scholarly journals THE TEACHING OF EFL LISTENING IN THE INDONESIAN CONTEXT: THE STATE OF THE ART

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.

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Gopal Prasad Pandey

English for academic purpose (EAP) emerged as a branch of English for specific purposes in the early 1980s. EAP grounds English language teaching in the linguistic demands of academic context, tailoring instruction to specific rather than general purposes. There is a growth of interest in EAP in the recent years. The interest in EAP developed in response to the growing need for intercultural awareness and of English as a lingua franca (ELF). EAP has become a major area of research in applied linguistics and focus of the courses studied worldwide by a large number of students preparing for study in colleges and universities. The increase in students’ undertaking tertiary studies in English-speaking countries has led to a steady demand for the courses tailored to meet the immediate, specific vocational and professional needs. Thus, most universities in the present day world prioritize the role of academic skills. The aim of the paper is to examine the key approaches to the teaching of English for academic purposes, current trends in teaching EAP, and to argue the centrality and significance of EAP in the academia. The paper concludes by arguing that a greater emphasis needs to be placed on methodology in EAP.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Nasrullah Nasrullah

The advancement of technology by the emergence of various websites and applications in learning English is inevitably becoming phenomena today. However, many educators especially in-service teachers in Asian secondary schools are reluctant to embody them in the process of English Language Teaching (ELT) since this problem has existed in last decade in the English speaking countries which place English as first and second language; one emerging factor might likely be the status of either x-generations or millennial generation attached to some of them in coin with digital native or digital immigrant as proposed by Marc Prensky. Therefore, this paper is supposed to explain an investigation on the view shown by both sides (pre-service and in-service English teacher). In doing so, a qualitative approach is conducted by involving five pre-service teachers and five in-service teachers in South Kalimantan. The expected finding of this research could depict the variety of chosen views towards the insight and knowledge of ELT resources whether it can be useful for the process of pedagogy in the learning process as well as their classroom instruction.


English Today ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiko Yamaguchi ◽  
Magnús Pétursson

This paper investigates the English language spoken by four educated Japanese speakers from an acoustic phonetic perspective. We look closely at how they pronounce and connect segments in reading a short text. Because English has the status of an international language, it is actively used for various purposes within and across countries. English speakers are therefore not necessarily native speakers but have a different first language (L1); English is a second (L2) or foreign language (FL) for them. There are increasing numbers of studies on Japanese English (JE), particularly from attitudinal and perceptual angles (e.g. Tokumoto & Shibata, 2011; Matsuura et al., 2014), but, as McKenzie (2013: 228) notes, there is a dearth of research that documents, or systematically characterizes, the English produced by Japanese speakers.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Solhi Andarab

<p><em>The cultural and linguistic hegemony of the native speakers of English over the non-native speakers in the process of language learning and teaching has paved the way for the stereotypical and biased representations of the non-native speakers of English in majority of the English Language Teaching (ELT) coursebooks. Actually, this essentialist approach in the process of materials development is likely to result in reductionist overgeneralization and otherization of foreign societies (Holliday, 1994). However, in recent years, with the advent of English as a International Language (EIL), the issue of native speakerism, the ownership of English, and consequently the cultural content of ELT coursebooks have been the subject of debates. Despite the dominance of native speaker varieties of English in ELT coursebooks, there has been a growing awareness among publishers over the past years and accordingly some EIL-based coursebooks targeted specifically at EIL learners have been published. In this study, a sample group of such coursebooks was subject to close scrutiny. In so doing, an attempt was made to examine the representation of the characters in the claimed EIL-targeted coursebooks. According to the results of the study, despite the claim to be based on EIL, the biased representation of the non-native speakers of English is observed throughout the entire series of the analyzed coursebooks and they superficially surface a stereotypical association of culture and location/country.</em><em></em></p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parvin Safari

In the field of English Language Teaching (ELT), attention has been shifted toward the alternative role of teachers as transformative intellectuals whereby transformation in teaching occurs from control and technical operations to criticism and intellectual reflection. This role enables teachers to focus on marginalized students’ lived experiences and worlds to transform them into active and critical citizens who are emancipated to develop their voices and question the status quo. Through critically examining the learning milieu that maintains injustice and inequality, students struggle to connect it to sociopolitical conditions in wider society, and eventually transform it to meet the desired ideologies and thinking. This paper attempts to scrutinize teachers’ role as transformative intellectuals and their challenges through the transformation process. Thus, the researcher used purposive sampling to select 26 teachers in four private language institutes of Tehran, Shiraz, and Yazd, Iran to adopt the role of transformative intellectuals based on theoretical principles and concepts of critical pedagogy. Semi-structured interview and an online focus group were used to collect data. Data analysis disclosed transformations and benefits as well as the challenges resulting from teachers becoming transformative intellectuals. The fruitful findings of this study are insightful, since this study is an example to show how language teachers can create transformation in the EFL context, change their fossilized role, and empower oppressed students within the institutionalized and oppressive system of schooling.


Author(s):  
Марина Валеріївна Цегельська

The use of English has become increasingly dynamic with the creation and expansion of new international networks of communication and the ubiquity of new technologies in and beyond the English-speaking world. This paper highlights the deficiencies of traditional Communicative Approach to foreign language teaching in Ukraine, and emphasizes the necessity to employ new educational technologies which are more efficient for teaching English as an international language, particularly in the academic sphere.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-129
Author(s):  
Fan (Gabriel) Fang

The English language functions as a global lingua franca, and as the number of non-native speakers of English surpasses the number of native speakers of English, the ideology of native-speakerism is challenged. Viewing from the paradigm of Global Englishes (GE), English is no longer the sole property of its native speakers. This paper first discusses and presents a general picture regarding standard language ideology and the ideology of native-speakerism, and links the notion to how such ideas would exert an influence on teacher recruitment and intercultural communication in English language teaching (ELT). This paper then employs narrative inquiry from Chinese ELT professionals who have education experience abroad to reveal how they negotiate their professional identities in relation to privilege and marginalization when working with native English speaking colleagues. This paper argues for the importance of moving beyond the idealized native speaker model from the GE paradigm to challenge the ideology of native-speakerism in various aspects of ELT, in particular, in expanding circle contexts.


Multilingua ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrikke Rindal

AbstractThis study investigates attitudes towards varieties of English among Norwegian adolescent learners and assesses the role of social evaluation for second language (L2) pronunciation choices by combining a verbal guise test with speaker commentary and reports of language choices. The results suggest that while American English is the most accessible English accent and the preferred L2 choice, Standard Southern British English remains the most prestigious English accent and retains its position as a formal English language teaching standard. However, not all learners want to convey the social meanings attributed to these widely identified English varieties, and therefore aim towards a “neutral” variety of English not associated with any native-English-speaking people or culture. The avoidance of standard varieties as L2 targets suggests that the tradition of questioning standard language norms in Norway is mirrored in L2 practices. The investigations into social motivations for L2 behaviour contribute to the ongoing discourse on the global spread and local appropriation of English. The results have implications for English language educators, who must meet the needs of proficient learners in an environment with increased intra-national use of English and no explicit model of pronunciation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Athip Thumvichit

Globalization has accelerated the growth of English and created a need for several changes in English language teaching (ELT), one of which is related to the role of ELT materials in facilitating interaction across cultures. Considering the fast growing importance of cultural content in ELT, this study explores issues of cultural presentation in Thai secondary school ELT coursebooks. The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to analyze cultural content presented in visuals and reading texts; second, to investigate teachers’ attitudes toward cultural presentation in ELT coursebooks. The coursebook sample included seven approved ELT coursebooks entitled Bridge 1, English in Mind 1, Messages 1, Motivate! 1, New World 1, Time Zone 1, and Your Space 1. The findings suggested that native speakers’ contexts were dominantly portrayed in both visuals and reading texts in all the coursebooks except Time Zone 1, which yielded a great deal of non-native speakers’ contexts. Nevertheless, Thai cultural context was completely absent from the reading-focused activities, and only a few pictures presenting Thai culture were identified. The questionnaire findings revealed that Thai secondary teachers are ready to embrace the intercultural aspects of ELT, as the overwhelming majority of respondents’ opinions signified the shift toward localized and culturally diversified materials.


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