Acquisition Classroom Memo

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Aren't sure what research to read? Don't have the time?
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The Memo makes sense of the research everyone should know about second language acquisition (SLA). Articles, studies, and chapters from a range of theoretical perspectives that have been foundational and innovative are briefly reviewed in easy-to-understand terms in the monthly MEMO and implications for instructional best practices provided.

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Memo:
1. Quotes 
2. Research Summary
3. Critique
4. Pedagogical Implications

The forum is no longer in use, but posts from 2016-2019 are in the archive and the topics include:
- Mission, Subscription, Norms, How to Read Research
- General Best Practice Discussion
- Mental Representation
- Language Development
- Communication
- Class Design
- Class Procedure

​Once you have registered AND subscribed to the forum, you will receive all future memos in an email, and will be granted instant access to the archive where you can download any and all previous memos and forum posts.

To teach well is to take a research stance to our work – to question, to hypothesize, to be open to puzzles, to seek out data – not only to support our positions, but also to be open to data which may say things we don’t want to hear . . . It is by carefully examining the work of language learners and teachers that we improve the profession and create better learning environments for our students and ourselves. Thus, it is by encouraging teachers to examine what they do, to reflect critically upon it, and to act upon those findings, we, as teacher educators can assist teachers in participating in a broader professional community. (Kathleen M. Bailey, 1999, p. 38)