Topics for June 19th

Hi Chatters,

This week’s #eltchat topics are as follows:

12BST: What can teachers learn from good managers?

There’s no set pre-chat reading for this one, we were listening to this podcast / radio programme http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01sjj81 and thinking about workplace collaboration – http://www.edudemic.com/2013/06/12-tips-that-will-make-you-an-effective-collaborator/

21BST: Would you consider adopting an ELF approach to pronunciation in your classroom?

This topic was suggested by the a few #eltchatters and @katydavies provided this for your pre-chat musing So I found this IATEFL interview with Mark Hancock, and the first 7 minutes explains a bit more about the basic principles of an ELF approach to pronunciation:

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2013/sessions/2013-04-09/interview-mark-hancock

For a bit more detail about the intricacies of what’s included in the Lingua Franca Core (LFC) and what’s not, here’s an article from the IH Journal:

http://ihjournal.com/the-impact-of-jenkins’-lingua-franca-core-on-the-teaching-of-pronunciation-on-celta-and-delta-courses-by-eleanor-spicer

If anyone’s REALLY interested in the topic, then try and get your hands on Robin Walker’s book ‘Teaching the Pronunciation of English as a Lingua Franca’, which is highly accessible and practical. However, presuming you can’t get a copy where you are (even if you wanted to!), I wondered if we could take Walker’s 10 potential concerns teachers might have about adopting an ELF approach to pronunciation, as a starting point for debate?

These concerns are:
1) An ELF approach will lower standards
2) An ELF approach will make errors acceptable
3) The LFC is a reduced version of native-speaker pronunciation
4) ELF means variation, but mutual intelligibility means a common standard
5) If you take away native-speaker accents, you leave learners without a model
6) You cannot teach an accent that nobody has
7) It is wrong to impose an ELF approach on students
8) A bad accent gives a bad impression
9) Most teachers prefer a native-speaker accent
10) Most learners say that they want to sound like a native speaker

Just to clarify, these are not Walker’s opinions (nor are they mine, for the record). He just raises these potential criticisms in order to go on to explain why he feels they are not justifiable. But they could be a good starting point as a way into the topic. Just a thought! All suggestions welcome 🙂

See you Wednesday,

S,M,J