EFL 537 CALL
Instructor Lyra Riabov
Southern New Hampshire University
MS-TEFL
Donna W. Papanikolau
02-04
The Changing Global Economy and the Future of Teaching English
By Mark Warschaur
A Reflection Discussion
In Mark Warschaur’s article, The Changing Global Economy and the Future of
English Teaching, he discusses the impact of technology on global economies and how
this will affect English language teaching. Prior to reading this article I had never really
considered how these advances will change the reason people learn English and in turn
how we teach English. I had read in Ronald Wardhagh’s book An Introduction to
Sociolinguistics, that English is becoming a lingua franca, and how many indigenous
languages are dying out as a result of this but I never considered technological advances
to be the reason for these two phenomenons. The other factor I had not considered was
the varieties of English would reflect the user’s connection to the language. For instance
cultures using English as a foreign language instead of a second language would not have
the same use for politeness requests that are traditionally taught in school when
conversing in English. This article also brought to light many economic factors brought
on by new technologies that will also influence the reasons we teach English.
On example that I can attest to is, how European businesses are using and learning
English. With the advances in technologies it is the language used to communicate
between countries that have different language backgrounds. In Greece my friend works
in the telecommunications industry. She was required to learn how to communicate in
EFL 537 CALL
Instructor Lyra Riabov
Southern New Hampshire University
MS-TEFL
Donna W. Papanikolau
02-04
English because the Swedish company they partnered with spoke English, not Swedish or
Greek. She learned the vocabulary and grammatical structures necessary for completing
her project with her Swedish counterpart. Therefore she had specific needs when learning
English, which is exactly the point Warschaur was making. In order to facilitate learning
we must change the way we think about the content we are teaching especially in today’s
society. We must concentrate on the needs of the individual or group. All of this made me
feel like something was missing though. Is English being taught as a whole or in
fragmented pieces, and what effect does that have upon the language and the language
users?
There are also many other factors that come into play when discussing the role
technology will play in reshaping our society. These include employment and skills
necessary for the new jobs technology creates, academics, which includes research and
distance learning and the general influx of information available to all who have
computers. For the English Language teacher all this means rethinking how we use
authentic materials, the purpose we use these material for, and more importantly who we
are teaching. It challenges teachers of the future to not only understand their student’s
needs but to make sure the content matches the language learner’s goals. It is important
that these new students of English have a voice all of their own, where they use the
language not only to complete a task or job requirement but where they are also able to
express their identity by having multiliteracies in the linguistic arena. Informationalism
and globalization have changed everything, and it is here to stay. The question then
becomes, how do we integrate this into teaching philosophy?
EFL 537 CALL
Instructor Lyra Riabov
Southern New Hampshire University
MS-TEFL
Donna W. Papanikolau
02-04
In conclusion, there are many options afforded to a teacher through the internet, such
as synchronous and asynchronous communication, project based learning through
websites and collaborative projects, discussion rooms, MOO’s, e-mail and a whole world
of knowledge and research. The important fact though is to use these tools of the
information age to speak, read and write English in many different venues. English will
then become the students own language and not the language of someone seven thousand
miles away. I know that as a teacher I will promote learning through this medium because
I feel it has the best to offer any new student for optimum learning.