Complaining is one of the difficult tasks one has to do because when one complains, one does not only express some displeasure but also expects some form of repair. Hence, it is important for language learners to be taught how to effectively do so. Despite this, the teaching of the speech act of complaint has been taken for granted: either very little is included or it is absent in the language classroom instruction. This study attempts to examine how Filipino ESL learners structure their complaints. Featuring 18 situations calibrated on three ...

After discussing some of the most important reasons for conducting ELT research, the argument is made that the conflict between the "hard" sciences" and the humanities which has been a polarizing influence in ELT as it discourages many potential researchers from undertaking research when they think they must have mathematical models and use often opaque terminology. The argument is made that much in the "scientific" paradigm as it has been applied to language research is faulty. This claim is illustrated by looking at several issues raised by ...

Difficult as it may be to talk about a unified category of "Asian Horror Film," this article originates from an observation that in a great majority of Asian horror films (exemplified in this research by japanese, South Korean, Hong Kong, Chinese, Thai, Taiwanese, Singaporean and Vietnamese films) the horror film is almost equivalent with the "ghost" film. At the same time, it is relatively easy to notice that the celluloid representations of Asian spirits frequently do not comply with the Hollywood-established patterns, easily recognisable to ...

This research looks at students' reactions to teacher written feedback in their writing at writing classes of the second year, in the School of Education, An Giang University, Vietnam. Interview and questionnaires were used to collect data. The findings indicate that the teachers' written feedback is legible, understandable and useful. In addition, most of the students desire their teachers to resort to correction codes because they are able to understand them. The students also have some preferences for feedback regarding the types of feedback ...