Being more “meta” : The value of explicit instruction on pedagogical approaches and language-learning strategies

By Melissa J. Enns Recently, I have been busy interviewing teacher colleagues for my thesis. Among the insights they have graciously shared, I have found much to reflect on and inspiration for today’s post. I will discuss the value of offering students explicit metacognitive instruction about the pedagogical approaches we employ in our classrooms and …

Using Blogs in the Language Classroom

by Melissa J. Enns Modern digital media technology is creating exciting new opportunities for education. Given my research on using blogging to merge research and practice in language education, today I will discuss the use of blogs as a pedagogical tool in language classrooms. On the surface, blogs provide learners with excellent forums for reading …

Language learning for at-risk students: Reviewing and repurposing the French immersion research

Guest contributor: Stephen Davis Stephen is a recent graduate of the Master of Arts in Second Language Education program at McGill University and a French immersion primary school teacher from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. His research interests include the experiencesLanguage learning for at-risk students: Reviewing and repurposing the French immersion research of Allophone students and at-risk learners …

Dabbling in the Murky Waters of Pragmatics

Let's have some fun! Today we're going to go beyond the topics of feedback, metalinguistic knowledge, and effective group work to talk about pragmatics. Taguchi (2011) defines pragmatic competence as "the ability to communicate and interpret meaning in social interactions" (p. 289). According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the study of pragmatics is concerned with contextual  language use in social …

Gamification of the Language Classroom

Guest contributor: Faten Alzaid Faten is a master's student in McGill's Second Language Education program. She has come from Saudi Arabia to conduct research related to the gamification of education, motivation, and second language acquisition. She believes high quality education grows by enhancing motivation, curiosity and desire. "I should have studied more!" I find this …

What role does group work actually play in language learning?

By Melissa J. Enns Spoken language production has been a recurring theme in recent posts on oral corrective feedback and in guest contributor Jihoon Kim's examination of off-task behaviour. Each of these posts has touched on the topic of pair or group work. Perhaps many of us have never stopped to consider why we use pair/group work or …