TEACHING THOUGHTS #2: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE IKEA FURNITURE ASSEMBLY IDEA

Why do most coursebook exercises require learners to do so little? Why are they so often asked to fill in blanks, to circle things, to match things together or to write T or F? This was a thought that occurred to me recently and it led to some very interesting and disturbing conclusions.

The idea that started to form was that these simple tasks were like IKEA furniture assembly. Students were told to put language back together in the same way they assemble various bits and pieces to construct tables and chairs. The sentences were like the nuts, bolts and bits of wood and all students had to do was figure out how to put them back together correctly.

However, once I understood this idea a new more disconcerting notion started to take shape. Can anybody become a carpenter as a result of putting an IKEA desk together? Obviously not. And by the same token, can anybody really become a more proficient language user as a result of doing these simple coursebook tasks requiring minimal effort? The answer is also no. You just become better at assembly.

So what is happening here? It seems like learners are being asked to demonstrate an understanding of how language functions without being asked to actually produce language themselves. They are being asked to assemble rather than create and that is a worrying tendency in EFL coursebooks.

CALL TO ACTION

What do you think of the IKEA furniture assembly idea? Have you ever noticed something similar in your coursebooks? And how do we make language tasks more meaningful, challenging and engaging?