ELT365 · Day 161 — Dictogloss — the collaborative listening task
Idea — Dictogloss is a reconstruction task: play a text at natural speed, learners note key words, then rebuild the meaning in groups. Grammar emerges from…
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ELT365 · Day 156 — Predicting before you listen
Idea — Prediction activates schema, focuses attention, and gives learners a genuine reason to listen. It is the most underused pre-listening technique. Example — Show a…
ReadELT365 · Day 155 — Listening for detail
Idea — Detail tasks ask learners to extract specific information. Set them after the gist task; front-loading detail questions causes panic and learners miss everything. Example…
ReadELT365 · Day 153 — Bottom-up vs top-down listening
Idea — Bottom-up processing builds meaning from individual sounds upward; top-down uses prior knowledge and context to predict. Skilled listeners use both simultaneously. Example — Hearing…
ReadELT365 · Day 152 — Why listening is harder than it looks
Idea — Listening in a second language demands simultaneous decoding of sound, parsing of grammar, and construction of meaning — all in real time, with no…
ReadELT365 · Day 208 — The four-stage production model
Idea — A full productive lesson moves through four stages: exposure to model language → focus on form and meaning → controlled practice → free production.…
ReadELT365 · Day 207 — Task-Based Learning in productive skills
Idea — In Task-Based Learning (Willis), learners complete a communicative task first; language work comes second. The task creates real communicative need; the language feedback addresses…
ReadELT365 · Day 205 — Speaking sub-skills — stress and intonation
Idea — Stress and intonation carry meaning in spoken English. A sentence stressed differently changes its meaning or politeness level. Teaching these explicitly improves both production…
ReadELT365 · Day 192 — Reformulation — correction by restatement
Idea — Reformulation means you restate what a learner said — correctly — without explicitly flagging the error. It is low-threat. Research suggests learners who notice…
ReadELT365 · Day 191 — Error correction in speaking — delayed vs immediate
Idea — Correct mid-fluency task: you interrupt flow and discourage risk-taking. Correct after the task: you address language without breaking communication. Immediate correction suits accuracy stages;…
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