Teaching English in 21

st
Century



Author

Ian Glenn C. Labtic
Student No. 5611121026
MTEIL (Master of Teaching English as an International Language)
2014




Teaching English in 21
st
Century
It is a fact that the condition on how EFL in 21
st
century is taught, learned and used has
changed due the ongoing impact of globalization. Blommaert (2010) mentioned that
globalization is a shorthand for the intensified flows of capital, goods, people, images and
discourses around the globe, driven by technology, and resulting in new patterns of global
activity, community organization and culture. Many educators agreed that globalization has
brought many opportunities for dialogue, exchange, trade and cross-fertilization of knowledge as
globalization weakens the exclusive link between one nation-state and one nation language
(Cameroon, 2006). This change confronts national policies and global diversity, enhance
technology-mediated communication that expose EFL learners to mixtures of genres and
stereotypes. The widespread effect of globalization in our society has challenged EFL teachers to
be more reflective and critical in their way of teaching Students should be taught on how to
confront their process of learning and printed or technology-mediated materials with careful
analysis which involve observation, identification, comprehension, interpretation and evaluation.
As teacher is not anymore the primary source of knowledge, therefore they must be creative.
Impartation of knowledge should not only focus on acquiring linguistic function of the language
but also its social practice involving diverse contexts of use and cultural background (Kramsch,
2014). The Standards (2006) defined five goals of EFL teaching in the 21
st
century in terms of 5
Cs (Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparison, and Communities); they are designed
to develop EFL learners toward becoming viable contributors and participants in linguistically
and cultural diverse society in response to globalization.
One among of many methods mentioned in literature, Art can be a good tool for
achieving the five goals of Cs in 21
st
century EFL learning (Standard, 2006). The State
Department of Education in New York (2010) adapted into their Language curriculum ELA
(English Language Arts) by integrating Art into four major skills in English language learning
(reading, writing, speaking and listening). By using art, students will be able to negotiate new
cultural and social context, deepen their understanding of their own and others human
experience, open doors for high levels of analysis, challenge students to explore themselves and
their surroundings, and thus find avenues for sophisticated comprehension and communication.
The Community Programs Educators at the Museum of Modern Art in New York suggested
practical ways on how to employ questions and discussions using Art as a tool for EFL learning:
(1) Use open-ended questions to draw students attention such as, what do you see in this
painting? What is going on here? Where do you think we can see this picture? (2) Connect
students personal experiences and prior knowledge. For examples, does anybody know what
musical instrument this is? Does it remind you anything about Thai musical instruments? Does
anybody ever tried to play this musical instrument? (3) Create a narrative or thematic
understanding. For instance, what expressions do you see from this painting? How does it relate
to your personal life story? (4) Allow for students to express personal reaction by asking second
opinion. For example, John has said that this painting make him think of music and dancing.
Does anybody get similar feeling? Does it remind us something about our own culture? (5)
Connect Art-Historical information and ideas regarding Artistic Intent into Students
Interpretation by asking how the artist trying to show about herself and how is she showing it.
Why would an artist use all of these darks colors? What feeling or emotions might she be trying
to expose her viewers? (6) Lastly, paraphrasing, connect and reinforce pertinent themes, build a
conversation around previous comments and questions, and rephrase comments and connect to
similarities between students response.
With increased globalization, migration and immigration there has been a growing
recognition for the need for an intercultural focus in language education. Research on
intercultural competence underscores the importance of preparing students to engage and
collaborate in a global society by discovering appropriate ways to interact with people from other
cultures ( Sinicrope, Norris, & Watanabe, 2012). Bennett, Bennett, and Allen (1999) developed a
strategy called Developing Intercultural Competence in Language Classroom that was based
on Bennetts (1993) Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS). DMIS of
Bennets (1993) is consist of six stages that describe how person sees, thinks about and interprets
cultural differences around them from cultural perspective. The first three stages (denial,
defense, minimization) defined people who are monocultural and being uninterested in cultural
diversity and biased to ones own culture. The second last three stages (acceptance, adaptation
and integration) on continuum of Bennetts (1993) categorized people who are intercultural and
able to understand and appreciate cultural differences. Bennett, Bennett, and Allen (1999) argued
that without the skill of intercultural competence, speakers from the different background will
continue to misunderstand one another, even when they speak each others language fluently.
Hubbard (1996) developed a first activity on how to develop intercultural competence of the
students using the conditioning principle or perception towards reality. It was titled What are
the colors of Zebras stripes? Students who were conditioned that a Zebra has black stripes with
white body perceived the reality as general zebras color. It was further suggested that culture
functioned in precisely this way, conditioning us to see reality in particular way. Therefore, when
students are exposed to different culture-content conditioning activities inside classroom, then
they will possess a perception of reality that they can refer to or apply when needed for their
cross-cultural encounters.
Considering the ongoing impact of globalization, pedagogy in 21
st
century EFL should be
more reflective and creative. Teacher is not anymore the primary source of knowledge since
students can easily access to internet. The five goals in EFL learning such as, communication,
cultures, connections, comparison, and communities can be realized by integrating Art in EFL
teaching. Art should not be undermined since it offers high levels of analysis and sophisticated
compression and communication. Intercultural sensitivity towards differences should also be
address in the classroom seriously; cultural-content conditioning activities should part in EFL
learning to prepare students for cross-cultural encounters.

References

Bennett, J., Bennett M., & Allen, W. (1999). Developing intercultural competence in the
language classroom, In R. M. Paige, D.L. Lange, &. Y.A. Yershova (Eds.), Culture as the
core: integrating culture into the language curriculum (pp. 13-46). Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press.
Blommaert, J. (2010). The sociolinguistic of globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Cameroon, D. (2006). Styling the worker: Gender and the commodification of language in the
globalized service community. In N. Coupland & A. Jaworski (Eds.), The discourse
reader (pp.433-453). London: Routledge. b
Hubbard, A. (1996). The zebras stripes. In N. H. Seelye (Ed), Experiential activities for
intercultural learning, Vol 1 (pp. 33-37). Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.
Kramsch, C. (2014). Teaching Foreign Language in an Era of Globalization: Introduction. The
modern language journal, 98,1.
Sinircrope, C., Norris, J., & Watanabe, Y. (2012) Understanding and assessing intercultural
competence: A summary of theory, research and practice.
Standard for foreign language learning: Preparing for the 21
st
century (2006) Yonkers, NY:
National standards in foreign language education project
The New york Stated Education Department Office of Bilingual Education and Foreign
Languages Studies, (2010). Art as a tool for teachers of English Language Learners.
New York: USA.