The presenter, drawing on teaching experiences and working group discussions at a Centre for English as a Lingua Franca at a Japanese university, will offer examples of seemingly efficient but routinized technical practices, such as using online platforms to monitor graded reading, which, uncritically accepted, may hinder program development. Despite aspirations to the contrary, classroom practice can be infiltrated by consumer driven education, in forms such as ‘atomized’ approaches to language, drill-like practices and skill-based activities. The presenter will pose alternatives reflecting a view of knowledge as negotiable and socially constructed.