Teachers' grammar on the electronic highway: Design criteria for TeleGram

Abstract

This paper discusses the rationale and criteria for developing TeleGram, an electronic grammar database for English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers in Hong Kong. The paper begins by describing the importance of explicit grammatical knowledge in effective language teaching. It then moves on to describe the design criteria for TeleGram, which aims at providing a body of content knowledge and pedagogic content knowledge that is relevant to English language teaching. This discussion addresses two central issues which have implications for the selection and presentation of content for TeleGram: (a) How is a teachers' grammar different from a reference grammar?, and (b) How can information be presented more effectively in an electronic medium than a printed medium? The paper concludes by pointing out that TeleGram is still in its early stage of development and that teacher feedback will be used as a basis for revision.