About

The Backseat Linguist is my personal project. I am Jeff McQuillan, a former high school and university Spanish teacher and associate professor of language education, now a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles, California.  I also currently host English as a Second Language Podcast, the most popular language teaching podcast on the Internet, although perhaps not the best.

Some things you may wish to know about The Backseat Linguist, in no particular order:

  • The views expressed here are solely my own.  They do not necessarily represent the views of those at my day job at the Center for Educational Development and English as a Second Language Podcast.
  • The intended audience for this website includes fellow researchers in first and second language acquisition and education, interested teachers of English, second languages and reading, and those individuals who want to learn more about what the current state of research is in the language acquisition world.  A certain amount of knowledge is assumed regarding basic terminology and research practices in the field. (If in doubt, feel free to email me.)
  • The perspective taken in these posts is informed largely by what Stephen Krashen has termed the Comprehension Hypothesis, about which more can be found on Krashen’s website, or any book by Frank Smith or Kenneth Goodman.  I also provide a short summary in my book, The Literacy Crisis (1998).
  • I comment and critique current studies in on language acquisition and education. By “current” I mean anything that I have recently come across, and thus current to my reading, regardless of how long ago it was published. (NB: I am really behind in my reading.)
  • Questions or comments? You can email me: jeff [at] eslpod [dot] com.
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