Our Language Belongs in Our Learning

Language within our grasp.

In monkeys, the rostral part of ventral premotor cortex (area F5) contains neurons that discharge, both when the monkey grasps or manipulates objects and when it observes the experimenter making similar actions. These neurons (mirror neurons) appear to represent a system that matches observed events to similar, internally generated actions, and in this way forms a link between the observer and ...

Authenticity in Our Language Classrooms

In order to help our students learn English more effectively, we teachers of English need to place an equal emphasis both on designing suitable teaching materials and making use of effective teaching methodologies. Of the two types of teaching materials; namely authentic and non-authentic materials that are being used nowadays in schools and universities in most EFL countries, the use of the fo...

Psychological aspects of natural language. use: our words, our selves.

The words people use in their daily lives can reveal important aspects of their social and psychological worlds. With advances in computer technology, text analysis allows researchers to reliably and quickly assess features of what people say as well as subtleties in their linguistic styles. Following a brief review of several text analysis programs, we summarize some of the evidence that links...

Are Our Teachers Learning?

In the last thirty years, drastic changes occurred in almost all domains of science and technology. In particular, the progress in information and communication technologies now allows a virtually cost-less access to huge amounts of data. As a consequence, one of the main concerns of the (traditional) teaching – information providing – is sharply losing importance. Consequently, students tend t...

Learning from our elders.