This paper aims to apply metacognitive theory in EFL writing instruction to provide an alternative solution to the difficulties and problems in EFL writing classes in China. Metacognition is knowledge about cognition and regulation of cognition. This paper advocates both teaching with metacognition and teaching for metacognition. To teach with metacognition, an EFL writing instructor should ref...

This paper considers theoretical issues and practical applications of teaching critical thinking in Asian EFL contexts (e.g., Japanese and Korean). In the first section, I present a definition of ‘critical thinking’ and argue that misconceptions regarding this definition have limited the teaching of critical thinking skills in Asian EFL contexts. The second section focuses on a specific critica...

This article reports on the first phase of a case study done by a Chinese post-secondary EFL reading teacher on her exploratory inquiry into the metacognitive teaching knowledge needed by EFL Reading teachers to teach summarizing strategies with expository text to EFL undergraduates. Guided by a formalized model of instructional materials development, Phase I was an exploring process, starting ...

Although learner-centeredness has been widely applied in instruction in the world, this approach has only been cautiously adopted in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching at some institutions in Vietnam. Taking a social constructivist view, this case study explores how a learner-centred perspective is employed in EFL teaching at a teacher training college in Vietnam. The study is based o...

This article reviews Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory as one of the current frameworks in the study of learning and teaching processes. Arguing that learners’ interaction is vital for language learning in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms and that the teacher’s perceptions and expectations can foster or discourage this interaction, the article shows how the sociocultural model of le...

Vocabulary learning and teaching has been one of the main issues in ESL/EFL learning and teaching research. EFL teachers in China, in particular, are grappling with the effective vocabulary teaching methods. This paper is doing part of this job in a different way. It discusses three principles based on Cognitive Linguistics (CL), namely the study of categorization, prototype, and metaphor, and ...

Studies have mainly focused on strategies to motivate teachers or the student-teacher motivation relationships rather than teacher demotivation in the English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching process, whereas no data have been found on the factors that cause teacher demotivation in the Turkish EFL teaching contexts at the elementary education level. Thus, this study aims to investigate the ...