Threshold Concepts in EFL

A correspondent (not someone on the course, but a teacher of English in South Korea) wrote;

'I think I've identified a threshold concept that my students aren't getting.

Sometimes I seem to be telling the students they need to talk and not worry about grammar and pronunciation while at other times I correct their grammar and pronunciation. This is very confusing.

A book like "The Color Purple" is a perfect example of this apparent conflict in the language arts, and I think my high school English teacher was trying to make the point with James Joyce.

It's one of those concepts that I had forgotten I had learned. I'm still not exactly sure how to state it.

"Communication is more important than following all the little rules". Maybe?

I replied;

Re. your post above; I'm reminded of George Herbert's "The Elixir", one verse of which goes;

A man that looks on glass,
On it may stay his eye;
Or if he pleases, through it pass,
And then the heaven espy.

At this level it is indeed all too easy to get distracted by the minutiae of language, rather than be aware what one can do with it. And indeed, this is a problem for a classroom-based learner, because in reality unless you are in a country/community which routinely uses the target language, all you can do with it is to seek approval for getting your exercises right. The question of whether what you say in the target language has the desired social or practical effect does not really arise, except perhaps in unscripted role-play.

Unfortunately we do not know very well how to assess that practical competence apart from accuracy and adherence to rules, so the setting may well conspire against real learning. It is interesting to see how Michel Thomas' approach (about which I do not know very much--and remember I am not an expert in this field) tries to get people out of the frame of mind of "I have to learn this" (http://www.michelthomas.com/)

Thoughts?

[I'll post this to the threshold concepts blog and see whether there are any takers...]