Teacher Discussion Forums

...be comprehensible to the student(s) at that particular moment in time - or, if it seems more complex than they can handle, a clear indication should be made of when and where the language can and will be studied. ("Easy" English may well be perfectly acceptable - there's no need to "level up" all the time).

...have a clear function; and the most useful and/or unique function (doubtless utility and uniqueness are linked somewhat!) should be presented first/earlier than other functions (to paraphrase Richards: 'one form for one function for as long as is pedagogically possible'). There is maybe no need to explicitly study separate forms that later overlap function-wise if some thought has been given to their ordering, primary function-wise, beforehand.

...(following on from the above point) also have a context that the students can relate to and will therefore appreciate the usefulness of, remember, and indeed be themselves thus using at some future point (perhaps quite soon!).

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTINUE THE LIST! (I've started with some of the more obvious points, lazy of me I know, sorry!).

...as far as possible, fit in with pre-existing pedagogical frameworks. There is really no need to present students with problematic usages (ones that are of an "undecided" status among what is likely still the majority of native speakers) simply because the form has been attested among certain (still an unsizeable minority of) native speakers and/or has been noted (perhaps simply for the sake of "completeness") in a reference book or two (re. the form discussed on the 'Swan speaks, Widdowson waffles' thread), especially when the teacher does not use the said form in his or her own speech (that is, rejects it intuitively and repeatedly after a fair amount of thought and not simply out of hand); and even if a native teacher is prepared to accept a new form there is no guarantee that non-native teachers or indeed the students themselves will appreciate the new form. The push for change in pedagogy has to be gradual, and immediate improvements can't be expected even in cases where there has been undeniable language change (e.g. despite corpus findings that 'may' is not used for asking permission much anymore, there is still something of an obssession in e.g. Japanese ELT materials that it is somehow much much more "polite" and "effective" than 'can'. This state of affairs will have to end at some point if Japanese learners are not to appear stuffy and somewhat "at odds" with speakers from places that have witnessed or more eagerly embraced such changes; but change in Japan doesn't and won't happen overnight, unfortunately, and patience is required of native speakers working there).

...encourage a love of the language. Perhaps not by analysing the nuances of Shakespeare, but maybe by showing them episodes of 'Pimp My Ride'.











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