Steve Oakes: “Speakers are never alone, even when talking to themselves.”

 

Steve Oakes is the Head of Teacher Training at International House Budapest. He is CELTA and DELTA certified. He is also an imposter. Here are some of the errors that I found in his latest blog entry.

“The articulation of knowledge, observations, opinion and feeling in a social context (i.e. a context where the speaker is not alone—and speakers are never alone, even when talking to themselves)….”

• This doesn’t make sense. If speakers are talking to themselves, they are, by definition, not alone. Steve Oakes is probably trying to say that a person is not alone, even when he or she talks to himself or herself; however, this would not make sense either. When a person who is alone talks to himself or herself, he or she is still alone.

“Well, guess what: the quality, sophistication, accuracy, length, depth, etc of the students’ speech was significantly better when the interlocutor maintained eye contact.”

• This is an agreement error. This sentence has a plural subject. The verb should be “were,” not “was.”
• Steve Oakes is saying that the sophistication was better. This is not proper usage.
• Steve Oakes fails to cite the research.

“I also suspect that you don’t need research to convince you….”

• I would say “convince yourself.”

“Think of someone whom you regard as a good listener—the best listener you’ve ever known. Try to identify what it is they do that’s different from what most people do. How do they make you feel listened to?”

• This is an agreement error. “[S]omeone” is a singular pronoun. “[T]hey” is is a plural pronoun.
• “How do they make you feel listened to?” is awkward.

“…and focus entirely on the student and what they’re saying.”

• This is an agreement error. “[S]tudent” is a singular noun. “[T]hey” is is a plural pronoun.

“Combine your best powers of empathy with the golden rule (‘Do unto other…’)”

• According to dictionary.com, the golden rule is usually phrased as “Do unto others….”

See more errors committed by Steve Oakes…

 

Original source URL: http://teacher-training.hu/the-lost-art-of-listening/#more-1134

Copy that I made of original source on 05-12-2013: https://docs.google.com/file/d/14Q0UksU9UmhA-JM-eKslZsHd_wN_kEPhS96ZCg1avZlcwR3TzvHPXHcRXJhj07-smKMjhLXHs5fFHFbP/edit