English Central: Why it Works

The Pedagogical Foundations Of EnglishCentral

By David Deubelbeiss

EnglishCentral is a company that takes pride in having experienced teachers on staff and designing a
product that will help students learn and acquire English, particularly for international communication.

Too often technology is designed without the control or voice of educators. Technology for technology's
sake. We have tried to avoid this error and build an e-learning platform that puts pedagogy and learning
first.

Here are the key aspects of English Central's pedagogy:

1. Motivation.

We live in a visual and digital world. Students consume enormous amounts of video content and video
has become the new textbook. EnglishCentral harnesses this built in, intrinsic level of motivation - why
not learn English while viewing videos you love? EnglishCentral publishes 30 new video lessons per week
and its vast library of video lessons and courses offers every student the chance to study what they want
and listen to messages they want to hear.

2. Comprehensible Input

Not only do students need to listen to messages they want to hear - these messages must be level
appropriate (Krashen, 2001). Each EnglishCentral video lesson or course plus our vocabulary is leveled
and can be assigned to students based on their level of English. This provides appropriate practice
maximizing language acquisition.
3. Precise, Timely Feedback

EnglishCentral provides instant feedback to students. Students begin to "notice the gap" (Schmidt, 1990)
and begin to self-correct as they compare their speech to the original. Tools are provided so students can
"dig down" and understand the language and get the answers they need immediately. EnglishCentral
works to promote learner autonomy.

4. Lowered Affective Filter

Many students go through a substantial "silent period" (Krashen, 1985). Others need the time and space
given through self-study before they are ready to excel in the very socially demanding classroom.
EnglishCentral provides a safe, low anxiety environment where learners can proceed at their own pace
and practice speaking in a non-threatening place. Teachers are often amazed how the quiet students in
their class "bloom" on EnglishCentral.

5. An Oral Language Focus

The 21st century workplace and global nature of communication demands that students have strong
speaking skills. The importance of written communication is receding. EnglishCentral's proprietary
speech recognition system IntelliSpeech™ trains students to produce, clear, intelligible speech for
effective communication across cultures and borders.

6. Blended Learning

The future of education lies in blended learning (Arne Duncan, 2014). EnglishCentral partners with
schools and teachers offering a unique blended learning model and platform. Courses and video lessons
can perfectly compliment what students learn in class, providing students with extra practice matching
the class curriculum. Our free LMS lets teachers extend the curriculum and track student achievement.

7. Structured Learning
Our simple Watch | Learn | Speak methodology provides low cognitive overload and an easy to follow
learning pathway. Courses and video lessons are leveled and vocabulary is presented with spaced-time
repetition. EnglishCentral monitors every word or expression students study and provides a simple
interface where students can use the feedback to improve their pronunciation and build their
vocabulary.

8. Gaming

Students are highly engaged by the gaming dynamics of EnglishCentral. Students compete for XPs
(Experience Points) and ranking through their study. However, we don't go overboard and aim to keep
the focus on the learning, not the gaming.

9. Ambiguity Tolerance

Language is a vast and unpredictable space. Successful language learners are risk takers. Critical to being
a risk taker is having a strong ability to not be stressed out by what you don't understand (Brown, 2007).
EnglishCentral provides authentic content that challenges students to focus on the general meaning and
gist and strengthen their level of ambiguity tolerance.

Interested in reading more about EnglishCentral and why it works? Try this post on our blog or visit our
Academic area for some case studies on how teachers have used EnglishCentral successfully at their
school.

David Deubelbeiss is a professor, educational consultant and teacher trainer currently at the Schulich
School of Education, Nipissing University, North Bay, Canada. He is a leader in promoting the use of
technology in language teaching and the use of social media in education. He is the Director of Education
at EnglishCentral. Find him online at his professional development community for teachers, EFL
Classroom 2.0 or through his LinkedIn profile. He espouses the simple teaching philosophy of “When one
teaches, two learn.”