{"id":3529,"date":"2012-06-23T11:15:43","date_gmt":"2012-06-23T10:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltchat.com\/?p=3529"},"modified":"2012-06-23T11:15:43","modified_gmt":"2012-06-23T10:15:43","slug":"3529","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/2012\/06\/23\/3529\/","title":{"rendered":"The Next Big Thing &#8211; what is it?  Is ELT becoming a fad-driven profession #ELTchat Summary 20\/06\/2012"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Fads, trends and robots taking over the world!\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<div id=\"post-body-8457438072704088924\">\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-6esxLO5qhfo\/T-Vos55ozMI\/AAAAAAAAAY0\/fndWe182qmI\/s1600\/NBT.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px;\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-6esxLO5qhfo\/T-Vos55ozMI\/AAAAAAAAAY0\/fndWe182qmI\/s1600\/NBT.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"273\" height=\"185\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>This is a summary of the #eltchat held at 12noon BST on Wednesday 20th June, 2012.\u00a0 The full title of the chat was:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><strong>&#8216;The Next Big Thing &#8211; what is it?\u00a0 Is ELT becoming a fad-driven profession?&#8217;<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>I have to admit that I wasn&#8217;t particularly inspired by this topic and I certainly didn&#8217;t vote for it, but, as often happens with #eltchat, as we got going, it turned out to be a fascinating discussion with lots of interesting and thought-provoking ideas being put forward.\u00a0 It was expertly moderated, as usual, by @Marisa_C and @Shaunwilden.\u00a0 This was particularly important on Wednesday as it was quite a confusing chat with several threads running simultaneously.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll do my best to make some sense of it!!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Defining Terms<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>The discussion began with several of us opting to &#8216;lurk&#8217;, unsure as to what we were actually going to be talking about.\u00a0 What exactly did we mean by &#8216;fad-driven&#8217;?\u00a0 Indeed, what is a &#8216;fad&#8217;?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>@cerirhiannon suggested that a fad is a new idea that quickly gathers a lot of followers, but questioned whether the word &#8216;fad&#8217; implies a degree of mindless fashion-victim like behaviour, taking things on but not really thinking them through.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>@GenkiSarah said that, for her, &#8216;fads&#8217; are the things she leaves conferences excited about trying.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>@theteacherjames said that, to him,\u00a0the word &#8216;fad&#8217; suggests &#8216;here today, gone tomorrow&#8217;, but wondered whether one person&#8217;s fad is another person&#8217;s innovation.\u00a0 I agreed that it has a negative connotation.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>@trylingual asked whether fads are all style and no substance.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>@JoHart suggested that often an established pedagogic approach in another field is picked up by ELT, given a new name and becomes a fad.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>So, if &#8216;fad&#8217; is not the right word, what should we be using?\u00a0 The concensus was that &#8216;trend&#8217;, &#8216;innovation&#8217;\u00a0or &#8216;fashion&#8217; were preferable terms.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-6x2CV-Vn0i0\/T-VrWKwnYFI\/AAAAAAAAAZE\/dYeeLl_NV1c\/s1600\/rubiks+cube.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-6x2CV-Vn0i0\/T-VrWKwnYFI\/AAAAAAAAAZE\/dYeeLl_NV1c\/s1600\/rubiks+cube.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"222\" height=\"227\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Recent &amp;\u00a0current fads (trends) in ELT<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>It was agreed that\u00a0<strong>technology<\/strong>\u00a0per se can no longer be considered to be a fad, but that\u00a0<strong>tools\u00a0<\/strong>within it can be.\u00a0 @bcnpaul1 suggested that some stick and some don&#8217;t and that the ones that do tend to be those that encourage student-generated content.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>@MellynEducation asked whether\u00a0<strong>tweetchats<\/strong>, including #eltchat, could be a fad.\u00a0 #Eltchat devotees quickly quashed this idea and insisted that we are here to stay!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><strong>Apps<\/strong>\u00a0were put forward by @cerirhiannon.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>Could\u00a0@Shaunwilden&#8217;s dreaded d-word (aka\u00a0<strong>dogme<\/strong>) be a fad?\u00a0 Perhaps not, as it&#8217;s been around for some time!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><strong>Corpora, task-based learning, return to translation, extensive reading &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong>all proposed by @michaelgriffin.\u00a0 (The latter was disputed by @theteacherjames who felt there was too much evidence to consider it to be a fad.)<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>@Marisa_C suggested\u00a0<strong>edtech<\/strong>, but as a trend, definitely not a &#8216;fad&#8217;!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><strong>Audiolingualism\u00a0<\/strong>was suggested by @GenkiSarah, but others thought it had been around too long to be considered a fad.\u00a0 As @trilingual pointed out, it is still being used in some teaching contexts with new technology being used as a vehicle for it.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>@teacherphili said that he would put\u00a0<strong>flipping<\/strong>\u00a0under the &#8216;fad&#8217; heading, leading to a discussion as to whether the flipped classroom was indeed a fad, an innovation or the &#8216;next big thing&#8217;.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><strong>mlearning\u00a0<\/strong>put forward by @trylingual &#8211; an excuse for students to use their phones or genuine engagement?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>@kevchanwow suggested\u00a0<strong>grammar flooding<\/strong>\u00a0where the teacher picks a grammar point and then gives loads of authentic input, something which many of\u00a0us probably already do without giving the technique a name.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><strong>The Silent Way\u00a0<\/strong>was\u00a0put forward\u00a0because, even though it has been around for over fifty\u00a0years, it has recently attracted newproponents\u00a0and has been given fresh credence in the classroom, although, as @JoHart pointed out, being silent is very difficult in today&#8217;s virtual classroom because students just think there&#8217;s a problem with the audio!!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><strong>Pecha Kucha\u00a0<\/strong>suggested by @JoHart and seconded by @michaelgriffin as meeting all the criteria for &#8216;faddishness&#8217;.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-SLvBAPVHJb8\/T-VrtRd9BbI\/AAAAAAAAAZM\/D1dddnp_Wjs\/s1600\/bandwagon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"border: 0px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 15px;\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-SLvBAPVHJb8\/T-VrtRd9BbI\/AAAAAAAAAZM\/D1dddnp_Wjs\/s1600\/bandwagon.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"229\" height=\"220\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>And what might the &#8216;next big thing&#8217; be?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>@RoyaCaviglia suggested that it might be the introduction of interactive course tablets to replace coursebooks.\u00a0 Indeed, several contributors thought that we might be heading towards\u00a0<strong>a coursebook free classroom<\/strong>.\u00a0 This idea is supported by the amount of work publishers are doing on online resources, including digital coursebooks which are editable by the user.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>@ElkySmith asked whether it might be<strong>\u00a0English Profile<\/strong>, a corpus-based description of what learners should and shouldn&#8217;t be able to do at different levels.\u00a0 He suggested that it could have a big impact on what we teach, and when and how we teach it.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><strong>Self-directed learning<\/strong>\u00a0via technology was put forward by @trylingual though @cioccas pointed out that she&#8217;s already been doing this for years!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>@Marisa_C suggested that\u00a0<strong>the study of how the brain functions<\/strong>\u00a0and acquires language might change the way we teach, as put forward in Zull&#8217;s talk at IATEFL Glasgow 2012.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><strong>&#8216;Pick &#8216;n&#8217; Mix&#8217; blended courses<\/strong>\u00a0were put forward by @fionamau.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><strong>Webinars\u00a0<\/strong>were suggested by @BrunoELT as the &#8216;next big thing&#8217; in PD, something I wholeheartedly agree with &#8211; in fact, I was\u00a0taking part in a\u00a0webinar shortly after #eltchat\u00a0finished.\u00a0 @bcnpaul1 went on to explain the use of webinars in the\u00a0<strong>flipped classroom<\/strong>\u00a0where they are\u00a0viewed pre-class and then followed-up face-to-face in the lesson, offering input and freedom &#8211; the best of both worlds.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>@harrisonmike suggested\u00a0<strong>game-based language research and teaching.<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>@kevchanwow hoped that the &#8216;NBT&#8217; might be\u00a0<strong>valuing teachers<\/strong>, but realised that this was probably too radical an idea!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>@michaelgriffin wondered if\u00a0<strong>robot teachers\u00a0<\/strong>might be the &#8216;next big thing&#8217;!\u00a0 We hear that they might already be a reality in Korea!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Nominated for the &#8216;best tweet of the day award&#8217;,\u00a0from @ij64:<\/span><\/h2>\n<div><\/div>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>NBT will be the iFad!<\/strong><\/h3>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-hj7kbkWVTbQ\/T-VsbIMH-mI\/AAAAAAAAAZU\/VhtvBcXHYqQ\/s1600\/robot+teacher.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-hj7kbkWVTbQ\/T-VsbIMH-mI\/AAAAAAAAAZU\/VhtvBcXHYqQ\/s1600\/robot+teacher.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"230\" height=\"172\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>So is ELT &#8216;fad-driven&#8217;?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>@esolcourses suggested that teaching has always been driven by &#8216;the next big thing&#8217; to some extent. @bcnpaul1 agreed, but felt that this was no bad thing as it moves things on, to which @esolcourses responded by saying that sometimes we just go round in circles! @bcnpaul1 agreed, but argued that the circle gets it a bit more experienced each time it goes round!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Several of us pointed out that, because things move so quickly in our profession, we are still trying to catch up and learn about ten year old &#8216;fads&#8217;!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8216;Fad-driven&#8217; or not, I pointed out that it&#8217;s human nature to be curious about developments in your professional field and that we pick and choose the best of them to use in our teaching context. As @trilingual reminded us, we are an outward and forward looking profession, always seeking new and effective ways to teach. The key is to find and use a combination of all the best things out there, which, as @bcnpaul1 said, is what good teachers do!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Potential problems arising from being &#8216;fad-driven&#8217;<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>As pointed out by @bcnpaul1, one of the main problems is that the &#8216;next big thing&#8217; often mocks what came before, even though what came before is still valid in the present.\u00a0 There&#8217;s a danger that we throw the baby out with the bath water (@cerirhiannon).\u00a0 In the constant quest for the &#8216;next big thing&#8217; we sometimes dismiss tried and tested techniques as being &#8216;old hat&#8217; which I think is a shame.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Finally<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>I&#8217;ll give the last words to @kevchanwow who said, &#8216;I think we need to keep ourselves fresh.\u00a0 The teacher must be the number one learner in the room and that means trying out new things&#8217;, and to @JoHart who\u00a0said, &#8216;we should always embrace the possibility of the new, but we need to be discriminating and use what our professional judgement says works for a specific group&#8217;.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/englishprofile.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">An explanation of English Profile<\/a>\u00a0via @ElkySmith<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/iatefl.britishcouncil.org\/2011\/sessions\/2011-04-18\/cambridge-university-press-signature-event\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A session on English Profile at IATEFL Brighton<\/a>\u00a0via @ElkySmith<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tesolacademic.org\/msworddownloads\/BritishCouncil2012.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A British Council paper on Computers and Learner Autonomy<\/a>\u00a0via @TESOLacademic<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/eventcenter.commpartners.com\/se\/Meetings\/Playback.aspx?meeting.id=814740\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A webinar which includes ideas on grammar flooding<\/a>\u00a0via @kevchanwow<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Silent_Way\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">An explanation of The Silent Way<\/a>\u00a0via @GenkiSarah<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/iatefl.britishcouncil.org\/2012\/sessions\/2012-03-23\/plenary-session-james-e-zull\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A link to James Zull&#8217;s plenary talk at IATEFL Glasgow 2012<\/a>\u00a0via @Marisa_C<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/iatefl.britishcouncil.org\/2012\/sessions\/2012-03-23\/plenary-session-james-e-zull\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The article on which the Zull talk was based<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cte.cornell.edu\/resources\/pdfs\/zull.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the powerpoint<\/a>\u00a0via @stiiiv<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/iatefl.britishcouncil.org\/2012\/sessions\/2012-03-22\/plenary-session-steven-l-thorne\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steven Thorne&#8217;s plenary talk at IATEFL on game-based language teaching<\/a>\u00a0via @harrisonmike<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">About the Author<\/span><\/h2>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/10796823288336562775\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 8px;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_Fguk2z_CWRU\/Srtkdrni_vI\/AAAAAAAAAE4\/jCAyaYx2Mis\/S220\/DSC01068.JPG\" alt=\"My Photo\" width=\"53\" height=\"80\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/10796823288336562775\" rel=\"author\">Andrea Wade<\/a>\u00a0 or @worldteacher<\/p>\n<dl>\n<dd>In her own words&#8221; &#8220;I am an EFL teacher and world traveller, currently living in Binh Duong, Vietnam, having recently completed two years in Treviso, Italy. Together with my husband, Mark, I try to enjoy every single day.&#8221;<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fads, trends and robots taking over the world!\u00a0 This is a summary of the #eltchat held at 12noon BST on Wednesday 20th June, 2012.\u00a0 The full title of the chat was: &nbsp; &#8216;The Next Big Thing &#8211; what is it?\u00a0 Is ELT becoming a fad-driven profession?&#8217; I have to admit that I wasn&#8217;t particularly inspired&hellip; <br \/> <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/2012\/06\/23\/3529\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[31,43,91,101,120,129],"class_list":["post-3529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-summary","tag-coursebooks","tag-dogme","tag-online-teaching","tag-professional-development","tag-teaching-methods","tag-web-2-0"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3529\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}