What is politeness? culture elt politeness speaking

By Dr Jeremy Koay

A limited view

Viewing politeness as a universally accepted norm is an incomplete or even misleading understanding of the concept. In fact, research in the early development of politeness theory, such as that of Brown and Levinson (1987), has been criticised for its lack of...

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I can’t have a conversation in English adult learning background knowledge conversation culture elt esol teaching cultural information

By Dorothy Cleary

I could not count the number of ESOL learners, many of whom were competent high-level English speakers, who have looked hopefully at me and said, “I want to improve my speaking. I don’t know how to have a conversation.”

My heart always sinks, because at their...

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The importance of contemporary cultural resources china culture elt modern china

By Lottie Dowling

In January 2017, I returned to Beijing, China for work after a two-year absence.  I left Beijing in 2015 after living there for nine and a half years to move to Australia.  Having arrived in Beijing pre-Olympics and lived through the incredible transformation of the...

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