The End of TENOR: Towards English with a Purpose

I’m presenting the following talk at the TESL NS Fall 2023 conference this Saturday:

The End of TENOR: Towards English with a Purpose
Canadian ELT contexts outside the settlement sector have sometimes been guilty of TENOR: teaching English for no obvious reason (Abbott, 1980). But demand from stakeholders—including students, families, universities and governments—seems to be moving away from general English, toward a more specific English with some type of a purpose, be it English for Specific Purposes (ESP), English for Academic Purposes (EAP), or content-based approaches to language instruction such as content and language integrated learning (CLIL). In this interactive session, we’ll explore the hows and whys of this trend, looking at the evolution of the scholarly debate on the topic, and well as market data and student, agent, association, and government feedback from around the world, including examples. Participants will leave the session with food for thought for their classroom teaching, curriculum design, and program leadership.

Reference: Abbott, G. (1980). ESP and TENOR. ELT Documents, 107, 122–4.