Conversations about Language Teaching

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Show Notes: 

This is the online certificate Diane mentioned: https://catalog.louisville.edu/graduate/programs-study/graduate-certificate-teaching-english-intl-languge/

Huynh, T., & Skelton, B. (2023). Long-term success for experienced multilinguals. Corwin Press. https://www.corwin.com/books/long-term-success-for-exp-multi-282896

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123216205-long-term-success-for-experienced-multilinguals 

Fenner, D. S., Snyder, S., & Gregoir, M. (2024). Unlocking Multilingual Learners’ Potential. https://www.corwin.com/books/unlocking-mls-potential-284441

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Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

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Episode 53: Story Asking

Show Notes:

Neubauer, D. & Riggs, R. (2026). Story-asking: Imaginative, co-created stories. Ludic Language Pedagogy Special Issue: The Ludic You Love, 69–74. https://doi.org/10.55853/llp_lyl09. 

Link to article: https://llpjournal.org/2026/07/01/ludic-you-love-09-story-asking

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

Support the show

Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

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Episode 52: Teacher Wellbeing & Learner Engagement Show Notes

*Updated audio: Diane edited audio for Reed's part of this conversation because his recording was too faint to hear easily. Thank you, listeners, for noting the problem before we did & letting us know! The editing isn't perfect, but it's at least audible now*

This episode was based around the short, 2026 thinkpiece by Sarah Mercer & Jasrael Stokes. It's available at the link (no paywall) in the citation: 

Mercer, S., & Stokes, J. (2026). The chicken and the egg: The interplay between language teacher wellbeing and learner engagement. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching [e-FLT], 23 (Supplement), 2–8. https://doi.org/10.56040/smjs2311

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

Support the show

Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

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“Vertical Articulation” definitions

Acquah, B. Y. S., & Owusu, A. A. (2021). Vertical Articulation and Content Relevance of the Senior High School Economics Curriculum: Case of Ghana. Asian Journal of Education and Training, 7(3), 169-178, p. 170

“…the interconnectedness of concepts within a curriculum (Kannan, 2016). There is vertical articulation when the lessons to be taken in a subject are related to those occurring later in the curriculum sequence, implying the organisation of content according to the sequence and continuity of learning within a given subject domain.”

Ethan Emerson (blog) https://exquisitiveeducation.com/what-is-vertical-articulation-in-education/ 

“By creating a cohesive learning experience, vertical articulation enables students to build upon their knowledge and skills as they move from one grade level to the next. When educators from the same department or content area collaborate to implement vertical articulation, they are able to identify and address any gaps or inconsistencies in the curriculum.”

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

Support the show

Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

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Episode 50: Summer break Show Notes

Several language teaching conferences were mentioned:

CI Reboot: June 20, 25-27 online https://fluencyfast.com/cireboot/

Comprehensible Iowa: June 12 & 13, 2026 in Iowa https://comprehensibleiowa.wordpress.com/registration/

CI Summit: July 15-17, 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio -- Use code TEAM for $100 off registration https://cisummit.live/register.php

Reed suggested episodes 19, 29, 40, & 43. 

Diane suggested episodes 25, 12, 10, 7, 5, and 4.

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Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

Send us Fan Mail

Thanks to Karen Rowan and the online language teacher conference, CI Reboot 2026 https://fluencyfast.com/cireboot/ for bringing us together with a favorite podcast, SLAyyy! 

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

Support the show

Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

Send us Fan Mail

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

Support the show

Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

Send us Fan Mail

Episode 47 - Teacher evaluations

Bryce Hedstrom’s observation checklist: https://www.brycehedstrom.com/wp-content/uploads/Checklist-for-Observing-a-WL-Classroom-2.pdf 

Reed mentioned two books about use of translation in language teaching:
Kerr, P. (2014). Translation and own-language activities. Cambridge University Press. https://a.co/d/0b4fjY57

Cook, G. (2010). Translation in language teaching: An argument for reassessment. Oxford University Press.
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/translation-in-language-teaching_guy-cook/10921357/item/51624933/#idiq=51624933&edition=10356911 

Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning (TELL) Project rubric for teacher self-assessment: https://hcommons.org/app/uploads/sites/1003502/2023/10/TELL_FoundationalCriteria_SelfAssessment-1.pdf

The Massachusetts Foreign Language Association’s Alignment for World Language Educators and Supervisors, using both the Massachusetts Model System for Educator Evaluation and the (TELL) Project rubric: https://mafla.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/TELL-MA-Teacher-Eval-Crosswalk-Google-Docs.pdf 

Catherine Ritz’s Google Scholar page lists some of her work: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=71QsNeUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra  

Ohio linked here (https://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Learning-in-Ohio/World-Languages-and-Cultures/Model-Curriculum-for-World-Languages-and-Cultures) to this tool for reflection on intercultural learning:
https://www.ncssfl.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/LF_Intercultral_Reflection_Tool.pdf

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

Support the show

Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

Send us Fan Mail

Episode 46: Word Repetition -- Show Notes

We discussed TCI Oregon, June 29-July 1, 2026: https://cocc.edu/departments/community-ed/tci

Diane mentioned several "button using" animal accounts on social media: ElsieWants, Flounder_Meatloaf, What about Bunny, and Pixel and Friends

Diane also mentioned: 

Glisan, E. W., & Donato, R. (2017). Enacting the Work of Language Instruction: High-Leverage Teaching Practices. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. 1001 North Fairfax Street Suite 200, Alexandria, VA 22314.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55132595-enacting-the-work-of-language-instruction-volume-1

Reed cited:

Ellis, N. C., & Ferreira–Junior, F. (2009). Construction learning as a function of frequency, frequency distribution, and function. The Modern Language Journal, 93(3), 370-385.

Tavakoli, P., & Foster, P. (2011). Task design and second language performance: The effect of narrative type on learner output. Language Learning, 61, 37-72.

VanPatten, B. (2017). While We're on the Topic: BVP on Language, Acquisition, and Classroom Practice. ACTFL: Alexandria, VA.

Riggs, R. (2021). What we talk about when we talk about “repetition”. The Word, 31(1), 7-9. Hawai‘i TESOL. Retrievable from link (2021 Sep):  https://hawaiitesol.org/news/newsletter/newsletter-archive/

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Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

Send us Fan Mail

Episode 45: Impactful Teacher Training

Show notes:

Diane mentioned this article:
Neubauer, D., & Wesely, P. (2023). K-12 world language teachers’ use of conferences as professional development. Teaching and Teacher Education, 124, 104042. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0742051X23000306 

The ACTFL Past President who spoke at ACTFL Convention 2025 is Milton Alan Turner.

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

Support the show

Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new