Shadowing is the act of vocalizing the speech one is listening to as simultaneously as possible. The primary function of shadowing is learners' listening skill and pronunciation skill development. Despite the importance of second language (L2) listening skills, this pedagogical technique has not received focal attention in the field. In this…

This article presents an interview with Andrew Wright, a widely recognized author, illustrator, storyteller, and teacher trainer. Wright has published many ELT books, authored six "Spellbinder" graded readers (1992-1994), and a collection of short stories. As a teacher trainer, Wright worked extensively with both teachers and students in…

This article reports on perceptions and practices in relation to integrating culture into EFL teaching and how course material was designed within the Thai curriculum framework. Thai teachers' understanding of what constitutes culture, the role it plays in language learning and how such understanding is being translated into pedagogical practices…

As part of a research study on collaborative writing, this paper discusses defining and facilitating features that occur during face-to-face collaboration, based on the literature and research. The defining features are mutual interaction, negotiations, conflict, and shared expertise. Facilitating features include affective factors, use of L1,…

This study claims that Arab ESL students writing in English transfer L1 rhetorical modes of text organization into their English compositions. Fifty academic research papers were analysed in terms of the transition words and cohesive devices used, on the assumption that differences at the level of these language forms reflect differences at the…

Multimodal examples of Japanese language input (such as "manga" and anime) have now become the default choice for curriculum designers, material developers, and classroom teachers to make learning "fun". More traditional written only text-based materials are now in direct competition with such materials. While there has been a…

English as a foreign language students in Japan learned target words in word pairs receptively and productively. Five aspects of vocabulary knowledge--orthography, association, syntax, grammatical functions, and meaning and form--were each measured by receptive and productive tests. The study uses an innovative methodology in that each target word…

Second language acquisition research has led to a major emphasis on the need for learners to experience the target language (TL) in use if they themselves are to become users of the language. At the same time, there is discussion of the role of the first language (L 1) as a tool in the processing of language/culture experiences. Achieving optimal…

This study reports on collaboration between second language (L2) instructors of English and Japanese. Learners and speakers of each language were brought together on a regular basis to serve as models, partners, group members, and supportive peers to assist each other's language learning efforts. ANOVA analyses were used to contrast students in…

The present study reports preliminary findings on the elicitation strategies used by Thai and English caretakers when eliciting past event narratives from pre-schoolers. Ten Thai and ten English-speaking caretaker-child dyads were recruited from Bangkok, Thailand and from Sydney, Australia. Caretakers were asked to elicit past event narratives…