The ELT Buzz Report
We'll be changing to a new format soon!
ELT LinkedIn | Videos | Blog | Library | ELT News | TpTs | YouTube
Dear Teachers,
Next week, we’ll be trying a new format for this report. As you may have noticed, there is less and less “blogging” in ELT. More noise of course (AI hype primarily) but less substantial writing about teaching English. I’ll still be sharing important articles and links but also consolidating this report with the ELT Buzz Video Lessons newsletter - 2 reports with one swipe of the pen.
My reading tip this week is this Atlantic article which made the rounds - The End of Foreign Language Education. A bit hyperbolic but makes one think about where education might be headed …
Best,
David - ELT Buzzer-in-Chief
PS. Appreciate all those who support my work in ELT, as I go about consolidating newsletters and my own time and space, doing this.
SLA and Science
Geoff Jordan on his Doing An MA TESOL discusses the role science plays in research and the differing philosophical approaches and theories of knowledge. Read more…
Critical AI Literacies
Professor Maha Bali of the University of Cairo delivers a lecture reviewing the main literacies for artificial intelligence. Read more …
Project Gutenberg
Resources and a whole YouTube video channel bringing back to life these classic stories and books in the public domain. Read more …
In-Service Teacher Ed.
Simon Borg reports on a new study of in-service teachers in Nepal and what it suggests about teacher education programs. Read more …
ELT Parties
Sam Shepherd comments on parties and the role parties play in our teaching, wrapping up a course of study or just helping to create class atmosphere. Read more …
I found the 'Atlantic' article interesting, but there were some things that bothered me. For example, when talking about some language-learning app, it implicitly contrasted it with Duolingo by noting that the app used AI-generated voices. Actually, Duolingo does too -- and users complained about it for years (until Duolingo elminated user comments). But what really bugged me is that the audio of it was also AI-generated. Listening to it, I was confused. The intro is about how the author's AI voice was used, leading the listener to believer that this is in contrast to real self. Why, then, was she speaking as if she were an AI-generated voice? Only at the very end, was it revealed that it wasn't the writer imitating an AI voice, but in fact a real AI voice. I would have appreciated this on April first, but otherwise, I found it disingenuous and upsetting.