Tag: Linguistics
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Microsoft Class Notebooks in the Communications Classroom
An early-view article in the TESOL Journal by Pamela Everly examines how Microsoft’s learning management platform the OneNote Class Notebook (ONCN) can facilitate speech activities in a listening/speaking or communication focused classroom. Pamela says the following: ONCN’s capacity for handling multiple data types, providing individualized content, and delivering multiple computer‐assisted pronunciation technologies on demand increased…
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Hyper-Vigilant Attribution Culture Exacerbates Academese
… the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb which carries the same meaning that is already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing…
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The APA Style Blog on Citing Instagram and Other Social Media Platforms
If you thought the nice people over at the American Psychological Association didn’t have anything to say about your social media habits, think again. Never let it be said a medium yet exists that American style guides can’t swarm with a flurry of rules that could dissuade a grizzly from a comb brimming with viscous,…
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Implications of The Bottleneck Hypothesis for Higher-Ed ESL
A recent article in the journal Second Language Research by Isabel Jensen … lends support for a theory of second language acquisition called The Bottleneck Hypothesis
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Using the Translate Function in Google Sheets
This could come in handy when you’re reading in an L2, and you need to look up a lot of words. You can check out Jake Miller’s original post here.
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HBO’s Fantasmagorias
Anais’s recent post over at The Spanish Language Blog: The Creepiest Venezuelan Horror Folktales reminded me of the HBO Fantasmagorias series, to which she links at the bottom of her post. These episodes make great listening activities, as most of them run three to four minutes. They are all available on Hulu, but most can…
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AI Language Partner for L2 Learners
I didn’t make it to this session in Atlanta, but it intrigues, nonetheless. Alelo’s Enskill learning platform automatically evaluates learners’ communication skills and produces performance analytics. As learners engage in conversations with artificially intelligent avatars, Enskill continually monitors their performance and provides feedback to both teachers and learners. Via “Alelo Presents at TESOL Its Solutions…
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Steven Pinker’s 13 Tweets for Writing Well-Written Prose
Steven Pinker is a linguist and psychologist who teachers at Harvard University. He’s most famously known for his popular-science book on linguistics titled The Language Instinct among other books on cognitive science. In my classes, however, I most often use the style guide The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st…
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Difficulties with /l/ and /ɹ/ speech sounds for L2 English learners
The following video gives useful information on the difficulties some learners of english experience when pronouncing the /l/ and /ɹ/ sounds. Some of this could be shown in the classroom:
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Engage Your Students’ Critical Thinking Faculties with the Trolley Problem
The trolley problem comes from the philosophical field of ethics, and it presents an excellent impetus for discussion in communication classes or topic for critical thinking in writing classes. Below are two short videos to get the lesson started. via An Animated Introduction to the Famous Thought Experiment, the “Trolley Problem,” Narrated by Harry Shearer…
Ezra Vasquez 