The School of Languages and Applied Linguistics at the Open University (OU) radically re-designed its modern languages curriculum in 2014, launching its first suite of new modules in 2017. The institution as a whole has since also developed a new employability framework. Our paper describes the principles underpinning the design of the new…

In our society, which is full of images, visual representations and visual experiences of all kinds, there is a paradoxically significant degree of visual illiteracy. Despite the importance of developing specific visual skills, visual literacy is not a priority in school curriculum (Spalter & van Dam, 2008). This work aims at (1) emphasising…

The dual curriculum model ubiquitous to Orthodox Jewish day schools in North America typically bifurcates into religious (Judaic) studies and general studies. While most classes generally fit into one of those two halves of the curriculum, some classes are not intuitively categorized as wholly belonging to one part over the other. One of those…

Second language acquisition (SLA) as a sub-branch of applied linguistics has been researched by Chinese and foreign scholars for over 40 years, but few researches have been done on its implications for Business English teaching which needs more language teaching theories to support. This paper makes a review of related studies, and puts forward a…

This paper is a critical analysis of curriculum with a discussion of its main tenets and exploration of issues within the literature. The focus is on curriculum in English as a Second Language (ESL) using critical applied linguistics as a framework. The ideas explored in the paper are synthesized and applied to ESL curriculum in the United Arab…

With the growing international market for pre-experience MA in ELT/TESOL programmes, a key curriculum design issue is how to help students develop as learners of teaching through and beyond their formal academic studies. We report here on our attempts at the University of Warwick to address this issue, and consider wider implications for research…

Contemporary globalized society is characterized by mobility and change, two phenomena that have a direct impact on the broad linguistic landscape. Language proficiency is no longer seen as a monolithic phenomenon that occurs independently of the linguistic repertoires and trajectories of learners and teachers, but rather shaped by uneven and…

Modified version of a paper given at the Third Annual Conference of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language, London, England, December 30, 1969 to January 2, 1970. Considers whether the language material to be taught helps determine the teaching method to be used. (VM)

Argues that in seeking a healthy fusion of power, applied linguistics is in a position to discover the appropriate response to the dilemma of injecting ethical responsibility into the profession while dealing with the competition for power between marginalized groups and the establishment. (15 references) (Author/CK)

Task-based instruction (TBI) is frequently promoted as an effective teaching approach, superior to "traditional" methods, and soundly based in theory and research. The approach is often justified by the claim that linguistic regularities are acquired through "noticing" during communicative activity, and should therefore be addressed primarily by…

This paper discusses the use of the teaching unit as a means for organization in English-as-a-foreign-language classes. It lists the essential elements in the construction of such a unit: cultural topic, linguistic elements, time period, main objectives, instructional materials, focus, specific activities, intended results, evaluation techniques,…

This document discusses three educational experiments currently in progress within the Applied Language Research Center. Each of the programs concerns problems relating to teaching Spanish-speaking pupils in a public school setting. The Grade One Experimental Project is designed to determine if instruction in Spanish at the primary level (in an…

An introduction to contemporary views of second/foreign language course design is intended for even relatively inexperienced teachers wishing to meet the somewhat sophisticated current expectations for language training. First, it provides theoretical background concerning the concepts of communicative competence and second language proficiency,…

This book reports on the Soviet Union's general, secondary, polytechnical schools which have been established recently to teach students to use one foreign language with fluency or near fluency. The author first discusses the long-range and immediate objectives of these special schools. Marxist-Leninist theory and its influence on contemporary…