This book is the first to focus specifically on born-digital texts in EFL teaching, uniting international and innovative scholarship with practical classroom applications. The book develops a theoretically sound framework for curriculum, materials and methods design that takes into account the growing ubiquity of born-digital texts in the digital…

Text classification and text gradation are important for language teachers. Profiling and readability studies examine textual and linguistic features that determine text difficulty. Arabic, as an under-resourced language, suffers from a lack of such studies which results in material developers and textbook writers relying on their intuitions and…

In university-level composition courses, assignment prompts are fundamental in shaping students' understanding of major writing projects. Aiming to be instructive and descriptive while also clear and concise, instructors use a series of moves (Swales, 1990) and modals in writing assignment prompts to express requirements, suggestions, and…

Linking adverbials are important for creating textual cohesion in both written and spoken English. While there are reference grammar books describing the usage patterns of linking adverbials and studies investigating learners' difficulties in using these cohesive devices, there is little discussion on how to effectively teach and learn them. By…

Grammar can be viewed both as knowledge and as ability. When viewed as knowledge, the focus is on rules for sentence formation. When viewed as ability, the focus is on how grammar is used as a resource in the creation of spoken and written texts. Twelve principles are proposed as the basis for a pedagogy that focusses on acquiring learning to use…

It is a fact that each individual is unique. This uniqueness can be physical, emotional, intellectual and/or spiritual. It follows then that in any given learning environment each learner has unique abilities and needs. Consequently, classrooms everywhere, even if they are streamed, are of a mixed-ability nature. Having recognised this factor in…

A review of research on writing textbooks suggests that in general, they do not reflect current theories in either content or instructional approach. Examination of some second language writing textbooks reveals three types: (1) those with a traditional approach emphasizing grammar, form, and models; (2) books acknowledging but not integrating new…

The use of the learning task as a basic planning and instructional tool for communicative second language instruction is discussed, and considerations and procedures for designing such tasks are outlined. A task is defined as a piece of classroom work that involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target…

The design of instructional materials for second language listening comprehension is discussed, based on the premise that such materials must reflect a view of the nature and processes of listening. Two distinct kinds of cognitive processes involved in listening are examined: bottom-up processing, or the use of incoming data as a source of…

An examination of the role of the principle players in second language learning--teachers, students, and instructional material developers--offers insight into the field of language pedagogy during a period of rapid technological change. All are living in a technologically changing environment but are all affected in different ways. Materials…

This book is for all language teachers. It regards them all as materials developers in that teachers frequently have to make decisions about selecting and adapting materials, they make decisions everyday in their classrooms about how to use the materials and they sometimes develop materials of their own to supplement or even replace the materials…

Student-generated materials are a means by which students may be brought into the role of active participant in their own second language learning processes. To create their own materials, students can engage in the following types of activities: (1) performance, or those in which the student prepares and delivers a message to the group (e.g.,…

This article reports on the practitioner research conducted by the English participants in a European Co-operation Programme project entitled "Lateral Language Learning." The project was based on the belief that there is much that teachers of a first foreign language can do to prepare their students to access other languages in the…

The design of computer materials for self-directed language learning is discussed from two points of view: (1) adaptability or flexibility of computer materials; and (2) the potential and limitations of computer-assisted instruction for enhancing autonomous learning. Important considerations in designing flexible materials through careful…

A discussion of computer-assisted second language learning focuses on the kinds of computer software currently available and discusses briefly how they can be used in language instruction. Four types of software are distinguished, including: (1) that in which the computer controls, to a great extent, the nature and order of events (e.g., drills,…