Dear Everybody,

                         I am well aware that what we have been discussing in this blog cannot be seen as innocent in terms of current, conventional EFL thinking. In my view we have been discussing the extraordinary, unconscious aspects of listening and reading, which are mostly outside what is discussed in applied linguistics, in discussions of evalaution of listening and reading, and in the way publishers present materials for the development of these two skills. The amazing thing, to my mind, is that applied linguists and publishers seem to be under the impression that reading and listening are mainly conscious activities. Let me illustrate this with a quote from a Georgian Press advert in the current issue of the London-based EF Gazette:

Reading Techniques provides:

Coverage of the main reading skills required at this level: skimming, scanning, intensive reading, reading between the lines, speed reading and identifying topics, source and register.

Reading Techniques provides graded practice in 3 common task types: multiple choice, gapped texts and multiple matching

Don't you find it strange that this book should deal mainly with reader conscious intention and should apparently ignore the normal psychological process of reading? Do the authors of the book seriously intend to suggest that reading is a purely technical and cognitive activity and the the reader's emotions, memories and associations have no part of play in the process?

The task types mentioned  in the advert clearly have nothing whatsoever to do with the reading process and are simply absurdities that form a hallowed part of our lazy EFL tradition. Amusingly, they refer to the original text on the page and not to the elaborated and internal schemata-enriched text in each reader's mind.

When I think about some of our EFL practices I do wonder if I am not is a sort of weird Alice through the Looking Glass land.

How about you?

Warmly yours ....Mario ( back in UK)

ps: I can 'hear' some of you "lurkers" out there really strongly disagreeing with what I have been suggesting over the past fortnight  and I would love to hear your views.