Bridging the gap between receptive and productive competence (Cambridge Conversations)

[ELTWeekly Volume 7, Issue 16 | August 31, 2015 | ISSN 0975-3036]

Key characteristics

  • While learners’ receptive competence continues to develop, their productive competence remains relatively static.
  • Language items that learners recognize and understand in the input they hear do not pass into their productive competence.

All language users have greater receptive competence (language they can understand) than productive competence (language they can produce). I can read great novels for example, but I could never write one. Traditionally, in language teaching we recognize this fact in the distinction between active and passive language knowledge, particularly in relation to vocabulary learning, where it is normally assumed that learners should be able to understand far more words than they can use. (more…)

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Six ways to boost classroom participation: Part Six (OUP Blog)

[ELTWeekly Volume 7, Issue 16 | August 31, 2015 | ISSN 0975-3036]

When students are busy in an English class thinking about how to go about saying something, they can become weighed down by the need to produce perfect linguistic patterns. So they focus too much on accuracy, rather than really communicating. So how can we get them to communicate if they don’t have enough language? We set tasks at a low language level. This can, however, create another problem: these kinds of activities can fail to challenge learners cognitively. Although our students cannot yet express complex thoughts and ideas in English, they can of course do so in their native tongue (and possibly in other languages too), so the activities we give them need to bear this in mind. (more…)

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ESL Fanatics: 7 Pop Culture Elements You Can Use to Engage Your Students (Busy Teacher)

[ELTWeekly Volume 7, Issue 15 | July 27, 2015 | ISSN 0975-3036]

Viral videos, snarky memes, and a cat that is so grumpy it puts all other crabby felines to shame, these are but a few of the pop culture elements that make millions drop what they’re doing to check out the latest craze. Why are these things so addictive? What makes them so irresistible?

What is Pop Culture?

Pop Culture is defined as the set of elements and phenomena that represent the mainstream of any given culture – “pop” is short for “popular”. Within this category, we have images, memes, videos, games and attitudes. It is often opposed to what may be called “high culture”, things like literature and classical music. Pop culture is often seen as superficial and consumerist. These days, it is the main reason people waste countless hours surfing the Internet and watching videos.

Why Use Pop Culture in the ESL Classroom? (more…)

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