This study aimed to investigate whether pedagogically guided web-based reading can improve skimming and scanning significantly (i.e., increased productive outcomes) and whether it can enhance student participation and motivation (i.e., increased affective outcomes). Forty-six students enrolled in two German 3 classes at the high school level were…

While the use of student performed evaluation of teaching is a topic of considerable debate, little has been written in a Japanese context. Sixteen English language teachers who work either part time, under a limited term contract, or have tenure in Japanese universities commented on a summary of common questions which had been collected from 50…

More than 85% of the international students in New Zealand are Asian in origin. The level of satisfaction of Asian international students with their learning experiences in New Zealand has been of enormous concern for the New Zealand export education industry. The results of this current research, based on a qualitative research study conducted at…

Between 69 percent and 90 percent of English language learners (ELLs) in middle and high schools were born in the United States and have been in U.S. schools since kindergarten still have not achieved the academic proficiency to succeed in an all-English mainstream program. Various ELL program options are available for school districts to…

Although the foreign-language profession routinely stresses the importance of technology for the curriculum, many teachers still harbor deep-seated doubts as to whether or not a hybrid course, much less a completely distance-learning class, could provide L2 learners with a way to reach linguistic proficiency, especially with respect to oral…

At Joyce Public School (JPS) in the Greater Toronto Area, we are engaged in ongoing collaborative action research to develop pedagogical approaches to emergent literacies that engage multilingual, multicultural, and multimodal perspectives in complex interplay. Our research is grounded in the challenges children experience in acquiring literacy…

Generalised access to the Internet and globalisation has led to increased demand for translation services and a resurgence in the use of machine translation (MT) systems. MT post-editing or the correction of MT output to an acceptable standard is known to be one of the ways to face the huge demand on multilingual communication. Given that the use…

The article proposes Stern's (1983) framework for classifying issues related to instruction in order to ascertain the relevance of Universal Grammar (UG) in the ESL/EFL classroom. Discussed in this article, particularly as UG pertains to them, are issues related to: (a) L1 transfer; (b) teaching rules and giving error correction versus presenting…

Language teaching approaches and methods have cast light on the language teaching theory and practice. There are still many controversies about their usefulness and appropriateness. This paper tries to analyze their effectiveness and weakness of several most influential teaching approaches and methods: Grammar-translation Method, Direct Method,…

This paper conducted on an empirical study among 466 first-year semester diploma students of Wenzhou University, contemplates some metacognitive strategies for facilitating learners' self-autonomy for oral language learning. Oral language appropriateness and procuration within the context of globality and lifelong learning are essential to the…

The World Wide Web offers a global database of authentic materials that can enhance language learning and teaching. This study examines the use of the web for language learning through a study of English as a second language (ESL) learners' experiences in web-based language learning (WBLL) activities in an English language intensive course for…

In the past decade, providing language instruction via computer-mediated communication (CMC) has seen tremendous growth throughout the world. With this increase in asynchronous instruction have come questions concerning the role of the instructor as it determines the quality and impact of learning and of what optimal faculty development might…

This paper examines Block's (2001) claim that whereas the notion of method no longer plays a significant role in the thinking of applied linguists, it still plays a vital role in the thinking of teachers. In order to assess Block's claim, four sources of data on teachers' beliefs were examined--two direct sources of data: (1) interviews with…

Recent articles in the "ELT Journal" offer interesting debates on CLT. On one side, Bax (2003) proposes that CLT should be abandoned since the methodology fails to take into account the context of language teaching. On the other side, Liao (2004) suggests that CLT is best. However, within the broad theoretical position on which CLT is…

This article discusses a simulation wherein learners of Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) in a business writing course at an American university are assigned tasks to write a series of business letters based on situations that are likely to occur in actual business settings. After an overview of the theoretical background, this article…