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Thanks to Karen Rowan and the online language teacher conference, CI Reboot 2026 https://fluencyfast.com/cireboot/ for bringing us together with a favorite podcast, SLAyyy!

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Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

Send us Fan Mail

Intro & outro music selected from "23 Light Years" by CavalloPazzo

Support the show

Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

Send us Fan Mail

Episode 47 - Teacher evaluations

Bryce Hedstrom’s observation checklist: https://www.brycehedstrom.com/wp-content/uploads/Checklist-for-Observing-a-WL-Classroom-2.pdf

Reed mentioned two books about use of translation in language teaching:
Kerr, P. (2014). Translation and own-language activities. Cambridge University Press. https://a.co/d/0b4fjY57

Cook, G. (2010). Translation in language teaching: An argument for reassessment. Oxford University Press.
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/translation-in-language-teaching_guy-cook/10921357/item/51624933/#idiq=51624933&edition=10356911

Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning (TELL) Project rubric for teacher self-assessment: https://hcommons.org/app/uploads/sites/1003502/2023/10/TELL_FoundationalCriteria_SelfAssessment-1.pdf

The Massachusetts Foreign Language Association’s Alignment for World Language Educators and Supervisors, using both the Massachusetts Model System for Educator Evaluation and the (TELL) Project rubric: https://mafla.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/TELL-MA-Teacher-Eval-Crosswalk-Google-Docs.pdf

Catherine Ritz’s Google Scholar page lists some of her work: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=71QsNeUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra

Ohio linked here (https://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Learning-in-Ohio/World-Languages-and-Cultures/Model-Curriculum-for-World-Languages-and-Cultures) to this tool for reflection on intercultural learning:
https://www.ncssfl.org/wp-content

Intro & outro music selected from "23 Light Years" by CavalloPazzo

Support the show

Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

Send us Fan Mail

Episode 46: Word Repetition -- Show Notes

We discussed TCI Oregon, June 29-July 1, 2026: https://cocc.edu/departments/community-ed/tci

Diane mentioned several "button using" animal accounts on social media: ElsieWants, Flounder_Meatloaf, What about Bunny, and Pixel and Friends

Diane also mentioned:

Glisan, E. W., & Donato, R. (2017). Enacting the Work of Language Instruction: High-Leverage Teaching Practices. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. 1001 North Fairfax Street Suite 200, Alexandria, VA 22314.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55132595-enacting-the-work-of-language-instruction-volume-1

Reed cited:

Ellis, N. C., & Ferreira–Junior, F. (2009). Construction learning as a function of frequency, frequency distribution, and function. The Modern Language Journal, 93(3), 370-385.

Tavakoli, P., & Foster, P. (2011). Task design and second language performance: The effect of narrative type on learner output. Language Learning, 61, 37-72.

VanPatten, B. (2017). While We're on the Topic: BVP on Language, Acquisition, and Classroom Practice. ACTFL: Alexandria, VA.

Riggs, R. (2021). What we talk about when we talk about “repetition”. The Word, 31(1), 7-9. Hawai‘i TESOL. Retrievable from link (2021 Sep): https://hawaiitesol.org/news/newsletter/newsletter-archive/

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Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

Send us Fan Mail

Episode 45: Impactful Teacher Training

Show notes:

Diane mentioned this article:
Neubauer, D., & Wesely, P. (2023). K-12 world language teachers’ use of conferences as professional development. Teaching and Teacher Education, 124, 104042. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0742051X23000306

The ACTFL Past President who spoke at ACTFL Convention 2025 is Milton Alan Turner.

Intro & outro music selected from "23 Light Years" by CavalloPazzo

Support the show

Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

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Episode 44: Fools Rush In: Individual Pathways

Reed started the conversation with a quote from the book The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do by Judith Rich Harris https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Nurture-Assumption/Judith-Rich-Harris/9781439101650

Diane mentioned the book Quiet by Susan Cain https://susancain.net/book/quiet/

Intro & outro music selected from "23 Light Years" by CavalloPazzo

Support the show

Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

Send a text

Show notes:

The video clip we watched & discussed is on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/VlZESXSvi-Q

Adriana Ramírez's website: https://www.adrianaramirez.ca/

Adriana has a podcast co-hosted with Margarita Pérez García, in Spanish: Armando Bochinche

Diane mentioned Paul Seedhouse's work, & paraphrased from his book The Interactional Architecture of the Language Classroom (2004). Seedhouse, P. (2004). The interactional architecture of the language classroom: A conversation analysis perspective. Language Learning.

Intro & outro music selected from "23 Light Years" by CavalloPazzo

Support the show

Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new

Send a text

Episode 42: Do different levels of language learners need different things?

Show Notes

Mitten CI language teaching conference April 17 & 18, 2026: https://mittenci.weebly.com/

Intro & outro music selected from "23 Light Years" by CavalloPazzo

Support the show

Conversations about Language Teaching
Diane Neubauer, PhD & Reed Riggs, PhD

"Conversations about Language Teaching" is a podcast of unscripted discussions of language teaching, drawing on both research and classroom & online language teaching. If you like thinking deeply about issues of classroom language teaching and how those relate to research and theory, this podcast might be for you.

Reed & Diane, the hosts, base our knowledge of language teaching on research we've read & done, theoretical views of language acquisition, our experiences as language teachers and learners, and our observations of language teaching in the US and elsewhere. We like to help build bridges among teachers and researchers and view ourselves as part of both communities. We collaborate on projects & like talking about language teaching & learning, and decided to have some of those conversations in a podcast format. Here it is!

More about Diane: https://sites.google.com/view/dianen/home
More about Reed: http://www.reedriggs.com

Watch on YouTube where episodes are captioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsaboutLanguage

We welcome support for the podcasting costs. See "Support" here: https://conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/supporters/new