14 july state and status of english

State and status of EnglishWendy Arnold

arnoldworld@gmail.comETAI Israel

14th July, 2010

Many thanks to ETAI for inviting me

ETAI is an Associate of

IATEFL

Overview

Highlights from a conference held in Bangalore in 2008 – The Way Forward:Learning from International Experience of TEYL

Lessons to be learnt about implementation of English language teaching

English in India English in China How else is English spreading globally?

The Way Forward: Learning from international experience of TEYL. Regional Institute of English,

Bangalore, India, 3rd - 6th January 2008 Highlights from conference proceedings (Enever, Moon &

Raman 2009) Optimal start age Class size Curriculum and assessment design Equity of TEYL provision Continuity across school phases Interplay between top down and bottom up procedures

Summary-’earlier the better’ brigade is winning-teachers in some countries would prefer a later

start (age)-successes in implementation-hastily implemented early start policies may be

ineffective -to ensure quality and sustainability over time, a

planned and phased introduction is important- education reform needs time. Quality cannot be

achieved overnight.

English in India

A warning …

David Graddol warns that ‘ … many [in India] complain that English has created one of the biggest social divisions in an already divided society …’

‘ … between those who can speak English and those who cannot …’ (2010)

Some facts:

• Shortage of teachers who can implement English programmes to children in primary, secondary and colleges (ages 6-18 years)

• Children do not learn English by being taught through English. English medium of instruction does not work without English language being taught.

• Education in and development of the mother tongue is necessary (Graddol 2010)

Personal insights into English language teaching training in India 2009

Project groupwork

Shared presentations

Buddy reading

Made and played games

Made and presented materials

Made and presented materials

Acted out dramas

Class sizes 50-80 students

Summary

• Teachers, trainers and Principals were all engaged and motivated

• Understanding of why learners needs should be considered in methodology

• Classroom management strategies were identified to overcome large class sizes

• Simple but effective materials were designed to support textbook

An innovation

ACTIVITY BASED LEARNING

ABL

LEARNER AUTONOMYLearners working at their own paceEach task type has a logo

All YL start at level 1 together but progress at their own pace through levels

WHOLE SCHOOL APPROACHEvery subject uses ABL methodology

DIFFERENTIATIONYL working on different tasks within a level

METACOGNITIONYL doing some working out on the

blackboard before writing in exercise book

LEARNER AUTONOMYYL collect task sheets from boxes on the shelves

Teacher supporting a group of less able YL

Activity Based Learning ABL – an innovation in action

Teacher can see progress of individual YL

Summary

• Innovation being monitored• 70% of provinces using ABL• Needs classrooms to be re-modelled with

shelving, blackboards on 3 walls and no other furniture

• ABL supervisors support teachers by designing and modifying materials

English in China

CLT and TBL in China

• Communicative language teaching (CLT)• Task based learning (TBL)

Approaches considered in China

Approach 1

Native-speakerism (Holliday 2005)

‘ … most influential and dominating ideaology among Chinese school English curriculum designers, teacher trainers, and teachers … ‘ (Gong 2010)

Problems with approach no. 1 in China

It is not appropriate for Chinese school learners because (Gong 2010):

- It is extremely difficult especially for rural area school learners (60-70% of the population) as …

- Students spend most of the lessons learning content which is not useful for them in their everyday lives and …

- It needs a high language proficiency level for teachers (only 37% of school teachers have formal training at college or university level)

Approach no. 2 – Subject-oriented approach (SOA)

Integration of school subject content with foreign language teaching objectives.

Other versions have been called:CLIL (content and language integrated learning)EMI (English medium of instruction)CBI (content-based instruction)

Problems with approach no. 2

- Lack of suitable materials- Lack of qualified teachers- Students expectations- No assessment available(Gong 2010)

Approach no.3 – multi-goal approach

Theoretical underpinnings:- Humanistic idea of language teaching- Learners perspectives- Curriculum design- Foreign language education goals

Research survey (Gong 2010)-3 year investigation: 2007-2009-rural,urban, small towns, big cities and village

schools in national poverty counties-semi-structured group interviews and 1:1

interviews-20 interviews in 9 provinces

Why China needs to make changes

• Rural students said topics/content irrelevant to their life and difficult to understand

• Students in big cities said that there is not enough authentic material

• One size fits all curriculum cannot meet needs of different learners

Conceptual framework for approach no. 3

- Communication- Cognition- Connection- Cultures- CultivationThis almost matches what Do Coyle says is needed for

CLIL (content and language integrated learning) http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/transform/teachers/specialist-areas/clil

How else English is spreading globally?

Where English is the ‘official’ language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:English-as-Official-Language.png

Where English is spreading!

Language usage on the Internet

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm

You can reach 82.6% of the world’s population with these 10 languages!

Some facts:- 2 billion people are likely to be learning English in the

next 10 years - Non-native speaker providers of ELT services will

compete with UK providers- Native-speaker norms becoming less relevant as

English becomes ‘component of basic education’ in many countries (Graddol 2006)

- ‘ …China … Asia … Latin America …across Europe … English is seen as a new ‘basic skill’ which all children require in the 21st century …’ (Graddol 2010)

Conclusion

-Bangalore conference in 2008 identified indicators for successful implementation of English language teaching and learning

-India may have discovered an innovative whole school approach to education with the ABL

-China may be about to make innovative changes to its English language education

-English is spreading globally at ever younger ages

Copy of ppt: arnoldworld@gmail.com

Thank youWendy ArnoldInvitation to all to join IATEFL YLT SIG discussion group – Just send an empty message to:younglearners-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

References

WEBSITEShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:English-as-Official-Language.png – accessed on 6th July, 2010CLIL http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/transform/teachers/specialist-areas/clil - accessed on 12

July 2010

Enever, J, Moon, J, Raman, U (2009) Young Learner English Language Policy and Implementation:International Perspectives. UK:Garnet Publishing Ltd Graddol, D (2006) English Next. UK:British Council Graddol, D (2010) English Next India. UK:British Council Holliday, A (2006) Native-speakerism in ELTJ Vol 40 Number 4PRESENTATIONS Gong, Y (2010) A third approach to CLT in the Chinese EFL context – presentation at Cutting Edge conference, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, Kent 2 July 2010