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Sep 2024
1h 32m

ELT is full of DISASTERS - Dr. Enrica Pi...

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About this episode

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ELT is full of disasters, including the destruction of the communicative approach. Dr. Enrica Piccardo tells us why. 

Dr. Piccardo is a Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Her research spans language teaching approaches/curricula, multi/plurilingualism, creativity and complexity in language education.

She recently published The Action-oriented Approach. A Dynamic Vision of Language Education 2019) Bristol: Multilingual Matters, co-authored with Brian North.

In this episode, Dr. Piccardo discusses: 

  • leveraging the messiness of learning
  • how Headway destroyed the communicative approach
  • multiple disasters in ELT: the separation of languages, the native speaker model, organizing curriculum around grammar, and others
  • how we're still teaching in a grammatical way because it's easier
  • what mediation is, its role in learning, and its 3 types
  • updating the CEFR to include mediation 
  • the link between mediation and plurilingualism
  • the action-oriented approach and its benefits
  • why teachers need to delegate learning

For more from Dr. Enrica Piccardo:

1. Check out her new book here. 

2. Her University of Toronto profile

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