Presents an interview with Costas Markou, the Chief Education Officer for the Ministry of Education in Cyprus, about cooperative education, focusing on his personal history as a learner, teacher trainer, inspector, and administrator. (Author/SM)

Explores the background to the quality debate in language education as it affects both the private and the state sector, noting similarities and differences between them. Looks at definitions of quality as they manifest themselves in schemes of quality assurance for the private language school sector, and for the state further and higher education…

Argues that the continuing expansion of teaching English to young learners (TEYL) brings challenges to the wider English language teaching field (ELT). Discusses why starting younger may not bring automatic improvement to language standards unless teacher education and secondary language teaching both rise to the challenges of the new situation.…

Describes the rationale and structure of a research project that focused on the role of reading in second-language acquisition. Special focus is placed on the initial stages of the project as well as characteristics of the backgrounds of the students involved. (seven references) (JL)

Argues that the best moment for responding to student writing is before any draft is completed. Analyzes ways in which this can be put into practice in the composition classroom and reports on how a group of undergraduate, intermediate-level Portuguese English-as-a-Second-Language writers reacted to this kind of pre-text feedback. (Author/SM)

Presents recommendations for a teachers'-guide evaluation checklist intended for less-experienced English-as-a-Second-Language teachers. The checklist can be used independently to meet various objectives. Notes reasons for evaluating materials, discusses published checklists, and presents a revised compilation of their criteria and a concise…

Analyzes tasks designed for teaching and shows how the analysis can be used to develop tasks for teacher training. The ideas presented are derived from observations and recordings from an in-service teacher development project in elementary classrooms in Malta and Norway and in secondary classrooms in Britain. (eight references) (Author/CK)

Examined how living outside native-language environments, and subsequent language attrition, affected the language model provided by native speakers teaching English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) in Spain. Surveys indicated that the first language was a changeable system susceptible to the pervasive influence of the second language and to the…

Suggests that using mazes in English-as-a-Second-Language and other preservice-teacher-education classes provide student teachers with an opportunity to enhance decision-making skills by choosing a particular course of action and reflecting on its likely outcomes. Mazes let students engage in debate with their peers about classroom actions without…