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Future of TEFL?
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Teacher in Rome



Joined: 09 Jul 2003
Posts: 1286

PostPosted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 8:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like what the digital world offers learners and teachers - because in many ways it supplements what we can offer ourselves. I love the TED talks (for higher levels) and even those lyric sites (for lower levels) for listening practice, for example. In Italy, listening is very much the poor cousin of lang teaching, so most students find it horrendously hard to even gauge general meaning - let alone listen for detail.

But I also like it because coursebooks are generally dull and serve up bite-sized English that doesn't go far enough to expose students to the richness and diversity of communication - whether between native or non-native speakers. It's not quite full immersion, but it comes much closer than textbooks. Yes, I know that you can't just throw beginner students online, but it's also really motivating to see them understand "real" English (even in very small doses). Most of them are already there anyway - seems daft to veto it...
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 9:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Teacher in Rome wrote:
But I also like (technology) because coursebooks are generally dull and serve up bite-sized English that doesn't go far enough to expose students to the richness and diversity of communication - whether between native or non-native speakers.

Technology also makes dull (and engaging) coursebooks and other materials more accessible. I once took a university CALL course online with other students located throughout the world, including two Afghan EFL teachers at a university in Kabul. They posted about how their department had initially faced challenges in getting coursebooks and supplemental reading material delivered to Afghanistan for every student in the program. The solution was to work with various publishers in order to get e-book versions, which turned out to be a less expensive alternative over purchasing the physical printed material. Ironically, one of the e-books they were thrilled to get was "The Kite Runner," by Afghan-American, Khaled Hosseini.
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Sun Jan 04, 2015 7:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

(Bump)

It would be good to revisit this thread and note any upcoming changes/trends in TEFL for 2015 and beyond.
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LongShiKong



Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 1082
Location: China

PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 3:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I heard digital pioneer Nicholas Negroponte, founder of MIT's Media Lab predict that the time will come when we'll just need to swallow a (smart) pill to be able to converse in another language.

As for machine translation, if IBM's Watson can beat the best at Jeopardy, it's only a matter of programming Google Translate learns to process beyond the word level:

English: See to it that I'm on next.
Google Translation in Chinese: 看到它,我旁边。
Meaning: See (completion particle) it, I (am on) the side.
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Sashadroogie



Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise

PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 7:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It really isn't just a matter of time or computer programming, or 'smart' pills. It is more about understanding how languages work, and how the brain learns them. We simply do not know enough about how the brain functions to be able to replicate functions like language processing mechanically.

I wouldn't hold your breath thinking that things like Google Translate are going to dramatically improve quickly...
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LongShiKong



Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 1082
Location: China

PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 3:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sashadroogie wrote:
It really isn't just a matter of time or computer programming, or 'smart' pills. I wouldn't hold your breath thinking that things like Google Translate are going to dramatically improve quickly...


But Sasha, surely, you don't need a degree in computational linguistics to recognize that phrasal verbs, idioms, and even grammatical tense are among the low-hanging fruit in this field. In this respect, Google's actually playing catch up.
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Sashadroogie



Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise

PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 4:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not sure what you mean by that.

And that is exactly the problem faced by machine translation. The words might match to definitions, but the meaning might be very different in varying contexts.
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 12:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

LongShiKong wrote:
I heard digital pioneer Nicholas Negroponte, founder of MIT's Media Lab predict that the time will come when we'll just need to swallow a (smart) pill to be able to converse in another language.

However, what goes in, eventually comes out. Confused
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wavelength



Joined: 27 Jan 2015
Posts: 151
Location: The Feel Good River of a Celestial Rainbow

PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 7:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sashadroogie wrote:
I lie awake at nights worrying about such matters, y'know...?


I'm in counselling for it.
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MotherF



Joined: 07 Jun 2010
Posts: 1450
Location: 17�48'N 97�46'W

PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 10:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

LongShiKong wrote:
Sashadroogie wrote:
It really isn't just a matter of time or computer programming, or 'smart' pills. I wouldn't hold your breath thinking that things like Google Translate are going to dramatically improve quickly...


But Sasha, surely, you don't need a degree in computational linguistics to recognize that phrasal verbs, idioms, and even grammatical tense are among the low-hanging fruit in this field. In this respect, Google's actually playing catch up.


I can only speak for English-Spanish but in that case the amount of improvement in Google translate in that last five years is ASTOUNDING.
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santi84



Joined: 14 Mar 2008
Posts: 1317
Location: under da sea

PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 11:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MotherF wrote:
LongShiKong wrote:
Sashadroogie wrote:
It really isn't just a matter of time or computer programming, or 'smart' pills. I wouldn't hold your breath thinking that things like Google Translate are going to dramatically improve quickly...


But Sasha, surely, you don't need a degree in computational linguistics to recognize that phrasal verbs, idioms, and even grammatical tense are among the low-hanging fruit in this field. In this respect, Google's actually playing catch up.


I can only speak for English-Spanish but in that case the amount of improvement in Google translate in that last five years is ASTOUNDING.


Same for English-French. There are a few colloquialisms that don't come across as natural, but overall, it has become pretty accurate.
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 9:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Back in 2003, posters envisioned that:
- The TEFL market worldwide would continue to be flooded with unqualified, backpackers, which would drive wages down.
- In China, the demand for teachers will be high, but the country will get serious about qualifications, which will push wages up.

In 2015:
- Many posters fussed about technology --- whether it had a place in TESOL or would even replace the need for English teachers.
- More TEFL teachers would be required to have relevant qualifications, which meant backpackers would continue to fade out of the picture.

Given the trends of the last couple of years and socio-political instability in some parts of the world, what will the next 5+ years look like for TEFL in terms of demand, job requirements, salaries, etc.?
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scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343

PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pessimists are learning Mandarin.
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kona



Joined: 17 Sep 2011
Posts: 188
Location: USA

PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 3:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

nomad soul wrote:
Back in 2003, posters envisioned that:
- The TEFL market worldwide would continue to be flooded with unqualified, backpackers, which would drive wages down.
- In China, the demand for teachers will be high, but the country will get serious about qualifications, which will push wages up.

In 2015:
- Many posters fussed about technology --- whether it had a place in TESOL or would even replace the need for English teachers.
- More TEFL teachers would be required to have relevant qualifications, which meant backpackers would continue to fade out of the picture.

Given the trends of the last couple of years and socio-political instability in some parts of the world, what will the next 5+ years look like for TEFL in terms of demand, job requirements, salaries, etc.?


In 5 years, I predict Dave's ESL Cafe to be even more flooded with people complaining about the market.
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kona



Joined: 17 Sep 2011
Posts: 188
Location: USA

PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 4:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For what it's worth, there's still plenty of people, both bloggers and recruiters, saying you can teach English in China without a degree (and with either fake documents or without a work visa), some as recently as 2013.

Googled "teaching english in china without a degree", and this was the first thing to come up. http://www.theculturemap.com/taught-english-china-degree/

Scroll down the search and you find this.

http://www.internationalteflacademy.com/blog/bid/74176/No-Degree-No-Problem-The-6-Best-Countries-to-Teach-English-Without-a-College-Degree

Recruiters and private TEFL organizations are taking cues from buzz feed.
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