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1. From Passive Learners to Critical Thinkers: Preparing EFL Students for University Success

   In: English Teaching Forum 2010, Volume 48, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article explains how the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC) revised their curriculum to best prepare EFL students for English-speaking universities. After completing a needs analysis on how to best serve their students, the committee decided to make a more interactive classroom environment in which teachers integrated the four skills, used critical thinking activities, taught grammar in context, and used various methods of assessment. Feedback showed that both the students and the teachers responded positively to the changes.

2. Tools for Activating Materials and Tasks in the English Language Classroom

   In: English Teaching Forum 2009, Volume 47, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   This article presents techniques to make classroom materials and tasks more interactive and student-centered and thus motivate learners to take more control over their own learning. It demonstrates these techniques through elicitation, gapping, and adaptation/extension strategies. The article offers examples of classroom activities with detailed instructions to show how teachers can use materials and tasks in the English language classroom to address students’ interests, needs, and goals.

3. Applying Metacognitive Strategies to Skimming Research Articles in an ESP Context

   In: English Teaching Forum 2006, Volume 44, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   The article focuses on explaining to post-secondary teachers how to teach their students to use metacognitive strategies to skim research articles in specialized fields. The author briefly explains metacognitive strategies in reading tasks and discusses the importance of strategy training and having a purpose in reading. The author then describes a lesson plan that includes a presentation and a three-step guided practice. The author concludes by emphasizing reading strategy training in an ESP context.

4. Using Cooperative Learning to Facilitate Alternative Assessment

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002, Volume 40, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses the use of cooperative learning, an instructional strategy that utilizes group work to structure classroom interaction, to facilitate alternative assessment in the second or foreign language classroom. It highlights the importance of cooperative learning in assessment because assessment includes both linguistic and non-linguistic objectives, and meeting these objectives requires continuous and performance-based assessment. The article offers seven examples of cooperative assessments and shows how they can be used.

5. Introduction to Teaching Pragmatics (Reprinted from the online book Teaching Pragmatics, published by the Office of English Language Programs)

   In: English Teaching Forum 2003, Volume 41, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   Second and foreign language learners use English differently than native speakers do, especially in regard to greetings, closings, and managing conversations. Pragmatics does not receive the attention it should even though mistakes can be interpreted on a social and personal level. This article introduces a rationale for teaching pragmatics and discusses the goals. Teaching materials should include authentic language, and input should precede interpretation or production. Instructors may decide to use the L1 for raising awareness since these types of lessons are useful even for beginners.

6. Techniques for Students New to the Language Lab

   In: English Teaching Forum 2003, Volume 41, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article presents techniques that can be used in the university language lab to improve listening and speaking skills. The article describes several tasks for pairs and groups. Lessons begin with a popular English song and a warm up activity. Materials expose students to the formal and informal language of native speakers and fluent non-native speakers. Drills, stories, songs, and conversations make the language lab a beneficial resource. An initial session highlights the unique aspects of spoken language.

7. Create to Communicate: Collage

   In: Create to Communicate: Art Activities for the EFL Classroom Format(s): Text

   This section contains five lesson plans focusing on imperatives, present continuous, wh-questions, contrastive nouns, and future aspect using will focusing on high beginner to advanced proficiency levels.

8. Writing for the World: Wikipedia as an Introduction to Academic Writing

   In: English Teaching Forum 2010, Volume 48, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   This article outlines a unit in which students write an article for Wikipedia as a way to learn and practice academic writing. Students learn how to use secondary sources in their writing as well as master a new genre with appropriate conventions and word choice. With this activity, students are encouraged to build academic writing skills in an interesting and public way. The author provides an explanation of Wikipedia as well as a step-by-step lesson plan with sample assignment sheets.

9. Using VOA Special English to Improve Advanced English Learners' Productive Use of High Frequency Words

   In: English Teaching Forum 2009, Volume 47, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article focuses on advanced ESL learners’ acquisition of the spelling, pronunciation, and comprehension of high-frequency words at the productive skill level rather than at the receptive skill level. It discusses the use of the Voice of America (VOA) Special English program to expose learners to different activities requiring productive skills. The article offers examples of how the VOA program exposes learners to comprehensible input through high-frequency words and helps them produce these words both in writing and speaking.

10. Using Guided, Corpus-Aided Discovery to Generate Active Learning

    In: English Teaching Forum 2008, Volume 46, Number 4 Format(s): Text

    This article shows how English teachers can provide careful guidance for students to use a corpus to research, discover, and reflect on the grammatical and sociolinguistic aspects of English. The author introduces the idea of using a corpus in teaching English and offers several important online resources for English language corpora. The author provides a rationale for corpus-based teaching and gives two examples of how to guide students in exploring linguistic features of English.

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