English as an international language? Taiwanese university teachers' dilemma and struggle…

English Today ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsuan-Yau Tony Lai

ABSTRACTThis study aims to explore university English teachers' perceptions of the role of English today in Taiwan from two aspects – the ownership of English and acquiring target language culture in the English language classroom. The concept of English as an international language (EIL) or English as a lingua franca (ELF) has been discussed extensively in the ELT field for many years. Theoretically the concept promotes the idea that English is no longer a possession of any particular English-speaking countries and that there are many different varieties of Englishes. Since teachers are an important – if not the most important – influence in the language classroom, their perceptions are likely to affect the students profoundly. In spite of the theoretical discussion of EIL, in reality, what do university English teachers in Taiwan think about the role of English today? In the study, five experienced teachers were invited for a focus group interview to discuss these issues. The results suggest that university English teachers in Taiwan are facing a dilemma and struggle to follow the notion of EIL (or ELF) in the classroom.

Author(s):  
Bambang Yudi Cahyono ◽  
Utami Widiati

The status of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Indonesia necessitates the use of English native speakers' utterances as models of pronunciation and as standard of understanding messages in various contexts, be they academic or social. As recently English has developed as an international language that can be used as a means of communication between people from non-English speaking countries, the role of listening activities in the teaching of English cannot be neglected. This article highlights the importance of listening and reviews some of the issues in the research and teaching of EFL listening. It firstly presents a paradigm of the listening process, followed by a theoretical framework for teaching listening, especially in the broader context of English language teaching. It then discusses the teaching of and research on EFL listening in Indonesia. Finally, this article outlines some recommendations for more effective teaching of listening in EFL classrooms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-154
Author(s):  
Leonardo Veliz ◽  
Scott Smith

This paper reports on a qualitative study that examined the perceptions of English teachers towards the ‘teachability’ of metaphorical language in Chilean EFL classrooms. The study aimed at gaining a better understanding of teachers’ perceptions of the role of metaphor in the English language classroom. A group of six in-service English teachers participated in this qualitative study. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, which addressed three broad dimensions: (i) the views and definitions of metaphor; (ii) the teachability of metaphorically used language; and (iii) preparedness to teach metaphor. The data were thoroughly coded and analyzed thematically. The results revealed that, despite an apparently heightened awareness of the presence and role of metaphor in culture, this did not permeate the participants’ teaching practices, thus calling for more explicit preparation in teacher education programs and radical changes to the ‘educational culture’ that is still imbued with dominant neoliberal ways of doing and thinking.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andi Asrifan

We still try 1) to find out how something works, 2) why something went wrong, or 3) what could happen in other ways. It's in our DNA, and we couldn't assist! Our inquisitive nature is manifested in teaching a language every day, as we explore how language functions, how to use the best teaching methods, or why we have not done stuff in class. We all have learned something valuable in our language teaching classrooms and had something worth sharing with our colleagues. This is pure and fundamental research and in essence, we are "researchers." It's often a problem when teachers hear 'study,' and they reply 'No, it's too complicated for me.' 'For university teachers, that's too complicated.' I heard some of them through my own ears and just isn't real! All can access science. This post will generally describe the role of research in a language classroom, how our research can inform our teaching practices and finally, the ways in which teachers share their work.


2018 ◽  
pp. 33-54
Author(s):  
Ayesha Perveen

The paper takes up one of the least researched areas in Pakistan i.e. the role of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for professional development in general and the capacity building of English teachers in particular. Although MOOCs are getting popular in Pakistan, the majority is still unaware of the concept especially those who teach in traditional face-to-face mode. As many second language University teachers have not attended any MOOCs, convenience sampling was used for data collection. Only 32 respondents completed the questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire on Cronbach alpha was 0.83. The results show that the number of Pakistani English teachers responding to the survey who attended MOOCs either partially or completely, was very low. Therefore, of course, the number of MOOCs attended by each was also very low. However, whoever attended and whichever MOOCs were attended, the teachers found them quite beneficial for their overall professional development, be it language improvement or teaching skill set development. The researcher recommends the use of MOOCs in classrooms which is only possible if more English Language Teaching MOOCs are available and teachers attend a variety of MOOCs. The researcher also highlights the need to develop Pakistani MOOCs with a national flavour.


Author(s):  
Zelvia Liska Afriani

This study aims at examining the role of culture in learning English as a foreign language. Previous researchers explained that there is an intimate relationship between language and culture. It is obviously mentioned that when someone is willing to learn a language, he also needs to learn its culture so as to master it fully. Therefore, the researcher would like to investigate whether the teachers at school has understood and implemented cultural literacy in the language classroom or not. In this study, the researcher used a descriptive qualitative study and gathered the information needed from some English teachers in North Bengkulu. The result shows that the English teachers has been aware of the importance of cultural literacy in English language classroom since it can enhance students’ communicative competence. There are some offered ideas that can be employed in introducing cultural literacy, such as using authentic materials, proverbs, role-play, students as cultural resources, ethnography study, and literature.   


RELC Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003368822199807
Author(s):  
Joseph Foley

This article discusses language teaching and the move from a predominantly psycholinguistic to a more sociolinguistic approach through Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), the Common European Framework of Reference Languages (CEFR) and English as an International Language (EIL). The context is four plurilingual and pluricultural societies in Southeast Asia and East Asia, (Thailand, Japan, Vietnam and China). These countries were chosen as they had similarities in the development of CEFR and consequently there were common factors that needed to be addressed in implementing CEFR. According to the English Proficiency Index (2020) a number of countries in the region have been described as being in the category of low or very low with regard to proficiency. To help improve such a situation, given the need for economic development, CEFR was introduced by various Ministries of Education in addition to the already existing official CLT syllabuses. English as an international language has also been widely proposed by a number of researchers, in terms of making teachers, students and educators aware of English as a world language as well as developing an attitudinal change with regard to ‘standard’ English. This article suggests that the basic principles of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) can be best applied through scaffolding using CEFR and EIL given the reality of teaching in relatively low English language proficiency contexts.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdurahman Milad ◽  
Dwi Rukmini ◽  
Dwi Anggani ◽  
Rudi Hartono

This study instigates the teachers’ perceptions towards the implementation of the adapted communicative approach to teach English language in Libyan high schools in the city of Khoms. The participants were six teachers of different gender-based high schools. The study followed a pure qualitative method to collect and analyze the date, and the data were collected using an open-ended questionnaire. The findings reveal that the majority of English language teachers in Libyan high schools in Khoms city have positively perceived the implementation of the communicative approach (CA) to teach English language in their high schools’ contexts. They agreed to the majority of the questionnaire’s items such as: the CA emphasizes the communication in the target language and emphasizes that the learners need meaningful communication. All the participants said that they modify the principles of the communicative approach to meet the students’ needs and goals and most of them have agreed that the allocated time is not enough to complete the lesson in the classroom. This study draws out the pedagogical implication that the implementation of the adapted CA to teach English language in high schools in Libya can be quite adaptable, especially when the teachers have to fulfil the students’ needs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-39
Author(s):  
Irene Rosalina

This study applies a sociocultural linguistic approach where it examined the representation of English as International language teachers' identity negotiation in their classroom interactions. The important role of the teachers involving their efforts, values ​​, and beliefs preceded this study. Furthermore, the findings in this study indicated that the English teachers negotiate their identity as they still bring out the teaching with the reference to cultural, social, political, and religious constructs. The different ways of the teachers showing their identity infused in their linguistic use in the classroom. Moreover, the religion bounding values and beliefs that the teachers motivated to explore were shown in the connection between the English teaching topic being discussed in class and the religious concept in teaching, which in this case related to the Islamic teachings. The teachers also perceive their identities which can be assembled into four broad areas showing their understanding and the important function of their identity representations in the way of teaching. Lastly, some pedagogical implications were also found from this study.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1308-1317
Author(s):  
Bibi Malihe Vamagh Shahi

In this article, we intend to investigate the role of experience in EFL teachers’ discourse using a cognitive taxonomy. In this line, we are going to examine whether there any significant differences between novice and inexperienced groups of teacher in their discourse with regard to a cognitive taxonomy. The selected sample comprises twenty-seven English teachers engaged in EFL classes. Totally, six categories of cognitive processes were introduced. The categories are from the most concrete to the most abstract: (1) knowledge; (2) comprehension; (3) application; (4) analysis; (5) synthesis; and (6) evaluation. According to the results, it was revealed that experienced teachers used more action verbs in all the categories of this taxonomy (428 action verbs out of 805), whereas novice teachers (teachers which has less than 4 years of experience) used 377 action verbs. It can be concluded that experienced teachers teach in more fruitful and meaningful way. Novice teachers can learn and construct meaning from their experiences when they are actively engaged in authentic activity that will help them to learn to think and act in a community of practice.


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