Dear Analía,

The interview with linguist Henry Widdowson (Chalk it up, September 21, 1999, p. 7) was very thought-provoking, in particular the part where he suggests that teachers should use the mother tongue in the classroom. Now this was the subject of heated debate in the staff room. Most of my colleagues – and the Head! – are all for a strict English-only policy. However, I must confess that I sometimes use Spanish – not a lot, you understand, just to explain the occasional tricky grammar or vocab point. I feel so guilty, I just don't know what to do.

What To Do, Wilde (Prov. of BA)

Dear What To Do of Wilde,

Still, it seems essential to draw a line between indiscriminate use of Spanish in the classroom and using it as a linguistic resource.

Widdowson, H.G. 1990. Aspects of Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dear Analía,

At a Loss, Lomas del Mirador (Prov. of BA)

Dear At a Loss of Lomas del Mirador,

You seem to be an experienced EGP teacher, that is, you appear to have always taught English for General Purposes. You now need to design an ESP course, that is, a course of English for Specific Purposes. The role of the ESP teacher is multi-faceted – course designer, materials writer and evaluator all rolled into one.

I recommend the first thing you do is a Needs Analysis (NA), which basically consists of establishing the students' needs (i.e. what it is necessary that they do or study), their wants (i.e. what they would like to do) and their lacks (i.e. what they are currently not able to do). The methods to collect this information might include questionnaires and interviews with the students themselves, tests, and a close examination of the target texts and materials they work with.

You may also want to cater for the commercial aspect of this endeavour. Once you have collected your data you might make a very good impression if you present your students with a bar or pie chart – Where you are / Where you want to go type – which clearly specifies the present and the target situation.

As to methodology, there are no hard and fast rules, though a task-based and communicative approach may seem most appropriate as ESP students tend to be short of time for studying and need to put the newly-acquired language and skills to immediate use.

Robinson, P.C. 1991. ESP Today: A Practitioner's Guide. Hemel Hampstead: Prentice Hall.

Hollet, V. et al. 1989. In At The Deep End. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dear Analía,

Worried, Palermo (City of BA)

Dear Worried of Palermo,

As you so rightly say, it's not just a question of language correction. It is a problem of content. I think part of the solution may lie in devoting time to the pre-writing stage, that is, to discussing with students the purpose and audience of a given task. This is the starting point to helping students produce texts that, as you put it, "make sense".

Understanding the purpose of a task is crucial, as it will help student-writers decide what to include in a text and how to express it. For example, the purpose of a letter of complaint isn't necessarily just to complain, it could be to obtain compensation, or to let off steam, or a whole range of other things – it depends on exactly how the task is stated.

You may find it useful to elicit from the students all the information they have about the intended reader – even have them make intelligent guesses – i.e. who the reader is, his/her age, job, position, what s/he already knows, what s/he needs to know, his/her hopes, fears, expectations, and so on. This will guide writers in their decisions about what information may or may not be relevant to the reader, what style is appropriate, how to sequence the paragraphs, etc.

White, R. and V. Arndt. 1991. Process Writing. Harlow: Longman

Dear Analía,

I'm the director of a private language institute and my question is: How can I find out what my students / customers think about the courses? I mean, I think they are happy with what I'm giving them, but I don't know. I'm totally stuck.

Stuck, San Isidro (Prov. of BA)

Dear Stuck of San Isidro,

I suggest a survey of your students / customers' opinions. Start by asking yourself: "What exactly do I want to find out?". Once you're clear about your purpose, try to establish categories (e.g. Teaching, Materials, Facilities, etc.) and break them down into questions for a structured questionnaire. This is a very complex area. In a nutshell:

Weir, C. and J. Roberts. 1994. Evaluation in ELT. Oxford: Blackwell

Dear Analía,

How can I make my students take on more responsibility for their own learning and become more independent? I notice that many have this "Here I am, now teach me!" attitude, which I find rather annoying.

Dear Annoyed of Río Cuarto,

I'm afraid the situation you describe is very common. I like to think of the teacher and the learner as a partnership bound by a contract whereby each party has an equal share of the responsibility in the achievement of successful outcomes.

Today there is a trend in ELT away from spoon-feeding and towards learner autonomy, raising students' awareness of their preferred learning styles and learning strategy training. Since class time is insignificant compared to the students' lifetime, equipping them with strategies they can then transfer to real-life contexts seems to be a sensible way to proceed.

Now how can we help students to become independent learners and to manage their own learning process effectively? Here's a start-up list of ideas (by no means exhaustive!): (a) teaching students how to use dictionaries and grammar reference books so that they attempt to clear up their queries first by themselves, or with a classmate's help, and ask the teacher as a last resort; (b) getting them used to the international phonetic alphabet so that they can pronounce the words they look up without the teacher's assistance; (c) insisting on the use of effective vocabulary storage systems (e.g. charts, spidergrams / lexical networks, etc); (d) using a symbol system to mark written homework to encourage self-correction (e.g. Sp for spelling, T for Tense, etc.); (e) designing worksheets for reading newspapers / mags, watching TV / films, surfing the Internet; and (f), budget permitting, setting up a SAC (Self-Access Centre).

The IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) Learner Independence Worksheets (1996/1999) provide useful photocopiable material. For a more theoretical perspective, see Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know (Oxford 1989).

Dexter, P. and S. Sheerin (eds.) 1999. Learner Independence Worksheets 2. Whitstable: IATEFL

Harrison, L. (ed.) 1996. Learner Independence Worksheets. Whitstable: IATEFL

Oxford, R.L. 1989. Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know. New York: Newbury House

Dear Analía,

My problem is homework. Students (and their parents!) expect it to be set but I only seem to be able to think of rather boring, mechanical and repetitive activities which the students find unmotivating and often don’t do. How can I break out of this depressing cycle? Is there any sort of homework that my students will be interested in doing and that will do them some good? Or am I too idealistic?

Idealistic (Ituzaingó, Prov. of BA)

Dear Idealistic of Ituzaingó,

Why not start by sharing with students the rationale behind homework? It provides students with opportunities for extra-practice and consolidation, it saves class time, it develops autonomy, it fosters good learning habits, it supports the process of language acquisition. If students understand why it's worth their while doing it, they might feel more motivated to do it.

You also ask how to get students interested in homework. Try some of these:

I would also insist on self-correction, i.e. marking homework with a symbol system (e.g. T for Tense, etc.) so that students themselves correct their own mistakes (otherwise, it's the teacher that practises English!). It's also crucial to keep a record of names, marks, problems, and self-corrected exercises. If you show students that you take homework seriously, chances are they will as well.

For further reading on this area, see The Battle Over Homework (Cooper 1994)

Cooper, H. (1994) The Battle Over Homework. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press

Dear Analía,

I have worked as a translator for many years and would now like to start teaching English at home. I feel I could be good at it, but I don't know how to develop this potential, where to find material, and so on. I need to face this challenge as soon as possible. What should I do?

Challenged (La Plata, Prov. of BA)

Dear Challenged of La Plata,

It's good to hear you're keen on teaching and feel confident about your skills – that's a very good start indeed! A necessary step to develop your teaching potential is to become acquainted with language learning principles and ELT methodology.

Ideally, you should train to become a qualified EFL teacher as this will provide you with the tools to be a fully-fledged professional. This will also enable you to make informed decisions and win the recognition of students and colleagues alike. Remember that you may not have to start a teacher education programme from scratch, as some of the courses you took to qualify as a translator might be taken into consideration.

Failing this, you may wish to consider doing a shorter course, such as the Cambridge / RSA Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA).

Dear Analía,

Process Writing, a wonderful innovation with the power to transform students from bored grammar-obsessed drudges to fluent and effective writers – or so people say, at any rate. I have a confession to make: though I have often found myself nodding in agreement to this type of opinion I don't really have any clear idea what process writing is. Something to do with getting the learners to keep doing the same assignment until they get it right? Help! I'm curious to know what process writing means before my ignorance is found out.

Curious (Congreso, City of BA)

Dear Curious of Congreso,

In the context of day-to-day classroom activities the main thing to remember about process writing is that it involves a profound shift in students' (and some teachers') mindsets, away from writing as a way to demonstrate language competence and towards writing as a means of communication, a thing for and of itself.

Research into writers' mental processes has shed light on the cyclical, recursive and complex nature of writing processes. This suggests that in order to help students improve their writing, to provide feedback while their work is still in progress is more beneficial than to judge the finished product. Key terms in the process approach are "multiple drafting", "invention", "revision", "peer collaboration", "making meaning", "content before form".

This approach to writing usually takes place in an informal "workshop" atmosphere. A typical writing task has the following stages: brainstorming and discussing ideas, planning, writing the first draft, peer feedback, revision / writing the second draft, teacher feedback, revision / writing the final draft, teacher evaluation, publishing / sharing. There are many variations on this pattern depending on various factors such as teachers' and learners' preferences, time constraints, and so on, but this methodology can be adapted to suit different teaching contexts.

For a very useful, indeed inspiring, introduction to the process approach see Process Writing (White and Arndt 1991). For a theoretical framework see Theory and Practice of Writing (Grabe and Kaplan 1996).

Grabe, W. and R.B. Kaplan (1996) Theory and Practice of Writing. Harlow: Longman

White, R. and V. Arndt (1991) Process Writing. Harlow: Longman

Dear Analía,

We've had grammar translation, the audio-lingual method, communicative language teaching and heavens knows what else. Now we're enjoined to practise principled eclecticism. My question is: "What's next for ELT?". What's the future orthodoxy that we'll all have to know about? And is it any good? I'm intrigued.

Intrigued (Bariloche, Prov. of Río Negro)

Dear Intrigued of Bariloche,

A fairly recent trend in ELT methodology is Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT). However, there is diversity in the definition of the key term "task". To take one example, Jane Willis (1996: 53) defines it as "a goal-oriented activity in which learners use language to achieve a real outcome". Therefore, the innovation consists of shifting the focus from the language itself to using it for a purpose (i.e. task outcome), whereas with previous approaches language was both the end and the means.

Key features of a task in a language teaching context are: 1) a goal or reason for doing it other than to practise language; 2) an activity, or "doing" something; 3) a non-linguistic product as outcome; 4) the target language is used to complete the task. Other desirable features include cooperation with others and negotiation of meanings, outcomes and/or procedures.

Typical tasks in TBLT are information gap, opinion gap, opinion-exchange, jigsaw, and problem-solving, because (a) language is used as a means of achieving the task outcome, and (b) communication among participants is essential for the task to be completed successfully.

Although there has been a heated debate among second language acquisition (SLA) researchers regarding the efficacy of tasks in promoting language learning / acquisition, many believe TBLT constitutes a milestone in L2 pedagogy. Some argue that tasks help students develop fluency – in the third stage of the traditional PPP (Presentation / Practice / Production) sequence – or that they can even be used to create the need for language, or for diagnostic purposes, if used in the first stage.

Of course some would say that this is hardly ground-breaking and that it's all really only a repackaging of CLT (Communicative Language Teaching). If you want to decide for yourself why not look at Tasks in a Pedagogical Context: Integrating Theory and Practice (Crookes and Gass 1993) and Challenge and Change in Language Teaching (Willis and Willis 1996).

Crookes, G. and S.M. Gass (1993) Tasks in a Pedagogical Context: Integrating Theory and Practice. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters

Willis, J. and D. Willis (eds.) (1996) Challenge and Change in Language Teaching. Oxford: Heinemann

Dear Analía,

I'm concerned about my teenage students' inability to communicate. They don't listen to each other, they shout, they interrupt each other, they all talk at the same time. It's total mayhem! I can see the problem, but I can't work out what I can do to improve the situation.

Concerned (Quilmes, Prov. of BA)

Dear Concerned of Quilmes,

I must confess I'm glad that the first question I've received at the beginning of this academic year is not about how to teach a grammar point or a language skill, but is instead about how to teach the most important of skills: communication.

Your students need to learn to listen to each other, and you will need to devote some class time to "teaching" this skill. How?

Overall, be patient – don't be tempted to fight fire with fire. You’ll only make matters worse if you attempt to outshout them.

Hadfield, J. 1992. Classroom Dynamics. Oxford: OUP

Keller, E. & S.T. Warner. 1988. Conversation Gambits. London: LTP