Reading Room
Also explore
The reading room is updated every month so you have access to the latest journal articles and chapters taken from Cambridge's most recent publications.
Journal articles
The following articles are provided from Cambridge Journals Online.
'Teaching and assessing L2 pragmatics: What can we expect from learners?' (PDF)
Andrew D Cohen
Language Teaching, Volume 41, Issue 02, April 2008, pp 213–235
This paper starts by giving a rationale for why there is value in explicitly teaching second-language (L2) learners pragmatics in the target language. The importance of a research basis for choosing pragmatic materials to teach is underscored, and the focus is put on sources for materials on pragmatics and the means of data collection. Issues in the teaching of pragmatics are considered, including determining which material to teach, how to prepare teachers to teach it, and the role of teachers in facilitating the learning of pragmatics. Next, L2 pragmatics is viewed from the learners' perspective, in terms of the learning and performance of pragmatics, as well as approaches to assessing what it is that learners are able to do in a pragmatically appropriate way. Finally, consideration is given to the role of technology in making pragmatics accessible to learners, with reference to a website for teachers and curriculum writers and to websites designed for learners of specific languages such as Japanese and Spanish. Recent work on virtual environments for practicing Spanish pragmatics is discussed and preliminary findings from a small-scale study of this effort are reported.
'MALL Technology: Use of Academic Podcasting in the Foreign Language Classroom' (PDF)
M'hammed Abdous, Margaret M. Camarena and Betty Rose Facer
ReCALL, Volume 21, Issue 01, January 2009, pp 76–95
Integrating Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) technology (personal multimedia players, cell phones, and handheld devices) into the foreign language curriculum is becoming commonplace in many secondary and higher education institutions. Current research has identified both pedagogically sound applications and important benefits to students. In this paper, we present the results of an initial study which compares the academic benefits of integrating podcasts into the curriculum against using them as a supplemental/review tool. The study’s findings indicate that when instructors use podcasts for multiple instructional purposes (e.g., to critique student projects and exams, for student video presentations, for student paired interviews, to complete specific assignments, dictations, in roundtable discussions, or for guest lectures), students are more likely to use this technology and to report academic benefits. While the study is limited by small sample sizes and by some within-group variation in instructional techniques, the study provides initial evidence that podcast technology has the potential to provide greater benefits if it is used more than simply as a tool for reviewing. The study’s positive findings indicate that additional research to examine the effects of specific instructional uses of podcast technology is merited.
'Assessing World Englishes' (PDF)
Alan Davies
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Volume 29, March 2009, pp 80–89
English worldwide may be viewed in terms of spread and of diffusion. Spread refers to the use in different global contexts, such as publishing and examinations, of Standard British or American English. Diffusion describes the emergence of local varieties of English in, for example, India or Singapore, comparable to the earlier emergence of Australian English, Canadian English, and so on. In nonformal settings, interlocutors make use of their own local variety of English, their World Englishes (WEs). In formal settings, notably in English language assessment, it seems that the norm appealed to is still that of Standard British or American English. Since English as a lingua franca (ELF) appears to make use only of the spoken medium, there is less of a demand for an ELF written norm. At present what seems to hold back the use of local WEs norms in formal assessment is less the hegemony of Western postcolonial and economic power and more the uncertainty of local stakeholders.
Book chapters
The classroom environment's contribution to group dynamics (PDF)
Zoltán Dörnyei and Tim Murphey
(Chapter 5 of Group Dynamics in the Language Classroom, 2003)
'The chapter will:
- describe the nature and the impact of the classroom environment;
- discuss possible variations of the seating arrangement;
- consider temperature, lighting, decoration and music;
- present ways to increase student ownership of the classroom.'
The grammar of spoken English (PDF)
Dave Willis
(Chapter 9 of Rules, Patterns and Words, 2003)
'Some aspects of spoken language are very teachable. We can demonstrate typical exchanges, such as those used for offers or requests. In doing this we can focus on interactive markers like right, okay, fine and so on … All of these elements have an identifiable value which can, in principle, be made available to students.'