© 2007 Sage Publications Teaching academic discussion skills with a card game

This article describes a game used for teaching discussion skills to English as a Second Language (ESL) students. It was originally designed for students wanting to prepare for graduate study at U.S. universi-ties has been since used for other ESL students wanting to improve conversation skills. The game focuses on common phrases helpful for participating in seminar-style classes common to graduate school set-tings. The authors explain the rationale for choosing to teach skills using a game. They describe the pro-cedures, benefits, and weaknesses of the game and students ’ experiences using the game