Foreign language education research has consistently acknowledged that students not only possess an array of "identities" beyond their role as mere learners, but also exercise "agency" making them active initiators and selectors of their learning actions. However, this conceptual understanding appears insufficiently reflected…

Considering that fairy tales have long been popular in second language (L2) education, we ask how these texts can remain applicable to our changing student body. In addition to their use in lower-level German classes for language and culture acquisition, fairy tales also provide a springboard into L2 literary interpretation for more advanced…

Collaboration is essential for all English for Specific Purposes practitioners, whether they are a part of a Faculty or a Language Centre. Conducting needs analyses to determine students' specific English requirements necessitates interaction with subject specialists within their institution. The present report presents an innovative pedagogical…

Presentations are often incorporated into higher education without any instruction on how to present, or the features by which presentations will be assessed. This lack of instruction risks disadvantaging many students judged by tacit criteria they may not meet, including English as an additional language students, first generation university…

This paper reports one best-practice in assessing the public speaking performance of advanced students at an Indonesian public university. The study involves an English course for an advanced class which was primarily related to public speaking skills. Considering that speaking is a productive skill that should be assessed through authentic…

This article examines visiting Chinese undergraduate students' engagement with the linguistic landscape (LL) in the city of Edinburgh as they participated in a University summer school. A pedagogical approach was taken involving capturing LL on display during a 'camera safari'; reflecting on questions through dialogic discussion and in writing and…

Little by little, (or, simply, MALL) is taking force in the field of education, as it supports language blended learning and language learning ubiquity. The study presented here belongs in the Social Ontology-based Cognitively Augmented Language Learning Mobile Environment (SO-CALL-ME) research project, whose final aim is to design and create…

This article discusses practical ways to incorporate theater concepts into the ESL classroom. The notion of a theater ensemble lends itself well to group work in language learning. I have used my experience auditioning, participating in theater games, and improv techniques to encourage second language learning through public speaking, group…

Murasakino High School is a municipal senior high school located in the northern part of Kyoto, an ancient capital city of Japan. With a little over one thousand students studying in three grades (from fifteen to eighteen years of age), Murasakino has a distinctive scholastic tradition that makes it different from other high schools in Kyoto. Over…

Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore developed a three-part procedure to help English language students overcome anxiety about preparing and delivering a two-minute persuasive talk as part of an exam. The approach has the students first talk about themselves and then use computer prompts and videotaped practice speeches. (LB)

The Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) field continues to experience increased valuing of experiential practitioner knowledge. A welcome result of this evolution has been the broadening of research perspectives. The 16 practitioner narratives in "Insights on Teaching Speaking in TESOL" are written by…

One teacher assigns brief classroom presentations on pre-assigned topics as preparation for a longer, final presentation on a student-selected topic for evaluation by other students. The technique promotes student understanding of the complexity of evaluation and causes students to be more attentive. (MSE)

In English-as-a-Second-Language instruction at the Semmelweiss Medical University (Hungary), the giving of prepared talks is incorporated into instruction in three forms: (1) independently-composed problem-posing presentation of a written text; (2) prepared talk on a medical topic of general interest, selected by student or teacher; and (3)…

A method of teaching public speaking adapted from the Toastmasters International program is presented for use in foreign language classes. Instructions need only to be translated into the target language and presented to students for immediate classroom use. The instructions address the structure of the speech class, writing and delivering the…

The outline of a 2-hour-per-week public speaking course developed over the past 3 years for sophomore English language majors at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, is described. The course is built around rhetorical modes, with informative speaking (e.g., process and comparison/contrast), the focus of the first semester and persuasive speaking…