ABSTRACT
My view of language education incorporates strands from historical and current second language acquisition approaches. In short, Input (nature), Output (behavioral) and Interaction (negotiation) are all important. Learning the language as well as learning through the language is needed for higher level thinking. Moreover, a student’s prior knowledge needs to be built and linked upon. Student to student interaction needs to be used. Finally, critical thinking levels need to be raised. This poster presentation incorporates the above philosophy and introduces concepts for teaching the English language skills of Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing, V ocabulary and Critical Thinking with an emphasis on the edict: “if we expect students to learn, then we have to teach them how to learn”. The approach teaches students HOW to think, not WHAT to think. The poster offers methods to acquire, understand and evaluate information, rather than memorizing an overload of facts. The poster’s content is mostly useful for teachers of Academic English and/or Critical Thinking but also for EFL/ESL students who aspire to/are interested in raising their language/knowledge to a higher level.
KEYWORDS
Syllabus and Materials Design, Academic English