This post is my answer to an agony letter I received a while ago. The question was “Is teaching through translation a good idea?”
interlanguage
Declarative vs. procedural knowledge
Before we go any further, click on the link for a short post explaining the basic differences between declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge. This is an e-mail I’ve just received: Dear Luiz, When teaching grammar, it seems we can never control what students use… and sometimes I’m not really sure what to do. I’m teaching a certain … Read more
Strategic competence vs. language acquisition
I have just come back from a 5-day stay in Buenos Aires, which is hands down one of my favorite cities in the world. Despite their not always undeserved reputation for grumpiness, my Portenho friends have always been gracious with my feeble, embarrassing attempts at Spanish.
oral correction: it’s complicated
Few teaching techniques in ESL / EFL are as difficult to master as effective, sensitive, principled and systematic oral correction. I remember working fairly closely with Donald Freeman back in the mid 90s and, in common with all my colleagues at the time, I was in awe of the man’s deep understanding of learning processes … Read more