Contemporary Issues in ELT
gumawang.jati@gmail.com
Gumawang Jati
Contemporary Issues in ELT
Class Discussion
Contemporary Issues in ELT ď śIndonesian students spend 6 years (6 years in secondary school). A portion of students are still not able to master the language upon completing secondary school.
ď śNo one would deny nowadays that the general field of language teaching as a scientific and academic discipline and, more particularly, English language teaching (ELT) as part of it stand out for their strong dynamism and continuous evolution and development.
ď ś More recently, the sudden and quick emergence of the new communication and information technologies (ICTs) has also had and is still having a great impact on the development of the ELT field. ď ś The question was not simply whether audiovisual aids had a positive effect on learning, that was already taken for granted, or how the traditional language lab could achieve all its potential, the question now was how to make the most of the Internet and of all the resources connected with it: podcasts, wikis, blogs, teaching and learning platforms, and other powerful web tools (Townshend 1997; Warschauer and Kern 2000).
The three schools of learning
The three schools of learning
ď ś The cognitivist school: learners must construct their own meaning
 The cognitivist school believes that learning by doing, and help students make their own sense of what they are studying, and enable them to make use of their learning in real life.
Constructivist principles include: Use teaching strategies that require all students to make a construct. Project using several digital media Check and correct. Learning is a trial-and-error process, so set activities that require students to check for their own and each other’s learning errors. What the learner does is more important than what the teacher does. Teaching is just a means to the end; it’s the learning that counts! This is why school’s inspectors are trained to observe learning, not teaching. Make learning fun! Enjoyable tasks create more participation, concentration, persistence, and more cognitive engagement. We learn by doing. This is a commonly heard principle.
The behaviourist school: rewards and motivation
Learners require some reward or ‘reinforcement’ for learning Reinforcement should follow the desired behaviour as soon as possible Learning proceeds step by step rather than happening all at once, and is strengthened by repeated success
The humanistic school: meeting the emotional needs of learners
Most teachers have found their own learning to be a reasonably straightforward process. For many students though, learning is a process filled with pain, anxiety and frustration. Thirty per cent of students leave school without a degree of any grade. ------ Learners should be self-directed Students should take responsibility for their own learning Learners are encouraged to take responsibility for its effectiveness.
Self-assessment is preferable to teacher assessment Self-assessment or self-evaluation encourages the self-reliance and self-direction that humanistic theorists prize.
Learning is easiest, most meaningful and most effective when it takes place in a non-threatening situation Learners should be motivated by a desire to succeed, to explore, to develop and to improve, not by a fear of failure.
ď śThe following cycle uses humanistic principles to encourage students to improve their own learning or performance on a course.
ď śQ and A
Course plan Current Approach to ELT: Communicative Language Teaching Which English should We teach? Factors Affecting ELT Current perspectives on ELT: English only policy vs L1 use in ELT Practice English as a medium of instruction at international classes
Current issues in teaching English Grammar Critical Thinking in EFL class Integrating technology in an EFL program A paradigm shift in language testing and assessment Teaching 21st Century Learners in Indonesia