This paper explains why and how thinking skills should be included in the teaching of second languages and other subjects. The authors provide examples from their lessons in four thinking skills: being careful in the use of absolute words, avoiding unsupported generalizations, using counterexamples, and identifying assumptions. Also, the authors…

This article reports research on the occurrence of terms related to food in textbooks written for students of English as an Additional Language. Ten such textbooks were examined. Of the 3767 total activities in the textbooks, 641 activities (17%) contained at least one reference to food, and seven of the books contained an entire unit focused on…

This article argues that language students and teachers are changemakers and that, in keeping with progressivist philosophy and the bottom-up social paradigm, they can play a powerful role in creating a better world. As our understanding of the world continues to increase, both students and teachers can use this increased understanding to initiate…

This chapter first looks at Extensive Reading and Extensive Listening separately, highlighting the language learning benefits of the two approaches to language learning. It then discusses ways of implementing the two together in input-poor L2 contexts where the quantity and quality of the target language input tends to be severely limited. In…

Education materials can be analysed in many ways. The current study analysed EAL (English as an Additional Language) coursebooks as to the presentation of nonhuman animals in the books. The study examined 22 EAL coursebooks. The research looked at the percentage of activities that contained animals in the coursebooks, what types of animals were…

The present paper begins by situating learner autonomy and collaborative learning as part of a larger paradigm shift towards student-centred learning. Next are brief discussions of learner autonomy and how learner autonomy links with collaborative learning. In the main part of the paper, four central principles of collaborative learning are…

This article discusses the use of teacher reflection groups to aid teachers in their efforts to facilitate cooperative learning among their students. It is argued that these teacher reflection groups function best when they are organized with reference to eight cooperative learning principles. Furthermore, it is suggested that these reflective…

How can teachers motivate students to read extensively in a second language? One strategy is for teachers to read aloud to students to promote the joys of reading generally, to build students' language skills and to introduce students to specific authors, book series, genres, websites, etc. This article begins by discussing why teachers might want…

We begin the article with a brief discussion of why groups are recommended in language teaching. After that, we describe what Cooperative Learning (CL) is. Then, we suggest ways in which CL and Information Technology (IT) fit well together. This is followed by some examples of how to combine CL with IT. [This article was published in Teaching of…

Compiles references and abstracts for works related to extensive reading in a second or foreign language. Offers a classification that may be of value to the teacher or researcher in reading as a foreign language, and they may be useful in course development. (Author/VWL)

Since the late 1980s, ES/FL teachers interested in Cooperative Learning (Holt, 1993; Kessler, 1992; Lopriore, 1996) have come together to share ideas at the annual convention of the International TESOL organization. The 1997 convention was no exception. The first four authors hosted a Breakfast Seminar at which about 45 other teachers joined us to…

In this chapter, I describe my use of cooperative learning in the mid-1990s when I was teaching English to students in their final year at a secondary school in Singapore. I will first discuss how I came to learn about cooperative learning. Then, I will illustrate how I set up the classroom for cooperative learning and how I used it in the…

Language learning materials frequently include group activities, and many books and journals for language teachers recommend that groups be an important part of teachers' instructional repertoire. Unfortunately, group activities sometimes fail because students lack the skills necessary to function effectively in groups. For instance, teachers…

This conference paper discusses the use of cooperative learning (CL) in second language (L2) instruction. After two brief definitions of CL, key areas discussed in the paper are: a) how CL relates to theories of L2 acquisition, b) CL principles, and c) some CL techniques and lesson plan considerations when using CL in L2 instruction. An appendix…

Some ideas are presented for structuring student groups in second-language classes in a way to encourage them to work together more productively. Eight types of positive interdependence are explained. (Contains 14 references.) (LB)