The Asian EFL Classroom

Issues, Challenges and Future Expectations

Soo-Ok Kweon, Bernard Spolsky

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138617292
• eBook ISBN: 9780429867743
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book offers an insight into the 21st century teaching and learning of English in Asia. Despite English being widely recognized as a lingua franca in this era of globalization, the general EFL proficiency of graduates from high schools and even universities in most Asian countries are still below the expectations of policymakers. Given the critical role English will play in the globalized world, this review and examination of the current state of English education in Asia is both important and timely.

This book consists of ten chapters from ten different Asian countries, including the Russian Far East. The scope of the book allows EFL students, researchers and teachers to gain perspectives on many of the significant current issues, expectations, and challenges in the teaching and learning of English faced by Asia in the 21st century.

1 Learning spaces, learning management, and learning anchors in the ELT classroom in the Philippines

Contexts and directions

Philip Jay N. Alcoberes and Rosarito T. Suatengco

Introduction

From tradition to innovation, English language teaching in the Philippines has been evolving into a more relevant and responsive L2 instruction to meet the demands of the times since the Philippine educational system was established in 1901 through Education Act No. 74, or the 1901 Educational Act (Bureau of Education, 1901). It remains an important tool to make students more competitive globally, where English is the language widely used for communication in various domains. Its evolution can be attributed to the periods or movements in the history of English in the Philippines when face-to-face interaction was a tradition, from the Speak, Read and Write Movement to the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) Movement. The unavailability of high technology like computers left teachers and students with printed materials and guided instruction through a face-to-face mode. Simple technologies like chalkboards, charts, flash cards, and overhead projectors were used in a teacher-centric class where students were perceived to be passive receivers of information. It was believed that it could improve the achievement level of learners through rigid instruction and appreciation of the target language.

As decades went by, digital learning became a potential tool not only for L2 instruction in the Philippines, but also in the use of th vernacular and appreciation to the local culture. Digital learning materials make the Mother Tongue-Based instruction for Basic Education students easier to teach. Although creating these materials remains a challenge, it draws more interest and participation from teachers, curriculum designers, and software programmers in creating a language program that is anchored in digital literacy. Other than the students being familiar with the language that is often used at home and in their immediate community, the exposure of students to digital materials engages them more in language processing.

The development of ELT in the local setting continues to progress further in the better direction of using multiple learning environments, new technologies, and creative learning spaces available to local learners. Figure 1.1 shows the important periods and movements in the history of English in the Philippines. The timeline is an excerpt from the unpublished doctoral dissertation of Dr. Dinah Mindo (1995).

Figure 1.1 Periods or movements in the history of English in the Philippines

In Mother Tongue-Based and Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE), students are encouraged to use their first language as an aid for learning English both in written and oral forms for everyday interaction in an adult multilingual environment. It is also known as ‘first-language-first’ education, where the mother tongue of the students is rigorously taught first for fluency and appreciation to prepare them in learning another language. Through this, students will be able to understand the difference between their L1 and L2. The focus though is for the practical use in academic and everyday discourses. Malone (2007) states that by the time children begin school, the language, knowledge and experience that children bring to school form an important foundation for their learning in the classroom. Their L1 can be a good resource of information in learning L2. On a similar note, Dekker (2010) also explains that the MTB-MLE program can be beneficial to students if it does the following (as cited in Martin, 2015, p.114):

• Promotes literacy in the first language (L1), which transfers to the second language (L2)

• Presents new concepts, makes use of what the learner already knows

• Develops critical thinking in the L1 first before proceeding to critical thinking in the L2

• Teaches the subject matter in the L1 for concept mastery

• Develops a good bridge for learning the L2 after L1 is mastered.

MTB-MLE is perceived to water down the teaching of English courses in the Philippines. Considering that myths about languages persist, there will always be apprehensions about using MTB-MLE and that it might dumb down L2 but which are unfounded and baseless (Martin, 2015). Nolasco (2012) noted during the Bridging Languages Workshop in Baguio City in 2012 some practical issues of using MTB-MLE in teaching not just the English subjects and other important subjects in Basic Education, like how to produce home-grown (and therefore contextually sensitive) teaching and reading materials, and how to actually develop greater fluency in their own languages. Dr. Dennis and Susan Malone, the leading MLE consultants from SIL International, who were also present in the workshop, suggested the following course of action:

• Incorporation of MTB-MLE into regular 2-, 3-, or 4-year teacher certification programs

• ‘Fast-track’ programs for graduates with non-teaching baccalaureate degrees

• MTB-MLE intensive workshops for experienced certified teachers

• Non-certification training programs for para-professional teachers or teaching assistants.

Proposed ESL classroom framework

According to Knox, Agnew, and McCarthy (2013), Teece (2010), and the United Nations Report (2008), our world economy has evolved from the industrial era to an information era and is now leading to a creativity era. This rapid change requires skills that best meet the demands of today, when people are more mobile, interactive and transactional in dealing with others either face-to-face or virtually. Virtual interactions are as important as face-to-face interactions to negotiate meaning and close business deals. The communication space may be different, but the outcomes of communication are the same: to help people come to an agreement for a desired goal. The best place to practice these skills is in the classroom where students strive and thrive to better equip themselves in the workplace.

The overarching framework of today’s classroom proposes that various dimensions be included to capture specific skills needed in the workforce. These skills are also imperative for regional integration in ASEAN, which allows people in Southeast Asia to be more fluid in moving goods, services, and even cultural exchanges from one country to another; and its shared information is more regionalized in perspective. Technology plays a vital role in the exchange of information in the region. It is ever-changing, with new innovations that will make communication faster and easier to access. With this, all the important areas in ESL classroom teaching shall promote the current skills of Filipino students, as foreign students add to the class, making our local classrooms even more diverse and multicultural. The following skills in ESL teaching are based on life, work and citizenship:

• Learning and innovation skills will make learners more prepared in increasingly complex life and work environments. They are creative, innovative, critical thinkers, problem solvers, effective communicators and collaborators in a group.

• Information, media and technology skills will foster information literacy; media literacy; and information, communications, and information (ICT) literacy. In this way learners will be able to understand the process and the dynamics of exchanges of information; exhibit a range of functional and critical thinking skills in the production and consumption of information in traditional and popular media; and be able to use technology tools for collaboration and contribution on an unprecedented scale.

• Life and career skills will develop learners’ ability to be flexible and adaptive to the challenges in the professional environment. This will help make Filipino students responsible leaders with fortitude and accountability towards work in the future. Their resilience and passion will make way for them to succeed.

Table 1.1 Target skills in an ESL classroom

With the development of ELT in the Philippines, it is worthy of note that ELT is ever-evolving with innovations and strategies. These innovations are timely and relevant to the learning needs of our local students in the current classroom. Traditionally, our students only held paper and pencil in an ESL class, but because of the availability of new technologies, students have become more adept at using their own digital devices as tools for language teaching and learning. This scenario may not be true for all students in the Philippines, but the majority of them now have easy access to digital devices available in school or in their homes. Henceforth, this chapter will walk you through the variety of information about innovative learning environments, learning management, and learning anchors. This chapter also proposes how MTB-MLE will be implemented and realized through the ELT innovations, focusing on the 3Ls: learning space, learning management, and learning anchors for effective instruction and ESL learning.

New directions for innovations in L2 teaching

Learning spaces and environments

The current classroom reconfigures the learning spaces and environments. Classrooms, as they are commonly called, are now replaced with notions of learning spaces and environments. Savignon (1998) claims the classroom context is always different from a natural learning environment. Language learning becomes more viable in an environment where fluidity and spontaneity in using the language occurs.

Having learning spaces and differentiated learning environments are connections towards creating productive and functional English language learning experiences for students. These provide the teachers with the flexibility to design opportunities for language learning, and these are varied enough to allow the students to have access to facets of every language requirement.

A learning space pertains to the functionality of a particular space based on the teacher’s predetermined purpose, driven by their assessment of students’ requirements for language learning in a specific space, while learning environments pertain to physical and virtual spaces that students utilize to realize their own learning goals. The learning environments are determined based on the curricular principles espoused by the institution and the academic professionals. These are available for students and teachers’ use. Both learning spaces and learning environments are extensions of a traditional classroom where face-to-face interaction occurs.

The traditional face-to-face interaction, happening in an enclosed and defined physical space, is one learning environment option. A traditional classroom is where teacher-fronted instruction takes place. The mode of instruction follows the teacher-centered approach, characterized by teacher-directed, direct instruction, knowledge and content-focused, text-based, competitive, and one-size-fits-all approaches (Trilling & Fadel, 2009).

In setting the new direction for the current ESL classroom, the classroom as a learning environment has to be reinvented to suit the new learning requirements and expectations. Although the physical structure is maintained, the dynamics happening within the structure need to significantly improve and alter in response to the student-centered direction of ESL learning. The classroom needs to offer features that would lead to learner-centered, interactive exchange; skills development; to be process and applied-skills-focused; personalized; collaborative; and to address learning for life (Trilling & Fadel, 2009).

In this sense, the classroom as a learning environment reflects a social structure and dynamic with features in which social interactions are apparent. The social roles are likewise evident in the classroom, similar to how language is used in a natural context (Hendrickxa et al., 2016)

One way of reconfiguring a classroom is by converting it into learning centers to efficiently and effectively provide differentiated learning in general and special education settings (King-Sears, 2007). Learning centers, as argued by King-Sears, could help in maximizing instructional opportunities through the variety of tasks and activities given to students based on their learning requirements. King-Sears proposed the reconfiguration of typical classrooms into learning centers based on the results of Kortering and Braziel’s (2002) study on what could make students stay and be interested in school and what teachers could do to attain this. The student respondents reported that teachers should make the classroom experience more exciting, make boring classes more fun, provide more hands-on activities, provide more individualized help responsive to specific learning needs, use more experiments rather than bookwork, explain things better, break it down for students, and teach the students rather than the book.

To invigorate the dynamics of a traditional classroom, some academicians proposed a new layout for a classroom that could reinvent its use and functionality. The classroom design features learning nooks, stations, and corners, among others. The space is compartmentalized to cater to differentiated learning and purposes. Moreover, the classroom is redesigned as a pathway for developing the English language learners (ELLs) to have disciplined minds, synthesizing minds, creating minds, respectful minds, and ethical minds (Gardner, 2010).

This new design provides the teachers with the opportunity to adapt various ESL teaching approaches, methods and strategies. The teacher can explore various ways of teaching from best practices to new ways of leading a student in English language learning. The teacher will have the opportunity to maximize the uses and potentials of the classroom in helping students learn, with due consideration for their different language learning abilities and styles. Moreover, the functionality of each corner can be decided upon by the teacher based on the needs of students. For example, one corner could be for reading, in which various reading materials are generously spread out where students can explore them. Another corner could be a display of students’ outputs, which occasionally can be used as conversational pieces or a springboard for classroom interactions. Another corner can be used for problem-solving through video games and simulations.

In the Philippines, however, the learning spaces may vary depending on the context where English language learning occurs; that is, the learning spaces in international schools and exclusive private schools are different from the general public and regular private schools. In addition, learning spaces in an urban school and a rural school could be different as well. In this sense, the development of a typical classroom into learning spaces is determined by the resources available to the school, since some spaces are technology-based and web-based. The requirement for more sophisticated technological infrastructure in school requires substantial resources which are to be available in all schools. The reality remains that only those schools having the financial resources or support can have learning spaces that depend upon technology. Another issue is the fixtures that are required for some spaces. They can be expensive and may not be readily available in the country, which could make it challenging for most school admi...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Notes on Contributors
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 Learning Spaces, Learning Management, and Learning Anchors In The Elt Classroom in the Philippines: Contexts and Directions
• 2 Teaching English in Contemporary Chinese Contexts
• 3 The Challenges and Changes of the Russian Efl Classroom
• 4 In Search of Order for Teaching and Learning English in the Malaysian Classroom
• 5 The Asian EFL Classroom: Issues, Challenges and Future Expectations, Applied Critical Thinking and EFL Pedagogy in Vietnam
• 6 The Flipped Classroom as a Paradigm Shift for Teaching EFL in Korea
• 7 Indonesian EFL Teachers’ Responses to Current and Future Challenges
• 8 Promoting Plurilingualism Throughout Language Classrooms in East Asia: Implications From EFL Research in Japan
• 9 English Education in Partnership with Third Parties: A Case of Equity in Hong Kong
• 10 Building Today for Tomorrow: Teachers and Students in the English Classroom in Singapore
• Index