The regular AusELT article discussion is kicking off soon on the AusELT Facebook group. AusELT is a community of enthusiastic, dedicated ELT professionals from Australasia and beyond. Vote here for the article to discuss.

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There are three articles to choose from for the upcoming AusELT Facebook Group Article Discussion. Please read the abstracts below and choose your preferred article (a difficult task, as they are all worth reading and discussing!). To read all of the articles in full, click here.

Cast your vote at the bottom of this page.

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Teachers driving their own professional development: theory and practice 

This article provides an overview of what is considered best practice in professional development in English language teaching by researchers and professional bodies. It then presents a research project investigating how satisfied English language teachers are with their own PD. The qualitative study involved a background survey of 92 teachers and 10 semi-structured interviews. The focus is on the teachers’ satisfaction with their current programs and desired future programs. The findings along with research are combined to make recommendations about how centres can allow teachers to have more input into every stage of professional development programming and become more autonomous and reflective as teachers and learners.

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‘She’ll be right’: Development of a coaching model to clear and fluent pronunciation in Australia 

Teaching and learning pronunciation can be challenging for second language (L2) teachers and learners alike. Many people may even adopt that attitude that, ‘She’ll be right’, thinking that L2 learners’ pronunciation difficulties will likely sort themselves out in time. Yet many learners consider pronunciation to be the most difficult oral communication skill (Yanagi & Baker, 2016). To address these issues, this paper discusses two models, Baker’s Pronunciation Pedagogy Model: From Awareness to Clear and Fluent Pronunciation (derived from the work of Baker, 2014) and Kaufman’s (2010) P.E.R.F.E.C.T. model of coaching, and combines them to produce a more holistic, yet pronunciation skill-specific ‘Coaching Model to Clear and Fluent Pronunciation’. This innovative model provides teachers with a well- rounded approach for developing learners’ pronunciation skills while simultaneously taking into consideration the psychological variables that may either enhance or inhibit this development.

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Students’ use of digital translation and paraphrasing tools in written assignments on Direct Entry English Programs 

This article considers the challenges heralded by digital technology in relation to the management of academic integrity on high-stakes Direct Entry English Programs in Australia. Firstly, a number of the ways in which students are using digital tools to complete assignment writing are examined. Secondly, findings from a review of academic integrity policies at a group of Australian universities and colleges are presented, showing that they fail to explicitly capture this emerging method of rule flouting. Finally, the implications of this emergent theme are explored as a learning and teaching issue for Direct Entry Programs that requires further investigation.

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