Empathetic observation

I sometimes think that educational researchers, particularly applied linguists, would benefit greatly from taking occasional time out from their work to engage in what we might call ‘empathetic observation’. It’s rather a simple idea: An academic shadows a teacher at their place of work for a few days to learn as much as possible from……

The languages for learning framework: A potential alternative to ‘medium of instruction’

We see ‘languages for learning’ as better able to describe the complex learning affordances of multilingual classrooms because it combines an emphasis on multilingual inclusivity (‘languages’ rather than ‘medium’) with a focus on ‘learning’ (as in learning-centred education) rather than ‘instruction’. Perhaps most importantly, the ‘for’ in LFL enables us to frame languages as facilitative (resources), rather than restrictive (impedances), of learning.

The myth of a theory-practice gap in education

…what is actually being invoked is a difference between what we might call ‘academic theory’ and ‘practitioner theory’, and that is a very different type of gap…

Where the teachers are all students

If you were to pay a visit to Fithi1 Junior School on a Saturday or Sunday, you could be mistaken for presuming it was a regular day’s schooling. Children are in classes, some working silently, others engaged in discussion activities, and someone is stood at the board, guiding the learning… It’s only when you peek……

“Reading aloud”: What it’s really called and why it’s essential to formal language learning

It’s an often unchallenged mantra of many ELT writers, methodologists and commentators that ‘reading aloud’ is an ineffective or misguided practice in English language classrooms (e.g., Wilson, 2019; also see this recent Twitter discussion). This mantra is frequently propagated by trainers on generic initial certification courses designed for teachers of adults, such as the Cambridge……

The difficulty of defining reflection

My recent contribution to the ELT Journal Key Concepts feature (Anderson, 2020a) provided an opportunity to investigate the concept of reflection. Since the 1980s, reflection has become one of the most popular buzzwords in practitioner development, including teacher education, despite Dewey’s (1910/1933) much earlier discussion of its importance, which, while frequently cited retrospectively, received comparatively……

The beliefs they had

“Wait. Let me just get this straight,” Barsha looked incredulous. “You’re saying that they believed that the materials that had been created specifically for the students weren’t authentic, but any text that wasn’t created with the students’ needs in mind was considered ‘authentic’, and better, as a result?” “Yes. At least some of the writers……

The TATE framework for curriculum design in language teaching

Rod Ellis recently proposed (2019) a modular framework for curriculum design in language teaching combining task-based language teaching (TBLT) and task-supported language teaching (TSLT). When I first read his proposal, I was somewhat surprised, because these two approaches are often perceived as incompatible (e.g., Long, 2015), based as they are on very different theories of……

Can teachers learn from interactive reflection? A study into Schön’s reflection-in-action

Reflection-in-action is a highly influential, yet often misunderstood construct that is central to Donald Schön’s epistemology of practitioner learning (Schön, 1983, 1987). Particularly in the field of teaching it has often been understood to mean simply ‘thinking on one’s feet’ (e.g., Francis, 1995). Yet, within Schön’s epistemology, its importance was much more than this, as……

Activities for Cooperative Learning

Activities for Cooperative Learning is one of two new titles inaugurating a new series from Delta Publishing called ‘Ideas in Action’. The idea behind the series is to link the theory behind a specific aspect of teaching or language learning with activities that teachers can use in their own classroom. This blog post provides a……