ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#43 | October 22, 2012 | ISSN 0975-3036
About Webinar
Webinar Date & Time: November 29, 2012 at 8.00 pm UK time
As we walk down the memory lane of English language teaching, we can see a correlation between the trends in the most popular language acquisition theories of its time, and the application of such assumptions into the language classroom. Whether it be Krashen’s ‘affective filter’ hypothesis translating into humanistic approaches, such as suggestopedia, or Searle’s speech acts giving rise to the functional syllabus, practioners have tried to apply theory to practice in a way that best helps learners to best acquire the language. But we don’t always get it right.
Since the late 1960’s, we’ve seen Hymes refute the focus on grammatical competence, highlighting instead the importance of communicative competence. We’ve had Michael Long talk about the role of interaction in language acquisition and we’ve heard variations on Ellis’s proposition that teachers should not pre-determine the linguistic content of a lesson. We claim we’ve moved into a communicative era of language teaching, but how far are we really from the grammar syllabi of the 1950’s.
About the speaker
Chia Suan Chong is a general and business English teacher and also runs teacher training courses such as the CELTA and the Cert IBET, in addition to cultural training courses. She is a regular conference presenter on topics such as English as a Lingua Franca, Dogme ELT, systmic functional grammar and intercultural pragmatics. She is passionate about languages – she currently speaks 5 – and is fascinated by the interplay between culture, communication, language and thought. Chia blogs regularly at chiasuanchong.com.
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