Send us a text

Episode 30 Show Notes -- Purposes for Picture Talk

Link to Cheng & Tsui webinar (mentioned by Diane as included Picture Talk): https://youtu.be/HinXS0n762g

eBook (includes both ‘levels’ of Picture Talk Diane described) https://cheng-tsui.publishercart.com/product/comprehension-based-chinese-ebook/

Hawaii Department of Education https://learningdesign.hawaiipublicschools.org/standards-based-content/world-languages

Scroll down to find Session 2 from 2023 (with Diane Neubauer, trainer): Designing Units and Lessons. There is a link to unit and lesson examples there – the elementary example is a unit based around an animal, like Diane talked about pandas.

Picture Talk episode of Growing with Proficiency (Claudia Elliott’s podcast; no guest, Diane misremembered in the recording) Episode 143: Picture Talk Reimagined – 5 Ways to Make It Sustainable and Student-Led https://growingwithproficiencythepodcast.buzzsprout.com/2051875/episodes/16986398-episode-143-picture-talk-reimagined-5-ways-to-make-it-sustainable-and-student-led

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 29 Show Notes - Rethinking Authenticity

Hasegawa, A. (2018). Understanding task‐in‐process through the lens of laughter: Activity designs, instructional materials, learner orientations, and interpersonal relationships. The Modern Language Journal, 102(1), 142-161. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12448

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

This episode is in Mandarin Chinese. Reed & Diane talk about their experiences as non-native learners, users, and teachers of Mandarin Chinese.

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

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: https://mandarincompanion.com/reading-pain-or-reading-gain-reading-at-the-right-level/

The podcast “You Can Learn Chinese” also has several episodes related to extensive reading, intensive reading, and other information about learning (particularly) Chinese with a lot of relevance to learning any language: https://mandarincompanion.com/you-can-learn-chinese-podcast/

Narrow reading:

Krashen, S. (2004). The case for narrow reading [J]. Language Magazine, 3(5), 17-19. https://sdkrashen.com/content/articles/narrow.pdf

Renandya, W. A., Krashen, S., & Jacobs, G. M. (2018). The potential of series books: How narrow reading leads to advanced L2 proficiency. LEARN Journal: Language Education and Acquisition Research Network, 11(2), 148-154. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1225871.pdf

English language TV shows used for language learning – some examples:

10 US or UK TV shows and ideas for learning English from them: https://www.bsceducation.com/blog/best-tv-shows-for-learning-english/

The Office (US version of the show) https://diziyleogren.com/en/tv-series/the-office – However, Reed & Diane think it’s more important to understand meaning in context than to memorize the long lists of vocabulary provided. The definitions are sometimes also full of specialized vocabulary. Ex: Season 1, ep. 1 lists “berry” as a fleshy fruit from one ovary… that is a very technical definition for a botany student rather than daily life!

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 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 analysis:

Ch. 3 of this book is about needs analysis in language course design:

Macalister, J., & Nation, I. P. (2019). Language curriculum design. Routledge.

Information about the 2019 (2nd) edition is here:

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780429203763/language-curriculum-design-john-macalister-nation

The first edition of the book (2010 edition) is available freely online here: https://shorturl.at/mX40e

Prabhu (1990) cites Brumfit, 1984, which appears to be his PhD thesis revised for book publication:

Brumfit, C. (1984). Communicative methodology in language teaching: The roles of fluency and accuracy.

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 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 of shadowing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noticing_hypothesis

Diane recommended a book with several chapters about pronunciation development:

Piske, T., & Young-Scholten, M. (Eds.). (2008). Input matters in SLA (Vol. 35). Multilingual Matters.

https://www.multilingualmatters.com/page/detail/input-matters-in-sla/?SF1=work_id&ST1=CVIEW-489

Diane also mentioned a meta-analysis of pronunciation studies. This is that meta-analysis:

Lee, J., Jang, J., & Plonsky, L. (2015). The effectiveness of second language pronunciation instruction: A meta-analysis. Applied Linguistics, 36(3), 345-366. https://academic.oup.com/applij/article/36/3/345/2422438

It seems to be available without a paywall!

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 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 tested chatbot for Chinese language learners, meant to focus on the Cultural Revolution, using Magic School AI: https://app.magicschool.ai/tools/custom-chatbot?share=96e25283-28a8-47a8-a357-20e9db17bf42

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