Editing Openai/68dbfe17-7fb4-800b-a4e8-28b4e7e38928 (section)

=== User: Can you challenge me on the points I make here with a view to me finding better ways of expressing them? ===
Can you challenge me on the points I make here with a view to me finding better ways of expressing them? 
These two quotes are from a recent article by Richard Chinn in the latest issue of TUG:  

"Emergent language in English Language Teaching refers to any unplanned language that arises naturally during classroom interactions."

(I don't think the word 'unplanned' is needed here. Alternatively, 'communicative use of language' would be better to indicate that it is not the language produced as part of a grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation exercise.)

"Emergent language is a dynamic and organic aspect of language learning that occurs when students and teachers engage in real-time
communication."

Emergent language is the language that students use communicatively either in spontaneous speaking or in writing as long as the aim is to communicate or share their ideas or points of view. It can be exploited by the teacher to help individuals or the whole class learn some aspect of the language that the teacher considers worth spending his, the individual's or the class's time on. 

But even if it isn't exploited, it is still 'emergent language'. Using 'emergent language' is simply what learners of a language do when they use the language communicatively. Using the language even without any pedagogical feedback is part of the process of learning a language.

Is a teacher needed to exploit emergent language? No, nowadays emergent language can be exploited by learners themselves because they can ask GenAI for responses of many different types to their spoken or written output. The types of response can be limited to corrections, but is much more productive when learners ask for alternative ways of saying what they were saying that are better or simply equally good ways. These may involve individual words or sentences, but can refer to the whole 'text'.

Learners would do well to experiment with using different prompts asking for different types of feedback and seeing which they prefer. This may vary depending on 'text'.

Some proficient speakers of a language may ask for suggestions on 'how to make this email sound more professional, or appropriate.' If they simply copy and paste the new text into their email, they will learn little unless they try to write a similar email on another occasion without needing to ask for help from GenAI.

Task repetition is a way of trying to put into practice what one has learnt from feedback from whatever source. How exactly similar the task should be is a matter for debate, but in the case of a spoken task recorded by a student in class, the repeated task can be exactly the same if it is a monologue.

Should the task repetition be done immediately, or after a while? How long should that while be and should the task be repeated again and again at longer and longer intervals? Any sportsman or woman would answer that practice makes perfect, but language learners and players would all agree that enough practice is enough and they relish the thought of applying their improved skills in a new situation or contest.

Can learners learn to seek feedback and use it effectively without  need of a teacher? Maybe, but a teacher can make that learning happen faster and more efficiently and should be part of any teacher's 
aims and responsibilities for encouraging learners to become autonomous life-long learners.