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This episode is in Mandarin Chinese. Reed & Diane talk about their experiences as non-native learners, users, and teachers of Mandarin Chinese. 

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No show notes this time! 

Intro & outro music selected from "23 Light Years" by CavalloPazzo

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Episode 26: Children’s Books & Reading for Vocabulary Growth 

Show Notes

The Mandarin Companion blog has concise & helpful information about Extensive reading (ER) and 98% known language. This post also describes why children’s books are not necessarily suitable for second language learners: 

https://mandarincompanion.com/7-mistakes-about-extensive-reading/ 

Intensive reading & extensive reading compared in a concise post by Mandarin Companion: https://mandarincompanion.com/reading-pain-or-reading-gain-reading-at-the-right-level/

The podcast “You Can Learn Chinese” also has several episodes related to extensive reading, intensive reading, and other information about learning (particularly) Chinese with a lot of relevance to learning any language: https://mandarincompanion.com/you-can-learn-chinese-podcast/ 

Narrow reading: 

Krashen, S. (2004). The case for narrow reading [J]. Language Magazine, 3(5), 17-19. https://sdkrashen.com/content/articles/narrow.pdf 

Renandya, W. A., Krashen, S., & Jacobs, G. M. (2018). The potential of series books: How narrow reading leads to advanced L2 proficiency. LEARN Journal: Language Education and Acquisition Research Network, 11(2), 148-154. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1225871.pdf 

English language TV shows used for language learning – some examples:

10 US or UK TV shows and ideas for learning English from them: https://www.bsceducation.com/blog/best-tv-shows-for-learning-english/ 

The Office (US version of the show) https://diziyleogren.com/en/tv-series/the-office – However, Reed & Diane think it’s more important to understand meaning in context than to memorize the long lists of vocabulary provided. The definitions are sometimes also full of specialized vocabulary. Ex: Season 1, ep. 1 lists “berry” as a fleshy fruit from one ovary… that is a very technical definition for a botany student rather than daily life! 

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Episode 25: There Is No Best Method–Why? Discussing Prabhu (1990)

Show Notes

We discussed this article: 

Prabhu, N. S. (1990). There is no best method—Why?. TESOL Quarterly, 24(2), 161-176. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586897

It is freely available online at the link above. Diane missed the number of times it has been cited – “only” 1666 citations as of Feb. 28, 2025. That is still quite a lot in the field of applied linguistics/language teaching and learning. 

Needs analysis: 

Ch. 3 of this book is about needs analysis in language course design: 

Macalister, J., & Nation, I. P. (2019). Language curriculum design. Routledge. 

Information about the 2019 (2nd) edition is here: 

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780429203763/language-curriculum-design-john-macalister-nation

The first edition of the book (2010 edition) is available freely online here: https://shorturl.at/mX40e 

Prabhu (1990) cites Brumfit, 1984, which appears to be his PhD thesis revised for book publication: 

Brumfit, C. (1984). Communicative methodology in language teaching: The roles of fluency and accuracy. 

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Episode 24 - Pronunciation development

Reed’s grad school classmate's study:

https://www.hawaii.edu/sls/phd-student-wenyi-ling-2018-research-award/ 

The full dissertation:

Ling, W. (2021). The Perception, Processing and Learning of Mandarin Lexical Tone by Second Language Speakers. University of Hawai'i at Manoa. https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/4e749171-1747-4236-b40e-5430a912d442/content  

Here's Schmidt info, including a mention of shadowing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noticing_hypothesis

Diane recommended a book with several chapters about pronunciation development: 

Piske, T., & Young-Scholten, M. (Eds.). (2008). Input matters in SLA (Vol. 35). Multilingual Matters.

https://www.multilingualmatters.com/page/detail/input-matters-in-sla/?SF1=work_id&ST1=CVIEW-489 

Diane also mentioned a meta-analysis of pronunciation studies. This is that meta-analysis: 

Lee, J., Jang, J., & Plonsky, L. (2015). The effectiveness of second language pronunciation instruction: A meta-analysis. Applied Linguistics, 36(3), 345-366. https://academic.oup.com/applij/article/36/3/345/2422438 

It seems to be available without a paywall! 

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Episode 23: AI Chatbots 

Show Notes

Dr. Rachel Mamiya Hernandez-relevant link about using AI chatbots for language learning: https://clt.manoa.hawaii.edu/blog/event/ai-chatbots-2/

Billie Eilish AI interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0c94ghBS4A

Magic School AI tool, where Reed & Diane have both prompted chatbots to work with Chinese language learners: https://www.magicschool.ai/ There are many other AI-generated options within the app.

Diane’s recently tested chatbot for Chinese language learners, meant to focus on the Cultural Revolution, using Magic School AI: https://app.magicschool.ai/tools/custom-chatbot?share=96e25283-28a8-47a8-a357-20e9db17bf42 

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Episode 22 Show Notes

Michael Long quote is on pp. 6-7 of the following, available freely online at the link: 

Long, M. H. (2016). In defense of tasks and TBLT: Nonissues and real issues. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 36, 5-33. https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/ED5590DB727AE82E0A98AC05264B83E1/S0267190515000057a.pdf/div-class-title-in-defense-of-tasks-and-tblt-nonissues-and-real-issues-div.pdf 

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Show Notes: 

Video examples of comprehension-based communicative language teaching:

Hawai`i Association of Language Teacher (HALT) conference presentation recording: 

Overview of CCLT (descriptive rather than a demo): https://youtu.be/h0Xd6zVSlxU?si=dIdenoWArOmYlW-q 

Teachers from Hawai`i developed a website including descriptions of different teaching strategies, including video clips in many language classrooms: https://kawairesources.com/Strategies 

Reed led a project to collect video data of several languages (we forgot to mention this one!): https://sites.google.com/view/tildatabase/for-language-teachers 

Diane has videos from her high school Chinese language classroom 2015-2017 (and some adult introductory classes) on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DianeNeubauer 

Hawai`i Department of Education – World Languages 

The new Hawai`i World Readiness Standards for Language Learning and supporting webinars and documents are available here:

https://learningdesign.hawaiipublicschools.org/standards-based-content/world-languages

Online language classes similar to the kind of teaching Reed & Diane often discuss:

Fluency Fast: https://fluencyfast.com/ 

Express Fluency: https://expressfluency.com/ 

Elevate Educational Consulting: https://www.elevateeducationconsulting.com/ 

Link to Diane's speaking assessment video & info: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpMXkl0jTQc 

Send questions to: [email protected] 

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Conversations about Language Teaching 
Episode 20: The Silent Period 
Show Notes

Search results on Google Scholar for “silent period second language acquisition” 

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C15&q=silent+period+second+language+acquisition&oq=%22silent+period%22+

Diane quoted from this document: 

Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisition. Second Language Learning, 3(7), 19-39. https://www.academia.edu/download/35238869/second_languge_acquisition_and_learning.pdf

This presentation was used by Diane as reference for a 6-stages view of SLA, with "preproduction" or the Silent Period listed first. I’ve seen this sequence for SLA referenced in several other ESL webpages and documents by ESL teachers (but not in research on SLA to my recollection): 

Mays, M. (n.d.). Part II: Second Language Acquisition and Introduction to WIDA. http://wpsesl.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/8/7/10871095/part_ii_sla_and_wida_lite.pdf  

The ESL Nexus blog post about the Silent Period: 

Susan. (2017, October 17). What is the silent period and why is it important?. theeslnexus.com. https://theeslnexus.com/what-is-the-silent-period-and-why-is-it-important/ Accessed 2024, November 27. 

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Conversations about Language Teaching
Episode 19: Listening comprehension as a goal

Show Notes

We welcome questions and topics to address! We're aiming for episode 21 to be responding to questions. Write to us at [email protected].


Lichtman, K. (2019). Research on TPR Storytelling (TPRS). Fluency through TPR storytelling, 299-323. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karen-Lichtman/publication/335240603_Research_on_TPR_Storytelling_2019/links/5d5aa3fb92851c37636aac88/Research-on-TPR-Storytelling-2019.pdf 

Dr. Florencia Henshaw: https://spanport.illinois.edu/directory/profile/henshaw2 

Her keynote at the Kentucky World Language Association (Sept. 2024) isn’t online, but she’s been interviewed on Claudia Elliott’s podcast, Growing with Proficiency, in episodes about comprehensible input and about output. For example: https://growingwithproficiency.com/all-about-output-with-dr-florencia-henshaw-part-1/ 

Dubois, J. (2015, October 29). Very narrow listening. IJFLT. https://ijflt.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IJFLT_Oct_2015_10-29-2015_TtT_Very_Narrow_Listening.pdf 

https://theagenworkshop.com/about-very-narrow-listening-stephen-krashen-michael-jordan-and-jackie-chan/

Slocum Bailey, J. (2016, October 4). Use can-do statements-just not like this. Indwelling Language. https://indwellinglanguage.com/use-can-do-statements-not-like-this/ 

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