Abstract
Anderson’s central concern in his ELT Journal article (Vol. 69, No. 3, 2015) is to introduce several helpful changes teachers can make to a regular lesson plan pro forma due to a particular language learning environment and unpredictable events. In introducing these changes, Anderson discusses affordance, learning objectives, and learning opportunities. Affordance is a jargon term, and those who use it should explain and illustrate it in words that everyone can understand. However, Anderson does not explain it very clearly for his readers. Moreover, in Anderson’s entire article, he does not directly tell readers what he means by pro forma plans, also causing difficulties for some readers. What’s more, the logic of changing learning objectives to learning opportunities is questionable. In this paper, the author tries to make the terms “affordance and pro forma” much clearer and give a specific example of lesson pro forma, which aims at helping readers integrate affordance into lesson plan pro forma much better.
Highlights
Comparing language environment with biological environment, Haugen (1972, p. 57) first proposed “ecology of language,” which is about the relationship between language and its environment
Anderson notes that unpredictable learning events [affordances] always emerge in class (p. 229), and he quotes Lightbown and Spada (2013), who say that “learners do not necessarily learn according to the teacher’s objectives.”. He finds that the most commonly used lesson pro formas in language teacher education are premised on an outcomes-based approach to teaching (p. 228), which might ignore unpredicted learning opportunities
3) Think about the unpredicted learning opportunities when the environment provides unpredicted potential meaning which leads to the emergence of unpredicted learning opportunity
Summary
Comparing language environment with biological environment, Haugen (1972, p. 57) first proposed “ecology of language,” which is about the relationship between language and its environment. The term pro forma usually relates to business forms In education it is usually a printed plan with spaces for teachers to fill in. Faced with a particular language learning environment and unpredictable events, ESL/EFL teachers can find in the article by Anderson several helpful changes they can make to a regular lesson plan pro forma. In introducing these changes, Anderson discussed affordance, learning objectives, and learning opportunities. Vol 11, No 6; 2018 points are questionable, others will enable EFL/ESL teachers to be more sensitive about predicted and unpredicted learning opportunities in class as they integrate affordance into the outcomes-based approach to lesson planning
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