Earl Stevick (1923 – 2013) was a linguist, teacher, teacher educator and writer who, more than any other scholar of his time, was instrumental in popularising approaches to second language teaching that are now variously labelled as humanistic, holistic, and learner-centred. Meaningful Action, a collected volume of papers to celebrate his life’s work, was edited by Jane Arnold and Tim Murphey, and published in 2013 by Cambridge University Press. It is this book that forms the basis of this reading-and-discussion course.
In the words of the back-cover blurb, ‘Much of Stevick’s work focused on the importance of making the learning process relevant and engaging for all involved, and it has been seminal in changing how language learning, teaching and the classroom environment are conceived. In this important volume, the authors are teachers and researchers who “grew up” with Stevick and whose own contributions to the field are now well known and respected.’
One of those contributors is Scott Thornbury, who will make a selection of chapters from the book for reading and discussion. He will use these chapters to focus on key aspects of language teaching and learning, including eclecticism, agency, identity and motivation. In so doing, he hopes to demonstrate the enduring value of Stevick’s work, and show how it can be made relevant to today’s classrooms.
Live online Zoom sessions will be held eight times in May and June, on Sundays from 10:00 to 11:00 GMT. Recordings will be available.
Live sessions (registered participants only)
- May 9th – course participants only (60 minutes)
- May 16th – course participants only (60 minutes)
- May 23rd – course participants only (60 minutes)
- May 30th – course participants only (60 minutes)
- June 6th – course participants only (60 minutes)
- June 13th – course participants only (60 minutes)
- June 20th – course participants only (60 minutes)
- June 27th – course participants only (60 minutes)
Cost: $300 USD (We can provide receipts for research funds, if needed.)
Required book: In the course we will explore Meaningful Action: Earl Stevick’s influence on language teaching (Edited by Jane Arnold and Tim Murphey, 2013).
Teachers will be expected to have a copy of the book used in the course.
Registration includes the eight live sessions and unlimited discussions each week in a private forum. Upon successful completion of the course participants will receive a certificate verifying that they are an "iTDi Great Minds Educator".
This 8-week online iTDi Great Minds in Language Education course will bring up to 24 teachers together in our user-friendly iTDi online classroom every Sunday, and then continue throughout the week – sharing, discussing and reflecting in a private, but vibrant, online community.
As a registered participant, don’t worry if you have to miss a live class or if the time for the live sessions doesn't work well for your time zone. You’ll receive weekly recordings of each class, full transcripts of the text chat during class, assigned readings and a PDF of the PowerPoint slides. Furthermore, the online community will certainly become a wealth of ideas and information, and will remain private and online for your use anytime in the future.
Scholarships
As always, iTDi believes that all teachers deserve the same opportunity to improve themselves. Therefore, a limited number of scholarships will be available for this course. Please apply through our scholarship application.
