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The challenge – back to basics or brave new world?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

Robin Goodfellow
Affiliation:
Institute of Educational Technology, Open University
Peter Metcalfe
Affiliation:
Institute of Educational Technology, Open University

Extract

When we decided to put this issue together, we called for contributions from CALL researchers and practitioners who were ‘‥concerned with the teaching of grammar in the post-communicative world…’. We were aware of the contentious nature of such a description – it suggests that the communicative approach is not, perhaps, a complete answer to the question of how to teach languages. Amongst the correspondence we entered into, subsequently, were some exchanges with colleagues who believed we were advocating a retrogressive step. It is only comparatively recently, they pointed out, that language learners have been freed from the shackles of piece-meal learning, drilling, correction and self-monitoring, and allowed to focus on ‘the challenge of communication’

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning 1997

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