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Shifts Happen: The Real Drivers of Linguistic Change
How does an L2 evolve over time? Is there a linear progression, or does language shift in response to other factors rather than how many years we’ve been learning? A new sociolinguistic study suggests something more precise is at work: major life events. The study Wirtz & Pickl (2025) set out to test a long-held…
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Borrowed Words, Borrowed Grammar? What Really Happens When Languages Come into Contact
I’ve heard it said that languages borrow vocabulary easily, but grammar stays put. Words travel, structures resist. This would explain the existence of loanwords & why English happily absorbed piano & ballet, but didn’t import Italian verb conjugations or French gender agreement. This idea isn’t just pedagogical folklore. It comes from decades of linguistic theory.…
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The Language of Misinformation
Why do people get taken in by misinformation? We usually point to ideology, fear or poor media literacy. But what if part of the answer is much simpler — & much closer to home for language teachers? What if it has something to do with how misinformation is written? A recent study in Frontiers in…
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LoA: When assessment stops judging & starts teaching
Both teachers & learners would agree that classroom assessment often feels like a ritual rather than a learning event. Tasks get completed, grades get recorded, feedback gets skimmed, then everyone moves on. This is exactly the kind of ‘mindless’ assessment that Learning-oriented Assessment (LoA) was designed to push back against. LoA starts from a simple…
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From Birds to Words: How Prior Knowledge Shapes Memory
We often assume that the more familiar something is, the better we’ll remember it. That assumption quietly underpins much of how we think about vocabulary retention in ELT: more encounters, more recycling, more input equals stronger memory. A recent open-access study in iScience explores exactly how different kinds of prior knowledge shape what we remember,…
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Fake Words, Real Insight
We’re all familiar with the scenario: you’re in a café or on public transport, half-listening to the buzz of voices around you. You don’t catch any actual words, yet you still know when someone is speaking Spanish, Arabic or German. Something in the rhythm & sound patterns gives it away almost instantly. That ability to…
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