# The Backseat Linguist Commentary on research in language acquisition and language education Page: Feed: --- ## [Does memorizing "chunks of language" make you more fluent?](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/does-memorizing-chunks-of-language) _2026-05-14 · Jeff McQuillan_ More failures of rote memorization ## [DIY Master’s in Second Language Teaching: A Reading List](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/diy-masters-in-language-education) _2025-11-01 · Jeff McQuillan_ Teaching adults a second language, or developing a good teaching app/program, requires both a solid grounding in the “why” (theory/research) as well as the “how.” If you don’t understand the why, you have no way of knowing if the how is working, or how to fix it when it doesn’t. ## [Individual State NAEP Scores Aren’t Evidence For Anything](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/individual-state-naep-scores-arent-evidence-of-anything) _2025-10-14 · Jeff McQuillan_ Two more letters appeared in the 10/12/25 print edition of The Wall Street Journal on the topic of phonics and California. ## [Shanahan Responds to My WSJ Letter](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/shanahan-responds-to-my-wsj-letter-and-now-ive-got-whiplash) _2025-10-07 · Jeff McQuillan_ The Wall Street Journal recently published a letter by Tim Shanahan in response to my earlier letter on phonics instruction in California. ## [Schooling the Wall Street Journal and the “Mississippi Miracle”](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/schooling-the-wsj-and-the-mississippi-miracle) _2025-10-03 · Jeff McQuillan_ More false claims about California, Mississippi, and phonics ## [Interview with Loïs Talagrand on Language Acquisition versus Learning](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/interview-with-lois-talagrand-on) _2024-09-23 · Jeff McQuillan_ "Do not focus on language learning!" ## [Are Flashcards a Good Idea for Learning New Words?](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/interview-with-james-stubbs-are-flashcards-a-good-idea-for-learning-new-words) _2024-09-16 · Jeff McQuillan_ The research shows the popular approach is in fact not supported by the evidence. ## [Fundamentals of Language Acquisition: Two Talks](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/fundamentals-of-language-acquisition-two-talks) _2024-07-26 · Jeff McQuillan_ I gave two one-hour talks to the IZ Education Centre for beginning teachers over the past six months or so. ## [Interview with Matt Brooks-Green on Language Acquisition](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/interview-with-matt-brooks-green-on-language-acquisition) _2024-04-29 · Jeff McQuillan_ Popular YouTuber Matt Brooks-Green interviewed me recently on some key concepts in acquiring a second language. ## [The Case for Acquired Phonics](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/the-case-for-acquired-phonics) _2022-11-18 · Jeff McQuillan_ Stephen Krashen and I published a very short paper, “The Case for Acquired Phonics,” which argues that the “acquisition/learning” distinction applies to phonics. ## [Watch Chovy Code Live (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/Gq7qDcTiPiw8) _2022-11-18 · **Sponsored**_ Join live coding streams with real-time collaborative screen sharing, open source and free. ## [Interview with Álvaro from Natural Languages on Comprehensible Input](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/interview-with-alvaro-from-natural-languages-on-comprehensible-input) _2022-04-25 · Jeff McQuillan_ I was recently interviewed by Álvaro from Natural Languages about using comprehensible input in language teaching. ## [How to Teach Intermediate Language Students](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/how-to-teach-intermediate-language-students) _2021-11-10 · Jeff McQuillan_ A video lecture ## [NABE Talk Materials 2021](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/nabe-talk-materials-2021) _2021-04-26 · Jeff McQuillan_ I’m giving short talk as part of a panel presentation on heritage languages for the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) this week. ## [Heritage Language Development (Krashen, Tse, & McQuillan, 1998) – Free Book](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/heritage-language-development) _2021-04-25 · Jeff McQuillan_ One of the first collections of papers on heritage language acquisition and education was , published in 1998 and edited by Stephen Krashen, Lucy Tse, and me. ## [How We Improve Our Vocabulary (Video)](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/how-we-improve-our-vocabulary-video) _2020-05-18 · Jeff McQuillan_ I gave a talk to a group of students and scholars at the IZ Education Center (Iran) via Skype on May 15, 2020. ## [Can Language Minority Students Acquire Academic Vocabulary from Reading?](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/can-language-minority-students-acquire-academic-vocabulary-from-reading) _2019-12-04 · Jeff McQuillan_ Gallagher, Taboada Barker, Beck, and Buehl (2019) evaluated yet another academic vocabulary intervention for middle school students. ## [The Shaky #ScienceOfReading on Decodable Texts](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/the-shaky-scienceofreading-on-decodable-texts) _2019-11-21 · Jeff McQuillan_ “Decodable texts” are books written so that the words that appear in them conform to the phonics rules children are taught. ## [Vocabulary, Grammar, Sex, and Aging](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/vocabulary-grammar-sex-and-aging) _2019-11-19 · Jeff McQuillan_ The title Vocabulary, Grammar, Sex, and Aging is from a paper published a few years ago in the journal Cognitive Science, not what’s been on my mind lately. ## [The NAEP Reading Panic: 2019 Edition](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/the-naep-reading-panic-2019-edition) _2019-11-14 · Jeff McQuillan_ The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) – “the Nation’s Report Card” – has released results from their latest round of reading tests. ## [Browse ThreatCrush Modules (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/kHgOYinA4sRQ) _2019-11-14 · **Sponsored**_ Install community-built security modules to extend real-time threat intelligence and monitoring ## [Why Reading Fiction is Good for Academic Achievement](https://backseatlinguist.substack.com/p/why-reading-fiction-is-good-for-academic-achievement) _2019-11-11 · Jeff McQuillan_ The education writer at Forbes, Natalie Wexler, argued last week that reading fiction isn’t the “only” thing needed to boost academic achievement.