These ten guidelines will help you make communicative language teaching and learner-centered instruction part of your own instructional approach. Take your learners’ goals, interests, and existing knowledge seriously Provide appropriate input Use language in authentic ways Provide context and make cultural connections Design activities with a realistic purpose Encourage collaboration Use an integrated approach Address … Continue reading Ten Guidelines for Successful Teaching
Insights
Foundations of Effective Adult Education
By Miriam Burt, DeAnna Coon, and Deborah Kennedy, Center for Applied Linguistics, 2014 These principles are informed by research on adult learning and supported by the evidence base on reading skills development, instruction for adult English learners, and adult second language acquisition. Principle 1. Effective instruction builds on adult learners’ existing assets. Adult learners have … Continue reading Foundations of Effective Adult Education
Teacher Characteristics That Affirm Learner Potential
Adapted from M. Finocchiaro, The Crucial Variable in TESOLD: The TeacherSpeech delivered at the Lackland Air Force Base, English Language Branch, Defense Language InstituteMarch 1974 Superior teachers are committed to the principle that all normal people can learn. They modify curriculum content as they ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of learners and--with older students--their aspirations. … Continue reading Teacher Characteristics That Affirm Learner Potential
The Responsibility to Publish
While I am dazzled by the extraordinary qualities of teachers, I have not failed to notice a serious flaw, one which deprives communities, universities, and teaching organizations of the contributions teachers can and must make to the profession. You have a major responsibility to write about your philosophy, your theories, your techniques, and your successes. … Continue reading The Responsibility to Publish
Features of Successful Language Classes
In the spring of 1961, a team of language teachers and specialists undertook a qualitative assessment of language teaching around the United States. ...Team members visited 1,011 classes taught by 747 different teachers. ...It is interesting to examine the conclusions of [their] report, since they reflect on the timeless essence of good language teaching. Here … Continue reading Features of Successful Language Classes
Building Listening Skills
Listening, the language skill most used in life, needs to be a central focus all day, every day.
Reading As Conversation
I think a novel is a kind of conversation. Both the writer and the reader bring their experience to the page.
The Essentials of Language Teaching 