Collins ELT

Are Print Primary Dictionaries Still Relevant for Young Learners?

by Harper Collins September 11, 2023

Today’s language learning environment offers a wealth of information for all ages and levels of learner, with everything available online at the cl...

Posted in CEFR, COBUILD, COBUILD Corpus, Dictionaries, ELT, Primary, Vocabulary

CEFR Labels: Do Words Have Levels?

by Harper Collins June 01, 2023

Since the CEFR was first published in 2001, a number of projects have sought to attach CEFR level labels to words to help teachers and syllabus designers align their vocabulary syllabus with the CEFR criteria. The new edition of the COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, and its online version, shows CEFR labels at entries for key vocabulary. But can we really say that words have levels? What are the benefits of labelling vocabulary in this way and what caveats do we need to bear in mind?

Posted in CEFR, COBUILD, Comprehension, Confidence in English, ELT, English Grammar, English Language Teaching, Grammar

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Exploring new phrasal verbs: drilling down and dialling it up (part 2)

by Harper Collins May 12, 2022

This is the second in a series of two posts about the process of putting together the new edition of the COBUILD Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs, published together with a new edition of COBUILD Dictionary of Idioms.

In the last post, we considered various interpretations of the term ‘phrasal verb’ and examined how they are used in terms of grammar and register. We then looked at how we at Collins went about identifying both new phrasal verbs and new uses of existing ones.

Posted in COBUILD, ELT, English Grammar, English Language Teaching, Phrasal Verbs

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Exploring new phrasal verbs: drilling down and dialling it up (part 1)

by Harper Collins April 27, 2022

With new phrasal verbs continuing to proliferate in the English language, we at COBUILD surveyed a variety of news and other media sources to identify the most frequent new phrasal verbs for the Collins COBUILD Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.

Posted in COBUILD, COBUILD Corpus, ELT, English Grammar, English Language Teaching, Phrasal Verbs

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Work on Your Phrasal Verbs: focusing on contemporary usage

by Harper Collins March 02, 2022

Multi-word chunks of language, such as idioms and phrasal verbs, make up a large proportion of any written or spoken text, so they’re really key fo...

Posted in COBUILD, Confidence in English, ELT, English at work, English Grammar, English Language Teaching, Language Learning, Phrasal Verbs, Work on Your

Collins Peapod Readers: Engaging young learners in online learning using readers

by Harper Collins September 02, 2021

Recently, I‘ve been looking at ways to support young learner engagement through the use of readers online. Readers can help you to reach out, motivate, connect with and stimulate your young learners and help them continue on their English language learning journeys. They can provide a fun, energetic and multi-skilled learning environment. And there are many free software tools out there that can help.

Posted in COBUILD, Confidence in English, ELT, English Language Teaching, General English, Language Learning, Peapod Readers, Phrasal Verbs, Reading

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Collins Peapod Readers: Off to a budding start with Cambridge English Qualifications

by Harper Collins September 02, 2021

It seems to me that we often fall into the trap of viewing readers as an added extra in English language teaching, when in fact readers can offer so much more and be an integral part of a young learner’s English learning journey. Readers make learning English a positive and fun experience. Readers anchor vocabulary and language in varied and meaningful contexts. They support all of the classroom and coursework learning, and extend that learning by presenting the vocabulary and language in multiple scenarios.

Posted in COBUILD, Confidence in English, ELT, English Language Teaching, General English, Language Learning, Peapod Readers, Reading

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A New Turn of Phrase

by Harper Collins September 02, 2021

When we think of language change, it tends to be new coinages that spring to mind (rewilding, deepfake, zoombombing), but in fact, a lot of new language is created by putting existing words together in new combinations, that’s especially true of phrasal verbs and idioms.

Posted in COBUILD, Confidence in English, ELT, English Language Teaching, Grammar, Idioms, Language Learning

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COBUILD English Usage 4th Edition: Changes in vocabulary and grammar

by Harper Collins September 02, 2021

In the second of our blog posts about the new edition of COBUILD English Usage, Penny Hands details some of the findings that came out of the team’s research into the ways in which new words and uses are created.

Posted in COBUILD, Confidence in English, ELT, English Language Teaching, General English, Language Learning

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COBUILD English Usage 4th Edition: updating the examples

by Harper Collins September 02, 2021

In the first of our blog posts about the new edition of COBUILD English Usage, Penny Hands details some of the changes she made to the examples to ensure they reflect changes in society, and ponders on how future-proof these changes are likely to be.

Posted in COBUILD, Confidence in English, ELT, English Language Teaching, General English, Language Learning

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Where to start when softening your English accent

by Harper Collins September 02, 2021

Changing an accent is not an overnight task and many people try and fail because they don’t know the best way to approach accent modification and become overwhelmed. The trouble is we talk all the time without even thinking about it, so when we try and think ‘how do I say that?’ we can’t answer.

Posted in COBUILD, Confidence in English, ELT, English Language Teaching, General English, Language Learning, Speaking, Vocabulary, Work on Your

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Tips on how to use Collins Work on Your Accent in the classroom

by Harper Collins September 02, 2021

Accents are muscular habits. As such, learning a new accent is like learning a gymnastic move, and any teacher should aim to balance the teaching need for muscular repetition with the learner’s need to feel they are making progress.

Posted in COBUILD, Confidence in English, ELT, English Language Teaching, General English, Language Learning, Vocabulary, Work on Your

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