“Some Things I Believe about Language Teaching” (Michael Swan)

1. Some learners need a high level of correction; some don’t.

2. The most important word in language teaching is “prioritize.”

3. Teaching grammar is building a bridge between what our students know and what they need to know. If the bridge is too long, it will collapse.

4. Learner autonomy is valuable. However, student-centeredness is not always good; some teacher-centeredness is not always bad.

5. Grammar rules are necessary simplifications that languages do not always follow. Our students need to understand that.

6. If the outcome is not positive, don’t worry! Languages are hard to teach and learn.

7. The correct production of a language point is related to its comprehensibility and/or acceptance.

8. Our students’ views about language learning may be wrong or right, but they are always important.

9. We sometimes do not need to tell the complete grammatical truth; some parts have to be sold to buy simplicity and/or clarity.

10. Second language learning is not like first language learning for all kinds of reasons. Our duty as language teachers is not to replicate the first-language-acquisition conditions but to compensate for their absence.

11. “English as a lingua franca” is not a kind of English; it’s a use of English.

Task-Based Learning (Long, 2014)

1. The task, and not the text, is the unit of analysis.

2. Individualize instructions.

3. Promote collaborative learning.

4. Provide negative feedback.

5. Provide rich, and not impoverished, input.

6. Elaborate input instead of simple or (solely) authentic input.

7. Promote learning by doing.

8. Focus on the form.

9. Respect learners’ developmental processes (learner syllabuses).

10. Encourage inductive (“chunk”) learning.