What is the best way to teach English to nonnative speakers?
There is no agreed-upon “best way” to teach English, as there are many different ways to learn languages, as well as many different purposes for language learning. In the ECTC, you will learn about a variety of techniques for language teaching and learning. Our program espouses a holistic approach to language and content instruction, and we emphasize the importance of options and flexibility for instructors. The ESL/language teaching profession currently advocates various forms of “content-based instruction” (CBI). This means that language should be taught through content; language should never be taught by itself (i.e., as a series of grammatical rules to be learned). Content such as social studies, mathematics, science or language arts, etc., should be the premise, and language learning (for both L1 and L2 students) should always be based upon and related to the context of the academic content areas.
