Charlie Taylor

Many teacher enjoy teaching grammar and many coursebooks and syllabuses have grammar at the core. But how efficient is grammar teaching, particularly in English with all its flexibility and exceptions. Charlie Taylor argues for caution when teaching it.

Charlie Taylor argues that a key element of communication is often hidden from our learners. Sociocultural elements of the language are hard to discern, particularly if you are not immersed in the culture.

Do you understand the difficulties of a language learner? Are you a good linguist? Do you need a particular language to get a job or study? Charlie Taylor advocates learning a language in order to understand how language learners feel and the challenges they face.

Do your learners worry more about tests than lessons? Do your colleagues put assessment before learning? Are they studying rather than practising? For success in language learning, practice is vital.

Charlie Taylor argues that the traditional ways of assessing language learning do not always give the full picture nor are they necessarily fair. He suggests other aspects to consider such as overall improvement and in-class participation.