Category: English Central Blog

Corpus Curiosities is a semi-regular feature on our blog ans is written by Leo Gomez. Leo Gomez is a teacher and trainer based in Toronto. He’s been TEFLing for over 14 years in different countries. His interest lies in a lexical approach to language learning and Corpus linguistics.
leo.elt.trainer@gmail.com

 

In my first columns, I described what Corpora is (a collection of “real world” language samples), how it can be used in language teaching and learning – and I addressed a specific English tense and its usage, according to what corpora tell us.

In today’s column, I will begin a series of posts where I will address easily accessible and free online resources that I personally use in class and have encouraged my students to use.

A lot of these corpora tools deal with:

• Word frequency:  What words are high in frequency? How often is the word “iota” used? Which word is more common “unequivocally” or “unconditionally”?
• Word clusters: which short expressions are most common? “I mean” or “you know what I mean”?
• Collocations:  Which words typically go with the adjective “avid”?
• Concordances:  How is a particular word/phrase used in context?

Today’s corpora tool is a simple one. I often recommend it to students and teachers, especially those who are not used to using corpora tools and are not as linguistically minded.

Google’s Ngram Viewer

https://books.google.com/ngrams

Ngram Viewer is a user-friendly online search engine that targets the frequencies of words using a yearly count between 1500 and 2008. It can be used to search for a single word or a phrase using Google’s text corpora in both American and British English. For fiction aficionados, there’s an option for English fiction and English.

Classroom Usage

Recently, I was teaching a Pre-Intermediate class and students were having issues with prepositions. Their task was to describe things they could do ‘on the island’, but some students kept saying ‘in the island’ and ‘at the island’. Class was interrupted when a group of students asked me what the correct preposition was. I saw this as an opportunity to introduce Google Ngram to my students.

Whenever they had doubts about a certain preposition to be used with a noun phrase, they would use Google Ngram. I, of course, always double checked with them to make sure the research was done correctly. I encouraged them to take responsibility of their own learning.

A similar problem occurred in a writing class. Students had doubts about whether to say ‘in the email’ or ‘on the email’. Although this may sound like a no-brainer to a native speaker – ESL learners struggle with prepositions. This is because they are not only transferring their L1 knowledge into English, but also because they were likely taught prepositions as individual words.

Here’s the result of their “research”:

There is a striking difference in usage between the two forms. ‘In the email’ is far more common than ‘on the email’ – but a careful look at how ‘on the email’ is used, suggests that it is not incorrect to say it. When you click on the results (or is it ‘in the results’? Ngram it!), it is possible to see that ‘on the email’ is commonly used with nouns such as ‘system’, ‘data’, ‘list’, etc.

It is fair to say that Google Ngram is a good introduction for students and teachers who want to become language detectives. It is clean, user-friendly, and results are shown with a fair degree of accuracy. However, it is important to note that one should not completely go with the results shown. Further investigation as to why such collocations or expressions are being used, and in what context, is encouraged.

References

• https://books.google.com/ngrams
• Carter R. & McCarthy, M. (1988). Vocabulary and Language Teaching.  Longman:New York.

Jeremy has written courses, readers and books about teaching including the bestselling The Practice of English Language Teaching. He has trained (and spoken with) teachers around the world. He is a faculty member on the MATESOL at The New School, New York. Jeremy is also co-author of Jetstream, a new six-level, general English integrated skills course published by Helling Languages and distributed in the USA and Canada by English Central.

You are best known as a methodology writer. What attracted you to the Jetstream project?

I was interested to see what coursebooks could offer in the modern age – and I was very keen to work with Jane Revell and the Helbling team.

Because there are many general English coursebooks on the market, it is difficult for a new series to set itself apart from others. The unit themes, for example, are pretty much the same across the board (sports, dating, the environment, family, etc.). Jetstream claims to have interesting and motivating content – how did you and your fellow authors accomplish this?

Jetstream not only deals with some topics that aren’t sometimes touched on (like the senses, immigration, ideas of beauty and war, for example), but it also approaches them somewhat differently. For example in the sport unit (yes, that’s a recurring unit topic we know!) students have to try and come up with a definition of what a sport is, learn about a prize-winning male synchronised swimming team (which started out when a group of nearly middle-aged men suffering from ennui thought it might be fun), discover Ulama (an ancient ball game still played in parts of Mexico), and probe the attractions (or otherwise) of mud running – and laugh along with someone’s experience of it.

But above all, with everything from ‘You first’ sections, presentations, discussions etc, Jetstream is a course about and for students. It is what they bring to the course (and the classroom) that counts and Jetstream continually emphasises and encourages this. Our aim is to open the book(s) out and not keep students trapped between the covers, using the book(s) instead as a window out to the world.

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There are regular thinking and memory activities throughout Jetstream. What is the rationale behind this feature?

We believe profoundly that when students are actively engaged in what they are doing (thinking about it) they learn more effectively and enthusiastically. This kind of cognitive engagement is a vital ingredient in language learning, it seems to us. And what IS certain is that we remember things better when we have had to engage with them in a thoughtful way. Older teachers will remember Earl Stevick’s pivotal book Memory, Meaning and Method. Our approach – to make students think about meaning and language construction so that they remember what they have done – is a direct descendant of that kind of revolutionary (for its time) thinking. To be a good language learner you need to develop a good memory!

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Video is also a central feature of the series. Can you explain how it is used?

Almost anyone, nowadays, can film something on their smartphone and then upload what they have done to YouTube or a social media site. It would be foolish to ignore this – and indeed the whole process of doing the same in English has some real advantages. Not only does it engage students cognitively and emotionally, it also provokes memorisation (see above)! But it’s more than that: when students are going to do something in English on film, experience tells us that they pay more attention to how well they are using English than at almost any other time. And then, of course, there are the videos already ‘out there’. A modern course book, when discussing a singer or news event, for example, can’t keep students ‘imprisoned’ in the book – but instead has to encourage them to find videos themselves to back up what they have been discussing and learning.

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Some teachers are very much in love with the internet to the extent that they feel they no longer need coursebooks. What would you say to this?

We live in an internet age, but in our opinion reports of the death of books have been premature and, we think, plain wrong! Coursebooks provide a solid base for use at any time and any place. Their batteries don’t run out. There are no connection problems, and they can be used in just about any conditions. More importantly, as current research is showing, people are going back to books because they LIKE them! However – and this is a fundamental principle in Jeststream – books alone are not at all appropriate in a digital age. That’s why we encourage students to ‘explore online’ and why the Jetstream ‘package’ has cyber homework and all sorts of other online backup material and activities. Of course online material can be attractive and dynamic, but with  successful and appropriate design of the kind that Helbling provides books can provide profound satisfaction for both students and teachers. If users think, as we do, that Jetstream feels good, then that is the best answer as to why books still work!

 

Pearson has long held the position of largest educational publisher. However, times have been tough for publishers for the recent past and Pearson has not been immune. Last year, it sold off its stake in the Financial Times and The Economist and decided to focus on educational publishing. Late January, Pearson announced that it would cut 10% of its workforce as its newest measure to retain investor confidence despite sharp profit losses predicted for 2015 and 2016. A change of focus in 2013 on digital publishing was supposed to lead to profits by 2015… the new restructuring highlights that changes over the past few years have consistently failed to turn the publishing giant back onto the road of profit and stability.

Read more.

The L2TOR (pronounced “el tutor”) project, which involves developing child-friendly social robots to tutor young children in  second language learning, is exciting enough to begin with. However, with the current Syrian Refugee crisis in mind, L2TOR gains another interesting dimention. The L2TOR project is being run out of Bielefeld University in Germany and they are currently using their robots to teach Syrian refugee children. Educator’s hearts can warm otherwise, too, as the English Language departments of universities in a number of countries are devising language programs to assist Syrian refugees.

Read more in the EL Gazette

Read more abou the L2TOR project

Is there any end to the problems that oil creates? The drastic decrease in the price of oil of late has caused economic woes in Saudi Arabia. There is all sorts of belt-tightening going on, and one area that is being squeezed is the foreign university scholarship program  this is the program that has fuelled the huge growth of Saudi students studying in American and Canadian post-secondary institutions for the past ten years or so. In the 2014-2015 school year, 60,000 Saudi students were studying in US universities and thus represented the fourth largest group of international students.

How the program is changing or is going to change is not entirely clear. What is clear is that numbers are already down by about 20%… with further decreases quite possible. Of course, this is worrying for many institutions that have been relying on these scholarship students to prop up their numbers and financial reserves as it will be a loss that will be difficult if not impossible to replace.

 

Read more in Inside Higher Ed

Geez, with all the time we spend talking to people, it is a wonder we get any work done! We continue our series of video interviews with methodology man and Jetstream author Jeremy Harmer. This month, Jeremy speaks on the subject of the role that memory has in language learning.

Lindsay Clandfield has kindly agreed to speak to English Central on the subject of fun and games in the classroom. Here follows our interview with him.

What is the value of games and fun activities in the classroom?

First of all, I guess I should define what I understand by a game. A game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun. And they are a really important in language classes. It’s no surprise that, at teacher workshops or conferences, the sessions about using games are very popular. I think there are at least four important pedagogical reasons for including games and fun activities in the language classroom:

1) Playing a game can help reduce inhibition about speaking in a foreign language; the element of play can help take learners out of themselves. At the risk of getting too technical, I would argue that games help reduce what Stephen Krashen calls the affective filter in language acquisition.

2) Many language games can provide an intensive amount of language practice. There may be repeated use of different forms. In this way, some games have drill-like aspects, but are more meaningful.

3) A game also creates a context where the language is useful and meaningful. The language produced in a game is often a means to an end and can also help the teacher pinpoint areas that learners may have difficulty.

4) Finally, games can be very motivating. They sustain interest and hard work with the language, and can be very enjoyable for both the learners and the teacher

Earlier this week I had a class of 10 adult learners. They all have practically zero English, and we were learning numbers 0 to 10 and saying phone numbers. This is the kind of area where little games really come in handy to extend the practice they need in learning and saying them.

In more goal-specific classes, like exam preparation and EAP, do games still have a place?

I’m going to quote from a classic book on language learning games. It was written 35 years ago, but I think still holds true today.

If it is accepted that games can provide intense and meaningful practice of language, then they must be regarded as central to a teacher’s repertoire. They are thus not for use solely on wet days and at the end of term! (Wright, Betteridge and Buckby 1979)

I’d go further and say that for exam classes, games are a very good fit. Exams have (usually) a fixed set of tasks. Incorporating games adds variety to what could otherwise become very dull repetition of task types.

What should teachers do to make sure that students are aware of the value of time spent on games and game-like activities?

The fact that we began our interview with a question about the value of games in the language classroom is a good indication that not everyone thinks this is the best way to spend one’s time in class! This is true of learners, especially adult learners too. To help ensure buy-in from your class here are three tips I’ve learned over the years using games in the class.

First, when setting up a game, make sure to state the linguistic or skills aims of the activity. If you think you’re dealing with people who are going to be resistant to games altogether, don’t call it a game. Say ‘today we’re going to try a different kind of activity to give you lots of practice in (insert grammar, vocabulary or skill area here)’.

Second, at the end of the game make sure to recap the language practiced or the goal achieved. Don’t finish by merely saying who won (if there was a winner), but make it clear that they spent twenty minutes working on their intonation (or present perfect, or sentence transformation activities or whatever it was).

Finally, don’t overuse games. It is possible to have too much of a good thing. An enjoyable language game may be like a healthy dessert, but you wouldn’t want to have a diet of only desserts!

Lindsay Clandfield is an award-winning writer, teacher, teacher trainer and international speaker in the field of English language teaching. He has written more than ten coursebooks for language learners including Global and Skillful, which are both published by Macmillan and distributed by English Central. He is also the co-author of various methodology books for teachers and the co-editor of the Delta Teacher Development Series. You can find out more about him at his website www.lindsayclandfield.com

 

Well, it isn’t really surprising but it is definitely disappointing: a new study reveals that pretty girls get better marks from male and femal professors than not-so-pretty girls. For male students, it doesn’t seem to matter if they look like Orlando Bloom or Nosferatu.

Get the details

Well, not just education either… armoured vehicles too. While many are skeptical of the morals of big business, these problems are in the public sector too. Recently there has been controversy because of the Canadian government’s plan to sell armoured vehicles to Saudia Arabia, a country with a poor reputation for human rights issues, including the treatment of women, dissidents and prisoners.

And so it was only fair that people would cry foul over the fact that both Algonquin College and Niagara College would receive some criticism over offering programs in the Saudia Arabia that are only open to men. Of course, it is the culture there that men and women are educated separately, but does that mean that Canadian colleges should take the “when in Rome approach” or refrain from doing business in countries whose values are in direct opposition to ours in certain areas?

What nags at us most is the very fact that these are public agencies doing business. If it were private, it wouldn’t be as glaring a problem. Here are examples of ignoring national values is order to add to public coffers. There is definitely a lack of integrity here.

Read a somewhat less opinionated and more factual article in the Globe and Mail

According to the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors report, which was released in November of 2015, the number of international students in American colleges and universities reached a record high in 2014/2015 of almost one million. The increase over the previous school year was up ten percent, which is the highest rate of growth in 35 years and 44 states shared in this growth. The United States is the largest host to international students globally and hosts about twice as many students as the second-largest host, Britain.

Read more