PPP and ‘I do, we do, you do’ are easy to observe and evaluate, but they produce what Long called language-like behaviour that doesn’t transfer. Shepherd’s metaphor for ESOL learning: repairing a car while driving it down the motorway with a sick child in the back.
Argument
- “Education as delivery” is the wrong metaphor for language learning.
- Explicit knowledge plus practice ≠ ability to use the language under real conditions.
- Immersion alone gives both confusion and opportunity.
Limits
A conceptual post; he admits the metaphor has holes; no data.
DELTA framing (Claude)
This is the interface debate: no-interface (Krashen), weak interface (Ellis: explicit knowledge aids noticing), strong interface (DeKeyser’s skill acquisition: proceduralisation through practice). PPP assumes the strong interface. Name all three in Module 1 answers.
Connections
Long’s TBLT as the alternative to coursebook PPP · The illusion of learning - correct answers are not acquisition · Grammar should be taught through lexis, not PPP rules