Language Teacher Toolkit: Steve Smith's blog

In my keynote talk to teachers at the NSW Department of Education French Teachers’ Conference in Parramatta (western Sydney) last week I mentioned a phrase I often think of when talking about classroom language learning: intensive input-output work. The phrase was used by ELT writer Michael Swan, for example in an article here:  https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/teachers/knowing-subject/using-texts-constructively-2-intensive-input The idea of intensive input–output work lies at the heart of a long-running debate in second language teaching: how learners move from understanding language to actually using it accurately and confidently.  Michael Swan often pushed back against the assumption that exposure alone is enough for language learning to happen. Most of us would think this is obvious, but keep in mind that some scholars argue that it is only input which builds the language system. Output may play a supporting role in other respects, but input is ...