Learning Reflections 14
Seminar in English Language Teaching
18 April 2017
In that day, my professor assigned me to read the ELT
journal about “The end of CLT: a context approach to language teaching of
Stephen Bax”. My friend and I discussed
this topic and then, we presented in front of class.
We discussed that;
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has served the
language teaching profession well for many years. The benefits of an emphasis
on communication are widely accepted in principle by professionals everywhere.
This article will argue CLT, although it has served a useful function in the
profession, particularly as a corrective to shortcomings in previous
methodologies, CLT is now having a negative effect, and needs to be replaced as
our main focus.
Everywhere pay attention to context; good training courses
pay attention to context. However, the dominance of methodology in general, and
CLT in particular, means that their attention to context is secondary, and
often haphazard. Novice teachers, as we have seen, fight against context when
they should be working with it. It is therefore time for the profession to
place methodology and Communicative Language Teaching where they belong—in
second place—and recognize that the learning context, including learner
variables, is the key factor in successful language learning.
Professor taught me about Major trends in the Global ELT
Field. She summarized that;
Trends 1 : Changing perspectives on English teaching and
learning
Nowadays, more and more research and discussions have
focused on the issues of “World Englishes” and English as a lingua franca (ELF)
rather than simply referring to any English spoken outside of the United
States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia as EFL.
Trends2: Changes in goals of English teaching and learning
-
The goals of ELT have changed from focusing
solely on developing language skills and mimicking native English speakers to
fostering a sense of social responsibility in students
-
To prepare students to imitate native English
speakers as language learners but that it should produce fully competent
language users, critical thinkers, and constructive social change agents, as
Crystal (2004) and Cook (2005) noted.
Trend 3: Changes in approaches to teaching
The 21st century is referred as the “Postmethods Era” by
many scholars (Kumaravadivelu, Brown, Larsen-Freeman, and Mellow to name a
few), where the focus of teaching is on eclecticism. Eclecticism involves the
use of a variety of language learning activities, each of which may have very
different characteristics and may be motivated by different underlying
assumptions. Today, the use of L1 in L2 pedagogy and the use of different
accents in listening activities and tests are encouraged in teaching and
learning.
Trend 4: Changes in teaching content, curriculum design, and
assessment
Trend 5: Expanding
the dimension of communicative competence
Trend 6: Changing views of an effective English educator
With the changing views of communicative competence and the
awareness of intercultural competence, perceptions of what constitutes an
effective English teacher are also changing. Recent studies on World Englishes
and ELF, as well as the roles of nonnative-English-speaking teachers (NNESTs)
in the TESOL field, have made more people recognize that the effectiveness of
English teachers should be determined by their linguistic, instructional, and
intercultural competence rather than simply by their linguistic identity. We
want to make sure that our students are served by well-prepared and well
qualified teachers regardless their first language background.
Trend 7: Rapid development and integration of information
technology in ELT
Trend 8: Changing roles and increasing responsibilities of
teachers
I find easy that Major trends in the Global ELT Field
because the word and the grammar are easy to understand. I find some
information before learning.
I find difficult in The end of CLT because he used the hard
words and grammar. There are lot of information. I am
unclear some topic in this journal.
I’m confused about the difficult points that I can’t
understand.
