TheIH Journal

ofeducationanddevelopment
I S S U E N U M B E R 3

A P R I L 1 9 9 7

C O N T E N T S

Editor ial

MatthewBarnard

SET ResponsesforGivingOralFeedback

DerrinKent

CommunicativeMethodologies:AreTheyAlwaysAppropriate?

CarriePriestley

GenreAnalysis:AWayOutoftheCuldeSac

PaulRoberts

12

ColourfulCorrection:ActionResearchintoErrorCorrection

ViljaWheatcroft

15

TuningIn DealingWithAuthenticListening

MarkLloyd

17

UsingConcordances

PhilipKerr

21

WhatsHotontheWEB

GavinDudeney

23
24

QuestionsandAnswers
ImplementingaTaskBasedApproachWithoutTaskBasedMaterials

PeterMoor

25
29

TheBenWarrenIHTrustPrizeShortList1997
ReadingsinTeacherDevelopment: InterviewWithPaulineTaylor

PhilipKerr

30

ItWasntLikeThatinMyDay:CELTAQuizAnswers

WendyColeby

32

InternationalHouseLondon1997
PublishedbyInternationalHouseLondon
EditedbyMatthewBarnard
DesignbyMatthewBarnard

ISSN13683292

Editor ial
Whatsyourapproachbeenrecently?
IwasaDOSinHungaryforatime,someyearsback,andIrememberinterviewingastudentwho
was considering moving to IH from another school in Budapest. It was one of those occasions
when a student asks you what your approach is, and to justify it to them before they have
experienced it. Always a tricky one because you can never be absolutely sure that you are
speakingforyourcolleagueswhenitcomestosayingexactlywhatwillhappenintheclass.Icame
outwithalltheusual,safestuff,buttheprospectiveclientwasinsistentaboutfindingoutwhata
studentcentred, communicativelybased course might entail. I dont... he said want mumbo
jumboEnglishteachinglikein...(anotherschoolinthecity,Icouldntpossiblymentionhere).
Itsometimestakesanexperiencelikethatforyoutoberemindedofhowimportantitistomakea
point of reevaluating your teaching from the clients point of vieweverynowandthen.Trying
outnewideasinclasscanbeverystimulatingandproductive,butisitequallysoforthestudentas
fortheteacher?
Theresatimeforinnovationandtheresatimeforreflection.Thetroubleisknowingwhenthe
one has finished and the other started. It seems, in our sphere of teaching, that we are always
expected to be pushing forward the frontiers, developing ourselves and coming up with new
theories, approaches and acronyms. There always seems to be another approach on the horizon
for us to tryout,onethatseemstosuggestthatwhatwearedoingatthemomentiscompletely
wrong (how else could they expect any of us to tryBrand X?). I wonderifweallowourselves
enoughtimetoreflectsufficientlyonwhatandhowweareteachingatanygivenmomentwithout
reference to outside trends. Perhaps we could look more to our own classroom experience for
rationaleanddirectionratherthanthelatestpublishedpapersfromacademia.
AsJamesThurberoncesaid:scepticismisausefultooloftheinquisitivemind,butitisscarcelya
method of investigation, so I am not suggesting that we ignore what is going on outside our
schools,merelythatperhapswecouldlearnasmuchfromlookingagainatwhatisgoingoninside
them. This Journal provides us with an opportunity to do just that, and, judging from the
contributionswhichhavebeencomingin,thereseemstobeplentyoffoodforthought.
In thisissuewehavearticleswithpracticalideasfortheclassroom(includingwaysofcorrecting
students, of using authentic listening material and concordances, for example) as well as more
theoretical perspectives, with Carrie Priestleys piece on communicative methodologies and Paul
Roberts discussion of syllabus design. Peter Moor follows up his article in the last issue with
advice on how to adapt materials to ataskbasedapproach,DerrinKentlooksatwaysofgiving
oral feedback (drawing on an article in a womens magazine for his inspiration) and we have an
interviewwithPaulineTaylor,whodiscussesTDwithPK.
I hope you enjoy the read, and that you will soon be contributing to these pages yourself.
Meanwhile,ImsteeringclearofdiscussionsonthelatesttheoriesforfearthatwhenImentiona
teachingapproach,someonewill turnroundandsay:Pah!ThatwentoutwiththeARC.

MatthewBarnard
DirectorofStudies,IHLondon

TheIH Journal

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SETRESPONSESFORGIVINGORALFEEDBACK
HowSETareyouinyourways? DerrinKent,fromInternationalHouse
Heliopolis,discusseswhatittakestobeatgivingfeedback
ImcalledaTITatwork.Imatrainerintraining.AssomebodynewtothejobIhavefrequently
felttheneedforsomebodytogivemesomedirectionastohowIcangiveeffectiveoralfeedback
toteachersinatrainingordevelopmentsituation.Itisnteasytopinpointexactlywhatittakesto
begoodatgivingoralfeedback,andIfindmyselfmakingallsortsoferrorsofjudgementasto
what works best in specific situations in the same way as I might when I teach, or when Im
learning a new language. What follows is an outline of an approach I have been using to
determinewhattosaytotheteachersIworkwithwhengivingoralfeedback.Imnotsayingthat
itseasytogetitrightImonlyputtingforwardawayofanalysingwhatweneedtodo.
SETresponsesforpoisonouspeople
As a cigarettesmoking, beerswilling, football
fan type of a male, Im a bit embarrassed to
confess that my thoughts here stemmed from
an article in a womens magazine. I havent
been able to find the magazine to quote
directly from it but, suffice to say the article
suggested using SET responses to deal with
what they referred to as poisonous people.
Apoisonouspersonisonethatgetsonyour
nerves and generally hassles you in your
everyday life. They could be subdivided into:
poisonous parents, poisonous friends,
poisonous bosses and so on. The article
intimated that these people generally interfere
as a result of their goodwill, and that the
reasontheydonotcommunicatewellwithyou
isthattheygenerallyfeelinsecureintheirown
position. It suggested using formulaic SET
responses (Support, Empathy, then Truth) in
ordertodiffusetheawkwardfeelingswehave
in our relationships with such people. For
example, to the poisonous parent you might
say: Youre a wonderfully caring father
(support) and I know it must be difficult for
youtoseememakingmistakes(empathy)butI
need to feel I can make my own decisions
(truth) to the poisonous friend: Youre a
reallygoodfriendtome(support)andIknow
youre feeling low at the moment (empathy)
but right now I have to get on with my work
(truth) and to the poisonous boss: Ive
learned so much from you (support) and I
know you love to see people making progress

(empathy) but I justcantabsorbthisamount

ofinformationinthisamountoftime(truth).

SETresponsesinateachertrainingcontext
BeingoneofthosetediousTEFLerswhogets
obsessive about their work, I began thinking
about how we could apply this model to a
teacher training situation. After all, observed
teachers in an oral feedback situation, while
rarely being poisonous, are often insecure and
difficulttocommunicatewith.
Manypeopleinteachertraininghavetalkedto
me about non judgemental teacher
observationandsimilarconcepts.Mycurrent
feeling is that lesson observation feedback is
intrinsically judgemental and, in fact, that it is
best when the trainer does make some
informed judgementontheteachersteaching.
Whynotbeopenlyjudgementalwithteachers?
Whynottellteachersthetruthasyouperceive
it?Solongasyouheartilysupporttheworkof
the person you are working with, and
genuinelyempathisewiththeirperspective,my
beliefisthathonestyisthebestpolicy.
Ibelievethatatrainerwhogenuinelyfeelsand
conveys support, empathy and truth for
teachers is a trainer who will find it easy to
give good and effective oral feedback. The
competent trainer will confidently advise a
teacher with truth which is relevant to the
teacher, specific to the situation, timely for
the teacher and, most importantly, true (for
5

thetraineratleast).Letmeexpandalittleon
the way we might apply the concepts of
support, empathy and truth in the context of
giving postlesson observation feedback in
ELTteachertraining.
SUPPORT
You really need to be genuine about the
supportifitistobeofanyvalue.Youneedto
wantthatteachertoimproveinsomewayand
to feel convinced that this teacher isworthall
the diplomacy, tact and effort you can offer.
Should you believe that a teacher will, for
example,neverstopblockingorjusthasntgot
what it takes, you will not be able to support
the teacher effectively. You must actually
believethattheteacherisworthyourtimeand
energy, andthatsomeimpactontheteachers
teaching will result from the work you are
doingtogether.

Truth needs to be relevant. A trainer who

really empathises with the teacher will know
theangletheyarecomingfrom.Onlythencan
you know what it is in their line of thinking
which needs to be focused on in order to
improvetheirteaching.Thetruththatsinksin
is the truth that the teacher needs to think
about at that particular stage in their
development. Blinding them with the most
insightfulreflectiontohavehitELTinthelast
century will be futile if the teachers mind is
notengagedinthelineofthoughtfromwhich
that idea comes. The pair of you need to be
thinking about the same thing. Successful
empathywiththeteacherwillinformyouasto
how to choose a truth which is relevant to
them at that point. The extent to which the
trainee will take on board your truth as
relevant can depend on the depth of your
support. If the teacher perceives support and
relevancetheywillbeopentotruth.

EMPATHY
Empathy is not about predicting anothers
viewpointtryingtoguesstheideasofanother
person can actually prevent the trainer from
being able to genuinely empathise with the
teacher theyre working with. Real empathy
comes from the ability to elicit, listen to and
understand what the teacher is saying to you.
This involves lowering your predictive shield
far enough to be able to hear the teachers
perspective and being really tuned into the
comments the trainee makes in response to
what is said. Empathy is the ability to listen
intensively to what the teacher says and to
understand why they think that way. Nobody
isbynatureillogical,sotheteachermusthave
reached their conclusion orbeliefbymeansof
a logicalthoughtprocess.Ifitdoesnotseem
so,ifyourtruthappearstocomeasacomplete
revelation, it may just be because they have
never applied (or heard of?) your particular
teachingperspective.Beingempatheticmeans
being able toelicitandtofollowtheteachers
lineoflogicandtoechoitaccurately.Youcan
then allow your empathy to inform the
decisions you make as to how and when to
deliveryourtruth.
TRUTH
6

Truth needs to be specific. The teacher

needs to fully understand that what you are
saying will usually remain true only in the
specific circumstances you are both talking
about. It is often unwise for a teacher to
generalise a comment of yours to other
situations. If the teacher isntawareofthisit
cancausethemtobefrustratedandtoperceive
theadviceyou(orothertrainers)givethemas
contradictorywhen,infact,itisnt.Itmaybe
true, for example, that it is wise to cut down
onteachertalkingtimeinonecontext,whileit
maybeproductivetoencourageteachertalkin
another.
Truth needs to be timely. Thereisnopoint
intellingapersonsomeclearlytruefactifyou
havent got them in the right moodtohearit.
If the teacher is feeling defensive, nervous,
tired physically or mentally (from having been
hammeredwithtoomuchtruth?!)youwillget
nowhere fast. Consideration of these
situational factors, combined with the long
term development of trust and mutual respect
in your relationship with the trainee, will help
youtojudgewiselyastowhentodeliveryour
truthandwhennotto.

Truth needs to be true (for you at least).

Thismeans,forexample,nottrottingoutideas
from books, RSA DTEFLA seminars, articles
in ELTJ, MET (the IH Journal? ed.) etc. if
you dont have genuine faith in what you are
saying. In the introduction to her novel The
GoldenNotebookDorisLessingwritesabouta
timewhensherealisedthetruthofanideashe
hadhad:

I know this sort of vision has been written

about, its something one has read, but for a
moment it wasntwords,ideas,butsomething
Ifelt,inthesubstanceofmyfleshandnerves
astrue
Thats the kind of depth with which a trainer
needstofeelthetruththeysharewithteachers.
Itis,however,alsoimportanttorememberthat
this truth you hold is no more, nor less valid
than the truth perceived byanother.Thinkof
the colour blind person who perceives an
orange to be indigocoloured. As far as hes
concerneditsindigo,thatsthetruth.Onlyif
you are fully convinced that the perception of
an orange as being orange is the wisest one
will your truth have any chance of getting
through. Only if the colour blind person can
be persuaded that their perception may be
impairedwilltheyallowyoutochallengetheir
owntruth.
Heres a recent experience of myown.Iwas
observing an extremely talented teacher who
vehemently rejected alltypesofdrillingoutof
hand. Shefeltthatdrillswereamanifestation
of a habit formation theory of language
instructionwhichshebelievedtobedatedand
wholly ineffective. In a freer controlled
practiceactivityshesetherstudents,Inoticed
that the students had difficulty getting their
mouths around the structure she had
presented. Now I had been drilled in a
structure in my Arabic lesson a few days
previously. I had noticed then that with each
attempt it became easier and more automatic
for me to articulate the various combinations
of the new structure. I had also had space
duringthedrillworktocognitivelydissectand
analyse the structure phonetically and
grammatically. I had also noted similarities

between the new words and words in English

whichprovidedmewithpegstohangthenew
language onto and thereby aid my
memorisation. You could say that I was
convinced by the utility of the drill certainly
by the utility of that sort of very controlled
practice work which allowed the time and
spaceforallthatcognitiveandhabitforming
work to take place. This experience is what
we talked about and I felt that the discussion
with the teacher was successful because both
of us made some realisations about the
teaching and learning process. Maybe you
dont sympathise with my perspective on drill
work. Maybe you could convince me
otherwise. Fine. My point here is that, as a
traineryouneedalwaystostateatruththatis
true for you, in the way Doris Lessing
understood something to be true, at the
momentyouaresayingit.
GettingtheSETbalanceright
Even though the response you give a teacher
asatrainermaybeheartfeltandgenuine,itisa
simplefactthatdifferentpeoplerespondtothe
same comment in different ways.
Pragmatically, it has to be acknowledged that
knowingwhattosay,andwhentosayit,isno
easytask.Avarietyoffactorsareinvolvedin
getting the balance of this type of response
rightintheconditionsandcircumstanceswhich
confront (maybe even confine?) us as teacher
trainers/ developers. (See table below for
some examples of situational factors we may
needtoconsider).
Whatsbesttodowhenfacingsuchsituational
variablescanonlybeaddressedwhenreferring
to specific cases and, I suspect, only
experience can teach us.Ifindmyselfgetting
my responses wrong all the time. Empathise
withme:perhapsyoufeelyoudo,too.Ihope
you support me, though, in the use of SET
responsesasaguidingframeworkfordeciding
how to respond to teachers in the oral
feedbacksituation.

Situationalfactorsaffectingfeedback
Personalitytypeofteacher:

insecure overconfident?cheerful depressive?etc.

Currentmoodofteacher:

distracted?disillusioned?hungover?etc.

Timeavailablewithteacher:

urgentneedforimprovement?nextstageinanongoing
developmentalprocess?etc.

Personalrelationshipwithteacher:

friend?someoneyouhardlyknow?etc.

Professionalrelationship:

peer?unequal?mutualrespect?etc.

Formatofresponse:

wouldsome(S,EorT)responseshavemoreimpactin
writtenfeedbackratherthanoral?

Theextentofprofessional
experience/trainingoftheteacher
inrelationtoyouasthetrainer:

Wheredoyoupitchthecomplexityofyourtruth?
Whatlevelofjargon/academicreferencecanyougetaway
with?
Itistrue,also,thattherelativelyinexperiencedarevery
capableofopeningtheeyesofthemoreexperienced.

andfinally...
A concluding observation: dont let SET
responses become set responses. Dont
deliver them with the formulaic patter
proposedbythatwomensmagazinearticleI
wastellingyouabout.Neverletselfanalysis
cause you to lose your empathy with what
you are really doing. I dont speak from a
background of extensive teacher training
experience,andyouwillhaveobservedthatI
takemyinspirationfromjustaboutanywhere
Icangetit(!).Letme,though,besoboldas
to make one final assertion: teacher training
anddevelopmentisntaboutbeingclever,its
aboutenjoyingwhatwedoandlovingtosee
itdonewell.

COM M UNICATIVEM ETHODOLOGIES: ARETHEY

ALWAYSAPPROPRIATE?
CarriePriestley,teacherandteachertraineratIHLondon,questionsourassumptionsabout
the ways students learn and suggests that teacher training courses may be too
Eurocentric.
Whosaidthefollowing,aboutwhom,andwhy?
b

a
Itsnousetryingtoelicitfrom
thesestudentstheyjustwont
sayanything.

Thestudentsalwayswantto
readaloud,butIthoughtwewerent
supposedtodothat.

Dontexpectthesestudentstolistento
eachother.Theyjustwont.

WheneverItrytousepairor
groupwork,thereschaos.

Answersbelow...

ncreasingly,CELTAtraineesarefinding
jobsinnonEuropeancountrieswherethey
mayencounterclassroomsituationsfor
whichtheyfeelorseemillprepared.The
commentsaboveweremadeeitherbynewly
trainedteachersor,alternatively,theywere
writtenonobservationreportsbyDirectorsof
Studies.Thesecommentscanbeseento
reflectadiscrepancybetweenteachers
expectationsandtheirinitialclassroom
experiencesinteachingsituationsabroad.
Itseemsclearthattheattitudesorbehaviourof
thelearnersbeingdescribedabove,perceived
bytheteachersasproblematic,cantoalarge
partbeattributedtooneoftwocauses:the
individualspreviouslearningexperienceor
culturalfactors.Bothofthesewillinfluence
learnersexpectationsregardingteachersroles
andclassroompractice.Thesecommentsalso
seemtoindicatethatcertainaspectsof
methodologywhichweencouragetraineesto
usecanappearculturallyveryforeignand
disconcertingtothelearners,afactwhich,if

weaccepttheexistenceoftheaffectivefilter,
mayhinderratherthanfosterlearning.
Inhelpingteacherstounderstandwhylearners
mayreactagainstorresistcertaintechniques
oractivities,theresearchdonebyGeert
Hofstedeintoculturalvariablescanproveof
greatuse.Hofstedeidentifiedfouraxes
againstwhichhemeasureddifferentcountries.
Twooftheseseemparticularlyusefulin
unravellingthecommentsabove.Thefirstof
these,powerdistance,relatestothewayin
whichdifferencesinstatusareinterpreted
withinaculture.Intheclassroom,power
distancemanifestsitselfintherelationship
betweentheteacherandthelearner.
AccordingtoHofstede,inculturesorcontexts
wherethereisasmallpowerdistance,teachers
andlearnerswilltendtoregardoneanotheras
equals,andteacherswillexpectandencourage
initiativesfromlearners.Inlargepower
distancecultures,learnerswilltendtotreat
theirteacherswithdistanceandrespect,and
willexpecttheteachertoinitiateallthat
9

happensintheclassroom.Thesecondaxisis

10

uncertaintyavoidance,whichdenotesthe
degreetowhichtheindividualsinacultureare
comfortablewithuncertaintyorindeterminacy.
Learnersincultureswhichdisplaystrong
uncertaintyavoidancetendencieswillfeel
comfortablewithverystructuredlearning
situations,wheretasksareclearlycontrolled
andactivitieshaveaquantifiableoutcome.
Learnerswilltendtobeconcernedwithgetting
therightanswerstotasksandmayfeel
dissatisfiedifthesearenotevidentattheend
ofanactivity. Theymayfeeluncomfortable
withhavingtosaypubliclythattheydonot
knowsomething.Theymayfindguessingor
beingaskedtobeimaginativeorcreative
unfamiliaranddisconcerting.Moreover,the
expectationisthatteachersshouldknowallthe
answerstheywilllosecredibilityiftheydo
notappeartoknow,orifthereisnocorrect
answertoataskbecauseitasksforapersonal
opinion.Bycontrast,inculturesinwhich
uncertaintyavoidanceisweak,learnerswill
tendtobecomfortableinopenendedlearning
situations,oneswherethereisnocorrect
solutionorwherecreativity,guessingand
imaginationareinvolved.Inthesecultures,
teachersmaysayIdontknowwithoutlosing
face.
Notonlydoesthisresearchhelptoexplainthe
reasonsforthelearnersapparentrecalcitrance,
italsoencouragesacknowledgementofthe
specificculturalcontextinwhichtheCELTA
coursedeveloped,whichinturndeterminesthe
classroompracticesweexpectandtherefore
condoneaswellasthosewhichwemay
condemnduetounfamiliarity.Underlying
assumptionsaboutteaching,learningand
classroompracticewhichinformthe
proceduresandtechniquesencouragedon
CELTAcoursesincludethefollowing:
cooperationispreferabletocompetitionin
learning,andlearnerscangainfrompeersas
wellasfromtheteacher
engagementoflearnersimaginationand
creativityisusefulandmotivating
maximisinglearnerspracticewillresultin
theirabilitytouselanguage

thereisnolargepowerdistancewhich
dividesteachersandlearners
mistakescanandshouldbelearntfrom
ratherthanregardedasasourceofshame
Theseassumptionsarereflectedintechniques
relatedtoclassroommanagementsuchas
elicitation,pairworkandgroupwork,whichare
intendedtomaximisestudentsactive
involvementinlessonsandtheirpractice
opportunities.
Asregardstheteachingofthereadingskillon
CELTAcourses,readingaloudisoften
discouragedinfavourofsilentreadingand
attemptingtotrainlearnersintheuseofsub
skills(skimming,scanning,inferring,guessing
orignoringunknownvocabulary)whichthey
supposedlyusewhenreadingtheirfirst
language.Theapparentunpopularityof
readingalouddoeshavevalidpedagogical
reasons:itmaynotbethemostproductiveuse
ofclassroomtimeitdoesnotnecessarily
indicatecomprehensionthereisadangerthat
therestoftheclassmayswitchoff,etc.But
whatissignificantisthattraineesmayemerge
fromaCELTAcourseholdingfasttotheidea
thatthistechniqueisintrinsicallybad,rather
thanfullyappreciatingthecontextorthe
underlyingassumptionswhichmitigateagainst
itsuse.
Itwouldthereforeseemappropriatefor
teachertrainingcoursestoinclude
considerationofvariousactivitytypesand
techniquesfromtheperspectiveofcultural
appropriacyandofhowtoadaptthesetosuit
differentlearnersexpectations.Directorsof
Studiescouldalsobriefnewteacherson
informationspecifictotheirenvironment.
Perhapsweshouldbelessconcernedwith
inculcatingtechniqueswhichmaypromote
inflexibleorintolerantviewsoflearning,and
moreconcernedtosendteachersoutintothe
worldbelievingthat,toparaphrasevon
Humboldt,aprimaryroleofteachersisto
createtheappropriateconditionsunderwhich
learnerscanlearn.

11

Whosaidthefollowing,aboutwhom,andwhy...
TheAnswer s
a)ThiscommentwasmadebyanewlytrainedteacheraboutherclassofJapanese
learners.Japaneseculturetendstowardshighuncertaintyavoidance:peopleare
reluctanttomakemistakesorconcedethattheydonotknowananswerinfrontofother
Japanesepeopleasthiswouldinvolvelossofface.Similarly,guessingorinventing
activities,forinstancewhenateacheraskslearnerstomakeupanameforacharacter,
mayinitiallyappearalienanddisconcerting.
b)ThiswassaidbyanewlytrainedteacherinJordan.InmanyArabiccultures,alotof
learninginvolvesmemorisationandrepetitionoffactsortexts,ratherthan
interpretationofthese.PeoplesattitudestotextsderivefromtheirviewoftheKoran,
whichisseenasthewordofGodandwhichistobememorisedandrecitedratherthan
interpreted.Furthermore,themechanicsofreading,whichincludedecipheringscript,
identificationofwordboundariesandsensegroups,oftenneedpracticeandthese
learnersmayfeelfamiliarandsecurewithreadingaloudactivitytypes.Ontheother
hand,beingaskedtoinferfromorinterprettextsmayappearalienoreven
blasphemous.
c) ThiscommentwasmadebyJordanianteachersofEnglishonatrainingcoursein
Ammanaimedatintroducingthemtocommunicativemethodology.Thiscoursewas
partofawidergovernmentinitiativetointroducenotionsofstudentcentredlearning
andcriticalthinkingintotheeducationsystem.Teacherswere,however,encountering
resistancefromlearners,parentsandschoolheads,partlyduetothefactthatJordanis
aculturewhichtendstowardsalargepowerdistance,whereasstudentcentredlearning
grewoutofcultureswhichdisplayasmallerpowerdistance.Itwasestablishedonthe
coursethatpossiblythebestwaytointroducecommunicativemethodsintoclassrooms
wasverygraduallyandsensitively
d)ThiscommentwasmadebyaDirectorofStudiestoanewlytrainedteacher,againin
Jordan.ItreflectsthedegreeofpowerdistanceofJordanianculture,inwhichteachers
areexpectedtobethesolesourceofknowledge.(Iwouldarguethoughthatlearners
canbeencouragedtolistentoeachotheriftheteacherbelievesitisusefuland
introducesactivitytypessuchasinformationgapsgraduallyandsensitively).

Bibliography:
Hofstede,Geert(1991)CulturesandOrganisations:SoftwareoftheMind,McGrawHill
Hofstede,Geert(1980)CulturesConsequences:InternationalDifferencesinWorkRelated
Values,SAGEPublications

12

GENREANALYSIS: AWAYOUTOF THECULDESAC

PaulRoberts,fromIHLondon,looksatanalternativetostructuralanalysis
forlessonplanningandcoursedesign.
TheFailureofStructuralAnalysis

tructuralanalysiseventuallyledmetoa
dead end in my teaching: likemanyof
my colleagues, I found that students
could go perfectly through the motions of a
grammar presentation and controlled
practice, could, under considerable duress,
evenproducestructurestoorderduringfreer
production,butcouldnot,orwouldnot,use
what I had taught them in their own
spontaneousspeechorwriting.

texts, spoken and written, which are good

examples of a particular genre. Good
sources of written genres are all around us:
newspapers, magazines, manuals, fiction
books, notices, etc. So are spoken genres
(though they may be harder to get hold of):
television(and,toalesserextent,radio)isan
excellentsourceandIhavequicklybeenable
to collect examples of news broadcasts,
conversations,discussions,storytelling,etc.
WhatisGenre?

Ratherthanprovideathoroughgoingbottom
up or top down view of language, a
structural approach seemed, if any thing, to
beamiddleoutapproach.Thebottomup
view would allow us, for example, to look
carefully at, and understand, the meaning of
would (where a structural view hides the
meaningunderthesmokescreenvaguenessof
Conditional Type II).Itmightalsofreeus
from the tyranny of the present perfect
continuous, allowing our students to engage
in more normal conversations of the type:
Where have you been? Visiting my
friend.

As can be seen by the list of texts I have

started collecting, the great beauty of genre
labels in language analysis is that everyone
knows what they mean. Below is a list (by
no means a complete one) of genres,ortext
types, which, as you will see, contains not
oneobscureterm,comparingveryfavourably
withlistsofgrammaticalstructures.

Attractive as it seems, for me the rigorously

bottom up approach has yettobeproperly
worked through into my teaching. Instead,
for the moment, I am working on a
thoroughgoing top down view a genre
approachtolanguageanalysiswhichhasbeen
informing my teaching for the last couple of
years.Suchaviewhasliberatedmefromthe
choreoftryingtofindtextswhichillustrated
thegrammarIwasfamiliarwithandIamno
longer subject to the trainspotterlike
excitementoffindingatextfullofarepeated,
familiar grammatical structure. Now all I
have
to
do
is
look
for

Sieve 4oz of flour together with a pinch of

sodiumchlorideextractedbytheevaporation
process. Make a well by swirling the flour
roundtoformdunesintowhich,oasislike,a
yellow egg will slither,, along with its
albuminfree companion. Then add pint
ofmilkandbeatthoroughly.Ifsmallcurdly
lumps you see, whisk it till it free shall be.
The mixture is then further enriched by the
addition of a tablespoon of olive oil and
thinned with a further pint of mil. The
best way of mix thisall together is to whisk
it.Gotthatthen,Jen?Hopeitturnsoutall
right.Lettertofollow.Stop.

Its also easy to identify the features which

characterise particular genres. Try reading
thefollowing,madeuptextandusingthelist
of genres to identify where one genre ends
andthenextbegins.

Exampletexttypes
Compiledfrom: Halliday,1989, SpokenandWrittenLanguage,Oxford Mumby,1978, CommunicativeSyllabusDesign,Cambridge
recipe
article
advert
chat
manual
discussion
poem
argument
review
essay
pamphlet
speech
message
manual
joke
quarrel
dictionary
ticket
novel
prescription
letter
cheque
anecdote
quiz
conversation graffito
note
telegram
manifesto
subtitle
sign
phonebook
notice
instructions
biography
newspaper
bill
magazine
brochure
agreement
label
report
song
sermon
debate
story
lecture
interview
13

Genres not only have names that everyone

recognises, they are also instantly
recognisableforwhattheyarebytheiruseof
words and lexical phrases, by their grammar
and even by specific phonological features.
Incidentally, a good test of whether or not
thelanguageexamplesinELTtextbooksare
naturalonesistoapplythegenretest:ifyou
cant identify the genre of, for example: if
you didnt take the keys you might not be
able to get into the car (taken from a
coursebook), then the chances are that the
example is not worth using for language
practice.

towards the obvious benefit of involving

students in some sort of needs analysis near
the beginning of their course. Typically,
General English students have only a vague
idea of what they need also typically,
coursebooksarenotorganisedwithheadings
responding to specific learner needs. True,
some students say they want to get ahandle
on articles and many will declare an interest
in the topic of, say, fashion, without
necessarily having a need in that area. But
most students can identify needs when faced
with a list of genres because, as I have said,
genre headings tend to be familiar
vocabularyitemsinthemselves.

Genre,needsanalysisandlessonaims
Most of my teachinghasbeenandcontinues
to be in General English. Like many other
teachersandinstitutions,Ihavebeendirected

I use the following list to help students

identifytheirneeds:

PlanforNeedsAnalysis
1.Whatwouldyouliketobeabletoreadmoreefficiently?
recipe
report
notice
article
manual
graffito

magazine
play
poem
message
biography
speech

cheque
instructions
textbook
review
letter
note

sign
story
menu
bill
pamphlet
dictionary

advert
novel
essay
interview
newspaper
brochure

2.Whatwouldyouliketobeableto 3.Whatwouldyouliketobeabletolistentomore
writemoreefficiently?
efficiently?
recipe
note
instructions
letter
cheque

notice
bill
report
essay
brochure

joke
chat
story
interview
anecdote

lecture
advert
song
debate
argument

review

message

discussion

play

conversation
speech
seminar
presentation
radio
programme
quiz

4.Whatwouldyouliketobeabletodoinspeakingmoreefficiently?
joke
discussion

interview
speech

conversation
story

chat
lecture

argument
presentation

Havingidentifiedneeds,itisaneasytasktosetaims:

Examplelessonaims:
toimprovestudentsabilitytoreadmanuals
toimprovestudentsabilitytowritereports
14

toimprovestudentsabilitytolistentothenews
toimprovestudentsabilitytotellstories

Genreanalysisandlessonpreparation

HowIusegenreanalysisinmyteaching

I have already explained how I find materials

for my lessons. In order to break materials
down into teachable parts, I have used a
modification of Factors in Genre from
Discourse by G. Cook and in order to use
the analysis for teaching purposes, I use a
solid, unashamed PPP procedure: P
presentation, or if you prefer to see things
from the learnerspointofview,observation,
hypothesis and clarification P practice, or
restricted use P production, or authentic
use. I sometimes invert the order of Ps,
depending on the make up of the class. The
onlydifferencebetweenmyprocedureandthe
traditionalPPPiswhatIpeeandhowstudents
pee.

Atypicalseriesoflessonson,say,storytelling
mightfollowprocedures:

Here is a list of factors in genre, along with

teachingprocedures:
F A C T O RS I N G E N RE ( F r om C ook )

senderreceiverrelationship

exampletask:discusswhois
writing/speakingandtowhom
situation

exampletask:discusswhereyouwould
read/hearthis
overtintroductions

1. Presentation(ObservationandHypothesis
forming)studentslistentoastoryandare
guided towards picking out the stages (a:
involving the listener b: preparing the
background c: leading up to the main
events d: the main events e: storytellers
comments.
2. Presentation (Clarification) students
identify set phrases (Have I ever told you

about the time.....? its funny telling you

thisnowbutitwasntfunnyatthetime....),
past perfect togivereasons(Iwasdriving
quite fast because Id been held up for a
whileintraffic),widevoicerangeandslow
delivery for importance events, narrow
voice range and rapid delivery for
unimportantevents.
3. Practice (Restricted use) students drill
set phrases, match reasons to events, drill
intonation,etc.
4. Production (Authentic Use) students
rehearse, then telltheirownstories,things
which have happened to them, using the
samegenrestructure.

PPPphrases:Imwritingthisletter....
presequence

PPPphrases Onceuponatime.... / Have

youheardtheoneabout..... ) Imusttell
youwhathappenedlastnight.... )
internalstructure

I am aware that I have used a structural

category, past perfect, as part of this
procedure. As I said at the beginning, my
bottomupanalysishasnotyetreallygotoff
theground.Watchthisspace!

PPPstructuringe.g.forastory:
Presequence,background,events,climax,
postsequence,comments
grammar

PPPheadlinegrammar,postcardgrammar,
newsgrammar,etc.
vocabulary

PPPgenrespecificitems/vocabularyuses
e.g.punsforadverts
phonology

PPPgenrespecificitemse.g.story:rising
toneforbackground,slowspeed/widerange
forimportanteventsinnarrative,rapid
speechandnarrowbandforunimportantfill
in.

Paul Roberts is currently working on an

AdvancedGeneralEnglishcoursebookbased
onagenresyllabus.

COLOURFUL CORRECTION: action research into error

correction. ViljaWheatcroft,ofIHAveiro,findsaroleforPostItnotesin
correction.
For many of us, as teachers, error correction
is often rather adhoc because learner errors,
by their very nature, are like bad lovers:
unpredictable, gone in an instant and hard to
remember afterwards. More often then not,
when concentrating onfluencyobjectives,we
justtrytoforgetthem.
Being thrown in at the deep end with alarge
FCE conversation group, I decided to dust
off the back pages of my Diploma material
(theonesthatIdneverreadbecausetheysent
me to sleep the ones with coffee stains on
them)anddoabitofmyownactionresearch
intoerrorcorrectionmethods.
Thegroupwereeagerforinstantandconstant
oral correction but understood that the price
forthiswasfluency.Acompromisehadtobe
reached.Iallowedthemtochoosetheirown
methodofcorrectionfromagivenlist:
1. teacher immediately correcting all errors
orally
2. teacher providing a listofcommonerrors
attheendofthelesson
3. teacher recording conversations and
analysingthemduringalatersession
4. teacher videoing conversations for later
analysis
5. teacher silently providing students with a
written transcript of the errors as they
occurred
6. teacher ignoring errors for the sake of
fluency
They overwhelmingly objected to being
videoed or taped, feeling that their
conversations would become self conscious
andstilted.Manyofthemsaidthattheyhated
the sound of their own voices in their native
language let alone a second language (lets
face it, how
learnererrors
many teachers
would readily
arelikebad
agree to this).
lovers:
I agreed with
class
unpredictable, the
(contrary
to
goneinan
received error
instantandhard correction
wisdom),
toremember
feeling
that
with
16
afterwards
16

students split into small discussion groups,

any recordedmaterialwouldhavebeenjusta
morassofnoise.NeitherdidIhavetheluxury
of available classrooms for moving smaller
groupsinto.
The students also felt that alistattheendof
the lesson (or the end of a lesson section)
wouldbeoflittleuse,asbythattimemanyof
them would have forgotten the exact context
of their errors. Therefore, the group
overwhelminglysettledforoption5.
Handingoutwrittentranscriptsofallerrorsas
theyaremade,meantthatIwouldhavespent
the majority of my time writing and not
listening.Inordertoovercomethis,Itoldthe
students which area of language I would be
correcting at the beginning of each lesson.
This provided both the students and myself
with a very clear focus. Next, I devised a
system where the students could keep a
recordoftheerrorsmade.Iusedsmallsticky
postit notes with a transcript of the error
and passed it silently to the student as they
finished their turn. In most cases, when
presented with a written transcript of the
error, students were immediately able to see
whytheydmadetheerrorandthereforemake
an immediate mental note of how it could be
corrected.Asessionattheendofeachlesson
wasgivenovertothefewstudentswhowere
unabletocorrecttheerrorstheyhadmade.
After about four lessons the students started
collecting their notes and randomly sticking
themintothebackoftheirnotebookswithout
anysystemoforganisation.Forhomework,I
asked them to develop a simple system for
filing these errors. Most of them devised a
grid with headings for different language
areas. In their grids they stuckthetranscript
of their error. By looking ateachsectionon
the grid, they were able to see their weak
areas (lots of yellow stickers) and gear self
studytotheseareas.
Eventually, I introduced the students to the
idea of different coloured postits for
differenttypesoferrorblueforform,yellow
for lexis, pink for pronunciation etc. This
helped them further with their system of
organisation and gave an immediate visual
indicatorofareaswhichneededlookingat.

I was working with a group of monolingual

Portuguese students whose errors in all areas
oflanguagewerefairlyuniversal.Thesystem

17

I have described abovewouldhaveparticular

relevance to a multilingual group where
errors aremorediverse.Withmanydifferent
language groups in the multilingual
classroom its impossible to concentrate fully
on specific error analysis and by using the
method suggested above, students are given
the chance to record, analyse and eliminate
theirmostcommonerrorsindependently.

communicationlinesbetweenallofusinthe
informationnetwork.Theinternetisonetool
whichwealreadyuseinourcommunication
flows,throughemailandtheWorldWide
Websites.AWorldWideWebintranet
facilityiscurrentlyinitsdevelopmentphase.
Onceoperational,allwhohaveaccesstothe
WorldWideWebwillbeabletoentera
passwordprotectedsiteforthelatestnews
andeventsinInternationalHouse.

ANEWKIDONTHEBLOCK

InternationalHousevisitorswillalsobeable
topostmessagesandreadrepliesonthe
InternationalHouseintranetsite.

Centr alDepar tmenthasanother key

player thesedays. IngridStanden ,
Resear chandInfor mationOfficer ,is
allcluedupandtunedinwhenit
comestocommunicationtechnology.
Shestheper sontogotoifyouwant
newsspr ead.
Sowhatdoesshedoexactly?
AsCentralDepartmentsnewResearchand
InformationOfficer,mymainobjectiveisto
collectinformationfromtheaffiliatedschools
andeffectivelymanageanddisseminatethis
informationwithintheworldorganisation.
Thisinvolvesobtainingarangeof
informationfromgeneraltospecificproject
informationsuchasmarketingactivitiesand
conference/workshopparticipationbythe
affiliates.Workingtowardsthisobjective,an
informationcontactnetworkhasbeenset
upwherebyeachaffiliatedschoolhasbeen
askedtoappointaninformationcontact
withwhomIcanliaisedirectly.
Havingobtainedtheinformation,thenext
stageistocollateandcatalogueit.Files,
databasesandspreadsheetsarecurrently
beingcompiledwithinteresting,relevantand
uptodatefactsandfiguresabout
InternationalHouseschools.This
informationbankalreadycataloguesthe
varietyofcoursestaughtateach
InternationalHouseschool,andprovides
informationonschoolsspecialinterest
groups,suchasYoungerLearners.
Theeffectivenessoftheinformationservice
is,ofcourse,dependentonsmooth

18

Ifyouhaveanyideasorsuggestionson
informationwhichcouldbeofvalueworld
wide,pleasedocontactmeeitherthrough
yourschoolsinformationcontact,ordirectly
atCentralDepartment.Ilookforwardto
hearingfromyouwhetherrequestingor
givinginformation!
IngridStanden

TUNINGINDEALINGWITHAUTHENTICLISTENING
Mark Lloyd of IH Serrano describes a delightfully simple action
researchprojectintolearnersdifficultiesdealingwithauthenticspoken
English,andsuggestsasimpleexercisetohelpthemout.
Having taught monolingual classes in
Portugal, I couldnt help noticing when I
moved to Spain a considerable gap between
the level of comprehension of authentic
spoken English among upper intermediate
learners in the two countries. Portuguese
students, it seemed to me, generally found
tasks based on authentic listening material
(drawn from coursebook cassettes, feature
films, TV programmes recorded in the UK,
songsorextractsfromradioprogrammes,for
example) much easier to handle than their
Spanishpeers.Beingawarethatcinemafilms
andimportedTVprogrammesinPortugalare
invariably shown in their original language
with subtitles, and knowing Portuguese
people in general to be avid cinemagoers, I
concluded that listening skills are greatly
improved by regular exposure to authentic
English outside the classroom. In order to
test my hypothesis, I came up with a simple
experimentwithtwospecificaimsinmind:
1. In the class: to collect data which would
reveal both the extent to which
comprehensionincreasedasaresultofregular
exposure tospokenEnglish,andwhetherany
such increase in comprehension was derived
from:
a) theacquisitionofnewvocabulary
b) unconscious development of listening
strategies (listening for gist, specific
informationetc.)
c) increased confidence stemming from
familiarity with the sound of English
spoken by native speakers for native
speakers.
2.Outsidetheclass:tomotivatethestudents
tolookoutforopportunitiestohearauthentic
English outside the classroom, having seen
how the failure to understand every word

need not prevent general comprehension, and

how listening comprehension can increase
rapidly through regular exposure to a
particulargenre.
Inmyexperience,Spanishstudentsfrequently
complain about a lack of opportunities to
practise any aspect of their English outside
their academy. Their reluctance to make use
of the opportunities which do exist however
(original language subtitled films being the
most obvious example), suggests a lack of
motivationtoreallymakeaneffort.
The experiment was conducted in three
stages:
1. The students were issued with an initial
questionnaire (see Appendix One)inorderto
obtaintheiropinionsoftheirgeneralprogress
andrelativecompetencesintheprimaryskills,
and to ascertain their attitude to natural
English.
2. A recording of a complete Radio One
Newsbeatprogrammelasting12minuteswas
played once, without pausing. (The
programmewasrecordedfromatelevisionvia
a satellite dish at 8.30 the previous evening,
makingthenewsverymuchuptodate).This
processwasrepeatedonfiveconsecutivedays
with the same class, with the students being
given the simple instructions to write down
any words they understood. The lists of
words were immediately collected and later
crossreferencedwiththebroadcasts.
3. Thestudentsweregivenasecond,follow
upquestionnaire(seeAppendixTwo)asking
themtoidentifyanyimprovementsintheir
listeningskillsandtogivetheiropinionsofthe
experimentasawhole.

19

Results
InitialQuestionnaire
a) Almost all the students said they were
relatively happy with their progress,
whilst admitting that they could still
understandverylittlenaturalEnglish.
b) Eleven out of twelve regarded listening as
the most important skill for them
personally (althoughinfourcaseslistening
and speaking were rated equally). This
wasgenerallybecauseitwasdeemedtobe
most useful skill in their present or future
lineofwork.
c) Ten students said they did not receive
much exposure to spoken English (from
native speakers or other nationalities)
outside the classroom. Sources of
authentic English which were mentioned
were BBC World Service, VO films on
Canal Plus (the Spanish subscription
terrestrialTVchannel),SkyNewsandCNN
(through a satellite dish), and VO films in
the cinema, although only four mentioned
this, confirming my suspicion that despite
theincreasingeaseofaccesstoVOfilmsin
Spanish cinemas, the habit even amongst
advanced level students was still to watch
dubbed versions instead, at least when
payingtoseeitinthecinema.
Data
Withoutexceptiontherewasabigincreasein
the number of words written down (the two
biggest increases being from 29 to 85 words
and from 37 to 97 words). In general, each
studentwrotemorewordsoneachsuccessive
day, suggesting a gradual increase in
comprehension. It is very unlikely that the
students absolute listening comprehension
improved so dramaticallyinonlyfivedays.I
attributedtheincreasestostudents:
a) developing their own strategies for
approaching the task. They began by
including noncontent words pronouns
and auxiliaries which meant they missed
many contentwordswhichcarriedmeaning
and provided context. After only two
20

days, though, noncontent words were

largely ignored, allowing more time to
identifyandtranscribekeywords.
b) becoming accustomed to the structure of
the programme and therefore approaching
the task in an increasingly confident and
relaxedmanner.
c) becoming accustomed to the accent of the
presenter and to the use of weak forms,
enablingthemtorecognisewords.
d)becomingmoreadeptatrecognisingwords
linkedtogetherbycatenation.
e) becoming increasingly familiar with on
going news items, such as the security
problems surrounding a demonstration in
Belfast, and a pregnant woman expecting
eight babies. Being already aware of the
contentfrompreviousdays,theywouldbe
able to decode more of the discourse as
thestoriesdeveloped.
Regarding the actual words which were
identified,schematawereclearlyafactor,with
all the students recognising key words in
stories which were also prominent in Spanish
news items either at the time (such as the
defusing of a bomb in a hotel in Cordoba, or
thediscoverythattherehadoncebeenlifeon
Mars),oritemswhichwererelatedtostories
which had previously been newsworthy in
Spain(suchasthearrestofasecurityguardin
connection with the bomb a few weeks
previously at the Olympics). Words from
stories with no relevance to Spain were
identifiedlessoften,althoughtherewassome
interesting guesswork: Charity Shield was
wrongly identified as Turkey Shield
(Shield was presumably identified from the
sportingcontext,whereasCharitycouldnot
be guessed from context alone, leaving
students to rely only on phonological clues),
and RUC as hes. One student correctly
identifiedNewcastleUnitedasaparticipant
in the Charity Shield, but wrote Tottenham
Hotspurs instead of Manchester United as
the opponents, which seemed to be a
complete guess based on a schematic
knowledge of English football! Cricket had
themcompletelybemusedten

QUESTIONNAIRE1
1 HowmanyyearshaveyoubeenlearningEnglish?
2 Howdoyoufeelaboutitatthemoment?

Imveryhappywithmyprogress
OK,butImnotimprovingasquicklyasIwouldlike
OKintheclassroom,butIstillunderstandverylittlenaturalEnglishoutsidetheclassroom
Imnotmakinganyprogressatall

3 Whichofthesedoyoufeelhappiestabout?

writing

reading

listening

speaking

4 Whichdoyouthinkisyourweakestskill?

writing

reading

listening

speaking

5 Whichofthefourskillsismostimportantforyou,andwhy?
6 HowmuchofyourEnglishislearnedoutsidetheclassroom?
none25%50%morethan50%
7 HowoftendoyouhearEnglishoutsidetheclassroom?
neveroccasionallyveryoften(fromwhatsources?)
8 HowmuchnaturalEnglishdoyouthinkyouunderstand?

10%25%50%75%90%100%
9 WhatsourcesofnaturalEnglishdoyouhaveaccessto?(films,radioetc.)
AppendixOne

FOLLOWUPQUESTIONNAIRE
1 Whichnewsstoriescanyouremember?(Pleasewritedownafewwordsforeachone
sothatIcanidentifythestories).

2 Haveyoulearnedany new vocabulary?Ifso,writethemdown.

3 Howdidyourlevelofcomprehensionchangefromdaytoday?

improvedalotimprovedslightlynochangedecreased
4 Whatexplanationscanyouthinkofforyouranswertoquestion3?
AppendixTwo

21

students identified only England from the

report on the Second Test, and only two
identified Pakistan as the opponents. One
student managed a significant number of
details (innings, 53 runs, batsman), but
he had recently returned from ten months
living in England, where he presumably
acquired some basic knowledge of the sport
to provide him with some contextual clues.
Interestingly, the same student also wrote
down cricket, even though the word itself
didnotactuallyappearinthebroadcast,which
suggests both an ability to extract meaning
eveniftheexactwordsusedproveelusiveand
atendencyforthebraintofillingapsinthe
discourse, with guesses drawn from an
awarenessofthecontext.
Followupquestionnaire
The students were asked to recall as many
news items as they could from the five
bulletins(andatotalofapproximatelytwenty
separate news items). The number recalled
was between seven and ten per student.
Closeranalysisrevealedtwocharacteristicsof
memory:
It is aided by recapping and reviewing
manyoftheitemsrecalledwouldalsohave
appeared in Spanish news programmes (a
volcanic eruption in the Philippines
developmentsintheOlympicbombstory).
The brain tends to cling on to oddities
(incidentswhichareparticularlyunusual)
the only story recalled by everyone was
aboutaBritishwomanpregnantwitheight
babies, whilst many also remembered the
Charity Shield even though the teams
involvedweregenerallyunfamiliar.
Only one student provided evidence of the
learning of new vocabulary (drawand nil, in
the context of sport, were two words he
claimed to have learned), with most
complainingthatthespeakingwastoofastto
allowthemtotakeinnewwords.Incontrast,
the majority felt their comprehension had
increased, and the following explanations
wereoffered:
22

withthesekindsofthingswecantrainour
ears...
if you listen... youll learn to
distinguish/separatethewords...
you cannot pay much attention to all the
wordsbutonlythereallyimportantones.
Ive got used to the accent little by little
andIknowhow[theprogramme]works.

Conclusions
1. There is some evidence (the ease with
which the themes of many items were
recalled)thatmeaningisprocessedahead
of form, with students perhaps predicting
what would come next once they have
identifiedacontext.
2. Students appear to be capable of applying
subskills and strategies for listening
(guessing words from contextual or
phonological clues hazarding a guess at
unknown words predictingandactivating
personal schematic knowledge), without
directpromptingtodoso.
Fromthestudentspointofview,theprincipal
effect of the project was the raising of
awareness of the benefits to be gained from
searching for opportunities to hear authentic
English, namely, an almost immediately
noticeable improvement intheirlisteningsub
skills. It is my opinion that teachers have a
responsibilitytopromotelearnerautonomyby
encouraging their students to take advantage
of any such opportunities, however scarce
they may be, and this type of experiment
might be one way to do this whilsttakingup
no more than 2 3 minutes of any one class,
and 10 15 minutes of the teachers time
afterwards. I am convinced that a project
along these lines, even if adapted for an
extensive,threehoursaweekclass,wouldbe
both interesting for teachers (as this one was
for me) and motivating for students,
particularly those at an upperintermediate
level who feel that they have stopped
progressing or that their learning is focused
too much around exams rather than the real
worldoutsidetheiracademy.

US ING CONCORDANCES
PhilipKerr,DirectorofStudiesatIHLondon,looksatpracticalclassroom
applicationsoftheconcordancedlanguagedatathatisnowwidelyavailablein
printandontheNet.
The history of technological innovation in
languageteachinghasnotbeenaspectacular
success story. For most language teachers
around the world, the language laboratory
hasgonethewayoftherecordplayerandthe
boxofslides.Thecomputerhasdramatically
affected the quality of presentation of
teaching material, but advances in software
have yet to be fully exploited in most
classrooms.
The biggest technological impact on our
classroomsinrecentyearshasarguablycome
fromanunexpectedsource:thedevelopment
ofcomputertechnologytorecordandanalyse
largeamountsofreallanguageuse.Thishas
profoundly altered our understanding of
language, and a new generation of
dictionaries has emerged as a result. These
databases, or corpora, consist of millions of
words of written and spoken language and
canbeanalysedinavarietyofways.Oneof
the most widely known analytical tools is a
concordancer a device which lines up
instances of particular words or patterns so
that the language items which cooccur can
beidentified.
Concordanced data can be accessed in a
varietyofways.HarperCollinshavepublished
Concordance Samplers under the Cobuild
imprintthefirstintheserieswasdevotedto
prepositions(AnnetteCapel,1993).Schools

and individuals can subscribe to the Cobuild

Bank of English, but for most teachers the
free sampling that Cobuild offers on the Net
ismorethanenough.Thisprovidesupto40
lines of text for any word that you want to
concordance. It can be accessed at the
Cobuild
Website
at:
http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk
The ideas which follow in this article are
largely taken from the work of Gill Francis,
oneoftheCobuildstaffmembers.Adetailed
bibliography of her work and that of other
Cobuild researchers can also be found at the
Website.
There are a number of strong reasons to
make use of this data intheclassroom.The
data illustrates actual language use rather
than uninformed prescriptions (see the
exampleonthenextpage,whichmayhelpus
todecidewhetherdata shouldbesingularor
plural) and it demonstrates clearly how
differences in sense involve differences in
syntax, and how language patterns are
inextricably both syntactic and lexical.
Moreover, concordanced data provide(s) the
learner with opportunities to discover the
foreignlanguageinawaythatisfocussedand
limited,
and
potentially,
therefore,
confidencebuilding.

GUESSTHECONCORDANCEDWORD
Plansforaseasonofsuccess,buta
?
decisionbythereferee,adodgy
thingsgowrong?Apinnacleinthe
?
carstakesin1973whichhelped
when he said hed got Julie up the
?
.Buthewasreallyangryaboutit
thepresentformymotherseemsa
?
idea:sinceshecantevenbearto
momentsjustaboutoutweighthe
?
onesanditsharmlessenoughfor
Ifafootballmanagerhasa
?
player,hedropshim.Ifan

23

DATAsingularorplural?AsamplefromtheCOBUILDWebsite.
mountedonvehicledashboards.The
birthparents.Atthesametime,the
therapeutics,littlesystematic
theBritishJournalofCancer:Our
hadmonitoredhatecrimes.In1994,

Analytical / consciousnessraising activities in

the classroom for language learners and
teacher trainees consist essentially of the
following:

analysing

differentiating

SEMANTICor
SYNTACTIC
LEXICAL
PATTERNS

connecting

data
data
data
data
data

alsoindicatesthespeedand
alsoshowageneticeffect,because
hasbeencollectedonsexualaspects
suggeststhatthereisaprotection
wasreleasedfromlawenforcement

real thing. And have you ever come across a

trainee who argues until youre both blue in
the face that we dont say that? Get him to
findoutfromthedata!
Examples(usingtheconcordancesbelow):
1. Exploringsyntactical/lexicalpatterns
(TAKE+timeexpression)
Askstudentstoidentifythewordclassof
thewordfollowingTAKE.
Askstudentstoarrangethetime
expressionsonacline.
2. Exploringsyntactical/lexicalpatterns#2
(THERESSOMETHING+adj+ABOUT)
Askstudentstodecidewhattheadjectives
followingSOMETHINGhaveincommon.

Classroomideas
The examples which follow can be used with
theverysmallconcordancesamplesprintedon
the next page, but once you get going with
this kind of work you will want to give
students / trainees more data to look at.
Intermediate and lower level students will
benefit from exploring collocations and other
real patterns. Get students to identify the
Tippexedout concordanced word, the words
that come before or after this word, or to
completethewordatthebeginningorendof
the entry. Advanced level students will enjoy
looking at and analysing concordanced taboo
words, neologisms and words whose
meaningsshiftovershortperiodsoftime.For
teacher trainees, concordanced data provides
invaluable support in lesson planning,
anticipating problems, analysing target
language. For language analysis work, no
more dubious examples from Discover
English illuminate your seminars with the
24

3. Exploringtherelationshipbetweensyntax
andmeaning(RESOLVE)
Askstudentstodividetheconcordanced
examplesintotwogroupsofmeaning.Ask
studentstoidentifythegrammatical
patternsassociatedwitheachgroup.
4. Exploringgrammaticalrules
(PERFUME,CHEESE,BEER)
Askstudentstodifferentiatetheinstances
ofcountableanduncountableusage.
Askstudentstoaccountforthese
differences.

Formoreideasonusingconcordancesinthe
classroom,seeConcordancesInThe
Classroomby ChrisTribbleandGlynJ ones,
Longman1990.

CONCORDANCE SAMPLES
htbecomealesbian.Ittook her afullyeartodigesttheinfor
ddenandshrillthatittook her amomenttorealisewhatitwas
ingdown.Eventhen,ittook her while torealisethenaviga
edfeelingaboutit.Ittook himforevertogetthecolourout:
ingonsomeoneelse.Ittook mesometime togetusedtothat,b
fellill.Butitdidnttakemetwosecondstosayyes,Murray
aces.Evenso,ther eissomethingdisconcerting aboutitshumour
coldasice.Ther ewassomethingeerieandforeboding aboutthe
thedayswhen ther ewassomethingfishy aboutallofus.Itmust
Ialwaysthink ther essomethingmacabre aboutbrightsunlight
CarminaBurana.Ther essomethingnasty aboutit.Attentiontran
apparatusand ther ewassomethingodd abouttheuncomplaining
dtoherthatther ewassomethingominousaboutit,almostsinis
havestoppedtryingto r esolvedomesticissues.Andyet,hes
whilesuchmattersare r esolved,effortsbytheUnitedNations
however,Ihaverecently r esolved toputmyfinancialaffairsin
Suchproblemsmightbe r esolved ifthereweresomeoneclearlyi
theyareworthless.We r esolvetoforgeacommonfrontinorder
rClintonsaid.Letusr esolvetoreformourpoliticssothatp
maywearonlyrosewaterper fumeandnonailvarnish.yetthesh
lusive.GennyShineisaper fumethatcapturesthebrillianceof
mightevenbuyexpensive per fumesatdutyfreeshopsoutsidethe
twodropletsofaFrench per fumebehindeachofherearandbet
insandwiches.Optforacheesewithlessfatthancheddar(35g
yofmeats,seafood,and cheesesoffered,plusafruitdessert.
lshopdispensessome50cheeses,mostofthemFrench.Overthe
pleasureofcyclingand beer ,butwedohopeyoulltoastthes
raumeistersLtd.testsabeer brewedwithoatbran,ratherthan
enetically,todeliverabeer withmoretastebutlesslikelyto
whichFranklinenjoyedabeer ortwo.WhenheandClarkreturned
teatnight.Afterafew beer stoworkupthecourage,heputth

WHATSHOT
ONTHEWEB?
IfyoudecidetosurftheNetto
findideasandmaterialsthat
mightbeofhelptoyouinthe
classroom,theeasiestapproachis
throughaBrowsersuchas
Yahoo.GointoEducationand
thenESL,andyoullfindwhat
lookslikeafairlyimpressive
menuofsites.Youbegintosurf
andrealityloomsmostare
strictlyfornerds!Theresplenty
ofstuffthatmightbeusefulfor
languagelearners,butlittlethat
couldbeofvaluetoateacher.To
saveyoutime,GavinDudeney,
WebmasterforInternational
HouseBarcelona,giveshishot
tips.
DavesESLCafeOnTheWeb
http://www.specialeffects.com/~sperling/
eslcafe.html
Oneofthefirsttrulyinteractivesites
withapersonal,friendlytouchtoit.
Greatresourcesforbothstudentsand
teachers,andagoodstartingpoint
forfindingotherrelatedsitesonthe
Web.

ItsOnLine
http://itsonline.com
Davesmaincompetitor.Ithasa
differentflavoursinceitsoneofthe
fewEFL/ESLsitesbasedinEurope.
Plentyoffreshnewideasonaweekly
basis,andagoodplaceforstudents
tofindpenpals.

TheElectr onicTelegr aph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Cr ayon
http://www.crayon.net/

Download
http://www.download.com

Probablythebestelectronic
editionofanewspaper,theET
hasasearchabledatabaseofall
theNeteditionssinceitstarted
(nearlytwoyearsago),andisa
richsourceofmaterialforhigher
levels.Teacherscanalsoenjoy
thecrosswordeveryday.

Crayonallowsuserstocreate
theirowndailynewspaperby
selectingvariousNetsourcesof
news,currentaffairs,cartoons
etc.itsanidealtoolforteachers
tocollecttogetheruseful
informationforuseinclass.

Theplaceforfindinguptothe
minutesoftware.Apartfromthe
mixedbagfromthehomepage,
itsalsopossibletosearch
throughvariouscategories
including:games,education,
internet,etc.

25

Q uestions
&Answers
Thecolumnforpeoplewith
somethingontheirminds
Achancetoairthequestionsthathave
vexedyou,andhelpoutothersinastateof
vexation.Pleaseaddressall
correspondenceto:Q&A,TheEditor,IH
Journaletc.etc..TheEditoracceptsno
responsibilityforthecontentoraccuracyof
whatfollows.
Beforegoingtothenewbatch,therewasan
outstandingenquiryfromthelastissue:

DearAnxieous,
There is a very simple solution to
your problem concerning the
inclusionorotherwiseofthelettere
in courageous and famous. The letter g,
when followed by e or i, is pronounced
/d/ . The same letter, on the other hand,
when followed by a, o, or u is normally
pronounced /g/ . (Admittedly this does not
accountforthosewhoemploythe//sound
in garage, but there may simply be no
accountingfortheminanyevent).Therefore
if you weretodroptheefromcourageous,
you would get /krgs/ which wouldnt
sound right at all. Asfordroppingtheein
famous, it may be that dropping es, very
much the thingtodoinBritain,isnotsucha
recentphenomenonafterall.
Beforeyouaskaboutthatgetinthere,letme
just say that that little one is all to do with
positioning initial, medialorterminal.Here
is an instance where giving and getting are
remarkably similar, initially. Even that does
notexplainthepronunciationof,say,gesture,
however. For now, though, perhaps we
should leave you to ponder cat, cup and
cottageasopposedtocitycentre.
Regards,
Arfer,
Georgia

26

TheotherdayIwastryingtoteacha
class of intermediate students the
futureperfect,asinIllhavedoneit
by Friday. One of the
students kept insisting that thiswas the past,
howevermanytimelinesIdrew.Itturnsout
that she had offered to clean the bathroom
for her landlady and she, the landlady, had
said: Dont worry now. Sarah will have
done it yesterday . Where do you go from
there?
Lookingforwardtohavingheardfromyou,
A.Spect.

A
Q

Was the host family after being Irish

atall?
Ed.

Being an itinerant unreconstructed

bachelor teacher of English, I have
neverhadaccesstoacookbook.
Consequently, whenever I
have had to make a meal for friends, I have
had to resort to ELT coursebooks for
inspiration.Theyveseenmethroughthisfar
but, frankly, Im sick of Tomato Soup,
MushroomSalad,DANISHPOTATOSALAD
and even Toad in the Hole. Does anyone
knowofacoursebookwithadecentrecipefor
curry?(Ideally,vindaloo).
P.S. Is there actually any pedagogic reason
for these recipes in books, or are they just
thereforthelikesofme?
Yours,
MarcoW.
Hungary

If i before e except after c,

whencereign,deign,feignandseize?
Towhatextentisitusefultoteach
students spelling rules when
therearealwayssomanyexceptions,oftenin
highfrequencywords(their,scienceetc.)?
Yours,
Keith
IHAveiro

IMPLEMENTINGATASKBASEDAPPROACH
WITHOUTTASKBASEDMATERIALS
PeterMoor,ofIHLondon,followsuphisarticleonataskbasedapproachtooral
work, published in the last issue of this journal, with a look at ways of adapting
readilyavailablematerialstothisapproach.
Inmylastarticle(IHJEDNo.2November1996),Idefinedanoraltaskasaspokenactivitywhichleadstosome
kind of recognisable outcome or product. As well as having intrinsic interest, the activity should provide
opportunities for language input, and opportunities for planned and spontaneous speech. The definition can be
extendedtowrittentasks,anddifferentiatedfromprojectworkinthattheentiretaskcycleshouldtakeplacewithin
6090minutelesson(withpossibilitiesforextensionintofurtherlessons)withoutrecoursetoresourcesnotreadily
availableintheclassroom.IoutlinedthebasicMODELPLANNING/INPUT/REHEARSALTASKcycleasameans
ofstructuringataskbaskedlessonandsuggestedanumberofwaysinwhichoraltaskscanbeimplementedmore
effectively.Inthissecondarticle,afterexaminingsomemoreimplicationsofataskbasedapproach,andpointing
out some of the difficulties in finding appropriate taskbased materials, I will suggest ways in which nontask
basedELTmaterialscanbeadaptedtosuittheapproach.

Implementingataskbasedapproach:
who,ME ??

1. Ithinkitsjustasvalidtodecidewhatthe
students want or need to do and provide
themwiththelanguagetodoit,asitisto
select a particular language point for
presentation and then look for ways to
practiseit.
2. Atcertainpointsinthelesson,Ipreferto
go with the flow and respond to
language students produce or ask for,
rather than have a preordained set of
languagewhichtheyregoingtolearn.
3. I/mystudentslikea handson approach
in lessons, giving short talks, conducting
surveys and questionnaires, designing
posters or texts to be stuck on the wall,
writing or recording class magazines,
videosetc.
Ifyoufindyourselfagreeingatleastinpart
with any of the statements above, you may
have a taskbased approach to teaching, at
least some of the time! Point 1 above
highlightswhatis,tome,afundamentaltenet
of taskbased learning, one which sharply
differentiates it from the Presentation and
Practice approach: that the language flows
fromthetaskandnotviceversa.Notevenin
my wilder moments would I suggest that we
abandon grammatical/ lexical syllabuses
altogether its my belief that a taskbased

approach should operate alongside the

comforting familiarity of presentation and
practice of grammar, vocabulary and
functions, as a contrasting but necessary
complementtoit.
In a taskbased lesson, Point 2 refers to the
stage where students have time to plan,
prepare and possibly rehearse their task, and
are encouraged to ask for language and seek
feedbackastheydoso.Thisstageisessential
if the students are to stretch themselves
linguisticallyandnotjustuseanyoldlanguage
to achieve the task (the problem of socalled
strategiccompetencewasdiscussedmorefully
in my previous article). The approach seems
genuinely learnercentred in that it makes
greateruseoflearnergeneratedlanguage,but
itcanprovidesomebizarremoments,aswhen
a French student asked How do I say zis?
and proceeded to impersonate a mussel a
tricky little vocab item of vital importance in
describing her local culinary speciality. It
does however provide teachers with useful
training in dealing with the unexpected (a
welcome change to the still distressingly
prevalent I am going to teach you these 12
items of furniture vocabulary whether you
need them or not approach) and I have a
feeling that a learner will remember an item
shehasaskedformorereadilythanonewhich
theteacherhaschosenforher.

27

Point 3 reflects the now well established

popularityamongteachersofgettingstudents
to do things rather than sit on their hands.
The hands on approach is one that seems
very widespread nowadays if classroomwalls
are anything to go by. At the end of the
lesson,manystudents(notall,butasignificant
number) like to feel theyve done something,
and this is a trend which I feel lends itself
particularlywelltoataskbasedapproach.
Findingtaskbasedmaterials
But whether you are a convert to taskbased
teaching or merely a curious onlooker, you
are confronted with the need for actual task
basedmaterialstotakeintotheclassroom.So
where are these materials? Scan the back
cover of any mainstream ELT textbook and
youcanbesuretofindcertainthings:thatthe
grammarsectionswillbeclearandstepby
step the topics will be motivating, upto
date and, most likely, universal.
Interestingly, you will also increasingly find
thewordtask,althoughwhatismeantbythis
is not always entirely clear does it refer to
just anything you do in the classroom or to
something more specific? A quick look at a
couple of books currently in use in IH
London, reveals their tasks to be highly
original, involving,stimulating,relevant,
stimulating again (no wonder our students
look tired), and enjoyable. (Thinks... One

day a rogue ELT editor will describe the

grammar section of the book as
impenetrable, the topics frankly tedious

and the approach to vocabulary as

haphazard. It will probably sell by the
million). Whatyouwillnotfindatpresentis
abookwhichdescribesitselfastaskbased.
There could be a variety of reasons for this,
one of which might be that noone seems to
really know what the term means.However,
this does not mean that a teacher looking to
implement a taskbased approachneedstosit
up tillthe small hours preparing lessonsfrom
scratch. Mainstream ELT course books can
providearichsourceoftaskbasedmaterialif
youarepreparedtoadaptwhatisonthepage
andusealittleimagination.Intherestofthis
article, I will look at four ways in which a
teacher can adapt published materials to a
moretaskbasedapproach.Beforedoingthis
it might be useful to recall the basic cycle
which I proposed in my previous article (see
chartbelow).
1.Fromlanguagepracticetotask
ELT textbooks nowadays usually haveplenty
of good ideas forpractisingspecificlanguage
points sometimes so good that they can
almost overshadow the language points
themselves.Afamiliarcaseinpointistheold
favouriteAlibigameasurefirewinnerand
usually much more successful than the actual
presentation of past continuous and past
simple. However, for such activities to be
seenastasksratherthanfurtherfreerlanguage
practice,
some
adaptation
and
supplementation may be needed, particularly
since the MODEL and PLANNING/
INPUT/REHEARSALstagesmaybelacking.
Oftenupgradinglanguagepracticeintoatask

Thebasictaskcycle
MODEL

PLANNING/REHEARSAL
INPUT

TASK

This is a short model of the what

the students will be asked to do
later it could be given by the
teacher, or in the form of a
listeningorreadingtext.

Thestudentsaregiventimetoplan
their version of the task, either
singly or in groups. During this
time, students are encouraged to
ask about how to say things or
check if their language is correct.
If time, the students may have a
chance to rehearse their task (or
supplyaroughdraftinthecaseofa
written task) and seek peer or
teachercorrection.

Herethestudentsgopublic,either
in speech or inwriting,andpresent
their task either in groups or to the
rest of the class. The element of
public performance of the task
seems to give students a greater
concernforaccuracyattheplanning
stage.

28

isaquestionofprovidingamodel,givingthe
students time to plan, and making the final
task into more of an event. Look out for
language practice activities which can be
expanded in this way: Language in Use
Intermediate (1) featuresanengagingideafor
freer practice of superlative adjectives
studentsareaskedtothinkwhoorwhatthey
would nominate for a series of awards (such
asMusicianoftheYear,BestNightSpot
etc.)andchooseawinner:althoughintended
asfreerpracticeoflanguage,itisobviousthat
the potential of the activity would be more
fully realised and the activity would take
longer!ifthestudentsweregivenamodelof
anominationspeech(whichtheteachercould
dolive,orrecordpriortothelesson),andthe
students were given time to plan what they
weregoingtosayandcheckforlinguisticand
factualcorrectness.

out for sections labelled Speaking or

Discussion which can be adapted to the a
taskbased model. One simple way of
extending an activity where the students are
asked to talk about questions like What are
the age laws for smoking/alcoholetc.inyour
country? Do you agree with them? (as in
PreIntermediate Choice (2)) isfirsttobriefly
answer the questions yourself, thereby
providing a model for students of what they
will have to do, then to givethemsometime
to collect their thoughts, perhaps make some
notes and ask you for useful words and
phrases, before comparing in pairs/groups.
Youmightfinallychooseoneortwostudents
to go public in front of the whole class.
More ambitious discussion lessons seem to
benefit from students being recorded or
having to present some kind of public
summaryattheend.

Otherideas

Otherideas

There are a number of classic activities, like

alibi, which always seem to work and yet
always seem to be linked to the practice of a
particular structure rather than left to stand
alone, recognised as having enough intrinsic
interestinthemselvestobetasksandnotjust
languagepractice.Drawingandverbalisinga
lifeline representing your personal biography
is a good example of a task which can easily
proceed from a teacher model to a student
centred stage, where there is ample
opportunityfortheteachertofeedinlanguage
as the students request it in preparing their
own biographies, and where there is clear
productattheend.

In a number of books, for example.

Reflections (3), students are asked to write a
class newspaper, or record a short film or
audiotape.Althoughitmaytakelongerthan
a single lesson for the students to produce
their final product, this is a good example of
how a task can go beyond mere fluency
practice and be geared towards a product
which students can actually take home with
them. The language that the students will
require is also highly unpredictable, making
the input/planning stage particularly
important. Examples done with previous
classes can provide a model here, and the
admonition Im sure you can do better than
thiscanbequiteeffective!

2.Fluencyactivitiesintotasks
Some of the questions designed to create
interestinlessonswithareceptiveskillsfocus,
particularly those which begin What do you
know about..., can lead to unanimated
discussionsofuptofifteensecondswithsome
classes: on other occasions, however, it has
often struck me that this leadin/interest
creationchatatthebeginningwasactuallythe
bestpartofthelesson,makingtheactualtext
come as a distinct letdown, leading me, in
some cases, to abandon it altogether. Look

3.Textsasmodelsforwrittentasks
The use of reading texts as models for a
subsequent writing activity is a familiar one.
Clearly not all texts can easily be imitated by
students (the extract from Shakespeares As
YouLikeItinHeadwayUpperIntermediate
(4) as a model for the students to write
twentyeightlinesoftheirownblankverseon
Seven Ages of Man, for example). But
there are many which are suitable. One
exampleistheTourofyourcountryidea.A
29

suitablemodeltextisavailablein ThinkAhead
to First Certificate (5) the text on Australia
in 14 days is only used for comprehension
work, but it is an excellent springboard for
students (particularly in a multilingual class
with students working in nationality groups
foronce)toproducea5daytouroftheirown
countryforothermembersoftheclass.Each
group produces a map of their country (an
atlas can prove useful here for the less
geographicallygifted students) with a
suggested itinerary andashorttextaboutthe
places to visit this usually produces lively
discussion and awakens intense regional
rivalrieswhichshould(ifpossible)beresolved
inEnglish.Thetourscanthenbepresentedto
the rest of the class as a whole, or insmaller
groups. With monolingual groups, the task
worksbetterifthestudentsaregiveneithera
region of their country other than the place
where they are studying, or they are given a
specified group to design the tour for (the
teachersfamilyforinstance).

ThereareseveralbooksIhaveusedtimeand
time again as sources for readymade tasks
which seen to require little or nothing in the
way of adaptation to produce a taskbased
lesson.Hereisashortselection:
ManyoftheEnglishintoActionsections
attheendofeachunitofPreIntermediate
Choice (7) provideexcellentideasfortask
based lessons: particularlyinlinewiththe
approachoutlinedaboveareConductinga
Survey about Relationships (p16) and
Talkingaboutahobby(p38).
The Non Stop Discussion Workbook (8)
provides some good oral tasks for
Intermediate and Advanced students, but
supplementation is needed in terms of
models.
TheQBook (9), althoughostensiblyabook
for practising questions, contains a great
variety of questionnaire/survey activities
whichcanbeextendedintotasks.

Otherideas
Lessambitiousreadingtexttypeswhichmight
lend themselves to students producing a
parallel text are questionnaires and quizzes.
There is a very simple example in Headway
Elementary (6) which could be used as a
model at almost any level just bring in a
coupleofencyclopaedias,dothequizquickly,
thentellthestudentstoproduceasimilarquiz
for another class of the same level in the
school and get ready to feed in language as
requested. There is often scope for
incorporating other elements from reading
texts in order to produce a more effective
written task. Use can also be made of the
visual elements of a text, such as use of
colour, layout, organisation and pictures all
these can be exploited to give the final
productamoresatisfyingappearance.
Once you have built up a collection of
previous written tasks from students (suchas
the5daytoursofacountrymentionedabove,
which have a strong intrinsic interest and are
often visually attractive) these canbeusedas
modelsforfuturestudentstoworkfrom.
4.Readymadetasks
30

Bibliography:
(1)Doff&Jones(1994) LanguageInUse:Intermediate (Cambridge)
p62
(2)Mohamed&Acklam(1993) ThePreIntermediateChoice
(Longman)p87
(3)Farthing&Pulverness(1993) Reflections:TheMacmillanShort
CourseProgramme,Level3(Macmillan)p63
(4)Soars&Soars(1987) Headway:UpperIntermediate (OUP)p11
(5)Naunton(1997) ThinkAheadtoFirstCertificate (Longman)p98
(6)Soars&Soars(1993) HeadwayElementary (OUP)p92
(7)Mohamed&Acklam(1993) ThePreIntermediateChoice
(Longman)pp16,38
(8)Rooks(1981) TheNonStopDiscussionWorkbook (Newbury
House)
(9)Morgan&Rinvolucri(1988) TheQBook (Longman)

Peter Moor is currently working on taskbased

materials with Sarah Cunningham for Addison
WesleyLongman.

BENWARRENINTERNATIONALHOUSE
TRUSTPRIZE
SHORTLIST1997

BenWarren

TheBenWarrenInternationalHouseTrustPrizehasbeenestablishedinmemoryofBenWarren,founderof
theInternationalHousegroupofschoolsinCatalunya,whodiedintragiccircumstancesin1991.Thisprize
of2,000,whichwillbeawardedforthefirsttimeatthisyearsDirectorsConferenceinLondononMay
6th.,willbeawardedforoutstandingworkinthefieldoflanguageteachereducation.
Thepanelofjudgesismadeupof:

JeremyHarmer,bestsellingELTauthor
JonathanDykes,Barcelona

TonyDuff,CentralDepartment
ElaineSmith,CentralDepartment

Therearefivepublicationsontheshortlist:

READINGSINTEACHERDEVELOPMENT

KatieHead&PaulineTaylor ,Heinemann1997

Selectionsfromwritersinthefieldofteacherdevelopmentandrelateddisciplineswithaccompanyingactivitiesand
commentaries,designedtohelpyoureflectonhowyourattitudeandawarenessaffectyourteachingandhowchangeis
possible.

WRITING

Chr istopher Tr ibble,fromtheseriesLanguage

TeachingASchemeforTeacherEducation,edited
byC.N.Candlin&H.G.Widdowson,OUP1996

Anintroductiontobothtraditionalandmorerecentapproachestotheteachingofwriting.Thisbookencouragesreadersto
thinkaboutthereasonsforteachingthisskill,andprovidesideasonteachingdifferenttypesofwriting.

PSYCHOLOGYFORLANGUAGETEACHERS

Mar ionWilliams&Rober tBur don,CUP1997

Thisbookbringstogethersomeofthemostrecentdevelopmentsandthinkinginthefieldofeducationalpsychology.Aswell
aspresentinganoverviewofeducationalpsychologyanditsinfluenceonlanguageteachingmethodology,thebookidentifies
fourthemes:thelearner,theteacher,thetaskandthelearningcontext,discussingrecentpsychologicaldevelopmentsineach
andtheirimplicationsforlanguageteaching.

AFRAMEWORKFORTASKBASEDLEARNING

J aneWillis,AddisonWesleyLongman1996

Acompleteguidetothemethodologyandpracticeoftaskbasedlanguageteaching,thisbookoffersanalternativeframework
tothepresentation,practice,productionmodel.Itcombinesthebestinsightsfromcommunicativelanguageteachingwitha
systematicfocusonlanguageform,explainingandexemplifyingeachcomponentinatypicaltaskbasedlesson.

CHALLENGEANDCHANGEINLANGUAGE
TEACHING

editedby J aneWillis&DaveWillis,Heinemann
1996

Acollectionofpapersforforeignandsecondlanguageteachersandtrainerswhowanttoexploreanddevelopalternativesto
teacherandtrainerledpresentationmethods.Itcombinestheoreticalgroundingandpracticalclassroomapproaches.

Alltheabovearestrongcontendersfortheprizeandthepanelofjudgeswillbecontinuingitsdifficult
deliberationsduringthenextfewweekstofindthewinner,althoughnoBookerstyledisagreementsare
anticipated!

31

READINGSINTEACHERDEVELOPMENT
PaulineTaylor ,formereventscoordinatoroftheIATEFLTeacherDevelopmentSpecialInterest
Group, has just published (with her coauthor, Katie Head) Readings in Teacher Development.
This book, partoftheHeinemannTeacherDevelopmentseries,hasbeenshortlistedfortheBen
WarrenInternationalHouseTrustPrize. PhilipKerr ,ofIHLondon,hadafew,characteristically
frankquestionstoaskaboutthebookandTeacherDevelopmentingeneral.
PK The Teacher Development Special

Interest Group is viewed by some within the

ELTprofessionasagroupofrathereccentric
feelyfeely humanists. This, combined with
thehistoricaldefinitionofTDbythefounders
oftheSIGassomethingincontradistinction
to teacher training, has led to a certain
marginalisation of Teacher Development
withinELT.Whatdoyouthinkaboutthis?
PT In the first chapter of our book we
acknowledge that in trying to define
development and training people have often
listedtherespectivemeritsofeachintermsof
polaropposites.But,asweareunhappywith
this polaristation, we also quote Tessa
Woodward on the subject, who says that
comparisons of this kind, while perhaps
helpful in drawing attention to some
differences of emphasis between types of
teacher learning, can also separate and
polariseapproachesratherthanhelptobuilda
fuller,morecompletepicture.
I guess the views of the ELT professionals
you mention are based on their background
and experience. If their model of
development is based on one approach, they
may well find another approach eccentric.
Who knows? We personally dont wish to
foster any distinctions or eccentricities. We
all work within our own paradigms and
according to our own beliefs, so there is
boundtobedifference.
As far as being marginalised is concerned, I
suppose I feel a bit sad that thismayprevent
somepeoplefromseeingbeyondthisandtheir
preconception about personcentredness.
WhenworkingintheUKonthethemesinour
book, many people, especially men, have
describedhowtheirupbringingandeducation
within society taught them to focus on the
intellect as the only legitimate model for
32

development, and often in order to survive,

particularly in someschools,theyhadtoshut
down on their emotionalside.Thisleftthem
feeling quite critical or fearful of anything to
dowithfeelingsuntilsomethingallowedthem
toopenuptothissideofthemselves.Others
have spoken of their encounter with some
humanistic exercises which may have been
handled with or without skill or awareness,
and they have found it a bad experience,
sometimesbecausetheyarenotready.
I also feel quite phlegmatic, as this
marginalisation tends to happen. It is very
human. There are different views of Teacher
Development
anyway,
and
perhaps
marginalisation happens when there is a
different approach from the one the
marginaliser is used to. As language
teacherswealsoknowthatdefinitionsdepend
on the attitude of the speaker, and one
persons feelyfeely humanist might be
another persons wellbalanced individual, in
touchwiththeirfeelings!
Groups are judged both from inside and
outside,particularlyasagrouptriestodefine
itself and becomes visible. Perhaps this
judgement is based on partial experience or
information and on the particular outlook of
the judge. While the Teacher Development
Special Interest Group has had a profound
influence on many of us, I think Teacher
Developmentassuchisbothwiderandbigger
than any Special Interest Group in any one
phaseofitsdevelopment,orpeoplesviewor
experience of it, and we hope the book
reflects this. What is important to us is that
people do change and develop, and we write
about the changing nature of groups and
people in our book.Myownexperienceand
study of groups leaves me feeling relaxed
about what happens in and around groups.

Most people are wise enough to keep

updating any views they have and this is
particularly useful as teachers and teachers
groups around the world are changing all the
time. Teacher Development is about being
continuallyawareandopentochangewhenit
isneeded.
PK In the introduction to your book you

cautionthatyourselectionoftextswillreflect
a bias towards your own particular
understanding of what Teacher Development
is. It is a view which is centred on the
teachersownawarenessofhimselforherself
asapersonaswellasateacher.Doesntthis
imply an understanding of individuality
separate from social context, and that
individuality is given rather than
constructed?
PT Certainly this is not my understanding of
Teacher Development. In our book we have
included a reading called The Ghost
Instrument which is an account of a teacher
talking about a teacher of hers she dreaded,
and the sudden realisation that she too
employed some of these dreaded methods to
motivate her students. While many teachers
are conscious of this and strive to teach
differently,ortocopythosetheyloved,others
do not, perhaps precisely because they are
individuals enmeshed in their own social
context,andotherwaysofbeingateacherjust
donotseempossible,orevendesirable.

complex factors that make up an individual

and this includes background, culture,
expectations and education, including teacher
education,andthecontextinwhichheorshe
lives andworks.Whatwehopetodoinour
bookistoinvitethatcomplexindividual,who
is continually in the process of being
constructed,toshinethelightofawarenesson
areasthattheymayormaynothavelookedat
before, and to use that awareness to shape
theirdevelopmentasateacher.
Unlike the trainers who feel you cant work
onthepersonal,Ihavediscoveredawealthof
information on personal change and this is as
importanttolearninganddevelopingasallthe
other knowledge the teacher has. In fact I
feel we are ignoring a large part of ourselves
and depriving our students of averyrichand
important dimension if we do not pay
attentiontoit.Theexercisesinthebookcan
be done in groups and we include a lot of
suggestions for collaborative development
throughout the book so that the focus is not
only on the individual, but also on the
development of awareness within a group of
teachersandacontextwherepossible.

One of the reasons for this might possibly be

thatthecommonmodelforteachereducation
has, in the past, involved a close look at
methodologyandcontentand,whiletherehas
been some discussion of personal qualities,
many, but by no means all, of the teacher
trainers I have talked to have either ignored
thepersonalityaltogetherorhavefeltthatyou
cantdevelopinthisareathatindividualityis
agivenasyousay.
I see a teachers personal development as
being very much a product of the many

33

ITWASNTLIKETHATINMYDAY...
WendyColeby,DirectorofStudiesforTeacherTraininginIHLondon,heraldedthe
comingofthenewCELTAcourseinthelastissueofthisjournalwithaquiz.Here,
aspromised,aretheanswers. (Wevereprintedthequestionsjustincaseyoucant
putyourhandsonacopyofthelastjournalforsomereason).
April1997sees IHLondoninitsfifthmonthofrunningCELTAcourses and,as eachmonthpasses,itis
getting easier to remember and implement the changes which make CELTA different. Many oftheseare
highlywelcome,particularlythestrongeremphasisgivenbythesyllabusonthelearnerandonprofessional
development.AlthoughthesefeaturedpreviouslyonourCTEFLAcourses,theyarenowapproachedmuch
moresystematicallyandfullyonourCELTAcourseprogrammesinaninterestingseriesofinputsessions.
A positive result is that the course participants are focussing more closely on the studentstheyteachand
attempting to address their needs more closely rather than being quite so coursebook/TP points driven
which can only be a good thing in my opinion. There has been a number of innovations in how tutors
approachtheircourse,includingasuccessfultaskbasedapproachrunhereinLondonthisFebruary.These
pages might be a very good place to exchange ideas on what teacher trainers are doing inthevarious IH
schoolsaroundtheworld anytakers?
Meanwhile,herearethe answerstotheCELTAQuizfromthelastissueoftheJournal:
1. Whattwonewpiecesofinformationmustyougive
to candidates at the start of the course? Where
canyoufindthesepiecesofinformation?

The evidence is all the candidates wor k

leadingtothefinalassessment.Thisislistedon
page5ofthebooklet GuidelinesandRegulations

Candidatesmustbeinfor medabouttheCELTA
J obPlacementSer viceandabouttheCandidate
Enquir ies on Results and Complaints
Pr ocedur e. These both for m par t of the
CELTA Candidate Pr ofile document issued by
UCLEStoallcandidatesviatheCentr e.

for Centres, CourseTutorsandAssessorsforthe

Certificate in English Language Teaching to
Adults pr oduced by UCLES, who ask that

2. WhatistheCELTACandidateprofile?
A questionnair e which pr ovides a backgr ound
pr ofileonallCELTAcandidatesfor UCLES.

3. What is the UCLES designed record sheet? How

isitused?
CELTA/5 is a r ecor d of all the assessed
components of the cour se (wr itten assignments,
pr ogr ess r epor ts, summar y tutor ial r ecor d,
r ecor d of TP, r ecor d of attendance and
obser vation). It is completed by tutor s and/or
candidates (with tutor super vision) dur ing the
cour se and signed by both at the end of the
cour se. The or iginal is r etained by the Centr e
(with the candidate r etaining a copy if they
wish) and the final gr ade is added to the box
mar ked for office use. Some Centr es,
including IH London, use their own ver sion of
CELTA/5.However ,thesemustcontainallthe
infor mationlistedabove.

4. Whoisresponsibleforkeepingalltheevidence
supporting the final assessment? What does this
evidence consist of and how long should it be
kept?

34

Centr es keep all cour se r ecor ds for one year

after thecour se.

5. WhataretheFwordandtheBword?Whoshould
usethem?
Fail and Bor der line tutor s should use
thesewor dsexplicitlyattutor ialsandmakesur e
thattheyappear ,ifr elevant,onCELTA/5.

6. Whatkindofrecordshouldbekeptoftutorials?
A summar y of tutor ials is included on
CELTA/5. Any additional official comments
canbeinser tedinthisonasepar atepage.

7. What attendance requirement is set by

Cambridge/RSA?
100% .
8. HowmanyhoursofTPmusteachcandidatedo?
Sixhour sofsuper visedteachingpr actice.
9. How many hours of observation of classes in the
schoolmusteachcandidatedo?
Eighthour s.
10. What is the required minimum total number of
coursehours?
One hundr ed contact hour s between the
candidate(s) and the cour se tutor (s) which
involve input, tutor ial suppor t, feedback etc.,

the six hour s TP and eight hour s obser vation

mentioned above (see page 1 of the UCLES
booklet Guidelines and Regulations for Centres,

Evaluationofteaching/lear ningmater ials

Focusonthelear ner

Course Tutors and Assessors for the Certificate

inEnglishLanguageTeachingtoAdults)

17. Candidates are now allowed to resubmit written

assignments.Whatdoesthismean?

11. How will the Assessors role change? When will

the changes be introduced and the new role
implemented?
The Assessor s visit will consist ofonedayonly
at most Centr es and will be concer ned with
moder ating the wor k of the candidates r ather
than inspecting the Centr e, the latter taking
place only once a year on a separ ate occasion.
Infor mation is being intr oduced at Assessor s
Br iefing Meetings taking place ear ly in 1997
and the changes ar e likely to be intr oduced in
theear lysummer ofthisyear .

If a wr itten assignment appear s to be a fail or

bor der line, tutor s can advise the candidate of
this and encour age them to r ewor k the
assignment as necessar y, giving some guidance
for this. The candidate can then r esubmit the
wor k for the for mal assessment. It is up to
individual centr es to decide how many times a
candidate is allowed to r esubmit a piece of
wor k.

18. WhatdoesSLPstandfor?
Super visedLessonPr epar ation/Planning

19. WhatdoesLAstandfor?
12. ForwhatreasonmustyoucontactyourAssessorat
the end of your course? When do you arrange
this?
Assessor s must now always be contacted at the
end of your cour se to confir m all the gr ades
with them (not onlygr adesthatdiffer fr omthe
pr ovisionalones,asusedtobethecase).

Language awar eness (c.f. for mer language

analysis)

20. Whatisfinalgradingbasedon?
Thr eecomponents:
Teachingpr actice
Wr ittenassignments
Pr ofessionaldevelopment

13. What changes are happening with regard to

selectionprocedures?
Noneatthemoment.
14. How many topics areas does the CELTA syllabus
include?Whatarethey?
Thesixsyllabusar easar e:
Languageawar eness
The lear ner , the teacher and the
teaching/lear ningcontext
Planning for effective teaching of adult
lear ner sofEnglish
Classr oom management and teaching skills
for teachingEnglishtoadults
Resour ces and mater ials for teaching
Englishtoadults
Pr ofessional development for teacher s of
Englishtoadults

15. HowdothesedifferfromtheformerCTEFLA?
Topics 2 (The lear ner , the teacher and the
teaching/lear ning context) and 6 (Pr ofessional
development for teacher s of English to adults)
give explicit weight to ar eas that wer e, usually,
onlytoucheduponintheCTEFLA.

16. How many written assignments mustyouset?On

whattopics?
Four wr itten assignments must be set (some of
these may be br oken up into smaller modules)
onthefollowing:
Lessonsfr omtheclassr oom
Languager elatedtasks

TheIHC
W H E R E N O W ?

he International House Certificate has

always been closely linked with the
CTEFLA course, following a similar
format and syllabus. With the recent
changes that CELTA has brought, perhaps
thisisthetimetoconsidermodifyingourown
trainingcertificate.

If you run IHC courses and have thoughts

onif/howweshouldbringthemmoreinline
with CELTA, please drop a line to Wendy
Coleby or Roger Hunt at International
HouseLondon.AsMrs.Mertonwouldsay:
Letshaveaheateddebate!

35

Funnyyoushouldsaythat...
readersrespondtothingstheyvereadinthejournal

J enny J ohnson runs the Teacher

Training Department in IH
Barcelona,but,likesomanyothersin
the organisation, somehow manages
towritebooks,too.
I read with great interest the article about
Teamwork and its authors in the last issue of
the IHJ. This time last year a fax landed on
my desk which I replied to with the answer
Yes, OK, Ill do it. Consequently, for the
last year I have been balancing running the
largest IH TT Department outside the UK,
with all that that involves in terms of filling
courses,
publicising,
staffing,
budgeting etc. etc., with writing the
fourth book in the series Teaching
English in... published by In Print
Publications in collaboration with
InternationalHouse.

youmeetpeople?whatdoesitmeanwhena
Spaniard taps his cheek with his hand? is
there central heating? how much is a Mars
barinSpain? andathousandotherquestions
that teachers with the idea of living and
workinginSpainmanywanttoask.Thefirst
section is all about working in Spain, section
twocoversSpainandtheSpanish,andthelast
section is all about teaching English to
Spaniards.Itisaverycompletebook.
During this last year I have made visits to
Sevilla (there was aTESOLconferencethere
in May, so I gave a talk there and took
advantage of the trip to include research), to
Madrid (I love Madrid and
another visit was long
overdue), as wellasbeingin
contactfrequentlywithMark
Wilson of IH San Sebastian,
Richard Johnson of ELI
Sevilla and Peter Bakisa and
Steve Haysham of IH
Madrid. The deadline has
come, gone and been
extended, the book is
reaching its final stage, its written, the
information,addresses,phonenumbersareall
there,allitneedsisacoupleoffinalreadings
andsomerevising.Sowithanyluckitwillhit
thebookshopsaroundthesummerorautumn
of1997.

whatdoesit
meanwhena
Spaniardtaps
hischeekwith
hishand?

I certainly didnt realise when I said

yes quite what is involved in
writing a book of this kind. I have
followed the Italy model, from the
book written by Martin Penner, covering
muchofthesameground,inmoreorlessthe
sameorder,butofcoursetailoringeverything
toSpainandtheSpanish.Thebook,asallthe
books in the series (Italy, Central & Eastern
Europe, Japan, SE Asia) is aimed at
prospective teachers with an interest in living
andworkinginaparticularcountry.Likethe
ELT Guide and Susan Griffiths Teaching
English Abroad, the books include
informationaboutcourses,schools,conditions
etc.. But much more specific information on

how do you go about renting a flat? where

canyouexpecttofindwork?howdoyougo
about finding work? how much can you
expect to earn? whats it like teaching
children? what do people eat? where can
36

WouldIadvisewritingabook?Itisvery
timeconsuming,butatthesametimevery
satisfyingtoseeitgrowandstarttotake
shape,andImsure,evenmorerewardingto
seeitcomplete,withcovers,onabookshelf
somewhere.AllIcansayis,Imlooking
forwardtothedaywhenIcangethomeand
watchtheTVorreadabookwithouthaving
tofeelguiltythatIhaventswitchedonthe
computer!

WANTED!
Contributionsforthe
nextissue......
.....
articles

informationaboutnew
courses
uptodate information
about authors in all of
our schools

newsonwhatsgood
ontheWEB
questions...
and answers

personalinterestarticles,
talkingaboutlivingand
workingwhereyoudo
bir ths,mar r iagesand...gossip

interestingstatistics
peopleonthemove

neweducationalprojects
newcourses
etc.

Allar ticlesandinfor mationgr atefullyr eceived.Pleasesend

har dcopy,andpr efer ablycopyondisk:Wor dfor Windows2,6
or 7(PCor Mac)
ANYTIME(butbyMonday1stSeptember1997for inclusionin
thenextissue)to:
TheEditor ,
TheIHJ our nalofEducationandDevelopment,
Inter nationalHouseLondon,
106,Piccadilly,
LondonW1V9FL
Fax: +44(0)1714950698
email: 100733.511@compuser ve.com

37