Looking into the Closet: Worn-Out Jackets; New T-shirts! or An Evaluative Analysis of the Current Syllabi for TEFL
Mohammad Amerian, Iran
Mohammad Amerian holds a B.A. in English Language and Literature and an M.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) from Semnan University, Iran. He has taught English in various levels and currently is a lecturer in university. Amerian’s research interests center around Psycholinguistics, Social Psychology, Semiotics, Language and Socio-Cultural Studies, and Pragmatics. E-mail: mamra2006@yahoo.com
Menu
Introduction
The fashion!
Suggested courses
Conclusion
References
In this paper, it was tried to have a critical validation of the syllabus existed for the programs specializing in TEFL/TESL/TESOL/ELT or the same with an emphasis on the “underrepresented ideas and concepts” in form of recommendations to be added. Clearly, in suggesting what is thought to be missing from TEFL syllabi, I -in an idealization- included my own viewpoints some of which are very specific or naturally; unfamiliar, for some readers. During the textual journey, we see how the condition of the jackets we have in our closet is. Are they completely worn-out and should be thrown away? Can we use some of them which are still usable? Or the story is completely different?
Academically and based on what Education experts suggest, any academic syllabus should be evaluated based on the claims and objectives it has (Nunan, 2000). Based on the writer’s pilot search (among eight universities in the United Kingdom and the United States), the three major claimed objectives for such courses as TEFL are:
- Training of/Preparing/Practicing experts for teaching English
- Training Researchers in ELT
- Completing the students’ knowledge about different aspects of language/Theories of language acquisition
(Source: M.A. syllabus for TEFL/TESL in: University of Sussex, Swansea University, University of Essex and University of Birmingham in the UK and University of California-Berkeley, American University, West Virginia University and University of Delaware in the US, available from the links in the References section)
If we ignore such rare courses observed as “Cultural Issues in the ESL/EFL Classrooms”, “Diversity in the Classroom” or “Dynamics of Language Contact” which can be seen in unique academic places, by implementing a bird’s eye view, we can come to the conclusion that broadly speaking, the four items of Linguistics, Teaching Methodology, Research and Assessment, are among the most emphasized areas. In fact, the main courses issued for TEFL can be go under the inclusive umbrellas of:
- Second Language Acquisition (SLA)/Educational Psychology/Psycholinguistics
- Teaching Practice/Methods of teaching a foreign language/Skills
- Curriculum/Syllabus Design/Language Planning/Materials Design
- Methods of research and evaluation
Based on the aforementioned search, there also exist substitutive (optional/extension) courses from which students should choose some. They include labels like:
- Issues in linguistics
- Writing/Structure
- Phonology/Phonetics/Pronunciation for TESOL
- Testing a foreign language/Language Assessment
- English for specific/academic purposes (ESP/EAP)
- Computer/Technology in English Language Teaching/Multimedia Literacy
- Discourse Analysis
- Sociolinguistics
If we want to have an equitable description of the current condition of TEFL, the TEFL students’ needs and correspondingly; the to-be-included areas, we need to consider all its sides. As son of a postmodern age, System theory (introduced by Bertalanffy, 1950) can contribute much to what we actually discuss. It explores any phenomena by considering their interconnections with internal parameters and external relations with the surrounding variables (Hadidi Tamjid, 2007). As we know, class atmosphere contains such a condition in which the classic “linear” view would be deficient. What Larsen-Freeman (2000) called “the Dynamics of Methodological Change” (p. 177) which leads us to have “principled eclecticism” (p. 183) in order to deal with her Chaos Complexity (1997) of language learning and teaching should be seriously taken into account in our syllabus design for TEFL. Finney (cited in Richars and Renandya, 2002) elaborates on her “mixed-focus” curriculum for responding to the changing needs of the learners. This paper will surely have such a tone.
Based on the mentioned “deficiency”, in this part, I want to suggest my 10 “ignored” topics to be included in the syllabus of TEFL. Definitely, the reason of choosing them is a mixture of thought and taste and regarding them, two points are worth-mentioning.
- My suggestions are consisted of a variety of underrepresented notions and ideas some of which can be merged into each other or together be the sub-section of another inclusive idea. So, I included them as my suggested “Courses” mainly for the sake of clarity and organization (and not necessarily, prescriptions for the syllabi with quantitative credits).
- Wherever possible, some tentative readings (state-of-the-art-works) to be likely recommended as the content of the course are also introduced just to have at-hand materials if someone wills.
The suggestions include:
- Analytic and Linguistic Philosophy
- Interdisciplinaries in TEFL
- England (Britain) Studies
- Counseling
- Critical Thinking
- Political Applied Linguistics
- Sociology of Learners
- Biology of Applied Linguistics
- Moral Issues in TEFL
- Handling Critical Situations
1. Analytic and Linguistic Philosophy
Unfortunately, our TEFL students do not have much information about Philosophy of Language and its related areas. I included this -as representative of somehow a current movement; although its roots go to the time of Plato- to emphasize that clarifying language and expressing concepts by engaging Linguistic Analysis, Logical Empiricism/Positivism or the so called “Cambridge-Oxford Philosophy” are necessary for those who enter TEFL in this century.
Tentative Resources:
- Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (Latin for "Logical-Philosophical Treatise"; Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1921)
- Dialogic Imagination (Michael Bakhtin, 1975)
2. Interdisciplinaries in TEFL
Following the discussed “fuzzy” atmosphere, I believe that inclusion of several Interdisciplinary branches (and even multidisciplinaries) is necessary for those who aim to pursue their job in Applied Linguistics. In addition to Language, a student of TEFL naturally comes with theoretical/applied ideas, concepts and notions about culture, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, semiotics, phenomenology, hermeneutics, epistemology and the like, though some of them at the surface level and some, deeper. When dealing with humanities (especially for Education and Educational Studies), an abundance of variables from other contributing fields is related. That is why a basic knowledge of the foundations like “philosophy of mind”, “philosophy of education”, “psychology of negotiation” and so forth should be welcomed by those in charge.
3. England (Britain) Studies
Any student of English (whether studying Teaching, Literature or Translation) faces with lots of various issues about aspects of England during his/her studies and carrier. A very basic knowledge and general information about different aspects of England (politics, economy, culture, media, art, etc.) will definitely have its merits. A general familiarity with the highlighted paralinguistic aspects of England is necessary for M.A. students of TEFL with at least this axiomatic reason that they should have a taste of target language (which isn’t separated from the target culture) to understand (a meta-cognitive understanding) and teach it to their students when in class.
4. Counseling
This is not to follow blindly the way Charles Curran has paved, but an essential Must for any teacher! In teaching/learning process, we deal with Human learners. One of the disastrous consequences of lacking psychological knowledge on part of any teacher can simply be unmotivated learners; those who for some reasons or other are not much stimulated to follow us and the syllabus. Developing (and extension) of knowledge in counseling, advising and guiding the students and dealing with anxious, unmotivated or depressed ones not only empower us to manage the affective barriers successfully but also help us aid our community!
5. Critical Thinking
Students of TEFL have confronted with notions like Creativity, Criticality, Critical Pedagogy, Heuristics, thinking strategies, critical reasoning, etc. but what are they actually? From 1900s, due to the growing complexities of the phenomena, complication of the nature of issues and appearance of new points of views and ways of thinking, the knowledge of critical and evaluative judgment has become a key notion in understanding of the world. Such an atmosphere has led to the introduction and development of somehow new trends as problem solving, TRIZ, psychology of trouble and dilemma, and argumentative discourse analysis. Themes such as: Adaptability, Improvisation or Process Philosophy are definitely related.
Tentative Resources:
- The Meaning of the Creative Act (Nikolai Berdyayev, 1916)
- A Field Guide to Critical Thinking (James Letts, 1990)
6. Political Applied Linguistics
The title above can be certainly an offspring of the Criticality mentioned before. In fact, it refers to a range of ideas in a continuum starts with broad notions as “Awareness”, “Analysis” or “Critical Appreciation”, moves toward more specific concepts as “Critical Discourse Analysis” and finally ends (Do we have end?) with limited specific subjects focusing on points as “Political Linguistics” or “Linguistic Imperialism”. So, by writing the above title, more than focusing on first-level inspirations as finding the “Thief” or “Bad Guy”, I wanted to emphasize that we must move beyond the text and implement a cautious viewpoint towards what we actually receive. This is what I have meant by the word “Politics”. We must be Politicians and train our learners to be politician as well to see either sides of the coin, to look with more care and to discover what is not so visible at the surface. In fact, Divergent thinking has big merits!
7. Sociology of Learners
Accept it or not, for those who deal with a group of students in class, a strong sociological knowledge is important. This is just like why a basis in psychology is important for them. The social background of the learners (i.e. their gender, occupation, education, ethnicity (culture) and even their family condition) is a torch which enlightens the educational path any pathetic and responsible teacher wishes to pave. We all grow, breath and interact in our social context. Actually, all things we face in our daily affairs have collective tissue! So, all we do (including how we do them) are strong helpful footprints and traces by which we can come to an evaluative analysis of the transactions, behaviors, gives and takes of our students. Sociology of Learners with engagement of the learner’s influential backgrounds, gives a holistic view to the teacher to evaluate his/her students in their special “Contexts”.
Tentative resource:
- Sociology (Anthony Giddens, 2005)
8. Biology of Applied Linguistics
The title is optional but the aim is to familiarize students with the fact that All fields are actually related to each other, let alone branches of methodology, linguistics, testing and in fact, applied linguistics. In this course, the students will see that in language pedagogy, we confront with an unlimited network of miscellaneous variables each of which can be effective on one another. Such an ecological view aids us see -as much as possible- the intricate nature from the top. It gives us a more holistic picture by considering the nature of the involved factors, their gives-and-takes with each other and the fuzzy spirit they belong to. Biological view which is now ironically embedded in humanities empowers us to see the world not by the empiristic cause-effect glasses of plants or animals, but with metaphysical understanding of the interrelations among components of the universe, especially in our own field.
9. Moral issues in TEFL
As for any practice, language teaching involves a wide set of grounds which can be misused for the benefit of self and/or harming others. Tackling with learners while respecting their rights, and attending self-conscience in any of the teaching-assessment procedures are the two-fold duties of a teacher. Grounding moral issues which can only be met by internalization of the ethical rules and parameters is a survival task of any of us whether to be an educational policy maker, a teacher, or even a learner!
10. Handling Critical Situations (Crisis Management)
This is the other suggestion to be likely included in the syllabus of TEFL. Although to some extent, it overlaps with class management, it is based on the belief that a teacher -as any other responsible- faces lots of unexpected situations toward which s/he can’t quickly find any solution or make healthy decisions. The true decisions in such cases give the power to have more effective teaching.
Tentative Resource:
- The Innovation Algorithm (Genrich Altshuller, 1999)
Regarding the content and subject matter, certainly what we actually have as our major sources in TEFL can not meet the requirements of this syllabus. As suggested here and there in this short article, new topics need new resources, as well. So, introducing those main resources for each of the mentioned topics can familiarize the teachers with the concepts and their positive influence, more. Moreover, the mutual cooperation of the academic experts from different “sister” branches of study would add to the enrichment of the syllabus.
Through having view to Nunan’s (2000) “objective setting” for syllabus design, this paper argued if the topics of the current syllabi for TEFL can be changed or reconsidered in some way based on new objectives. It seems that there are some worn-out (but still useful) jackets in the closet of TEFL. Simultaneously, we can go for new T-shirts to try some. There is no doubt that the issued syllabi for TEFL programs are naturally outcomes of extensive studies and efforts about the needs of language teachers and applied linguists. The whole already-taught topics and materials are really important and undoubtedly, they are true building blocks of the program. But like any system, refueling the machine with up-to-date concerns would increase its potentiality to maneuver with current needs, present motifs and on-going matters. May be as Finney (cited in Richards and Renandya, 2002, p. 69) says: the ELT curriculum needs “a more flexible model for a changing world!”
Hadidi Tamjid, N. (2007). Chaos/Complexity Theory in Second Language Acquisition. Novitas-ROYAL, 1(1), pp:10-17.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (1997). Chaos/complexity science and second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 18(2), pp:141-165.
Nunan, D. (2000). Syllabus Design. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Richards, J. C. and Renandya, W. A. (2002). Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
www.sussex.ac.uk/study/pg/2013/taught/1587/27486
www.swan.ac.uk
www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/pg_taught/applied_elt_programmes.aspx
www.birmingham.ac.uk
http://extension.berkeley.edu/cert/tesl.html
www.american.edu/cas/tesol/courses/syllabi.cfm
www.as.wvu.edu/~sbraidi/Curriculum.html
www.udel.edu/education/masters/tesl
Please check the How to be a Teacher Trainer course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Methodology and Language for Secondary Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Teaching Advanced Students course at Pilgrims website.
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