2018 Monographs

Small changes in teaching, big results in learning: Videos, activities and essays to stimulate fresh thinking about language learning and teaching

Fanselow, John

An audiobook version of John Fanselow's "Small changes in teaching, big results in learning: Videos, activities and essays to stimulate fresh thinking about language learning and teaching" can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.7916/rtqz-t094.

Supplemental videos can be viewed here: https://itdi.pro/itdihome/small-changes-big-results-videos/

I wrote this book to provide activities that are very different from many widely accepted practices in the field of language teaching, which I consider past their use by and expiration date. Many are based on claims rather than proven effectiveness.

My suggestion is for you to be as skeptical about your present practices as the alternatives I urge you to try. Ask how widely-advocated pre-reading activities (such as brainstorming, scaffolding, predicting what a text is about) might not only be useless but also detrimental to learning.

Question the value of memorizing individual words on note cards with the first language equivalent on the back of the cards. Consider ways that asking students to define words, or use new words in sentences, repeating words in isolation, memorizing rules in either English or students’ first languages, having students in pairs talk about their favorite songs, sports or whatever might be detrimental.