Category: ESOL/EFL

Can Computers Change The Way People Write?

This post is based on my Masters dissertation, as well as a couple of workshops delivered at IATEFL Pre-Conference Event 2009 (Cardiff) and NATECLA 2009 (Leeds) My small-scale study aimed to discover differences in the writing processes of ESOL learners whilst completing timed writing tasks across paper-based (PB) […]

Test your language skills online

When it comes to defining a second-language learner’s proficiency, what options are there? Most of what is available is time consuming and expensive. However, the DIALANG project has developed a Web-based instrument that allows learners to assess their proficiency in, particularly EU, languages. The method is entirely ‘self-assessment’ […]

Da Lingua Code

Now that the unintentional sabbatical is over…. What do the following phrases have in common? Hasta la vista baby It’s a nice day, hana? Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in English y termino en español Answer: they are all forms of ‘code-switching’; that is, the (more or less […]