English Language Teaching
(ELT) Around the World
Sandra J. Briggs
TESOL Past President
2008 - 2009
sjbtbf@earthlink.net
Introduction
Background
•Language educator throughout
my career
•Degrees in Spanish,
Education, English, and
Linguistics
•Began as secondary Spanish
teacher and materials writer
In ELT
Instructor
Department chair
Curriculum developer
District ESL coordinator
Materials writer
The importance of TESOL in my
career
It has broadened my perspective on
the field.
It has been an essential part of my
professional development.
I always tell teachers and teacher
trainers how important professional
associations are.
Through my textbook writing, ELT
consulting, and work in TESOL, I
have had a chance to travel to
many countries to train teachers
and speak about the field.
My first term on the TESOL Board
began in 1997 and my second term
will end in 2009. It has been a time
of examining the field and working
with ELT educators around the
world.
My goals today
•Share my perspective on the
state of the ELT field with you
•Help you think about your own
perspective
•That what we do here will be
useful in ETAI and in your own
careers
Handouts/Resources
•Main sections in the talk
•Some important points
•Books, Web sites, and
other resources I mention
Areas to consider
•English as a global language
•Educations systems
•ELT educators
•What does this mean for ELT
educators?
English as a Global
Language
Crystal, D. (1997). English as a
Global Language. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
There has never been a language
so widely spread or spoken by so
many people as English. There
are therefore no precedents to
help us see what happens to a
language when it achieves
genuine world status. . .
The balance between the
competing demands of intelligibility
and identity is especially fragile,
and can easily be affected by social
change, such as a swing in
immigrant policy, new political
alliances, or a change in a
country’s population trends.
If we cannot predict the future,
we can at least speculate, and
there are some fascinating
speculations to be made. It may
well be the case. . .that the
English language has already
grown to be independent of any
form of social control. There may
be a critical number or critical
distribution of speakers
(analogous to the notion of
critical mass in nuclear physics)
beyond which it proves
impossible for any single group
or alliance to stop its growth, or
even influence its future. If there
were to be a major social change
in Britain which affected the use
of English there, would this have
any real effect on the world trend?
It is unlikely. And, as we have
seen, even the current chief player,
the USA, will have decreasing
influence as the years go by,
because of the way world
population is growing. (p. 139)
13th International Conference
Nepal English Language Teachers’
Association (NELTA)
February 2008
Conference Theme:
Global Change and Local Realities:
Addressing Methodological Issues
Professor Laxman Gnawall
NELTA Vice President
Here in Nepal we have been trying to
promote English by bringing about
changes in content and
methodology. However, we have
seen that, on the one hand,
methodology has been the central
issue in ELT discourse, on the other,
the methodology borrowed from the
BANA settings has not always been
compatible in the local context.
BANA
•Britain
•Australia
•New Zealand
•North America
Does English belong to these
Inner Circle countries?
What should we call
ourselves?
•English as a second language
(ESL)
•English as foreign language (EFL)
•English language teaching (ELT)
•English as an additional language
(EAL)
Burns, Anne (Ed.). (2005).Teaching
English From a Global Perspective.
Alexandria, Virginia: Teachers of
English to Speakers of Other
Languages.
Chapter 1: “Interrogating New
Worlds of English Language
Teaching”
She contrasts the ELT field as she
knew it in the 1970’s when “the world
of English language teaching (ELT)
was a more comfortable and cozy
place of people who followed neat
and predictable methods--secure,
especially for a native-Englishspeaking teacher, in the assumption
that learning English meant learning
to speak like me” with what she sees
now in the 21st century.
Now it is a truism that English is a
lingua franca, a language used
locally and internationally, not only
among so-called native speakers
but by anyone wishing to activate
his or her role as a member of an
international communicative
network. And to be an English
teacher today is to play an
inevitable part in this globalizing
enterprise, to recognize new
areas of inquiry, now raised for
perhaps the first time in the long
history of ELT. (p. 1)
TESOL Web site
www.tesol.org
Click on News/Position Statements
Position Statement on English as a
Global Language (2008)
As a global professional association,
TESOL values individual language
rights, collaboration in a global
community, and respect for diversity
and multiculturalism. In accordance
with its Position Statement on
Language Varieties (1996), TESOL
encourages the recognition and
appreciation of all varieties of
English, including dialects, creoles,
and world Englishes. In terms of
language teaching, TESOL does not
advocate one standard or variety of
English over another. Rather,
TESOL urges English language
teachers to make informed
decisions at local, regional, and/or
national levels, taking into account
the purposes and contexts of use
that are most relevant to their
learners.
13th International Conference
Nepal English Language
Teachers’ Association (NELTA)
February 2008
Key Speech: Sandra J. Briggs,
Think Globally, Act Locally
Educational Systems
TESOL’s mission is to
ensure excellence in
English language teaching
to speakers of other
languages.
TESOL Values
•Professionalism in language
education
•Individual language rights
•Accessible, high quality education
•Collaboration in a global community
•Interaction of research and
reflective practice for educational
improvement
•Respect for diversity and
multiculturalism
Have you noticed that teaching
English involves much more than
just teaching English?
Some of the issues we face in the
ELT field are not directly related to
the English that is taught in the
classroom.
Who has access to a high quality
education?
•Private versus public schools
•Urban versus rural
•Social class, race, religion
•Legal status in the country in which
the students are studying
At what age do students begin to
learn English and what part of
their curriculum is in English?
Young learners need to develop oral
language and literacy in their native
language as a basis for learning
other languages, including English.
The TESOL Position Statement on
Language and Literacy
Development for Young English
Language Learners (2001)
Directed at young learners in an
ESL/ESOL situation in which the
official position is that they must
learn English
For young children, the quality of
education they receive in their first
years of schooling is often a critical
indicator of their long-term academic
success. Early literacy and language
development are interlaced with
social and cognitive development
and are vital elements in the
education of young children. For
young ESOL learners, the
complexities involved with literacy
and language development are
compounded by the fact that they
must be achieved in a language other
than their native language, and often
before they are literate in that
language. Successful early childhood
programs build upon the knowledge
that young learners bring from home,
and for young ESOL learners, this
knowledge is learned and expressed
in the native language.
What is the interaction of various
languages in the educational
system for students of all ages?
These are my observations from
conversations with ELT educators over
the last two years in Argentina, China,
India, Mexico, Nepal, Spain, Ukraine,
and the United States. Of course, I
have also talked to a lot of people from
countries that I haven’t visited during
this time.
Matagallinas, Mexico in the
classroom of Hilario Santibáñez
•Professor Peter Sayer at the
MEXTESOL Convention in November
2007
•Peter and I began corresponding
about his work.
Sayer, Peter. “Authenticity in
Marginalized EFL Contexts” in
Dantas-Whitney, M. and Rilling, S.
(Eds.). (Under contract).
Authenticity in the language
classroom and beyond: Children
and adolescent learners.
Alexandria, VA.: TESOL.
•Peter observes and analyzes what
goes on in Hilario’s classroom.
•In this classroom “authenticity” and
“authentic materials” do not mean
“made for native speakers.”
•In Matagallinas “authenticity”
means “English as the students
encounter it in their own lives.”
Languages in Hilario’s classroom
•The English the students learn in
Hilario’s classroom
•Spanish
•Mixe, a local indigenous language
•English brought back from teacher and
relative experience in the United States
The students in Matagallinas may be
learning a global language, but they
are learning it to use in their local
context.
TESOL-SPAIN Convention
March 2007 in
Donostia/San Sebastián
Theme: “Content and Language
Learning-Two Birds, One Stone
•This theme sounded like what I
do in the United States; I train
mainstream teachers to work
with ESL students, making their
content comprehensible to them.
•The convention was held in a
private school in the Basquespeaking region of Spain. At that
school students were taught in
Basque, Spanish, English, and
French.
This theme was very exciting and
important for the participants.
•Which courses should be taught
in which languages?
•How can content teachers be
trained in ELT?
•What happens to ELT educators
in this new arrangement?
“21st Century/Lenovo Cup”
National English Speaking
Competition in China
•Exceptional proficiency in
English
•Chinese educational structure to
the competition
•Local context was very
important
Structure of competition
•Part I: 4-minute prepared speech
on given topic, “Living with
Globalization: Learn to Compete
in the Global Era”
•Part II: 3-minute impromptu
speech on a topic given to
contestants 20 minutes ahead of
time
•Part III: Contestants answer
three questions asked by a
question master
ELT Educators
I haven’t found a country yet
where the requirements and
standards for teaching English
as an additional language are
really set and followed.
Why?
•The demand for English teachers
is tremendous.
•Teachers are often thrown into
classrooms with minimal training.
•They are left to train themselves
and their students in English.
•They have to find their own
professional development.
The old native versus nonnative
English-speaking teacher
controversy
Prejudice that native English speaking teachers, even if they are
not trained to teach English, are
superior to nonnative Englishspeaking teachers, even if they are
highly proficient and highly trained
in ELT.
TESOL Position Statement Against
Discrimination of Nonnative
Speakers of English in the Field of
TESOL (2006)
The distinction between native
and nonnative speakers of English
presents an oversimplified
either/or classification system that
does not actually describe the
range of possibilities in a world
where English has become a
global language.
TESOL strongly opposes discrimination
against nonnative English speakers in the
field of English language teaching. Rather,
English language proficiency, teaching
experience, and professionalism should
be assessed on a continuum of
professional preparation. All English
language educators should be proficient
in English regardless of their native
languages, but English language
proficiency should b viewed as only one
criterion in evaluating a teacher’s
professionalism. Teaching skills,
teaching experience, and
professional preparation should
be given as much weight as
language proficiency.
Pasternak, Mindy and Bailey,
Kathleen M. “Preparing Nonnative
and Native-English Speaking
Teachers: Issues of
Professionalism and Proficiency”
in Kamhi-Stein, Lía D. (Ed.). (2004).
Learning and Teaching from
Experience: Perspectives on
nonnative English-Speaking
Professionals. Ann Arbor,
Michigan: The University of
Michigan, pp. 155 - 175.
FIG. 2. Continua of target language proficiency and professional preparation (p. 161)
Proficient in
the target language
1
Professionally
prepared as a
language teacher
|
|
|
|
3
Not professionally
_________________________ prepared as a
language teacher
|
2
|
4
|
|
Not proficient
in the target language
This grid is very powerful. It gives
us a way to talk about the
proficiency and professionalism of
ELT educators without reference
to native and nonnative speaker
status in English.
What subjects should be
taught in English and who
should teach them?
There is a trend in many countries
toward teaching certain subjects
in English and asking the content
instructors to do this most of the
time without the proper ELT
training.
My example has been the TESOLSPAIN conference
•Mainstream teachers attended
because they wanted any help
they could get from the abrupt
change to English
•It is the educational system’s
responsibility to train the teachers
for what they ask them to do.
•The educational systems need to
consider the linguistic and
educational issues involved
before making the change to
English.
•As ELT educators we need to
advocate for educational policy
changes made thoughtfully and
with the help of ELT researchers
and educators.
Where do we find good, ongoing professional
development?
•If not in the educational system,
where?
•Professional associations can
provide some excellent
professional development.
Two good examples from
TESOL
•Donna Brinton, a leading expert
in Content-Based Instruction (CBI)
•She participated in the TESOL
Symposium on Teaching English
for Specific Purposes in Buenos
Aires, Argentina and her paper is
available on the TESOL Web site.
•In 2007 she also presented a
virtual seminar on “English as a
Global Medium of Instruction.” It
will soon be available on the
TESOL Web site.
Teacher training and professional
development are very complicated
and expensive undertakings. They
are crucial components for highquality ELT education.
What does this mean for
ELT educators?
TESOL’s Position Statement on
Research and Policy (2005)
This position statement defines
both “research” and “policy” for
the ELT field and asks both
researchers and policy makers to
think carefully and conduct and
use research wisely.
Here is the definition of research:
Research refers to a spirited
inquiry and systematic
investigation that contributes to
the knowledge base of a field.
Research-based knowledge
provides a principled basis for
understanding language teaching
and learning, and making
decisions about policies, plans,
and actions. Research has the
potential to help English language
teaching professionals improve
the processes, outcomes, and
conditions for language teaching,
learning, and assessment. It also
can help the profession address
urgent social and political issues
around the world, improve the
materials used for second
language teaching in schools,
institutions, and workplaces,
as well as clarify debates and
debunk myths regarding second
language acquisition. A strong
commitment to research as a
means of improving professional
knowledge is vital to the field of
teaching English to speakers of
other languages (TESOL).
Here is the definition of policy and
TESOL’s hope that policy decisions
will be made with reference to sound
research:
Policy makers must go beyond the
consideration of the conclusions of
research. They must consider
important variables within the
research, the specific purposes and
constituencies of the research, and
the impact of decisions made based
on limited--or inconclusive--results.
TESOL encourages researchers and
policy makers to reflect on how their
beliefs about the nature of language,
language learning, and language
teaching relate to policy decisions,
and to discover what research has to
say about these beliefs.
I am of the belief that teaching is
researching.
•We need to keep up on the research.
•We need to carry out action research
in our classes.
•We need to allow researchers access
to our classes in order to carry on
their work.
•We need to share what we know
about the research among
instructors, administrators, policy
makers, and the public.
We also need to stay connected to
other ELT educators locally and
globally.
We also need to advocate for the
ELT field, for the ELT educators,
and for the students we teach.
•We have access to the facts needed
to make good policy decisions, good
program decisions, and good
decisions about what and how to
teach tomorrow.
•We are the experts and we need to
share what we know with those in
charge so that we really are providing
high quality ELT education to our
students.
I firmly believe that belonging to
and participating in good
professional associations helps
us do all the things that we have
talked about today. This
participation will make us better
educators and it will also
strengthen the ELT profession.
Sandy Briggs
TESOL Past President
2008 - 2009
sjbtbf@earthlink.net