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© 2025 Conversations about Language Teaching
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"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.
Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!
A transcripted, video version of the podcast is on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage
More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com
28 Episodes
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Send us a text No show notes this time! Intro & outro music selected from "23 Light Years" by CavalloPazzo Support the show Thanks for listening to Conversations about Language Teaching. Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new
Send us a text Episode 26: Children’s Books & Reading for Vocabulary Growth Show Notes The Mandarin Companion blog has concise & helpful information about Extensive reading (ER) and 98% known language. This post also describes why children’s books are not necessarily suitable for second language learners: https://mandarincompanion.com/7-mistakes-about-extensive-reading/ Intensive reading & extensive reading compared in a concise post by Mandarin Companion: http...
Send us a text Episode 25: There Is No Best Method–Why? Discussing Prabhu (1990) Show Notes We discussed this article: Prabhu, N. S. (1990). There is no best method—Why?. TESOL Quarterly, 24(2), 161-176. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586897 It is freely available online at the link above. Diane missed the number of times it has been cited – “only” 1666 citations as of Feb. 28, 2025. That is still quite a lot in the field of applied linguistics/language teaching and learning. Needs ...
Send us a text Episode 24 - Pronunciation development Reed’s grad school classmate's study: https://www.hawaii.edu/sls/phd-student-wenyi-ling-2018-research-award/ The full dissertation: Ling, W. (2021). The Perception, Processing and Learning of Mandarin Lexical Tone by Second Language Speakers. University of Hawai'i at Manoa. https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/4e749171-1747-4236-b40e-5430a912d442/content Here's Schmidt info, including a mention ...
Send us a text Episode 23: AI Chatbots Show Notes Dr. Rachel Mamiya Hernandez-relevant link about using AI chatbots for language learning: https://clt.manoa.hawaii.edu/blog/event/ai-chatbots-2/ Billie Eilish AI interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0c94ghBS4A Magic School AI tool, where Reed & Diane have both prompted chatbots to work with Chinese language learners: https://www.magicschool.ai/ There are many other AI-generated options within the app. Diane’s recently tes...
Send us a text Conversations about Language Teaching Episode 20: The Silent Period Show Notes Search results on Google Scholar for “silent period second language acquisition” https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C15&q=silent+period+second+language+acquisition&oq=%22silent+period%22+ Diane quoted from this document: Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisition. Second Language Learning, 3(7), 19-39. https://www.academia.edu/download/3523...
Send us a text Conversations about Language Teaching Episode 19: Listening comprehension as a goal Show Notes We welcome questions and topics to address! We're aiming for episode 21 to be responding to questions. Write to us at conversationsaboutlanguage@gmail.com. Lichtman, K. (2019). Research on TPR Storytelling (TPRS). Fluency through TPR storytelling, 299-323. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karen-Lichtman/publication/335240603_Research_on_TPR_Storytelling_2019/links/5d5aa3fb928...
Send us a text Episode 17 Show notes Lichtman, K., & VanPatten, B. (2021). Was Krashen right? Forty years later. Foreign Language Annals, 54(2), 283-305. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/flan.12552 Note: ACTFL members have access to that full article through your membership after logging in. There are also several response articles, and a final response from Lichtman & VanPatten, in the same issue. Diane mentioned the English language test from the US ...
Send us a text Season 3 Episode 16: Using Authentic Texts Show Notes: Intro & outro music selected from "23 Light Years" by CavalloPazzo Support the show Thanks for listening to Conversations about Language Teaching. Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new
Send us a text Season 2 Episode 15: Language Learner Strategies Show Notes The chapter is chapter 34 in this book: Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Snow, M. A., Eds. (2014). Teaching English as a Second Or Foreign Language. National Geographic Learning. 4th edition. A free PDF of the 3rd edition (the 2001 edition) is available free here. You can browse parts of the most recent edition (the 2013 4th edition) on Google Books here. We discussed points from chapter 34 by James E. Purpura...
Send us a text Episode 14 Being a New Teacher at a School Show Notes Ngan-Ha Ta https://www.linkedin.com/in/nganhata GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Design) https://begladtraining.com/about Our trainer in GLAD pedagogy was Luis Pelayo Zepeda. Diane’s PowerPoint with quotes from research and about language is shared freely (and you may use it with students and/or others, crediting your source): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Xijf2_mMIGWq04wpCJpEbRzCv1XZU6VcBrtDwovH...
Send us a text Episode 13: Culture and Language Teaching Show Notes Claire Kramsch: https://german.berkeley.edu/people/claire-kramsch/ A book chapter she co-authored, including interculturality and “third space”: Kramsch, C., & Uryu, M. (2020). Intercultural contact, hybridity, and third space. In The Routledge handbook of language and intercultural communication (pp. 204-218). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003036210-16/intercultural-cont...
Send us a text Show Notes: Things mentioned in the podcast with links when available: SLAyyy podcast (Ben Fisher-Rodriguez, Bill Langley, and Bryan Smith) https://slayyy.buzzsprout.com/ VanPatten, B. (2017). While We're on the Topic: BVP on Language, Acquisition, and Classroom Practice. ACTFL. VanPatten, B. (2019). The Nature of Language: A Short Guide to What's in Our Heads. ACTFL. VanPatten, B. (2022). Language Acquisition in a Nutshell. ACTFL. Goodreads reviews of those 3 books: https://...
Send us a text Intro & outro music selected from "23 Light Years" by CavalloPazzo Support the show Thanks for listening to Conversations about Language Teaching. Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new
Send us a text Episode 10: Instructional Language Play No Show Notes this episode! Send us a message if you have a question about anything we referred to in the episode. Intro & outro music selected from "23 Light Years" by CavalloPazzo Support the show Thanks for listening to Conversations about Language Teaching. Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" her...
Send us a text Episode 9: Teacher training Show Notes Ngan Ta, PhD Intro & outro music selected from "23 Light Years" by CavalloPazzo Support the show Thanks for listening to Conversations about Language Teaching. Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new
Send us a text Episode 8: Reducing workload by establishing classroom routines Show notes: Some of the opening of class routines mentioned: Free Writes / Fluency Writing Map Talk How Are You? / Social-emotional check-ins Calendar Talk Diane's classroom tour videos showing word posters are in this YouTube playlist. Diane's blog posts about reducing lesson preparation time when teaching five different levels: Part 1 and Part 2 Intro & outro music selected from "23 Light Ye...
Send us a text Episode 7: Carefully observing language classroom interaction through Conversation Analysis Show notes: Harvey Sacks and Emmanuel Schlegoff Their 1973 study, which more or less became a standard for Conversation Analysis as a research approach and methodology: Schegloff, E. A., & Sacks, H. (1973). Opening up closings. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/semi.1973.8.4.289/pdf?casa_token=43RDsMKs_5oAAAAA:Jy-8YLnSq1q62HsoHqXvozp4_...
Send us a text Episode 6: Planning: "Communication for language" versus "language for communication" Show Notes: Reed mentioned a research study we did related to language play at the Agen Workshop. That is here: Neubauer, D., & Riggs, R. (2024). Chapter 5 Pedagogical language play in a beginning L2 Chinese classroom. In L. Darren & T. Elaine (Eds.), Heteroglossia and Language Play in Multilingual Speech (pp. 91-116). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. (Did you know you c...
Send us a text Episode 5 of Conversations about Language Teaching: What can language teachers get from research? Show Notes: Video (8m 31s) by Mango Languages, What is Second Language Acquisition (SLA)? | Science Behind Language Learning https://youtu.be/WZZUCykPQWE Diane mentioned this article as an example of how a research article is structured, and what the early sections of the article aims to do or not do (free to read & download): Creese, A., & Blackledge, A. (201...
Send us a text Episode 4 Conversations about Language Teaching: Personal teaching histories from Diane & Reed Show notes: Intro & outro music selected from "23 Light Years" by CavalloPazzo Support the show Thanks for listening to Conversations about Language Teaching. Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2...
Send us a text Episode 3 Conversations about Language Teaching: Seating and physical classroom set up and how that affects teaching & learning Show notes: STARTALK is a US-funded program for critical languages teacher and student training. More info: The "I do, we do, you do" model is mentioned in this STARTALK publication. Schwab, G. (2011). From dialogue to multilogue: A different view on participation in the English foreign‐language classroom. Classroom Discourse, 2(1), 3-19. ...
Send us a text Episode 2 of Conversations about Language Teaching: Planning Lessons for Beginning Language Learners Show Notes: The Agen Workshop https://theagenworkshop.com/ Swanson, P. B. (2010). Teacher efficacy and attrition: Helping students at introductory levels of language instruction appears critical. Hispania, 305-321. Read/download the article here: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=mcl_facpub Terry Waltz - Super 7 verbs. In...
Send us a text Bonus episode 0 of Conversations about Language Teaching. SHOW NOTES: Our actual notes for planning this podcast episode & the podcast overall. 1. Deciding on a title for the show: Conversations about language teaching with Diane Neubauer and Reed Riggs 2. Blurbs about us: - Diane came from being a language learner, then a language teacher, then PhD program in teacher education, then teacher education - Both learned Chinese in China, living there for several years. ...
Send us a text Episode 1 of Conversations about Language Teaching. Show notes: Items mentioned in the episode: Reed’s HI TESOL article (see pp. 22-24): https://hawaiitesol.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2023_May.pdf The Krashen video (a classic clip from a talk by Dr. Stephen Krashen in the 1970s): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnUc_W3xE1w Michael Long, interaction hypothesis: “The idea that what you teach is what they learn, and when you teach it is when they learn it, i...
Send us a text Episode 22 Show Notes Michael Long quote is on pp. 6-7 of the following, available freely online at the link: Long, M. H. (2016). In defense of tasks and TBLT: Nonissues and real issues. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 36, 5-33. https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/ED5590DB727AE82E0A98AC05264B83E1/S0267190515000057a.pdf/div-class-title-in-defense-of-tasks-and-tblt-nonissues-and-real-issues-div.pdf Intro & outro music ...
Send us a text Show Notes: Video examples of comprehension-based communicative language teaching: Hawai`i Association of Language Teacher (HALT) conference presentation recording: Overview of CCLT (descriptive rather than a demo): https://youtu.be/h0Xd6zVSlxU?si=dIdenoWArOmYlW-q Teachers from Hawai`i developed a website including descriptions of different teaching strategies, including video clips in many language classrooms: https://kawairesources.com/Strategies Reed...
Send us a text Episode 18: Instructional Activities Seedhouse, P. (2010). Locusts, snowflakes and recasts: complexity theory and spoken interaction. Classroom Discourse, 1(1), 4–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/19463011003750624 Neubauer, D. (2022). Chinese Language Instruction with Novice Learners: Target Language Topic Development, Engagement, and Comprehension in Online and Hybrid Classrooms. In: The University of Iowa. https://search.proquest.com/openview/4404f8257451ba7a5d4999aa1718c5...
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