This article is © Copyright 2000 Pilgrims Ltd.  The copyright owners reserve all rights to its reproduction.

Prepare yourself for …….
AN EXPLOSION OF CHOICE
Cast your mind back to life twenty years ago.  You went to a supermarket to buy a toothbrush.  You chose a nice colour one, and that was that.  Today, you could spend hours deciding on your purchase because of the explosion of choice which is so radically affecting our lives these days.  ELT has not been completely immune to this world of change.  For example, students are often invited to choose optional programmes of study, which run in tandem with main courses.

But there hasn’t really been that explosion of choice that we find in the world of the toothbrush and other products and services.  So let’s look at some other possible choices which you might like to consider for your students.

Students could:
EITHER                                      OR
come to class                                                            not come to class

arrive on time for class                                             arrive when they want

stay in class for the whole lesson                             pop out whenever they want

participate fully in all class activities                       choose not to participate in some                
                                                                                 (instead: say “Pass” each time)
-	or choose not to participate for the
whole lesson or day
(instead: say “Pass for the lesson” or “Pass for the day”)
                                                                                  Note: if they decide to “pass”, they leave                                                                                                                                                                                
                                                                                  the room or sit quietly in a corner so that 
                                                                                                   they don’t disturb the other students.

do their own work                                                    cheat

be “hot corrected” in conversation                          be “cold corrected” (or not          
                                                                                   corrected at all)

copy down information from the board                  not copy down information from the 
                                                                                    board

use an English/English dictionary                             use a bilingual dictionary/translator     

work alone                                                                   work with partner(s)

do homework                                                                not do homework

hand homework in on time                                           hand homework in some time later                                                                                      

do directed homework                                                 do their own homework

NB the golden rule is: Students mustn't stop other students from learning.

Some of the above suggestions might seem a little fanciful.  Here are some of the criticisms that could be levelled at them: students are encouraged to be lazy; some students would disrupt other students; teachers may come across as too lenient.

Personally, I have experimented with all of the above with my students (apart from the first two - as we have to follow a college policy on attendance and punctuality).  So far I have not asked for formal feedback on these choices, but I have certainly received no objections to them.  Students just accept this way of doing things from the start.

My belief is that if we can ensure that these new freedoms do not disrupt other students, a culture can be created in which: students feel powerful, important, and free; they do nothing under duress; they will end up participating fully with both their hearts and their minds.  Such a culture could well lead to genuine learner autonomy in a way that enforced learner training can’t.

Paul Bress