Global Challenges and Local Contexts

1
Global Challenges and Local Contexts

• Connecting ELT in Indonesia to the world
• Christian Duncumb
• christian.duncumb_at_britishcouncil.or.id
• Itje Chodidjah
• Itje.Chodidjah_at_britishcouncil.or.id
• British Council

2
The context of English a changing world

• Globalisation
• Growth of English
• Educational Revolution
• But, when we say teaching and learning English we
  can mean many different things.

3
A post-method world?

• There is no single way of teaching English,
• no single way of learning it,
• no single motive for doing so,
• no single syllabus or textbook,
• no single way of assessing proficiency and,
  indeed,
• no single variety of English which provides the
  target of learning
• Graddol 2006 82

4
ELT in INDONESIA

• Where English is taught?
• Who the English teachers are?
• Who the English learners are?
• What teaching methodology is applied at schools
  in general?
• What instructional materials is used?
• How much time do learners have to learn?
• What assessment is applied?
• What Teacher Training and Development scheme is
  applied?
• What about the Development of technology?

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WHERE ENGLISH IS TAUGHT

• UNIVERSITY
• MAJOR IN ENGLISH
• Faculty of Letters
• Faculty of Education
• College of Foreign Languages
• etc.
• NON ENGLISH MAJOR
• SMP SMA VOCATIONAL SCHOOL STATE AND PRIVATE
• PRIMARY
• NON FORMAL EDUCATION

6
Graddols trends

• But, there are some clear trends which have
  evolved and are emerging and which represent a
  considerable departure from standard EFL and ESL
  models.
• English for Young Learners (EYL)
• Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
• English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)

7
EYL

• Age at which children start with English is
  lowering and being introduced with greater
  compulsion
• Idea that it is easier for young children to
  learn languages
• It gives students longer to learn English over
  their school careers
• Provides a potential transition to CLIL at
  secondary school and English medium learning
  later

8
EYL dangers

• Needs specialist teachers who understand child
  development and are good at English. There can be
  a lack of such teachers
• Expansion must be met with corresponding changes
  elsewhere in the curriculum
• Will result in a very mixed abilities entering
  secondary school
• Children need to be motivated for 10 years or
  more
• Failure at the early stage might have profound
  implications later
• So, the expansion in TEYL signals a potentially
  major shift in ELT that needs to be taken
  seriously (Cameron 2003 106)

9
EYL in Indonesia

• EYL in Indonesia is booming at the moment
  although it is still nationally an optional
  subject to teach in schools
• In reality most primary schools in big cities
  teach their students English earlier and earlier.
• It is now included in the national guidelines
  (new curriculum)
• Is it a good sign? a threat? an unpredictable
  future?

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What are the major challenges?

• Teachers
• Are they trained to teach EYL?
• Is their English proficiency at the right level
  to teach YL?
• Do teachers get teacher training?
• Materials
• Are they written by writers of EFL specialists?
• Are there any teachers guideline to accompany
  the textbooks?
• Schools and parents understanding about learning
  English for primary school students

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What can be done?

• In service training should there be regular
  short courses on TEYL, or TEYL workshops on
  various teaching techniques, materials selection
  and development, instructional media, and
  assessment at school level? Provincial or
  National level?
• Pre service training should TEYL be included
  as a separate subject?
• Should the government set up minimum standards or
  guidelines for instructional materials, teacher
  qualifications, assessment and evaluation?

12
CLIL

• Combining language and content can help give more
  space to language to achieve critical mass
• Growth in English medium education has dangers
• CLIL is different focus on both content and
  language learning
• Can be seen as the ultimate communicative
  methodology and fits in with global trends

13
But..

• Relies on basic language skills having been
  learned, usually at Primary level
• Requires different skills of teachers
• Dangers if not done effectively. Students may end
  up not learning content and language
• Potentially excluding

14
CLIL in Indonesia

• some big schools in big cities have started to
  introduce the use English as medium of
  instruction for some subjects
• It is decided that next year each district and
  city in Indonesia (appr. 440 ) should have
  international oriented schools and use English as
  the medium of instruction for some subjects

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Challenges

• Are we ready with teachers who can deliver the
  lesson in English?
• Are we ready with the instructional materials
  which can be easily accessed by the
  schools/teachers?
• What about schools which are in remote areas? How
  can they keep up with the development?
• Do supervisors and members of local authority
  have clear understanding of teaching other
  subjects in English?

16
What can be done?

• At school level
• School based professional development should be
  encouraged
• Setting up the atmosphere to trigger all members
  of schools to realize that English is a means of
  communication, i.e. a medium of instruction and
  learning.
• At national / provincial level
• In service trainer and teacher training done
  regularly through the existing institutions
• Minimum level of English required to teach other
  subjects in English
• What about the role of English in non English
  Department in pe-service teacher education?

17
ELF

• Fewer global interactions in English now involve
  a native speaker.
• New target models the fluent bilingual speaker
• Search for a lingua franca core

18
ELF

• The th sounds as in thin and this
• The contrast between long and short vowel sounds
• Weak forms such as the words to, of and
  from.
• Stress timing
• Nuclear (or tonic) stress

19
ELF

• Change in materials and syllabus content
• Change in expectations intelligibility not
  native-speaker accuracy
• The death of the native-speaker?

20
ELF

• Fewer global interactions in English now involve
  a native speaker.
• New target models the fluent bilingual speaker
• Search for a lingua franca core
• Change in materials and syllabus content
• Change in expectations intelligibility not
  native-speaker accuracy
• The death of the native-speaker?

21
ELF (English as Lingua Franca)

• The direct impact of the use of English as a
  lingua franca can be seen in big cities and
  tourism areas
• The impact ELF in the English classroom is not
  significant yet

22
The English escalator

• Increase in English-medium university courses
• School-leavers needs higher English proficiency
• English increasingly used to teach curriculum at
  secondary school
• English introduced earlier and earlier at Primary
  school

23
Some long-term implications of trends

• Teachers working with ever younger learners
• The recent growth of English medium-courses at
  Universities will move down to secondary school.
• Increasing use of CLIL at secondary school
• Ultimately English teachers may lose their
  subject
• English is increasingly seen as a basic skill
• There are dangers in not keeping up
• There are dangers in not implementing effectively

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• The key to understanding the impact of global
  English probably lies in how well and how
  strategically its implementation is managed in
  each country. There is scope for great success
  but also for great disaster.
• Graddol 2006 120

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Where is Indonesia then?

• Indonesia has been on the move to fit itself in
  the development of ELT in the world.
• Indonesia still has time to catch up with the
  trends
• Indonesia has opportunity to learn from other
  countries and find ways to prepare for the global
  change

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What might be the challenges to face ?

• Awareness of the importance of follow up of
  education policy at the provincial and national
  levels
• Awareness of local needs
• Trainer Training design
• Teacher training design
• The design of instructional materials to suit the
  need of each level
• The design of instructional materials to suit the
  need of different purposes in different regions
• Coherence in terms of materials and methodology
  between school levels

27
Highlight

• The importance of consistent follow up of
  education policy at the provincial and national
  level
• RESEARCH
• MONITORING
• TEFLIN ROLES
• Other professional association