This is the thing really.  When the improvements and enthusiasm for ESL and FL teaching came along with the discoveries in theoretical linguistics the baby was thrown out with the bath water and all exercises got maligned.  The Betty Azar books I think are the clearest examples of what good exercises are all about.  

Phil Bralich

>I don't object to exercises 
>in principle; but the exercises should be good ones. I have a lot of 
>exercises in the book I'm working on. I also don't think all "rote" 
>work is bad; but it can't all be rote work. There's a lot of room for 
>creativity and incorporating real texts.
>
>Dr. Johanna Rubba, Associate Professor, Linguistics
>Linguistics Minor Advisor
>English Department
>California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
>E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>Tel.: 805.756.2184
>Dept. Ofc. Tel.: 805.756.2596
>Dept. Fax: 805.756.6374
>URL: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
>
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