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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Teach English Now! Theories of Second Language Acquisition by Arizona State University

4.9
stars
6,889 ratings

About the Course

In this course learners are introduced to second or foreign language theories and practices for teaching and assessing listening, speaking, and pronunciation. Learners will also be introduced to basic studies in second language acquisition and their pedagogical implications. Teachers will be invited to recognize the importance of grounding their own teaching philosophy through an examination of purpose, content, and technique....
Highlights
Applicable teachings

(121 Reviews)

Creatively designed course

(270 Reviews)

Top reviews

AA

Jun 21, 2021

Interesting courses! I am learning a lot. Thank you very much Coursera. I have just completed course 2 and been delivered a certificate but I just can't access my new course. What should I do, please?

AY

Oct 10, 2018

Teachers are great. The course is fun and informative. I love this specialization. I look forward to completing all the courses as soon as possible. I highly recommend this course and specialization.

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26 - 50 of 2,042 Reviews for Teach English Now! Theories of Second Language Acquisition

By Joelle H

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Nov 30, 2016

Some of the videos weren't as clear as the previous course's videos. I suggest less gimmicks and more focus on learning the history. I will admit there were times I was lost on the quizzes because the videos weren't clear enough.

By Saif A J A

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Feb 12, 2019

The course has lost a lot of its value due to overacting!

By Paul F

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Apr 29, 2020

The acting in the videos seemed too immature for an adult audience, and I felt that the over-the-top nature of it detracted from the course content.

By G P

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Jun 25, 2020

Real hard to follow the concepts as the over-dramatization is distracting and doesn't always explain the concepts being tested.

By Edward T

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Jan 9, 2021

The goofy videos are bit time consuming. Try ti keep your videos simple and straightforward

By Alyssa C

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Oct 19, 2019

This was a comprehensive look at the historical development of learning theories over the last 140+ years. You have to get on board with the goofy presentation of each through a generalized personification of the theory in a teaching character. At first this felt a bit juvenile, but after going through the whole course, I think was actually a very effective, creative, and fun way to present theory, which can sometimes be so dry or heavy. I learned a lot from this course, and really enjoyed comparing my own teaching styles back to each era. It helped me identify the roots of many of my values in teaching. Great course!

By Suzete M D

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Jun 27, 2016

O curso proporciona uma visão geral de todas as teorias sobre aquisição de línguas. A abordagem é dinâmica, criativa e envolvente. Não tem como não se apaixonar pelas performances dos presenters.

A troca de experiência e o insight que proporciona, são impagáveis.

Para o professor, é como um revisiting ao passado mas ao mesmo tempo traz sua conexão com o presente, explicando porque fazemos o que fazemos, porque ensinamos com esta ou aquela abordagem e como é possível andar por todas os métodos e escolher o que melhor se aplica em sala.

Curso imperdível!

By Malak H

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Dec 6, 2018

For my instructors big respect and love for this just most amazing and exciting course I've ever attended. I really owe you BIG thanks for your efforts and genuine giving spirit that I learned a lot ..You were actually following the precise and precious values you teach through this course. I highly recommend teachers to have this course in order to maintain a broad view on teaching methods and grasp the useful themes and techniques that enrich their teaching process.

By Hong M Q

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Oct 27, 2021

This course help me broaden my knowledge, deeply understand about theories of second language acquisition from the past to now. Thanks to teachers and this program a lot to having me here. I can not wait to keep learning the next course. Thank you a lot!

By Sena N

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Feb 5, 2019

This course was really so insightful and beneficial. Thanks for all Dear Shane & Jessica, I'm really so pleased to be part of this great this. I learned and remembered a lot with your great support.

By Elaine T

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Nov 7, 2021

One of my favourite courses and would highly recommend. Excellent learning materials and tutors. This one is a must. Very interesting all round.

By Viya S

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Nov 4, 2021

The instructors have very nicely explained the content and made teaching English as a second language informational by elaborating on all areas.

By Abdur R I

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Oct 20, 2021

these theories are a nice part of course, one who is already teaching English, can improve his teaching style by knowing these theories.

By Deleted A

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Oct 26, 2021

A really nice course which every language teacher should follow. I highly recommend this course to every ESL teacher.

By Joanne R

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Nov 8, 2021

Challenging but great class

By Daniel R - C

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Feb 17, 2019

Great course.

By itsmegirleeislove I

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Oct 26, 2021

informative

By Karen S

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Apr 22, 2022

The historical review of the development of language teaching is super interesting to me but the way it is taught is not university standard. I've had enough poor quality teacher / prof. role models, seen enough of them in film & theater, I don't need more of that. It totally takes away from the learning enjoyment about that, wastes time instead of presenting more interesting information about it all. There is a lot more room for a good academic presentation of all of that. It's too much clowing around instead of teaching us real useful information. That time machine is a waste of time, the year in bold letters once is enough. Do not make use of biblical themes since that is mocking the Bible and God in this way. If one does that without understanding this, it releases the 2nd heaven demomic energies onto the earth since the spiritual is alive & active which is very danergous. That is very poorly done. The way he presents angels as weak with an indication of being gay is totally unacceptable. Angels are messangers of God who deliver very clear messanges. They are immensely powerful and can kill those who disoby God. I highly recommend to re-do this class as fast as possible. That film credit at the end is a waste of time and annoying.

By Thomáz D

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Apr 19, 2020

Both teachers were great in providing an introduction to the different theories of second language acquisition. However, I wish the content was deeper regarding each approach, or, at the very least, that we were provided with more guidance regarding which books and articles to read from the most important authors in the field.

By David L

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Dec 20, 2016

Less is more. Not always, but it would be in this case. A lot of the lectures are unwatchable for me.

By jlsellers

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Mar 14, 2020

I loved the other courses but this one was unfortunately deadly boring to me. I enjoyed the devil angel parts and also the attempts at drama but the way the tests were done it was so confusing. There was so much overlap in the way things have been done. I had to go back into the modules , and verbatim write down exactly what the teachers were saying in order to get the answers correct instead of understanding the general principleswhich I was hoping for. Surely there is a better way to explain these different methods and Link sound bites so we can remember them and access them more easily.

By Steve K

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Nov 5, 2020

The videos are nice but I would have liked to see more written materials/notes. It's kind of ironic that a course about teaching techniques heavily emphasizes one way of learning (listening) and doesn't appreciate that some people prefer to read/learn on their own. Also, I don't like the deadlines and having to wait on other students to complete their assignments to finish the course. I understand the rationale behind this (to make more money) but I'd like the flexibility to finish the course at my own pace.

By Vanessa R

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Jan 20, 2020

I took this class because I thought it would give me a good introduction to online teaching. It also looked tempting because it offered the option to take the practicum; however, when it's being offered at $1,000, I expect this class to be worth the cost. It's not. The first quiz is ridiculously hard (it took me three or four days to pass it), then you get to module 3 and the quizzes are way too easy. There is very little content, and a lot of contrived scenarios with foreign teachers (there is no effort to pretend they're overseas, as the dialogues basically repeat what's already been introduced except for one or two instances where we get additional information that's useful, but the backdrops are clearly fake). The whole thing with Brandon isn't informative (it could be any person), and the clips from the voxy are basically all the same thing. I really do not recommend this class if you're looking for something substantial; there's just very little worthwhile information. If this is an indication of the quality of the vox, then the voxy is very poor and not worth it unless it were free which it isn't - and the price for an educational experience that looks like this class is just not worth it.

By Kirankumar R

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Apr 28, 2020

I found the course to be extremely useful.

Those videos must have taken a lot of work - actually dressing up to give the 'feel' of an 1880 or 1910 classroom shows dedication. :) :)

I have a suggestion. When we review other learner's assignments it is not easy to choose between YES and NO for completing the task. As an experienced ESL practitioner I would say that if a person has written a whole big chunk where the responses to the two prompts are not separate and where only a few relevant points appear (in bits and pieces) they should not be considered to have completed the task.

Some learners have responded to the 'difference between approaches' prompt purely in the form of personal opinion (albeit valid opinions, very often). Others have actually responded based on the contents of that week.

I understand that there is quite a range of English language levels among the people who take the course and written answers are not something that even native speakers are always good at. However, I am talking about task achievement rather than grammar and spelling. I would suggest that when marking peers for completing the task it would help if there is a range (say Yes / No / Partially) rather than just Yes or No.

Thoroughly enjoyed the course. My best compliments to the team that put it together!

By Logan W

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Mar 10, 2022

I really liked the historical survey of language teaching methods. Shane really commits to his roles as observer, exponent, devil and angel, and the silly costumes and voices actually make remembering and distinguishing the various methods a lot easier. It also reminds us as teachers not to be afraid of looking foolish (wink, wink). There were a couple of issues with the subtitles and dialogue. First, every time Shane said "affective" the subtitles would say "effective" which could certainly confuse people. Second, it was apparent a couple of times that he or Jessica would say the wrong word and it would contradict the message. I can't remember specific examples, but it happened more than once. Finally, some of the jargon was not always clear. They keep saying that the purpose of the Comprehension method was to "make input comprehensible". This is very circular and unhelpful for understanding what the method was really about. But these are minor quibbles and overall I really liked this course and learned a lot.