skipper
skipper's Latest Posts
Ethnic diversity and Gender bias in EFL textbooks
This paper discusses the importance of textbook selection for EFL students with regard to the portrayal of gender and the representation of the various ethnic groups in the targeted culture. Studies of the portrayal of women in EFL/ESL textbooks (Ansary and Babii 2003; Hartman and Judd 1978) have shown that the stereotypical role of women…
The role of the first language in foreign language learning
Second language use in the foreign language classroom needs to be maximised wherever possible, by encouraging its use and by using it for classroom management. However, research shows that the first language has a small but important role to play in communicating meaning and content.
Dave Sperling’s Guide to the Internet’s Best Writing Resources
The Internet is quickly becoming the premier resource for students to practice and improve their writing skills in English. On the World Wide Web students can find numerous high quality websites that include online dictionaries…
Culture Rejected as an Individual Difference in the SLA Process: Not significant, separate and appropriate, overall -nor for Northeast Asia
The question for examination is whether culture needs to be considered as a significant and/or separate individual difference factor in SLA (second language acquisition) process theory and teaching against the more traditionally considered ones such as anxiety, aptitude attitude, and personality (Gardner and Lambert.1959; Gardner, Smythe and Clement 1979; Schumman, 1986; Mangubhai, 2002).
Teaching English Pronunciation Skills to the Asian Learner. A Cultural Complexity or Subsumed Piece of Cake?
For the last two decades academics and publishers have propounded theories on pronunciation acquisition and on pronunciation training. For the greater part, they have paid lip service to the critical issue underlying both the aforementioned, namely the culture behind the target of the pronunciation theory.
Subliminal Sexism in Current ESL/EFL Textbooks
This study was an attempt to explore the status of sexism in current ESL/EFL textbooks. To this end, two types of analysis were performed to examine the manifestation(s) of sexist attitudes and values in two textbooks (Right Path to English I & II) that are locally designed to cater for and respond to the English language needs of Iranian students at secondary schools.
The Viability of Computer Mediated Communication in the Korean Secondary EFL Classroom
Korean secondary EFL classrooms have suffered severely from limited opportunities for authentic language interaction, which Integrationists claim is necessary for language acquisition. The literature and previous research suggest that Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) can provide many of the alleged benefits ascribed to the Interaction Hypothesis.
ASSESSING JAPAN’S INSTITUTIONAL ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS
Entrance into institutions of tertiary education in Japan has been described as a hierarchical system of ‘exam hell’ by more than one critic (see, e.g., Cutts 1997; Yoneyama 1999). Families invest enormous resources, both in time and money, to cram for the tests. In some cases, if initially unsuccessful at entering the college of choice, students even devote a year (or more!) after high school to further prepare to sit the exam yet again.
Enhancing Value Perception in the Japanese EFL Classroom
Raffini (1996) has proposed five psychoacademic needs (autonomy, competence, self-esteem, belonging/relatedness, and fun and enjoyment) the satisfaction of which “fuels” intrinsic motivation in an educational setting.
Intercultural Communication & Grice’s Principle
Grice’s theory of implicature has been considered ethnocentric, but this paper will argue that it is highly relevant to intercultural analysis. The Principle of Cooperation, and its subordinate maxims, focus on the rationality of discourse, but Grice also includes linguistic and nonlinguistic context, conventional meaning and “other items of background knowledge” in the inferential process.
