The latest EL Gazette discusses this, starting with another discussion:
Back in December, an intriguing and divisive article appeared in the Guardian. The article, titled ‘English still rules the world, but that’s not necessarily okay’, was written by lecturer in public policy and administration at the University of Ulster, Michele Gazzola. In it, Michele discusses the position of the English language in today’s modern world, and the implications it has for those who speak it as a second language. Specifically, Michele says there is a real cost, financially and socially, to both countries and individuals.
How do we teach and learn the grammar of a language?
The EL Gazette looks at a method :
In this article, teacher Joanna Buckle delves into the grammar discovery approach. But what is it and does it work?
One nineties development in English language teaching was the ‘grammar discovery’ approach. It’s now been around long enough to have been incorporated into a number of textbooks. In this method, students are given a set of examples of a particular grammar point, such as the present simple tense, and asked to extrapolate the rules for its use from the context. But how much theoretical backing does this approach have?
The idea is that students will ‘discover’ the grammar through a series of steps (these might be tasks, language awareness activities, pictures, questions, etc) and will deduce both the form and the meaning from the context(s).
It can be difficult for language teachers to make learning grammar in a language classroom interesting and engaging for students. After all, these rules and rubrics need to be learnt, understood, memorised and then put into repeated practice. So how can teachers make learning key grammar concepts more interesting? This blog post examines the two main approaches to learning grammar (i.e deductive and inductive) and then focuses on the inductive approach (also known as guided discovery) in further detail.
Deductive vs. inductive grammar teaching
It is widely acknowledged that there are two main approaches to teaching grammar in any language. As outlined above, these are known as deductive and inductive approaches.
A deductive approach is when the grammar rule is presented by the teacher and the student produces language based on that rule.
An inductive approach is when the rule is inferred by the student through some form of guided discovery. (i.e the teacher provides the students with a way to discover the rules for themselves.)
Notably the former approach is clearly more teacher-centred. But it does allow language teachers to deliberately highlight the item for attention and can also allow more time for actually practising it in spoken or written form. Given that inductive approaches are more learner-centred, we’ll make that the focus for this blog post, although it is worth pointing out that these approaches are usually most beneficial for students who have a base knowledge of the language. It’s clearly easier to work things out for yourself if you already have some knowledge in a subject.
What is Guided discovery in grammar teaching?
According to the British Council: “Guided discovery, also known as an inductive approach, is a technique where a teacher provides examples of a language item and helps the learners to find the rules themselves.”
In detail, guided discovery is a way for language educators to encourage students to make their own explanations for grammar / language rules with the support and guidance of their teacher. It’s a powerful alternative to the traditional “chalk and talk” approach and aims to mimic the way most people naturally learn a language i.e by picking up the rules as their learning and experience grows.
There's an interesting new book out - with a little video introduction from the author:
From one of our leading experts on disinformation, the incredible true story of the complex and largely forgotten WWII propagandist Sefton Delmer – and what we can learn from him today. Peter Pomerantsev introduces us to Sefton Delmer, the anti-hero of How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler.
“How do you win an information war?” asks Peter Pomerantsev in the introduction to his new book, before addressing its animating question with a personal flourish: “What can you do when those you love . . . slip away from you under a quicksand of lies, and move mentally into an alternative reality where black is white and white is black?”
The critical word here, it took me some time to realise, is “war”. In a war you do everything possible not to lose. It isn’t about posing your better values against the enemy’s, but about undermining popular belief in their “truth”.
Pomerantsev’s main current enemy is Vladimir Putin’s Russia, about whose complex and effective propaganda regime the academic and writer — who was born in Soviet Ukraine to dissident parents — has already written two books:Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible (2014), and This Is Not Propaganda (2019). Both were written before Putin launched his all-out bombs and guns war on his European neighbour.
How To Win an Information War was written in a time when Russians who are contacted by their Ukrainian friends and relatives, and told what is actually happening, usually respond with disbelief and rejection. Ordinary Russians have become unreachable by the living truth. Meanwhile in the US up to 40 per cent of Americans believe that the last presidential election was “stolen” and it is conceivable that the corrupt author of this fiction will become US president again.
So that’s what we face, and few questions keep democrats — conservative or liberal — awake at night like the one that Pomerantsev poses. It’s a question he answers by suggesting to us that we reflect on the extraordinary career of Britain’s top wartime counter-propagandist, Sefton Delmer, who was an all-out commander in the information war against Nazi Germany.
Dedicated to creative opportunity and its power to bring change. Two free cultural destinations – V&A East Storehouse and Museum – will open up the V&A collection for all, celebrate making in all its forms and create new possibilities for everyone.
This week, the director talks to some teenagers about what he wants them to do - and he lets them handle some of the museum's artefacts:
Gus Casely-Hayford, director of V&A East, is on a mission to create a new kind of museum in the Olympic Park. He wants to attract a diverse audience of 16-25-year-olds, the kinds of young people least likely to be found in the great museums of South Kensington. Part of his plan is to take objects from the collection into schools and to tell their powerful stories. So we are with him in a school for students who have been excluded from other institutions as he opens the treasure chest... Gus also shares his own story of discovering art in books and then travelling to museums and galleries, as a terrified teenager, to encounter the real thing. A life-changing experience.
The Radio Times is a weekly magazine listing the UK's TV, radio and streaming - and their Radio listings guide | Radio Times opens out a lot of listening possibilities. Just click on a programme to get more details - and see if you'd like to listen.
The magazine itself has a daily list of recommnded listening - in "Today's Choices" - with a couple of examples here:
There's an interesting town in South West England which is not exactly a 'sleepy, olde-worlde place':
On the ‘Welcome to Totnes’ sign that greets people to the town somebody added ‘Twinned with Narnia’ below it. It’s been removed since by those who don’t have a sense of humour, but to me it’s a perfect description of Totnes. The town has been described as ‘New Age’, ‘Alternative’ and even ‘eccentric’ but however you like to describe it, Totnes is different to any other town in the South Hams, or even Devon for that matter. Totnes - Twinned with Narnia - Easymalc's Wanderings
What’s happening in the Devon town of Totnes? The small town of Totnes in Devon is known for its warmth and open-mindedness, gong baths and healing crystals, but a fault line has emerged between the minority who’ve been drawn in by disinformation laced with hate and those who are fighting against it. Some in the town were drawn into a conspiracy theory movement during the pandemic, one whose monthly marches and rallies persist to this day. A conspiracy theory newspaper called The Light seems to have played a key part in the division there. BBC disinformation and social media correspondent Marianna Spring investigates how the theories that dominate its pages are changing the town.Marianna in Conspiracyland – 1. Entering Conspiracyland – BBC Sounds
This has been challenged by some who, by no means conspiracy theorists,
At the end of my street in Totnes a huddle of people gather around a trestle table each week hawking newspapers. They’re surrounded by rhetoric denouncing vaccines, denigrating the government and even denying climate change. The newspaper is The Light, a controversial print publication that describes itself as the ‘uncensored truth’ with links to inflammatory ideologies and far right figures. As a journalist, I know I should probably stop and find out what they’re about but I know they see me as the MSM (mainstream media) and I fear I’d probably get a barrage of abuse. So even though I happen to love engaging in conversation with people who see the world differently to myself, I tend to cross the high street...
It’s a bit bonkers. But it’s not ‘dangerously crazy’ as Totnes resident Peter Shearn suggested this week. He was interviewed by BBC journalist Marianna Spring for her documentary Conspiracyland which was released on BBC Sounds and Radio 4 and expressed his fears about the impact that The Light and its cabal was having on the town. Conspiracyland documents the rise of conspiracy theories since the pandemic - people who largely believe that Covid-19 and the vaccine are a form of governmental control. Totnes is one of several hubs across the UK where The Light is passed out on the street, but it has become a central focus because it’s a town that has always embraced alternative thinking.
And by making Totnes the central focus, it exacerbates its image as a slightly crazy - even dangerously crazy - place to hang out. In actual fact, it’s a liberal-thinking, sustainably minded, increasingly affluent town where alternative views are embraced. Sometimes those alternative views venture into conspiracy. I loved Marianna Spring's documentary for shining the light on a growing movement that is emerging in many parts of the country. But it's not representative of most of Totnes. It’s a small, straggly band of people with a megaphone giving away a free newspaper that very few read in a tucked away corner of the high street. I would call them the lunatic fringe (maybe because I'm in the MSM). If you don’t like it, just cross the street.I live in 'Conspiracyland' Totnes and it may be bonkers but it's not dangerously crazy - Jacqui Merrington - Devon Live
