What is current/modern theory for efl?

pengyou · Post by **pengyou** » Mon May 04, 2009 12:38 am

I have some interviews schedule over the next couple of weeks. I had my TEFL courses sooooo long ago that, to be honest, I forgot much of the theory (at least that which I don't use). It is also possible that there are new theories or ideas floating around now - do they still use stone tables to write on?

I would appreciate any info pertaining to this topic, whether it is in the form of URL's, search words or just good ole information!

Thanks in advance!

PS My interviews are coming up soon, so the sooner the better.

Sally Olsen · Post by **Sally Olsen** » Mon May 04, 2009 10:05 am

My friend just took an education course and had to research "Choice Theory". You might want to look that up. Systemic Functional Grammar is on the rise in Asia. Use of media, the computer, Internet, etc is the biggest thing here in Canada. You could get course outlines for major universities and see what they are highlighting, especially at the masters and doctorate level. We use stone tablets

On second thought, it might be better to do some research on what the boss likes and believes in. No matter what you research he/she is looking for someone compatible in ideas who can perhaps add some compatible theories to reinforce his/her own.

fluffyhamster · Post by **fluffyhamster** » Mon May 04, 2009 2:37 pm

As Sally says, if a school you're applying to is really into something, it would pay to be aware of what that is (then again, I'm suspicious of any school that appears to depend too heavily on any one thing!); besides, lot of so-called new stuff is really just logical extensions or relabelling of Communicative Language Teaching (and can therefore fit comfortably under that umbrella term), so unless you sound like a too-stuffy grammar (grammar translation?) lecturer or something, I doubt if you'll put anyone off that much.

Me, I just try (in the job, not the interview LOL) to establish linguistic facts/genuinely useful language, and put them into logical/assimilable/not-too-conflicting order (all of which involves due consideration of interactional/discourse factors in speech production especially i.e. my syllabus is not just a list of unconnected linguistic items, but involves actual human activities), and most employers don't object to this "Empirically-informed CLT" (which again is hardly new news - witness the COBUILD project etc).

Anyway, you might like to search for 'SLA' (I'm sure you know what the term means, though!) here on these Teacher Discussion Forums at least, because there are a few book suggestions hidden away (and if the 50 or so results are too much, you can narrow things down a bit by perhaps including 'fluffyhamster' as author in the Search fields); then, there are potentially interesting (informative, even?) threads on 'CLT', 'TBL', and 'COBUILD' (this last term, especially over on the Job Discussion forums) etc.

There's one thread though that you wouldn't find using the above terms:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic ... 133#722133

Sorry, that's all I can think of right now!

I think we all sometimes fear we are approaching the end of our shelf life or sell by date, but as long as we are trying to learn more about the language or language(s) generally, then posssible fads can ultimately come and go as they please. My allegiance is to facts (and how to relay them best to each new class), not someone else's interpretation (unless it is better) or even avoidance of facts in favour of generalizations that very well may not work for me or my students (if I'm attempting to convey the language accurately and at all realistically) - I find methodology as recommended is often quite inimical to genuineness (ooh, that's a thought, you could search for 'inimical' too! I've used it at least one other time).

alexcase · Post by **alexcase** » Sun May 17, 2009 12:27 pm

If this is in the right thread and you're going to be teaching 7 to 11 year olds, the buzz word du jour is "CLIL"

fluffyhamster · Post by **fluffyhamster** » Mon May 18, 2009 12:12 am

There are only three results for 'CLIL' on the Teacher Forums - Alex's (hello again, BTW!) mention just above, a Bilingual Education forum thread last year that drew little response, and finally the following blast from the past (2005) which attracted the largest (and largely sceptical) response:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=2623

alexcase · Post by **alexcase** » Mon May 18, 2009 1:15 am

Hi Fluffy, it has been a while...

The Macmillan website Onestopclil is probably the best first stop to find out more about CLIL, especially this page (which is also free, unlike most of the material):

http://www.onestopclil.com/section.asp? ... &catid=280

I only glanced at this, but it looks like a good short summary:

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think ... -framework

fluffyhamster · Post by **fluffyhamster** » Mon May 18, 2009 3:24 am

Thanks for posting the links, Alex! I was aware of onestopenglish.com, but I'd somehow overlooked or missed the sister site, onestopclil.com. I'll definitely check it all out a bit more, then! Anyway, in the meantime, I guess that stuff like the following provides the onestopenglish.com (more esl/efl/elt "proper"-oriented) perspective at least:
http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?docid=156604

Sally Olsen · Post by **Sally Olsen** » Mon May 18, 2009 11:03 am

In Canada it was called "Language Across the Curriculum" and there are lots of papers under that title if you Goggle it. It was big in the 90's but died out again with the change in government and funding.

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Wed May 27, 2009 1:37 am

Choice theory sounds exciting if it would allow students to choose methodology (properly, rather than having a post course-selection class fight). I'm sure it probably doesn't.

I looked it up though and I couldn't find much linking it to ESL.