.
(h) Dr Stockmanns scientific facts.
(i) Ways in which certain members of the meeting manipulate and/or refute Dr
Stockmanns findings.
My workshop then demonstrated the following collaborative task:
What better strategies could Dr Stockmann use to make himself heard and to
explain his findings and their implications?
Here, students evaluate how he could present his information much more clearly
and suggest ways in which he could deal with interruptions. They then edit, enact
and film a scene where Dr Stockmann, as a collective entity of approximately four
members of the class, gives a successful presentation despite the hostility of his
audience towards his research.
Finally, depending on EAP teaching contexts, this workshop considered how the
dramatic extract could be appropriated academically by setting students a research
project to complete outside class and then inviting them to give a team presentation
in a later seminar skills session. For example:
Research a real case of global or local pollution that has challenged a town, a
national or multinational company or a government to change its environmental
and industrial policies. Present your problematic information in the form of a dra-
matic scene, where one team of students is the collective voice of Dr Stockmann,
and where members of the audience or public body have different reasons for chal-
lenging the knowledge he wants to share with them.
The workshop concluded with participants sharing how they could adapt the above
materials to their speaking classes and in doing so combine some of the principles of
ELT and EAP methodologies.
s.smyth@qmul.ac.uk
References
Ibsen, H. 1882. An Enemy of the People. Translated into English by Michael Meyer. London:
Methuen.
Miller, A. 1950. An Enemy of the People. London: Nick Hern Books.
10.4 Moving stories: narrative and video in ELT

Kieran Donaghy UAB Idiomes, Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona, Spain
Context
This workshop consisted of a discussion of the reasons for using narrative, and
narrative film and video in the language classroom; this was followed by a series of
highly practical activities inspired by short films, which require little or no preparation
198
Moving stories: narrative and video in ELT
and which encourage students to create their own narratives. All of these creative
writing activities have been tried and tested in my own classes in Spain and by teachers
throughout the world who have used them on my website Film English. The workshop
finished by looking at how students can tell stories through digital film-making.
Introduction
Reasons for using narrative in classroom teaching were first discussed: stories are
important because they are universal and enjoyed across all cultures, they have the
potential to engage different kinds of motivation (integrative, instrumental, intrinsic
and extrinsic), they have the ability to capture and hold attention, they come across
as real (as distinct from something written specially for a coursebook), and they
resonate with students own experiences. Reasons for using narrative film and video
in language education were then discussed: as we are living in a world where the
moving image is increasing prevalent, moving image texts are particularly effective at
grabbing and holding attention, highly motivating and relevant to the lives of
students. After this brief discussion, I suggested that as film and video are texts, we can
use many of the techniques we use to exploit print texts such as novels, short stories
and poems with moving images texts.
Storytelling activities
The introduction was followed by a series of detailed practical lesson ideas aimed at
a range of levels and backgrounds inspired by short films which can help students to
create and tell their own stories.
1 Predicting a story from the title of a film. Participants were given intriguing titles of
short films such as The Adventures of a Cardboard Box, The Fantastic Flying
Books of Mr Morris Lessmore, I Forgot My Phone and The Man Who Planted
Trees, and were asked to create their own stories inspired by a title.
2 Writing a story inspired by the start of a short film. Participants were shown the first
minute of a short film entitled Paperman' and asked to write the rest of the story.
3 Writing an alternate ending. Participants were asked to write an alternative ending
to the short film Paperman.
4 Writing a story inspired by the end of a short film. Participants were shown the final
20 seconds of a short film entitled Mixtape and asked to write a story which lead
to this ending.
5 Writing a prequel. Participants were shown a short film entitled The Reader, and
I proposed that students be asked to write a prequel to it.
6 Writing a narrative from the perspective of a character. Participants were shown a
short film entitled Moments, and I proposed that students imagine that they are
a character and decide what will happen to him or her in the next ten years. Each
student writes a narrative in the first person, describing the next ten years of their
character.
Given time constraints participants were able to work on activities 1 to 4 in pairs
and groups; the remaining activities (5 and 6) were talked through and demonstrated
by me. In real terms, each activity with a group of students is designed to take 3050
minutes.
199
Film-making projects
After looking at the storytelling activities, I briefly presented three highly practical
film-making projectschronicleswhich can be easily integrated into the syllabus,
and which are designed in such a way that much of the work can be done outside
of school time or set as homework. In the three chronicles the students make a film
telling the story of their school; move out of the school to their homes, where they
create a film about their family; and make a film about their local community.
I finished the session by showing a short film entitled What if? created by myself
and my colleague Anna Whitcher, which encourages students to tell their own stories
through digital film-making.
Conclusions
Using many of the techniques we use to exploit print texts with moving images
texts is an excellent way of encouraging students to write their own stories, fostering
audio-visual competence among EFL students and integrating film into the language
learning syllabus. In addition, digital filmmaking is a positive solution to integrating
students digital life outside the classroom with the language classroom.
kieran@kierandonaghy.com
Reference
Film English. http://film-english.com/.
10.5 Lets start with the video

Anna Whitcher Freelance, San Francisco, USA
Changing expectations of video in ELT

With videos increasing accessibility and decreasing cost, the role of the ELT writer
and editor has been expanding to that of producer and filmmaker. Video is no longer
treated as an afterthought but as an integral and expected part of a course. Video
is a part of how students communicate with each other in their everyday lives, and
teachers know that it is becoming a vital component in maintaining student interest
and focus in the classroom. However, with this new expectation comes the challenge
of how publishers can build a course from the start with the video, digital and print
components all working together.
This session covered some of the basic elements to consider when incorporating
video into a course and how the process can work alongside the print and digital.
There is still a long way to go as writers and publishers continue to grapple with how
this complicated process can go more smoothly. With some basic principles of how to
approach video, including more calculated planning and greater collaboration, we are
on our way to managing the video component more effectively.
Making the video part of the process
In order to achieve greater integration of video into a course, we have to talk about
video much earlier in the process and debunk some myths. We need to get away from
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Let's start with the video
the traditional idea that video is too complicated or too expensive as new, flexible
ways of thinking and greater accessibility to equipment are making these points less
valid. However, this integration of video, print and digital is often extremely difficult
to achieve given the current linear structure of ELT publishing. Without proper
planning, so many of us dont know where to start.
To create effective crossover between these three areas, there needs to be more fluidity
in the process and a less linear approach. As the process goes now, there is invariably
a big gap between what the writers and editors thought they had asked for and what
the video producer ends up delivering. A lot of money is spent trying to rectify this
miscommunication. There is a way to avoid this, but it means we cant act in isolation
any more. Instead of seeing the publishing process as three separate entities, we have
to start viewing them as interconnected and interdependent. If there is a system of
open communication between print writers and editors, digital developers and video
producers, then they can work together and maximise the content and its effectiveness.
Content now is only effective when all of the parts work together, not separately.
Essential changes for the new integrated approach
1 The video person needs to be involved early on, when negotiations are happening
with various vendors so they can determine the best course of action, from concept
to cost to production schedule.
2 Subsequent conversations with the writers and editors need to include the video
person so everyone is on the same page regarding the content and aware of any
restrictions (cost-wise, concept-wise). This avoids frustrated meetings and unnec-
essary miscommunication.
3 Ideas for the video need to be approved by the whole team (publisher, writer,
editor, video lead, digital liaison) from the start, not separately as they often have
been in the past.
4 Decisions regarding the video (however small) need to be made firmly and not
put off until production is underway, as delayed decisions will certainly come back
with repercussions and unexpected costs.
5 Funds should be spent on the people (those creating the content for the video and
producing it), not on the expensive equipment or software, as these tend to change
too rapidly to be worth the investment.
New ideal qualities of someone in the field of ELT
There are essentially four basic qualities that we now have to possess in order to keep up
in our field. They are: adaptability, fearlessness, flexibility and curiosity. By embracing
these qualities, we will develop a new breed of editors, writers and publishers in ELT.
They will be people who see the grey rather than the black and white, who possess
skills beyond teaching, who can see how all pieces of a course should integrate, who
know when and how to delegate and who, most importantly, trust their teams.
anna_sf@sbcglobal.net
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10.6Motivating students into creative writing through art and

literature
Maria Barberi Secondary School of Mandra, Greece
International House John Haycraft Classroom Exploration Scholarship
winner
This paper is based on a research project exploring ways through which students can be
motivated into creative writing through art and literature. The research was conducted
with a class of 25 students, aged 15 (CEFR B1B2) in a Greek state secondary school.
Throughout the project students were presented with carefully selected material
(paintings and literary texts) accompanied by a variety of activities. The activities were
based on a series of questions that encouraged processes such as visual, critical and
creative thinking. Students motivation was measured by the quality of their responses
and their attitude throughout the given tasks.
Art as stimulus to creative writing
Students were invited to enter the painting, The Hanged Mans House by Cezanne,
observe the landscape, make associations, explore their feelings about the place and
make assumptions as to what might be going on there. Their observations, feelings
and assumptions were written up on the board. During the production stage, they
were asked to write the opening lines of a chapter in a supposed novel. They also
observed other paintings, and worked on the setting, characters and plot of a short
story. In the final stage, they were offered a collection of paintings to select from and
asked to write a short story in groups.
Literary texts as stimulus to poetry
Barthes (1967) regards the authors text as a source open to multiple interpretations
suggesting that every time we, as readers, encounter a literary text, we reconstruct and
rewrite it. In the same manner, we reconstruct a painting as viewers. In light of this
idea, students were given an extract from Dickens short novel The Chimes (1844)
picturing the atmosphere on New Years Eve. They described in their own words the
images the text conveyed through simile and metaphor, and they made assumptions
as to what might be happening in the story. Finally, they were asked to write a poem,
individually or in groups, based on this extract. Students sample work:
2016 haiku
Heres your haiku
Please give me your good wishes
Im running short.
Abstract art as stimulus to poetry
Step1
Students were given ten minutes to purposely scribble on large sheets of paper
and connect their scribblings with a feeling, thought or memory. Then, they were
encouraged to think about different ways of moving (rolling, jumping) and connect
them with specific emotions (joy, anger). Afterwards, they described and justified
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Motivating students into creative writing through art and literature
their scribblings. Words expressing feelings, and words describing accompanying

movements were written on the board.
Step 2
Posters of abstract paintings were put up on the walls of the classroom. Students got
into groups. Each group had to adopt a painting, stand before it and observe it for
some time. Then, the individual members of each group had to write a short poem
about the painting. Finally, the group had to get together to choose the best line from
each individual poem and write a final group poem. Students sample work based on
the painting Cantahar by Frank Stella is as follows:
Moving, rolling in the air/everything is out of control/tense is blowing in the sky/what
a terrible joy.
Publishing students work

The new writers uploaded their work on a wiki built for the purposes of this project.
Students from the other classes were directed to read it and offer motivational
feedback. A vote for the best poem poll was also conducted, and this proved very
successful among the wiki members.
Findings
Throughout the project students remained positively motivated, showing high degrees
of concentration and persistence. Collaborative work encouraged self-confidence
and safety, and this was manifested in the inclusiveness the members of each group
exhibited towards weaker students by helping them with unknown words. The creative
writing products showed signs of sensitivity and ingenuity.
Outcomes
Developing language skills and enhancing aesthetic judgement and sensitivity to each
others work were some of the influences these activities had on students. What lies
at the core of such a project, though, is creative experimentation and the tolerance
that both the teacher and the learners had to develop towards innovative work in the
classroom. By adopting a non-judgmental attitude, the teacher allowed the students
texts to become the location of an ongoing dialogue (Dunlop 2007: 1257). This
dialogue was informed by motivational and constructive comments, suggestions and
thought-provoking questions, which helped learners unfold and refine their writing,
acquire confidence and sustain their creative efforts. Through such a process, students
were made aware of their creative potential and were led to the development of an
autonomous attitude towards learning.
mabarberi@gmail.com
References
Barthes, R. 1967. The Death of the Author. UbuWeb Papers. http://www.tbook.constantvzw.
org/wp-content/death_authorbarthes.pdf.
Dickens, C. 2007. The Christmas Books. London: Penguin.
Dunlop, R. 2007. Human music: a case for teaching poetry in dark times in L. Bresler (ed.).
International Handbook of Research in Arts Education 16. Dordrecht: Springer.
203
11 Innovative uses of
technology
Our focus in this chapter is teaching with technologyfrom blended learning to

collaborative writing to mobile applications. Nicky Hockly opens the chapter with
a discussion of blended learning, outlining what she sees as the key ingredients to a
successful blended approach. Then, Valentina Morgana investigates the use of iPads
in the classroom, specifically in an Italian context. Ruby Vurdien then shows how
a combination of online vocabulary exercises and peer editing helped students to
improve their writing skills, while Guy Meredith reports on the use of the app Quip
to allow the teacher and students to collaborate on the writing of an essay. The next
paper is by Amadeu Marin, who demonstrates a number of teaching ideas based on
the online cork board tool Padlet. Andrew Foster then investigates the use of mobile
phone technology with learners in the Palestinian Territories, showing how this is
helpful for learners outside the classroom. Instant messaging is the topic of Kat Robbs
paper; she used the app WeChat as a means of increasing student motivation. Finally,
Tilly Harrison explores the use of surveys and quizzes using students smartphones
and a variety of free online tools.
11.1 Shaken not stirred: blended learning for connoisseurs

Nicky Hockly The Consultants-E, Barcelona, Spain
The term blended learning has been defined in different ways within the ELT
profession. For example, Hockly and Clandfield (2010: 9) define it as a mixture of
both f2f [face-to-face] and online learningsome elements of a course are delivered
online, and some are delivered f2f . On the other hand, Sharma and Barrett (2007)
take a broader view, seeing any appropriate use of technology, whether inside the
classroom or out, as an example of blended learning. Sharma and Barretts view is
most evident in the models of blended learning currently becoming popular in North
America, particularly in K12 (primary and secondary school) contexts. The blended
learning models most commonly referred to in K12 include the following:
Station rotation: students rotate among different work stations in a single class-
room, and at least one of these stations includes computers/tablets.
Lab rotation: students rotate between a separate computer room (or computer
lab), where they work individually through self-study materials on computers, and
the classroom, where they carry out pair, group and whole-class work with a teacher
and work on project work, developing more complex critical thinking and problem
solving skills.
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Shaken not stirred: blended learning for connoisseurs`
The flex model: students work mostly online in self-study mode, often with adaptive
software, either in the school building or from home, and with access to a f2f or
online teacher at specific times.
The flipped classroom: students prepare the subject matter online from home (for
example by watching online videos or doing computer-based activities) and then
work in more depth with the material in class, supported by a teacher.
The flipped classroom is a model that has generated a great deal of interest in English
language teaching circles. A study was carried out by Johnson and Marsh (described in
McCarthy 2016) of teachers working with a flipped classroom model at a university in
Latin America. Students carried out much of the coursebook-related work (grammar
and vocabulary activities, reading, writing and listening) via a coursebook LMS and
then took part in mainly speaking and review activities in class. The study found that
one of the biggest challenges for teachers was recognising that the flipped classroom
model is a methodology rather than a technology. Furthermore, it is a methodology
that requires the teacher to play a guiding and facilitative role, rather than that of
explaining the language. The teachers in the study found it a challenge to not take a
transmission-based approach to their teaching and to move toward a more supportive
role. The researchers concluded that teacher training is key for a flipped classroom
approach to be implemented successfully.
What else does research say about blended learning? Further studies in McCarthy
(2016) highlight the importance of output and interaction in blended learning
approaches (for example, Walsh, Hojnacki). In addition, Thornbury suggests 12
principles that need to be taken into account in any blended learning design to ensure
that the approach reflects what we know about how languages are learned, based on
second language acquisition (SLA) studies. For a full account of these elements, see
McCarthy 2016; the 12 principles are input, output, interaction, scaffolding, noticing,
adaptivity, complexity, feedback, automaticity, chunks, personalisation and flow.
Drawing on current research, my talk ended with what I consider to be some of the
key ingredients of a successful blended approach:
Interaction: there needs to be provision for interaction with other students, the
teacher and possibly individuals in the wider world via the Internet.
SLA principles: the blend needs to cater to the 12 SLA principles described by
Thornbury (see above).
Task design and tools: task design and the choice of tool(s) need to match.
Materials: rather than only providing content, tasks and materials can also facilitate
process (Mishan in McCarthy 2016).
Integration of f2f and online: there needs to be a clear link between f2f and online
components of the course, with each complementing, supporting and developing
the other.
Evaluation: online work (including speaking, if included in the blend) needs to be
integrated into overall student evaluation.
Context: the blend needs to take into account the local context, including the skills,
expectations and beliefs of both students and teachers.
Teacher training: training is key for the successful implementation of blended
approaches, to ensure that teachers understand the underlying principles, particu-
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Chapter 11: Innovative uses of technology
larly of approaches like the flipped classroom, and are able to implement them
effectively.
Learner training: some learners find working autonomously a challenge, so your
blend may require some learner training.
nicky.hockly@theconsultants-e.com
References
Hockly, N. and L. Clandfield. 2010. Teaching Online. Peaslake: Delta Publishing.
McCarthy, M. (ed.). 2016. The Cambridge Guide to Blended Learning for Language Teaching.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sharma, P. and B. Barrett. 2007. Blended Learning. Oxford: Macmillan.
11.2 iPad in the EFL classroom: perceptions and practices

Valentina Morgana Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
Introduction
The goal of this study was to explore the impact of iPad integration into English
language learning activities and teacher/student perceptions of one-to-one learning
with iPads in the classroom. Tablet devices such as the iPad are increasing in popularity,
and many schools in Italy and all over the world are adopting them as educational
technology. The administration and the English language teachers of the high school
involved in this study became interested in the phenomenon and made the decision
to trial iPads with their students as part of an action research project, which was also
designed to increase their own knowledge as part of their professional development.
This study was designed to investigate this main research question: What are
students and teachers perceptions of the use of the iPad into the EFL classroom?
The context
The study took place in a private high school in Milan, Italy, in which the school
administration had recently decided to implement an iPad project in two of its high
school classes. The idea was to introduce the new devices as a trial project; based on
the results the school would then decide whether to implement mobile technology for
the rest of the classes.
The English teachers involved asked me, as a researcher, to help and support them
in the project. The action research approach was an obvious choice in this study as
it traditionally focuses on issues of immediate concern to particular social groups
or communities and is conducted by and with members of the actual community
(Burns 1999: 24). The issue of immediate interest in this study was the use of mobile
learning as an instructional tool for EFL learners. I decided to use the action research
cycle proposed by Kemmis and McTaggart (1988) to frame and design the project.
The goal of the cycle is for teachers to develop their professional abilities through
collaboration and learning, providing students with appropriate and positive outcomes
(for example, students learn what EFL materials are more effective with the iPad).
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iPad in the EFL classroom: perceptions and practices
Participants
The team consisted of me (researcher) and two EFL teachers (participants). They both
had at least seven years of classroom experience, additional postgraduate certificates
and Master of Education degrees.
There were 43 students involved: 16 girls and 27 boys. At the time of this study,
all of the students were 16 years old. All these students completed an initial survey
online. To collect data, I used regular recorded meetings with teachers, face-to-face
interviews with teachers and students (at the beginning and at the end of the study),
online surveys and classroom observation.
Discussion and findings
Teachers reported improvement in student work; they were also enthusiastic about
students increased engagement with assignments. Teacher A summed it up:
I encourage students to be creative and use all the apps that can make us improve any
skill. For instance, I asked them to work with Haiku Deck to prepare a presentation
on Spending a year abroad and they were thrilled.
The teachers mentioned many ways they were using the iPad along with the apps
they were using. These are summarised in Table 11.2.1.
Skill App
Collaborate Google Drive
Messages
Evernote
Annotate Notability
TinyPdf
Watch and listen YouTube
Vimeo
TEDTalks
Present HaikuDeck
Organise ideas MindMapping
Search Google
Safari
Vocabulary Dictionaries (MacMillan, MerriamWebster)
Wordreference
Table 11.2.1: Apps selected by the teachers
Teacher A summed this up by saying that iPad were employed to

Activate previous knowledge, voice recording and voice-over to improve pronunciation,
textual visual analysis of literary texts, regular assessment through canvas and
207
the written assignment systems, boost vocab in context through corpora. And
cooperative learning ...
Students themselves acknowledged the impact of iPads on their learning. They

also felt more independent in their school work inside and outside the classroom. TN
reported:
Yes, I think ipads [sic] are very useful because I can listen to my voice, I can record it,
and then I can listen to it again. Its also useful in writing because it can automatically
correct me when I write.
Students are expecting to become better English learners thanks to the use of the
iPad, in particular they would like to work on listening and speaking activities. CG
summed it up:
I think its a good idea to talk with Evernote, because in the afternoon the teacher
can listen to your voice and correct you if there are any mistakes. I would really love
to work more on listening and speaking activities.
In general, the analysis of the data has also shown that there has been a clear change
of practice both for teachers and students.
valentina.morgana@me.com
References
Burns, A. 2003. Collaborative Action Research for English Language Teachers. Ernst Klett
Sprachen.
McTaggart, R. and S. Kemmis (eds.). 1988. The Action Research Planner. Waurn Ponds:
Deakin University Press.
11.3 Mobile learning and wikis to enhance writing skills

Ruby Vurdien White Rose Language School, Valladolid, Spain
Introduction
Writing has always been a daunting activity for EFL students at all levels, and it has
been found that many of them are not competent in their writing skills. This, as
a result, has an impact on their academic performance. Yet writing is a means for
communicating, organising and developing ideas. As a form of computer-mediated
communication, wikis have increased in popularity to support writing instruction
(Lamb 2004), collaborative learning (Richardson 2006) and the joint construction
of texts and meaning making (Li and Zhu 2011). Furthermore, feedback among
students can help towards detecting linguistic and organisational shortcomings in
their texts, thereby leading to error correction and grammatical accuracy.
Today, the smartphone, which includes the Internet service and the capacity to
access and download applications to perform various functions, provides learners
with the facility to download articles to be read outside the classroom with a view to
enhancing their vocabulary acquisition. Words that are learned over spaced reading
sessions are better retained than those that are acquired in a more isolated yet intense
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Mobile learning and wikis to enhance writing skills
context. Thus retention of new vocabulary can aid students in improving their lexical
resources when performing their writing tasks.
The present study examines the enhancement of writing skills through the use of
wikis, mobile-assisted vocabulary acquisition, peer editing and feedback.
The following questions guided the study:
What are the students perceptions regarding learning from their smartphone and
wikis?
How can peer editing and feedback help students to enhance their writing skills?
The project
Twenty-one EFL students who were preparing for the Cambridge ESOL examinations
at CEFR levels C1 and C2 participated in this five-month task-based project. Firstly,
the participants made use of Google on their smartphones in order to read newspaper
articles for content knowledge and perform their contextual vocabulary exercises.
The articles were downloaded from the BBC and the Guardian newspaper. Next, the
students were requested to write on wikis their essays related to the topic of the articles
they had read and put into practice the newly acquired lexis. In total, each student
composed eight essays. The tutor read the texts and highlighted all the grammatical
and lexical inaccuracies prior to the students editing the errors and providing feedback
for their respective participants. Peer editing and feedback were conducted in groups
of three. Finally, all corrections were checked by the tutor.
Data collection and analysis
The study adopted a qualitative approach and data were gathered from various sources,
namely, 168 essays, two questionnaires administered at the beginning and end of the
project, and interviews conducted individually on its conclusion. Finally, a survey
in the form of a questionnaire consisting of 12 statements was completed by the
participants to gather more data on students perceptions of their learning experience.
Discussion
The students overview of their learning experience was positive since they believed
they had improved their writing skills and had developed greater confidence
when writing, thus becoming more proficient in language accuracy (grammar and
vocabulary). Moreover, the results in the pre-test and post-test support the students
claim. All participants had improved their scores, with a difference of 0.51.0 between
the pre- and post- tests in both criteria (grammar and vocabulary), a finding which
could be considered quite significant.
Interestingly, the students acknowledged that they had learned from correcting
their peers essays. By collaborating in small groups they were able to discuss the
errors already highlighted by their tutor and negotiate towards providing corrections.
They felt motivated to edit the various tasks as the mistakes were common to all
of them. Their primary goal was not to repeat the mistakes in subsequent tasks.
Overall, peer feedback was considered to be helpful since it aided students, especially
after carefully reading the corrections, to reflect on their errors and attempt to use
appropriate structures in their following tasks. As a consequence, their writing skills
were enhanced.
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Conclusion
The present study has shed some light on how wikis and the smartphone can create
a learning environment beyond the traditional classroom setting by facilitating
students the opportunity to adopt a self-learning approach, in combination with
peer collaboration to enhance writing skills. The smartphone can be used for reading
articles and acquiring vocabulary, while writing on wikis can encourage students to
pay close attention to form, and thereby improve their language accuracy. The tasks
performed also increased students motivation, as they were related to their reading
materials, unlike the decontextualised type of task found in their coursebooks.
whiterose_va@yahoo.es
References
Lamb, B. 2004. Wide open spaces wikis ready or not. Educause Review 39/5: 3648.
Li, M. and W. Zhu. 2011. Patterns of computer-mediated interaction in small writing groups
using wikis. Computer Assisted Language Learning 26: 122.
Richardson, W. 2006. Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.
Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press.
11.4 Using online dialogue to co-construct texts with students

Guy Meredith Zayed University, UAE
Introduction
This presentation described how a tutor can help improve students writing by using
digital platforms that feature online dialogue or chat boxes. Online dialogue can
change the relationship between the tutor and the students by providing a new channel
of communication that allows the tutor to co-construct the text with the students.
What is online dialogue and co-construction?
Figure 11.4.1 shows an example taken from Quip, a website and app. The text that
the students are writing (an academic essay) is on the right. The students are working
Figure 11.4.1: Example of online dialogue/co-construction
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Using online dialogue to co-construct texts with students
in a group and can edit the text whenever they are online. On the left we can see
the dialogue between them as they collaborate. This dialogue is informal, like a text
conversation on a mobile phone or a social network site, and can clearly support
collaborative writing between students. However, the tutor can also contribute to the
conversation. This introduces the idea of co-construction.
Co-construction means the tutor can help the students construct their essay during
every stage of the writing process. The tutor can see what the students are writing and,
to some extent thanks to the chat box, what they are thinking. The tutor can then
intervene with suggestions and questions and can become part of the dialogue and
part of the process of writing the essay.
Writing theories
In a process-based approach, the students write a draft essay and give it to the tutor
who provides feedback so the students can rewrite. Modern technology allows all the
students and the tutor to see the document and make comments and edits at any
time during the writing. Comments and conversation can happen synchronously and
asynchronously, so either a real time dialogue can take place or comments can be
reflected on and acted upon later. This follows Vygotskian (1978) social constructivist
principles such as the zone of proximal development in which the student works with
a more capable partner; in this case the partner can be the tutor. This also reflects
Kents (1993: 166) post-process approach where the tutor is no longer the high priest
but has a new relationship with the students and actively collaborates with them to
produce a text.
How is online dialogue used?
Online dialogue can be used outside the classroom when the students and the tutor are
in different places. Students used online dialogue to discuss content, organisation and
structure of the text, grammar and lexis. It is also used to give and receive support and
advice, and to discuss procedural matters; these may involve the students organising
the work and telling the tutor when to check the essay:
Student A: I didnt write the conclusion yet. Dont market right now please
Student A: I mean mark it
Tutor: OK
Student A: Done, now you can mark it please
Note that the student self-corrects her spelling of mark it. This is an authentic
use of English for a real communicative purpose, and therefore accurate spelling is
important. The tutor can intervene as well:
Student A: Now lets start body 1
Tutor: WAIT!
Student B: We didnt plan!
Student C: I hate planning!
In another example the tutor was able to intervene positively in a situation
regarding group dynamics. One student in the class, Q, was very shy; the dialogue
box gave her a form of communication she felt comfortable with. However, Qs initial
lack of communication with other students had created a rather negative feeling
211
towards her, and the initial online dialogue among the group reflected this: Q offered
contributions, but the group was reluctant to incorporate them. The tutor was able
to intervene to encourage the group members to work together more effectively. The
other students accepted Qs contributions, which were very helpful, and as a result,
the group scored a higher grade. This positive result was only possible because the
tutor was co-constructing the text with the students from the start of the process.
Conclusion
The online dialogue feature seemed to encourage students who did not engage fully in
class as well as more motivated students. This may be because it uses a modern form
of communication they are comfortable using and because they benefit from more
input from their tutor. They certainly spend more time discussing their work and
improving it.
guy.meredith@zu.ac.ae
References
Kent, T. 1993. Paralogic Rhetoric: A Theory of Communicative Interaction. Lewisburg: Bucknell
University Press.
Vygotsky, L. 1978. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
11.5 Not just the writing on the wall

Amadeu Marin Escola Oficial dIdiomes, Castell, Spain
Introduction
Simple tools, like simple ideas, are the best. At this workshop I presented a number of
teaching ideas around the online corkboard tool Padlet, which, precisely because of its
simplicity, lends itself to the development of rich activities, both synchronous (during
lessons) and asynchronous (pre- or post-lesson).
Padlet (https://padlet.com) is a web-based tool that simply provides you with a
digital surface, a wall or simply a padlet, on which you can pin or display rich
digital content either uploaded from your computer or mobile device or culled from
the web. There are other similar tools, but I prefer Padlet for the full control and great
options you get, for its intuitive, attractive interface and for its smart mobile apps.
Setting up a padlet, posting and sharing
Its not necessary to sign up on Padlet, but I recommend doing so since that allows you
to keep your padlets and attachments, and offers some useful setting options such as
choosing a profile url. Once you have your account you can start creating padlets. By
just clicking on new padlet you get a blank wall you can customise by doing things
like adding a title and description, choosing a wallpaper and layout, or setting the
privacy level (important if you teach children). Next you can start displaying content.
Double-clicking creates a post, which typically has three elements: a title, some text
and an attachment. Attachments can be any kind of file uploaded from your PC or
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Not just the writing on the wall
mobile device, or links to web content: a website, blog, photo, video, song, article, etc.
Sharing padlets couldnt be easier. Simply give out the url or (smarter!) the QR code
the system generates for each one. If you make your padlet public you can share it on
social media; you can also export it as PDF or image.
How can you use Padlet in your teaching context?
For the last part of the workshop we discussed this question. This is a summary of the
ideas that cropped up:
In a blended-learning approach Padlet can be used as the online component of
the blend; a collection of walls can make up a course. When I started using Padlet
I would create a wall as a record or summary of each lesson (a sort of take-home
board!). A series of padlets could become a class diary, which can be started by the
teacher, then gradually shared with or even handed over to students.
If you follow a task- or project-based learning approach, Padlet is especially well
suited as the home of projects, both while theyre being compiled and/or to display
rich final outcomes. Also, Padlet projects could be shared and developed by differ-
ent class groups.
If you use the stream layout, a padlet becomes a kind of forum where you can
hold debates. Since padlets sync so well, debates can be held in the classroom with
students using their own mobile devices; they scan the QR code with the reader
Padlet mobile apps incorporate, get onto the debate wall and start writing opinions.
Padlet can be used as a springboard for creativity, for example, to generate stories
from pictures. Pin a street scene photo onto a padlet; in class, show it and elicit
possible personal stories behind each character in the picture. At home, students
write up the stories in the first person on the same padlet. Next lesson, hold a vote
for the best one, look at the language, etc. The starting point could be a word
cloud generated from a written story, (with Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/), for
example; again, elicit possible stories behind the word cloud, etc; after looking at
the stories the class made up, show the original.
Padlet can be used to personalise learning and make language activities more rel-
evant because theyre about the people in the classroom. For example, imagine your
topic is childhood memories. For homework, get students to post a photo from
their childhood on a padlet; in class, tell them the story behind your own picture
to give them a model, then have students do the same in groups. At home they
write up their texts and add them to their pictures; in the next lesson, look at the
stories and work on the language. If, like me, you dont use a coursebook but prefer
to base your activities on the learners own experiences, by hosting them on Padlet
walls you will assemble your own coursebook!
A padlet is worth a thousand words. A selection of my padlets that exemplify
some of the activities discussed can be found at https://padlet.com/amadeumarin/
mypadlets.
amadeumarin@gmail.com
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11.6 Can learners learn alone with only a phone? Experiences

with mobile learning in the Palestinian Territories
Andrew Foster British Council, Occupied Palestinian Territories
Programmed mobile and online products for language learning have multiplied with
the expansion of personal access to technology, but understanding how increasingly
remote learners use such products may not have kept pace. Do we assume too much
about technologys ability to assist language learning when or wherever an individual
chooses? Telecommunications companies collect quantitative data on learners use of a
product, or proportions of right/wrong answers submitted, but this reveals little about
how people use automated learning products and evaluate their own progress.
I describe here what was found among a small group of English learners in the
Palestinian Territories using LearnEnglish Select IVR, an audio-based product
developed by the British Council. Interactive voice response (IVR) technology
operates through signals from the phone keypad and can allow learners to listen to
information and instructions, respond to closed questions, and record and play back
speech. IVR is particularly useful where smartphones, wifi and 3G or 4G networks
are not accessible.
LearnEnglish Select IVR was designed for learners at A0 to A1 on the Common
European Framework of Reference and was advertised in the Palestinian Territories
(in Arabic) as For people who want to understand spoken English and start speaking
themselves. It consists of programmed mini lessons based around the serialised story
of Nidal and his search for a job. A character called Mariam introduces the listener (in
Arabic) to the people and contexts of simple English conversations which Nidal has
with friends and potential employers. The learner uses the keypad to answer questions
on the meaning and form of language in the dialogues. The user can practice speaking
by taking the role of one of the dialogue characters. The IVR system records and
compiles the dialogue, which the learner can play back in its entirety when they are
satisfied with each part. The automated system does not give the learner feedback on
this, which raises questions about if and how learners judge their progress or set goals.
Learner background Where used? When used? Need for English

Taxi driver In taxi When not To communicate with
working foreigners
Office worker At home In the evening For work/ travel
Ministry official At work Mornings For work, and for
At home Weekends comprehending
training
Cosmetics trade At home Evenings Gulf work visits
worker In car (not easy) (Daytime calls (communication with
interrupted too non-Arabic speakers)
much)
Table 11.6.1: Participants in the study
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Can learners learn alone with only a phone?
Focus groups were held with an invited group of adult learners who had taken a
test which suggested their level suited the product, and four attended regularly. While
such a small group rules out generalisations, the study illustrates the range of different
approaches learners take when using such products.
Focus group participants
Details about the participants are summarised in Table 11.6.1.
Mobility or concentration?
All found that listening required an environment where they could concentrate,
often using either headphones or an extension speaker. Some switched from using
a mobile to the landline, reducing incoming calls and message interruptions. The
taxi driver found that using the product for longer periods, from ten to 45 minutes,
was more effective, and others agreed that the need to listen carefully improved their
concentration. They enjoyed following Nidals story and taking part through the
recorded dialogues.
Social and technical support
One learner listened with her husband, who added his own modelling and repetition
by remembering the phrases and asking her to repeat them after the calls. Another
worked alone, writing the dialogues in a notebook. Using Google Translate, using
an online thesaurus and audio features alongside the IVR product, and keeping a
notebook of words and phrases helped him to check and review his understanding.
This learners notes enabled others to discuss issues on what was heard in the
dialogues (such as whether who or how, or voiced/unvoiced phonemes /g/ or /k/
were heard) in the meetings. They show a persistent concern with associating the
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spoken and written form by a learner who lacked confidence and who wanted to
capture every word. In contrast, the office worker chose to worry less about this over
the two-month period, becoming content with comprehending the overall meaning.
While the product included some accompanying SMS messages, I had reservations
about the extensive use of Latin-only script. However, for these four learners, aural
comprehension appeared more difficult than reading simple English.
The taxi driver wanted to listen to his earlier recordings to assess his progress, but
these were deleted after closing the call. The cosmetics salesman suggested a smartphone
solution to this through using the app that he uses to record and save business calls. The
goals of the learner studying with her husband, who took an instructor-like role, were
possibly informed by feedback he provided. Learners used other resources they had
access tosocial, pen-and-paper and technologicaland adjusted goals according to
their perceived need for fluency in comprehension or accuracy.
Their experiences with the product show unexpected benefits or learning outcomes,
as well as unanticipated disadvantages and hint at the possibilities of what Kukulska-
Hulme calls everyday innovation, where learners find ways to enhance, improve or
substitute an activity with something previously not possible (Kukulska-Hulme 2006:
12930).
andrew.foster@britishcouncil.org
Reference
Kukulska-Hulme, A. 2006 Mobile language learning now and in the future in P. Svenson
(ed.). From Vision to Practice: Language Learning and IT. Sweden: Swedish Net University.
11.7Instant messaging with learners: creepy treehouse or

chilled-out chatroom?
Kat Robb Freelance, Barcelona, Spain
Introduction
Many educators have embraced the use of mobile technologies and instant messaging
with learners. But inviting learners to connect with their teacher on social media can
provoke horror: what some have called the creepy treehouse syndrome.
In this talk I explored ways that I harnessed the affordances of student smartphones
as a learning tool by creating a class IM group to scaffold learning, using a cross-
platform mobile instant messaging app. The context was a mixed multilingual group
about to embark on university studies. The app used was WeChat, chosen specifically
because it allows students to sign up using their Facebook accounts and therefore
prevents any exchange of personal telephone numbers or infringement on privacy.
The four learning objectives were as follows:
1 to boost student motivation for academic writing;
2 to increase student collaboration;
3 to establish a sense of community in the classroom; and
4 to improve academic writing skills.
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Instant messaging with leaners: creepy treehouse or chilled-out chatroom
The aim was to establish a connection between the constant tweets, social media
updates and instant messages students write all day long without a second thought,
and academic writing, while also trying to bring a motivational and fun element to
the learning.
The students were guided through a range of activities both inside and outside the
classroom and were required to share their ideas and collaborate with peers as they
interacted using WeChat.
Activities
Some activities used were as follows:
Synonym race
Using a selection of high-frequency words in academic English, I sent words one by
one to the group. Each time I sent a word, the first group of students to reply with
a synonym got a point. This motivated students to think quickly and added a fun
element to the activity. It also helped widen their lexical range, and they were able to
refer back to the messages during the course to find and use lexis they needed.
Lecture summary
This was a collaborative writing task where students shared their notes from the weekly
lecture and wrote a summary together in no more than 100 words. The four groups
wrote their summaries on WeChat and sent them to the group. Each group read the
summaries of the other three groups and made a note of any inaccuracies, points they
wanted to question and things they liked. Each group read their summary aloud in
open class; as they did this, any student was allowed shout stop at something they
wanted to question, and it was discussed openly. Because the writing had been carried
out collaboratively, no student felt pinpointed or undermined.
TED talk summary of main ideas
For homework I gave the students a TED talk to watch in their own time over the
weekend. I asked them to post a summary of the main points of interest for them
personally, supporting them with evidence and reasons why (one of the tenets of
academic writing). They sent their summaries to the WeChat group and I moderated
them. This was not time consuming for me, and it gave the students a sense of
ownership over their learning because they were free to do it at any time that was
convenient for them. This worked well, so I continued to do this throughout the
course to help the students develop their listening, summarising and explaining skills.
Feedback
I asked the students to carry out an anonymous questionnaire; this enabled me to gain
an insight into the usefulness of the class instant messaging group from the learners
perspective. Here is a summary of the most common responses the students gave:
The activities were fun and interesting and transformed a task we dreaded into
something we enjoyed.
I communicate more with my classmates and learnt from them.
I compared my work with our classmates and adopted a competitive approach to
217
impress them. (This was reflected in the quality of the writing the students pro-
duced.)
I feel the gap between the teacher and me has narrowed because she is a part of the
chat group.
I feel more confident to write now, so I am more motivated also.
Benefits
The benefits of having a class chat are as follows:
1 It is student-centred, interactive and communicative.
2 It creates dialogue amongst students and nurtures a social atmosphere.
3 It increases motivation and shifts the motivation from extrinsic to intrinsic.
4 It encourages sharing and extends learning.
5 It creates a personalised learning platform that students can refer to both inside
and outside the classroom.
trinarobb@hotmail.com
11.8 What do your learners think? Let their smartphones tell you
Tilly Harrison University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
Smartphone ubiquity
Of all the powerful technologies that are available to us, the smartphone must be the
most ubiquitous. As a teacher in the UK higher education sector, I am now able to
rely on the fact that 100 per cent of the class will have an Internet-enabled device in
their pocket. In my IATEFL workshop, the vast majority of the 60 or so attendees
participated with their own device, using the conference wifi or their own data
connection.
Polling quick questions
I began the workshop with a quick PowerPoint review of the history of personal
response systems (PRS) or clickers. I then asked the participants to log in to Socrative
(http://www.socrative.com/) and choose Student login to my room to illustrate how
this site can harvest student opinion. The first question (Have you used a PRS before
and if so, which one?) was answered by 34 people, of whom about a dozen had
never used a polling system before. After sharing their answers in small groups and
discussing why teachers might use online polling, participants gave their reasons on
Socrative. This time there were 42 online responses with a rich range of answers:
Students use their Smartphones all the time, except in class. Maybe we can integrate
it more; interactive, fun, less traditional; to get the shy students to join in; to ensure
they understand my lesson and find out any problems encountered. Although I was
not able to share these answers in detail at the time, it illustrated the principle that as
a teacher you can give every student a voice. Socrative saved the report for me to look
at later.
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What do your learners think? Let their smartphones tell you
Pedagogic rationale
I then gave my own list of reasons for using this technology; some reflected the
participants' answers and some were new. These were as follows: interaction creates
engagement; anonymous responses build class community; polling the class gives
valuable feedback that you may not get otherwise; all can respond, not just the most
confident; it adds variety to your teaching technique; it energises large classes; teachers
can get responses even when new to the students; students get feedback as to how they
are doing and responses are saved and can be used for reflection.
Next I turned to the research literature and gave a short presentation on the
pedagogic rationale for polling ones students. This had a dual purpose: it was not
only a way to establish sound reasons for this approach, it was also content on which
to base an online quiz. I mentioned the importance of active learning (Bonwell and
Eison 1991); agile teaching (Bruff 2009); assessment for learning; game-based learning
(Whitton 2014); and motivation.
Space Race
Participants were then divided into 20 teams (two or three people per team) and
using the Space Race feature of Socrative they needed to answer questions on the
previous content as quickly and accurately as possible in order to win. The results
were illustrated in real time as each team was assigned a colour and a bicycle. As
they answered, their bicycle moved across the screen; the yellow bicycle won! This
activity illustrated the gaming and competitive elements that are optionally available
for teachers using Socrative. However, since each answer comes with feedback, it is
also a way to continue learning even when wrong answers are chosen.
Kahoot
I also wanted to show two other online polling options: Polleverywhere and
Kahoot. Unfortunately as time was running short and Polleverywhere was proving
temperamental, I skipped directly to my final Kahoot quiz. With this application
teachers go to their registered site at https://getkahoot.com/ and choose their prepared
quiz. Kahoot gives it a game pin number, which the teacher gives to students who log in
at https://kahoot.it/#/. When all the participants are ready the timed quiz begins. After
each question the top five participants are awarded points according to their speed and
accuracy, and this is illustrated on the teachers board. The bright colour scheme and
upbeat background music are other features that make this a very popular tool for use
with younger as well as adult learners. There were 55 participants in the four-question
quiz, five getting all questions right, with Jodi as overall winner with 3,633 points.
From the laughter and smiles at the end of the workshop I could see that teachers
enjoy using their smartphones to participate just as much as learners.
tilly.harrison@warwick.ac.uk
References
Bonwell, C.C. and J. A. Eison. 1991. Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom.
ERIC Digest. http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-4/active.htm.
Bruff, D. 2009. Teaching with Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning Environments.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Whitton, N. 2014. Digital Games and Learning: Research and Theory. Abingdon: Routledge.
219
12 Initiatives in teacher
development
The first paper in this final chapter is by Nick Bilbrough, who proposes a framework for
teacher development programmes based on practice, evaluation and personalisation.
The next two papers address the issue of working with less-experienced teachers:
Afaf Mishriki and Amani Demian outline some advantages and challenges of
mentoring less-experienced teachers, while Phil Bird and Celine Castelino describe
the development of blended teacher development sessions for less-experienced ESOL
teachers. For some teachers, development means exploring online teaching, moving
into a specialised area such as EAP, or starting to write for publication. Kirsteen
Donaghy discusses CPD and quality control for online teachers; Andrew Preshous
describes a module designed to help teachers move into EAP; and Nergiz Kern gives
a personal account of her journey into publication, with some suggestions. Reflection
is a key aspect of teacher development. This is the topic of two papers: Teti Dragas
explores the use of video materials as part of a masters-level module for experienced
teachers, and Leslie Turpin explores the use of metaphor in reflective practice,
particularly as it relates to issues of social justice. The final paper in this volume is by
Daniella Seong Hui You, who outlines a framework designed to encourage teachers
to take responsibility for their own development.
12.1 PEP talks for teacher development

Nick Bilbrough The Hands Up Project, Totnes, UK
In order for large-scale, global in-service teacher training programmes like the British
Councils CiSELT (Certificate in Secondary English Language Teaching) to have both
immediate and long-lasting impact, they need to be clearly situated in the context
in which they are delivered. It is, of course, advisable that the JIJOE (Jet-In Jet-Out
Expert) paradigm is avoided (Alderson and Scott 1992), where specialists from outside
are brought into the target community for a limited period of time, often having
minimal knowledge about the teaching context, the beliefs of teachers and supervisors
or the examination system in place. Though teachers may pay lip service to what is
introduced in the short-term, JIJOE-centred approaches may ultimately lead to what
Holliday (1992) has referred to as tissue rejection.
This need for context-specific teacher training informed the design and
implementation of the British Councils CiSELT trainer-training programme for
Palestinian teacher trainers, which took place in several locations in the Palestinian
Territories in the summer of 2015. As the CiSELT course was developed to be used
in many diverse contexts by local trainers (to date it has been delivered in many
countries in Africa, Asia and South America) it is quite adaptable in its approach to
220
PEP talks for teacher development
building teacher skills and knowledge. At the same time it covers components of the
teaching of language systems and skills which are widely considered to be universal.
We felt it was important that the Palestinian teacher trainers who would be delivering
this course, while staying true to these core components, were empowered to adapt
it where possible to the local context, thereby simultaneously emphasising to trainees
the importance of context-specific teaching.
With that in mind, we arrived at a list of key features of context-specific teaching
and, on the trainer-training course in the Palestinian Territories, discussed with
participants to what extent these features might also be applied to teacher training. The
features were as follows; personalisation, structure, flexibility, listening, scaffolding,
challenge, practice, reflection, communication and autonomy. There isnt space here
to go into details, but from this discussion, and by condensing the components, we
developed a possible framework for a teacher training session.
Stage 1: Practice
The trainer sets up a classroom learning activity with trainees. This could either be a
model lesson with the trainees in role as learners, or something pitched more at the
level of the trainees, as in loop input (Woodward 1986).
Stage 2: Evaluation
The trainer discusses what benefits and problems there may be with doing this activity
in classrooms in the particular context where the trainee teachers work. Typical trainer-
to-trainee questions here could include What is the purpose of this activity?; What
are some possible benefits/problems with doing the activity in your classes?; Which
areas of language does the activity activate?; How might you adapt this activity for
low level learners/for a very large class/for younger learners?; and Which units of the
coursebook could this activity work with?
Stage 3: Personalisation
Trainees try out setting up the activity or creating their own example based on the
real needs of their own students. A typical trainee groupwork activity at this stage
might be the following: Go through the coursebooks that you use in groups. Find
places where this activity could be useful. Create your own version of this activity to
practise a particular area of language or for a particular class that you teach. Plan how
to present your activity to learners so that they will understand what to do. Try out
your activity as micro-teaching on the other trainees.
The PEP framework was initially presented purely as an organising principle around
which teacher trainers could plan micro-training sessions for the other participants. It
then also evolved to become part of the criteria by which their micro-teacher training
sessions, and later their real-life teacher training sessions, were formatively assessed. Like
all good frameworks for language classes, PEP does not necessarily have to be followed
in the particular order outlined here. Neither is it necessary that each stage be given
equal time and emphasis. In fact it could well be that one stage is omitted completely
from one training session, is given as homework, or is emphasised more in future
sessions. We do feel, however, that it is important that none of the stages are overlooked
completely if a teacher-training programme intends to be truly context specific.
nickbilbrough@yahoo.co.uk
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Chapter 12: Initiatives in teacher development
References
Alderson, J. C. and M. Scott. 1992. Insiders, outsiders and participatory evaluation in
J. C. Alderson and A. Beretta (eds.). Evaluating Second Language Education. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Holliday, A. 1992. Tissue rejection and informal orders in ELT projects: collecting the right
information. Applied Linguistics 13/4: 403-24.
Woodward, T. 1986. Loop input: a process idea. The Teacher Trainer 1: 67.
12.2 Mentoring effectiveness in the eyes of mentors and mentees

Afaf Mishriki and Amani Demian American University in Cairo, Egypt
Introduction
Mentoring is a system where an experienced teacher is coupled with a new teacher in
order to orient and assist them in getting acquainted with the new setting, materials,
teaching methodologies, assessments and other logistics pertaining to the course of
study. The purpose of the current research is to investigate how mentors and mentees
perceive the mentoring system employed in a first-year university English language
program in an attempt to assess this system and make recommendations on how to
develop it.
The current study
Subjects
The current study elicited the perceptions of 20 mentors and 13 mentees in a first-year
university English language program.
Instruments
1 The mentors survey, adapted from Nalumansi (2011), consisted of (a) 28 state-
ments on mentoring strategies and mentoring contribution to professional devel-
opment, rated on a scale from 15, from strongly disagree (SD) to strongly agree
(SA); and (b) seven open-ended questions.
2 The mentees survey, adapted from Smith (2009), consisted of (a) 16 statements
on instructional support, personal support and logistics, rated on the same scale;
and (b) five open-ended questions.
Findings
The mentors responded positively (agreed and strongly agreed) to statements on the
mentoring strategies employed in their department, expressing their readiness to
coach their mentees in lesson design (75 per cent), classroom management (45 per
cent), and teaching methods (85 per cent). They conducted pre- and post-observation
sessions, opened their classes for observation, allowed mentees to teach parts of lessons
(85 per cent) and gave them feedback (95 per cent). They agreed that maintaining
good rapport with mentees was of utmost importance (80 per cent).
222
Mentoring effectiveness in the eyes of mentors and mentees
Concerning the professional development of mentors, most mentors expressed the

need for more training prior to being assigned this task (65 per cent). A majority
believed that mentoring provided them with a good opportunity for reflecting on
teaching (90 per cent), focusing on planning (55 per cent), and writing explicit lesson
plans and being more organised (35 per cent). Most mentors benefited from their
mentees who shared new teaching methods and techniques (80 per cent) and up-to-
date trends and research findings (60 per cent).
The following are the most significant findings from the mentors responses to
the open-ended questions. First, the challenges they faced were overcoming time
constraints, juggling teaching and mentoring responsibilities, encountering scheduling
complexities, carrying overload, receiving inadequate training, tactfully dealing with
mentees while ensuring their benefit without encouraging over-dependence, and
handling students resistance to being taught by a mentee. In terms of reflection
on teaching, the responses were mostly positive, mirroring those mentioned above.
Finally, they all believed that mentoring was the responsibility of experienced teachers
and must continue but with more support from the administration.
The mentees acknowledged the approachability of their mentors (53 per cent) and
the amount of time they invested in coaching them. They commended the support
their mentors gave them in areas like observing them teach (84 per cent) and giving
them feedback on materials and techniques, helping them in lesson planning (61 per
cent), classroom management techniques (53 per cent), discipline problems (69 per
cent) and moral support (54 per cent). However, the mentees challenges were centred
on the initial feeling of loss about what/how/when to teach, which their mentors
helped to alleviate over time. They were also concerned about insufficient coaching on
time management (38 per cent), grading procedures (38 per cent) and dealing with
administrative staff (31 per cent). In the area of sharing current research, they did not
receive enough guidance (54 per cent).
Conclusions and implications
Mentoring is beneficial in many ways for both mentors and mentees and the teaching
profession in general. It shapes the teachers perceptions and contributes to mentors
and mentees professional and personal development. It is valuable in the training of
future teachers in teaching methods, classroom management and ways to deal with
diverse student needs.
However, many challenges present themselves throughout the mentoring process.
Because mentoring is an added load to the mentors teaching load, mentors may
sometimes find it problematic to juggle teaching and mentoring responsibilities, and
therefore a mentee may complain of not being given enough time or the necessary
amount of training by the mentor. Another problem is that departments may presume
that since a teacher has many years of experience, then they are automatically equipped
to mentor novice teachers; this is not the case. In addition, the feedback expected by
a mentee may be different from what a mentor provides, or the latter may adopt an
inappropriate attitude toward the former. There is also the problem of students not
being comfortable with the idea of being taught partly by a mentee rather than main
teacher.
223
Mentoring programs should rigorously address the above mentioned concerns and
problems in order to make the best out of the mentoring experience.
afaf@aucegypt.edu
amanid@aucegypt.edu
References
Nalumansi, G. 2011. Perceptions of Mentor Teachers in a Professional Development School.
Dissertation, Loyola University, Chicago, Ill.
Smith, L. 2009. Mentors and Mentees Perceptions of a System-wide Mandated Mentoring
Program for First-year Teachers. PhD Dissertation, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa,
Ala.
12.3Blending professional development to support inexperienced

teachers
Phil Bird and Celine Castelino British Council, London, UK
English My Way is a project supporting the delivery of ESOL (English to migrants) in
small community venues in target areas across England. Target areas were those where
people reported having low levels of English (ONS 2013). Community venues were
thought to be the most effective ways of reaching these communities; the barriers to
learner access are much lower than in other institutions. However the nature of these
centres does present some challenges to ensuring high-quality provision. Our talk
outlined the approaches we took to overcome these challenges.
Challenges
Ensuring high-quality community provision is challenging because small community
organisations rarely have the resources to run teacher development activities, such as
training; they often have few classes and are unable to offer many hours of paid work
to teachers. Teachers working in these centres may be the only English teachers in the
organisation and can be isolated. In most English My Way centres, few teachers had
qualifications at CELTA level or above.
Online approaches
To address these issues we planned to use a combination of peer and online approaches.
The first component of this was our teaching resources. These were developed by a team
of writers and editors, while video and audio resources were produced by the BBC.
All resources were produced to high production standards and reviewed following
input from centres. They were then distributed online, meaning that resources could
be distributed easily to all our centres at a relatively low cost. Teachers had a set of
high-quality resources at an appropriate level, with teachers notes that guided them
through the steps and planning decisions that they needed to make when teaching
beginner learners. It also meant that it was easy to make the resources available to
centres outside the original project. Teachers have reported that these teachers notes
have helped them develop their skills.
224
Blending professional development to support inexperienced teachers
As well as offering teaching resources, we felt that it was important to provide teacher
development content. Initially, we designed seven online teacher training modules
comprising presentations, quizzes and reflection questions, and links to further online
training resources. Modules focused on developing different skills in beginner learners
as well as differentiation, inclusive learning and assessment. However, contact with
centres revealed that few teachers were using the modules. This may partly have been
because they were not well promoted or easy to find on the original website. It may also
have been that they were pitched too high for inexperienced teachers. To support less-
experienced teachers, we created bite-size videos showing practical demonstrations of
techniques that could be used in the classroom. These were based on issues identified
during monitoring visits, such as using games, mingling activities, role play, planning
and more. Feedback on these has been very positive: teachers indicate that they
appreciate seeing colleagues doing things they can copy and use themselves.
Peer approaches
In order to build peer support networks, we wanted to ensure that our face-to-face
events created opportunities for teachers to work together and build relationships.
To do this, we asked people to work together to plan lessons. We then filmed their
presentations, which meant ideas were shared both at the events and via YouTube.
Our evaluation reports show that this has been very useful to other centres, who have
been able to use the ideas and suggestions from these videos.
Following these events, we arranged support visits including observations and
reflective discussions. We then gave teachers action plans highlighting specific actions
for development and easily accessible resources from our project or elsewhere. We
encouraged participants to keep a reflective journal, and these have shown that
teachers are reflecting on key issues such as how to increase learner talking time and
better develop learners skills. Where possible, we invited teachers from nearby centres
to visit to ensure that peer relationships can be built up; logistics have sometimes
made this challenging. Where these peer support triangles have been established, the
returns are very beneficial. It has been most successful where centres have more than
one teacher and a supportive manager.
Conclusion
To conclude, we feel that high-quality teaching resources have helped teachers develop,
but that it has been very important to carry out face-to-face training alongside this
and to encourage people to use online training approaches. We also feel that the
continued availability of teaching and training resources, as well as the fledgling peer
networks created, mean that the impact of this project should be sustained into the
future, beyond the end of the funded period.
philbird81@gmail.com
celine1@castelino.me.uk
References
Office of National Statistics. 2013 Language in England and Wales 2011. http://webarchive.
nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_302179.
pdf.
Tinder FoundationEnglish My Way. www.englishmyway.co.uk.
225
12.4Addressing quality assurance and professional development

for online teachers
Kirsteen Donaghy British Council, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The context
There are ever-growing expectations that teachers can and will take on some form of
online teaching. This ranges from a teacher introducing an online portal to support
homework or a flipped classroom to an organisational introduction of online or remote
teaching. Your job title may be teacher, lecturer, e-teacher, e-tutor or e-moderator; for
the purposes of this paper I will refer to you as an e-moderator. Initial training is
relatively easy to find, but once you are working in a blended or online environment,
there is still a lack of support for continuing professional development (CPD). I have
been working with e-moderators to provide definitions and guidelines to describe
effective online teaching.
Our aim
The British Council CPD framework supports learning teachers; we believe that
learning should be woven into the remote classroom as well as our regular face-to-
face teaching. By creating a consistent and transparent e-moderators learning and
performance management process, we aimed to support quality in the classroom by
focusing on:
providing tools for e-moderators professional development;
enhancing and maintaining teaching quality online;
managing and recognising performance; and
enhancing career support for e-moderators.
It is the focus on the development of e-moderators and the impact this has on the
learners by providing continuing professional development that makes a difference
(Walter and Briggs 2012).
The process
The initial stage was to draw up criteria of professional skills for e-moderators to
become familiar with. Using the British Council CPD framework for teachers and
teacher educators and the learning outcomes of our Starting e-moderating course (to
meet the expectations that our e-moderators were already familiar with and working
on) we created the E-moderator Professional Practices Dictionary with the criteria for
five professional practices. Each professional practice has descriptions of low-inference
categories to demonstrate how these look in practice.
Alongside this, a portfolio system with a number of tools to support development
was introduced. This included peer, developmental and formal observations of
synchronous and asynchronous online teaching practice.
I was working with a global audience of teachers who have worked for many
different public and private education boards; to manage the fear of observation and
to maximise success we:
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Addressing quality assurance and professional development for online teachers
involved those who would be affected by the change in providing examples and
asking questions;
built a team of expert observers;
delivered training at multiple levels to familiarise everyone with the criteria and
allowed e-moderators to build scenarios;
provided training on action research and peer coaching;
stressed that the process ought to be holistic, based on dialogue and trust;
ensured transparency on performance management and recruitment processes; and
set realistic timelines for the process of change.
If you are a manager planning to implement a similar scheme, remember that time
for change is often greatly underestimated; ensure you recognise the time involved
and that payment for online teaching duties includes paid-time for professional
development. In my presentation this point was stressed by members of the audience.
Observations
The criteria in our E-moderator Professional Practices Dictionary can be used for self-
evaluation or observation with a peer or expert. In our teacher training programmes
we recommend a minimum of two observations with experts per project cycle: a
developmental observation with action points towards a goal, and a formal observation
within 12 weeks to report on progress on the action points. This is usually in the form
of findings from action research. The benefits of these observations are three-fold:
1 E-moderators are supported in reaching their professional goals.
2 Managers can monitor the success of online products and identify strengths in
their programme and training needs.
3 Customer satisfaction is improved through a more consistent model.
By collecting and sharing experiences we have improved the way many moderators
work.
Conclusion
The e-moderators appreciate receiving affirmation and feedback, and they enjoy
pushing themselves and sharing experimental practices. Some moderators have
analysed their asynchronous forums for patterns on how participants respond when
they provide more explicit feedback, when they provide feedback before grades and
how key wording provokes responses. Moderators are now more aware of participants
who are simply responding to questions with information from the course, when they
are reflecting on how the course affects their practices and when they are applying the
additional knowledge of the course and their peers to their practice.
These findings suggest that with clearer understanding of what makes a good
moderator, they design tangible action research and feel supported to take risks under
supervision.
Contact me if you would like a copy of the criteria.
kirsteen.donaghy@britishcouncil.org.my
Reference
Walter, C. and J. G. Briggs. 2012. What Professional Development Makes the Most Difference to
Teachers? Oxford: Oxford University Press.
227
12.5 Bumpy ride or smooth transition? Moving from CELTA to EAP

Andrew Preshous Coventry University, England
Introduction
There is no doubt that English for Academic Purposes (EAP) is a booming area in the
field of English language teaching. Thousands of international students enrol at higher
education institutions across the UK every year, and numerous foundation, pre-
sessional and in-sessional courses are offered to prepare learners for study in academic
contexts. Greater attention is now being given to the training and professional
development of EAP teachers, as demonstrated by programmes such as the BALEAP
TEAP Scheme (2014) or evidenced in recent literature such as the paper by Ding and
Campion (2016). However, much of the focus is aimed primarily at teachers with
EAP experience, and as most general English (GE) teachers lack this and related skills
training, they often feel apprehensive about moving to EAP. It is, therefore, important
to consider what support can be offered to facilitate this initial transition.
Aims and focus
This presentation described a module designed for undergraduates doing a TEFL
degree at a British university who had completed a CELTA course, who had some
GE teaching experience, and who were now interested in teaching in academic
contexts. The module aimed to raise awareness of important concepts in EAP as well
as providing teaching opportunities, in order to promote a smooth transition between
the two areas.
Initial concerns of trainees
Reflective comments on the challenges faced by novice EAP teachers making the
transition were acquired via questionnaires, online forums and interviews. Some
initial concerns corresponded with the myths and realities highlighted by de Chazal
(2014: 811) of EAP being dry (How to make the lesson engaging?) or subject-
specific (Insufficient knowledge about vocabulary and grammatical structures that
relate to a specific subject).
Module content
A key element of the programme was observations of EAP classes and reflections on the
similarities and differences to GE teaching contexts. Trainees comments highlighted
a greater prevalence of specific academic vocabulary, encouragement of learner
autonomy, academic writing, research skills and critical thinking. Another distinctive
feature of the course was trainees adopting the role of EAP students and experiencing
a session on hedging. This sample lesson, delivered by an experienced practitioner,
enabled them to gain greater insights into the challenges faced by EAP students such
as being unfamiliar with the concept of making assertions with caution or a new
learning style away from the page. Positive features were also noted on how the teacher
carefully staged the session as well as making it engaging and communicative.
Another vital component was teaching practice. These trainees did not have any
EAP experience, but as students at a British university, they were familiar with the
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Bumpy ride or smooth transition? Moving from CELTA to EAP
conventions and demands of this academic context. The group were given some
guidance on lesson planning and each person taught four hours over the 11-week
semester. Before the first session many trainees stated that they were excited but
nervous and common concerns included catering for mixed levels and how to meet
the needs of different students. As part of the feedback process, trainees reflected on
what went well, such as incorporating learner autonomy or critical thinking skills
while timing, TTT (teacher talking time) and checking instructions were signalled
as areas for improvement.
Post-module reflections
The chart in Figure 12.5.1 clearly shows that most of the trainees considered the
activities on the module to be very useful, particularly the opportunities to gain
teaching experience.
Figure 12.5.1: Questionnaire results: How useful were the various activities?
However, some concerns remained:

Although I had an idea of critical thinking myself, I did not really have a clear idea
of teaching it effectively.
It was worrying that I may pass on any bad habits.
Positive evaluations of the process were also voiced:
I found that doing this module enhanced my academic skill-set.
Feedback after each lesson really helped highlight the key knowledge needed to
teach EAP.
In sum, 60 per cent of the cohort indicated that it had been a smooth transition
from GE to EAP.
Concluding comments
Overall, the module content enhanced the transition to EAP, as trainees clearly
demonstrated an ability to draw on their academic experience and skills, reflected
229
more deeply on their own capabilities and built on their existing teaching skills. It was
also evident that the cohort were giving more attention to key areas such as critical
thinking skills and learner autonomy. Developing a greater awareness of the academic
context and providing opportunities for budding EAP teachers to engage fully in the
planning and delivery of sessions does seem to make the transition from GE to EAP
a smoother process.
andrew.preshous@coventry.ac.uk
References
BALEAP. 2014. TEAP Scheme Handbook (Phase 1 version). https://www.baleap.org/
accreditation/individuals.
de Chazal, E. 2014. English for Academic Purposes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ding, A. and G. Campion. 2016. EAP Teacher Development in K. Hyland and P. Shaw
(eds.). The Routledge Handbook of English for Academic Purposes. Abingdon: Routledge.
12.6
How to start writing for publication: a teachers personal
journey
Nergiz Kern English 360, Bursa, Turkey
Aim of the talk

The aim of my talk was to encourage and inspire teachers who want to write for
publication but might have reasons that stop them from doing it; my talk provided
them with a concrete example of how somebody they could relate to had started
writing.
Defining what publication means
Before taking the audience through my personal writing journey, I provided them
with a list of types of writings for the two categories of Writing course material and
Writing for teacher development; I asked them to discuss which they considered to
be publication. In the past, mainly magazine or journal articles and contributions to
books were thought of as publication. However, today, digital technologies allow us
to publish our work in many other forms.
My personal writing journey
The first of the two main parts of my talk consisted of my own first steps into writing
for publication. I started by blogging about a new teaching experience and sharing
my lesson plans and post-lesson reflections on how to teach in a 3D virtual world;
this led to an article in the magazine English Teaching Professional (ETp). This was
followed by blogs for my students, which were part of ESP blended learning courses
I had designed and written. Such course blogs could be considered publications
themselves if they are publicly available. When I came across a call for chapter
proposals by the British Council for a book on blended learning course design and
implementation, I submitted a proposal to write about my Taxi English course. I also
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How to start writing for publication: a teacher's personal journey
wrote an article about it in ETp. Then, I had the opportunity to write a book chapter
on ESP and technology for the British Council. Finally, I have written learning and
teaching materials for the English360 blended learning platform, which led to my first
experience as an editor.
The why, when and how of writing and publishing
In the second part of the talk, I involved the audience by asking them to discuss the
questions below, before I talked them through my suggested answers:
Why write?
What stops us from writing?
How to start writing?
What to write about?
Where to publish?
There are many reasons for writing, such as for career development, to share
knowledge and experience, or even to write about things in our profession that puzzle
us. One attendee suggested love for writing as another important reason. However,
despite these good reasons, we can be prevented from writing by lack of time, fear
of being criticised publicly, or not knowing how to start or where to publish. Some
teachers might also believe that they do not have the necessary skills.
I addressed some of these concerns and suggested solution; the first was to read a lot
of the type of publication one wants to write for, in order to learn what kind of style
and language is used and what kinds of topics are written about. To alleviate fears and
to tackle the time issue, it is good to start smallnot to make any bold claims, and
not to keep planning for the big course or book one dreams of writing, but to write
short blog posts or articles about personal experiences, which nobody can criticise as
being wrong.
Next, I suggested that many of us already have material we can publish and referred
back to examples in my own journey on how, for example, lesson reflections can be
turned into blog posts; blog posts or MA assignments into articles or book chapters;
or lesson notes and worksheets into publishable material on lesson-share websites.
This led to looking at where we can publish our work. As discussed in the
beginning, publishing can mean a lot more today and has, therefore, become easier
in many ways. We can publish on our own or publishers blogs, on lesson-share
websites, teacher development websites, IATEFL SIG blogs and newsletters, IATEFL
Conference Selections or Voices, and print or online ELT magazines. We can respond to
calls for book chapters, or we can self-publish an e-book.
Taking the first step
In order to encourage attendees to actually take their first steps to writing for
publication, my final question was Whats your next step? They discussed this in
groups and were invited to leave a comment on my blog post for this talk on what
would be their next step.
Finally, I provided a list of further resources with articles on how to become an ELT
writer or materials writer groups to join.
nergiz@nergizkern.com
231
12.7Exploring in-house video training materials for reflective

teacher development
Teti Dragas University of Durham, UK
This presentation explored the use of video and video editing tools and accompanying
tasks as a means of promoting teacher reflection on practice for a group of in-service
international teachers on a Masters in Applied Linguistics for TESOL.
Background: video and reflective practice
Consistently, research has shown that practical teaching experience, observation of
teaching, peer teaching and reflection on teaching is integral to teacher learning.
Precisely because reflecting on teaching is natural, it is doubly important that, as
educators, we move teachers beyond simply finding quick-fix solutions to problems
in their practice and instead help them to shed light on the underlying issues that
led to these in the first place. This deeper-level reflection which promotes growth
competence can only be achieved if teachers are taught to reflect in a structured way,
through systematic reflection (Korthagen and Vasalos 2005).
One of the key tools used in teacher education to help foster reflection is the use
of video, and the efficacy of this has been well-documented (Gaudin and Chalis
2015). Video not only provides teachers with evidence of their practice but also,
importantly, with the ability to see it for themselves from the outside. Several studies
have reported that using video to reflect helped teachers on an individual, formative,
level to identify gaps between their beliefs about good teaching and their actual
teaching practices. However, others have identified that simply reviewing teaching
from videos of practice is not enough: without a focus teachers may direct themselves
to less important aspects of their teaching. The question of how to get teachers to
move beyond simply identifying good practice to reflecting on and transforming their
practice is one that concerned us on this module.
Context and problem
In this context, the teachers were international with varied backgrounds and experience
and whose previous training and development was either absent or was minimal and
did not follow mainstream ELT methodology. As a result, we adopted a reflective
model (as opposed to a competence-based model) for teacher development, which
seeks to help teachers to monitor their own teaching behaviour, that aimed at providing
teachers with the skills continue to develop professionally beyond the masters degree.
However, for the majority, both the concept and application of reflective practice
as well as the structure of the module (two-hour weekly teaching practice (TP),
followed by delayed two-hour group feedback session), proved challenging. While a
number of key tools were provided to help teachers to reflect in a structured way (for
example, reflective practice training, reflective diary writing and tasks and reflective
tutor feedback), video was not being used effectively to promote reflection. Although
videos of TP were recorded and made available for teachers to review, a look at the
video analytics after the first year of the module showed:
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Exploring in-house video training materials for reflective teacher development
teachers mainly reviewed videos of themselves;

they watched videos very minimally, if at all; and
they were unlikely to review videos of their peers teaching.
As most of the teachers were either teaching or observing live TP, it seemed they
did not really see the potential in reviewing videos further.
Video clipping tasks and autonomous self-review
In order to encourage teachers to review videos in a more focused way, which would
encourage both individual and peer reflection and learning, we undertook the
following:
Guided clipping tasks were created that were linked to elements of practice identi-
fied in TP to help trainees find focus. Tasks guided teacher trainees in their review
of the video and provided prompts for discussion.
Teachers engaged in autonomous self-review of videos guided by the clipping tasks;
they clipped relevant sections and posted them on an online discussion board with
comment.
Teachers were encouraged to review their own and peers clips, to comment on the
discussion board and to engage in online feedback.
Tasks, clips and comments were further discussed in group feedback sessions.
An example task is as follows:
Watch the last part of the lesson again. Identify instances where correction was well
managed and opportunities for correction that were missed. Tag and clip.
Feedback and conclusions

Overall, the approach of adding clipping tasks as a tool in aiding reflection proved
successful. One teacher commented: Clipping helped develop our noticing skills.
Entire videos may provide a general view of the classroom; clipping helped me focus
on specific behaviours or practices. Indeed, video analytics supports this, with the
number of views reaching a phenomenal 350 for only eight TP videos. In sum,
encouraging teachers to reflect through collaborative discussion allows us to move to
the kind of enhanced understanding of practice that a dialogic collaborative view of
reflection (Walsh and Mann 2015: 356) promotes and which we should be embracing
if we are to encourage reflection in our developing teachers.
areti.dragas@durham.ac.uk
References
Gaudin, C. and S. Chalis. 2015. Video viewing in teacher education and professional
development: a literature review. Educational Research Review 16: 4167.
Korthagen, F. and A. Vasalos. 2005. Levels in reflection: core reflection as a means to enhance
professional development. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice 11/1: 4771.
Walsh, S. and S. Mann. 2015. Doing reflective practice: a data-led way forward. ELT Journal
69/4: 35162.
233
12.8 Using metaphors: rethinking thinking in reflective practice

Leslie Turpin SIT Graduate Institute, Brattleboro, Vt., USA
With whom do you share how you think? Most of my conversations with other
educators focus more on what I think and less on how. As a teacher of reflective
practice, this strikes me as a significant oversight. This is, in part, because I rarely feel
at home speaking about it in many academic circles where disciplined and rigorous
fail to capture the seemingly chaotic nature of what I engage in. This workshop was
an invitation to participate with me in a case studyan archaeological exploration of
my thinking process.
The presentation began with a picture of my childhood bedroom and the view out
of my window. The neighbourhood I grew up in was designed with vast windows and
a mandated absence of fences. This connected the outer and inner worlds and made
it difficult to delineate where property lines began or ended. Was this a significant
metaphor of how I think? Where do metaphors come from? How do they influence
meaning making? How do they move from the unconscious to the conscious realm?
I explained my inquiry process: meeting regularly with a colleague, Pat Moran, at
a local pizza parlour. After three years of regular talks about our teaching, we began to
notice the role of metaphors and images as driving forces in our thinking processes.
Pat suggested that I read Cheryl Hunts (2006) essay Travels with a Turtle.
Finding Hunt was significant in two ways. First, she thinks like me. Second, the
beauty and boldness of her writing about her thought process caused me to value my
own as a legitimate, under-documented process in academiachaotic, undisciplined
and full of momentary images and colour that swell from and bridge conscious and
unconscious knowing.
To further explain and explore the bridging role of metaphors, I shared examples:
a recent sermon and several papers I had written over the years. I invited the audience
to (re)examine the role metaphors played in reconciling and answering fundamental
questions and personal interactions around issues of race and social justice. Beyond the
individual metaphors, we examined the interconnection and incongruence between
three metaphors (a tree, a public evisceration and a journey) used by three people in
a conflict around racism in one of my classes. How, for instance, did an experience
that felt like public evisceration to one person relate to what felt like a growing tree
to another? What did it mean for both of these students that the teacher (me) had
experienced the conflict as a wanderer lost on a journey without a compass?
I then shared an example from a dialogue among three students online (myself
and two peers) who all used the same metaphor (a rock) to represent our work on
social justice. One woman wanted to unload and share the weight she was carrying.
Another resisted the weight being dumped on him and I wanted to put the rock on
the floor between us where we could all chip away at it. As I read the transcript with
the audience, I asked them to think about our different relationships to social justice
(and to each other) expressed unconsciously through the way we engaged with this
metaphor. I noted that later in the same dialogue we switched to a different metaphor
of being on different trains moving toward the same destination. I suggested that this
shift represented a shift in our relationship even though we failed to notice or learn
from it at the time.
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A framework to increase teachers autonomy in professional development
This visual awareness of metaphors and images tapping into and reflecting the
unconscious made me wonder why my work with teachers around reflective practice
and use of metaphors had focused so entirely on conscious processes of reflection.
Why hadnt I invited teachers to anticipate and await meaning through the emergence
of metaphors as they had so clearly visited me in my own thinking?
After sharing frameworks for reflective practice that I use in my own institution
(adapted from Deweys and Kolbs views of experiential learning), I provided a short
overview of Moustakas (1990) heuristics inquiry. This process of doing research is one
that I am now exploring as an approach to reflective practice with teachers. It includes
living a question by entering the process of exploration with total immersion. This is
coupled with periods of rest, waiting for the data to speak, and creatively depicting
what emerges. With this change of engagement in reflection, I hope to help teachers
re-think how thinking actually happens.
Leslie.Turpin@sit.edu
References
Hunt, C. 2006. Travels with a turtle: metaphors and the making of a professional identity.
Reflective Practice 7/3: 31532.
Moustakas, C. 1990. Heuristic Research: Design, Methodology, and Applications. Newbury Park,
Calif.: Sage.
12.9A framework to increase teachers autonomy in professional

development
Daniella Seong Hui You Associao Cultura Inglesa, So Paulo, Brazil
Introduction
Often, teacher educators and CPD programme coordinators face the challenge of
involving teachers in their professional development in an autonomous way. In
order to increase teachers accountability and responsibility for their professional
development, a framework based on action research (Richards and Farrell 2005) was
implemented over two semesters in 2015 at Cultura Inglesa So Paulo; about 100
teachers were involved.
This framework consists of cycles based on classroom research. It includes teachers
identifying areas for improvement, devising action plans, selecting tools for evaluating
progress and measuring results.
Context
Associao Cultura Inglesa So Paulo is a not-for-profit organisation with over 80,000
learners and 500 English teachers in So Paulo, Brazil. The organisation invests in a
coaching and mentoring programme for novice teachers, and there are pre- and in-
service teaching training programmes, including peer observation, courses for teachers
and training courses such as CELTA, DELTA and ICELT, among others.
Teachers performance is evaluated and the quality of their lessons is one of the
key performance indicators. Lessons are observed by the academic supervision team
235
and managers. Feedback and lesson observation reports are given to the teachers so
that they can identify areas of development. Also, teachers receive feedback from the
learners about the quality of lessons through a satisfaction survey.
Research method
This study employed questionnaires, analysis of data including number of teachers
involved in professional development initiatives before and after the implementation
of the framework. It also included analysis of reports and testimonials from managers,
teachers, coaches and mentors. The framework is shown in Figure 12.9.1.
Figure 12.9.1: Action research framework
Steps of the framework and findings

Although I could not obtain data and reflections from all the teachers involved in
the action research implemented last year, most teachers (about 80 per cent) who
answered the questionnaires felt encouraged, accountable for and involved in their
professional growth through the framework. Steps were as follows:
1 Collecting data. Teachers were initially encouraged to identify their needs by con-
ducting action research in their classrooms and collecting data from the satisfac-
tion survey (feedback from students) and lesson observation reports.
2 Identifying needs. Based on the data collected, teachers identified the key areas of
development and devised individual goals and objectives. This was shared with
the managers and academic supervisors. Some teachers received guidance from
managers and coaches in order to identify priorities. When analysing teachers
answers, 89 per cent felt that identifying areas for improvement was very useful
for their professional development.
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A framework to increase teachers autonomy in professional development
3 Developing an action plan. Teachers devised an action plan to address the key
areas. When support or guidance was needed, it was provided by the managers,
coaches and academic supervisors. In some cases, teachers worked collaboratively
with their peers to develop their action plan. In other cases, support and help were
asked by the teachers to the coaches, mentors and academic supervisors. The data
showed that 77 per cent of the teachers felt encouraged and responsible for their
own development when devising an action plan. Some mentioned that it also gave
them the opportunity to share ideas with their colleagues.
4 Monitoring. Teachers monitored their progress using a variety of tools including
audio and video recordings, peer observation and questionnaires with the learn-
ers, among others. The decision on what tools to use in this stage was made by
the teachers.
5 Evaluating. Teachers evaluated the effectiveness of the plan and then identi-
fied other needs. In some cases, teachers needed help to evaluate their progress.
However, over 80 per cent of the teachers felt that they were more involved and
accountable for their own professional development by using action research and
the framework.
Conclusion
The implementation of the framework was successful in regard to teachers
engagement in professional development in a more autonomous way. The number
of teachers involved in courses for teachers has increased after the implementation
of the framework. Teachers commitment and accountability for their development
has increased significantly, as evidenced by the teachers testimonials. They felt more
involved and responsible for their own growth when allowed to identify the key areas
to be developed, and when given opportunity to devise their own action plans that are
doable according to each individuals profile. It has also encouraged teachers to work
more collaboratively when sharing ideas on how to address specific areas; in some
cases, to work on common areas among the teachers led to in-house group studies.
This framework could be applied in different contexts if the goal is to increase or
boost teachers autonomy and accountability for their professional development.
daniella.you@culturainglesasp.com.br
Reference
Richards, J. C. and T. S. C. Farrell. 2005. Professional Development for Language Teachers:
Strategies for Teacher Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
237
Index of authors
Al-Hoorie, Ali H. 4.4 Goyal, Geeta 10.2 Narani Kova, Smiljana 9.1
Albachten, David Reed 6.7 Griffiths, Carol 7.3
Albair, Joshua 5.5 Grundy, Peter 2.1 Onchevska Ager, Elena 2.8
Aliaga-Salas, Loreto 2.9 Guariento, William 8.5
Alley, Wade P. 3.5 Papadima-Sophocleous,
Antoniou, Vasiliki Celia 7.5 Hadfield, Charlie 5.6 Salomi 8.1
Aydinoglu, Nazife 1.6 Hadfield, Jill 4.6 Patel, Hetain 4.3
Handy, Sophie 9.3 Penston, Tony 3.2
Baines, Daniel 2.4 Harries, Patricia2.3 Phillips, Dita 4.2
Bajouda, Waleed 8.2 Harrison, Tilly 11.8 Preshous, Andrew 12.5
Banister, Chris 5.3 Hockly, Nicky 11.1 Prior, Jemma 4.7
Barba, Enrique 3.5 Hyde-Simon, Caroline 8.4 Prykhodchenko, Mariia 1.5
Barberi, Maria 10.6
Beaven, Briony 2.10 Ibrahim, Nayr 9.9 Richardson, Silvana 4.1
Bicknell, Roy 5.7 Ignatov, Kirill 10.1 Robb, Kat 11.7
Bilbrough, Mike 3.4 skenderolu nel, Zeynep 6.2 Rolinska, Anna 8.5
Bilbrough, Nick 12.1
Bird, Phil 12.3 Jay, David 6.6 Santos, Patricia 9.10
Bland, Janice 9.1 Simpson, John 3.3
Bolster, Averil 6.4 Kendall, Lesley 7.8 Simpson, Monique 1.7
Brewer, Stephen Scott 1.4 Kern, Nergiz 12.6 Smith, Anne Margaret 4.8
Brown, Diane Nancy 8.3 Kerr, Philip 3.8 Smyth, Stella 10.3
Koifman, Julia 4.9 Soru, Adem 7.3
Castelino, Celine 12.3 Koruyan, Kasim 1.6
Cintra, Marcela 2.7 Thornbury, Scott 3.1
Clark, Lindsey 9.8 Langford, Chad 5.5 Turpin, Leslie 12.8
Coleman, Jill 4.5 Larsen-Freeman, Diane 1.1
Constantinou, Lefever, Samel 9.2 Unlu, Varinder 2.10
Elis Kakoulli 8.1 Lethaby, Carol 2.3 Ur, Penny 2.1
Crystal, David 5.1 Levrai, Peter 6.4
Lewko, Alexander M. 6.5 Vurdien, Ruby 11.3
Davidson, Gillian 4.3 Lindholm, Vilhelm 3.6
de Chazal, Edward 6.1 Lindstromberg, Seth 2.10 Wainwright, Jodi 9.6
Dellar, Hugh 4.3 Lpez-Barrios, Mario 5.2 Walker, Robin 7.7
Demian, Amani 12.2 Lucietto, Sandra 9.5 Wedell, Martin 2.6
Donaghy, Kieran 10.4 Werner, Robert J. 7.1
Donaghy, Kirsteen 12.4 Makarova, Anna 7.4 Whitcher, Anna 10.5
Dragas, Teti 12.7 Marin, Amadeu 11.5 Wickham, Andrew 3.8
Dunn, Opal 9.1 McCormack, Bede 7.2 Woods, Paul 8.2
McGraw, Rhoda 3.7 Woodward, Tessa 2.10
Ellis, Gail 9.1 McLean, Gavin 4.3
Erbil, Neslihan 5.4 Mercer, Sarah 1.2 Xerri, Daniel 2.2
Etherington, Sin 1.3 Meredith, Guy 11.4 Xerri Agius, Stephanie 6.8
Metzner, Diana 4.10
Foligna, Mercedes Miall, Bethany 2.5 You, Daniela Seong Hui 12.9
Agueda 9.4 Mishriki, Afaf 12.2
Foster, Andrew 11.6 Morgana, Valentina 11.2
Mouro, Sandie 9.1
Gholkar, Radhika 9.7 Mustafa, Blerta 6.3
Gilbert, Judy B. 7.6
238
Index of topics
Art, use of: Barberi, 10.6 Lexis: changing: Crystal, 5.1; instruction in:
Attitudes and emotions: Larsen-Freeman, 1.1; Lpez-Barrios, 5.2; Banister, 5.3; Erbil, 5.4;
Mercer, 1.2; Etherington, 1.3; Brewer, 1.4 Langford and Albair, 5.5; Hadfield, 5.6;
Prykhodchenko, 1.5 Bicknell, 5.7
Autonomy: Koruyan and Aydinoglu, 1.6 Literature and drama, use of: Ignatov, 10.1;
Goyal, 10.2; Smyth, 10.3; Barberi, 10.6
Creativity: in training: Xerri, 2.2; in class: Alley
and Barba, 3.5; Hadfield, 5.6; Bicknell, 5.7; Materials: stereotypes in: Hadfield, 4.6; Prior,
Donaghy, 10.4; Barberi, 10.6; Marin, 11.5 4.7; design: Kendall, 7.8; Whitcher, 10.4;
Critical thinking: de Chazal, 6.1; skenderolu for children: Mouro, Ellis, Bland, Narani
nel, 6.2; Mustafa, 6.3 Kova and Dunn, 9.1; for teacher develop-
ment: Bird and Castelino, 12.3; writing for
Disabilities: physical: Metzner, 4.10; learning: publication: Kern, 12.6
Smith, 4.8; Koifman, 4.9 Meditation: Simpson, 1.7
Metaphors for learning: Larsen-Freeman, 1.1
EAL: Coleman, 4.5 Methodology, history of: Thornbury, 3.1
English for Academic Purposes: de Chazal, Motivation: teachers role in: Prykhodchenko,
6.1; skenderolu nel, 6.2; Mustafa, 6.3; 1.5; students and: Lewko, 6.5; Brown, 8.3;
Levrai and Bolster, 6.4; Lewko, 6.5; Jay, 6.6; Foligna, 9.4; Barberi, 10.6
Albachten, 6.7; Xerri Agius, 6.8; Werner,
7.1; McCormack, 7.2; Griffiths and Soru, Project-based learning: Clark, 9.8; Marin, 11.5
7.3, Makarova, 7.4; Antoniou, 7.5; Rolinska Pronunciation: identity and: Dellar, Patel,
and Guariento, 8.5; Smyth, 10.3; learning to McLean and Davidson, 4.3; teaching of:
teach: Preshous, 12.5 Gilbert, 7.6; Walker, 7.7
English for specific purposes: teacher Psychological aspects of learning:
training for: Constantinou and Larsen-Freeman, 1.1; Mercer, 1.2;
Papadima-Sophocleous, 8.1; instruction Etherington, 1.3; Brewer, 1.4;
in: Woods and Bajouda, 8.2; Brown, 8.3; Prykhodchenko, 1.5; Koruyan and
Hyde-Simon, 8.4; Rolinska and Guariento, Aydinoglu, 1.6; Simpson, 1.7
8.5
Ethnography: Miall, 2.5; Mustafa, 6.3 Speaking skills: input for: Bilbrough, 3.4;
instruction of: Werner, 7.1; McCormack,
Film and video, use of: Donaghy, 10.4; 7.2; Griffiths and Soru, 7.3, Makarova,
Whitcher, 10.4; for teacher development: 7.4; Antoniou, 7.5; Goyal, 10.2; materials
Dragas, 12.7 for: Kendall, 7.8
Gamification: Alley and Barba, 3.5; Lindholm: Teacher development: context-specific:

3.6 Bilbrough, 12.1; approaches to: Mishriki and
Grammar: changing: Crystal, 5.1; instruction Demian, 12.2; Bird and Castelino, 12.3;
in: Thornbury, 3.1; Langford and Albair, Donaghy, 12.4; You, 12.9; learning new
5.5; Hadfield, 5.6; Bicknell, 5.7; Griffiths skills: Preshous, 12.5; Kern, 12.6; reflection
and Soru, 7.3 in: Dragas, 12.7; Turpin, 12.8
Teacher training: value of: Grundy and Ur,
Identity: Mercer, 1.2; Dellar, Patel, McLean 2.1; methodology in: Xerri, 2.2; Wedell, 2.6;
and Davidson, 4.3 Cintra, 2.7; Onchevska Ager, 2.8;
Immersion: Penston, 3.2 Aliaga-Salas, 2.9; Woodward, Unlu, Beaven
and Lindstromberg, 2.10; McCormack, 7.2;
L1, use of: Penston, 3.2; Simpson, 3.3 learning styles in: Lethaby and Harries, 2.3;
Learning styles: Lethaby and Harries, 2.3 reflection in: Baines, 2.4; Miall, 2.5; for
specific purposes: Constantinou and
Papadima-Sophocleous, 8.1
239
Index of topics
Teachers: working conditions of: Kerr and Writing instruction: in academic settings:
Wickham, 3.8; non-native English-speaking: Levrai and Bolster, 6.4; Lewko, 6.5; Jay, 6.6;
Richardson, 4.1; Phillips, 4.2; prejudice and: Albachten, 6.7; Xerri Agius, 6.8; with tech-
Al-Hoorie, 4.4 nology: Vurdien, 11.3; Meredith, 11.4
Technology: in teacher training and develop-
ment: Cintra, 2.7; with learners: Lindholm, Young learners, teaching of: Mouro, Ellis,
3.6; Werner, 7.1; Antoniou, 7.5; Brown, Bland, Narani Kova and Dunn, 9.1;
8.3; Hockly, 11.1; Morgana, 11.2; Vurdien, Lefever, 9.2; Handy, 9.3; Foligna, 9.4;
11.3; Meredith, 11.4; Marin, 11.5; Foster, Wainwright, 9.6; Gholkar, 9.7; Clark, 9.8;
11.6; Robb, 11.7; Harrison, 11.8; with Ibrahim, 9.9; in difficult circumstances:
young learners: Wainwright, 9.6; Gholkar, Santos, 9.10; assessment for: Lucietto, 9.5
9.7; effects of: Kerr and Wickham, 3.8;
alternatives to: McGraw, 3.7
240
241
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International

Edited by Tania Pattison

Copyright for whole volume IATEFL 2017

Copyright for individual reports/papers remains

The views expressed in this book are of the author(s) and

First published 2017

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

ISBN PRINTED: 978-1-901095-89-0

For a complete list of IATEFL publications including

Cover photographs 2016, Rachid Tagoulla.

1 Ready to learn: psychological aspects of learning

2 Approaches to teacher education

3 The big picture: issues in ELT methodology

4 Working towards inclusivity in ELT

5 Working (and playing) with words

5.2 Vocabulary learning practices and vocabulary learning outcomes:

6 From critical thinking to academic writing

7 From listening to speaking

7.7 They dont do Scottish accents Robin Walker 156

8 English for specific (academic) purposes

9 Working with young learners

10 Learning through literature and the arts

10.2 Improving speaking skills in English through drama activities

11 Innovative uses of technology

12 Initiatives in teacher development

1.1Plenary: Shifting metaphors: from computer input to

publication of Edinburgh University professor S. Pit Corders article The significance

In other words, rather than seeking to understand complexity through reduc-

Elsas attitude seems to be a perfect illustration of the relational nature of affordances.

Thus, when it comes to perceiving affordances, every individual is unique, some-

As I said, we humans seek simple answers. For instance, my statement criticis-

Thus, second-order affordances are dynamic, adaptive and contingent. It is not

One way of understanding this is to see teaching as guiding learning by expanding

enhancing reformulations involves an instance of reformulating as interpreting,

I believe Mercer is correct. If nothing else, CT reminds us of the enormity of

Kramsch, C. and A. Whiteside. 2008. Language ecology in multilingual settings. Towards a

1.2 Exploring psychology in language learning and teaching

1.3The joys of second language learning: a positive psychology

The role of positive emotions

1.4 Learnance: towards a new relationship to teaching learning

1.5Teachers views on motivation in relation to their motivational

Figure 1.5.1: Drnyeis motivational strategies framework

1.6Language learner autonomy: teachers perceptions and

1.7 Zen zone: meditation in the EFL classroom

After the meditation, participants wrote about an influential person. A discussion

2.1 ELT Journal/IATEFL Debate: Teacher training is a waste of time

Peter Grundy, proposing the motion

courses are ineffective: boring, or badly planned, or too theoretical, or promoting

2.2 Promoting creativity through teacher training

Teachers who identify themselves as creative practitioners are able to engage in

2.3Changing the way we approach learning styles in teacher

2.4 Rethinking reflection on the intensive TEFL course

Rationale: To present reflection as a rigorous process, not as just thinking about

2.5Personal learning from the CELTA: an auto-ethnography

section of my dissertation, where I linked my experiences to relevant literature; this

2.6The Hornby Scholars panel presentation: Teaching practice:

Introduction: teacher learning and teaching practice

Craft model Applied science Reflective model Sociocultural

if a purely craft model of learning teaching prevails, TP will probably provide

Support from prior training

Figure 2.6.1: Visible and invisible factors in student teacher observation

2.7Experiments with e-portfolios for teacher training and

to contribute with higher-quality work, as it would be available for their appreciation.

2.8 Instilling a passion for research in pre-service teachers

ISBN PRINTED: 978-1-901095-89-0

1.1Plenary: Shifting metaphors: from computer input to

1.3The joys of second language learning: a positive psychology

1.5Teachers views on motivation in relation to their motivational

1.6Language learner autonomy: teachers perceptions and

2.3Changing the way we approach learning styles in teacher

2.5Personal learning from the CELTA: an auto-ethnography

2.6The Hornby Scholars panel presentation: Teaching practice:

2.7Experiments with e-portfolios for teacher training and

2.9Teacher educators voices on undergraduate TEFL curriculum

2.10Signature Event: The Teacher Trainer journal 30th birthday

3.2Airdrop your students: immersion learning principles in the

3.3Using learners own language in teaching English: revisioning

3.4Accelerating input and exposure in the English language

4.1Plenary: The native factor: the haves and the have-nots

4.3National Geographic Learning Signature Event: What does it

4.4Prejudiced against your own students? Teachers unconscious

4.5Supporting learners with English as an Additional Language in

4.7Too PC for ELT? The invisibility of non-sexist language in

4.10Deaf-blind to inclusion? Adapting examinations fairly for

5.1Plenary: Who would of thought it? The English language

5.3 The Academic Word List: teachers practice, attitudes and

5.4Students use of wordlists and its impact on written

5.5Teacher-driven corpus development: the online restaurant

6.2Ways of engaging learners in critical thinking at the university

6.3Teaching caterpillars to fly: nurturing EFL students learning

6.4Undergraduate collaborative essays: constructive, not a

6.6How to optimise EAP tutorial time: introducing the 20-minute