Taking a principled approach to using other languages in ELT

An IATEFL monthly webinar presented by Kim Beadle 

The use of other languages in ELT was overlooked or devalued in theoretical and methodological discussions for much of the 20th Century. A monolingual or ‘English-only’ approach was reinforced in policies, training programmes and influential literature, despite not being supported by many linguistics or practitioners. Many teachers continued to make use of other languages in practice, often feeling a sense of guilt or being penalised for doing so.

Changes in recent years including the rise of multilingualism, recognition of plurilinguistic competence, an expanding bank of research and publications and modern methodologies such as pedagogical translanguaging now do encourage the use of other languages in ELT. Maximum exposure to the target language is still recognised as beneficial, but making principled or judicious use of learners’ existing linguistic knowledge is now well-established as bringing many inclusive, practical and affective benefits.

This webinar will explore the rationale for using learners’ other languages in ELT. It will suggest strategies and activities ways in which teachers can make principled and contextually appropriate decisions for using learners’ other languages in their teaching and learning environments.

Presenter: Kim Beadle

Kim Beadle is on the British Council’s global Teaching Excellence team and is based in Tarragona, Spain. She has held a range of teaching, training, examining and management roles in teaching operations in Mexico, Hong Kong, Spain and globally over the last 17 years.
Kim has presented annually since 2010 at national and international conferences including MEXTESOL, AsiaTEFL TEC, and IATEFL on a range of topics including phonology, assessment and observation. Kim has also worked as a TYLEC, DELTA and DipTESOL tutor and completed her MA in Professional Development in Language Education in 2022 with distinction, with a dissertation on developing effective evaluation tools for skills training.
In her current role, she supports teachers in the British Council network with thought leadership activities such as action research and conference participation and led the research project to create the British Council’s teaching statement on using other languages in its ELT classrooms.

Please note that this event will take place on the IATEFL Zoom platform. All are free to attend but only IATEFL members will receive a certificate of attendance and access to the recording. If you are an IATEFL member, please register for the event using the email address associated to your IATEFL membership. This allows us to identify you and to send you a certificate after the event.

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