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In this teaching-oriented project, we propose an extensive reading while listening (ERWL) program in which cooperative learning (CL) tasks are also implemented. We believe that by implementing ERWL combined with CL tasks, teachers can invite their learners to improve all four language skills while simultaneously enhancing their motivation for ERWL. We will first explain the benefits of ERWL and CL for second language (L2) learners and then the rationale for combining these two learning methods. Next, we will present CL tasks designed for students to improve all four language skills while doing ERWL.

This article considers potential impacts the study of language, including ecolinguistics, can have on important real-world issues, and how linguists and others can involve themselves in addressing these issues for a sustainable future. The article is divided into two parts. The first part provides an illustrative study in which computer tools were utilized to investigate media reporting. The study examined the relative coverage of issues of basic human needs (food, clean water, and sanitation), which are part of the focus of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, in four major newspapers from Malaysia, Singapore, the UK and the US. Data were collected between November 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was in its early days in terms of worldwide attention. During that time period, the pandemic received far more coverage in those newspapers than did the other issues, even though basic human needs greatly outweighed the COVID-19 pandemic as to deaths and other forms of suffering at the time of data collection, not to mention the toll on human life in the many years before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Reasons for this severe discrepancy were explored with insights from professionals working in the media and related sectors. The skewed distribution of media coverage, we argue, reflects a crisis of responsibility and values. The second part of the article serves to highlight how those of us in language studies can make a contribution to the wider discussion about, among other important concerns, the role and responsibility of media in shaping the public’s views and actions on issues that are at the heart of sustainable development, and how we can be more socially engaged. We conclude by arguing that ecolinguists have much to contribute to the sustainability of the world, which ultimately requires a respect for the entire ecological community.

Este artigo utiliza a ecolinguística para analisar um episódio de 30 minutos de um documentário televisivo produzido para apresentação em 2022 na Netflix, parte de uma série de quatro episódios intitulada The Hidden Lives of Pets. O episódio de oito segmentos exibiu e explicou a inteligência emocional, social e cognitiva de vários animais não humanos. Os animais incluíam duas espécies de cães, três espécies de pássaros, um coelho e um réptil. As questões de pesquisa foram: (a) que tipos de inteligência seriam destacados; (b) como sua inteligência seria validada; (c) a linguagem não especista seria usada ao se referir aos animais não humanos; e (d) qualquer referência seria feita à inteligência de animais não humanos em geral e às implicações de sua inteligência para as maneiras como os animais humanos deveriam tratá-los. O episódio destacou a importância de um ambiente propício para que os animais desenvolvam sua inteligência. A inteligência desses animais não humanos foi discutida à luz do crescente reconhecimento da inteligência de outros animais entre os humanos e o que isso pode significar para o comportamento humano. Relacionado a isso, descobriu-se que a maioria dos humanos no episódio usava pronomes, como ela e ele, que reconheciam outros animais como sencientes. No que tane ao sistema de Stibbe (2021) para análise ecolinguística, três categorias foram consideradas de particular relevância: (1) apagamento, uma vez que animais de criação e outros não animais de estimação não foram incluídos, nem o fato de que o ambiente em que os animais de criação são forçados a viver é muito prejudicial para o desenvolvimento ou exibição de inteligência; (2) condenação, pois os produtores do documentário usaram ferramentas de vídeo, bem como depoimentos de leigos e cientistas para reforçar suas alegações sobre a inteligência dos animais de estimação; e (3) ideologias, como os telespectadores podem interpretar a história do documentário como significando que, como os animais não humanos vistos nos oito segmentos demonstraram inteligência, eles podem muito bem fornecer companhia e entretenimento aos humanos – os principais propósitos dos animais de estimação – portanto, eles têm o direito de existir.

One of the key characteristics of student-centered learning is the active involvement of students in the learning process, where they co-construct knowledge with the guidance of the teachers and their peers. The co-construction of knowledge can be greatly facilitated when students respond to teachers’ questions and when they themselves generate well-thought out questions. The purpose of this article is to discuss the role of student-generated questions in a student-centred learning environment and to offer practical strategies for language teachers to guide students in asking more and better student questions in the classroom, i.e., the kind of questions that promote deeper engagement and learning.

This article has one theme and two parts. The theme is that we humans can do more and do it more enjoyably when we cooperate. The first part of the article explains eight principles from cooperative learning, a methodology that facilitates students learning in groups of two-four members, along with the learning they do with teachers and by studying on their own. The second part describes four cooperative learning techniques, as a way to bring to life the eight principles from the first part, and also to provide readers of the article with ready-made ideas for using cooperative learning in their own teaching. This article suggests that shorter cooperative learning activities can prepare students for doing projects, and that students can do shorter cooperative learning activities as part of the work they do on projects.

When most people picture reading, they picture someone sitting alone holding a book or a screen of some type, such as a smartphone or tablet. In other words, reading is not seen as a social activity. Just the opposite, reading can be seen as an anti-social act; instead of talking with others, people go off alone to read, maybe even as a means of escape. However, reading is inherently a social activity. It represents an interaction between writers and readers. Writers attempt to put their ideas into words and maybe images, too. Readers develop their own interpretations of what the writers wrote, and they connect these interpretations to their own lives and thoughts. In this article, we propose that extensive reading, which involves students doing large quantities of reading, be combined with cooperative learning as an important way to strengthen the existing social nature of reading. We discuss supporting theories, research, and principles of extensive reading and cooperative learning, before providing and illustrating ideas on how to integrate extensive reading and cooperative learning in the classroom. We hope that the examples provided, based on knowledge of principles from cooperative learning and extensive reading, will inspire and sustain teachers’ efforts to strengthen the social element of their students’ reading, thereby making reading a more beneficial and enjoyable activity for their students that may continue for the rest of their lives.

This article links two approaches to promoting less competitive, more positive, and more student centered learning environments for language learners: cooperative learning and positive psychology. The article begins by explaining each of these two approaches. First, the article provides background, including research support, for cooperative learning and explains eight cooperative learning principles: maximum peer interactions, equal opportunities to participate, individual accountability, positive interdependence, group autonomy, heterogeneous grouping, teaching collaborative skills, and cooperation as a value. Second, the article supplies similar background, including research support, for positive psychology, including seven principles: relationships with others, responsibility, gratitude, positivity, strengths, kindness, and meaning. The article’s next section explores links between cooperative learning and positive psychology in language education and explains that the use of positive psychology in education frequently uses the name positive education. Then, the article presents an extensive reading activity and explains how the design of the activity draws on the eight cooperative learning principles and the seven positive psychology principles. Finally, the article explains how both cooperative learning and positive psychology support student centered language learning, and presents a student centered intensive reading activity that draws on the same eight cooperative learning principles and seven positive psychology principles.

Advice for teachers often includes advice on the quality and quantity of the praise they give students. The present article reviews and perhaps adds to that advice, as well as cautioning that the influence of culture needs to be borne in mind when praise is considered. The two theories discussed in the introductory part of this article, Behaviorism and Social Constructionism, provide different but not necessarily incompatible advice on praise. The article’s twelve specific suggestions on praise may be a useful review or new ideas. Included among those suggestions are ideas for involving people other than teachers in praising students, to praise not just the result but also the process used towards that result and those who helped in the process, and in giving praise, to highlight the class’s long-term goals. Certainly, the suggestions are relevant not only for teachers but also for other stakeholders in Education and beyond.

The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in language learning allows students to be more engaged and innovative. The present article explores the potential use of technology in the planning, drafting, reviewing, and publishing stages of students’ own book creation. First, the use of digital tools to create books in an interactive and engaging process and format is discussed. Then, the varieties of multimedia books created using ICT are explored. Next, the use of technology for sharing ideas, communicating opinions, collaborating, and reviewing others’ books is explained. The article also describes some collaborative methods students may employ in creating books. Finally, it discusses learners’ development of technology and media literacy in the creation of their own books.

Online education can play a crucial role in increasing access to educational opportunity and in promoting lifelong learning. The Covid-19 pandemic has done even more to raise awareness of the importance of online education. The pandemic has been a Category 5 disruptor of education systems. This article was written to help teachers at all levels of education facilitate cooperation among their students as a key element of online education. While many teachers believe in the benefits of student-student cooperation, and theory and research support this view, many teachers worry that distance learning is already difficult enough without adding the complications of cooperative learning, no matter how beneficial it might be. The article begins by discussing some of the obstacles teachers may encounter as they seek to integrate cooperative learning as part of online education. The main part of the article presents nine lesson plans for language education via cooperative learning in online education settings. While the content of the lessons focuses on language learning, the lessons can be employed in a wide variety of content areas. The article concludes with general suggestions on overcoming the previously mentioned obstacles.

Engaged intellectuals, for the purposes of this paper, are academics who ask themselves what they can do to maximize the role of their academic and other activities in making the world a better place. This paper recounts and reflects on the experiences of the author and others as they have attempted to put their academic and other skills and understandings to the service of the greater good. These experiences touch on such areas as wildlife conservation, gendered images, the relative role of individuals in social change, Social Interdependence Theory, student centered education, free online publications, Creative Commons, Communities of Practice, organizations of intellectuals, poverty alleviation, plant-based eating, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The paper also discusses the author’s own sizeable inadequacies in his attempts to be an engaged intellectuals and the difficulties academics face in changing the world from their place in academia. The author concludes by encouraging intellectuals to make frequent trips outside the familiar comforts of the ivory tower to engage with others in using the many wonders of the modern and natural world to address the many challenges we face.

Educators can benefit from occasionally stepping outside our profession to look for new ideas. Mindset: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential is a book that was written by a well-regarded psychology professor and has sold more than a million copies. The book’s central premise is that people tend toward one of two mindsets: a fixed mindset, which sees ability as inborn and largely unmodifiable; and a growth mindset, which sees ability as something people can develop by making persistent effort and learning new strategies. The present book review begins with explaining the two mindsets. Then, questions about mindset are answered. Next, in the review’s longest portions, suggestions from the book which might be useful for teachers are shared. These suggestions may help students become more successful learners, not to mention better people overall. Finally, the reviewer recommends that when the author and her colleagues do further work on mindsets, they might wish to examine mindsets through a more collective, sociological perspective than from an individual, psychological view.

This article challenges applied linguists and other academics to think and act outside of the box to help society confront COVID-19, future pandemics, and other crises that humans and other earthling currently face and that lie on the horizon. These outside-the-box actions by applied linguists can involve not only the research we do but also the ways we share our work and how we teach our students. Nine examples of such actions are provided, and readers are urged to collaborate in this crucial work., Este artigo desafia linguistas aplicados e outros acadêmicos a pensar e agir fora de sua torre de marfim para ajudar a sociedade a enfrentar a COVID-19, pandemias futuras e outras crises que os humanos e outros terráqueos enfrentam atualmente e que já estão no horizonte. Essas ações podem envolver não apenas a pesquisa que fazemos mas também as maneiras pelas quais compartilhamos nosso trabalho e como ensinamos aos nossos estudantes. Nove exemplos de tais situações são apresentados e os leitores são convidados a colaborar nesse importante trabalho.

Although cooperative learning (CL) has been shown to be an effective method to increase students’ levels of engagement in the language classroom, not all teachers use it regularly. Some may not fully understand its theoretical rationales, some may not be aware of its potential language learning benefits and some may just feel that CL takes up too much of instruction time. In this paper, we first provide the key theoretical principles behind CL and discuss four such principles that research has shown to be essential. These are positive interdependence, maximum peer interactions, equal opportunity to participate and individual accountability. In the last part, which forms that bulk of this paper, we discuss common concerns teachers have about CL and offer practical suggestions of addressing them.

Both theory and research support the use of group activities to aid student learning. However, some students are reluctant to learn with peers for fear that the peers will gain more. The article attempts to address this fear. This article provides educators with explanations to give their students as to why, even in norm referenced assessment environments, by helping their groupmates, students are positively, not negatively, impacting their own success on assessments. The article opens with a review of assessment options: norm referenced, criterion referenced and ipsative. Next, Social Interdependence Theory is explained for the insights it might offer as to how students view their peers’ success. The article’s third section summarises some of the research on peer learning, in particular research on what forms of peer interaction might best promote learning. Finally, the article examines three contexts in which norm referencing is applied – standardised exams, class grades and class ranking – and concludes that the chances are small of groupmates’ success diminishing the success of students who have helped their groupmates. This conclusion is reached based, first, on mathematical calculations and, most importantly, on the research based premise that when students provide elaborated help to groupmates, the helpers are likely to boost their own scores.

Addressing their concern about status inequalities among teachers of English, in this viewpoint paper, the authors argue that characteristics related to association with an Inner Circle country, Caucasian appearance, middle and upper class socio-economic status and university education seem to be related to the image of the “ideal” teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). This image, in turn, affects job prospects, salary and recognition by students and peers. By reflecting on their experiences in relation to how well they fit the “ideal”, the authors show that the construct is highly flawed and potentially destructive and divisive. To redress the inequities brought about by perceptions of the “ideal” language teacher, strategies pertaining to providing role models, raising awareness, providing tools and techniques for improving proficiency, and discussing status and identity issues are suggested for assigning competence to people who do not fit the idealized image. The article aims to offer a fairly new perspective from the unique experiences of three established language teachers, one from each of Kachru’s (1992) circles, and to also raise awareness about the need to accept greater diversity among language teaching professionals. Keywords: teacher identity, teacher characteristics, teacher employment, NNESTs, non-native teachers of English, assigning competence, narrative enquiry

This chapter begins by looking at the concept of community and how it fits with Student Centered Cooperative Learning (SCCL). Next, the chapter offers suggestions as to how SCCL can help communities meet the needs in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization needs. Some educators worry the SCCL might be especially difficult in the large classes that exist in too many parts of the world. The chapter addresses this important concern before examining the role of teachers as learners, not just teachers, within communities.

This chapter links Student Centered Cooperative Learning (SCCL) with the concept of positive education (PE). The chapter begins by explaining PE and its roots in Positive Psychology, focusing on the five elements of PERMA (positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement). Next, the application of Positive Psychology to teachers own lives is considered, especially as it can convince and prepare teachers to use PE. The following section of the chapter explains SCCL activities for PE. Then, tips are provided for implement PE as part of SCCL. Finally, in summary, links between SCCL and PE are explained in table form.

This chapter links Student Centered Cooperative Learning (SCCL) with the concept of justice. The chapter begins by looking at various definitions of justice and highlighting Martin Luther King Jr’s optimism that justice has and will continue to increase. The remainder of the chapter is divided into different sections each examining one area in which education, aided by SCCL, can play a role in promoting the expansion of justice. Among the many areas that could have been addressed in this chapter, those chosen were bringing people of different backgrounds together via heterogeneous grouping, support for all students, service learning, democracy, fairness for people of all ages, and animal welfare.

This chapter begins by introducing the authors and explaining the rationale for this book on Student Centered Cooperative Learning (SCCL). Next, the chapter explains the term Student Centered Learning and its contrast with Teacher Centered Learning. Then, the other key term in SCCL, cooperative learning (CL), is explained, including how CL differs from students merely sitting in groups and how CL fits well with SCL, including a response to reasons that some scholars give for feeling that CL is not student centered. The next to last section of the chapter offers advice on helping students who may not be comfortable with SCCL. The chapter ends with a preview of the book’s remaining chapters.

This is the first of two chapters that look at the concept of individual differences among students and how Student Centered Cooperative Learning (SCCL) helps all students to succeed and feel comfortable. The present chapter looks at how students differ along the introversion–extroversion continuum. The chapter begins by explaining introversion, extroversion, and ambiversion. Next, the chapter explains away the myth that extroversion is superior. General strengths of introverts and ambiverts are explained in addition to their specific strengths as leaders and teachers. The chapter also discusses how SCCL can cater to the needs of all students, regardless of where they lie on the introversion–extroversion continuum.