Am I the only one who keeps seeing this advertisement all over the internet? For months I’ve seen it in online newspapers, magazines, etc, in the US as well as other places. The university must have spent an absolute fortune on this stuff.
I’m skeptical about the effect of banner advertising, especially for a product of this nature. Paid search, particularly on Google, has proven to be much more effective than banner ads in my experience.
Do the guys at Liverpool University know what they’re doing? The good news is that the effect of internet advertising is measurable, to a greater or lesser extent. I don’t know the people behind this campaign (the international office at the Uni?) but I wouldn’t be shocked if they were not truly measuring the return on their investment. On the other hand, they may be having a field day, driving revenues for the university. Somehow I doubt that, however.
Ken Carroll
If you’re seeing it everywhere, it’s probably an agency doing the buying, not the university. It’s also probably on a pay-per-click basis. Carpet bombing campaigns like this are almost always cost per action.
I guess I live under a metaphorical internet rock. That’s the first time I’ve seen it. But then I use popup blockers 24/7
Yes, I’ve been seeing it everywhere myself, inspite of using a popup blocker. Like you, I’ve wondered how effective it is. I have no idea.
The University of Phoenix uses that approach in the states. It’s like the modern day equivalent of those ads for degrees by mail from unaccredited schools in the back of magazines on airplanes. I think they’re making money though. (Unfortunately.) I’d say their market niche is Chris Anderson’s ‘long tail.’ (Have you read that book? Check it out!) According to U. of Phoenix’s Wiki site they have ~200,000 students. Hmmmm.
Patrick
Very clever way to schill for your alma mater, Ken.
Dai,
That’s a good idea, but in fact my alma mater is University College Dublin.
Ken
I know…sorry…just a bad joke. Speaking of online U’s, have you heard of Anaheim University, featuring David Nunan and some other high-profile ESL types?
I know of David Nunan, but not in the context of Anaheim. Are they doing anything interesting over there? I’ll Google it and see.
There’s a conference in Fudan University next week on teaching Mandarin with international visitors galore, includign some of the influential people in the industry. Two of the people we will be hooking up with are Professors Tim Xie, and Ho Yong. It should be interesting. I’ll blog about the event (of course).
Ken
Dai,
David Nunan is president of Anaheim now! This is an unusual achievement for a one-time TESOL teacher. We don’t usually ascend to such altitudes.
I actually saw him present here in Shanghai about 3 years ago. He was promoting Global English. I remember that he is an Aussie and very prolific. The Global English presetantion was quite influential for me in that it told me a lot about what I didn’t want to do with an online training program. (I don’t mean this to sound facetious.) I guess I just realized I wanted to do somethign different.
Ken
He is quite prolific. I read his book, “Second Language Teaching & Learning”, for a TESOL class I took a couple of years ago.
Ken, when you write your book, e-book, or pdf-book could we get a mention in the Author thanks or at least get our names placed in some hidden-code text on page 110 of the book? thx
Lantian,
I was considering collecting your comments and publishing them as my own.
Ken
Dai,
I want to revisit the question of using the lexical approach in Mandarin. Did you guys cover that in the your TESOL program. Any comments on how it can be used in teaching Chinese?
Ken,
That particular course was just an overview of methodologies and the history of L2 teaching (all review for me but required for a second masters degree (MATESOL) I’m (slowly) working on. We didn’t dwell on any one approach, but we did discuss what are considered currently accepted practices, which included lexical units as a part of viewing language holistically (as opposed to breaking it down to vocabulary at the word, or even morpheme level, or emphasizing grammar analysis). I always include the lexical approach in my teaching as one, albeit an important one, of many learning strategies. When you asked me about what traditional Chinese teaching ideas I would keep, I mentioned sentence patterns. I view many of these as lexical units, set or institutionalized ways of expressing meaning. I don’t think it necessarily helps to apply latin grammar to Chinese (although, we do it for English and some kids are comfortable with that), and sentence patterns fill that quasi-grammar void. I think it’s extremely important to give students a quiver full of lexical items to whip out that are beyond the single word such as:
(all examples in English)
word combinations: blood relative; simply put; and furthermore; inside out; half past; pride and joy; fear and loathing (thanks, Hunter); devil may care; you know…
pat phrases: Let me get that; We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it; Can I get you anything?; That’s beside the point; You get the point…
sentence patterns (sentence/text frames and heads): On the one hand…on the other hand…; The fact of the matter is that….; Let me get this straight…; For the umteenth time…
Learners love these chunks of language, and it buoys their confidence when they can spring an appropriate phrase on you. And some of the more colorful phrases really get them thinking. One of the things I really loved about my years of studying language were colloquialisms (土话) and many of my teachers were loathe to teach them, having a view of learning that said you had to learn to walk before you can run: build language up from the ground, word by word; simple grammar item to more complex. I couldn’t disagree more.
I guess we should move this to the Lexical Approach blog?