Conversations about Language Teaching

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Episode 44: Fools Rush In: Individual Pathways

Reed started the conversation with a quote from the book The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do by Judith Rich Harris https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Nurture-Assumption/Judith-Rich-Harris/9781439101650

Diane mentioned the book Quiet by Susan Cain https://susancain.net/book/quiet/

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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

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Show notes:

The video clip we watched & discussed is on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/VlZESXSvi-Q

Adriana Ramírez's website: https://www.adrianaramirez.ca/

Adriana has a podcast co-hosted with Margarita Pérez García, in Spanish: Armando Bochinche 

Diane mentioned Paul Seedhouse's work, & paraphrased from his book The Interactional Architecture of the Language Classroom (2004). Seedhouse, P. (2004). The interactional architecture of the language classroom: A conversation analysis perspective. Language Learning. 

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

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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 42: Do different levels of language learners need different things?

Show Notes

Mitten CI language teaching conference April 17 & 18, 2026: https://mittenci.weebly.com/

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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 41 Show Notes:

Diane mentioned this episode of the Mel Robbins podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHpFwHYDnKE 

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

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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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Thank you to our guest, Dan Call, who joined us for this episode! Information about Dan's award as Pacific Northwest Regional Teacher of the Year: https://www.actfl.org/career-development/actfl-awards/teacher-of-the-year-program/hall-of-fame-2026/dan-call

Dan's LinkedIn Profile is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-call-377256179

Show notes: 

Funds of knowledge is a term initially created by Gloria Ladson-Billings (information here: https://www.clrn.org/how-to-use-funds-of-knowledge-in-the-classroom/) Seeing and drawing upon students' funds of knowledge is part of  Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. More information here: https://www.clrn.org/what-is-culturally-responsive-pedagogy/

Tara Yosso and community cultural wealth: https://www.tarajyossophd.com/about

Ofelia García and translanguaging -- a nice starting place is this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l1CcrRrck0

Dr. García is a widely cited scholar. Her Google Scholar profile is here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_HJgviUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra

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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Show Notes: 

Diane mentioned studies that have found children process language more slowly than adults. One such study is here: 

Nip, I. S. B., & Green, J. R. (2013). Increases in Cognitive and Linguistic Processing Primarily Account for Increases in Speaking Rate With Age. Child Development, 84(4), 1324–1337. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23469381 

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 38: ACTFL Language Teacher Awards as Professional Development 

Show Notes

Guest: Ngan-Ha Ta, PhD 
Ngan's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nganhata

ACTFL Convention & World Languages Expo information: https://www.actfl.org/convention-and-expo

Our previous episode with Ngan: Episode 9: Teacher Training
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2325378/episodes/15292383

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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Show Notes: Episode 37: "Listen & Do" in language teaching

Reed mentioned: 

Ellis, R., & He, X. (1999). The roles of modified input and output in the incidental acquisition of word meanings. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 285-301. https://www.scribd.com/document/359925425/10-0000-www-cambridge-org-3B026C16F7E59E3458121D43E055741D

We also mentioned: 

Shintani, N. (2012). Input-based tasks and the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar: A process-product study. Language Teaching Research, 16(2), 253-279. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1362168811431378?casa_token=Xb_zorLnOMUAAAAA:a-yz5LtyhaZhzn64Lwhd6x_H9n5BzUYkEyT8RBumo-6fSFSiXzNPDnKQt7N_MJ1cJTjwFdA0r48 

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

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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

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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Menken & Garcia, 2010 ch. 16 

Johnson, 2013

ACTFL 90%+ TL use position statement

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

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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