Interesting reply from TEFL Express - your thoughts pls.

[MirandaGoshawk]

OK, we've been here before - sorry - but I've finally had a reply from TEFL Express, respected by themselves online TEFL-course people.

Throughout their course there are various typos and inconsistencies, the most annoying one being indiscriminate use of 'practise' and 'practice'. I have it on good authority from an English teacher friend that these should be used in the same way as 'advise' and 'advice', in other words, that practice is a noun and practise is a verb, and from MN that 'practice' is the norm for both verb & noun in the US, and that Australian English has the same use as in the UK. (The course is written by an Australian.)

So, here is my first question & their reply:

Question
I am confused about your use of the spellings 'practise' and 'practice'. Can you please explain why ?Examination Practise task? doesn't say 'Examination Practice Task' as here it's a noun. Thanks.

Comments
Hi

In British English and most other varieties of English from outside North America, practice is the noun, and practise is the verb. There is no such distinction in American English, where practice is both a noun and a verb. Canadian English also favors practise as the verb, but practice appears with relative frequency (about a third as often as practise).

The participle forms of practise are practised and practising, and the simple-present inflection is practises.

Do not hesitate to contact us again if we can be of further assistance.

Kind regards,

Since this didn't answer my question, I tried again:

Question
? Hi, you very kindly answered my previous question but I didn't understand your answer. Can you please explain why, for example, 'Examination Practise Task', which appears in every module, isn't spelt 'practice'.

Comments
Hi,

These are often misused in today's society as our use of proper grammar has diminished.
Practice should be used when referring to something like a doctor's practice. It could also be used in reference to a custom.
Practise is to do something like practise the violin. Basically doing to something to perfect a skill usually.

Since the term is "Examination Practise Task" and involves practise to do something (the exam in this case) it is more appropriate to use "s".

I hope I've been able to answer your question.

Do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of further assistance.

Kind regards,

So, come on then, am I right, or are they?

N.B. all those funny \ and the US spellings (favors) are theirs, even though it's a UK website written by an Aussie .

Thanks

Oh, dear, they've got things very badly wrong there.

The first answer sounds like it was just cut and pasted from some grammar website and is essentially a correct explanation of the verb/noun difference, but does not answer your question in the slightest.

It looks like the author actually wrote the second answer, and while the explanation itself is not actually wrong (a doctor's practice is a noun, whereas practise an instrument' is a verb) the reasoning for why 'practise the violin' is the same as 'Examination practise' is utter rot. But isn't it rather amusing that the author bemoans 'our' diminishing capacity to use grammar correctly?

You really need to point out the mistake clearly at this point and stop being so ultra-polite. 'Examination practise' is a noun, not a verb, and should therefore be spelled (or spelt, if you prefer) 'practice', whether you are British, American, Canadian or Australian. The author of these materials should acknowledge his/her mistake. To be honest, they sound like a bit of a shower.

One final thing: we did some translation last year for an Australian client using the MacQuarie dictionary and realised that Australian English really is split between American and British - for instance MacQuarie favours 'acknowledgment' instead of 'acknowledgement'.

[My credentials: RSA TEFL Cert, 20 years' teaching experience; IOL DipTrans translation qualification and lots of experience translating into American and British English.]

By that logic they would say "Examination rehearse task", not "Examination rehearsal task".

Which sounds like something from a badly translated manual...

You're quite right - in the paragraph beginning "Since...", both instances of "practise" are in fact nouns so shoukd be spelt "practice".

Their explanation is correct and pretty clear but unfortunately they seem unable to apply it!

Thank you all. Darrowby, also thanks for putting your credentials. When I get back to them I can quote you as someone who knows what they're on about.

BTW I am polite with them because I might want them to give me a job! They run courses in China, for example. Their videos show happy TEFL Express graduates barely out of nappies, some of them not native English speakers themselves teaching English to happy Chinese & gadding about in Beijing learning about Chinese culture. One day they might have an old biddy joining them, irritating everyone by shouting 'It's COULD HAVE, not OF!!'

Have just re-read everything & hadn't realised that they say '...involves practise to do something'

I bought a 120 hours course, and my time limit of three months in which to complete it is up today, so I don't think I'll be able to get back onto their website. Interesting that they answer my question the day before my time runs out .

But if I can, I'll get back & say that practice is the noun & practise the verb. Full stop & no exceptions - that way their poor students will know which is which!

I completed the course and got 81%, which is a merit. Looking back at what I got wrong it's clear that some of their questions are ambiguous - Oh, that's what they wanted!- and looking at reviews of the course (e.g on the Lonely Planet website) I see that I'm not alone. Also lots of people have mentioned the numerous typos & confusing grammar although not the practise/ice thing specifically. However, for the price (£69 through Groupon) it's given a total teaching novice some useful pointers, so I'm glad I've done it.