English Language Teaching Pedagogy Research Articles

Universalizing the particulars: neoliberalizing English language teaching (ELT) through outcome-based education (OBE)

Abstract Universities, once regarded as places for producing organic intellectuals and critical thinkers, now are targets of neoliberalism, where managerialist discourses and lexis are dominant in various forms. Students and teachers are transformed into entrepreneurs, consumers and customers through such discourse and lexis. As a neoliberal variant used in education today, outcome-based education (OBE) – focus of the present study – can be viewed as one such discursive attempt on the part of the universities with an aim to perpetuate neoliberal market rationality. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews with teachers at engineering universities in Pakistan, this study examines OBE-driven ELT pedagogy using Gramsci’s hegemony as a theoretical framework. We aimed to understand how OBE-based ELT tends to transform teachers’ subjectivities into neoliberal ‘selves’, the way it impacts pedagogy and learning of the English language, and how these subjectivities are resisted. It appears that OBE-based ELT circulates market logics in the ELT pedagogy and learning by viewing English language as a skill/commodity. Student learning and teachers’ pedagogical performance indicators are based on achievement of specific outcomes. Some teachers, however, argue that OBE-led ELT deprives them of their pedagogical experiences, freedom, and conceptualizations appropriate for their pedagogical approach. We therefore advocate de-centering and deconstructing neoliberal logics in pedagogy and suggest pedagogy of becoming, critical/dialogic language pedagogy and translanguaging as possible alternatives.

Teachers’ Perceptions towards English Language Teaching Pedagogy in Secondary Schools of Nepal

Recently research on English language teaching pedagogy has been receiving increased attention throughout the world, with a primary focus on classroom teaching strategies. This qualitative research study aims to explore the narratives of English language teachers about the use of English language teaching pedagogy in secondary schools in Nepal. The participants purposively selected for this study were four English language teachers teaching at the secondary level in public schools of Kanchanpur district. The researcher used narrative inquiry as a research method in which interview protocols with open-ended questions were employed as research tools to obtain information. The findings of the study showed that secondary English teachers have been shifting their classroom pedagogy from traditional teacher-centred approaches to modern innovative student-centred approaches. The study further revealed that teachers keep the knowledge of both teacher-centred and student-centred methods and techniques but practise them in the classrooms in their ways due to the limitations of prescribed methods. The study also revealed students’ level of English as the main barrier to their learning progress. The implication of the study is that the teachers should create more learning opportunities and environments inside and outside the classroom to increase students’ maximum time engagement in English learning-based activities that provide them with more exposure to English and enhances their learning.

Context-responsive pedagogy in English language teaching in Indonesian Islamic boarding schools

Context-responsive pedagogy in English language teaching in Indonesian Islamic boarding schools

Critical Pedagogy in English Language Teaching

Critical Pedagogy in English Language Teaching

Applying Context, Input, Process and Product (CIPP) Model for Course Evaluation

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the course titled ELT Pedagogy and Materials from the M.Ed. III semester programme of education under Tribhuvan University by using context, input, process and product (CIPP) model. The evaluation process had gone through qualitative research method using purposively selected five M.Ed. graduates and a course teacher as research participants for data collection. The data was obtained through semi-structured interview and story of everyday class experience of research participants to have an in-depth understanding of their phenomenon. The result indicated that the course has sufficiently identified the needs of secondary level teachers but there seems a lack of coordination between theory and practice. Both students and teachers agreed that objectives of the course are very realistic. However, micro context could not be covered such as lack of focusing in rural context of English language teaching (ELT) and also teachers could not come out from stereotypical teaching pedagogy, brought a sort of disappointment regarding the course and its outcome. Hence, this study implies the worth of implication of CIPP model for programme evaluation and helps to mitigate its pedagogical challenges for better teaching and learning outcomes.

PROMOTING PRIMARY ENGLISH TEACHER'S AWARENESS ON INTERCULTURALLY-SENSITIVE TEACHING MATERIALS: AUTOBIOGRAPHY NARRATIVE INQUIRY

The new era of global flows opens more chances for people to interact with others from a different cultures. Globalization offers a new lens to examine intercultural sensitive (IS) language tasks in designing teaching material. However, this study's design of intercultural sensitivity in the Indonesian-Thai context focuses on teachers' perceptions and is still under-researched. Thus, this study investigates teachers' perception of IS pedagogy in English language teaching (ELT) for promoting primary English teachers' merged into their practice of teaching materials. This study uses autobiographical narrative inquiry. The data analysis uses Bennett's (1993) framework of IS, which involves the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) in five stages to communicate across cultures in the Indonesian-Thai context. The data garnered autobiographical data from narrative inquiry in the form of short stories and lesson plans. The results capture that the teaching materials enhance IS as language pedagogy in ELT. The study suggests discovering teachers' understanding and viewing of IS in teaching English language materials at primary levels.

Developing Students’ Multimodal Communicative Competence Through Multiliteracies Pedagogy

With the rise of globalization, digitization, and the emergence of the fourth industrial revolution, meaning-making modes are now increasingly multimodal in which written linguistics modes of meaning interface with oral, visual, audio, gestural, tactile, and spatial patterns of meaning. In the EFL context, this situation unavoidably urges changes in the goal of English language teaching to include multimodal communicative competence. In response to such challenges, multiliteracies pedagogy offers plausible solutions. In a multiliteracies classroom, students are supported through a pedagogy that provides them with ample opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills to multimodally examine diverse information sources and content, critically explore the information, and become active meaning-makers and effective communicators. This study aims at investigating the implementation of multiliteracies pedagogy in English language teaching to foster students’ multimodal communicative competence. This is a qualitative case study involving twenty students of the English language department of IAIN Curup. The data of the study are gained through observation, interviews, and students’ artefacts. The data collected from these instruments were examined qualitatively using thematic and categorical coding. The result of this study demonstrates the enactment of multiliteracies pedagogy can develop five competences of multimodal communicative competence: linguistic competence, sociocultural competence, interactional competence, discourse competence, and multimodal competence. Meanwhile the other two competences, strategic competence and formulaic competence, are somewhat hindered due to lack of exposure to authentic English language.

Native Language in English as a Foreign Language Classes: Teachers’ Lived Experiences

Along with the prevalence of post-method pedagogy in English language teaching, the use of learners’ native language (NL) in English as a foreign language (EFL) context has become a vital issue. Considering the issue, this article aims to dig into the phenomenon of NL usage with special reference to Nepal. For achieving this objective, I followed a phenomenological study design to explore the teachers’ lived experiences. I purposively selected ten university English language teachers to observe their EFL classes based on age, qualification, gender, and teaching experience. The information obtained from the unstructured classroom observation led me to the four themes such as conditions, reasons, strategies and consequences. The findings reveal that most informants used NL for better and more efficient communication; they used NL in different ways; and learners were at ease, self-assured, and pleased with NL usage. This implies that EFL teachers need to use the learners’ NL sparingly.

LEARNERS’ AGENCY IN FOCUS: INTRODUCING THE 21ST CENTURY ACADEMIC WRITING PEDAGOGY IN INDONESIA

The notion of transformative learning has been echoed by the Indonesian government in the National Standard of Education (2020, 2015). A shift from the teacher-centric into the student-centric pedagogy is a prerequisite to trigger the learning transformation. However, in the field of English language teaching (ELT) in particular, there remains a firm reliance on the dogma of modern linguistics that positions linguistic description and grammatical mastery as the key for meaning-making mechanism. Consequently, such monolithic ELT pedagogy expects a steady compliance from the students in relation to learning, and thus learners’ creative agency was removed. This paper is a reflection on how the learning of academic writing unit was approached differently by using a multisensorial-multicognitive pedagogy as informed by neuroscience, thus breaking away from linguistics as the sole informing theory for learning language. This new academic writing pedagogy embraces language learning as a complex system, thus incorporating other bio-psychological components in learning such as rhythm, intonation, movement, emotion, and aesthetics. This paper highlights how these components were used creatively in the three innovative learning tools – Verbotonal Approach, Reading for Emotions, and Aesthetics – to support agentive learning practice in academic writing course. This new pedagogy was developed in a doctoral research project in an Australian university and was proven effective to help students transform their learning practices.

Teachers’ Beliefs, Praxes, and Post-method Pedagogy in English Language Teaching

To address the challenge of identifying an effective English language teaching pedagogy, this study explored the Grade 10 teachers (n=50) and students’ (n=2,221) beliefs of effective language teaching methods and the teachers’ classroom practices. It further investigated the convergence and divergence of the teachers’ and students’ beliefs and the teachers’ practices along with the pedagogic parameters of practicality and particularity. Using the descriptive quantitative design, the findings revealed the convergence of responses between (a) teachers’ and students’ beliefs of effective language methods, and (b) teachers’ beliefs and their practices. Analysis of responses also revealed the pedagogic parameters of practicality and particularity in the conduct of their English language classes. Teachers continually engage in the cycle of personal assessment to increase their autonomy in formulating enlightened choices responsive to the students’ needs. It is imperative that English teachers be engaged in programs that support their awareness of local exigencies to strengthen their belief systems on post-method pedagogy.

A social constructivism framing of mobile pedagogy in english language teaching in the digital era

<p>Social Constructivism is elaborated as a theoretical background to support modern pedagogy with mobile technology in the digital age. Studies of theories and framework in terms of mobile pedagogy are combed up to find its connection between language teaching and Social Constructivism. Four theoretical framework of mobile pedagogy are listed in this paper to establish the link with Social Constructivism. The analysis of the Zone of Proximal Development from Social Constructivism theory indicates that mobile pedagogy, integrated with technology, pedagogy and subject content, is student-driven model which needs teacher’s guidance in the level that students cannot scaffold knowledge on their own. Teachers have to update pedagogical concept with enhanced technological knowledge for the demand of education in the digital era.</p>

The Dogme Approach: A Radical Perspective in Second Language Teaching in the Post-Methods Era

This paper aims to make a critical discussion of Dogme ELT, an innovative pedagogy in English language teaching first developed by Thornbury (2000). This paper first provides a comprehensive review of second language acquisition and pedagogical theories as well as post-methods era perspectives in English language teaching. After that, the authors discuss different aspects of Dogme ELT and figure out the room for Dogme ELT in English language teaching in the post-methods era. Dogme ELT is rooted in a conglomerate of compatible theories in second language learning and teaching. The most noticeable perspective may be that the language teachers should not rely mainly on prescribed coursebooks, but teach design tasks based on learners’ problems and interests. There should be more studies on various aspects of Dogme ELT, although it satisfies most, if not all, basic principles in English language teaching theoretically. The authors also figure out gaps in research and recommendations for English language teachers and learners.

Cultural Linguistics and ELT curriculum: The case of ‘Prospect’ English textbooks in Iran

This study examines Iranian English language teaching (ELT) Prospect textbooks in light of the recently developed discipline of Cultural Linguistics. Cultural Linguistics is a field of research that explores the relation between language and cultural conceptualisations. The Cultural Linguistics ethnographic‐conceptual text/visual analysis methodology is employed for the analysis of the cultural conceptualisations embedded across texts and visuals. It is revealed that lesson 3 of Prospect 3 captures the Iranian cultural conceptualisations of Nowruz and represents it as an event for (a) renewal of human beings and reinforcement of human relationships, (b) joy, (c) wishing good luck and avoiding bad luck, and (d) visiting. The current research has significant implications for both research and pedagogy in ELT.

Politics of ELT Pedagogy in the Global South

The very word ‘politics’ is entangled with English studies in the global south. There has been a deliberate attempt by ‘the centre’ to perpetuate political, cultural and ideological hegemony in the ‘periphery countries’ or countries that teach and learn English as second, foreign, intra and international language. The pedagogy of English studies followed in the global south is shaped by the very prescriptive approach and hence they are top-down in nature. It is associated with an act of submission to western methodological imperialism. However, this paper is expected to develop a critical understanding of the political, ideological, socio-cultural dimensions associated with ELT (English Language Teaching) pedagogy. It argues that instead of blindly imitating Anglo-American models and importing wholesale western pedagogy, a bottom-up, critical, resistant, home-grown ELT pedagogy should be promoted which would prove location-specific, context-and-culture sensitive; and therefore, would prove appropriate for Bangladesh, or in broader sense, for the global south.

Exploratory Talk and Task-based Learning: A Case Study of a Student’s Learning Journey on an MA (Education) English Language Teaching Course

ABSTRACTThis article records and evaluates a student’s learning journey in two modules on an MA (Education) English Language Teaching (ELT) programme: an Oracy and ELT Pedagogy module and an Educational Technologies module. The notions of ‘exploratory talk’ and ‘task-based learning’ are explored using a single case study with material drawn from the student’s autobiography and diary, the spoken and written assignments, and the student and lecturers’ reflections on completion of the modules. We show, through the use of autobiography and critical reflection, what the student brings to the course and how this reflection allows him to use and transfer knowledge from one module to another. We analyse the ways in which the modules complement each other and how this influences the student’s learning and teaching practice. We then identify the key features of his learning in relation to ELT pedagogy.

“It Was Because I Could Speak English That I Got the Job”: Neoliberal Discourse in a Chinese English Textbook Series

ABSTRACTThe issue of neoliberalism has aroused sustained interest among English language teaching (ELT) and applied linguistic researchers who are politically minded. Neoliberalism is a dominant rationality with immense economic, political and ideological consequences in all aspects of social and institutional life in globalization, including foreign language education. This article presents a critical analysis of the neoliberal discourse on English language learning in the Chinese context with a special focus on teaching materials. Informed by a political economy perspective on English language education, the study employs critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a methodological principle. Specifically, it examines the way (a) competence in English is commodified as a desirable linguistic cultural capital, (b) English learning is portrayed as an individualized and asocial undertaking, and (c) a monolingual and monocultural dream is built to include learners in an imagined homogeneous discourse community. Implications for ELT pedagogy and curriculum are discussed.

Critical Thinking and Critical Pedagogy in English Language Teaching

Critical Thinking and Critical Pedagogy in English Language Teaching

Culture and complexity through English as a lingua franca: rethinking competences and pedagogy in ELT

Abstract English as a lingua franca (ELF) research highlights the complexity and fluidity of culture in intercultural communication through English. ELF users draw on, construct, and move between global, national, and local orientations towards cultural characterisations. Thus, the relationship between language and culture is best approached as situated and emergent. However, this has challenged previous representations of culture, particularly those centred predominantly on nation states, which are prevalent in English language teaching (ELT) practices and the associated conceptions of communicative and intercultural communicative competence. Two key questions which are then brought to the fore are: how are we to best understand such multifarious characterisations of culture in intercultural communication through ELF and what implications, if any, does this have for ELT and the teaching of culture in language teaching? In relation to the first question, this paper will discuss how complexity theory offers a framework for understanding culture as a constantly changing but nonetheless meaningful category in ELF research, whilst avoiding essentialism and reductionism. This underpins the response to the second question, whereby any formulations of intercultural competence offered as an aim in language pedagogy must also eschew these simplistic and essentialist cultural characterisations. Furthermore, the manner of simplification prevalent in approaches to culture in the ELT language classroom will be critically questioned. It will be argued that such simplification easily leads into essentialist representations of language and culture in ELT and an over representation of “Anglophone cultures.” The paper will conclude with a number of suggestions and examples for how such complex understandings of culture and language through ELF can be meaningfully incorporated into pedagogic practice.

Transforming Teaching and Learning in ELT Through Critical Pedagogy

In this study, the voices of academics who use critical pedagogy in English language teaching have been brought together to shed light on how this practice transforms teaching and learning. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with academics from Canada, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, and Turkey. Teachers were exposed to considerable emotional upheaval and sometimes risk as they sought to change student worldviews, and student transformation was evident both inside and outside the academy. Students learned their new language through ideas that truly mattered to them instead of learning through neutral knowledge contexts. We conclude that critical pedagogy requires a balance between critical reflection and action as teachers learn to cope with the unexpected in their classrooms. It is suggested that teachers follow up students after graduation in order to determine the long-term impact of critical pedagogy on teaching and learning.

English in the age of globalization: Changing ELT models, restructuring relationships

I. IntroductionTowards end of 20th century English became a truly global language and since then it has kept its privileged position among other languages. It is estimated that English is spoken by about 1.5 billion people all over (Crystal 1997:5). The term 'global English' reflects various functions English serves on all continents. In Inner Circle countries, to use Kachru's terminology (Kachru & Nelson 2001), it is first and majority group language. In Outer Circle countries, for example India, Pakistan, Singapore and Nigeria, English is used as a second language together with other languages as a means of intranational communication and in Expanding Circle, which covers an unspecified number of countries, English is largely taught as a foreign language in schools.Beyond shadow of a doubt has English become major lingua franca and has achieved a high level of international significance. None of previously established lingua francas, whether it was Latin in times of flourishing Roman Empire, French in 18th and 19th centuries, Russian imposed as common foreign language in Eastern Europe after Second World War or artificially created Esperanto, influenced international communication on such a large scale as English has done in past few decades. In general, two opposing perspectives can be traced in discourse on global use of English. Crystal (1997) and Wardhaugh (1987), for example, perceive dominant role of English in communication as a natural outcome of collaboration of several historical and cultural factors which have helped language to achieve its special position. As Wardhaugh comments: What is remarkable about English and what makes it unique is extent to which it has spread throughout world. No other language has ever had influence in affairs that English has today (Wardhaugh 1987: 131).These ideas are opposed by a wave of critical voices who emphasize interdependence between worldwide use of English and ideological, political, and commercial interests of core Inner Circle countries, mainly UK and USA. In this field seminal work of Robert Phillipson (1992) on linguistic imperialism has probably been most influential in inspiring further research into politics of English and English language teaching (ELT) (Pennycook 1994, 1998), (Singh, Kell & Pandian 2002). These authors argue that universal presence of English is a result of pursuing political and economic interests and of effort of British and Americans to maintain control over English language, often with support of national organizations and ELT industry. In other words, they link global English closely with linguistic and cultural imperialism of English speaking countries. An obvious question arises here: was rise of English as language just a natural outcome of English language being 'in right place at right time' or is it more a result of power struggles and deliberate policies?In this article we intend to examine connections between spread of English, ELT business, and distribution of power between native and nonnative English speaking communities. Secondly, we will discuss implications of global use of English for ELT profession and describe potential of ELT pedagogy for restructuring existing power relationships. As for terminology, we will make use of Phillipson's notions of Centre and Periphery. The first term refers to core English speaking countries, while latter involves regions in which English is used as a second language (mainly former British colonies) or taught as a foreign language. Here Eastern Europe, which at beginning of 1990s emerged as the new postcolonial world (Wallace 2002: 108), occupies an important place. The divisive line between Centre and Periphery is drawn along linguistic differences between native and non-native English speaking communities as well as along differences in their economic and technological development. …