Conversations about Language Teaching

Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"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/homeMore about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com 

  1. 1D AGO

    Episode 31: Child Language Development & Implications for Teachers

    Send us a text Show Notes: Episode 31 (season 4) show notes: Child language development & implications for teachers Conversations about Language Teaching Episode 7 was about Conversation Analysis:  YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zny0LLUh3TM Audio-only podcast episode https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/2325378/episodes/15229325-episode-7-learning-about-language-classroom-interaction-through-conversation-analysis  Reed mentioned this presentation by Lourdes Ortega:  Ortega, L. (2017). The bi/multilingual turn in SLA: How far have we (not) come, and why. In 36th Second Language Research Forum, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. Reed referenced Ninio’s research on child syntax (ex, word order), such as the following:  Ninio, A. (2014). Learning a generative syntax from transparent syntactic atoms in the linguistic input. Journal of Child Language, 41(6), 1249-1275. https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/4230B7158CA10B4F20454430F3A9B6BE/S0305000913000470a.pdf/learning-a-generative-syntax-from-transparent-syntactic-atoms-in-the-linguistic-input.pdf Ninio, A. (2011). Syntactic development, its input and output. Oxford University Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=tJ2k_KeoRhcC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=Ninio+child+syntax&ots=ycNoteZRsf&sig=EvZ0KYIbqXytHtPE6-P41jFUJE0#v=onepage&q=Ninio%20child%20syntax&f=false  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

    40 min

  2. MAY 15

    Episode 30: Purposes for Picture Talk

    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

    37 min

  3. MAY 1

    Episode 29: Rethinking Authenticity

    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

    39 min

  4. APR 17 · BONUS

    Bonus Episode 28: 当非母语中文老师

    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

    39 min

  5. APR 3

    Episode 27: A Story about Student Production

    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

    38 min

  6. MAR 20

    Episode 26: Children’s Books & Reading for Vocabulary Growth

    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

    27 min

  7. MAR 6

    Episode 25: There Is No Best Method--Why?

    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

    39 min

  8. FEB 20

    Episode 24: Pronunciation Development

    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

    34 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

"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/homeMore about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com 

Information

  • Creator
    Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    32
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Conversations about Language Teaching
  • Show Website
    Conversations about Language Teaching

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