This article draws on data from a British Council-funded project which aimed both to compare global early English language learning (EELL) pedagogic practices in 2020 with those in 2010 and to investigate current EELL teaching and learning in primary schools. The project had an explicit focus on classroom language practice, that is, the languages…

The potential of high-variability phonetic training (HVPT) to help FL learners improve their pronunciation is well documented. However, research exploring learners' perceptions of the approach adopted after having experienced training is scarce. Likewise, the choice of labels adopted for training is not self-evident and has not been studied…

At a time marked by the increasing use of technology in education, the study presented in this paper explores and compares teachers' and children's views on the use of digital games in class. A case study is presented in a primary school setting where tablets have been fully integrated into the EFL classroom. A mixed-method approach was used to…

This paper reports on the first phase of our research into the potential merits of a collaborative writing/feedback/revision activity. The study compared the quantity and quality of the feedback provided, collaboratively and individually, by adult EFL learners in Saudi Arabia. Our analysis showed that learners provided more feedback, including…

This exploratory study fills the gap in research on using print board games to teach English prosody to advanced EFL learners at university level. We developed three in-class print-and-play board games that accompanied three prosody-related topics in a course in English phonetics and phonology at a Polish university. For those topics, compared to…

This article explores Japanese EFL learners' perceptions of face-to-face vs. anonymous peer review in a writing classroom. Albeit few in number, some studies claim that Asian students exhibit difficulty in providing negative feedback because they tend to be hesitant for cultural reasons to criticize others' work. To verify and extend such…

The textual and interpersonal functions of modifiers are extensively discussed in the literature. However, how these linguistic devices can be strategically used to assist lecture comprehension has been under-investigated, particularly in EFL/ESL contexts. Drawing on corpus analyses, interviews, and questionnaires, this study compares Taiwanese…

Vocationally oriented language learning (VOLL) is often seen as a part of English for Specific Purposes/Language for Specific Purposes (ESP/LSP), which it is not in every case. The diverging characteristics and lines of development that these two branches of ELT have undergone are outlined and contrasted. Then, a discussion of the added value of a…

Trends and issues in ELT methods and methodology can be identified at two main levels. One is in terms of the theoretical pronouncements of the "professional discourse", as manifested by major publications, conference presentations, and so on. This article therefore begins by briefly summarizing some of the main developments of this kind from 1995…

This article investigates the effects of blogging as an approach to journal writing in the EFL writing classroom by means of a 16-week comparative experiment involving two groups of EFL college students. The experimental group (EG) was required to blog daily while the control group (CG) was asked to do so using traditional pen-and-paper methods.…

This experimental study evaluated the effectiveness of direct teaching of new vocabulary items in reading passages. The study compared vocabulary learning under a reading only condition (incidental learning) to learning that is aided by direct communication of word meanings (explicit learning). Three levels of vocabulary knowledge (form recall,…

Discusses the advantages and disadvantages of what has become the standard approach to teaching relative clauses. To overcome the disadvantages, proposes a hierarchical teaching method that begins by introducing noun phrases that contain relative clauses before comparing them with similar structures in the learner's first language. Shows an…

Describes a reactive focus on form task that was part of a university English-as-a-Foreign-Language oral presentation course. Students in the study were encouraged to focus on their oral output by taping and transcribing a rehearsal of their presentation. Describes the effect of this treatment by comparing the language of the rehearsal transcript…

Summarizes Hillock's findings regarding first-language composition instruction and compares them to research into second-language composition instruction. The article discusses implications for teaching writing to English-as-a-Second-Language students and recommends a process/product, task-based approach to writing instruction. (20 references)…

Briefly describes the differences between specialized foreign language schools and ordinary general education schools in the Soviet Union. The changes currently taking place in the organization of English language teaching in schools in the Soviet Union are discussed. (22 references) (Author/CB)