This PowerPoint was created by me for an article summary project in the LING 4E03 TESL Methodologies course. I presented it to the students in the 1BB3 class to show them an example of a university PowerPoint. This PowerPoint was used to reinforce the lesson about Visual Aids in Presentations. Later on in the course, the students were expected to create their own visual aids to accompany their presentations.

1. To What Extent Do Popular
ESL Textbooks Incorporate
Oral Fluency and
Pragmatic Development?
LING 4E03 - Article Discussion Lead
Julia Young
November 24th 2017

2. Overview
• Introduction: The Purpose of Textbooks
• The 3 Main Questions
• The Method
• Pragmatics and Fluency
• Brief Discussion
• The Results
• Conclusion: Recommendations for Teachers

3. Describe your ideal
textbook for L2
learning.
What does it contain?
What does it look like?

4. What is the Purpose of a Textbook?
• Lightens the load of the teacher
• Offers direction
• Standardizes the content
• Addresses need of multiple parties (students, teachers,
program directors, publishers)

5. LINC No Language
Instruction
Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2010

6. The Method
• Popular LINC and ESL program textbooks
• Focus on Pragmatics and Fluency
• 12 textbook series (48 individual texts)
• Beginner to advanced levels of
proficiency
• Did not include activities with a cultural
focus

7. 3 Main
Questions
1. To what extent are oral pragmatic
activities represented in several
popular student ESL textbooks?
2. To what extent are oral fluency
activities represented in several
popular student ESL textbooks?
3. What are the strengths and
weaknesses of the pragmatic and
fluency activities found in several
popular student ESL textbooks?

8. Fluency Features
The study examined activities that
would enhance the flow of speech in
the following areas:
• Formulaic speech
• Role-plays
• Repetition
• Preplanning

9. Let’s think about it!
Your experience? Have you
noticed pragmatics/fluency in your
L2 textbooks?
What do you think
the researchers will
find?
Do you think the incorporation
of pragmatic/fluency activities
is important?

10. The Results
Frequency of Pragmatic Activities
Appeared more than 100 times Appeared less than 20 times
• Conversation Strategies
• Requests
• Advice
• Formality
• Politeness
• Compliments
• Thanking

12. The Results
Frequency of Fluency Activities
Fluency Activities # of Instances
Formulaic Language 119
Role Play 104
Repetition 39
Preplanning 8

13. Recommendations for Teachers
Pragmatics
• Use textbooks based on corpus data
• Point out contextual variables for students
Fluency
• Ensure students cannot read answers
• Rotate students through partners and give
them time for preplanning

14. Any Questions?

15. Reference
Diepenbroek, Lori G.; Derwing, Tracey M.. To What Extent Do Popular
ESL Textbooks Incorporate Oral Fluency and Pragmatic
Development. TESL Canada Journal, p. 1, feb. 2014.
http://teslcanadajournal.ca/index.php/tesl/article/view/ 1149