Teaching English

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) presents teaching techniques and procedures along with the underlying theory and principles and is comprehensible to readers who are new to the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). David Nunan (2015) proposes rich illustrations of theoretical constructs through providing practical examples of how to develop teaching materials and tasks from sound principles; he also presents content through various textual types including classroom vignettes which show language teaching in action, question and answer sessions. The book consists of twelve concise chapters: Language Teaching Methodology, Learner-Centered Language Teaching, Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, Pronunciation, Vocabulary, Grammar, Discourse, Learning Styles and Strategies, and Assessment.

Systematic research on English language teachers' perceptions of research has not yet shown whether or not ‘teacher research’ is acceptably understood and carried out in institutions of higher education worldwide. Moreover, understanding cross-cultural (mis)conceptions of and barriers to research is an important initial step in promoting teacher research engagement. This article explores perceptions of teacher research held by 68 university lecturers (38 Iranians and 30 Malaysians) teaching English at graduate and undergraduate levels. Data was collected using questionnaire surveys followed by focus group and electronic interviews. The participating lecturers reported their views on the nature of research, their levels of reading and doing research, and their reasons for research engagement. Comparative analyses of their response frequencies indicated that common perceptions of research were more in line with traditional views of research in both subgroups. Low research engagement by doing and moderate engagement by reading was reported by teachers from both countries. Time limitations and lack of skills were reported as the most frequent barriers to teacher research. A series of Chi-Square analyses comparing the two contexts indicated significant differences in how lecturers saw good teacher research and how they were affected by different de-motivating elements of their institutional research culture. The findings indicate that socio-cultural contexts affect research perception and have valuable implications for the curricular promotion of teacher research in English Language Teaching in institutions of higher education in the targeted institutions

Children need to start learning English from a very young age in this fast globalizing world. The knowledge of the English language can assist in providing several opportunities for them in the future. It is also essential to know how very young children acquire a foreign language and which content and activities should be selected for their age. This study aimed to observe and describe the procedure of the language development of very young children. Researchers employed a descriptive case study design to portray and assess foreign language learning of two three-year-old twins’ grammar acquisition, vocabulary gains, and fluency in the early years of life (3-4/5). Besides the methods firmly associated with qualitative study and case studies, there were four sources of data collection: observation, audio-video recordings, and diary records. The central unit of the twins’ language development analysis was their utterances. The findings supported using a naturalistic environment where very young children could be exposed to the English language informally in everyday contexts and activities. This research can share its findings with education communities and very young children’s teachers to promote a new professional development model for fostering language development in very young learners’ classrooms, assessments, and curricula.