Language and Linguistics

The mission, vision, and values of an English language program need to be stated clearly for the benefit of administrators, faculty, support services, and students. Richards (2001) formulated statements of principles to delineate the teaching philosophy of an English program. These statements were prepared after discussing curriculum management with teacher trainers, language teachers, curriculum planners, and have become a reference for language practitioners. As Richards states: Articulating a teaching philosophy in this way can help clarify decisions relating to choice of classroom activities, materials, and teacher evaluation. (Richards, 2001: p.216) Richards's statement of principles are as follows: There is a consistent focus throughout on learning English in order to develop practical and functional skills, rather than as an end in itself. Students are engaged in practical tasks that relate to real-world uses of English. Realistic and communicative uses of langu

Questions for Critical Thinking Introduction Bloom’s Taxonomy divides the way people learn into three domains. One of these is the cognitive domain which emphasizes intellectual outcomes. This domain further divides into categories which are arranged progressively from the lowest level of thinking, simple recall, to the highest, evaluating information. The following questions can be used in the home, classroom, or workplace to develop all levels of thinking within the cognitive domain. The results will be improved attention to detail, increased comprehension and expanded problem solving skills. Use the Key Words as guides to structuring questions and tasks. Finish the Questions with content appropriate to the learner. Level I Knowledge Exhibit memory of previously-learned material by recalling facts, terms, basic concepts and answers. Key Words Who                what     why                  when                omit                  where             

Persuasive Appeals in Speaking and Writing [1] I’d like to think that Thales was the first teacher who said to his pupil: “This is how I see things – how I believe things are. Try to improve upon my teaching. -        K Popper [2] It was a momentous innovation. It meant a break with dogmatic tradition which permits only one school of thought, and the introduction in its place of a tradition that admits plurality of doctrines which all try to approach the truth by means of critical discussion. -        K Popper [3]       I.          The most important attribute of any writer of speaker, Aristotle said, is ethos, the writer’s character or credibility. The ethos or “voice” (i.e. personality) in writing is the person you hear talking to you in that given situation. When you say that speakers or writers have “good” character, you imply that you approve of their morals, their sense of right and wrong; you share their values. Skillful writers must appeal to th