Fostering East Asian Learners Communicative Competencies: Issues and
Strategies
In a first step, drawing on a sociocultural perspective and especially on the concept
of “culture of learning” (Jin & Cortazzi, 1999), this presentation will describe the
characteristics of Language Teaching and Learning (LTL) in East-Asian contexts
(China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore,…). It will present the main patterns that
–to some extent- define Language teaching and Learning (LTL) in East Asia on
these aspects: teacher’s and learners’ roles, focus on writing, memorization,
conception and relationship to knowledge and competencies. After stressing the
diversity of the East Asian contexts discussed and the recent cultural changes
identified at the methodological level, these East-Asian educative patterns will be
contrasted with the methodological principles of the Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages (European Council, 2005) and especially
task-based and competence-based teaching and learning. The presentation will
introduce the results of various recent works (including the author’s) on foreign
language teaching in East Asia, focusing in particular on the learners’ perspective
and especially their social representations and beliefs. The author will present his
research’s results on Taiwanese English learners’ beliefs and perception towards
task-based learning.
In a second step, various reflections on the pedagogic issues of the teaching of
English and French to East Asian learners in Québec will be introduced. To tackle
this issue, the presentation will describe East Asian learners´ specific needs in this
context and introduce concrete strategies to help teachers foster their linguistic,
pragmatic, and sociocultural competencies. Some affective strategies will also be
introduced for teachers and learners to set up an emotional environment conducive
to language learning.
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Council of Europe (2005). The Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
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Jin, L., & Cortazzi, M. (1998). Dimensions of dialogue: large classes in China.
International Journal of Education Research, 29, 739-761.