FACTORS AFFECTING THE CURRENT PERSPECTIVES ON THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH WORLDWIDE 

    

    The Decline of Methods

“The best method is the method that works with the kind of learners you have.”

Centuries and decades ago, teachers have been so dependent on the different methods of teaching ESL. From the Classical way to Audiolingual, we have religiously and meticulously followed the steps and procedures of these methods to safeguard the maximum learning of our students. However, these methods fail to aid most L2 learners whose struggles are rooted in the lack of ability to execute the theories to practical use. Realizing these holes, ESL teachers became eager in finding solutions and have come to the conclusion that even if we use the “best method”, if it is not suitable to the kind of learners we have, then maximum learning of English would not be possible. Therefore, instead of the methods, ESL teachers must focus first on their learners’ current knowledge, abilities and skills. Students’ economic, cultural and social backgrounds should also be assessed. By bringing all these aspects together, it will serve as a basis to ensure that the method to be used in ESL teaching will be more appropriate, relevant and effective in reaching students’ maximum learning.  

 

     A Growing Emphasis on Bottom -Up and Top-Down Skills

English should not be taught in isolation. This is perhaps the best way to phrase the effect of Bottom-Up and Top-Down to the current perspective of teaching English.  Most ESL teachers before, would often focus on the grammatical characteristics and structures of a text when teaching the language (Bottom-Up). Although this enhances students’ accuracy and fluency, it also poses a great threat to comprehension. The current perspective recognized that the grammatical and syntactical knowledge of the language should go hand in hand with comprehension and critical understanding (Top-Down).

 

 The Creation and New Knowledge about English

The Creation and New Knowledge about English widened teachers’ understanding of how the language should be taught. It opened doors for innovation and improvisation of various strategies. Furthermore, because of these new knowledge, ESL teachers are not anymore afraid of experimentation for they are now free of the restrictions that bounded ESL teaching for centuries. Concepts such as “World Englishes” emerged and opened our eyes and helped as realize that English is not just the language of North America or United Kingdom or Australia; it is not only a “lingua franca” rather it is a tool for communication that binds the society together and a significant instrument to achieve globalization.

OVERLY PRESCRIPTIVE TEACHING METHOD 

According to our professor during the undergraduate studies, there are two kinds of language instructors: the “describist” and “precribist”. “Describist” language teachers are those who describes how a language is used. They are more focused on teaching the concept and theories, and basically for them, there are no right or wrong language. On the contrary, overly “prescribist” language teachers prescribe how a language should or ought to be used and also insist that students conform to using only what the teacher uses or what is presented in a book. A good way to remember this association is to think of a doctor who is giving a prescription which includes the do’s and don’ts in taking a medication.  Therefore, in an overly prescriptive teaching method, you will be taught on how you should speak, and what type of language to avoid. 

PRINCIPLED ECLECTICISM 

Principled eclecticism refers to the use of various methods and strategies as required by learner needs and styles.  Hence, needs’ assessment of students must be done prior to the start of the lesson. After a thorough evaluation, the teacher can now plan and develop a plan based on the results of the assessment. This will involve a rich combination of activities, carefully and meticulously planned by teacher. It could be participatory, communicative or situational. Principled Eclecticism, therefore, requires time, effort and attention of the teacher. 

TECHNOLOGY IMMIGRANTS VS. TECHNOLOGY NATIVES

The digital era began on 1980s. This era is defined as a period where a shift process occurs from industrial based to information based economy using computer or other technology devices as medium or communication. Lau (2003) defined digital era as a time in which there is a widespread, ready and easy access to, sharing of and use of information in electronically accessible.  In view of this, those who were born before the digital era are called “technology immigrants”, whereas people who were born during or after the digital era are dubbed “technology natives”. In the Philippine setting, the Gen Z learners are considered as the “technology natives”, thus the Department of Education requires teachers to incorporate technology in the teaching-learning process. Below is a table, comparing “technology immigrants” vs. “technology natives”. Information below are based on my readings only.

Technology Immigrants	Technology Natives
Adopters of technologies	Born during or after the digital age
Get information from traditional sources	Multimedia oriented
Prefer to talk in person	Attached to phones and other gadgets
Focus on one task at a time	Can multitask
Not too quick to respond	Prefer immediate actions and response

 

 

CORPUS ANALYSIS AND CONCORDANCING

Corpus Analysis and Concordancing are considered to be major breakthroughs in the teaching of ESL. Its aim is to aid ESL teachers by having students’ role become that of a language researcher instead of a receptive individual. However, in a country like the Philippines, the benefits of Corpus Analysis and Concordancing are not felt by everyone. Realistically speaking, because of the lack of available resources in our country, Corpus Analysis and Concordancing will be considered as a luxury more than a necessity in ESL teaching. Do I think that these tools could help my endeavors as an ESL teacher? Definitely yes! Do I think that Corpus Analaysis and Concordancing is a must in ESL teaching? I don’t believe so. As resourceful as we are Filipinos, I believe that we could find other effective ways in teaching English to our students. And one of which is through this blog! I hope you learned a lot!