he World of English Language Teaching

1. Dr. Jui-Jung Tsao
The World of English Language Teaching

2. 目录页
CONTENTS
Who speaks English
1
Who learns English, and which variety do they learn
2
Who teaches English
3

3. 目录页
Introduction
PART ONE

4.  TESOL is not a single profession.
-The general English  the more specialized worlds of business English or
English for academic purposes (EAP).
 The language itself is not one thing either.
-evolving and being used in more and more diverse situations.
 For English language teachers and course designers
-make decisions about what kind of English to teach and, of course, how to do it.

5. Who speaks English?
 In the early Middle Ages, English already constituted an amalgam of many
different language strands.
 It has morphed and spread to other countries and populations a main language
of international communication and commerce.

6. Inner circle
The USA, the UK, and
Australia.
Expanding circle
China, Sweden, Turkey, and
Argentina.
-English is a dominant foreign
language.
Outer circle
India and Singapore
-local varieties of the language
have developed.

7. English Language Statistics - an Exhaustive List | Lemon Grad

8. English Language Statistics - an Exhaustive List | Lemon Grad
Who owns English?

10.  What “speaks English” means?
-at what level?
 3 billion ‘functional users’ of English by 2040.
 60% of the world’s population have poor or no English skills.
 The English spoken all over the world is not necessarily always the same kind of
English.
-Different varieties of English

11. 1.1.1
Varieties of English

12. 12
The south of England
Standard southern English (SSE)
-the variety of British English in coursebooks and exams for learners of English
Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland
-other different varieties of the same language
Similarities of grammar, lexis and pronunciation and, in most
cases, a mutual intelligibility.
Significant differences regarding language construction and pragmatic use.
Different regional areas have clearly identifiable language varieties.
More than one version of English—many language varieties coexist.

13. 13
Gentral American (GA)
A kind of US equivalent of standard southern English.
-also used in teaching and examining all over the world.
North America (watching US and Canadian movies)
-Many and diverse regional and ethnically diverse Englishes are present all over the
North American continent.
Variation of a similar kind on a far bigger scale in the USA.

14.  Exam boards and materials writers generally opt for one of two
‘inner circle’ varieties – GA or SSE.
 These varieties, too, show differences in:
-grammar
(Did you see him yet? / Have you seen him yet?)
-vocabulary (elevator/lift, pants/trousers)
-pronunciation (advertisement vs advertisement; /lɔ/ vs /lɔː/ for law)
-spelling (analyze/analyse, color/colour).
 In most cases, though, these varieties are remarkably similar and
almost always mutually understandable.

15.  How about outside the ‘inner circle’ versions of English
 Recognized and well-established ‘outer circle’ varieties such as India and Singapore.
 English—a language of inter-country communication A recognized new
form of Asian English.
 An enormous number of speakers of English who speak it as a second or additional
language.
 The chances: these people speak English not with ‘natives’ but with non-natives.

16. English as a lingual franca (ELF)—
--another and more widely-used name for EIL (English as an international language)
 ‘a means of communication between people who come from different language
background…not a language variety in the traditional sense of the term’
(Jenkins, 2012, p. 487).
 It can be observed ‘over the internet, on Facebook, as well as in an office in Beijing…’ (Cogo,
2012, p. 98).
 ELF speakers seem to be very ‘accommodating’, jointly ensuring that communication is
successful in a way that might horrify native-speaker examiners who demand accuracy based
on native-speaker norms.

17.  A disconnect:
The way English is frequently examined and taught and the way in which English is used
by the majority of its speakers.
 ‘Native-speaker reference books may be developing as better guides to native-speaker
usage, but are less useful as models for learners’ (Graddol, 2008, p. 115).

18. Typical features of ELF speech (deviations from native-speaker norms):
 frequent failure to use the third person singular of the present simple.
She look very sad.
 the use of the relative pronouns who and which interchangeably.
a book who, a person which
 adoption of all-purpose questions tags such as isn’t it or No?
He could have been more careful, isn’t it (couldn’t he)?
 countable/uncountable
furtures and advices.
 strong and weak forms to
voiced and voiceless

19. How should we approach this reality? (Jenkins 2004, p. 40)
 Teachers should not ‘correct items that are emerging as systematic and frequent’ in ELF
communication’.
 We should ‘avoid idiomatic language’.
 In pronunciation teaching, we ‘focus on the core items and leave the non-core to the
learners’ choice’.

20. ELF “Reduced version of English”
 ELF is not so much as a variety as a process of accommodation.
--though with some recurring features, in constant flux.
 As most students need some certainties to cling onto, this could present problems for
teachers in deciding what language to teach.
--hope for a clear model
--a native-speaker variety of English as an ‘appropriate pedagogical model’.
 ELF perspective on teaching:
--does not mean that ‘norms and standards are no longer required’
but that they are mutable concepts and that learners need to be introduced to language
variation when they are ready (Sewell, 2013, p. 7).
 Adopt any significant or functioning variety of English as the norm.
But learners are exposed to more ELF-like language as time goes on.

21. On the curriculum
Who learns English, and which variety do they learn?
Study at an
English-medium
college
Travel/ use social
media/online
gaming

22. 1.2.
Who learns English, and which
variety do they learn?

23. ESL
1. Often immigrants that need the language to
communicate with local people.
2. ESL classes focus on not general English but
things they need to do in the society.
3. The curriculum may mirror the lives they are
leading outside the classroom.
EFL
1. Studying in their countries,
no need to learn how to fill in a US tax form,
for example.
2. A less culture-specific form of the language, and
less obviously situated activities and tasks.

24. The EFL/ESL distinction—not that
clear-cut
Everyone is an ESL student.
Immigrants may use their English to talk to other ESL speakers,
rather than communicating with native speakers.
A lot of English takes place in cyberspace.
-Internet ESL speakers
-The internet is an English-speaking ‘country’.

25. 1.2.1
General English and ESP

26. GE
1. Taught as a school subject, with no specific
purposes in mind, except:
-good for learners.
-worth learning.
2. Has been a dominant model in schools.
3. Teachers decide on what language they want to
teach and then find content and activities which will
help their students learn it.
ESP
1. Clearly identifiable reasons for learning English.
-to be a nurse, pilot, air-traffic-control employee,
etc.
2. A clearly defined academic professional, learning
or vocational need, which will influence the
language they study and they syllabus they
follow.
General English and ESP

27. Different kinds of ESP

28. Needs Analysis

29.  Designers of ESP courses:
 To pin down exactly what the students will need to do in and with the language.
--which will determine the content and syllabus of the course/ clear aims and objectives
for use lessons.
 Students’ autonomy:
--appreciate the opportunity to express their views about their course and wish to
exercise some degree of control over the way the course proceeds (David, 2006)
 Problematic:
--A bunch of diverse individuals with mutually contradictory notions of what [is] best for
them (Mann, 2014, p. 70).
 What students need and what they want are not necessarily the same thing.

30. 1.2.2
Business English

31.  Issues Business English (BE) teachers and materials designers have to confront:
 Where do the lessons take place?
--at secondary school, in college, in a company.
 What stage of their business lives have the students reached?
 the content of BE lessons will depend on:
1. whether the students are studying for some future life of business .
2. whether they are currently in work in a business environment.
--conduct a detailed needs analysis to find out what happens in the student’s
office and what the student needs to do.
3. We can find out what that environment is like even when students are not yet in
a workplace.

32.  Evans (2013):
 To have his students (business people) keep detailed ‘week-in-life’ diaries, complete
surveys, and agree to be interviewed.
 Task-based learning favored by his students:
 Which is the best approach:
--depend on who the students are
--what they need and want.
‘Business lessons still worked best when the focus
was on a theme’ (Wade, 2012, p. 49).
Theme vs. Topic: 5 Key Differences Explained (yourdictionary.com)

33. 1.2.3
Content-based language
teaching [CBLT] and CLIL

34.  The differences between general English teaching and content teaching
 The aim of language learning is to learn a language.
 The content is the most important thing in content teaching.
--content taught in an L2 content and the language learned at the same time.
 Content-based language teaching (CBLT):
--the study of academic subjects, not as a way of talking about language study for a
particular professional purpose.

35.  CBLT comes in many forms:
 Content-driven:
--total immersion, where the students do all their studies in the TL.
--EMI (English-medium instruction): a form of total immersion.
 Language-driven teaching:
--the focus is on language.
--the course includes specific content, in a more deliberate and organized way than
in some general English courses (Snow, 2014, p. 439).

36.  Does CBLT work? A high rate of achievement.
 CBLT—not a panacea for all ills.
Doubts about their levels of grammatical accuracy and
pragmatic competence in French, even after years of study
…also achieve high levels of comprehension in French
--express themselves both orally and in writing on topics related
to academic subjects.
Students achieve success in subject-matter learning.

37.  CLIL (content and language integrated learning)
 A European variant of CBLT:
1. To mix the teaching of content and language so that students learn both the
content and the specific language they need to express that content at the same
time.

38.  CLIL (content and language integrated learning)
 In general English lessons:
--the syllabus selects the language to be taught and someone look for content to
exemplify that language.
 In CLIL lessons:
--content is selected and then CLIL planners look for the precise language which
will enable the students to understand and talk about that content.
--to learn technical words and structures never normally included in a general
English lesson at that level.
--This choice (and teaching) of language to express content is a defining
characteristics of CLIL.

39. 39
To be able to communicate content, and to be able to communicate
with each other.
Communication
To develop their thinking skills
1. Higher order thinking skills (LOTS)
-What is it?
2. Lower order thinking skills (HOTS)
-What causes there to be so many of these?
To be able to relate content to the culture in which it is embedded.
To be able to understand their own culture via comparison with other
behavioral norms.
CLIL’s 3 other Cs
Cognition
Culture

40.  The tolerance of the students’ L1 in the classroom.
 ‘CLIL….respects the role that the L1 can play both in promoting and supporting
L2 learning but also in creating and establishing a supportive and safe atmosphere
for learners who are beginning CLIL’ (Loannou-Georgiou, 2012, p. 499).

41.  Advantages of CLIL.
 Students with average abilities achieve higher levels of skill than they have typically
achieved in traditional classes.
 Teachers’ experience of CLIL has been very positive.
‘The enriched content gives language learning a purpose, it is challenging and
discursive, and encourages thinking skills, opinion giving and justification’.

42.  Varying degrees of CLIL.
 Entirely CLIL-centered curriculums (‘hard’ CLIL).
 Single lessons which are content-centered (‘soft’ CLIL).
--To bring scientific or academic-flavoured content into their lessons.
--Unless these lessons are driven by the content (rather than language), they may not be
considered as ‘true CLIL’ at all by some.

43.  Why don’t all school use CLIL or some other form of CBLT.
 CLIL may well demand a very special kind of teacher:
--Equally at home with content teaching and language teaching.
--Lots of time and money spent training or retrain teachers from both disciplines.


44.  Worries:
 The L2 acts as an extra barrier to the students’ content learning.
 especially where teachers are not totally confident in their own L2 language use.
 Coordination
--To get subject teachers who work in the TL to work with language teachers.
--Significant organization, financial support, and crucially, a willingness to
cooperate.
 The emotional sensitivity of teaching content in the L2.

45. 1.3
Who teaches English?

46.  Not enough native-English-speaker teachers (NESTs).
 A belief that the ‘best’ teachers of a language are native speakers.
--Native-speakerism:
--’a pervasive ideology within ELT, characterized by the belief that “native
speaker” teachers represent a “western culture” from which spring the ideals
both of the English language and English language teaching methodology’
(Holliday, 2006, p. 385).
 In some situations, NESTs, sometimes unqualified, can walk into jobs where they
are preferred over their NNESTs colleagues.

47.  This perceived NEST superiority is just crazy.
--’being a native speaker of English is not the same thing as being proficient
in English’ (Kamhi-Stein, 2014, p. 566).
1. Native speakers of languages whose ability to use those languages is
significantly inferior (or less developed) than that of some second-language
speakers of those same languages.
2. Native speakers are more fluent.
3. Some second language speakers:
(1) more highly-developed vocabulary in certain areas.
(2) an ability to discuss certain topics such as literature or philosophy, in
more depth and with greater facility.

48.  ‘Native speakers may increasingly be identified as part of the problem rather than the
source of a solution…as teachers, native speakers may not possess some of the skills
required by bilingual speakers, such as those of translation and interpreting (Graddol,
2008, p. 114. )’
 The issue of teaching ability.
1. No good reasons for the preference
for NESTs, but this could be motivating
for students.
2. Good NESTs:
They are ‘good’ at the language and ‘good’
at teaching.

49.  Advantages of non-native-speaker teachers:
 To have the same experience of learning English as their students are now having.
 To be able to maximise the benefits of L1 and L2 use.
 To be more familiar with local mores and learning styles than visiting native
speakers are.
 Good non-NESTs:
They are ‘good’ at the language and ‘good’ at teaching.

50. THANKS!