ELF AND TBL: TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN Dave Willis, IATEFL 2009

What does language do? Three ‘macro-functions’: ideational What do you want to say? textual How can you make it comprehensible? interpersonal How do you present yourself? How do you acknowledge your recipient(s)?

What do you think about these utterances in terms of the three macro-functions? 1 He said it had gotten warmer. 2 He’s well fit. (He is extremely attractive) 3 She described me the situation. 4 The house sell already. (The house has already been sold) 5 Oh yes, she very speak English.

A CASE IN POINT I can speak good English. Why would I want to sound like an Englishwoman? Now if I could be Glaswegian – that’s different! I have to explain them three times. Still they don’t understand.

We should not insist on standardised norms English is not the property of any single group of speakers. Prescription is often arbitrary. Prescription fails to take account of the fact that variability is a necessary part of language. Prescription is likely to stifle creativity. Learners will evaluate and adapt input for themselves. Teachers do not insist on these norms anyway.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING? Phonology: No /θ/ as in thin or /δ/ as in this. No ship or sheep contrast. No need for initial /h/.

Grammar: 1. use of 3 rd person singular zero 2. invariant question tags 3. shifts in patterns of preposition use: e.g. We have to study about … 4. extension of collocational field: e.g. take an operation 5. new collocations: e.g. severe criminals 6. creation of new words: e.g. angriness (Dewey, M. 2008: Researching English as a Lingua Franca in RESEARCH (IATEFL Research SIG))

Learners begin with a very lexicalised form of the language. For example: Omission of articles. Omission of BE. Questions marked lexically but not structurally. Predominance of base forms of the verb The learner’s system changes in response to input, but change is moderated by the learner’s disposition to simplify in order to meet communicative demands.

Fluency Accuracy MeaningForm FluencyAccuracyConformity MeaningLanguageForm

FOCUS ON FORM (CONFORMITY) 1.A focus on one or two forms, specified by the teacher. 2.Learners’ language production is controlled by the teacher. 3.The success of the procedure is judged in terms of whether or not learners do produce the target forms with an acceptable level of conformity.

A focus on form: … destabilises the learners system … makes forms salient and facilitates possible acquisition in the future. … enhances motivation by providing specific learning aims. BUT … does not guarantee that the learner will adopt the targeted form.

FOCUS ON LANGUAGE (AUTONOMOUS LEARNING) Learners pause in the course of a meaning- focused activity to think for themselves how best to express what they want to say, or a teacher takes part in an interaction and acts as a facilitator by rephrasing or clarifying learners language. AND…

Success is judged subjectively by the learners according to whether or not they achieve their communicative goals.

THE TASK CYCLE INPUT TASK PLANNING REPORT FOCUS ON FORM Ideational: getting the message across Interpersonal: Self and recipient Textual: Precision and explicitness DECISION TIME !! Meaning Language/ Meaning Form Meaning Ideational: under- standing the input

A tolerant methodology pre-empts the need for standardised norms. The function of a focus on form is to destabilise the learner’s system and offer alternatives, not to prescribe norms. Learners are experienced language users. They know that language varies with the situation of use.

We should not insist on standardised norms Prescription is likely to stifle creativity. Learners will evaluate and adapt input for themselves. Teachers do not insist on these norms anyway. Prescription fails to take account of the fact that variability is a necessary part of language. English is not the property of any single group of speakers. Any prescription is arbitrary.