Tap into Cognitive Science to Make Lexis Stick and Last: Theory, Practice, and AI

Your students (or you) put real effort into learning new B2–C2 lexis – yet it rarely makes it into their active lexical repertoire. Or they seem to be able to use new lexis in class, but it soon fades into passive vocabulary.

Does that sound familiar? If so, what can we do about it?
In my talk, we’ll discover what insights cognitive science offers into how to make new lexis stick and last – without mindless cramming.

We will then explore a wide range of classroom-ready tasks that put these scientific principles into action, with clear guidance on adapting them across levels, from B2–C2 to A2–B1.

Finally, you will learn how to use carefully designed AI prompts to generate cognitively principled lexical activities for different topics and levels.

Ready to stop teaching words that disappear – and start building lexical command that lasts and impresses?

На этой сессии вы:

✅ узнаете, как работать с лексикой так, чтобы она запоминалась естественно и надолго закреплялась в активном словарном запасе – согласно современным принципам когнитивных наук; 

✅ получите готовые научно обоснованные задания для осмысленной отработки лексики уровней B2-C2 и узнаете, как их адаптировать для уровней B1-A2; 

✅ научитесь использовать AI-промпты для создания эффективных лексических заданий для разных тем и уровней.

Подробнее о Наташе

Bridging Languages, Building Confidence: Translanguaging for Grammar and Global Communication

As EFL teachers we are most likely familiar with Grammar Translation as an approach to teaching, but what about translanguaging? 

In this session, we will explore the difference between translation and translanguaging and look at how translanguaging can support students in the classroom as language learners in getting to grips with a new linguistic system. 

But navigating grammar rules are not the only problems our students face. Therefore, we will also discover how translanguaging can help our students outside the classroom too, so that they can more confidently navigate intercultural communication.

На этой сессии вы научитесь:

✅ научитесь различать перевод и транслингвизм как подходы к обучению иностранным языкам;

✅ применять стратегии транслингвизма для поддержки усвоения грамматики в классе;

✅ адаптировать принципы транслингвизма для повышения уверенности учащихся в межкультурной коммуникации.

Подробнее о Heather

Does simple mean easy?

Every teacher’s core mission is to facilitate learning — a simple goal that might not be easy to achieve, surprisingly. In this session, we’ll first revisit the concept of simplicity. Then, we'll explore how embracing strategic simplicity in our teaching, materials, and training can make learning more accessible for every student. Through classroom examples, hands-on activities, and reflective discussion, you’ll leave with practical strategies to clarify your practice and empower your learners.

На этой сессии вы:

✅ разберётесь, что следует понимать под «принципом простоты»;

✅ рассмотрите примеры достижения простоты и ясности на практике:

• в планировании курсов и отдельных уроков
• в адаптации и создании материалов
• во взаимодействии с учениками в классе
• в объяснении языковых единиц (лексики, грамматики)
• в понимании методики и личном профессиональном развитии.

✅ поделитесь своим опытом в контексте темы; 

✅ сделаете собственные заключения о том, насколько просто достичь простоты, и где границы упрощения.

Ольга занимается подготовкой преподавателей более 15 лет.

Она много лет работала в качестве академического директора в BKC-IH Moscow, а также вела курсы Cambridge CELTA и DELTA и была асессором на них, онлайн курсы в IH OTTI (Online Teacher Training Institution) и многие другие методические программы.

Начиная с 2020 она работает в Yandex.Practicum, где занимается составлением программ английского, дизайном онлайн курсов для студентов разных уровней, и написанием и редактированием материалов. Она продолжает работать на курсах по подготовке учителей и как консультант по методике.

Helping without hindering

To progress, learners need not only a good teacher, but also the right conditions to think, practise, retrieve, and self-correct. Yet many common teaching behaviours — often motivated by care — accidentally hold learners back. In this session, we will examine the different facets of “teacher interference” and identify patterns that feel supportive in the moment but erode independence over time. 

Participants will take away a set of teacher “micro-moves” that replace enabling with empowerment: what to stop doing, what to do instead, and how to build routines that promote learner agency, resilience, and responsibility.

На этом занятии вы:

✅ освежите в памяти принципы развития автономии и самоорганизации у учащихся;

✅ выявите паттерны в своем поведении, которые могут мешать ученикам развиваться;

✅ проанализируете несколько кейсов полезной и менее полезной учительской помощи;

✅ освоите набор микро-навыков: как отвечать на вопросы, давать подсказки и обратную связь так, чтобы ученики думали сами;

✅ научитесь поддерживать учащихся в развитии их навыков.

- автор и преподаватель курсов подготовки к кембриджским экзаменам С1 и С2 и разговорного клуба для высоких уровней Language Connoisseur;

- разработчик курсов по методике "How Languages Are Learned", "Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching", "Psychology in Language Learning and Teaching";

- автор книги "Reinventing your Continuing Professional Development Journey";

- спикер конференций и ведущая воркшопов по методике;

- подготовила 100+ студентов к сдаче экзамена C1 и 70+ студентов к сдаче экзамена C2;

- CPE grade 'A' (228 баллов);

- обучалась у Хью Деллара и Эндрю Уокли в Лондоне: Teaching Lexically;

- работала в Англии и Франции;

- автор колонки #readwithjulie с разбором методической литературы;

- мастер и виртуоз speaking club'ов;

- билингв.

Common Errors, Failures and Realities of CEFR

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is indeed a common tool teachers use. However, our everyday understanding of it is often shaped by simplifications and persistent assumptions. We are used to thinking that language proficiency is described in six levels, with the highest one being close to native-like proficiency. CEFR is also frequently perceived as a teacher-friendly curriculum prescribing grammar and vocabulary for each level, as well as suggesting the number of hours needed to move from one level to another.

This session invites participants to take a closer look at what CEFR actually describes and how it is often interpreted in teaching practice. It aims to revisit the CEFR scale, address some of the most widespread misconceptions, and offer practical recommendations on how CEFR can be meaningfully implemented in the classroom.

На этой сессии вы:

✅ сравните своё понимание уровней владения иностранным языком со шкалой CEFR и отрефлексируете возможные расхождения и допущения;

✅ рассмотрите связь между CEFR и языковыми экзаменами и узнаете, как интегрировать шкалу в экзаменационную подготовку;

✅ получите практические инструменты на основе CEFR для разработки уроков общего английского, отслеживания прогресса учащихся и оценивания.

- Аспирант кафедры Лингводидактики и современных технологий иноязычного образования ИИЯ МПГУ

- Преподаватель курсов C1/CAE и Studio C1+

- Бакалавриат: «Лингвистика, Теория и методика преподавания иностранных языков и культур» (МПГУ, с отличием)

- Магистратура: Педагогическое образование, «Педагогический дизайн: разработка учебных ресурсов и материалов по иностранным языкам» (МПГУ, в процессе обучения).

- CAE grade 'A';

- CELTA ‘Pass B’;

- Разработчик планов уроков курса С1 Complete;

- Разработчик курса Studio C1+;

- Разработчик курса 'Reinventing Writing';

- Спроектировал магистратуру для лингвистов с туристическим уклоном.

- Дипломант Олимпиады НИУ ВШЭ «Высшая лига» по направлению «Лингвистика: иностранные языки и межкультурная коммуникация» по треку «Преподавание иностранных языков».

- Дипломная работа по применению лексического подхода в преподавании.

Polina Kordik

This lecture introduces language teachers to key ideas from Cognitive Load Theory and explains how they can be applied in everyday classroom practice. Teachers will learn how working memory limits affect students’ ability to understand explanations, instructions, and tasks, and why “too much at once” can block learning. The session will show how to design lessons that reduce unnecessary cognitive load through clearer instructions, better sequencing, modelling, and practice. Teachers will also learn how to support learning by using examples, scaffolding, and well-timed practice. By the end of the lecture, participants will be able to adapt their materials and teaching strategies to make learning more efficient, manageable, and effective for their students.

Подробнее о Полине

Dr. Zhisheng (Edward) Wen

How often do we attribute a student’s struggle to a lack of effort, when the real bottleneck might be a cognitive one? This presentation bridges cutting-edge research on working memory - our brain’s core system for real-time information processing (Schwieter & Wen, 2022) - with actionable insights for the language classroom.

We first move beyond the classic view of working memory as a fixed “mental container” (the “magical number” of 4-7 items) to explore its dynamic, multi-component nature. Participants will learn how specific components - the phonological loop for sound, the visuospatial sketchpad for imagery, and the central executive for attention - directly underpin the cognitive demands of listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Central to the talk is the introduction of a practical framework: the Cognitive Load-Working Memory (CLWM) Matrix (Wen, Sparks & Mohebbi, 2025). This teacher-friendly diagnostic tool helps pinpoint why a learning task might fail: Is it due to the inherent complexity of the language (intrinsic load), the suboptimal design of the activity (extraneous load), or a lack of productive cognitive engagement (germane load)?

Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of the cognitive dimensions of learning difficulties and a set of principled strategies to design and adapt instruction. The goal is to empower educators to transform cognitive theory into practical tools that support every learner’s success.

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Mark Wyatt

If language teachers lack self-confidence in performing specific classroom tasks that might affect valued learning outcomes, then there can unfortunately be consequences, both in terms of teachers’ psychological well-being and in the quality of classroom learning experienced by their students. In teacher education, it is therefore important to consider language teachers’ self-efficacy (LTSE) beliefs, which relate to teachers’ levels of self-confidence in carrying out specific classroom tasks, such as facilitating group work, or explaining grammar. LTSE beliefs are fluid and dynamic, and this workshop focuses on how language teacher educator-researchers and teachers working together can explore these beliefs and support their healthy growth. Issues of research design, as well as pedagogical matters, are discussed, and case studies from various international contexts are drawn upon to illustrate positive outcomes when LTSE beliefs grow. Recommendations are made for language teachers seeking to boost their own LTSE beliefs in their daily work in schools.

Mark Wyatt is an ELT consultant working on English in Education projects. His most recent full-time academic post was as Associate Professor of English at Khalifa University, UAE (2015–2023). Previously, he worked with the University of Leeds on a BA TESOL project with in-service English teachers in Oman, and at the University of Portsmouth with pre-service B.Ed TESL students from Malaysia. He has continued to collaborate with both institutions as an External Examiner for MA TESOL-related programmes at Leeds and as a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at Portsmouth.

He currently acts as an external PhD supervisor at the University of Malta and supervises postgraduate Education students part-time at the University of Hull.

His research and editorial work includes co-editing volumes on mentoring in English language education, English-medium instruction in the Arabian Peninsula, reflective practice in language teacher education, and learner and teacher self-efficacy. Additional research interests include practitioner research, continuing professional development, the history of English, Gricean maxims in English for Academic Purposes, and qualitative case study methodology.

Jean-Marc Dewaele

The current study is situated in the third wave of Positive Psychology research. It focuses on the role positive institutions play regarding teachers’ well-being and their emotions experienced in the FL classroom. Participants were 263 Austrian FL teachers. Latent modeling indicated that positive school leadership and positive practices in school, more generally, were both positive predictors of teachers’ well-being. The dignity and respect, support, caring and inspiration experienced between all employees had a stronger effect on teacher well-being than school leadership though. Additionally, well-being positively predicted FL Teaching Enjoyment and it negatively predicted FL Teaching Anxiety. Neither school leadership nor positive practices in school directly predicted teachers’ emotions in the FL class. 

Jean-Marc Dewaele is Honorary Professor at the Institute of Education, University College London and Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism at Birkbeck, University of London. He has published widely on individual differences. He is former president of the International Association of Multilingualism, the European Second Language Association, and the International Association for the Psychology of Language Learning. He is General Editor of Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. He won the Equality and Diversity Research Award from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (2013), the Robert Gardner Award (2016) from the International Association of Language and Social Psychology and the EUROSLA Distinguished Scholar Award (2022). He is the 3th most influential linguist in the world according to the Stanford rankings 2024.

Pia Resnik

Imposter phenomenon (IP) refers to an individual’s sense of incompetence and perceived lack of intellect despite objective evidence to the contrary, leading imposters to attribute their achievements to luck rather than their own abilities (Clance, 1985). While its generally negative impact on students and their academic performance (e.g., Ménard & Chittle, 2023) has been widely established, its role within the context of foreign language (FL) learning remains under-researched (e.g, Brauer et al., 2023).

In this talk, I will take stock of what we already know and what factors contribute to the experience of IP in FL learners. Based on data collected through a web-based questionnaire from 397 tertiary-level EFL learners in Austria, we investigated possible effects of demographic and language use variables on the experience of IP, and the extent to which IP affects learners’ Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE), their Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA), and engagement with FL learning (Resnik et al., 2025). The analyses revealed that younger, female participants were more likely to experience IP as were those who perceived their standing in the group of learners as below average. Additionally, IP was linked to both FLCA and FLE and it predicted the performance engagement of EFL learners.

Overall, the results provide evidence as to the presence of IP in tertiary-level EFL classrooms and make a case for much needed future research in this context. In addition to possible future research avenues, the potential of interventions targeting imposter feelings in the FL classroom will be discussed (Alrabai et al., in preparation), which should provide FL teachers with ideas to mitigate its negative effects.

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Christine Muir

Attention to students’ motivation is a ubiquitous part of classroom life. No teacher training programmes are complete without focus on classroom management and group dynamics, yet this hugely important aspect of teaching in many programmes can sometimes become overshadowed. Many highly useful, practical lists of motivational strategies exist, designed to support both students long and short-term motivation in the classroom, alongside students’ agency and development as self-regulated learners. In this talk, I review key concepts, some common misconceptions, and explore practical implications for teaching drawing from new ideas related to metamotivation.

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