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It doesn’t take a scholar to know that the system of teaching English is broke.
This 18-part essay series titled “The English Problem” focusses on key concepts of English, which adult learners of all sectors need understand if they want to rise above a level of intermediacy. You’re small contribution will support me in furthering my long-term project, of reforming how English is taught.

Only after several years of teaching ESL did I come to familiarise myself of intrinsic elements of English not presented in mainstream curricula from all major publishers. Another 12 (of 25) years of data compilation* led me to spot numerous discrepancies that woke me up to how conventional approaches to grammar are not just distorting how English actually “works”, but keeping learners puzzled and resorting to mediocrity in communication, since their questions about the target language still largely remain answered, if not inadequately answered. (With the recent advent of premature commercial AI apps comes digital fossilisation, through inaccurate databases, magnifying the dichotomy exponentially.)

I’ve conceived an eBook (also available on this platform) that conveys (principally to teachers) more in depth how English intrinsically works, as I outline each of the key semantic and morphophonological idiosyncrasies that set it apart from the confines of prescriptive grammars.

Ultimately, what it takes to solve the great problem in the long term will require greater dialoguing and tele-collaborating among EAL/ESL/EFL teachers because, frankly, I observe mediocrity in how adult (non-native) speakers express themselves verbally and in writing, highlighting an urgent need for enhancement. I am prepared to give workshops should English facilitators where they are given a chance to discuss the numerous points I raise in this essay and throughout my eBook.

I’m eager to dialogue, in view of aspiring for more neuro-friendly and constructive ways of conveying our language as the world’s lingua franca such that non-native (adult) speakers move beyond a level of intermediacy.