A ground plan for teaching 

1. Syllabus design  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
With all due respect to the profession this article is based on the assumption that we are 
obsessed with ​product​. The two are not incompatible. My intention today is to try to redress 
the balance. 

2. SLA Research
 
Strong Form CLT 
 
"There is, in a sense, a `strong' version of the communicative approach and a `weak' version. 
The weak version which has become more or less standard practice in the last ten 
years, stresses the importance of providing learners with opportunities to use their 
English for communicative purposes and, characteristically, attempts to integrate such 
activities into a wider programme of language teaching... The `strong' version of 
communicative teaching, on the other hand, advances the claim that language is 
acquired through communication, so that it is not merely a question of activating an 
existing but inert knowledge of the language, but of stimulating the development of 
the language system itself. If the former could be described as `​learning to use' 
English​, the latter entails `​using English to learn it'​"  [Howatt, 1984] 
 
Meaning-driven instruction: 
 
"One learns how to do ​conversation​, one learns how to ​interact​ verbally and out of 
this interaction syntactic structures are developed" [Hatch 1978.] 
 
"It is the​ need​ to get to get meanings across and the ​pleasure​ experienced when this 
is achieved that ​motivates​ second language acquisition". (Rod Ellis) 
 
"It is not yet clear which kind of instruction works best but there is evidence to 
suggest that focusing learners' attention on ​forms​, and the ​meaning​ they realize in the 
context of ​communicative​ activities, results in successful language learning".  [Ellis 1994 
] 

1
 
Lightbown found that learning appeared to be optimal in "those situations in which 
the students knew​ what they wanted to say ​and the teacher's interventions made 
clear to them that there was a ​particular way to say it​" [1991:209].   
 
Learners are better able to attend to and use information that is presented to them at a 
moment when​ they are the initiators of the utterance​ than when the attention to the 
form is presented only "preventively (Long 1996) 
 
The rules and forms learned in isolated grammar lessons may be remembered in similar 
contexts, but they may be harder to retrieve in the contexts of communicative 
interaction. Language features ​noticed​ in ​communicative interaction​ may be more 
easily retrieved in such contexts.( Segalowitz & Gatbonton 1994 in Lightbown 1998) 
 
The challenge of determining what learners actually notice remains a difficult one . However 
explicit instruction can be given without stopping the flow of interaction. It may be 
sufficient to intervene for less than a minute before resuming the task or conversation 
at hand. But the explicit focus on form will have been provided precisely at the time 
when the learner is able to see the relationship between ​what was meant ​and ​how it 
should be said​. (Lightbown 1998) 
 
 
3.Statement of objectives   
 
Maximise​ opportunity for​ interaction.  
Interaction with ​each other​, with​ text ​and with t​ eacher 
 
Get/Have​ real people ​talking/reading etc about​ real things.   
 
 
4. The 3 basic processes​ are:  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

2
 
 
 
 
5. The 2 basic classroom procedures ​are:  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Comprehension and production are problematic in language classrooms   
 
Teaching is​ solving​ these problems 
 
Teaching is then helping sts to understand text and express themselves 

"Good teaching involves a most mysterious feat - sitting , so to speak, on one's

listeners shoulder, monitoring what one is saying with the listener's ears, and using
this feedback to shape and adapt one's words form moment to moment so that the
thread of communication never breaks. This is an art." Michael Swan 1994
 
6. Classroom interaction   
 
Teacher 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Materials Students 

3
 
Minimise the amount of material !! 
 
An ​idea​ is worth a thousand pieces of material 
 
 
 
 

7. Task design  Communicative "desire"

Tasks that provide a need to speak and to listen:

1. choosing​ - e.g. the scariest story, the strangest coincidence, the most unusual
present, the best antidote for hiccups...
2. proving​ - e.g. that there are no vegetarians in the class, that everyone has been
overseas etc
3. recoding​ - e.g. reporting results of survey, find someone who...
4. comparing​ similarities and differences - spot the difference; whose holiday
was most similar/different?
5. matching​ - choosing a combination of holiday (resort, hotel, month) and
milling to find a travel companion
6. ranking​ - agreeing on the order of importance of a set of items, e.g. 10 items to
take on a camping trip.
7. allocating​ - e.g. agreeing on how a fixed sum of money is to be distributed
between different charities.
8. guessing​ - e.g. students as famous people, milling, asking biog questions,
guessing who.
9. discriminating​ true/false - e.g. ten facts about me, some of which are true,
some false; three stories - one a lie.
10. transcoding​ - describe and draw, draw a floor plan of my flat, fill in details of
my family tree.
11. negotiating​ - e.g. arranging a compatible time to meet; planning an outing -
different students with different info/needs/budgets etc
12. reaching a consensus,​ e.g. adapting a statement to represent all points of view:
"Smoking should be banned".

© Scott Thornbury 2000

(adapted from ​A Framework for Task-based Learning
Jane Willis, Longman 1996)

8. Possible Planning strategy:  

 
 
1.Visualise an output task or activity-type, i.e speaking or writing, and make this the core of 
the lesson. 
 

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2.Think of how this task/activity could be made relevant to the learning context and/or to 
"real life", and formulate your communicative aims. 
 
3.Think of the most economical route to the output task, e.g. input in the form of a text 
(listening/reading), and think of an appropriate post-task stage. You now have the beginning, 
middle, and end. E.g.​ input-> output -> feedback 
 
4.Think of ways of ​reducing the materials​ control of the lesson, e.g. by utilising  student or 
teacher input. 
 
5.Think of ways students could benefit linguistically from the text and/or the task, and 
formulate your linguistic aims. 
 
6.Think of how at all stages you can maximise time-on-task, and minimise time spent setting 
up/preparing/pre-teaching etc.  
 
7.Think of ways of maximising student interaction and involvement: is there anything ​you 
plan to do that the​ sts​ could usefully do just as well? 
 

9. The state of mind - ​the teacher´s attitude 

 
1. As a teacher I am more meaning focused than form focused.  
 
2. I am more of an interlocutor than a pedagogue.  
 
3. I have a personal interest in sts rather than just an interest in their level of language.  
 
4. My response to error is facilitative rather than corrective.  
 
5. I see teaching as problem solving rather than problem preventing. Teaching is reactive 
rather than pre-emptive 
 
6 . I see language as text rather than decontextualised sentences.  
Text can be written or spoken. Texts are functional. There is always a purpose.