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Own-language use in teaching English to preschool children / Paweł Scheffler, Anna Domińska. // ELT Journal 2018, Volume 72, No.4
2018.
p. 374–383.

This study investigated own-language use in teaching English as a foreign language to preschool children. Interviews were conducted with 20 teachers involved in preschool English instruction in a large city in Poland. Using thematic analysis, the study identified three major themes in relation to teachers’ own-language use: the children’s well-being, classroom management, and teaching the language. The same themes were identified in the case of the children’s parents, who were sometimes present in the classroom. The teachers’ descriptions of classroom interaction also revealed four functions that learners sometimes used their own language for: learning the language, managing the behaviour of others, and expressing physical needs and emotions. The main conclusions stemming from the teachers’ accounts are that the learners’ own language plays an important role in English instruction for preschool children and that decisions about its use are motivated by both linguistic and non-linguistic factors.
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Remote tutoring of pre-service EFL teachers using iPads / Christopher Allen, Stella Hadjistassou. // ELT Journal. 2018, Volume 72, No.4
2018.
p. 353–364.

With the availability of portable and relatively inexpensive audiovideo recording devices in the form of iPads and other mobile technologies in combination with increasing bandwidth, the remote observation and training of pre-service EFL student teachers without the physical presence of a tutor in the classroom is now a viable proposition. This paper reports on a novel initiative to provide remote feedback to a group of primary EFL pre-service teachers on teaching practice placement in Africa from a tutor based in Sweden via iPad minis and the training institution’s Moodle virtual learning environment. The feedback was assessed in relation to the Cambridge English Teaching Framework. Results suggest that the combination of recorded audiovideo material during the pre-service teachers’ teaching practice and Moodle feedback from the remote tutor can provide a valuable basis for tutorial support, formative assessment, and reflection for student EFL teachers on teaching practice.
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Translation revisited for low-proficiency EFL writers / Mun Woo Lee. // ELT Journal 2018, Volume 72, No.4
2018.
p. 365–373.

This study describes the implementation of a translation method in an EFL writing classroom and shows how a specific group of learners responded to the method. Using a ‘practical action research’ framework, the researcher designed and implemented the proposed translation method through four stages of writing over three consecutive semesters. The participating students, all of whom had very low levels of English proficiency, showed clear improvements in both their confidence and their actual capacity for English writing. The findings of this study are expected to work as a reference for second or foreign language teachers who wish to apply the proposed method in their classrooms in the future. The study also contributes to the field by emphasizing the affective and linguistic advantages of translation tools and offering new insights into the monolingual paradigm of English-only classes in second language teaching and learning.