Roy Cross's Blog

1. Thanks to Jaime Saavedra for this one from the OECD, Students, Digital Devices and Success,  https://www.oecd.org/ – scroll down the page a bit. Download here https://www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutpisa/English%20V3_WEB.pdf

PDFs below of the whole report and the ‘Key Findings’ only.

While we’re visiting the OECD site, here’s their recent Recommendation on Artificial Intelligence – it’s one of those ‘having regard to’ and ‘recognising’ documents  https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/oecd-legal-0449

It was amended just a week ago, possibly for the first time since its adoption in May 2019, possibly not.

2. Staying with AI, here’s a recent blog post from Ethan Mollick, Superhuman? What does it mean for AI to be better than a human? And how can we tell? https://substack.com/home/post/p-144115962

plus the paper he refers to that he co-authored with no fewer than eight other humans, Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier: Field Experimental Evidence of the Effects of AI on Knowledge Worker Productivity and Quality https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4573321

You’ll need a free SSRN account to download the paper for yourself; PDF below.

3. The Warwick ELT Archive is a treasure trove curated by Richard Smith. Here’s Richard’s recent blog post on Louis Alexander https://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/elt_archive/entry/louis_alexander_19322002 and here are the links that Richard includes in his post:

to the page on L.G. Alexander’s life and career https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/research/collections/elt_archive/halloffame/louis_alexander/biography/

and to a 1981 talk by Alexander which Alexander describes in his introduction as an ”off the cuff, impromptu attempt to survey some of the significant landmarks in the history of English language teaching in the twentieth century” https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/research/collections/elt_archive/halloffame/louis_alexander/archive/alexander_l_g.mp3

Would that I had cuffs like Mr Alexander’s!

4. I’ve just discovered this Cambridge University Press feature, (well-known ELT person’s) Essential Bookshelf https://tinyurl.com/mpb58fh7 PDFs of Rod Ellis’s essential bookshelf: Focus on form, Martin East’s essential bookshelf: Task-based language teaching and Ema Ushioda’s essential bookshelf: Teacher engagement with classroom motivation research below.

5. And, finally, prompted by last Thursday’s statue piece, John Drew has sent me another piece from his Dhaka Daily Star archive, On Shelley, Shoes and the Shifting of Statues – PDF below.

1. At 11:00 UK time next Tuesday 14^th May, the latest in the Lancaster Talks on Linguistics series is on Corpus Linguistics. Three short lectures – a nice idea! – from Elena Semino on Corpus linguistics and healthcare, Vaclav Brezina on New tools and methods in corpus linguistics & Dana Gablasova on Corpus linguistics and data-driven learning. More info and registration here https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/linguistics/events/lancaster-talks-on-language-corpus-linguistics/

2. At 18:00 UK time next Wednesday 15^th May from OUP, The role of music in the classroom with Michael Lacey Freeman. More info and registration here https://events.oup.com/oxford-university-press/The-role-of-music-in-the-classroom and Michael’s abstract here

Music has always had a key role to play in language learning and this is why most of us can remember fragments of foreign language songs from our childhood. These songs, or pieces of songs can creep into our subconscious and stay there. Music sticks in the mind and for this reason, it can help us as teachers to recycle, and reinforce language structures in the classroom, and it can assist students in retrieving important vocabulary. It can also, however, serve many other purposes in the classroom. If used appropriately, it can increase levels of attention, confidence, and engagement, all ingredients that make for motivated students. But how do you find the right music and when should you use it? Join me in this presentation about how to use music to obtain the best results for your students.

3. Also from OUP, the latest issue of ELTJ is a special issue on positive psychology and wellbeing https://academic.oup.com/eltj/issue/78/2 The introduction to the issue by Pia Resnik and Sarah Mercer is free to view, as are the Key Concepts in ELT piece on Intercultural Communication by Will Baker and the piece on ELT teachers’ agency for wellbeing by Giulia Sulis, Astrid Mairitsch, Sonja Babic, Sarah Mercer & Pia Resnik. PDF of the introduction below.

4. Find where your country is in the Reporters without Borders 2024 World Press Freedom Index? https://rsf.org/en/index

5. And, finally and invertedly, a new statue in Washington DC https://tinyurl.com/3e2p7485

1. Something a bit more challenging than usual from Julie Rattray, On the affective threshold of power and privilege https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-023-01093-x PDF below.

A threshold concept= a core idea that’s conceptually challenging for students, who struggle to grasp it—but once grasped, it radically transforms the students’ perception of the subject.

Epistemic justice = universal participation in terms of equality of all inquirers in access to information and knowledge.

2. An interesting NESTA event at 17:30 UK time this Thursday, 9^th May: UK 2040: David Miliband in conversation with Ravi Gurumurthy https://www.nesta.org.uk/event/uk-2040-rt-hon-david-miliband-in-conversation-with-ravi-gurumurthy/

David Miliband, had the political cookie crumbled differently, might have been about to become the new UK Prime Minister; as it is, he’s the president of the International Rescue Committee https://www.rescue.org/

3. Here’s one free CPD opportunity, with the Language Assessment Professionalisation Programme (LAPP) https://lapp.education/en

Are you a language teacher or trainee teacher? Would you like to develop your skills in assessing your students’ language proficiency? If so, this initial training course, developed by Eaquals and ALTE in partnership with mint-digital, will help you.

4. And another, a NILE free Teaching English with Authentic Video course https://learning.nile-elt.com/d2l/le/lessons/6733/units/184886 You’ll need to sign up to the free NILE member’s area.

A new free 10-hour self-access course which will help you to make effective use of the Ready-to-Run video collection and other authentic videos you use in your teaching. You will be able to generate a NILE certificate on completion of the course. Additionally, completing this course will give you access to an additional selection of teaching video materials from the Ready to Run video collection of authentic video, including video content for young learners and the newest of the secondary and adult collection.

5. And, finally, how about some ‘simple’ rice? https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/japanese-rice

1. Here’s a recent Ipsos report on attitudes to climate change in 33 countries around the world https://resources.ipsos.com/rs/297-CXJ-795/images/Earth%20Day%202024%20Global%20Report.pdf

LinkedIn is usually a fairly polite, even staid environment but the abuse that Kelly Beaver received – from people who believe the earth is flat? – for posting this report was astonishing. PDF below.

2. As promised last week, here’s the other recordings in the IH World Global voices on nurturing inclusive practice series:

Busting Myths of Autism in the EFL Classroom with Sisi Rabenstein https://youtu.be/ZphSSiV86tQ?feature=shared

The Unpublished: Are We Editing LGBTQ+ Identities Out of the Classroom? with Giovanni Licata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoutwXtn3y8

How to Handle Hot Moments in (and out) of the Classroom with Verónica Higareda and Reena Mistry https://youtu.be/zEDtJqhnpNk?feature=shared

Deconstructing EDIB: What, why, and how? with Amina Douidi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEv1MgJfKwM

3. The ECML’s new three-year programme, Language education at the heart of democracy, launched recently, and you’ll find links to all the project websites here https://www.ecml.at/ECML-Programme/Programme2024-2027/tabid/5628/language/en-GB/Default.aspx

Here’s a fairly random three projects (not random in that all three have a short introductory video):

Unlocking educational opportunities in sign languages in Europe https://www.ecml.at/ECML-Programme/Programme2024-2027/DeafSign/tabid/5861/language/en-GB/Default.aspx Introductory video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WDDC5RUAL8

Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers https://www.ecml.at/ECML-Programme/Programme2024-2027/Plurilingualwellbeing/tabid/5863/language/en-GB/Default.aspx Introductory video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFrm2hfgyTo

AI for language education https://www.ecml.at/ECML-Programme/Programme2024-2027/AIforlanguageeducation/tabid/5856/language/en-GB/Default.aspx Introductory video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3AEEowJPSY

4. Here’s Simon Borg’s latest blog post, Improving the Effectiveness of Professional Development, in which he outlines six key elements that in his experience give professional development programmes for teachers a greater chance of being effective  https://simon-borg.co.uk/improving-the-effectiveness-of-professional-development/

5. And, finally and imaginatively and resourcefully, Great Escapes: Remarkable Second World War Captives, the video of the National Archives exhibition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMrYocrxBeA

Here’s more on the exhibition itself https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/great-escapes/

and here’s the National Archives YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheNationalArchivesUK

1. Three pieces on language(s) to start with today:

a) Thanks to Rod Bolitho for this piece by Ana Schabl, a Slovenian short story writer, for The Guardian: Do you speak a ‘big’ global language? Here’s what my tiny language can teach you https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/24/language-speak-big-slovene-english-germanThere are lots of even tinier languages than Slovene out there with lessons to teach us – for the time being.

b) A piece in The Conversation from Abigail Parrish of Sheffield University, Young people in Britain aren’t bad at learning languages – but the school system doesn’t make it easy for them https://theconversation.com/young-people-in-britain-arent-bad-at-learning-languages-but-the-school-system-doesnt-make-it-easy-for-them-227485

c) Another piece in The Conversation, this one from Sascha Stollhans of Leeds University, The UK is poorer without Erasmus – it’s time to rejoin the European exchange programme https://theconversation.com/the-uk-is-poorer-without-erasmus-its-time-to-rejoin-the-european-exchange-programme-227498 Chance would be a fine thing …

2. Thanks to Alan Maley for giving me a sharp poke in the ribs on this one: HLT’s new regular Eco Issues section, for which Alan wrote this inaugural article, Global Ecological Collapse and the Power of Teachers https://www.hltmag.co.uk/apr24/global-ecological-collapse

Chimes in many ways with Rose Aylett’s IATEFL plenary on learner and teacher agency that I mentioned last week – here’s the link to Rose’s talk again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hor2Iyx80is

3. And on this one – ouch, Alan! The new, Winter 2024 issue of Teacher Training Journal has just come out https://pilgrimsttj.com/  and has the usual wide range of interesting articles, this time including Teacher Education during “unteachable” times:  teacher preparation and induction in areas of intractable conflict by Julia Schlam Salman & Brigitta R. Schvarcz from Israel and Many hands make light work: team-teaching within the Hands Up project (in Palestine) by Nick Bilborough. PDF of the whole issue below.

4. The week before last, I had the great pleasure of chairing a reading by David Howard, a New Zealand poet who should be much better known in the UK. David has written a wonderful sequence of poems, Mate (which is a Dalmatian name, pronounced Maat-eh, not a greeting!), about the encounter between Dalmatian immigrants to Aotearoa and the local Māori people at the turn of the century. Each poem in the sequence is told from the perspective of a different member of the Petricevich family. PDF of the sequence below, with explanatory notes at the end, and David’s website here https://davidhowardpoet.com/

5. And, finally and melodically, the Tord Gustavsen Trio play Right There, one of my favourite songs of theirs (or anyone else’s) https://youtu.be/DzFPZ01tFjg?feature=shared More of TGT here https://www.youtube.com/live/XN-QRGhJ8TY?feature=shared

This ‘Free Resources’ message has been sent out earlier than usual in the hope it gives you a little more time to sign up for #1 below.

1. Short notice of this one, for which I apologise: Dyslexia in Language Learning with Boelo Van der Pool is the fifth in the IH World series of talks celebrating diversity, Global voices on nurturing inclusive practice, and it’s at 13:00 UK time tomorrow, Friday 26^th April. More info and registration here https://ihworld.com/events/events/ih-celebration-of-diversity-webinar-5/

I’ll post links to the other talks in the series next week.

2. Bit of a shame about the less-than-welcoming title of this thought-provoking piece by Margit van Wessel from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, Reimagining Transcalar Civil Society Advocacy Collaborations: Starting from the Global South https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12116-024-09426-2.pdf PDF below.

“Based on 29 interviews with staff of civil society organizations, the article shows that country-based actors see collective process, centered at country level, as the foundation for effective collaboration in advocacy, centering on facilitation and support. This turns collaborations with the international NGO that is involved upside down (my emphasis). It also highlights the limited scope for international advocacy from such understandings, while underlining the role of international NGOs in expanding this scope.”

3. Two diametrically-opposed accounts of the same session of Prime Minister’s Questions last week – for an advanced class to compare and contrast?

The first from The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/17/tory-mps-limp-into-pmqs-after-finally-accepting-their-fate

and the second from The Spectator https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/rishi-gets-witty-at-pmqs/ 

Hard to believe the two writers were at the same session!

4. Here’s a dissenting review from Tiffany Jenkins of Jonathan Haidt’s recent book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewriting of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, in which she says that The smart phone is not to blame for the ‘epidemic’ of anxiety in young people https://tiffanyjenkins.substack.com/p/the-smart-phone-is-not-to-blame-for “Haidt’s brilliant insight is that kids are over protected offline but under protected online.”

This report from Ofcom, the UK media regulator, has just popped up again a year after its first publication, almost certainly because of the discussion (all over the media here in UK recently) Tiffany refers to in her piece, Children and parents: media use and attitudes report 2023 https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/media-literacy-research/childrens/children-and-parents-media-use-and-attitudes-report-2023 87% of children aged 3-4 went online in 2022, as did a whole lot of two-year-olds. PDF below.

5. And, finally, beer is a subject close to my heart stomach. Here’s an account from The Conversation of Trinity College Dublin’s research into medieval brewing, Five things our research uncovered when we recreated 16th century beer (and barrels) https://theconversation.com/five-things-our-research-uncovered-when-we-recreated-16th-century-beer-and-barrels-223599

It’s accompanied by a rather good virtual exhibition https://foodcult.eu/exhibition/brewing-historical-beer/

1. This coming Saturday, at 10:00 UK time, NATESOL welcomes you to Infusing enjoyment into reading novels with Rym Ghosn El-Bel Chelbi from the University of Ouargla in Algeria. More info and registration here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd8bV6eWlRrEeM2mrv37juqJnMv_KEBkE-5AGYMJ7TcrUKbRw/viewform PDF below.

NATESOL’S fortieth (!) annual conference is from 10:00 to 15:00 UK time on 11^th May, and they are again kindly offering free places to readers of this Free Resources message. More info here (and PDF of flyer below) https://www.natesol.org/event-details/natesol-annual-conference-2024 Send me a WhatApp, LinkedIn or e-mail message if you’d like a ticket!

2. Here’s Rose Aylett’s wonderful closing plenary from IATEFL last week, Disrupting the commonplace: embedding critical literacy within language education https://youtu.be/Hor2Iyx80is?feature=shared There’s a ‘show transcript’ button halfway down the page that you might find helpful.

“If language teaching is to foster criticality for active and reflective social involvement amongst learners, language teachers themselves should also be critically literate practitioners. But what does ‘critical literacy’ actually mean? And is it something we can learn and/or teach? Using Lewison et al.’s (2002) four dimensions framework of critical literacy, this talk will explore practical ideas to disrupt the status quo in language education, by embedding action for social justice within the many layers of our educational practice(s): from the individual to the institutional. The presentation will unpack the definition of critical literacy proposed by Lewison et al: (1) disrupting the commonplace, (2) interrogating multiple viewpoints, (3) focusing on socio-political issues, and (4) taking action to promote social justice.”

I’m all for disrupting the status quo!

3. Language Trends Wales: an AI-powered experiment to inspire students to learn languages https://youtu.be/O9yZGB4eGyU?feature=shared offers an imaginative use of AI in education, at a time when language learning in UK schools is at an all-time low. See what you think!

4. This one from The Guardian raises all the issues you need for a discussion of colonialism in class, Tory MP from slave-owning family set to gain £3m from sale of former plantation https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/20/tory-mp-from-slave-owning-family-set-to-gain-3m-from-sale-of-former-plantation

5. And, finally and free for a few days only from The Paris Review, Vladimir Nabokov, The Art of Fiction: https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4310/the-art-of-fiction-no-40-vladimir-nabokov

Q. E. M. Forster speaks of his major characters sometimes taking over and dictating the course of his novels. Has this ever been a problem for you, or are you in complete command?

A. My knowledge of Mr. Forster’s works is limited to one novel, which I dislike; and anyway, it was not he who fathered that trite little whimsy about characters getting out of hand; it is as old as the quills, although of course one sympathizes with his people if they try to wriggle out of that trip to India or wherever he takes them. My characters are galley slaves.

1. Do I need to sound like a ‘native speaker’? is the latest episode of the TeachingEnglish podcast https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/podcast/teaching-english/teachingenglish-podcast-do-i-need-sound-native

PDFs of show transcript and notes below.

2. A trio of programmes from BBC Radio 4:

i) Prophet Song by Paul Lynch won last year’s Booker Prize. Set in Ireland in the near future, it depicts the struggles of Eilish Stack, a mother of four trying to save her family as the Republic of Ireland slips into totalitarianism https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001y8d8

ii) An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi is the story of the oldest inhabited continent on the planet, told through the voices of Africans themselves https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001y86b

iii) Three Million tells the history of the Bengal famine in British India during World War 2, in which at least three million people died, told for the first time by the eyewitnesses to it https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001wr57

3. The A S Hornby Educational Trust is again this year offering a fully-funded MA scholarship for Teachers of English as a Second Language to Refugees. More information and application form at the top of this page https://www.hornby-trust.org.uk/scholarships#Scholarships Please note that to be eligible teachers must themselves be refugees or have had previous experience of holding refugee status.

4. This one’s been doing the rounds on Facebook and LinkedIn but may be just a little late for April Fool’s Day, I think Snippets and Sayings from History from the American Society of Professional Estimators website (heaven knows why!) https://www.aspenational.org/blogpost/1657539/321809/Snippets-and-Sayings-from-History

5. And, finally. Toby Litt on commas https://awritersdiary.substack.com/p/on-commas

1. You may need to register for a free account with The Spectator to read this breathless piece by Sean Thomas – please do! The person who edited this will soon be redundant: AI is now as good as a publishing professional https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-person-who-edited-this-will-soon-be-redundant/

 From The Spectator FAQs: Can I read articles without becoming a subscriber? Non-subscribers can read a selection of articles for free each month after registering a web account. We hope that this will tempt you to join us as a full subscriber.

2. Here’s the latest issue of HLT (Humanising Language Teaching), which this month celebrates its silver jubilee https://www.hltmag.co.uk/apr24/

Try Rod Bolitho’s piece on Humanism in Language Teaching: Roots and Practices https://www.hltmag.co.uk/apr24/roots-and-practices or Having AI as an Assistant in Oral Presentation Skills Practices by Duangjaichanok Pansa https://www.hltmag.co.uk/apr24/having-ai-as-an-assistant PDFs of both below.

Later this month, at 16:00 UK time on Thursday 25^th April, Rod’s leading an online workshop for teachers, Humanism in the Classroom: what it means in practice.  More info and registration here https://thebridge.sk/en/humanism-in-the-classroom-good-intentions-are-not-enough/

3. An invigorating preface by Adrienne Rich to Manifesto: Three Classic Essays on How to Change the World https://sevenstories.com/blogs/327-read-adrienne-rich-s-preface-to-manifesto-karl-marx-rosa-luxemburg-and-che-guevara I fear my political slip may be showing, despite my inclusion of a piece from The Spectator above …

4. Here’s the ICAI (the Independent Commission for Aid Impact) ‘follow up report’ on UK aid to refugees in the UK https://icai.independent.gov.uk/review/icai-follow-up-2022-23/review/ PDF below.

“Our follow-up of our report on refugee costs found the government’s response to ICAI’s recommendations to be inadequate. Spending by the Home Office hosting asylum seekers and refugees has continued to rise, driven by hotel costs, despite concerns about the value for money and effectiveness of this approach.”

5. And, finally, Jacques Futrelle went down with The Titanic 112 years ago yesterday and was last seen smoking a cigar on deck with the fabulously wealthy John Jacob Astor IV, both men’s wives having left the ship in the lifeboats. Both wives survived; both husbands went down with the ship.  The Problem of Cell 13 was the first of Futrelle’s stories to feature the detective Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen, a.k.a. ‘The Thinking Machine’, and a rival in his time to Sherlock Holmes https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0603601h.html

1. AI and English language teaching: Affordances and challenges by Helen Crompton, Adam Edmett, Neenaz Ichaporia & Diane Burke does exactly what it says on the tin https://tinyurl.com/bdh2u848 “Policymakers,  funders,  practitioners  and educational leaders can use the information provided in this study to gain a holistic understanding of the current trend in the use of AI in ELT/L, and practical implications are provided to guide future use of AI.” PDF below.

2. Here’s my NILE colleague Carole Anne Robinson’s piece for the Macmillan English blog, Feedback – are we sending our students hidden messages? You can read or listen here, as you choose https://www.macmillanenglish.com/blog-resources/article/advancing-learning-feedback-are-we-sending-our-students-hidden-messages

The problem with any unconscious feedback that we might be giving our learners is that it is unconscious and so we are usually not aware of it!

3. ‘Tu connais le answer?’: Multilingual children’s attempts to navigate monolingual English Medium classrooms in Cameroon by Harry Kuchah Kuchah & Lizzi O. Milligan https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0346251X23002385

Here’s the abstract: This paper explores the ways that multilingual children attempt to access the English medium curriculum in Cameroonian primary education. We focus on Francophone Yaound´e where there has been a sharp rise in the number of children from predominantly Francophone multilingual homes attending English medium schools. The paper draws from a child-centred case study and data generated through classroom observations, child-group and individual interviews and recordings of student interactions around unsupervised tasks to show how learners are drawing from their multilingual resources to attempt to transgress monolingual norms in the classroom. The data also shows that learners are doing what they can to ‘get by’ but they are doing this in ways that are not supported by policy, pedagogy, or teaching materials. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ways that monolingual policies epistemically exclude children in an immensely complex multilingual context and draws implications for more inclusive policy and classroom practice.

Love that “drawing from their multilingual resources to attempt to transgress monolingual norms in the classroom”!

4. Another good piece gleaned from Stephen Downes’s O(nline)L(earning)Daily https://www.downes.ca/news/OLDaily.htm, this time an interview from the Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching with Rose Luckin from the UCL Knowledge Lab which covers a huge amount of ground in a discussion of her career and her accidental early engagement with AI, Exploring the future of learning and the relationship between human intelligence and AI https://journals.sfu.ca/jalt/index.php/jalt/article/view/1659 PDF below.

5. And, finally, a PDF of a typically quirky and recondite piece originally written for the Dhaka Daily Star by John Drew, T S Eliot’s Cat, about how T S Eliot, author of Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, named one of his own cats Mirza Murad Ali Beg. (Eliot’s other cat was named Cuscuscaraway, just in case you were wondering.)