1. From authentic texts to authentic language practice Ivor Timmis, Leeds Beckett University

2. Language Practice: towards a balanced view  Lewis (1993: 190): ‘...the model (PPP) is discredited and reflects neither the nature of language nor the nature of learning ’  Swan (2005: 383) : ‘… it is the simplistic equation of ‘practice’ with the behaviourist drilling which characterised the audiolingual method that has perhaps led to an indiscriminate condemnation of practice’.

3. A modest proposal  A text-based approach (TBA) to grammar practice is a very useful string to have to our bow in pursuit of principled eclecticism

4. 2 views of TBA  Willis (2004: 163): … learners process a set of texts to enable them to develop their own vocabulary and work out their own grammar of the language. We can describe this set of texts as a pedagogic corpus  Tomlinson (2013): - The syllabus is a collection of spoken and written texts selected primarily for motivational value - The texts selected determine the language points to be highlighted

5. Authenticity  Texts primarily produced for a communicative purpose  Additional criteria: - Accessible (culturally and linguistically); - Motivating - Variety of genres over a period of study

6. The importance of noticing Thornbury (1997: 326):  Learners must attend to linguistic features of the input that they are exposed to, without which input cannot become ‘intake’.  Learners must ‘notice the gap’ i.e. make comparisons between the current state of their developing linguistic system, as realized in their output, and the target language system, available as input practice.

7. Towards effective practice  Meaningfulness  Integration of fluency and/accuracy  Integration of comprehension and practice  Integration of grammar and lexis  ‘Teacher plausibility’ (Prabhu)

8. ‘Road-testing’ the materials  Two units of materials: intermediate (TBA2) and upper- intermediate/advanced (TBA1)  Pre-use or post-use evaluation  19 respondents; 9 nns; 10 ns; 10 different countries  Highly qualified and experienced

9. Evaluation Questions  Please comment on the rationale for the language activities (e.g. clarity; validity)  Please comment on the language points taught in the language activities (e.g. usefulness, level)  Please comment on the language tasks themselves (e.g. clarity; usefulness; specific tasks you liked or didn’t like)  What are your views on taking this kind of text-based approach to teaching lexis and grammar (in general and in your context)?

10. Contextualisation  It’s obviously a natural way to focus on / ask students to notice key aspects of grammar and lexis (e.g. nominalisation, articles, etc, etc…) because all the language points are contextualised within an authentic text  It’s also possible to look at function within a longer discourse.

11. Motivation  If students are interested in the topic of the text, they’re more likely to be interested in (and remember) the grammatical and lexical points which are included in the lesson  In general, I think this is by far the best way to teach it because of the opportunity for emotional engagement with the text.

12. BOGOF  They get two for the price of one – most academic students need to develop their reading skills in addition to improving their language … In my context I think it’s essential, as ss have so much reading to do – it is a more efficient use of time to use language they have already processed for meaning It’s also possible to look at function within a longer discourse.  Apart from offering variety, there’s a pleasing efficiency about the use of time. 

13. Challenge  The language activities are clear and challenging. They are promoting critical thinking skills and help learners to learn the language.

14. Overload  I thought the language study 2 (TBA1: P3) was useful for academic vocabulary, but the task itself was too hard. Even for me – when I had read the materials and then tried to fill in the blanks without looking back I found it really quite tough.

15. Clarity of Purpose  Sorry, one more, the last direction seems too open-ended. For Indonesian learners, it’s not so clear about the purpose of discussing the examples. (TBA1, P4, Language Practice 1)  What is the rationale behind Read all about it 3? I mean, if the students cannot use the questions they think of in any other activity or find the answers to them, why is this activity included? To me it looks as a little bit “unfinished (TBA1, P2, Read all about it 3)

16. Explicit teaching  TBA1, p3, Language Study 1: Useful but there doesn’t seem to be any explicit focus on the complex noun phrases / use of relative clauses (maybe this is intentional?). When I’m teaching it, I’d want to ask a few more questions, guiding students to notice (even underline) the structure and elicit why it’s used (once we’ve completed the comprehension bit)  TBA2, P2, Language Study 1: How do they learn the meanings of the collocations in LS1 if they don’t know them? Would be useful for them to do more work on what type of collocations they are (v + n) to generate more

17. Multi-tasking  TBA1, P2, Read all about it 2: It takes time to ease students into a text if they’re really going to understand and process the meaning of it. It’s all very well jumping into the grammar and lexis but unless they’ve grasped the main concepts, then there seems little point. But I suppose masquerading a grammar point as a comprehension task may be a subtle and clever alternative.  TBA1, P4, Language practice 1 was pretty fun. They liked this! They weren’t very good at remembering to use the target language, however – it very quickly turned into ‘everyone thinks that’ or ‘people always say’

18. Ecology and Methodology  The rationale is illustrated clearly for the tasks but sometimes the way students look at tasks may be different from the want we want them to

19. Conclusion  Presentation, practice, comprehension and fluency work are separate entities, but the borders are permeable in certain circumstances  Creativity lies in identifying when and where these borders can be permeated to good effect.  It is useful to adopt a broad view of practice as any activity which involves directing concentrated attention to particular language features to help learners internalize them (Ellis 2006)  ‘Road-testing’ materials on a small scale is a very worthwhile process