Instructional language: a warning

stricUy mechanicalmanner should look at the many imaginativeprograms now available.

The computer's ability to display text and then delete words, jumble texts, move bits
oftext about on the screen, etc, and above all the way it can offer the student choices
about what action to take, make it ideal for practising some of the text attack
strategies. Authoring programs are available which enable teachers to use their own
choice of texts - all that is needed is simple keyboard skills to type them.

we shall not say much about computers in the chapters that follow, mainly because
most teachers still do not have access to them, and because the programs available are
changing all the time. But they are to be welcomed if you have the opportunity to use
them. A good introduction to computers in language learning (CALL) is Jones and
Fortescue 198?; those with some experience of computers will finrl many ideas in
Hardisty and windeatt 1989.,uK publishers currenily offering cALL programs
include cambridge universlty Press and Longman (addresses in Appendix D).

fnstructional language:

a warning

teit attack skills often sound quite complicated if you try to

describe them, as you will find particularly in chapters 6 and T. sonre of them are
actually complicated; others are not, but are difficult to describe in simple language.
Tasks for training the

It is not helpful if the task offers more problems than the text. The students must at

least be clear about what they have to do. The best solution is usually to demonstrate

first; working through a similar task with the class should ensure that everyone
understands it. Ifyou yourselfare unsure about the way a task works, try it out with
colleagues before attempting it with students,

Occasionally, with a monolingual class, instructions in the Ll are the most efticient
solution, provided you do not allow the Ll to take over. If neither demonstration nor
instructions in the L1 serve the purpose, have another look at the task to see whether
it is worth the effort.It is better to reject a task than spend most of your class time

explaininghow to do it.

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