Are commercial texts dull, and does this impact on their effectiveness as materials for communicative teaching?

Two and a half weeks at St Andrews as a Course Director, and now I've got to get back in the saddle with this dissertation.

The research project I'd begun, comparing pen-and-paper with keyboard writing test responses has run into the sand through a shortage of respondents. Maybe that's a blessing in disguise, maybe I was on the wrong track with language testing, and should get back to Critical Pedagogy and Discourse Analysis. I purely practical real-life terms, I think I must.

So, the title of this post is the working title - I need to sharpen it somewhat. I'll do this at Durham, where I've got time, a library and access to EAP students to interview. I'll hammer out the details this weekend and seek my tutor's approval on Monday.

I can always pick up the reins of Language Testing again if a promising research scholarship rears its head.

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