Going Beyond the Script: Traditional vs. Affordance-Based ELT Lesson Design

Lesson planning is central to effective lesson delivery and significantly influences student learning outcomes. To enhance these outcomes, teachers should dedicate significant time to preparing lessons, comprehensively understanding the content, and selecting appropriate activities, whether their planning approach is traditional or affordance-based. This perspective article, drawing on my 35 years of experience as a teacher educator in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT), explores the balance between structure and spontaneity in traditional and affordance-based lesson planning. Additionally, the article discusses the implications for both pre-service and in-service teacher education programs, as well as for ELT management, providing insights into how these approaches can be integrated into professional development frameworks.