This article explores how soccer can be used as a lens to teach about German history, culture, and society. I outline three sample modules for an advanced German course at the high school or college level: The first module focuses on soccer in German history, the second on sexism and LGBTQ-related topics in soccer, and the third on soccer and…

A great deal of research on second language (L2) input has provided useful linguistic evidence for the development of generalizations about and hypotheses on the usage-based nature of L2 knowledge. However, despite the fact that classrooms are one of the most ubiquitous sites of L2 learning, we still know very little about the linguistic quality…

Large Language Models (LLMs) are a powerful type of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that simulates how humans organize language and are able to interpret, predict, and generate text. This allows for contextual understanding of natural human language which enables the LLM to understand conversational human input and respond in a natural manner. Recent…

This paper looked at students' perceived level of English proficiency among Dodoma secondary schools in Tanzania. Factors like attitude, anxiety, classroom activities, motivation, and learning resources were considered as influencing English learning. The study was guided by three theories: Input Hypothesis, Inter-language and Vygotsky's theory of…

This paper looked at students' perceived level of English proficiency among Dodoma secondary schools in Tanzania. Factors like attitude, anxiety, classroom activities, motivation, and learning resources were considered as influencing English learning. The study was guided by three theories: Input Hypothesis, Interlanguage and Vygotsky's theory of…

There is a general public concern in Kenya that majority of Form Four school leavers lack communicative and linguistic competence and thus cannot sustain conversation in English language without occasionally code switching to "Sheng" or Kiswahili. This study sought to find out the classroom activities used by teachers to promote…

This action research study explores explicit vocabulary instruction in an L2 (English) content-area course with a group of university student teachers. The study reviews several positions on the treatment of vocabulary in L2 contexts. The researcher takes up the teaching of explicit vocabulary through class activities and the students' completion…

This article proposes a model for sensitizing students to the richness of literary texts based on Lee and VanPatten's (1995) structured input/output approach to teaching foreign languages (FL). It begins by discussing the difficulties and challenges of intermediate-level FL courses, noting that the concept of "bridge courses" may be faulty because…

Examined the differential role of comprehension and production practice in second language learning. Discusses the results of a study of 82 first-year students of Spanish as a second language that indicated that relative effectiveness of production versus comprehension practice depended on the morphosyntactic complexity of the structure in…

After many years of attention to input that supplies classroom second language (L2) learners with positive evidence on L2 forms and features, recent studies have begun to identify and describe the negative evidence in "reactive" input, provided through interlocutor responses to forms and features that are used by learners, but are not…

The traditional approach to grammar teaching provides learners with opportunities to produce specific grammatical structures. This article explores an alternative approach, one based on interpreting input. The rationale for the approach is discussed, as are the principles for designing interpretation tasks for grammar teaching. (Contains 35…

This article presents arguments for using listening and reading activities as an option for techniques in grammar pedagogy. It describes two possible approaches: Processing Instruction (PI) and Enriched Input (EI), and examples of their key features are included in the appendices. The article goes on to report on a classroom based quasi-experiment…

Describes how an English-as-a-Second-Language program can move as painlessly as possible from conversational to academic English in order to cover the use of English in business, politics, and science. The article focuses on helping students progress in their acquired language, in the absence of native speakers, after the program is over. (12…