Language Centres at a Crossroads

Place: Room 31

Second language reading lessons tend to follow a fairly standard pattern, one that makes assumptions about what students need to learn. This talk will challenge those assumptions, and will argue for a change of focus. The language centre classroom needs to prepare students for the texts they will encounter outside that classroom, and especially in their subject areas. By looking at how effective readers read, and at the features of different kinds of academic text, I will propose principles and activities that focus more sharply on skills that can give students and teachers a better return for their time. 

Catherine Walter is a teacher, researcher and materials writer. She is an Emeritus Professor of the University of Oxford, where much of her researched focused on second language reading. She is the Series Adviser for the Oxford University Press series Navigate, and the co-author with Michael Swan of the Oxford English Grammar Course series. Catherine is a past President of IATEFL and an advocate of inclusion in the language classroom.