This paper is based on the assumption that a serious problem in language teaching is the division between theory and practice, which led to an apparently irreconcilable separation between the scientist and the teacher. Its main objective is to examine the possibility of an approximation between them. For that purpose, I make a review on the use of exercises in the classroom, not only from a theoretical perspective, with an emphasis on the idea of generalized input, but also from a practical perspective, with an emphasis on the idea of localized drills. The data, collected from teaching materials that were proposed and implemented by language teaching theoreticians, show that the scientist, when talking from a teacher's position, presents a discourse that is closer to the teacher than to the scientist. The conclusion is that the approximation between theory and practice is possible if the scientist and the teacher join a community where ideas and experiences can be exchanged.
Input hypothesis; Processing Instruction; Theoretical Thinking; Practical Thinking