Debates In English Teaching

What are the key debates in English teaching today? Debates in English Teaching explores the major issues all English teachers encounter in their daily professional lives. It engages with established and contemporary debates, promotes and supports critical reflection and aims to stimulate both novice and experienced teachers to reach informed judgements and argue their point of view with deeper theoretical knowledge and understanding. Key issues debated include: the professional identity of English teachers attitudes to correctness in grammar and standard English the importance of the media and new technologies social class and literacy the nature of the dialogic classroom the role of wider reading the politics of early literacy. With its combination of expert opinion and fresh insight, Debates in English Teaching is the ideal companion for all student and practising teachers engaged in initial training, continuing professional development and master's level study.

Debates in English Teaching explores the major issues all English teachers encounter daily in their professional lives. Written by leading experts in the field, the chapters bring together theoretical knowledge and contemporary perspectives to offer fresh insight into the most salient debates in the field of English teaching. The book supports critical reflection and will help both novice and experienced teachers to reach informed judgements and argue their point of view with deeper theoretical knowledge and understanding. This second edition has been fully updated throughout and features four new chapters. Key debates covered include: Literacy and social class English and difference Digital literacy English and mental wellbeing Reading for pleasure The literary canon The importance of the media and new technologies With its combination of expert opinion and fresh insight, Debates in English Teaching is an ideal companion for all student and practising teachers engaged in initial training, continuing professional development and master’s level study.

"Debating is a well-known method of dialogic speaking and is widely practiced, intercontinentally and across diverse cultural boundaries, to develop interaction, negotiation, agreeing and disagreeing in TEFL. This book invites scholars and practitioners to reflect on the demands of the current age for moving forward educational practice. It examines how debating can promote a holistic understanding and improvement of experience of education, and indeed academic outcomes. The author details the experiences of an adult EFL debate group in a private language school in the North of Italy, reporting how the participants experience the pedagogy, so as to offer insights into it as a form of teaching speaking in adult EFL"--

Debates in Second Language Education provides an up-to-date account of the key debates and areas of controversy in the field of second language learning and teaching. Adopting a broad and comparative perspective and emphasising the importance of considering a variety of learning contexts, it encourages students and practising teachers to engage with contemporary issues and developments in learning and teaching. Chapters are designed to stimulate thinking and understanding in relation to theory and practice, and help language educators to make informed judgements by arguing from a position based on theoretical knowledge and understanding. Bringing together leading contributors in the field, the book discusses a wide range of issues relating to second language learning and teaching including: the relationship between age and success in language learning aptitude versus motivation as predictors of successful language learning linguistic diversity and plurilingualism the teaching of grammar and vocabulary the value of phonics learning pronunciation the second language only versus the multilingual debate With reflective points in every chapter, Debates in Second Language Education will be a valuable resource for any student or practising teacher, as well as for those engaged in initial teacher education, continuing professional development or Master's level study. It will also be of interest to second language acquisition researchers and those studying applied linguistics.

This book captures an urgent moment for language teaching, learning and research. At its core are a series of debates concerning gender stereotyping, the place of linguistics in modern languages, language activism, multilingualism and modern languages and digital humanities. Taken together, these debates explore the work that languages, and that those who learn and speak them, do in the world as well as the way we think 'through' and 'in' a language and are shaped by it. Language Debates acknowledges the history of language teaching and the current realities of language teaching and learning. It is bold in suggesting ways forward for reform and for policy, setting languages and language learning at the heart of a consciously transformative set of goals. This book is therefore essential reading for academics, language teachers, policy makers, students, activists and those passionate about progressing language learning and teaching. The editors and contributors make up a multilingual and multicultural team who work across languages, cultures and borders with a globally-informed approach to their work. Uniquely, the debates in this volume are based on events with participants in the Language Acts and Worldmaking Debates Series and/or workshops within the wider research project and take into account the ensuing discussions there. Each debate is accompanied by an interview which serves as a model on how to continue the conversation beyond the printed pages of the book. You can also discover ways to join the debate through links on the Language Acts and Worldmaking series website (www.jmlanguages.com/languageacts) which includes recorded debates, additional materials and more information about the series. Like all the volumes in the Language Acts and Worldmaking series, the overall aim is two-fold: to challenge widely-held views about language learning as a neutral instrument of globalisation and to innovate and transform language research, teaching and learning, together with Modern Languages as an academic discipline, by foregrounding its unique form of cognition and critical engagement. Specific aims are to: · propose new ways of bridging the gaps between those who teach and research languages and those who learn and use them in everyday contexts from the professional to the personal · put research into the hands of wider audiences · share a philosophy, policy and practice of language teaching and learning which turns research into action · provide the research, experience and data to enable informed debates on current issues and attitudes in language learning, teaching and research · share knowledge across and within all levels and experiences of language learning and teaching · showcase exciting new work that derives from different types of community activity and is of practical relevance to its audiences · disseminate new research in languages that engages with diverse communities of language practitioners.

Debates in Modern Languages Education offers a comprehensive introduction and synthesis of the major themes and research evidence in language learning and teaching today, providing an up-to-date, authoritative review of traditional and contemporary issues in language teaching. With chapters by leading experts in the field, thematic sections explore and consider: the importance of a wide range of different knowledge bases and skills for effective teaching how to become expert practitioners approaches to teaching with reference to relevant theories, complex constructs, and empirical research the innovations and ideas that shape and will shape the discipline for the next decade. Each thought-provoking chapter is supported by reference to further reading and additional material to encourage deeper exploration which will help the reader to fully engage in the debates presented. This book is a valuable resource for any student or practising teacher engaged in initial teacher education, continuing professional development and Masters level study.

Debating and discussion tips for ESL learners

Issues in English Teaching invites primary and secondary teachers of English to engage in debates about key issues in subject teaching. The issues discussed include: *the increasingly centralised control of the curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy in the school teaching of English in England and Wales as a result of initiatives such as the National Literacy Strategy *new technologies which are transforming pupils' lived experience of literacy or literacies *the accelerating globalisation of English and the independence of other versions of English from English Standard English. A National Curriculum with a nationalist perspective on language, literacy and literature cannot fully accommodate English *what has become 'naturalised' and 'normalised' in English teaching, and the educational and ideological reasons for this *hierarchies that have been created in the curriculum and pedagogy, identifying who and what has been given low status, excluded or marginalised in the development of the current model of English. Issues in English Teaching will stimulate student teachers, NQTs, language and literacy co-ordinators, classroom English teachers and aspiring or practising Heads of English, to reflect on the identity or the subject, the principles and policies which, have determined practice, and those which should influence future practice.