PPP, TBLT and Dogme

Three Big Ideas in Language Teaching

Fernando Guarany

| fernando@guarany.net | Natal, RN

WHY PPP?
1.

PPP HAS A LONG HISTORY IN ELT AND IS PRESENT IN A

NUMBER OF COURSEBOOKS;

2. PPP FORMS THE STAPLE OF MANY PRESERVICE

TEACHER TRAINING SCHEMES;
3. THE AMOUNT OF CRITICISM LEVELED AT PPP.

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WHY TBL?
1.

TBL ALSO HAS A LONG HISTORY IN ELT AND HAS

FOUND ITS WAY INTO CERTAIN COURSEBOOKS;

2. TBL IS RECEIVES MUCH MORE PRAISE THAN CRITICISM

IN THE ELT WORLD COMPARED TO PPP;
3. IT HOLDS MIDDLE GROUND BETWEEN PPP AND
DOGME.

WHY DOGME?
1.

DOGME HAS A RELATIVELY SHORT HISTORY IN ELT;

2. IT HAS BOTH STRONG SUPPORTERS AND FIERCE

DETRACTORS;

3. IT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A GREAT DEAL

OF REFLECTION ON ONES TEACHING PRACTICE.

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:: PPP ::
HOW MUCH DO YOU ALREADY
KNOW ABOUT IT?

PPP :: PRESENTATION > PRACTICE > PRODUCTION

LEARN THE LANGUAGE IN ORDER TO USE IT.

Cognitive Skills learning:

Fact of the matter > declarative knowledge (that > procedural
knowledge (how) > automaticity (doing)
Highly Controlled and Pre-emptive
Organising Unit
The teaching point
Focus
Accuracy
General Outcome
Language produced at sentence level.

PPP :: PRESENTATION > PRACTICE > PRODUCTION

Strengths
Offers teachers and learners a logical sequence;
Particularly useful to newly-qualified Ts (framework/template);
Many learners are comfortable with and expect teacher-led
presentation-driven lessons;
PPP makes teaching measurable (teaching performance can be
rated on how many learners get it.)
Easily integrated into coursebooks;

Weaknesses
It is repetitive (therefore tedious);
Students generally fail to use TL beyond the classroom;
Teacher-centred;
Too much time spent on presentation;
PPP misleads teachers about what makes a good lesson.

TBLT :: TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING

LEARN THE LANGUAGE BY USING IT.
Communicative Approach
1970s Bangalore Project (Prabhu)
Reaction to Audiolingualism
No pre-set grammatical or lexical syllabus
Occasional reactive focus on form
Organising Unit
Task: a goal-oriented activity with a clear purpose > Task cycle
Focus
Fluency
General Outcome
Language produced at a more discursive level

TBLT::

TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING

Strengths
Focus on communication;
Emulates how L2 is used beyond the classroom;
Provides a framework (or template) for application;
High motivation from task achievement and interaction;
Learner-centred (but . . .)
Weaknesses
Insufficient focus on form leads to inaccuracy;
Poor language produced to complete tasks (Comm. Strat);
Not easily applied at lower levels;
Challenging to teachers with lower level of linguistic
communicative competence;

:: DOGME ::
LEARN THE LANGUAGE BY USING IT.
A Dogma for EFL (Thornbury, 2000)

A teaching movement set up by a group of English teachers

who challenge what they consider to be an over-reliance on
materials and technical wizardry in current language teaching.
The emphasis on the here-and-now requires the teacher to focus
on the actual learners and the content that is relevant to them.
(Meddings & Thornbury, 2009:6)

:: DOGME ::
THE FLAVOUR OF DOGME

Education is communication and dialogue. It is not the

transference of knowledge.
Success depends less on materials, techniques and linguistic
analyses, and more on what goes on inside and between the
people in the classroom.
A good teacher cannot be fixed in a routine During teaching,
each moment requires a sensitive mind that is constantly
changing and constantly adapting.

:: DOGME ::
THE FLAVOUR OF DOGME

Education is communication and dialogue. It is not the

transference of knowledge.
(Paulo Freire)
Success depends less on materials, techniques and linguistic
analyses, and more on what goes on inside and between the
people in the classroom.
(Earl Stevick)
A good teacher cannot be fixed in a routine During teaching,
each moment requires a sensitive mind that is constantly
changing and constantly adapting.
(Bruce Lee)

:: DOGME ::
THE THREE PILLARS OF DOGME

Dogme is about teaching that is conversation-driven;

Dogme is about teaching that is materials-light;

Dogme is about teaching that focuses on emergent language.

(Meddings& Thornbury, 2009:7)
...
Organising Unit: Conversation | Focus: Fluency
General Outcome: Language produced at discursive level

:: DOGME ::
Strengths
Highly reactive teaching (at the point of need);
High approximation to how L2 is used beyond the classroom;
Learner-centred;
Highly engaging;
High motivation from interaction, communication and
conversation;
Critiscim
Nothing but inconsequential chat;
Anti-technology;
Anti-coursebooks;
Hard to use at lower levels (and by newly-qualified teachers);
For lazy teachers who wont plan lessons.

:: DOGME ::
Strengths
Highly reactive teaching (at the point of need);
High approximation to how L2 is used beyond the classroom;
Learner-centred;
Highly engaging;
High motivation from interaction, communication and
conversation;
Weaknesses
Nothing but inconsequential chat;
Anti-technology;
Anti-coursebooks;
Hard to use at lower levels (and by newly-qualified teachers);
For lazy teachers who wont plan lessons.

:: CONSIDERATIONS::
Baby and bathwater syndrome (Penny Ur ABCI, 2012)
. . . sense of plausibility . . . (Prabhu, 1990)

A language pedagogy that is principled and localized,

determined by the teacher(s), informed by reflection on
experience and other professional knowledge sources.
(Penny Ur | ABCI, 2012)

fernando@guarany.net

Thanks very much!

fernando@guarany.net