English Language Teaching in its Social Context

318 MICHAEL P. BREENoutput and directly formative feedback are significantly curtailed (Slimani; Dobinson; Swainop. ut.). If the discourse of a language lesson constraints the kinds of participation whichSLA research identifies as genuine negotiation for meaning, in what ways can we vary thetext, discursive practices and social practices of the classroom so that genuine negotiationfor meaning becomes more possible? If there is a joint conspiracy between a teacher andlearners that predictable and trouble free discourse is preferable to having to work harderwithin it, in what ways might we more overtly mobilise learner efforts to make sense of theunpredictable and to participate directly in resolving both learning and social confusions?The individual effort to confront and reduce complcxity in text through discursivenegotiation with and about that text is the catalyst for understanding and, thereby, anopportunity for further learning (Long 1996).All these considerations directly imply that we should be facilitating the kind ofdiscourse in a language class which is more challenging to its participants than it often is.Such a discourse will positively support the kind of risk-taking among learners that cancontribute to deeper and more resilient level5 of learning. This means focusing upon thepotential inherent in those discursive practices which learncrs are currently obliged to adopt.Given that teachers have the major responsibility in managing the discourse of lessons, howcan we manage it in ways that may maximise such opportunities? Recalling the discursivepractices of learners that I summariscd earlier, alternative ways of managing the discoursemay include the following:Expecting learners to adopt an active and creative role in constructing the tcxt oflessons so that at least two-thirds of it is generated by learners rather than the teacher.Building on the learners’ alertness and adaptability to the inter textuality of lessonsand familiarity with inter-textuality in the first language by encouraging theunderstanding and creation of inventive and diverse combinations of written andspoken texts in the new language.Positively encouraging learner risk-taking so that discursive pressure is seen bylearners as genuine opportunities for creative use of emerging knowledge and skillsrather than requiring responses which may bc judged in personally threatening ways.Enabling learners to make overt and to develop their own on-going learning agcndasso that these may be personally reflected upon and refined and also acted upon in acollective way.Enabling learners to recognise that the inevitable and on-going costs in learningthrough a more challenging discourse of lessons are outweighed by both immediateand long term benefits.Exploring with learners ways in which the emerging culture of the classroom groupcan be adapted and constructed in an on-going way in order to facilitate their ownlearning as a participant in that group.Accepting that lcssons are jointly constructed by teacher and learners together, seekways of engaging learner responsibility for them so that routines and procedures arechoscn and adapted on the basis of overt teacher-learner and learner -teachernegotiation about such things.Appreciating the social risk of doing all these things, facilitate cooperative andsupportive ways of working as a classroom group that respects the identity, difficulties,and relative autonomy of the individual including those of the teacher.Each of these ways of working is, of course, related to one another and, therefore,complementary. The effort to implement one makes it more possible to implement any of