The research Winter, C. (2018). Disrupting colonial discourses in the geography curriculum during the introduction of British Values policy in schools. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 50(4), 456-475. Open access, click here. Summary The aim of the study was ‘to expose and disrupt… Read More ›
coursebooks
ELT materials writing – my year in review
It’s been quite a good year on the writing front. Balancing writing with full-time teaching is tough, but the rewards are great! It’s only three weeks until our xmas holidays so I’m calling this the end of my writing year…. Read More ›
More on developing meaning-building skills in reading
This post follows on from Rachael Roberts’ great article on developing meaning-building skills in reading. As Rachael says, comprehension questions have their place but they also have their limitations. Tasks that develop meaning-building skills, which you could use alongside/instead of… Read More ›
Materials writing news and views, August 2019
It’s been a whole month since I’ve punned in a published resource! Crazy. New releases Tyson Seburn has a put together a sample unit of an ELT LGBTQIA2 inclusive coursebook unit, based on a normalisation approach. He’s done a great… Read More ›
Materials writing news and views, April 2019
April update has got a bit long, sorry. It’s mainly because of IATEFL and ELTONS. IATEFL talks There were some interesting talks related to materials writing. Equality, diversity and inclusion was certainly a theme. Two interesting points from John Gray’s… Read More ›
How sanitized is your coursebook?
Tut! Coursebooks with their PARSNIP policy. You’ve literally given me nothing this term – not even a shred of controversy.
Webinar notes: What about principles for materials development? (Brian Tomlinson)
Here is Brian Tomlinson’s recent webinar in written form: ‘What about principles for materials development?’ The session was delivered as part of the MaWSIG ‘What about…? Webinar series. It was full of take home points so this post is pretty… Read More ›
I clearly love coursebooks
I always feel embarrassed when I speak up for coursebooks. I think I’m supposed to hate them. Everybody else seems to, so I guess that’s the right thing to do. According to Steve Brown’s latest post (well worth a read),… Read More ›
How I plan with coursebooks
Coursebooks. Arrgh. I write and read so many rants about them. Global coursebooks are too ‘catch-all’, they’re not aligned with what we know about second language acquisition, they’re a straightjacket, the images promote certain ideals, the content is too diluted,… Read More ›
Coursebook activities and SLA theory – do they match?
According to Tomlinson (2013:12-15), ‘it is generally accepted that [Second Language Acquisition] is facilitated by: a rich and meaningful exposure to language in use affective and cognitive engagement making use of mental resources typically used in L1 communication noticing how… Read More ›