Like many teachers and trainers of my generation, I was deeply affected by the work of Stephen Krashen. His acquisition/learning distinction made a lasting impact on ELT, although ...

The most frequently asked question from those wishing to embark on an ELT career is: which course should I take? Such is the question raised recently by somebody wanting to know if he should take a TEFL or a TESOL course .

The simple answer is...

The Internet has had a profound effect on the way English language teaching organisations operate. I thought it would be interesting to do a survey of how the Internet is being used. One of the most valuable aspects of the Internet is its accessibility. No matter how ...

This month’s book is a classic study of pragmatics that should be in every school’s reference library. Geoffrey Leech’s Principles of Pragmatics was first published by Longman in 1983. Pragmatics had ...

I wonder who you consider to be the most influential people in English language teaching. Perhaps we should start with the...

The native English speaker seems to have all the advantages when it comes to finding teaching posts. A native speaker with few or even no qualifications to teach English often has greater credibility with employers then a highly qualified non-native speaker. To understand ...

Have you taken a look at some of the conferences and workshops running this month?
I have noted a few in this post, but I am sure that with a little Internet research you will be able find something...

Hello again,

I have never met anyone who thinks meetings are useful. Everyone seems to think that they waste precious time that could be used better on other activities. Okay, perhaps I exaggerate. But generally ...

Is it just my perception or does ELT have a greater share of whingers than other professions? People are always telling me how they find ELT poorly paid, over-burdened, and with poor career prospects. Well, if that’s how you feel, do ...

Discussions of ageism in ELT crop up fairly regularly and cause me to think about the topic in a way that goes beyond the simple complaint that employers often discriminate against older teachers.

The first question I ask is whether ageism is more...

Language learning is not a quick and easy process. In a world in which instant gratification is expected, the time and effort needed to learn a language can seriously demotivate learners. This is a trend that I think will deepen ...

This month I have chosen Zoltan Doernyei,(2001) Teaching and Researching Motivation
ISBN 0-582-38238-6, Persons Education Ltd., xii+295pp. Like the author, we may feel that the whole topic of language learning motivation is “characterised by a confusing plethora of competing theories, with little consensus and much disagreement among researchers”. Thus this book ...

Any school belonging to an accreditation scheme will have to accept regular inspections to check its standards. For all the staff involved ...

A recurring issue in language teaching and learning is how to measure students’ progress. Here, I am making a distinction between assessing or evaluating knowledge and providing an indication of what has been achieved after a course of study. It might sound like...

I doubt if hopeful teachers ...