This paper looks into the dilemma of what counts as a grammatical 'learner error' in ELT on the basis of recent results from English variationist research and English as a lingua franca research. Examples from these studies show that features often perceived as 'errors' for EFL speakers also occur in ESL production--where they are called…

This article describes a transcription task cycle that was designed to facilitate the development of skills for the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) speaking test at a language school in Japan. The cycle involved practice test, transcription, student correction, teacher correction, and retrial of the original test and…

As we regularly find in exchanges outside the classroom, formulating (the rephrasing of what has been said) makes use of such conversational skills as active listening, elaboration, and affiliation as well as the precise timing of taking turns to keep the talk going. This paper examines how formulations occur in talk outside the classroom…

This paper describes an oral English course for non-English majors at a university in the People's Republic of China. In the first year of the course, the students were very resistant to participating in group-based speaking activities, and their end-of-year results were disappointing. In the second year, the teacher decided to involve the…

In this article I introduce the concept of "acknowledgement" and explore the role which it plays in facilitating teacher learning. Acknowledgement is the validation or recognition of the teacher, which comes about when teachers have the space to present their own perceptions of their teaching without judgement. I trace the development of a teacher…

This article reports a study of two English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classes who used different forms of transcript of their performances on a role-play speaking task as the basis for reprocessing and improving their output. One class used transcripts produced by the learners themselves, and the other used extracts transcribed by the teacher.…

Presents four misconceptions surrounding communicative language teaching (CLT) and discusses the reasons for their existence. These misconceptions are: (1) CLT means not teaching grammar; (2) CLT means teaching only speaking; (3) CLT means pair work, which means role play; and (4) CLT means expecting too much from the teacher. (13 references)…