I recently wrote a post outlining why I'm not a fan of using concept-checking questions – CCQs – when dealing with vocabulary and if you've not read it, it may make sense to go there first before continuing. I ran…
On the over-use of concept-checking questions: part 1
There aren’t many things that I think should be comprehensively banned from EFL classrooms, but the use of closed CCQs (Concept-Checking Questions) for items of vocabulary is one! For those of you unfamiliar with CCQs, they seem to have come…
Complicating the coursebook debate part 3: coursebook use
Today's post follows on from another recent post that looked at some of the so-called false assumptions that supposedly lie at the heart of coursebooks. The assumptions, as stated in a recent piece by Geoff Jordan, are that all coursebooks…
Complicating the coursebook debate part 2: can’t we just be friends?
This week I thought I would take a break from the grammar series (to be continued!) and pick up on the discussion of coursebooks that Hugh started some time ago with the somewhat optimistically titled Complicating the coursebook debate part…
Grammar nonsense 3: the use of the word grammar
So the other day, I opened my inbox and found an email encouraging me to celebrate March the 4th, ‘World Grammar Day’. At first, I thought it was some kind of joke. Here we are, with the world going slightly…
It’s all in the Mind: Neurobiology and the Lexical Approach
Today we're proud to present a guest post from Bruno Leys, who works at VIVES University College, Bruges, Belgium. Bruno can be contacted on: [email protected] and would love to hear any comments or questions you have. Over to Bruno: When…
Everything you ever wanted to know about snowclones, but were afraid to ask.
Several years ago now, I wrote a conference talk entitled - rather wittily, I felt - What have corpora ever done for us? In retrospect, I now realise it's quite probable that the fact its title and much of its…
Making active and creative use of all the languages in your classroom.
I was recently at the third annual BELTA Day conference in Brussels, organised by the excellent Belgian English Language Teachers' Association. Whilst there, I saw a really fascinating presentation by a local teacher called Joris Van Den Bosch. Joris has…
Asking more: why some questions are better than others
There's an old saying that claims questions are never dangerous - only answers are. Well, a recent presentation I saw by Jim Scrivener gave me pause to reconsider this received wisdowm and to ask whether some questions might be if…
The Lexical Approach and natural selection
Today we're pleased to be able to bring you a guest post by Dr. Ivor Timmis. Ivor works at Leeds Beckett University and has always been one of the people we most look forward to hearing speak at conferences. Ivor…