Too much choice = a self-defeating tyranny?

Voice and choice! Right?

Well, if the sheer volume of content under my “choice” tag is any indication, I believe so.  I’m convinced by research on autonomy and purpose that if we can give students options that speak to their inner motivation, then and only then will we end up with significant percentages of proficient speakers out of language class programs, instead of just another generation of monolinguals who took some language class.

But I’ve wondered aloud about questions like, for example, what the autonomy-based idea of Genius Hour could possibly look like in a class where students don’t have any language yet to be creative with.  Is “voice and choice” an appropriate mantra in language class, without any caveats?

Maybe not, says this recent research from Anastasia Mozgalina.  Her article testing self-determination theory within task-based language teaching gives us some important implications for the concept of choice in language class.  Watch the video to find out what they are.

For more background on task-based language teaching (TBLT), see Elliott Goodman’s Black Box videocast on that methodology.

The Musicuentos Black Box is a collection of media resources intended to bridge the gap between Second Language Acquisition research and teacher practice in the classroom.  For more information about the project, including information on how you can help keep this resource freely available to teachers everywhere, visit the Black Box page.  We deeply appreciate the support of the world language teaching community who have made the very successful launch of this project possible this year.