Dr Simon Borg School of Education University of Leeds UK

Simon Borg is Senior Lecturer in TESOL in the School of Education, University of Leeds, UK, where he manages Postgraduate Research Degrees and teaches on TESOL programmes at all levels. His key area of research and PhD supervision is language teacher cognition and his book on the subject, Teacher Cognition and Language Education was published in 2006. His research on teachers' beliefs and practices in teaching grammar has been reported in several journal articles and is also the focus of a new book he is writing. Another specific focus of his research and writing in the last three years has been teachers' conceptions of research. Two edited collections related to his more general interest in supporting teacher research in ELT are Language Teacher Research in Europe (2006) and Classroom Research in ELT in Oman (2006). He has been co-ordinator of IATEFL's Research Special Interest Group since 2002 and also serves on TESOL's Research Standing Committee.

Presentation

Co-habitation or living apart? Perspectives on the relationship between grammar and skills teaching

This talk examines teachers' perspectives on the relationship between grammar and skills teaching. It draws on a survey of teachers of English and case studies of individual teachers to explore the ways in which teachers conceive of this relationship. This analysis of teachers' views and practices allows us to examine a number of broader questions: To what extent are teachers' views of the relationship between grammar and skills teaching congruent with those promoted in the literature on L2 learning? What evidence do teachers draw on in making judgements about how effective their practices in teaching grammar are? What role do formal theory and experiential knowledge play in these judgements? The answers to these questions, while illustrated here with reference to the teaching of grammar, are relevant to an understanding of how teachers think about their work more generally.