EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES SERIES–20

INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY
OF EDUCATION

INTERNATIONAL BUREAU
OF EDUCATION

Teaching
other
languages
by Elizabeth B. Bernhardt
The International Academy
of Education
The International Academy of Education (IAE) is a not-for-profit
scientific association that promotes educational research, and its
dissemination and implementation. Founded in 1986, the Academy
is dedicated to strengthening the contributions of research, solving
critical educational problems throughout the world, and providing
better communication among policy-makers, researchers, and
practitioners.
The seat of the Academy is at the Royal Academy of Science,
Literature, and Arts in Brussels, Belgium, and its co-ordinating centre
is at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia.
The general aim of the IAE is to foster scholarly excellence in all
fields of education. Towards this end, the Academy provides timely
syntheses of research-based evidence of international importance. The
Academy also provides critiques of research and of its evidentiary basis
and its application to policy.
The current members of the Board of Directors of the Academy
are:
• Monique Boekaerts, University of Leiden, The Netherlands
(President);
• Erik De Corte, University of Leuven, Belgium (Past President);
• Barry Fraser, Curtin University of Technology, Australia
(Executive Director);
• Herbert Walberg, Stanford University, Palo Alto, United States of
America
• Erik Hanushek, Hoover Institute, Stanford University, United
States of America;
• Maria de Ibarrola, National Polytechnical Institute, Mexico;
• Denis Phillips, Stanford University, United States of America.

For more information, see the IAE’s website at:

http://www.iaoed.org

Editor of booklets 18 and 19 in this series and author of the first

booklet, Jere Brophy passed away in 2009.

2
Series Preface
This booklet is about teaching students languages other than their
first or primary language. It has been prepared for inclusion in the
Educational Practices Series developed by the International Academy
of Education and distributed by the International Bureau of
Education and the Academy. As part of its mission, the Academy
provides timely syntheses of research on educational topics of
international importance. This booklet is the twentieth in the series
on educational practices that generally improve learning.
Elizabeth B. Bernhardt (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is the
John Roberts Hale Director of the Language Center and Professor of
German Studies at Stanford University, United States of America.
Professor Bernhardt supervises more than fifty language teachers, who
teach an array of English-cognate languages such as Spanish, French
and German, as well as non-English cognate languages such as
Korean, Hindi, and Swahili. She has authored two books, Reading
development in a second language and Understanding advanced second-
language reading.
Elizabeth Bernhardt thanks Eva Prionas, Selina Makana, Janeth
Ardenio Seno and Anubha Anushree for their comments and
suggestions on an earlier draft of this booklet. Eva Prionas, a native of
Greece, a lecturer at Stanford, co-ordinates the Special Languages
Program and is an expert in the teaching of non-English cognate
languages. Selina Makana, a native of Kenya, has worked as a
secondary school-teacher of English and literature. She also facilitates
seminars on education and teaching methodologies in schools around
Kenya. Janeth Ardenio Seno was born in the Philippines and is
employed by the Department of Education, Cebu, Philippines, to
teach high-school students. She focuses on English information
communication technologies. Anubha Anushree originates from
Bhagalpur, India. As a lecturer at Satyawati College in Delhi, India,
she teaches English literature courses.
The officers of the International Academy of Education are aware
that this booklet is based on research carried out primarily in
economically advanced countries. The booklet, however, focuses on
aspects of language learning and instruction that are universal. The
practices presented here are likely to be generally applicable
throughout the world. Indeed, they might be especially useful in
countries that are currently less developed economically. Even so, the
principles should be assessed with reference to local conditions, and
adapted accordingly. In any educational setting or cultural context,

3
suggestions or guidelines for practice require sensitive and sensible
application, and continuing evaluation.
HERBERT J. WALBERG,
Editor, IAE Educational Practices Series,
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
United States of America
SUSAN J. PAIK
Series Co-Editor
Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA
United States of America

Previous titles in the “Educational practices” series:

1. Teaching by Jere Brophy. 36 p.
2. Parents and learning by Sam Redding. 36 p.
3. Effective educational practices by Herbert J. Walberg and Susan J. Paik. 24 p.
4. Improving student achievement in mathematics by Douglas A. Grouws and
Kristin J. Cebulla. 48 p.
5. Tutoring by Keith Topping. 36 p.
6. Teaching additional languages by Elliot L. Judd, Lihua Tan and Herbert
J. Walberg. 24 p.
7. How children learn by Stella Vosniadou. 32 p.
8. Preventing behaviour problems: what works by Sharon L. Foster, Patricia
Brennan, Anthony Biglan, Linna Wang and Suad al-Ghaith. 30 p.
9. Preventing HIV/AIDS in schools by Inon I. Schenker and Jenny M.
Nyirenda. 32 p.
10. Motivation to learn by Monique Boekaerts. 28 p.
11. Academic and social emotional learning by Maurice J. Elias. 31 p.
12. Teaching reading by Elizabeth S. Pang, Angaluki Muaka, Elizabeth B.
Bernhardt and Michael L. Kamil. 23 p.
13. Promoting pre-school language by John Lybolt and Catherine Gottfred. 27 p.
14. Teaching speaking, listening and writing by Trudy Wallace, Winifred E.
Stariha and Herbert J. Walberg. 19 p.
15. Using new media by Clara Chung-wai Shih and David E. Weekly. 23 p.
16. Creating a safe and welcoming school by John E. Mayer. 27 p.
17. Teaching science by John R. Staver. 26 p.
18. Teacher professional learning and development by Helen Timperley. 31 p.
19. Effective pedagogy in mathematics by Glenda Anthony and Margaret
Walshaw. 30 p.

These titles can be downloaded from the websites of the IEA

(http://www.iaoed.org) or of the IBE (http://www.ibe.unesco.org/
publications.htm) or paper copies can be requested from: IBE,
Publications Unit, P.O. Box 199, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland.
Please note that several titles are now out of print, but can be
downloaded from the IEA and IBE websites.

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Table of Contents
The International Academy of Education, page 2
Series Preface, page 3
Introduction, page 6
1. Characteristics of learners of other languages, page 8
2. Learning another language is a process, page 10
3. Designing courses for learning other languages, page 12
4. Designing and organizing classroom tasks, page 14
5. Reading and vocabulary learning in other languages, page 16
6. Writing and extended discourse, page 18
7. Error correction and feedback in language learning, page 20
8. Technology and the teaching of other languages, page 22
9. Assessment, page 24
10. Professional development for teachers of other languages, page 26
References, page 28

This publication was produced in 2010 by the International

Academy of Education (IAE), Palais des Académies, 1, rue
Ducale, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, and the International Bureau of
Education (IBE), P.O. Box 199, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland. It
is available free of charge and may be freely reproduced and
translated into other languages. Please send a copy of any
publication that reproduces this text in whole or in part to the
IAE and the IBE. This publication is also available on the
Internet. See the “Publications” section, “Educational Practices
Series” page at:

http://www.ibe.unesco.org
The authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of the
facts contained in this publication and for the opinions expressed
therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO/IBE and do
not commit the organization. The designations employed and the
presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the
expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of
UNESCO/IBE concerning the legal status of any country,
territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the
delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Printed in 2010 by Gonnet Imprimeur, 01300 Belley, France.

5
Introduction
Being able to use other languages is an essential tool for the modern
world. While the image of the world as ‘a global village’ is indeed
popular, it does not always correspond to reality. A village would tend
to be relatively homogeneous in terms of culture and language. Surely,
this monocultural, monolingual picture does not reflect the
complexities, the complications and the richness of the modern
world. Mass communication has brought all peoples into closer
contact, but it has not eliminated the need to be able to talk to others
in their language and on their cultural terms.
Modern views on language teaching reflect this situation. The old
notions of language as a school subject that had to be taught by a
teacher and tested by an examination are no longer true. The current
view puts cultural practice and cultural values squarely in the middle
of language teaching by focusing on the individual’s interest in using
another language and its potential as a tool. While language teaching
in earlier times emphasized grammatical form and accuracy of spelling
and pronunciation, a newer view places the emphasis on what learners
can accomplish with the language they are learning. Can they ask and
answer questions in a socially appropriate manner? Are they able to
listen to the language in its authentic form and obtain useful
information? Can they read with comprehension and understand the
cultural meaning? Can they use the language to gain new
information? These are questions for all teachers to consider so that
their students are able to interact with people who speak other
languages and contribute on a global stage.
We also rely on research-based knowledge to improve teaching
and to ensure its efficiency and effectiveness. Research has thrown
light on the process of language learning itself, indicating that the
process is not about adding one new form on top of a previous one,
but that learners acquire grammatical forms over time making errors
along the way. Errors themselves are viewed as part of language
learning rather than as mistakes to be corrected. Research also shows
teachers how to organize their classes in new ways. A classroom where
the teacher does all the talking while the students listen is not now
considered effective. Other methods have greater impact on learning,
such as forming the students into groups, allowing them to complete
language tasks by working together, and relying on each other for
information and support. Research on literacy offers teachers new
ways of providing learners with the tools to comprehend and to
practise language at a level well beyond basic survival needs. Research
into how learners learn to read and write in other languages focuses

6
on the role of first-language literacy and how it assists reading and
writing in a second language. There is also the critical role that
vocabulary plays in comprehension.
One cannot think about modern life and learning without
acknowledging the impact of technology. The first resources for
language teachers remain books, pens, pencils and paper, but digital
technologies, if available, increase the materials available in a way that
teachers from the past could never have imagined. Technology allows
teachers to acquire an almost infinite array of audio- and video-based
materials that enable learners to see and hear a wide variety of speakers
of a language in action.
On a final and critical note, technology plays an equally
important role in the professional life of each teacher. Given that most
language teachers across the globe are not teaching their primary
language, but a language that they too have learned, technology
enables teachers to maintain contact with the language and culture
that they are teaching.

7
1. Characteristics of learners
of other languages
Teachers should focus on their learners and
not on some abstract notion of the other
language.

All teaching should be based on a concern for learners—what their

knowledge is; what their motivations, interests and anxieties are; and
what they intend to do with the learning. As noted in the
introduction, language learning should not be viewed as a school
subject that learners have to master in order to pass a test. In an earlier
world that had little exchange and contact with other cultures and
people, the notion of a school subject was perhaps reasonable.
Nowadays, in contrast, learning another language is a crucial part of
an educated person’s tool box. Modern learners and their teachers
understand this. Effective language knowledge is the tool that enables
learners to take their knowledge and skill into the world. A key part
of this concept is that learners are not being asked to take on a new
cultural identity; they are increasing their already acquired knowledge
and skill with additional knowledge and skill—not replacing them.
There is a myth that younger learners can learn new languages
faster than older ones. It is true that younger learners achieve higher
levels of accurate pronunciation. But most language skills are within
reach of all learners. One way in which older and younger learners are
different is in the area of anxiety. Younger learners are risk-takers and
are relatively unimpeded by thoughts of accuracy. The older learners
become, the more they react to what their peers and other people
think of them, and the less willing they are to participate in many
activities due to fear of embarrassment or humiliation.
As a result, teachers should be aware of the affective dimensions
of language learning and understand that their learners may feel
self-conscious. Young children relate well to games and songs that help
them experiment. Older learners may need more time to feel
comfortable with experimentation and will need to maintain some
personal space around them. Small group work is particularly
helpful for older, more anxious learners who need to try things out,
perhaps revealing some of their errors in a small group before
participating in large-group activities. Older learners might need to
write the language down on paper before they try to speak it in a more
public setting.

8
 Learners naturally base their new learning on what they already
know. This is a particularly important concept with regard to older
learners. Older learners (age 10 and beyond) will want to use the most
powerful knowledge tool they possess—their first language. Indeed,
this natural tendency has some negative consequences: learners will
impose their own grammar and pronunciation on the language they
are trying to learn. They might reject new language patterns that do
not correspond to what they already know. Yet, this natural tendency
also has many positive dimensions. It is much easier to learn
something of which a learner already has experience. Learners should
always be encouraged to make comparisons between the language(s)
they know and the language they are learning and to express in class
the comparisons they are making. Learners will also build their
understanding of the new culture they are learning on the basis of
their own cultural understandings and values. While most instruction
should be in the language that students are learning, teachers might
encourage students to use their native language to describe their
understanding of the culture and values of the language they are
learning. Helping students to interpret another culture, while being
careful to avoid stereotypes and clichés, is critical in all language
teaching.

Suggested readings: Dörnyei, 2005; Horwitz, 2001.

9
2. Learning another language
is a process

Learning another language takes time. Rules,

forms and word meaning develop rather
than being learned at one time and in one
context.

Recent years have witnessed an explosion of research about language

learning. A key feature of learning another language is that, like first-
language learning, it is developmental. This means learners do not
learn one grammatical form or one vocabulary word after another and
then put the language together correctly. They have to learn to use
forms over time. Sometimes learners seem to know a form and then
forget it. Weeks or months later they correct it. Understanding such
patterns helps teachers not to overreact to student errors. Teachers
must understand the internal learning that all learners are going
through.
All teachers know that what is taught is not necessarily what is
learned at the time. Learners understand the facts of a language and
only after multiple exposures do the forms become integrated into a
coherent linguistic system. For example, learners can quickly
understand the fact that there are regular and irregular verbs in many
languages or that there are rules for expressing singulars and plurals.
Teachers often present regular verbs first, then irregular ones, and then
the past tense. We oversimplify rules (such as in English making the
past tense with -ed or creating a plural with -s) only to find that
learners apply the same rules everywhere. Thus, we hear such
expressions as ‘goed’ or ‘wented’ or ‘peoples’ (as in ‘I saw the peoples’) and
teachers panic that the learners have not understood the exceptions.
In reality, learners are actively involved in learning and are trying to
apply the rules we teach them. This does not mean that learners
should never be corrected. On the contrary, teachers should correct
learners. But teachers should perceive learner errors as signs that reveal
development. This helps teachers understand what they should do
next.
For development to occur, learners should be given opportunities
to talk to each other in the new language. The most effective way for
learners to add new language patterns in their speech is to work with
each other, trying to use new forms. Of course, errors will occur, but
it is the learners’ attention to the forms they are using that will enable

10
them to master that form. All activities support language learning.
Listening and reading enable learners to view and to hear language
forms in context. Learners should begin to understand that the
language forms they are learning carry messages. It is through reading
and listening that they understand how and why the past tense is
expressed in one way rather than in another or why one word is used
rather than another. Writing practice is also essential. Writing gives
learners an opportunity to consolidate their learning and to express
their own messages. Writers quickly learn that, when a reader does not
understand, the message needs to be rewritten more clearly. There is
no better way to practice language forms than in writing.
Another approach to assisting learners in their language
development is to go back to previous activities, readings and listening
comprehension exercises. Texts that were previously read should be re-
read with an eye towards new levels of understanding. Working with
texts that learners already know places them in a situation that
encourages them to focus on language elements in more sophisticated
ways. Learners might rewrite a text in another voice or use different
words that they have found in a dictionary. Learners need to be given
opportunities like these in order to progress in the language.

Suggested readings: Lightbown & Spada, 2007; Collier, 1987.

11
3. Designing courses for learning
other languages
The design of language courses should be
based in learner interests and should
integrate listening, speaking, reading and
writing.
We know that language learning is not a process of learning one form
after another, one word after another, and then assembling the forms
and words into a whole. Language learning is developmental. Learners
should have the opportunity to learn all kinds of forms, words and
structures over time. Two extremely effective ways of organizing
lessons are themes and topics and content-based. Each of these designs
introduces learners to elements of language based on some real
scenario. They are also based on the interests and knowledge of
learners and can be expanded. These course designs also give the
learner a certain level of comfort because they already have previous
knowledge on which to build.
A topic or theme as simple as “the weather” is very useful in
employing different language forms and text types: What is the
weather like today? What is the weather going to do tomorrow? The
weather was bad yesterday, so tell me how you got home. This topic then
leads on naturally to finding out from a newspaper or a report on the
Internet what the weather is like in different parts of the world.
Students can then write to a pen pal, describing the weather in their
area and asking about the pen pal’s favourite season. Alternatively,
students can be placed in a group that is given the task of planning a
trip to somewhere in the world and deciding what clothes they need
to take. Thematic/topical approaches, as this brief example illustrates,
demand an integration of grammatical forms as well as the use of
those forms in listening, speaking, reading and writing. It is essential
to choose a topic or a theme with which learners are already familiar.
A content-based course design is slightly different from one
organized around themes and topics. Content-based courses focus on
and require the learning of new information; in fact, the new
information to be learned is in some ways more important than the
language to be learned. Ideally, content-based courses can be derived
from the content of other lessons that students are learning in school.
These kinds of courses demand that a teacher be knowledgeable and
comfortable with the content. The teacher also needs to have a
relatively high degree of fluency in the language because in content

12
teaching both the grammar and the vocabulary may be more complex
than the learners have already experienced.
Social studies provide excellent content on which to build a
language course. Most elementary and middle school curricula across
the globe want learners to be familiar with world cultures, geography
and natural resources. The students might begin by drawing a map of
their own country, making sure that geographic features such as
mountains, rivers and seas are named in the language they are
learning. The teacher might then introduce the map of a country or
region in which the language the students are learning is spoken
widely. Students can label the geographic features and write out
comparison charts with their own region (for example, the length of
rivers or the height of mountains). They might then go to the library
to find out about the natural world. Animals can be named, as well as
the areas in which they live.
Both of these contemporary course designs necessitate that
reading, writing, listening and speaking are taking place in the
classroom at all times. Learners should never talk about content that
they have not also been asked to write about; and write about
something they have not read about, and so forth.

Suggested readings: Shrum & Glisan, 2005; Fortune & Tedick,

2008; Snow, 1998.

13
4. Designing and organizing
classroom tasks
Effective learning is based on giving learners
tasks to accomplish in a real-world context.

Courses arranged around content or a topic or theme lend themselves

naturally to tasks that students should work on together and solve as
a group.
Research indicates that “information gap” activities are effective
classroom tasks. Information gap means that each learner in a group
has some specific piece of information that the others do not have.
Learners need to discover each piece of information by asking each
other questions in order to complete a task. In using information gap
activities, research also indicates that learners learn from each other
and that this opportunity is extremely valuable for the development of
their fluency and accuracy. Yet, teachers are often concerned that
students in groups will hear incorrect language and copy it. Research
indicates that learners do not copy the errors they might hear in the
speech of the other learners. Because learners in task-based group
work are focused on meaning, they are concentrating on
communicating in the language they already possess and on the
messages from their peers. Increasing student-to-student interaction
and substituting it for teacher-to-student interaction leads to
significantly more language use.
Finally, research indicates that learners should be placed in
different groupings. At times they should be in homogeneous groups
based on the same level of language proficiency and at other times in
heterogeneous groups. When different proficiency levels are present in
the same group, the more-able learners are able to state what they
know in order to assist the less-able learners. The less-able learners
then hear a more advanced language.
Information gap activities are easy to design. A common task puts
learners into groups of two. One learner, for example, has the floor
plan of a house or flat with furniture placed on it; the other learner
merely has the floor plan. The one with the empty map can begin by
asking questions about whether there are chairs, bookshelves or tables
in various parts of the floor plan. The learner with the completed floor
plan can also tell the other learner to place certain things in particular
spaces. This back-and-forth conversation should continue until the
empty plan looks like the full one. Obviously, the learners will not

14
communicate perfectly and pieces of furniture will become misplaced.
When this occurs learners have to negotiate with each other, trying to
make the other one understand.
A similar set of “information gap” activities can be designed
around the weather, as in the example given in section 3 above.
Perhaps each learner is given the highest temperature in a particular
place in the world. A group could decide whether cities with similar
temperatures are located in the same geographic area or not. This task
also focuses learners on a particular message—in this case, deciding
about global locations based on temperature. In order to discover
whether their decisions are correct, students could be asked to
research in their school library the locations of the cities mentioned in
the first part of the task.
The final part of task-based instruction is to make sure that
learners report their findings back to their classmates. They should be
able to explain either what they did or how they came to their
conclusion. This brings the class back full circle, ready for the next
task. As a next step, learners might be asked to come up with their
own tasks for their classmates to solve. This, too, focuses them on a
message rather than on a set of isolated grammatical forms and words.

Suggested readings: Ellis , 2001; Norris & Ortega, 2000.

15
5. Reading and vocabulary
learning in other languages
Reading is the most durable of all the
language skills.

Reading skill determines the degree to which a person is able, if

willing, to participate productively on the global stage. Written texts
are useful for gaining information. Unquestionably, learners of other
languages have a need for greater knowledge about topics that interest
them; they need to understand how best to use their own literacy to
help them understand texts and gain vocabulary; and they need to
make wise choices about what they read and accept as useful.
Reading is a challenge for all learners. Research indicates that
there are three components involved in reading languages other than
the native language. The first is actual language knowledge—meaning
knowledge of grammar—but most importantly, knowledge of
vocabulary. A large vocabulary is absolutely essential for text
comprehension—readers need to be able to recognize and understand
almost all of the words in any text.
The second key component is the learner’s first literacy language
providing the basis for how language operates and what one can
expect from a written text. First-language literacy tells the reader that
there is a coherent message in a paragraph and that visual factors, such
as print size, layout and the number of pictures, all support the
message in the piece being read.
The third key component in reading other languages is the
knowledge of the world and the interest and level of commitment that
an individual reader brings to the process. In fact, interest level and
knowledge of the topic may overcome or support very limited
language knowledge.
Teachers need to spend lots of instructional time helping their
students to learn words. Effective learning of words means seeing
individual words many times and practising them in different
contexts. In this regard, it is easy to see the importance of integrating
reading into all of the tasks that learners are asked to do. Interacting
with each other in oral language and confirming understandings
through reading texts is a way in which learners can process words and
add them into their active vocabularies.
As the research cited above notes, reading is also an individual
process. Learners should be encouraged to keep personal word lists

16
where they write words of particular interest to them. For example,
one learner might be interested in animals, another in cars. Learners
should be encouraged to read independently in their areas of choice
and to acquire knowledge about words that will help them to develop
more sophisticated reading in the future. This independent reading
also assists learners in developing fluency. Their interest in a subject
and their individual knowledge of vocabulary will drive their need to
increase the amount of text they read.
Teachers should also see reading as a powerful tool for future
language learning. Reading gives learners opportunities to analyse
grammatical features in context, not for the sake of form, but for the
sake of understanding the message. Learners perhaps do not
fundamentally understand how tenses, for example, carry meaning
until they have examined a story that may employ several tenses in
order to convey when and how different events happened.
Authentic reading texts are also valuable sources of cultural
content. Examining what subjects native speakers are currently
reading—whether about a popular sports figure, catastrophic weather
conditions, a geological disaster or a commentary on a foreign
neighbour—provides learners with a sense of what is important to the
other culture. Teachers should give learners the opportunity to talk
about the differences and similarities between their own culture and
what they have learned about other cultures by reading texts.

Suggested readings: Bernhardt, 2010; Hedgcock & Ferris, 2009;

Nation, 2004.

17
6. Writing and extended discourse
Writing enables learners to put the language
together as a coherent whole that reflects
their views and perspectives.

Writing, like reading, is a powerful tool for future language learning.

During writing, learners are given the task of ‘putting the language
together’ in a long stretch without the interruptions and interferences
that occur during speaking. Research indicates that successful writers
use the time that writing gives them to think through linguistic
choices and to make them more sophisticated. Successful writers are
focused principally on their audience and on the message the writer
wants to express. They spend lots of time in planning their writing
and in revising it for coherence and precision. Unsuccessful writers
perceive writing as just another grammar exercise. They focus on
mechanics, ignore their audience and spend little time on word
choice. These relatively clear differences in successful versus
unsuccessful writers provide teachers with windows into how
individual learners understand words and structures in the language.
Writing can be carried out in groups. Teachers should place
learners in groups to plan their writing. Learners can be asked to
“brainstorm” in a group together to choose vocabulary words that
they might need or to generate ideas on how to write about the topic.
A standard writing task is to describe oneself. Learners should be
asked to generate a list of descriptive words for appearance (hair and
eye colour, for example); personal attributes (nice, friendly, talented);
or interests (animals, the ocean, travelling). Reading should play a role
here in that learners should have access to dictionaries to help them
generate their word lists. Learners should also be given time to think
about how they will use these words and concepts to describe
themselves. They may even advise each other on how best to describe
themselves.
During these group sessions, teachers should work with
individual students in writing conferences. In a conference setting, the
teacher is in the role of reader. Some writers will take risks and will
place words in contexts in which they are inappropriate. When they
do this in writing, teachers are able to correct word choice or to guide
learners into a more careful use of dictionaries and thesauruses—tools
that will help students become more effective communicators in
advanced settings. Other writers will not take as many risks and
teachers will find them repeating sentences that learners already know.

18
In this case, teachers can work with individual learners encouraging
them to try new words so that their readers may understand a new
meaning. When writers adopt a sense of their audience, they become
better writers and therefore better language learners.
Writing also enables learners to acquire a deeper understanding of
paragraph-level speech. Exchanges in the classroom are frequently
stuck in interpersonal kinds of speech—students and teachers asking
and answering questions of each other. This type of speech pattern
leads to familiarity with sentence-level discourse.
In reality, though, the outside world is often focused on language
designed to communicate complicated information. Writers should
be encouraged to use reading passages as writing models. To use the
example of describing themselves, learners should read short
autobiographies of famous people as a way to expand on what they
have already written about themselves. Exploiting the reading/writing
relationship helps learners begin to understand notions of topic,
supporting detail and inferences from the details. Developing this
knowledge is critical so that learners become effective users of the
language, able to present arguments, persuade others and make
judgements. Writing is an effective means of discovering how to
structure longer speech segments and to become powerful participants
in discussion.

Suggested readings: Hirvela, 2004; McCarthy, 1991.

19
7. Error correction and feedback
in language learning

Students deserve to be corrected so that they

improve their accuracy and understanding.

Learners report that they want to be corrected. Yet, research indicates

that overcorrection of either oral or written work by the teacher
discourages students from speaking or writing. Clearly, correcting
learners to the point that they remain silent is counterproductive. The
same is true of returning written work to learners with so many
corrections that they believe they will never overcome their mistakes.
Research based on classroom observation shows that teachers use a
number of strategies for the correction of errors. This varies from
direct corrections—such as pointing to what is wrong—to more
indirect means—such as repeating the phrase correctly or asking
students to explain the rule. Studies indicate that teachers prefer to say
again and correctly what the student has said. Nevertheless, while this
appears to be a very polite form of correction, learners tend to ignore
it. They focus on meaning and treat the teacher’s utterance as mere
participation in the conversation. To have more impact, teachers
should ask for clarification (“I’m sorry. I didn’t understand that. What
do you mean?”). Students are then more likely to incorporate
corrections into their speech. Errors in comprehension are obviously
much more difficult to recognize and research indicates that teachers
often cannot “see” these errors at all or dismiss them as a lack of
initiative on the part of readers.
Error correction should always be positive, yet targeted. Learners
should be able to understand what their mistakes are and how to
correct them in the context of what they do correctly. Learners can
easily accept: “No. Remember there is an -s on the third person singular
verbs. It’s ‘he runs’. If you could fix that, your story line would be much
clearer”. It is much more unpleasant to hear “When are you ever going
to remember that there is an -s ending on the third-person singular?” and
easy to shut down.
Teachers also need to think about errors as more than mere
grammatical mistakes. Errors in content, based either on factual
mistakes or on misunderstandings of the culture to be learned, also
need to be corrected. In oral speech, correction of this sort would
involve helping learners state their particular view, permitting the
teacher to add more appropriate knowledge. “Meal time” is an

20
interesting example. Some cultures have a main meal at midday while
others might eat in the evening. Learners are quick to judge the
“good” and the “bad” of different approaches. Teachers need to be
able to modify learners’ judgements with additional information that
explains the practice. In like manner, errors in content often appear in
learners’ written compositions. Teachers should respond to student
writing regarding accuracy of message and interpretation with
comments such as: “This was an interesting point about meal time
habits. I think if you expand this section where you make a comparison,
your point will be clearer. Right now there are too many generalizations.
You need some specific examples.” This kind of feedback reminds
learners that their teachers are readers and as readers they deserve clear
prose that should be as interesting and as accurate as possible.
All learners should be encouraged to keep a journal of important
points they should try to remember so as to correct their speech and
writing. A classroom chart to which each learner contributes a
correction in the new language is also a helpful way of sending the
message that learners should focus on accuracy; that everyone makes
mistakes; and that everyone should concentrate on fixing repeated
mistakes.

Suggested readings: Lightbown & Spada, 1990; Lyster & Ranta,

1997.

21
8. Technology and the teaching
of other languages

Teachers should use available materials

effectively and efficiently.

Technology is supposed to help a user achieve a purpose. Language

teachers often forget that the primary technology in which their
profession is rooted is books, paper and pencils. For language teachers,
books can be language textbooks, of course, but the term “books” should
mainly refer to texts written for a particular audience about topics that
interest them. For younger learners such books might contain
information, for example, about the weather, volcanoes, ancient
civilizations or interesting animals. For older learners, books might
contain information about aeronautics or sport. Whatever the
environment, it is literacy—the ability to read about a phenomenon and
to write about it—that is the core of language teaching. The most
important technology for teachers to possess is a class library full of
books that their learners can learn from and enjoy. Every classroom
should also have writing materials (paper, pencils, pens and markers) that
allow learners to work with language and to make it their own. Learners
need to be active participants in their own learning. There is no more
important activity than making active links between reading and writing.
Unfortunately, the modern world often tries to convince teachers
that computers and software are substitutes for books, pens and paper.
Clearly, they will never be substitutes. Nevertheless, computers have
changed our ideas about what is available. If teachers have easy access to
the Internet and to a printer, they have an enormous source of up-to-
date, authentic language materials at their fingertips that is almost cost-
free. This status, of course, is accompanied by a huge risk. Material
should be filtered carefully. At times, language use is at too low a level
or inappropriate; at other times, the language may be too difficult.
Many Internet-based materials may be age- and culture-inappropriate.
What teachers may gain in convenience and authenticity, they may lose
with complicated and unsuitable content. The important point is that
teachers should view modern technology as a source for high-quality
materials that reflect the culture and the people who speak the language
being learned. Technology should not be viewed in language teaching as
the site of learning, but rather as a tool.
Less-expensive technology, such as portable telephones, will play a
role in most classrooms soon. Teachers should work with this

22
technology rather than against it. Textbooks may be delivered via the
Internet. The same is true for trade books. Many learners already
download music and videos. They should be encouraged to use that
knowledge to download books in the language they are learning. Many
tools, such as spell-checkers, grammar-checkers and rapid translation
devices, are also available and affordable. Students need to be taught
how to use these tools. Translation devices are particularly interesting.
However, learners should beware. Sometimes these translations miss the
subtlety of language and learners should be taught to see that it is more
important actually to know a language in order to accept a machine
translation; not the other way around. If teachers have worked from the
beginning helping students to make the language their own and not
something abstract, this point will be obvious.
Teachers should use technology to make connections with other
teachers and classrooms focused on the language at hand. Connecting
individual students with other learners who speak the language being
learned is an important way for students to practise the language outside
the classroom. In contacts outside the classroom, features of language
such as morphology, pronunciation and word choice fall into place as
carriers of meaning and not just as items to be learned.

Suggested readings: Blake, 2008; Hubbard & Levy, 2006.

23
9. Assessment
Good teachers monitor what their students
can and cannot do with the language and
adjust their teaching accordingly.
Teachers and their students often overreact to the concept of
assessment, believing that the test is all-important and that students
will be punished somehow if they do not “pass”. A contemporary
perspective on assessment is much broader, focusing on what students
can do rather than on what they cannot do. This provides teachers with
guidelines for exploring student abilities and in setting goals for
improvement. Learners should receive explicit feedback from their
teachers on what they know and also guidance on how to improve and
enhance what they do not know. Feedback should focus on form, but
also on the effectiveness of a particular message. When learners are
speaking, teachers should not interrupt them constantly with
“correct” forms. Teachers and other learners should only offer
assistance in conversation if an error is preventing communication.
Teachers should keep careful notes on the errors they hear. Based on
these notes, teachers should develop lessons that provide explanations
and further opportunities for students to practice accuracy.
Similarly, for the assessment of writing, students should be
encouraged to keep portfolios that contain drafts of their writing over
time. These drafts help learners and their teachers to measure progress
and to set further goals. All learners need to be reminded that
language learning is a process and that their teachers expect
development over time and not immediate perfection. Rewards
should be based on progress, not on one-time tests.
Assessment of interpretive skills (listening and reading) is more
difficult precisely because readers and listeners do not necessarily
reveal their understanding easily. Teachers traditionally ask questions
of students to see if they understand. But the questions themselves
often use identical vocabulary words to those found in the text and
students are able to answer a question simply by reformulating the
words. In the case of interpretive skills, the use of the learners’ native
language is critical. Learners should be asked questions in their native
language about what they have understood and they should be
permitted to respond in their native language. Research indicates that
learners can understand far more than they actually express. When
teachers understand how learners comprehend what they read or hear,
they can clarify cultural contexts and provide learners with key
background information that may have been missing.

24
 Assessment plays an important role if learners intend to go abroad
to study. Convenient frameworks exist for determining the level at
which learners can perform certain tasks and for identifying what they
still need to know. In the United States, a proficiency-orientation is
common. This orientation is focused on what students are able to
complete in their listening, speaking, reading and writing over time.
Two mechanisms—the Oral Proficiency Interview and the Writing
Proficiency Assessment—are available to help teachers make
judgements. Europe uses the Common European Framework (CEF).
The CEF is a corollary to the US documents, revealing an ascending
scale from basic (A1) through proficiency (C2). CEF is aligned with
the International English-Language Testing System (IELTS). The
importance of these measures is that learners can understand what
they should be able to do with the language they are learning and thus
set their own goals and expectations. Further, these frameworks
demonstrate that language knowledge is integrated; that is, that the
skill areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking support each
other and are closely related. Accuracy is only one dimension of
effective language knowledge and use.

Suggested readings: Shohamy, 1995; McNamara & Roever, 2006.

25
10. Professional development for
teachers of other languages
Teachers should keep up with new
developments in language teaching and
maintain and improve their language skills.
Language teaching has changed more in the past two decades than it
did in the prior two centuries. There are several reasons for this
change. One is the fact that a research base is developing. All teachers
need to be familiar with this information. A second reason for the
changed and changing nature of language teaching is the ability for
individuals to move rapidly around the globe and to live, work and
study in various settings. Foreign travel, foreign postings and foreign
study were once the domain of a tiny elite. Now there are many more
opportunities and these opportunities have obliged language teaching
to satisfy the needs of a broader audience. A third reason is
technology. Technology enables language teachers across the globe to
interact and to communicate about their profession almost instantly.
All of these changes place enormous responsibilities on teachers.
Yet, they are small compared with the most pressing responsibility for
many teachers—to maintain their own knowledge and ability to use
the language they teach in a dynamic and modern way. Most language
teachers across the globe are not native speakers of that language.
These teachers report that maintaining language proficiency puts a
unique pressure on them. They worry that they are not perfect users
of the language they are teaching; this lack of perfection might place
their learners at a disadvantage. This situation often makes teachers
resistant to using some of the techniques mentioned in this pamphlet.
Clearly, just explaining grammar and working with sentence-level
language allows a teacher to maintain control of the class—a comfort
zone. Group work, which is inevitably more flexible and unlimited
than class work, demands that a teacher should have good command
of all forms of language. This demand can be quite threatening to
teachers and can make them feel uneasy. At the same time, other
research has indicated that the non-native teacher has a huge
advantage. The non-native teacher has been through the same process
of language learning that learners are undergoing themselves. The
non-native teacher has acquired sensitivities toward the learning
process that a native speaker of a language can never acquire.
Balancing the skills that teachers bring, both pedagogically and
linguistically, and how to enhance these is a tall order. All teachers

26
should have funding to maintain a current professional library. They
should have access to teacher-oriented journals and they should be
permitted to go to local and international conferences that focus on
effective language-teaching strategies. Linguistic development is more
challenging. Clearly, most teachers cannot travel each year to areas
where the language they teach is spoken by the local population. This
fact does not excuse them, however, from actively engaging in reading
and listening to the language they teach. If teachers have Internet
access, reading and listening materials are readily available for daily,
almost hourly, consumption. Teachers should bookmark at least one
newspaper written in the language they teach and make a habit of
reading it daily. Radio and television stations transmit news regularly
and, if teachers have Internet access, they may be able listen to these
broadcasts. Teachers without Internet access should rely on books and
journals written in the language for regular consumption. Sometimes,
teachers only read materials prepared for their students. In reality, they
should maintain their own language library written to ensure
authentic language input. Watching films made or dubbed in the
language can also help teachers sustain their aural understanding.
Teachers should watch for and request opportunities that enable them
to live among speakers of the language they teach.

Suggested readings: Briane, 1999; Horwitz, 2008; Llurda, 2005.

27
References
Bernhardt, E.B. (2010). Understanding advanced second-language
reading. New York, NY: Routledge.
Blake, R. (2008). Brave new digital classroom. Washington, DC:
Georgetown UP.
Briane, G. (ed.) (1999). Non-native educators in English language
teaching. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Collier, V. (1987). Age and rate of acquisition of second languages for
academic purposes. TESOL quarterly, 21 (4): 617–641.
Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: individual
differences in second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Ellis, R. (ed.) (2001). Form-focused instruction and second language
learning. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Fortune, T.W.; Tedick, D.J. (eds.) (2008). Pathways to
multilingualism: evolving perspectives on immersion education.
Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Hedgcock, J.; Ferris, D. (2009). Teaching readers of English: students,
texts, and contexts. New York, NY: Routledge.
Hirvela, A. (2004). Connecting reading and writing. Ann Arbor, MI:
UM Press.
Horwitz, E. (2001). Language anxiety and achievement. Annual
review of applied linguistics, 21 (4): 112–126.
Horwitz, E. (2008). Becoming a language teacher. Boston, MA:
Pearson.
Hubbard, P.; Levy, M. (eds.) (2006). Teacher education in CALL.
Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.
Lightbown, P.; Spada, N. (1990). Focus on form and corrective
feedback in communicative language teaching: effects on second
language learning. Studies in second language acquisition, 12 (4):
429–448.
Lightbown, P.; Spada, N. (2007). How languages are learned. New
York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Llurda, E. (ed.) (2005). Non-native language teachers: perceptions,
challenges, and contributions to the profession. New York, NY:
Springer.
Lyster, R.; Ranta, L. (1997). Corrective feedback and learner uptake:
negotiation of form in communicative classrooms. Studies in
second language acquisition, 19 (1): 399–432.

28
McCarthy, M. (1991). Discourse analysis for language teachers.
Cambridge, UK: CUP.
McNamara, T.; Roever, C. (2006). Language testing: the social
dimension. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Nation, I.S.P. (2004). Learning vocabulary in another language.
Cambridge, UK: CUP.
Norris, J.; Ortega, L. (2000). Effectiveness of L2 instruction: a
research synthesis and quantitative metaanalysis. Language
learning, 50 (3), 417–528.
Shohamy, E. (1995). Performance assessment in language testing.
Annual review of applied linguistics, 15, 188–211.
Shrum, J.; Glisan, E. (2005). Teacher’s handbook: contextualized
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Annual review of applied linguistics, 18, 243–267.

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Notes

30
 Notes

IBE/2010/ST/EP20

31
EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES SERIES–20
The International
Bureau of
Education–IBE
The IBE was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, as a
private, non-governmental organization in 1925. In
1929, under new statutes, it became the first
intergovernmental organization in the field of
education. Since 1969 the Institute has been an
integral part of UNESCO while retaining wide
intellectual and functional autonomy.
The mission of the IBE is to function as an
international centre for the development of
contents and methods of education. It builds
networks to share expertise on, and foster national
capacities for curriculum change and development
in all the regions of the world. It aims to introduce
modern approaches in curriculum design and
implementation, improve practical skills, and foster
international dialogue on educational policies.
The IBE contributes to the attainment of quality
Education for All (EFA) mainly through: (a)
developing and facilitating a worldwide network
and a Community of Practice of curriculum
specialists; (b) providing advisory services and
technical assistance in response to specific demands
for curriculum reform or development; (c)
collecting, producing and giving access to a wide
range of information resources and materials on
education systems, curricula and curriculum
development processes from around the world,
including online databases (such as World Data on
Education), thematic studies, publications (such as
Prospects, the quarterly review of education),
national reports, as well as curriculum materials and
approaches for HIV & AIDS education at primary
and secondary levels through the HIV & AIDS
Clearinghouse; and (d) facilitating and fostering
international dialogue on educational policies,
strategies and reforms among decision-makers and
other stakeholders, in particular through the
International Conference on Education—organized
by the IBE since 1934—, which can be considered
one of the main forums for developing world-level
policy dialogue between Ministers of Education.
The IBE is governed by a Council composed of
representatives of twenty-eight Member States
elected by the General Conference of UNESCO.
The IBE is proud to be associated with the work of
the International Academy of Education and
publishes this material in its capacity as a
Clearinghouse promoting the exchange of
information on educational practices.

Visit the IBE website at: http://www.ibe.unesco.org