High frequency words, which are key to a text, must be mastered to achieve minimum levels of reading proficiency. However, knowledge about the frequency of items in a language is very limited. Given this consideration, WordSift (www.wordsift.org), a word cloud tool based on high frequency and key words can assist English as a Foreign Language…

As is typical across Turtle Island, the Hul'q'umi'num' (Coast Salish) language revitalization movement is being carried by adult language learners (Haynes 2010; McIvor 2015) but becoming a proficient Hul'q'umi'num' speaker is challenging given the complexity of its sound system. In this paper, we share our experiences using the speech analysis…

Teaching and learning of technical terms constitute a major problem for ESP instructors and students. To help the students learn, retain, apply and relate technical terms, a multiple-associations instructional approach that focuses on connecting the printed form of the technical term with its pronunciation (the hidden sounds, double and silent…

Studying musical text effectively reinforces grammar structures and vocabulary taught in class while simultaneously developing cultural literacy, a critical component in second language acquisition. Musical text facilitates a multimodal learning experience as it combines the verbal and aural modes, and is often accompanied by the visual mode. In…

For many secondary-level teachers working with adolescent language learners, one of the motivations for choosing English teaching as a profession is a shared love of reading short stories. At its best, entering a narrative is a sensory experience: engaged readers see, hear, and feel the words of a story and imagine themselves within its pages.…

Age of onset has long been assumed to predict outcomes in second/foreign language accent. Yet beyond early childhood, acquiring a new accent has much to do with social-affective factors such as learner identity and motivation, as well as cognitive factors such as learning strategies (Pfenninger, 2017). Newer perspectives acknowledge this…

Corpora have given rise to a wide range of lexicographic resources aimed at helping novice users of academic English with their writing. This includes academic vocabulary lists, a variety of textbooks, and even a bespoke academic English dictionary. However, writers may not be familiar with these resources or may not be sufficiently aware of the…

Science can be a difficult subject for EAL (English as an Additional Language) learners to master, mainly because of the prominent role that language plays in the acquisition of scientific concepts. Language is essential to science because it is the means by which we envisage and communicate new ideas. Teaching this new language to pupils involves…

Gamification of language learning is a clear trend of recent years. Widespread use of smartphones and the rise of mobile gaming as a popular leisure activity contribute to the popularity of gamification, as application developers can rely on an unprecedented reach of their products and expect acceptance of game-like elements by the users. In terms…

The descriptive paragraph and subsequent essay are usually among the first assignments students must complete in composition classes. Typically, students are told to describe their childhood home, a person of importance, a special object, or a summer vacation. Most students, especially learners of English as a foreign language (EFL), have…

This article originated in a creative attempt to engage audiences visually, on a poster, with ideas about language(s), teaching and learning which have been informing language education at university language centres. It was originally locally grounded and devised to take soundings with colleagues and with participants at the CercleS 2014…

Vocabulary is the gateway to knowledge that unlocks the doors of sublime ideas to the readers. The competency on the lexical items of language plays a significant role in learning a new concept. Any learner who has excellent command over the use of vocabulary excels in his/her study of different subjects. Vocabulary learning is one of the…

Claiming that poetry is essentially an oral art and thus eminently suitable as discourse for language teaching and learning, the author guides readers through step-by-step strategies in how to make the pictures of poetry visible and the sounds of poetry audible for language-learning students. Using the poem "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe…

Literature has long been used as a source for reading materials in English as a first language (L1). In recent years, there has been a growing interest in utilizing literature in second language (L2) classrooms. The present article assumes that using literature in L2 reading can have the same effect as in L1. Integrating literature into L2…

In the last few years, Spain has seen dramatic changes in its educational system. Many of them have been rejected by most teachers after their implementation (LOGSE) while others have found potential drawbacks even before starting operating (LOCE, LOE). To face these changes, schools need well qualified instructors. Given this need, and also…