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Remember the rule of 25% TTT and 75% STT? In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, it means that a teacher should talk only 25% of the time during a good ESL lesson. TTT = Teacher Talk Time, and STT = Student Talk Time. In the early days of my ESL teaching career, I found this impossible to achieve, in fact I found it really difficult to get students to speak for 25% of the time! Have you found the same problem? Do you have a solution? Maybe this is one that will work for you.

Teachers are the key figures in the English learning process. Their influence is fundamental to their students’ progress or lack thereof. To achieve the desired result in teaching English, i.e. guiding students to its successful acquisition, teachers have to be aware of and adhere to certain essentials. They also need to take into account crucial factors such as classroom atmosphere, classroom management, tolerance, patience, passionate, and other aspects. This introspective essay will undertake to highlight a number of good characteristics that make good English as a second or a foreign language instructor.

The English language is the most commonly spoken language on Earth, either by native speakers or by people who have learned it in addition to their first language. More and more people everyday have the desire to learn English as a second language.

At the height of the Communicative Approach, Task-Based Learning and approaches whose emphasis was not on grammar, to reject or even suppress explicit formal instruction became fashionable. Some (Krashen, 1982; Prabhu, 1987) even went as far as claiming that it was at best ineffectual and at worst an obstacle to L2 learning. However, there have been controversial arguments against this assumption.

Less-proficient readers read and process what they have read at a slower rate than most of their peers.

Recently, there has been a growing interest in pragmatic competence in EFL. However, what this means and how to teach it is still somewhat unclear. This paper hopes to address these issues.

Abstract: The piece is divided three-fold. Initially the author investigates schematic theory, largely drawing upon secondary sources, and its necessity to the English language classroom. The literature search carried out is thorough and a conclusion, regarding the stipulation of schematic activation, is drawn within the context of Saudi tertiary education. The second part of the investigation centres around the text chosen, the reasons for choosing the text and its relevance to the previously stated context. Again the research carried out is largely secondary, though some primary research is carried out within the classroom. The final element of the research is entirely primary; using the text to develop a series of teaching exercises that examine the students’ reading and writing abilities in relation to necessity of schematic theory.

Young children are often eager, almost too eager. The problem arises when they are eager to do things other than what you’re trying to teach them. Here are five tips to keep them interested in class and motivated to do what you want them to do.

The methods employed by teachers in the modern second language (L2) classrooms are based on the various beliefs that an individual teacher has about language, language learning and language teaching. These beliefs are reflections of L2 theories about language acquisition and learning that, like the methods employed, have changed considerably over recent years. There has been a drift away from a teacher centered style of pedagogy towards a communicative approach to language learning. This is in order to prepare students for effective real word communication in the TL. To bridge the gap and examine the relationship between theoretical approaches and practical applications of modern L2 teaching methodology, some kind of framework is necessary.

Scaffolding Instruction
The term "scaffolding" is often heard in educational circles as a method of instruction in which the teacher models the learning strategy or task and then gradually shifts the responsibility to the students. The teacher first determines the students' zone of proximal development and then incrementally improves the learner's ability to become independent with the task at hand.
We usually think about scaffolds with regard to construction where a very organized structure is put up beside a building under construction in order to support workers as they perform their required tasks. In education we are using scaffolding to support students to construct meaning or the ability to independently complete an objective.
Within the field of education, the scaffold provides clear structure and precisely stated expectations, along with models and direct instruction. For example, it begins with "I do--you watch" which in reading might seem like a teacher reading aloud ...