The speech introduces a colloquium on the teaching of listening comprehension to students of English for academic purposes (EAP). The colloquium's aim is to address ways that EAP instructors can improve students' lecture listening skills by discussing the types of background discourse knowledge and listening strategies that…

Three questions in the application of native-language sociolinguistic theories to second language contexts are addressed: (1) Is transfer always a psycholinguistic process of interlingual overgeneralization? (2) Does attention to speech underlie all style shifting? (3) Is H. Giles' Speech Accommodation Theory adequate to explain all purposeful…

Describes the functional/notional approach to language instruction, discussing key features, misconceptions, and practical applications of the model. (AM)

Discussion of the role of literature in the college second-language program, and in liberal arts education in general, argues that it is an ethical obligation to teach literary competence, or literary sensitivity, in the language of the author, because the "great books" are those that combine stylistic refinement with deep insight into the human…

Foreign language listening comprehension instruction too often relies on brief selections read aloud or sporadic teacher talk interspersed with native language (NL) utterances, which fail to provide sustained listening practice. NL is overused for grammar-related talk, reducing target language exposure, encouraging translation, and hindering…

Humor is an excellent teaching tool because, in addition to preventing classroom boredom and monotony, it introduces lateral aspects of language such as irony, sarcasm, mockery, elision, ellipsis, and euphemism. Humor in language can be approached interactively or structurally through a variety of activities. It can be used to expand vocabulary,…

This book sets out to adapt and use some of the practical approaches of genre theory to the teaching of writing to English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL) and Basic Skills students in Britain. The book has 9 units exploring different types of text or genres, descriptions of people, descriptions of places, personal narratives, folk stories,…