posted by Engelbert Thaler, Freiburg University of Education, Germany
There used to be a time when English was actually spoken in the EFL classroom. The rationale behind this out-dated practice was to learn the language by using it. English language teachers did their best to make students use English as they regarded the development of students’ target language competence as the main goal of their profession. Things were bound to change, however. Scholars, teachers and administrators were no longer content with such a reduced raison d’ệtre.
In a first step they decided to enlarge the list of objectives students were supposed to attain. The four basic skills as well as the language domains of vocabulary, grammar and pragmatics simply were not sufficient. Much needed aid turned up in the form of the competence concept. Students should not focus on oral and written language use, but develop intercultural competence, method competence, inter-personal competence, intra-personal competence, media literacy and further indispensable assets.
In a second step the teacher’s role had to be redefined. The sage on the stage was replaced by the guide on the side, i.e. an EFL teacher was no longer a knower, language model, transmitter, corrector, linguist, expert, or giver (of information), but a counselor, facilitator, tutor, helper, learning manager, learner trainer, learner, and motivator.
The third step consisted of inventing alternative learning methods and approaches which allowed for ample use of the students’ native language. Innovative concepts like Freiarbeit (free work), Stationenlernen (learning at stations, carousel approach), project work, Wochenplan (weekly plan), drama approach, kinesthetic techniques, learning in motion, Community Language Learning, to name but a few, cater for manifold needs, among which the need to speak the target language may not rank highest. In particular, group work proved to be of utmost value, as it guarantees the immediate retreat into the mother tongue, with group members joyously chatting in German on private experiences they had the day before.
The triumph of pedagogy over language still needed support in academic discourse and school administration. That is why TEFL conferences abound with avant-garde scholars presenting high-flown projects which do not work in actual classroom situations; ambitious authors contribute to TEFL journals praising new methods and procedures which they have not tried out in class; young teachers are rewarded by their headmasters for projects which aim at everything but language development; teacher trainers and scholars are jumping on the language-free bandwagon leaving behind all those antiquated Sprachmeister associations.
In the post-language era the ultimate aim of foreign language teaching is the creation of an all-competent personality … who speaks German. May they live happily hereafter.
posted by Jürgen Kurtz, Karlsruhe University of Education, Germany
The Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters has been developed as a follow up to the Council of Europe’s White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue : “Living together as Equals in Dignity”. It is a personal document which encourages users to think about and learn from the intercultural encounters that have made a strong impression or had a long-lasting effect on them. With its emphasis on the critical analysis of users’ intercultural experiences, it complements other Council of Europe Language Policy Division tools such as the European Language Portfolio .
This is a ‘must read’ for anyone interested in promoting intercultural communicative competence both inside and outside the school sector. For details klick a) and b).
posted by Jürgen Kurtz, Karlsruhe University of Education, Germany
The 2010 conference of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) will be held March 6 – 9 at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel, Atlanta, GA. The 2010 AAAL conference will serve as a meeting place for applied linguists to generate ideas, cross disciplinary boundaries, and disseminate research about issues and concerns in language policy, second language acquisition, language pedagogy and assessment, discourse analysis and other areas of applied linguistics.
The submission of abstracts and the refereeing process will be carried out through the AAAL web submission system. Abstracts for all presentation formats should be submitted for blind peer review at: http://www.aaal.org/aaal2010.
The proposal submission deadline is August 15, 2009.
posted by Jürgen Kurtz, Karlsruhe University of Education, Germany
In May 2008, Council of Europe Ministers of Foreign Affairs launched a White Paper on intercultural dialogue, titled “Living Together as Equals in Dignity”.
The White Paper provides various orientations for the promotion of intercultural dialogue, mutual respect and understanding, based on the core values of the European Union. This is the central message:
“Intercultural dialogue [...] allows us to prevent ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural divides. It enables us to move forward together, to deal with our different identities constructively and democratically on the basis of shared universal values. Intercultural dialogue can only thrive if certain preconditions are met. To advance intercultural dialogue, [...] the democratic governance of cultural diversity should be adapted in many aspects; democratic citizenship and participation should be strengthened; intercultural competences should be taught and learned; spaces for intercultural dialogue should be created and widened; and intercultural dialogue should be taken to
the international level.”
Keynote presentations by Georges Lüdi, Michael Tomasello and Rebecca Oxford.
Special emphasis is placed on the following topics (in twelve sections):
- Early foreign language learning
- Foreign language teacher education
- Research methodology
- Psycholinguistic and sociocultural approaches to language learning
- Transcending linguistic boundaries: focus on Mehrsprachigkeitsdidaktik
- Bilingual education / CLIL
- European and global language politics
- Digital media in foreign / second language education
- Transcending boarders in teaching literature
- Developing intercultural competence
- Task-based instruction
- Monitoring, assessment, evaluation
The twelve (additional) workshops offered cover a wide range of related topics such as the multilingual classroom, migration, drama pedagogy, classroom-based research, etc.
Nationally and internationally, the DGFF conference has a reputation as a comprehensive and stimulating event including a broad spectrum of workshops and poster sessions, thought-provoking presentations, book displays by various publishers, and plentiful opportunities for networking.
For more specific information, click on the above link.
posted by Jürgen Kurtz, Karlsruhe University of Education, Germany
In order to understand recent developments in teaching English as a foreign or second language, including task-based instruction (TBI), content-based instruction (CBI) as well as content and language integrated learning (CLIL), it is important to know about the history of foreign language education.
The following three audio-supported presentations take you on a journey through the past, beginning just before the (European) Modern Language Reform Movement in the late nineteenth century. The history of foreign language education goes back much further than that, of course, (see, for instance, Hüllen 2005), and it needs to be looked at from a more global perspective that is not reduced to developments in Britain and in the United States. Nevertheless, these presentations are well-worth a view, especially for ‘TEFL-novices’ (as a ’springboard’ into the literature):
posted by Jürgen Kurtz, Karlsruhe University of Education, Germany
In this video, Rod Bolitho talks about the future of English language teaching, placing particular emphasis on content and language integrated learning (CLIL):
I agree in principle, but I would like to emphasize that in my view CLIL and TEFL should not be set in opposition to each other.
Apart from this, I would like to add that up to now there are only two German universities offering specific study programs in bilingual education (CLIL in combination with European studies). These so called European teacher (Europalehramt) programs (i.e. eight semester M.A. degree courses) focus on empowering students to teach a school subject in either English or French. For further details see the Freiburg University of Education and / or the Karlsruhe University of Education webpages.
posted by Jürgen Kurtz, Karlsruhe University of Education, Germany
Back in 1934, McElroy stated that “the textbook is decidedly not the sole condition of an effective class; quality of teaching is more important” (1934: 5). 75 years later, an enormous body of research on the role of the textbook in EFL classrooms has accumulated around the globe, indicating that ’successful’ learning and teaching in primary and secondary EFL school environments is dependent on a wider spectrum of factors, not only on the quality (or quantity) of English language learning materials. The importance of the teacher is, of course, undisputed (see, for instance, Butzkamm 2005).
Over the past decades, it has become increasingly clear that context-sensitive EFL instruction requires teachers to take into account many anthropological and sociocultural factors which influence the conditions under which English is taught. Currently, global textbooks produced for teaching and learning English as a foreign language in many different countries are criticized for paying too little attention to this, especially for largely failing to assist EFL teachers in bridging the cultural background(s) of ‘their’ individual learners and the diversity of English-speaking target language cultures.
In Germany, global textbooks are rarely used in institutional contexts though. Instead, local textbooks and related materials and media, produced especially for the ‘German school market’ by a few major German publishers are usually employed in EFL classrooms. In my view, the overall quality of these products is high. However, as commercial products textbooks and related materials are – in Germany and elsewhere – last not least designed to occupy the textbook market, offering whatever is seemingly necessary and useful in terms of target language und intercultural education (see Kurtz 2002). In consequence, German EFL teachers are flooded with materials and suggestions.
Psychologically, this makes it difficult to think about teaching options which go beyond those suggested by the textbook authors in the teaching manuals (arguing from a Gestalt theoretical perspective see Kurtz 2001). Viewed from an international perspective, this is a luxury problem, but it is not unproblematic; the more the better?
References:
Butzkamm, Wolfgang (2005). Der Lehrer ist unserer Chance. Essen: Buchverlag Prof. A.W. Geisler.
Kurtz, Jürgen (2001). Das Lehrwerk und seine Verwendung nach der jüngsten Reform der Richtlinien und Lehrpläne. Englisch, 36 (2), 41-50.
Kurtz, Jürgen (2002): Fremdsprachendidaktik als Dienstleistung und Ware: Verlagskataloge für das Fach Englisch unter der Lupe. Englisch, 37 (1), 8-12.
McElroy, Howard (1934). Selecting a basic textbook. The Modern Language Journal, 19 (1), 5-8.
posted by Jürgen Kurtz, Karlsruhe University of Education, Germany
All around the globe, foreign language teachers are faced with the challenging and strenuous task of correcting and evaluating written texts produced by ‘their’ learners (including some very complex products such as portfolios, etc.). In the following YouTube video clip, Rod Ellis outlines a wide range of options, going far beyond the traditional strategy of direct corrective feedback (i.e. of underlining an error and providing the learner with the ’correct’ linguistic form):
The full video is available here. (Apple Quicktime Player required).
Corrective feedback (written as well as oral) is a highly complex problem. Teachers need to be able to distinguish systematic errors from accidental mistakes, for instance. This is all the more important in a communicative, task-based classroom scenario in which form-focussed and message-focussed instruction need to be combined in a suitable way.
New! Ellis, Rod (2009). A typology of written corrective feedback types. ELT Journal, 63 (2), 97-107.
Jürgen Kurtz -- I am a scientist who is interested in the theory and practice of foreign and/or second language learning and teaching. Within this thematic context, my blog focuses on a diverse range of issues and pressing questions, especially: foreign language teaching 'methods', classroom interaction, intercultural education, standards and assessment, foreign language education in all-day schools.
For more informative material, links to other useful websites, access to online journals and research papers, lesson plans and teaching materials, visit the
