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166 CHAPTER 8theoretical insights derived almost exclusively from a Western knowledgebase. The concept of method is bereft of any synthesis of external knowledgefrom center-based communities and local knowledge from periphery communities.Our misplaced faith in a universally applicable method and itstop–down orientation has created and sustained another myth.Myth #4: Theorists conceive knowledge, and teachers consume knowledge. Inthefield of language teaching, there is a clearly perceptible dichotomy betweentheory and practice, resulting in an unfortunate division of labor betweenthe theorist and the teacher. The relationship between the theorist and theteacher that exists today is not unlike the relationship between the producerand the consumer of a marketable commodity. Such a commercializedrelationship has inevitably resulted in the creation of a privileged classof theorists and an underprivileged class of practitioners. Unfortunately,the hierarchical relationship between the theorist and the teacher has notonly minimized any meaningful dialogue between them, but has also contributedto some degree of mutual disrespect.The artificial dichotomy between theory and practice has also led us tobelieve that teachers would gladly follow the principles and practices of establishedmethods. They rarely do. They seem to know better. They knowthat none of the established methods can be realized in their purest form inthe actual classroom primarily because they are not derived from theirclassroom but are artificially transplanted into it. They reveal their dissatisfactionwith method through their actions in the classroom. Classroomorientedresearch carried out in the last two decades (e.g., Kumaravadivelu,1993a; Nunan, 1987; Swaffer, Arens, & Morgan, 1982) have revealed fourinterrelated facts: Teachers who claim to follow a particular method do not conform toits theoretical principles and classroom procedures at all; teachers who claim to follow different methods often use the sameclassroom procedures; teachers who claim to follow the same method often use different procedures,and teachers develop and follow in their classroom a carefully crafted sequenceof activities not necessarily associated with any particularmethod.In other words, teachers seem to be convinced that no single theory oflearning and no single method of teaching will help them confront thechallenges of everyday teaching. They use their own intuitive ability and experientialknowledge to decide what works and what does not work. Thereis thus a significant variance between what theorists advocate and whatteachers do in their classroom.