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Indexed in SCOPUS |
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  2005 Conference |
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| Call for Presentations |
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The 2005 Asia TEFL International Conference
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TEFL for Asia: Unity within Diversity
China Resources Hotel, Beijing, China
November 4th - 6th, 2005
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The Asian Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (Asia TEFL) serves as a forum that brings together ELT professionals in the Asian region to collect, disseminate, and discuss information on English language teaching and learning in the Asian context. One of the primary ways of accomplishing this is through our annual conference.
The Asia TEFL International Conference Committee is now accepting presentation proposals in the content areas listed below for its 3rd conference to be held at China Resources Hotel in Beijing, China on November 4 - 6, 2005. The official language for the conference, including presentations and submissions, is English.
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| Invited Speakers |
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Invited Speakers: Six to nine internationally renowned scholars will each be giving a 50-min. plenary presentation as well as a concurrent session presentation. The Conference will also feature nine well-known speakers from the Asian region. These featured speakers will be giving 40-min. presentations on issues in the eight content areas listed below.
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| Concurrent Session Presenters |
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In 15-20 concurrent sessions, as many as 400 presenters are expected to share their ideas and the results of their research in 30-min. time slots. The Conference committee is calling for submission of presentation proposals in the content areas listed below. All presenters are encouraged to submit the research papers of their presentations to the Journal of Asia TEFL, the Association's refereed scholarly journal, for consideration for publication.
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| Content Areas |
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- TEFL Theory and Methodology
- Proficiency Goals and Assessment
- Education Policy
- Curriculum/Materials Development
- International/Intercultural Communication
- Teacher Education
- Teaching Young Learners
- Multimedia-Assisted Language Teaching
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| These content areas may include the following: |
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- Elementary Education
- Secondary Education
- College/University Education
- Testing and Evaluation
- Curriculum Design
- Materials Writing and Design
- Teacher Training and Development
- CALL and Its Role in the Classroom
- Classroom-Based/Action Research
- Teaching English through English
- Language/Culture Awareness in the Classroom
- Language Acquisition
- Alternative Approaches and Methodologies
- Music, Art, and Literature in the Classroom
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| Document Submission Requirements |
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The deadline for submission of presentation proposals is May 30, 2005. The abstract should consist of 250 words with the title at the top of the page and the name of the presenter(s) and their affiliation below the title on the right. Biographical data should not exceed 100 words and should be written on a separate page in the third person. Thirty minutes are allotted for a research paper presentation, and sixty minutes for a workshop or colloquium. Those who are outside of China should send the presentation proposal with the abstract and biographical data to the following address:
Dr. Mae-Ran Park
Division of English Language & Literature, Pukyong National University
591-1, Daeyeon 3-dong, Nam-gu, Busan 608-737, South Korea
Tel: +82-51-620-6687, Email: asiatefl@hotmail.com
Those who are within China should send the presentation proposal with the abstract and biographical data and the hotel reservation to the following address:
Mrs. Xiao Qiong
Foreign Languages Division, Higher Education Press,
4 Dewai Dajie, Xicheng District, Beijing 100011, P.R.C.
Tel: (8610) 58581794
Fax: (8610) 82086663
Email: AsiaTEFL@hep.com.cn
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| Travel Grants |
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Travel grants of US$300 are available for 50 concurrent session presenters. The awardees will be selected by the Asia TEFL International Conference Committee on the basis of proposal and travel grant application merit. Preference will be given to the 10 best submissions dealing with the most innovative and affective means of teaching and learning. This funding is available for presenters based outside of China.
All presenters receiving grants from Asia TEFL are required to submit research papers of their presentations to the Journal of Asia TEFL, publication of which is to be determined upon review by the Journal Editorial Board. The deadline for submission of presentation proposals and travel grant application forms is May 20, 2005. The abstracts should consist of 500 words with the title at the top of the page and the name of the presenter(s) and their affiliation below the title on the right. Biographical data should not exceed 100 words and should be written on a separate page in the third person. Send the presentation proposal with the abstract, biographical data, and the travel grant application form to the following address:
Dr. Kilryoung LEE, Conference Director
Department of English Education
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
270 Imun-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, 130-791, South Korea
Email: asiatefl@hanmail.net
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| Registration Fee |
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Registration is free for preregistrants by October 1st and US$20.00 (150RMB) for non-preregistrants.
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Special Invited Address
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| Towards a common Asian framework of reference for English learning, teaching and assessment |
| Bernard Spolsky (Bar-Ilan Univ., Israel) |
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Abstract
In his special invited address at last year's conference in Seoul, Vice President Ikuo Koike celebrated the major achievements of Asia TEFL in its first two years, and went on to discuss the future. As a long-range plan, he proposed developing an Asian Common Framework of Reference for Languages, modeled on the European Framework developed by the Council of Europe. I want in my presentation to support this suggestion. First, it is clear that each Asian nation must develop its own set of goals and guidelines for teaching English and not rely only on models supplied by British or American agencies or businesses. Second, the model of the European framework shows that a comprehensive but flexible set of choices for language teaching and learning is feasible. Developing an Asian framework would lead to greater common understanding of local differences as well as helping Asia TEFL take leadership in this critical area.
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Biodata
Born in New Zealand in 1932, Bernard Spolsky was educated there and in Canada. After teaching at McGill University and Indiana University, he moved to the University of New Mexico where he was Professor of Linguistics and Graduate Dean. In 1980, he became Professor of English at Bar-Ilan University, serving a term as Dean of Humanities and retiring in 2000 as professor emeritus. He is currently writing a book on the fundamentals of language management. He has been President of International TESOL and President of International Language Testing Association (which has just awarded him a lifetime achievement award) and has received Guggenheim and Mellon fellowships. He has written and edited a dozen books, including Conditions for Second Language Learning (1989), Measured words (1995), Sociolinguistics (1998; the last two are published by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press), The Languages of Israel (1999), Concise Encyclopedia of Educational Linguistics ( 1999) and Language Policy (2004) and published over 200 chapters in books and articles in journals. He is editor-in-chief of the journal Language Policy and Publications Director and Editor-in-Chief for the Asian Association of TEFL.URL: http://www.biu.ac.il/faculty/spolsb/
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| Reinventing language teaching |
| David Nunan (Univ. of Hong Kong, China) |
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Abstract
Major changes have been wrought to language curricula in recent years. Such changes have been driven by globalization, technology and the rise of English as a global language. In this presentation, I will look at the impact of these trends on language pedagogy, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region, where I have lived and worked for most of my professional life. The presentation will cover the scope of curriculum development, the impact of standards-based approaches to curriculum design, the impact of technology, the myth of the native speaker, and the professionalization and de-professionalization of language teaching.
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Biodata
David Nunan is Chair Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong, a position he has held since 1994. He also holds concurrent positions as Dean of the Graduate School of Education, Anaheim University and Senior Academic Advisor to Global English Corporation. He has also held positions at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, the Regional Language Centre, Singapore, and Macquarie University in Sydney. He has published over 100 scholarly books and articles on the impact of English as a global language as well as task-based language teaching, a method he pioneered in the 1990s. Recent books include Task-Based Language Teaching (Cambridge University Press), Practical English Language Teaching: Grammar (McGraw-Hill), and with Phil Benson Learners' Stories Difference and Diversity in Language Learning(Cambridge University Press).
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| Teaching EFL Reading: A Critical Look |
| Richard Day (Univ. of Hawaii, USA) |
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Abstract
This address is a critical examination of how EFL reading is widely approached in Asian contexts. I begin with a definition of reading and then discuss how we learn to read. I then critique the strengths and weaknesses of the most common approach, grammar translation and the approach most often found in published materials, skills and strategies. This critique also involves relating these two approaches to how we learn to read. Next, I attempt to account for certain phenomena in EFL reading, such as learners never reading English after they leave the classroom. I claim that grammar translation and skills and strategies approaches prevent EFL learners from becoming fluent, lifelong readers. I then examine the strengths and weaknesses of a less-widely used approach, extensive reading. I discuss research that shows that students who read extensively learn to read, increase their vocabulary, and have positive attitudes and increased motivation to learn English. I conclude my presentation with the claim that extensive reading can help EFL learners become fluent readers.
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Biodata
Richard R. Day is a Professor in the Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai`i. He has written a number of English language teaching texts, including Impact Values (Pearson Education Longman, with Yamanaka Junko and Joseph Shaules), and Impact Topics (Pearson Education Longman, with Yamanaka Junko). Dr. Day is the co-editor, with Julian Bamford, of Extensive Reading Activities for Teaching Language (Cambridge University Press, 2004). He is a co-editor of the scholarly, online journal Reading in a Foreign Language (http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl), and the co-founder and chair of the Extensive Reading Foundation (www.erfoundation.org). Professor Day was recently a visiting professor at Assumption University's ELT MA program in Bangkok, Thailand.
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| The Architecture of Teacher Knowledge |
| Donald Freeman (School for International Training, USA) |
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Abstract
In teaching, what teachers need to know is generally seen as originating beyond the community, school, or classroom--often in universities through research-- to be applied in the classroom. Over the past decade, however, the pendulum has swung toward local knowledge, defined as understandings developed by teachers as practitioners in their own classroom contexts. A third, more recent perspective--known as 'usable knowledge'--has been suggested to combine the other two views. This talk outlines the evolution of these 'knowledge architectures' as perspectives on what teachers know and do, and examines how they shape our understandings and practices, specifically in the areas of educational reform, teacher education, and classroom teaching and learning. Of particular interest is how the shift in knowledge architectures addresses and allows for global-local dimensions which are central in language education, especially English.
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Biodata
Donald Freeman is Dean of Graduate and Professional Studies in Language Teacher Education at the School for International Training, where he also directs the Center for Teacher Education, Training, and Research. He writes widely on teacher learning, professional development, and teacher research, and he serves on the editorial boards of the Modern Language Journal and the Educational Researcher. A past president of TESOL, he is a board member of the TESOL International Research Foundation as well as the International Advisory Council for the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations. He is co-editor, with Jack C. Richards, of Teacher Learning in Language Teaching (Cambridge), series editor of TeacherSource (International Thomson Publishing) and author of Doing Teacher-Research: From Inquiry to Understanding (Heinle) in that series. Freeman has recently co-authored, with Linda Lee and Kathleen Graves, ICON-International Communication through English (McGraw-Hill), a four-level series that integrates student language learning and teacher development.
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| From communicative competence to intercultural literacy |
| Claire Kramsch (UC Berkeley, USA) |
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Abstract
The notion of communicative competence emerged in the seventies, when the main concern in the teaching of English was to give students the means to communicate correctly, precisely and appropriately and to exchange information with others who shared common interests. But times have changed. In 2005, increased economic and technological competitiveness and an ever greater divergence of geopolitical interests have exacerbated the need for a better understanding of the cultural context of communication. Which culture should one teach with a global language like English? Does learning to speak like a native speaker necessarily entail espousing the cultural values of the native speaker? Attention is now being paid to cultural identities and to cultural values, attitudes and beliefs, even if these are often of the imagined kind. This paper gives a critical look at various concepts that have been proposed in the U.S and in Europe to make culture central to the language learning enterprise: communicative competence, intercultural competence, intercultural education and intercultural learning. It then attempts to define the notion of intercultural literacy for the global networked society of tomorrow.
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Biodata
Claire Kramsch is Professor of German and Education at UC Berkeley and Director of the Berkeley Language Center. She teaches second language acquisition and applied linguistics. In 1998, she received the Goethe Medal from the Goethe Institute in Weimar for her contributions to cross-cultural understanding between the United States and Europe. She is the past president of the American Association of Applied Linguistics and the past editor of the international journal Applied Linguistics. She has written extensively on language, discourse, and culture in applied linguistics. She is the author of Discourse Analysis and Second Language Teaching, Interaction et discours dans la classe de langue, Reden Mitreden Dazwischenreden. Managing conversations in German, Context and Culture in Language Teaching, Language and Culture. She is the editor of Redrawing the Boundaries of Language Study and Language Acquisition and Language Socialization. Ecological Perspectives.
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| From Corpus to Coursebook |
| Michael McCarthy (Univ. of Nottingham, UK) |
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Most language teachers are familiar with learners' dictionaries based oncorpus evidence, and recently, reference grammars have been published using corpora. However, the most exciting developments come from the study of spoken corpora in relation to discourse. Spoken corpora show us how we communicate face-to-face; they reveal that grammar and vocabulary are not just abstract entities but exist to enable us to interact successfully. But how can we translate these insights into practical materials to help learners become effective communicators? Importing the corpus wholesale into the classroom is not the answer. We must start with learners and their worlds and mediate the corpus so that it meshes into their worlds, meeting their aspirations. Step one is to develop awareness and noticing skills not just of grammatical forms but of interactive features. Learners can be guided to notice but need space to develop their noticing skills. They don't just need exposure; they need sufficient, authentic exposure. Teachers and learners rightly expect grammatical structures and patterns to be at the heart of language learning; authentic grammar teaching, therefore, means teaching the grammar of interaction. The corpus also shows us how we manage conversation, how we open, close and change topics, how we react and reciprocate, how we involve our conversational partners and help the conversation develop and flow. A corpus is not just a database for making dictionaries; it's a window into understanding communication. If used wisely, it will revolutionise not just dictionaries but all our teaching materials and resources.
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Biodata
Michael McCarthy is Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham, UK, Adjunct Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Pennsylvania State University, USA, and Adjunct Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Limerick, Ireland. He is author of Vocabulary (Oxford University Press, 1990), Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers (Cambridge University Press, 1991) Language as Discourse (Longman, 1994, with Ronald Carter), Exploring Spoken English(Cambridge University Press, 1997, with Ronald Carter), Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy (co-edited with Norbert Schmitt, Cambridge University Press, 1997), Spoken Language and Applied Linguistics (Cambridge University Press, 1998), Exploring Grammar in Context(with Ron Carter and Rebecca Hughes, Cambridge University Press, 2000) and Issues in Applied Linguistics (Cambridge University Press, 2001). He is also co-author of Vocabulary in Use, Basic, Upper Intermediate and Advanced levels (1994- CUP, with Felicity O'Dell), English Idioms in Use (CUP, 2003, with Felicity O'Dell), English Phrasal Verbs in Use(CUP, 2004, with Felicity O'Dell), and author of more than 50 academic papers.
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| Chinese Learner English Corpus and EFL in China |
| Yang Huizhong (Shanghai JiaoTong University, China) |
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Abstract
This paper discusses the Chinese Learner English Corpus and presents the preliminary results of its analysis.
The last 20 years have witnessed the revival of corpus linguistics, which is characterized by the empirical approaches for quantitative and qualitative analysis of large collections of natural texts in authentic use. As a performance-based approach, corpus linguistic studies have attracted the attention of a growing number of applied linguists. Over recent years learner English corpora have been widely reported, because the analysis of the learners' language in real use may shed light on the nature of inter-language. Language learning is viewed as a process in which the learners actively engage themselves in observation, hypothesis formulation about the target language rules, and experimentation of such hypothesis in their attempted communication in the target language. This paper discusses the principles of CLEC development, principles of tagging, and measures taken to ensure the consistency in machine-aided human tagging. Based on the results of statistical analysis of CLEC and a contrastive analysis against native English speaker corpora, errors of Chinese learners of English, over-use and under-use of collocates, and their possible causes are discussed. Implications of the research findings in English language teaching and learning and in data-driven instruction are also presented.
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Biodata
Huizhong Yang's special interest is in the field of language testing, applied linguistics, and corpus linguistics. He has been teaching English, applied linguistics and corpus linguistics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University for more than 40 years. Currently, he is the supervisor of a Ph.D. program in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics. In the year 1983-84, he was a visiting scholar to the Department of English, University of Birmingham, UK. Between 1985 and 1990, He was the Chairman of the Department of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. From 1985 to 1997, he served as the President of All-China College English Teaching and Research Association for 12 years. From 1987 to 2004, he was Chairman of the National College English Testing Committee of China. He has been involved in the designing of the national college English teaching syllabus, the national CET test, and the development of a special purpose corpus of English for Academic purposes and the Chinese English Learners' Corpus.
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| Always look on the bright side - Being a non-native teacher |
| Peter Medgyes (Ambassador of Republic of Hungary to Syria) |
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Abstract
The bad news is that we are linguistically handicapped - there is no way we can emulate native speakers in terms of their English-language competence. The good news is that we can (a) provide a better learner model for imitation; (b) teach language learning strategies more effectively; (c) supply learners with more information about the English language; (d) anticipate and prevent language difficulties more successfully; (e) be more empathetic to the needs and problems of learners; (f) make better use the the learners' mother tongue. The aim of this plenary is to discuss these controversial claims. The final message is that natives and non_natives are potentially equally effective teachers.
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Peter Medgyes, CBE, is Ambassador of the Republic of Hungary to Syria at present. During his long teaching and academic career, he wrote numerous professional books and articles, including The Non-native Teacher (Macmillan 1994; winner of the Duke of Edinburgh English Language Book Competition), Changing Perspectives in Teacher Education (Heinemann 1996; co-edited with Angi Malderez), The Language Teacher (Budapest: Corvina 1997), Criss Cross (Hueber Verlag 1998-99), and Laughing Matters (Cambridge University Press 2002).
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| Challenges and Changes facing College English Teaching |
| in China at the Beginning of the 21st Century Luo Lisheng (Tsinghua Univ., China) |
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Abstract
Since the 21st century, College English Teaching in China is directly confronted with a new situation in which lie favorable opportunities for its further development on one hand and rigorous challenges and prompt changes on the other. Therefore it is imperative for College teachers of English to be fully aware of these opportunities and challenges and know how to get along with them well.
With a view of deepening college English teaching reform, and improving teaching quality and students' communication skills at a large scale, Education Ministry initiated College English Reform Project in 2003. The Project was designed to reestablish the objective for College English Teaching, and restructure its model and testing system.
In order to understand and implement this reform project well, it is necessary to briefly review College English in the past, know objectively about its present situation and look ahead its development in the future. The history of College English shows us that in some aspects reform is necessary and college English teachers should be able to face up to the changes and challenges which will be brought about to them by the reform. Therefore, it is important to understand what the opportunities are and what challenges are. Finally some suggestions will be made in this aspect.
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Biodata
Luo Lisheng: Graduated from Tsinghua University in 1977, and studied in Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand from 1980 to 1982. At present, he is a professor and dean of Foreign Languages Department, Tsinghua University and the president of Beijing College English Association. His main research interest is the applied linguistics and language teaching. His publications include about twenty academic papers published in English World, Foreign Language Education, Foreign Languages and their Teaching, etc., and some textbooks for undergraduates and graduates as well. In 2001, he completed a research project supported State Fund of Social Sciences and Humanities, and he won two awards for Teaching Reform Program at a state level and municipal level in 1993 and 2002 respectively.
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| Paradigm Shifts in English Language Teaching in Taiwan |
| Andy Leung (National Tsing Hua Univ., Chinese Taipei) & David Dai (National Taiwan Normal University, Chinese Taipei) |
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Abstract
Since 1960s, a dozen young instructors from the National Taiwan Normal University were sent to the University of Michigan by the Asian Foundation to acquire knowledge on teaching English as a second language through the direct methods, and audio-lingual approach from behaviorism theory and practice. After their return, they applied what they had learned to English instruction and emphasized sentence patterns and practices for almost two decades. In 1980s, some instructors from National Taiwan Normal University, who received training from the University of Texas at Austin, started to introduce Chomsky's theory and transformational grammar. Consequently, most of the high schools' textbooks were content-, text-, task- and grammar-based infused with second language acquisition theories. In 1990s, some professors initiated the communicative approach for English teaching and learning. Accordingly, all the textbooks must follow the 'new' language guidelines, policy, and planning. Fifty-five scholars and school teachers founded a Taiwan TESOL Association under the name of ETA-ROC in 1991. Since then, this Association has held an international symposium and book fair on English Teaching which enables English teachers in Taiwan to acquire knowledge of various kinds of theories and practices in the field. Thus, teachers can put various systems, structures, and strategies into classroom practices and language assessment. In recent years, some scholars started to review and reflect on the paradigm shifts from behaviorism and Cognitivism to Constructivism. This paper aims at mapping out the paradigm shifts in English language teaching in Taiwan from the 1960s to the present and examining these shifts through discourse analysis theory.
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Biodata
Yiu-nam Andy Leung received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Currently, he teaches at the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Tsing Hua University. He is the immediate past president of ETA-ROC. ynleung@mx.nthu.edu.tw
Weiang David Dai received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, has since taught at National Taiwan Normal University,
where he is currently the president of ETA-ROC. etaroc2002@yahoo.com.tw
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| ELT in Asia: Some ideological and pedagogical considerations |
| Prof. R. S. Gupta (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India) |
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Abstract
Today Asia represents the fastest expanding base for the teaching/learning and use of the English language. It has been estimated that in a decade or so the largest number of the users/speakers of English would be in Asia. This being the case, it is high time we built up a clear perspective and put optimal strategies in place for the teaching/learning of English. The present paper, in the light of the foregoing, focuses on some ideological and pedagogical issues relating to English in Asia. From the ideological standpoint the paper recommends an instrumentalist approach to ELT and argues for the building up of a taxonomy of the uses of English, first in the pan-Asian context and, then in the global context. This would lead to the immediate realization that we in Asia need to learn an English that is intelligible first in the Asian context and then in the international context. This has implications for our ELT practices in terms of which forms can and should be taught. Ideologically speaking, we also need to decide as to who should be taught English. Based on the Indian experience, one can argue that much effort and time is wasted in teaching English to everyone who goes in for formal education. Now, it is patently obvious that not everyone needs or wants English and as part of a long-term strategy it would be necessary to take clear and firm decisions in this regard. Once we 'limit' the number of learners, we can optimize the use of resources to teach English more meaningfully. Finally, the paper argues for vigorous strategies for teaching English in such a way that the learners do not lose interest in or respect for their own languages.
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Biodata
Prof. Gupta received his M.A., M.Litt from Delhi University, did graduate work at Colorado (U.S.A.) and got his D.Phil from York (U.K.). He has been teaching English language/literature for over 40 years to under-graduate and post-graduate students. He has specialized in ELT and has taught special courses to students from China, Korea, Vietnam and many middle-eastern countries. He has published papers in several national/international journals. He has also published several books, including 'Dimensions of Applied Linguistics', 'English in India', 'Directions in Indian Sociolinguistics', and 'Translation'. Currently he is working on a project on 'English in India - New Perspectives in a Global Context'.
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| Toward the Construction of Asian English |
| Yasukata Yano (Waseda University, Japan) |
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Abstract
The English language has evolved from the language of Britain into a global lingua franca. The language has been transplanted in North America, in Australia, and in New Zealand. English has reincarnated, to use Braj Kachru's (2005, 11) expression, in Asia, where the language has become functionally a native tongue in the ESL countries by deeply penetrating the societies, acculturating and acquiring local identities.
In Asia, more than 600 million Asians use English and every Asian city has English language newspapers and radio and TV programs. More Asians use more English to other Asians, making English an important pan-Asian lingua franca in business, social and other interactions. This variety of English is on its way to be established as Asian English, a regional standard English with its Asian linguistic and sociocultural identity and pan-Asian intelligibility.
In terms of English as an International Language (EIL), the concept of the single standard of native speaker English and norm of Judeo-Christian tradition of language use needs to be shifted to that of pluralistic and hybrid standards and norms, which is applicable to all regional standard Englishes-Asian English, Euro-English, Latin English, African English and Arab English of the Middle East and northern Africa.
It is the opportune time for us, ELT professionals, to take another look at the English language we teach. Is it the embodiment of Anglo-American societies and cultures or is it a means of international communication?
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Biodata
Yasukata Yano (MA in TEFL, University of Hawaii, Professional Diploma in TEFL, Teachers College, Columbia University, PhD in Linguistics, University of Wisconsin) is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Chair of ELT Department at Graduate School of Education, Waseda University. He taught at Teachers College, Columbia University, University of Wisconsin, and University of Chicago, and was a Visiting Fellow at the University of London and a Visiting Colleague at the University of Hawaii. His research interests include intersentential anaphoric relations, TEFL, and lately English as an International Language and its sociolinguistic characterization and pedagogical application. He represents Japan at AILA and is on the executive board of Asia TEFL, International Association of World Englishes, Japan Association of College English Teachers among others. He authored, coauthored, edited, and co-edited about 40 linguistics and ELT-related books, monographs, and dictionaries. He published about 40 refereed and in-house academic papers to journals in Japan and abroad.
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| Professionalization of TEFL in Korea: The Roads ahead |
| Joo-Kyung Park (Honam University, S. Korea) |
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Abstract
TEFL in Korea has gone through many changes and challenges driven by the societal needs and expectations from within and beyond Korea. For the recent years, new national curriculum has been implemented in order to meet and lead them, successfully in some areas but regretfully in others. This presentation will discuss what has been done and needs to be done for development of TEFL, focusing on the teacher education programs as the key to realization of the curriculum rhetoric and to professsionalization of TEFL in Korea. The result of a questionnaire survey on Korean teachers' perception of 'good English teachers' and professional development will be discussed along with the perception of TEFL as a profession. Major elements of teacher education programs including curriculum, trainers and trainees, and evaluation will be examined in order to see how successfully they fulfill their educational goal and mission: professional development and teacher empowerment. The emerging issues such as establishing English immersion programs for the students and teachers and bringing a large number of native English speakers as classroom instructors based on the myths on both will be also discussed. Suggestions will be made on how to turn the myths into a positive reality as they seem to be here to stay in Korea as long as they have been.
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Biodata
Dr. Joo-Kyung Park received an MA in Linguistics from Seoul National University, Korea and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Texas A&M University, USA, specializing in ESL/EFL/Bilingual Ed. Her teaching and research interests include teacher education, teaching speech/pronunciation, and intercultural communication. She has been involved with teacher education for elementary and secondary school teachers of English in Korea as a teacher trainer, program coordinator and an advisor for 12 years. She has presented conference papers in many parts of the world including USA, UK, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, Russia, and in Korea. Currently she is an associate professor of Dept. of English Language and Literature and serves as Director of International Culture Education Center and American Studies Center at Honam University in Gwangju, S. Korea and General Secretary of Asia TEFL.
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| Confronting Asian Concerns in Engaging Learners to Online Education |
| Ganakumaran Subramaniam (National University of Malaysia) |
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Abstract
Scholars have theorized that cultural emphasis on education plays a major role in explaining Asian students' achievement. While Asian parents often view education as the main vehicle for upward social mobility, the social and cultural make-up of Asian societies and the context within which education is conducted in Asia often clash with the modern approaches and methodologies adopted into Asian classrooms. Contemporary approaches to education especially in relation autonomous, learner-centred and online philosophies though theoretically supported and statistically proven successful in the west have been slow to capture Asian learners' interest and engagement. This paper discusses some of the reasons for the problems and challenges that need to be confronted prior to the introduction and effective implementation of autonomous online learning programmes. It further describes an attempt at confronting the above issues through a research project conducted by the National University of Malaysia. The paper concludes by featuring some of the principles and strategies employed in the online programme developed for the research and the implication of their use on learner engagement to online autonomous learning programmes.
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Biodata
Ganakumaran Subramaniam has a Bachelor of Education (TESL) from Universiti Putra Malaysia and, a Masters of Arts and Ph.D from the University of Nottingham, UK. Currently he serves as a lecturer at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He is the recipient of the Fulbright Award in the year 2002. His publications include the books; Teaching of Literature in the ESL/EFL Contexts (2003), Reclaiming Place and Space: Issues in New Literatures (2003), Voices of Many Worlds: Malaysian Literature in English (2004), Oracy in Focus (2005), Literature and Nationhood (2005). He is Vice-President of the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association.
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| Role of English in Pakistan |
| Tariq Rahman Ph.D (Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan) |
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Abstract
English was introduced in the areas now comprising Pakistan by the British colonial power in the nineteenth century. As it was the language of the domains of power - government, bureaucracy, judiciary, military, education, commerce, media etc - at the elitist level, it became a preserve of the elite and a means of empowerment. It also became a status marker and a social asset, thus functioning as a class differentiator.
This role of English has become more pronounced in the recent years because the elites of Pakistan-especially the armed forces and the bureaucracy - have appropriated English for themselves contrary to the state's declared policy of curtailing its role and replacing it with Urdu, the national language, as the official language.
This chapter looks at the use of English in different institutions - schools, institutions of higher education, the state sector, the private sector and the entertainment sector with a view to understanding how English empowers and privileges an elite and what worldview, or ideological orientation, it encourages. This last is important if we are to understand how English, an elitist preserve though it is, seems to favour liberal values which may be an antidote to the rising intolerance and violence in Pakistani society.
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Biodata
Dr. Tariq Rahman is presently National Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and South Asian Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. He has an MA, M.Litt., and Ph.D degrees from British universities. He has been a Fulbright scholar and a guest speaker in several American universities. He has also been a Guest Professor at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. Dr. Rahman has published about eighty research papers and nine books. One of his books, Language and Politics in Pakistan (OUP 1996) has been given two awards by the Government of Pakistan. His next book,Language, Ideology, and Power (OUP 2002), was on language-teaching and he is writing increasingly on education in Pakistan. He is also a reviewer of books and contributes articles to the press. He has lectured and contributed seminar papers in Pakistan and abroad. His most recent book is titled Denizens of Alien Worlds: A Study of Education, Inequality and Polarization in Pakistan (2004). At the Center for South Asia Studies, Dr. Rahman is Quaid-i-Azam Chair on Pakistan Studies, and can be contacted at trahman@berkeley.edu.
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| A text-based grammar approach to the teaching of English - the Singapore experience |
| Wee Bee Geok (Singapore Nanyang Technological Univ., Singapore) |
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Abstract
The teaching of grammar has usually meant word grammar and sentence grammar where the emphasis is on inflectional morphology and syntax. Because it is generally form-based and sentence-based, there is little scope for contextualized learning, leading to less than satisfactory meaningful learning. Language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, grammatical concepts and grammatical structures are more meaningful taught and learnt in the context of language use. Through contextualization, the learner is made to consider purpose, audience, context, culture and formality in relation to appropriacy in spoken and written discourse. With this guiding principle, the 1991 English Language syllabus made way for the new 2001 syllabus with a major change in the teaching of grammar and writing. Basically, learning of grammar will be situated in a variety of text types and writing will encompass a range of text types. Students will be made more aware of the register and genre of texts and will be given the opportunity to write different kinds of texts. The implementation of the new syllabus was carried out with much deliberation with the re-training of 8000 teachers teaching English in the primary and secondary schools after which the new syllabus was implemented in stages in the schools. This paper will attempt to provide a preliminary study on the implementation of this new text-based grammar approach.
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Biodata
Dr Wee Bee Geok is an Assistant Professor in the English Language and Literature Department at the National Institute of Education, Singapore Nanyang Technological University. She specializes in grammar and text types and teaches these on the pre-service and in-service teacher training programmes. She also teaches systemic functional grammar and language in education on the MA programme. She was also a teacher-trainer in the Ministry of Education's Teaching of Grammar course. Her research interests are in the areas of pedagogical grammar, genre theory and systemic functional linguistics, in particular, clause complexity and grammatical metaphor.
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| Extracting Core Values of ELT Methodology for Asian Contexts |
| Pham Hoa Hiep (Hue College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam) |
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Abstract
The transfer of language teaching methodology and materials from the Western English speaking countries to other contexts has been a subject of debates in the literature. In the past 15 years many researchers and writers in the field (e.g. Phillipson 1992, Pennycook 1989, Canagarajah 1999) continue to argue that it is problematic to take a set of teaching methods or materials developed in one part of the world and use them in another part. These scholars point out that education is situated in a particular cultural environment, and that within this environment, the definition of 'good teaching' is socially constructed. In this way, assuming that what works well in one particular educational setting will naturally work well in another is to ignore the fact that ELT methodology is grounded in an Anglo-American view of education. This, as Pennycook argues, constitutes cultural imperialism in English language education. However, would it be a viable measure to abandon 'foreign' methods and materials in the English classroom in Vietnam or China, given that the intrinsic aspiration and purpose of learning a language of many learners in these contexts is largely to meet and deal with 'otherness'? In this paper, drawing on a study of the beliefs, aspirations and practices of a group of teachers and students in Vietnam, I argue that although radically new, even truly foreign imported methods and materials can still be potentially useful in many Asian contexts, not exclusively in Vietnam. The challenge, however, is that local teachers need to discover what imported methods mean, what foreign contents in textbooks are for, in relation to the social, cultural and educational issues of their countries. Inherent in the 'imported' Communicative Approach are principles and even practices that may be common to all contexts, but what principles and practices can be used, and how they might be adopted or adapted to serve the nature and purpose of education in a given cultural social context are the matters that local teachers must tackle on their own behalf. Teachers need to do this in consultation/ negotiation with their students, their institutional policy makers and the wider society.
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Biodata
Pham Hoa Hiep is a lecturer in the Department of English at Hue College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam, where he teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses in TESOL and Applied Linguistics. He has also worked as a teacher educator at the Vietnam-Australia Training Project in Hanoi. Hiep has an EdD in Language Education from the University of Melbourne, and an MA in Bilingual/ ESL Studies from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. His professional interests include teacher education, teacher beliefs and the cultural shaping of language teaching methodology, learning cultures and sociolinguistics. He has published in English Teaching Forum (USA), ELT Journal (UK), and Teacher's Edition (Vietnam)
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| Raising Awareness of ELT Terms among Teachers in Training |
| Galina Lovtsevich (Far Eastern National Univ. Russia) & Stephen Ryan (Eichi University, Japan) (Hue College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam) |
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Abstract
Learning to recognise and use ELT terms is an important part of the training of teachers. Familiarity with the terms not only facilitates communication with fellow-professionals but also marks one as a competent member of the profession. In this presentation we suggest one possible approach to the teaching of terms. Mastering ELT terms can be difficult for several reasons, especially for non-native English speaker teachers, who will have to cope with terms both in their native language and in English. ELT terms are drawn from a number of different disciplines; they reflect aspects of the ELT context in which they were coined; they can have meanings different from when the same words are used by non-professionals; and they change their meanings and connotations over time. The terms have traditionally been taught incidentally, as they occur in Teacher Training courses. Indeed, in view of the large number of terms, and difficulties that surround them, it may seem impossible to approach them systematically.
We propose a solution: we have drawn on theory and practice developed for the teaching cultural awareness to develop activities designed to raise teachers' awareness of terms in a number of ways. Specifically, we seek to raise awareness of: the existence and role of ELT terms; why they are potentially problematic; how to recognise terms; and how to deal with them. In other words, we do not aim to teach the terms but to make teachers aware of them and teach what they can do about them.
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Biodata
Galina N. Lovtsevich is Chair of the Department of Lexicology, Stylistics and English Teaching Methodology at the Far Eastern National University, in Vladivostok, Russia, and President of the Far Eastern English Language Teachers' Association (FEELTA). Her main professional interest is in Teacher Training. Stephen M. Ryan, originally from England, has been teaching in Japan for over 20 years, and is currently a Professor in the Department of English and English Literature at Eichi University, and is a FEELTA member. He has a special interest in the teaching of culture. They are collaborating to make a cross-cultural dictionary of ELT terms.
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