The document discusses 21st century language needs and implications for textbook writers. It suggests that education needs to prepare students for an uncertain future by developing skills like critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration. Research shows these applied skills are best taught through academic subjects and deep content knowledge. New models of education should recognize each student's talents and shift from teaching to facilitating learning through relevant experiences. Textbooks need to enhance foundational literacy and numeracy while also cultivating the eight critical competencies of creativity, citizenship, character and more. Language education specifically should focus on real-world application over memorization.

1. 21st Century Language Needs
Iffat Kazmi

2. 21st Century Language Needs
Implications for Text book Writers
If our world is different today and we do not know what
our world will be like tomorrow, should the education
we provide our young people be like yesterday?

3. What does the Research Suggest?
→ Students who obtain more education (higher, skill training)
will be at a great advantage to support a family or secure a
middle-class lifestyle.
→ The need for traditional knowledge and skills in math,
language, and science is necessary; in fact, students who
master higher language skills, for example, will have a
distinct advantage over their peers.

4. → For success both on the job and in their personal lives,
students must be able to apply what they learn to deal with
real world challenges, rather than simply “reproduce” the
information on tests.
→ Students who develop an even broader set of in-demand
competencies—the ability to think critically, solve novel
problems, communicate and collaborate, create new
products and processes, and adapt to change—will be at an
even greater advantage in work and life.
→ Applied skills and competencies can best be taught in the
context of the academic curriculum; in fact, cognitive
research suggests that some competencies like critical
thinking and problem solving are highly dependent on deep
content knowledge and cannot be taught in isolation.

5. → New models of education that recognize and develop the
unique gifts and talents of each child
→ Shift in pedagogy from teaching to learning and provision of
relevant and rigorous learning experiences
→ Foundational learning in literacy, numeracy science be
enhanced, add the in-demand competencies young people
need to succeed and provide an ICT rich environment
→ Instruction, assessment and learning environments created
to intellectually engage students

6. Foundational Knowledge
→ Students will still need to learn the academic content
traditionally taught in the school curriculum, especially
strong language skills to succeed in work and life.
→ Students will need not just knowledge but also the ability to
apply their learning to meet real-world challenges ie “applied
literacies” . That applies to all subjects.

7. Critical
Thinking Communication
Collaboration
Cultural
Diversity
Creativity &
Innovation
Connectivity for
Learning
Citizenship
Character
8 C’s of
Education
for the
Future

8. Key Points to Remember
→ Language needs to be taught as a skill not as a content
subject
→ Literature can be used as a means for teaching language
→ Focusing on language for everyday use
→ Involving students in language creation not memorization

9. ‘... schools have to prepare students for jobs that
have not yet been created, technologies that
have not yet been invented and problems that we
don't yet know will arise.’
Andreas Schleicher, OECD Education Directorate, 2010