Events

Back to Basics: Principles in Contemporary Language Teaching According to Science
13-14 March 2025
UCD

In this two-day Symposium the main findings from second language research will be considered in order to effectively influence three main areas of contemporary language teaching:

• Vocabulary
• Language tasks
• Focus on form

Workshops on how theory and research translate into language teaching will be offered in the second day of this event.

Invited Speakers

• Joe Barcroft (Washington University in St. Louis, USA), more details here
• Michael Leeser (Florida State University, USA)
• Alessandro Benati (UCD, Dublin, Ireland), more details here

A two-day event with the following plan: 

The main findings from second language research will be considered in order to effectively influence three main areas of language teaching: 

• Joe Barcroft - Vocabulary: Promoting Vocabulary Development in Meaning-Oriented Instruction: From Theory and Research to Practice
• Michael Leeser- Language tasks:
• Alessandro Benati- Focus on form: The role of Input in Language Development: From Theory and Research to Practice

Workshops on how theory and research translate into language teaching will be offered.

• Joe Barcroft –Vocabulary: How to Implement the Input-Based Incremental (IBI) Approach to Vocabulary
• Michael Leeser - Language tasks
• Alessandro Benati - Focus on form: Focusing on Form in Language Instruction: Input-based Pedagogical Interventions

Talk
2 October 2025
Confucius Institute

Reshaping language teaching, policies and teacher education programmes: The role of second language acquisition theory and research

The nature of language, its representation in the mind-brain of humans, and how language is processed and acquired should constitute the backbone of all language and teacher-education programmes. The lack of language experts teaching in these programmes has often led to the perpetuation of misleading beliefs about language and language teaching. For example, the belief that language is a list of rules, such as those found in textbooks and that ‘knowing a language involves knowing its rules’. Perhaps one of the more critical sets of consequences of non-expertise in language and language acquisition involves a lack of understanding about how language develops over time. Some of the myths perpetuated include that teaching grammar explicitly and error correction is necessary or even beneficial, that first-language transfer is the source of all learning problems, and that adults learn languages differently from children, among many, many others. In this talk, the main consequences of the lack of experts and expertise in providing appropriate language teacher training will be discussed and several possible solutions highlighted. 

Book Launch
(opens in a new window)https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/second-language-teacher-education-9781350438156/

Reviews

This latest book from Alessandro Benati is an absolute must-have for anyone
who wants to go into and succeed in the language teaching profession. Through an
impressive coverage, ample engaging study activities and thought-provoking
questions, the book prepares language educators well for the practical challenges in
the classroom and beyond. - Li Wei, Professor of Applied Linguistics, University College London, UK.

Perhaps the best methods textbook I've seen in two decades. In this book Benati does a
wonderful job of reaching multiple audiences, ranging from undergraduate teacher
trainees, to graduate teaching assistants, to students of applied linguists and Second
Language Acquisition. This book will be of enormous value to researchers and
practitioners, alike. - Paul A. Malovrh, Professor of SLA and Hispanic Linguistics, University of South Carolina, USA.