ELT in Brazil

It is high time we address the elephant in the room. This blog entry is the materialization of ideas I have been mowing in my head for some time with the help of several colleagues who share my concerns.

Some time ago, a rather unusual publishing business model arose. One in which you are invited to pay a certain amount of money (a.k.a ‘buying-selling’) to the publisher in order to write and publish a chapter in a book on a specific topic ranging from travel English, to inclusion, bilingual education, teaching teens, teaching adults, and teacherpreneurship. The business model promises its customers, the authors, visibility, authority, and revenue as a consequence of publishing with them.

Can we talk about that for a minute?

This article is not, in any way, a stab at my colleagues who have published a chapter of a book or coordinated one of such publications. My colleagues and friends who have participated in such publications are professionals whom I trust entirely and I know they have done responsible work.

This is a stab at the business model.

It seems predatory and irresponsible to say the least.

It is predatory in the sense that the promises target specific social pains to attract the customer. It is disloyal to target teachers’ sense of self-esteem promising visibility. It is disloyal to target the very common imposter syndrome of many of our teachers promising authority. It is disloyal to target teachers’ not-excellent social and economic capital promising revenue.

It is irresponsible because, even though I believe that everyone should be given the chance to write a chapter of a book or even a whole book for that matter, I do not think everyone should write a book on methodology or sensitive issues at any point in their careers.

As mentioned by a couple of colleagues of mine, some of them even publicly, writing a chapter on teaching/learning methodologies is no easy task – and should not be taken lightly. We must remember that once published, people might read that book and take your word for it. Will you just write from your own, particular, private, exclusive perspective of what teaching teens is? Or will you actually carry out research on your own, literary or actual on-site research so that your chapter/book is not solely based on your own experience? To what extent is your very own private experience of an event relevant to others?

It is not that you are not ever going to write a book, but maybe you are not ready yet.