ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#48 | November 26, 2012 | ISSN 0975-3036
Eric Roth says, “Do our students need to swim in English? Or do they need to focus on avoiding minor grammar mistakes? Should we encourage our students to speak as much English as possible? Or should we paralyze our students with exaggerated fears?
Okay, these are rhetorical questions. Yet our ESL students – even advanced ESL students – don’t have to be perfect; they have to be understood. Alas, many – far too many – English classrooms still focus far more on grammar than authentic communication skills. Our students need to speak clear, comprehensible English. Practical knowledge, not abstract theory, should be the focus of our English classes. English remains a tool and just a vital tool for our students to reach their life goals in the United States, Canada, Australia, or the United Kingdom. Here is a short list of important questions for our English language learners.
- Can they order food in a nice restaurant?
- Can students fill in government forms?
- Can they understand classified ads – online or in a paper?
- Can they negotiate prices at a yard sale?
- Do they understand a frontpage newspaper article?
- Are ELLs able to confirm information?
- Can adult students make clear recommendations?”.
Read the full article here: compellingconversations.com/blog/
In this seminal article Swain discusses the problem of teachers while assessing the students while going through hordes of student podcasts and video clipping. The problem of copyrights and litigations arising out of students working online needs to be re-addressed.