Stephen J Hall

Independent · Writing

Malaysia has invested heavily in diverse initiatives to develop education and language competencies for national and transnational needs, including English for international communication. Any attempt to meet the evident English language needs of an internationally active trading ASEAN partner should benefit from lessons from the past and a focus o...

Our sense of who we are as educators has been pushed into change, by the onslaught of CoVid 19. The pandemic has pushed change to an extent that teachers may have to consider not only how we appear on- screen, but also who we are as ‘digitally extended’ individuals (Parkinson et al, 2017) as we present ourselves through one of the many online deliv...

Educators and learners switch languages, dialects and various types of slang when we live in communities in which there are many languages or dialects. Malaysia is such a setting with many speakers of languages who switch codes at ease, even within one sentence. The communicative situation is much more than multilingual and multicultural, and this...

In this overview of bilingualism and multilingualism in Malaysian Primary education, the complexities of previous research, history and national trends are described. The multilingual complexity of Malaysia is evident with 137 individual languages within Malaysia, 70 percent of which are challenged in terms of transmission and vitality (Eberhard, S...

This collection provides an overview of current approaches, issues, and practices in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages. This book provides an overview of current approaches, issues, and practices in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages. The anthology offers a comprehensive overview to the teaching of English a...

In this reflective chapter, a practical approach to integrating one’s own educator identity as a “digitally extended” individual (Parkinson et al., J Inf Sci, 44(4), 552–565, 2018) with classroom practice is suggested through concepts for consideration and practical suggestions. It begins with reflection into how one sees oneself as an educator, in...

Quality Assurance after CoVid as we in South East Asia emerge from the crisis>perspectives hosted by Sunway University Malaysia online. Cross disciplinary

As novice academic writers venture into academic discourse, the multiplicity of voices which Bakhtin (1953/1981) termed “heteroglossia” may be a series of complex choices needed to position oneself as both an authoritative writer and a critical scholar. A necessary reflective awareness of positioning one’s academic voice involves diverse discourse...

Advice for teachers often includes advice on the quality and quantity of the praise they give students. The present article reviews and perhaps adds to that advice, as well as cautioning that the influence of culture needs to be borne in mind when praise is considered. The two theories discussed in the introductory part of this article, Behaviorism...

Many English language learners are active in the language online. They construct their own ideas of who they are in places like Facebook. In this story, the large part of the learner's life was and is Facebook. This short reflective piece draws from an inspiring Malaysian user of Facebook.

An overview of select Mobile Assisted English Language Learning phone based aps. For English Language Teachers of Mongolia Spring 2019 newsletter. Practitioners analysis.

Facets pertaining to blended learning milieu such as Definition, Ratio and Quality which manifest the critical success factors are yet to be embraced by practitioners. To inaugurate an agreement to standardized and uniformed guidelines which can act as Key Success Indicators (KSIs) in the implementation of blended learning, this pilot study is aime...

As information is readily available online, students can Google and Google Translate perhaps challenging a teacher's classroom role and language awareness. The safety of being a transmitter of knowledge and instructor may be threatened and classrooms could become fossilized as the instant nature of information grows. This conceptual paper will argu...

Online is a choice already made: Being digitally literate less- known Every day, billions are enriching their digital presence and data analyst’s information through social media by creating a digital footprint. Research suggests that many learners remain unaware of how they are profiling themselves on-line, while commercial interests of all kinds,...

Reflecting on our Pedagogy and the ‘Digitally extended self’ The fact that teachers often reproduce how we were taught and how we view learning is well documented. We may be shaping our interaction in our own personas. This workshop suggests that we examine how we see ourselves by linking our professional persona and pedagogical beliefs with how we...

As information is readily available online, students can Google and Google Translate perhaps challenging a teacher’s classroom role and language awareness. The safety of being a transmitter of knowledge and instructor may be threatened and classrooms could become fossilized as the instant nature of information grows. This paper will argue that by f...

In-service training whether for native English speakers or non-native English speakers has seen a shift beyond a technical approach to greater ownership of the process by teachers. Issues abound in acceptance of so-called non-native speakers as teachers, yet commonalities exist in the profession when building expertise. Research has shown limited s...

What language phone aps and the success of Pokemon-Go can teach us about autonomous vocabulary learning When game and language learning phone application designers create their popular aps they depend on learners making their own choices as autonomous learners. The designers understand developing self-driven learning and draw on understanding vocab...

The expression “that was a good class today” and the general observation that “everyone seemed happy with that” may often come from an instinctual or gut feeling. Yet as professionals we would like to create more of the same positive responses and may need to describe the causes, behaviours and our responses, to be able to cultivate classroom posit...

A review of Motivation in the Language Classroom. TESOL Press

The limited adoption of task- based teaching in Malaysia can be attributed to constraints common to other settings in which English is but one of the many language choices. Challenges include teacher- fronted teaching and little community support for English, particularly in rural environments. Adoption of task- based approaches is rarely effective...

Change towards an interactive classroom is often blocked by lack of acceptance of new techniques which require changes in a teachers " role away from step-by-step sequences or`recipesor`recipes ". Such " recipes " while useful for novice teachers may not work in all contexts. This paper describes how culturally based perceptions of a teacher " s ro...

In many Asian contexts, issues of who teaches and educates teachers in English Language Teaching remain challenging with status accorded to socalled 'native speakers'. Issues still remain after two decades of research calling for deconstruction of the native speaker fallacy. Drawing on critiques of the concept, as well as teacher education research...

A review of digitized vocabulary acquisition: Lexxica Word Engline

Review of "Understanding Asia: Forms of Address in Asia'. Gaudart, H. August Publishing.

Cultural awareness is often perceived as an attitude acquired through experience or information learnt about other cultural groups. While attitude and information are important in learning and teaching culture, there is a vital place for challenges and reflective questions in which learners and teachers are extended to examine and question the purp...

Many Asian countries have embarked on primary English language teacher development in response to growing needs for English language. This has often involved native language speakers of English in developing pedagogy and building often neglected proficiency. `Native speaker’ teacher trainers and local teachers often collaborate within contexts of d...

‘Proven Practices’ is a compilation of lesson plans to help teachers develop effective ways of creating enjoyable teaching and learning in stimulating classrooms. ‘Proven Practices’ help with the challenges of varied levels of learners and provide tools for reflection in the form of questions. It also provides links to the changes in English in oth...

Alienation in a classroom may often arise from lack of motivation when learning a language for which learners can see little reason or purpose. In the Malaysian rural setting, this may occur when learners are young, unaware of extrinsic motivational factors or without community support for TESOL classroom norms. A meaningful classroom has to have i...

peaking grammatically and learning to speak grammatically involve understanding the grammar system for spoken English. Grammatically speaking, the mode of oral communication presents differences from written forms. This paper will present an overview of aspects of spoken English related to classroom needs. Firstly understanding how we construct gra...

Teachers in large class environments may have status as the dominant source of knowledge and language. When provided with tools for empowering learners through interactive language learning, teachers may feel challenged as roles change and language demands expand. Language development tools to create an interactive learner- centred class room inclu...

Pronunciation teaching of the segmental aspects needs to be balanced with the inclusion of learner awareness of stress, rhythm, intonation and meaningful production. Yet many formats for pronunciation teaching do not place these skills and an awareness of the suprasegmental features in either a communicative format or a specific speaking situation....

Presenting competently needs language awareness and non-verbal skills which can be difficult to assess. This paper presents a framework for understanding the demands of presentation speaking and suggests approaches to scoring and giving feedback with attention to sub-skills. The framework for presentation skills assessment draws on research and the...

This paper explores the necessity of reworking teacher roles and learner ownership of classroom processes. With the re-tooling of roles, one may provide contexts for strategy training and task-based approaches. An overview of research is integrated with the practical issues of classroom discourse in secondary and tertiary language learning.

English for Specific Purposes is a complex field drawing on the realms of language, pedagogy and the contexts of work and study situations. There are many approaches to the goal oriented nature of ESP through constant choice, definition of skills and the understanding of learners’ needs. This paper will attempt to describe a framework for spoken En...

Key point: In teaching we can learn from our own bad experiences and turn them into positive teaching approaches. How the story can be used: To preface either sessions on learning style preferences or to introduce discussion on how previous educational experience may influence perceptions of teaching and learning.

This article offers practical suggestions for Implementing Cooperative Learning.

Activity Based i hour task .Learners have the opportunity to use short sentences in meaningful contexts to develop an awareness of the role of emphasis through tone,pitch, volume and framing.The activity provides fluency practice and pronunciation development.

Response to Languages, Linguistics, and Letters

An interview between Drs. P. Marpaung, MSc and Mr Stephen Hall at the 42nd TEFLIN seminar, Ujung Padang.

Traditional legends are often alien from an English language classroom. Oracy in the vernacular, can, however, be used as a springboard for spoken and written English.

How digital media is affecting the way we communicate and some tips on using it more effectively.

The concept of "task" is explored, particularly as it relates to the work students perform in learning a language. It is proposed that what really happens as a student learns can be understood better by applying the concept of task to classroom processes. The ways in which task has been defined by educators are reviewed, and it is concluded that th...

Academic work is often seen as producing written text as the result of intensive thought. The text is readily assessable and available for analysis, so it is not surprising that there are a range of EAP writing and reading courses available. However, academics and students face other demands in the current growth of the international education mark...

Presentation speaking can be seen as a developing and important part of English language teaching especially in the areas of international business and technology. There is a growth in intensive courses in presentation skills from visiting " experts" and lack a pedagogically sound material that links language needs and the non-verbal aspects often...

Effective group discussion needs to involve as many students in the classroom as possible. This article describes split information tasks, their design, and their usefulness in the classroom, with particular reference to mathematics vocabulary. (Contains seven references.) (LB)