Goodith White

Changing values: what use are theories of language learning and teaching?

Abstract This paper is a response to the common perception by student teachers that the research and theory courses on their program are overtheoretical and unrelated to classroom practice. While there is some support for a categorical distinction between theory and practice in language education, it is suggested that the beliefs, assumptions and knowledge of teachers are in fact inextricably bound up with what goes on in the classroom. We investigate two groups of student teachers studying at undergraduate and postgraduate level to become teachers of English to speakers of other languages. We examine the extent to which a research and theory course which both groups took in second language acquisition influenced key beliefs which students held relating to language learning during their period of study.

The Real Thing? Authenticity and Academic Listening.

In this article we explore the usefulness of the criterion of authenticity for the selection and evaluation of EAP materials. These materials were specialised listening texts used on a first year undergraduate programme at a U.K. university. Using a student questionnaire and techniques of discourse analysis based on Hallidays concepts of field, tenor and mode, we investigated the levels of difficulty and relevance of materials using four media: published audio tapes, audio recordings of a live lecture, video materials and a short, simulated lecture by the teacher. We found that the texts which related to the students experience and permitted learner interaction appeared to have more potential for language learning than those which merely replicated the discourse of the target situation.

How new students take notes at lectures

Much research has been done on note taking at lectures over the past 75 years. However, in the UK during the past decade students have been admitted without the traditional formal qualifications. The aims of this study were to compare the core academic skill of note taking at lectures of these Wider Access students with both international and conventional students. What were the aims of their note taking? What techniques did they use? Two methods were used: (i) the notes from a lecture of the international and conventional students were analysed according to Hulls categories, as extended by Sutherland; (ii) six students from each group were interviewed on why and how they took notes. The goal of most international students was instrumental: to get an accurate record of the lecture which would help them with subsequent essays and exams. Most of the British students (both Wider Access and conventional) had a similar aim, however a minority of the latter were more likely to see the lecture in addition as a source of references for further reading.