Question: What is tissue rejection?
Tissue rejection
The term ‘tissue rejection’ was first coined in the context of language learning by Adrian Holliday (1992) to describe the failed role of innovation in a learning context. In particular, he used the term as a metaphor for what happens when a teaching method, which works in a particular educational institution, is introduced into a different setting and fails to capture it there.
Despite advances in curriculum design approaches, ELT projects often fail to produce innovations that are meaningful in the long run and acceptable to the host organization. In other words, it is called ’tissue rejection’: the innovation is rejected sooner or later because it does not fit. Thus, in short, tissue rejection means the failure of new and innovative approaches to second language learning and teaching.
