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Future of TEFL?
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coledavis



Joined: 21 Jun 2003
Posts: 1838

PostPosted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 12:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

LongShiKong wrote:
Phil 999 wrote:
I've been thinking along these lines recently. In China I think there will be a bigger market for academic skills. I think foreign teachers will teach it too. IME I have found that academic teaching requires critical understanding skills and the way we go about that can differ greatly between people no matter origin. I think that Chinese tend towards an inductive style when dependent on the field, perhaps a linguistic transference but also thought activity I'm sure influenced by the huge conformity that the culture create.


As long as the US, the UK and Australia continue to lead the world academically and through innovation, English will retain its status in the world. You only have to look at Wikipedia to realize that the bulk of the world's knowledge is in English. Many mistake the decline of American imperialism for the decline of America. Not so. The US, despite it's economic, political and social problems, is far from being a resource-starved nation like Japan.

And I think you can add India to the intellectual property side of the equation. The language of the intellectual in India is English.
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roseannanna



Joined: 15 May 2013
Posts: 20
Location: United Kingdom

PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 11:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

nomad soul wrote:
Ten years later...

Given the comments from 2003, do you think they were on the mark or off base? What are your thoughts about the future of TEFL?


I think there is even more of a demand to get the backpacker type westerners into China.I think in retrospect from my experience to teach TEFL you should at least have a CELTA certificate,if you are that serious about teaching it.
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nomad soul



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

PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 3:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

roseannanna wrote:
I think there is even more of a demand to get the backpacker type westerners into China.

Could you elaborate?
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fat_chris



Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing

PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 12:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

scot47 wrote:
I am sure that at the time of Justinian it was widely accepted that Latin had a bright future. It did not work out that way.


et tu Scottus forty-sevenus?

Warm regards,
fattus_chrissus
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Sashadroogie



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

PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 1:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Christos Maximus, surely?
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fat_chris



Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing

PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 1:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sashadroogie wrote:
Christos Maximus, surely?


That was my father.

Warm regards,
fat_chris
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nomad soul



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

PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 11:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mortilap wrote:
What about the future of technology and language translation? Who says students even need to LEARN English when it can just be translated for them? Ex: Google Glass just came out, and I wouldn't be the least surprised if they incorporated some sort of language translation into it- just so that a person DOESN'T have to learn English. Instead, a person could put on Google Glass, go to Spain, and understand everything perfectly as the words of Spanish speaking people are converted to English via Google Glass.

Plus, as technology gets cheaper and cheaper, and more and more efficient- what's to stop some sort of high quality translation software from making it's way to the masses? That would pretty much eliminate the need for anyone to learn English- they could just have it translated to their native language.

Sashadroogie wrote:
It is not really a technology issue. Few if any computer programmes can cope with what can loosely be described as 'language in context' - certainly nowhere near as efficiently as a human brain can, even by speakers with only a modicum of foreign language. Just look at the rubbish Google Translate spews out : )

I'm with Sasha on this one---language translation programs fall flat in terms of accuracy. Moreover, without the contextual, cultural, and emotive factors involved in human language, communication loses meaning, which is important in human social interaction---the need to connect with others.
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teacheratlarge



Joined: 17 Nov 2011
Posts: 192
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 2:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think due to English being a dominant language in business and science/technology that whether translation programs see a large improvement or not, English will continue to 'dominate' in those fields and continue to spread even in those countries that resist it, such as France and Japan.
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fat_chris



Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing

PostPosted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 5:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jpvanderwerf2001 wrote:
That being said, for those who are qualified, it's my estimation that the industry (along with the ESL industry in English-speaking countries) is quite strong.


Seconded.

Warm regards,
fat_chris
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fat_chris



Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing

PostPosted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 5:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pertaining to this topic, every now and then I'll give some of David Graddol's writings a re-look:

The Future of English? http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-elt-future.pdf

English Next http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-research-english-next.pdf

Good, insightful reading.

Warm regards,
fat_chris
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fat_chris



Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing

PostPosted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 5:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

teacheratlarge wrote:
English will continue to 'dominate' in those fields and continue to spread even in those countries that resist it, such as France and Japan.


That's right. English is still used in resistant France. There, a Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac.

Warm regards,
fat_chris
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MdSmith



Joined: 15 Nov 2012
Posts: 67

PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mortilap wrote:
Here's a thought:

What about the future of technology and language translation? Who says students even need to LEARN English when it can just be translated for them? Ex: Google Glass just came out, and I wouldn't be the least surprised if they incorporated some sort of language translation into it- just so that a person DOESN'T have to learn English. Instead, a person could put on Google Glass, go to Spain, and understand everything perfectly as the words of Spanish speaking people are converted to English via Google Glass.

Plus, as technology gets cheaper and cheaper, and more and more efficient- what's to stop some sort of high quality translation software from making it's way to the masses? That would pretty much eliminate the need for anyone to learn English- they could just have it translated to their native language.


... now that google glass is on the market, has anyone tried it? I think it could aid language learning although I'm not sure about it replacing it. Maybe like watching a foreign movie where you understand the language a bit and the subtitles help out.
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SledgeCleaver



Joined: 02 Mar 2013
Posts: 126

PostPosted: Sun May 04, 2014 7:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sprightly wrote:
most people will slowly start to accept that they will not be speaking english to other english speakers. hopefully we'll see less 'teach me slang!' and more 'help me communicate this tricky point of our business contract.'


This is an interesting point. I used to be more of a stickler for having students be precise and exact, however I read an article about how a huge percentage of English conversations these days occur between non-native speakers. It's even possible that they make the same "mistakes," which could lead, for example, to prepositions becoming more fluid and less fixed, at least in the way English is actually used and taught. Who knows, maybe they will help to make parts of our language more logical.

In any case, I eventually learned that communication, understanding, and decent speed are way more important than "avoiding mistakes," and I applied this to my teaching methodology, for example when and where I would choose to give students corrections/feedback.
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rtm



Joined: 13 Apr 2007
Posts: 1003
Location: US

PostPosted: Sun May 04, 2014 8:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SledgeCleaver wrote:
I used to be more of a stickler for having students be precise and exact, however I read an article about how a huge percentage of English conversations these days occur between non-native speakers. It's even possible that they make the same "mistakes," which could lead, for example, to prepositions becoming more fluid and less fixed, at least in the way English is actually used and taught. Who knows, maybe they will help to make parts of our language more logical.


I agree with you here. Along with the increasing use of English as a lingua franca between second-language users of English is the evolution of varieties of English that are different from standard English. It will interesting to see the development of these World Englishes, and gradual formation of standardized varieties (e.g., what has been called called Globish or Globalish).

The especially interesting thing about these varieties of English is that the native English speaker has much less of an advantage. Recently, I was having a conversation with an Arabic-speaking colleague and a Chinese-speaking colleague, and noticed them both making the same preposition 'mistakes', and I kept getting distracted by the mistakes. But they understood exactly what each other meant, and weren't distracted at all. I, as a native English speaker, ended up following less of the English conversation than my two non-native English speaking colleagues, who were able to communicate seamlessly. In such an instance, my value as a teacher and user of 'correct' English was much less.

So, in the future, what will the role of native speakers be? I would predict that there will be much greater use of local, second-language users of English as teachers rather than paying to bring in a native-speaker teacher.

David Crystal has some interesting thoughts on this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ29zDW9gLI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLYk4vKBdUo
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suphanburi



Joined: 20 Mar 2014
Posts: 916

PostPosted: Sun May 04, 2014 11:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="rtm"]
SledgeCleaver wrote:
I agree with you here. Along with the increasing use of English as a lingua franca between second-language users of English is the evolution of varieties of English that are different from standard English.


Not meaning to pick on you but what pray tell is "standard English"?

Would that be the Queen's English (defined by the Oxford dictionary"?
Perhaps American, the language as demonstrated by Webster's?
You can't tell me that the Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders speak American or British English.
Somehow the 1.2 billion who speak Indian English are "non-standard"?

Even amongst the "native speakers" there is no "standard".
What constitutes "standard English"?

Globlish???

English as an International Language.... International Englishes?

.
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