The Twenty Most Effective Language Teaching Techniques

by I.S.P. Nation

From leading scholar and applied linguist Paul Nation, this book describes and explains the 20 most effective and efficient language teaching techniques and why they work. Backed by decades of research and expertise, Nation examines the principles of learning connected to these techniques, as well as the factors affecting their choice and usage.

These techniques are organized around the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. For each skill, there is an opportunity for learning through meaning-focused use, an opportunity for learning through deliberate study, and a window for fluency development through working with easy material. Each technique is described and analyzed to demonstrate its learning goals and the principles of learning in use.

In demonstrating key techniques and methods for language learning, this book is particularly useful for pre-service teachers and students in applied linguistics, TESOL, and language teaching. Each chapter also has a substantial list of research topics for projects or theses.

336 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 13, 2024

About the author

Paul Nation is Emeritus Professor in Applied Linguistics at the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies (LALS) at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. His specialist interests are language teaching methodology and vocabulary learning. He supervises PhD research on vocabulary. He has taught in Indonesia, Thailand, the United States, Finland and Japan.