English Teaching professional blog from Chiara Bruzzano

How often do you reflect on why things are working in your classroom, and what makes them effective? Do you just go on instinct, or think there is space for research? We lift the lid on teacher research and explores how it is defined, then investigates the different forms of teacher research, why you may want to try it and some barriers to it.

Do you have memories of incidents in the classroom that prompted you to ask why and make changes to your practice? Read how the technique of critical incident analysis can be used as a tool for reflective practice, what the research says and how you can go about it.

Reflection is an integral part of evolving as a teacher so here’s Chiara Bruzzano reflecting on the mistakes she used to make as a novice teacher, the ones she makes now as a teacher and a teacher trainer, and how she has gone about improving on them.

What is pronunciation instruction and how do teachers do it? What ways can pronunciation be taught? Let’s look at common methods and what the research says about teachers’ beliefs and practices, as well as the impact of teacher education.

What are self-efficacy beliefs? Why do we have them, and how can they help or hinder language learning? Chiara Bruzzano discusses how our beliefs in our abilities to complete a task, or self-efficacy beliefs, impact our own motivation then addresses how to best foster positive beliefs in our learners.

How can you harness online videos for developing the processes needed for effective listening? Chiara discusses why a focus on the process of listening is important and suggests five simple, no-prep activities that you can use with online videos.

What are the real-life consequences of language tests? With an ever-growing focus on standardised language testing, should we move on from simply considering validity to adopting a critical perspective on language assessment? Read on to find out how.

Is it useful to simplify texts? Should we opt for genuine texts instead? In this blog, Chiara Bruzzano discusses the relevant evidence, and examines a proposal from researcher Mike Long on two additional types of texts: elaborated input and modified elaborated input.

Is it worth using classroom time to teach vocabulary? What does the research show? Chiara reviews the evidence and discusses why explicit teaching may be ineffective, why independent study may be more effective and what activities can be prioritised based on the research.

Technology, and mobile devices in particular, is a huge part of our lives, so should we be incorporating mobile devices into language learning? Chiara Bruzzano reviews some of the evidence on MALL (Mobile-Assisted Language Learning) and its impact on vocabulary acquisition in particular.