This article presents the Cultural Facilitation Model as a means to guide the investigation of cultural questions with benefits for English Foreign Language (EFL) instructors Native English Speaking Teachers (NESTs) and Non Native English Speaking Teachers (NNESTs) and EFL students alike. It will describe how instructors can act as cultural…

Memoirs and autobiographical writing on language learning provide perspectives on migration and residence in North America and Europe for the most part, where struggle and loss are some of the recurrent themes (Aneta Pavlenko 2001a; Besemeres 2004; Kinginger 2004a). An unaddressed aspect of foreign language learning remains the 'reverse'…

This book clarifies the fundamental difference between North America-based instrumental motivation and Korea (and East Asia)-specific competitive motivation by which the EFL learners' excessive competition to be admitted to famous universities and to be hired at a large-scale conglomerate is the main source of L2 motivation. It enables readers to…

This article proposes a model for integrating text-to-speech software (TTS) in students' interpreting training and practice. It shows the aims of the model, the definition of TTS, the advantages of using TTS, how to search for TTS, instructional stages with TTS, and the interpreting instructor's role. The students can use TTS software online;…

Teaching in Vietnam recently, I had opportunities to work with some amazing students and teachers. Being in such a position lent itself well to cultural exchanges inside and outside the classroom. However, it was clear to me, to my colleagues, and I believe to the majority of students that there was a need to dig deeper--to move beyond the…

This article introduces three important challenges and possible solutions when using spoken dialogue to measure the use of specific multiword expressions. The first challenge is deciding whether to count precise and accurate use of target expressions only or whether to extend the count to include variation. The second challenge requires addressing…

The importance of collocations, i.e. idiosyncratic binary word co-occurrences in the context of second language learning has been repeatedly emphasized by scholars working in the field. Some went even so far as to argue that "vocabulary learning is collocation learning" (Hausmann, 1984, p. 395). Empirical studies confirm this…

The development of corpus linguistics has laid theoretical foundation and provided technical support for breaking the bottleneck in traditional vocabulary instruction in China. Corpora allow access to authentic data and show frequency patterns of words and grammar construction. Such patterns can be used to improve language materials or to directly…

While corpus linguistics has been applied towards many specific academic purposes, reports are few regarding its use to facilitate learning of legal English by non-native English speakers. Specialized corpora are required because legal English often differs significantly from ordinary usage, with words such as bar, motion, and hearing having…

This article presents an overview of the Arabic language in the United States. Drawing on archival research and statistical analysis, the article is divided into 4 major sections. The first discusses the history of immigration from the Arab world to the United States, as well as past efforts at Arabic language maintenance. The article continues…

This author, a lecturer in the Education Program at the University of Washington (Bothell), relates an experience that dated back to an invitation to give a talk at the Gwangju International Center (GIC) in Korea in the Summer of 2011. Min spoke about culturally-embedded writing practices across nations and presented some practical strategies that…

Teaching '68 presents pedagogical challenges far greater than assembling a set of workable classroom materials. Divisive controversies that were the hallmark of the time--e.g., the debate over the nature and appropriate use of violence--are with us still, though in a somewhat different form. Further, the instructor's own politics and positionality…

This paper describes the cultural semantics of internet courses in American accent. Such courses are offered by corporate providers to specific groups of customers: people in search of success in the globalized business environment. The core of such courses is an order of indexicality which stresses uniformity and homogeneity, producing an…

This paper explores the ambivalent nature of Japanese attitudes toward English vis-a-vis the Japanese language, followed by a discussion of Japanese efforts in incorporating the concept of English as an International Language (EIL) into their educational system and teaching practice as a solution to this dilemma. While the Japanese have an…

Many of the textbooks used to teach Indian management students are South East Asian editions of U.S. publications. Although these provide a great deal of information on the business world, particularly in a North American context, outside of India, they do not always meet the needs of either the Indian ESL Learner, or of Indian business and…