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Here is a detailed breakdown of the different sections of my book Thinking About Language Teaching (Volume 1). It was not always straightforward deciding what category to place each post in. For example, many listening activities also involve speaking and vice versa. Similarly, I had to choose whether to put posts in the category Lesson Planning or Classroom Pedagogy. In any case, readers can just dip into any material they want. Whether you are more interested in theory and research, or just getting more lesson ideas, there is plenty to choose from.

 Second language learning theory

1.      Second language learning and acquisition (2015) (In six parts)

2.      What is skill acquisition theory? (2020)

 Methods

1.      The myth of method (2018)

2.      The death of method (2018)

3.      The eclectic approach (2022)

4.      There is no best method (2015)

5.      No best method, but … (2023)

6.      Why has EPI become so popular? (2023)

7.      Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) (2018)

 Listening

1.      Listening is the key (2013)

2.      Penny Ur’s listening tips (2016)

3.      Practical activities for balanced listening instruction (2017)

4.      Enjoying sounds (2017)

5.      A nifty ‘listening plus’ lesson plan (2018)

6.      Insights from a PhD thesis on how listening develops (2025)

7.      Why is listening so hard for students? (2025)

8.      Helping students overcome the challenges of listening (2025)

9.      Spot the Differences listening (2025)

10.   Teaching advanced level listening texts (2024)

 Speaking

1.      50 speaking activities for the languages classroom (2012)

2.      Does practice make perfect? (2016)

3.      Preparing for GCSE speaking: building a repertoire (2017)

4.      A question-answer fluency activity (xx)

5.      How well do you know your bestie? (2017)

6.      Encouraging spontaneous talk (2023)

7.      Using sentence builders to help students prepare for GCSE orals (xx)

8.      Question time: reclaiming a lost art in language teaching (2025)

Reading

1.      Extensive reading (2012)

2.      How many new words should we include in a text? (2018)

3.      Reading aloud, the production effect and memory (2021)

4.      What’s so special about authenticity? (2015)

5.      Dissecting a lesson: teaching an intermediate written text (2018)

Writing

1.      Dictation revisited (2019)

2.      15 types of writing task (2017)

3.      Helping A-level students become confident essay writers (2017)

4.      Why Michael Gove is wrong to advocate translation (2013)

Lesson planning

1.      Building your repertoire (2019)

Vocabulary

1.      Some strategies for teaching new vocabulary (2015)

2.      Making words memorable (2016)

3.      A 2017 summary of research on teaching vocabulary (2018)

4.      How useful is it to learn vocabulary from themed lists? (2018)

5.      Five reasons not to set vocab learning (2024)

6.      One chunk at a time (2021)

Grammar and lexicogrammar

1.      What is means to ‘know grammar’ and why this is important (2025)

2.      Let’s talk about drills (2021)

3.      What’s wrong with the ‘words + grammar’ approach to language learning and teaching (2025)

4.      Why does grammar teaching fail for most students? (2023)

5.      Grammar teaching in MFL lessons in England (2018)

Cognitive science

1.      Why is it important to understand Transfer-Appropriate Processing? (2021)

2.      What is the phonological loop? (2019)

3.      What is Cognitive Load Theory? (2017)

4.      “Memory is the residue of thought.” Discuss. (2020)

Motivation

1.      Five ways to look at motivation (2024)

2.      Students’ perceptions of the motivational pull of TPRS (2019)

3.      Clarity is all (2014)

Teaching advanced level students

1.      Teaching A-level modern languages (2024)

2.      Ask the Experts (2020)

3.      Connections! (2025)

Culture

1.      What about culture in the new MFL GCSE? (2021)

2.      Project-Based Learning (2015)

3.      Culturally Responsive Teaching (2022)

4.      Exchanges are fantastic! (2024)

Classroom pedagogy

1.      Book review: Common Ground: Second Language Acquisition Theory Goes to the Classroom (2022)

2.      10 nifty starters for language lessons (2022)

3.      Two ChatGPT lesson plans (2024)

4.      A travel plans info gap lesson (2025)

5.      Choral repetition revisited (2025)

6.      Killer filler game (2014)

Curriculum

1.      Curriculum planning (2019)

2.      More on curriculum planning in MFL (2019)

3.      Adapting your course book (2019)

4.      Building assessment into the curriculum (2019)

Conclusion


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