12 principles of TEFL (Brown, 2002) applied to materials design

It is important to establish meaningful relationships between theory and our teaching practices. One of those theories is related to the twelve principles of TEFL presented by Douglas Brown. Below you will find ideas on how to help students achieve them through the design of didactic activities and materials. I would like to know what you think of these suggestions constructed by my students and me in a course at UPN.

1. Automaticity
Plan activities related to movies, shows, music, etc. in which students (Ss) make their own research about aspects of those topics and then talk about them spontaneously.

2. Intrinsic Motivation
Design activities through which Ss can see the importance of many aspects in the foreign culture (jobs, trips, lifestyles).

3. Risk taking
Create activities where Ss talk about their experiences in relation to the topic being studied.
Promote the use of activities where Ss have to discuss and defend their points of view, without worrying about accuracy.

4. The language culture-connection
Implement activities to compare and contrast their own customs, life styles with those of other English-speaking cultures (e.g. charts, mindmaps, drawings, collages).
Use of cards to compare and find the differences of certain concepts or social aspects in the foreign and the Ss’ culture both in common and uncommon topics. E.g. transportation, housing, etc.
Include maps where Ss can learn vocabulary about places and get familiar with street names.
Use posters with pictures and short stories about customs in the foreign culture.

5. Meaningful learning
Use of real contexts such as those in the news, talk shows, etc, to understand different points of view.
Use games such as “picture dictionary” for vocabulary learning,

6. Communicative competence
Use cards with information to create role plays (the context, the participants, the relationship between participants, the purpose, possible questions they need to ask)
Small group talks about interesting topic for Ss such as music, movies, etc.
Use video/ recordings about culture to generate discussion.

7. Strategic Investment
Use concept maps to lead Ss to represent the concepts discussed in articles.
Create cases where Ss are expected to find solutions.
Devote time to explore the strategies students use when reading, writing, etc. and foster the use of strategies widely used in EFL contexts.


8. (The new) Language ego. The new way of thinking, feeling and acting when you are learning a L2 can easily create a sense of fragility, defensiveness and a raising of inhibitions.
Use flash-cards with role-play games where students can interact and overcome their fear of using the L2
Grade the tasks you design from the simple to the complex, so that Ss get the feeling they are achieving something little by little instead of getting frustrated.

9. Self-confidence
Use self-evaluation charts to help Ss become aware of their learning process so that they can develop their self-confidence.
Use tongue twisters, games, mimics, etc. in which Ss feel relaxed and gain confidence in their abilities.

10. Interlanguage “Succesful interlanguage development is partially a factor of utilizing feedback from others”, teacher can provide it but more important can help learners to generate their own feedback”
Design activities to help Ss understand and compare short stories (whole language approach) and receive feedback from classmates.

11. The Native Language effect
Use the Ss’ knowledge and strategies that they use in their L1 and can be transferred to the L2.
Create oral activities in which Ss can practice in an amusing way the language that can have different patterns in the L1 and therefore cause somehow interference. Later, you can raise awareness on those differences.

12. The anticipation of reward “Although long-term success in language learning requires a more intrinsic motive, the power of immediate reward in a language class is undeniable.”
Praise every little achievement Ss can make with words, gestures or any other symbol that can encourage them to continue learning.
Help Ss reflect on the importance of those achievements for their goal of communicating ideas, feelings, states, points of view in the L2.