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Overview
Many Asian education systems discourage or even ban the use of L1 in L2 classrooms – although in fact L1 remains widely used by teachers. Why is L1 use still devalued in this context? By observing classes and interviewing teachers, this book explores three dimensions of L1 use in L2 teaching:
• pedagogy: what teachers actually do, and what they say about it
• the personal: what happens to identity when we ‘perform’ a foreign tongue
• the professional: how textbooks are used, and what is distinctive about the EFL domain.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781783095605 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Multilingual Matters Ltd. |
| Publication date: | 05/16/2016 |
| Series: | New Perspectives on Language and Education , #49 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 235 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
About the Author
Ross Forman is a Senior Lecturer in TESOL and Applied Linguistics at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. He has worked in the field for over 30 years and his research interests include bilingual pedagogy, EFL practices and second language development. He has recently published in Language, Culture and Curriculum; Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching and Language Teaching Research.
Read an Excerpt
First and Second Language Use in Asian EFL
By Ross Forman
Multilingual Matters
Copyright © 2016 Ross FormanAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-78309-560-5
CHAPTER 1
The Author's Story
Everyone has their own story – their experience of the world, and ways of communicating it. I start this book by telling of four 'waves' in my own story of teaching English and working with English teachers.
ESL in Australia: The First Wave
This lasted a good five years, and started in the 1980s when I taught English as a Second Language (ESL) to immigrants and refugees in Sydney, Australia. As well as the rich impact of this work upon on my heart, there are two aspects of the teaching which stand out in my mind. First, our students had left their homelands, perhaps forever, in search of a better life. We saw often sadness at this loss, as well as hope for the future and a deep investment in learning English. Second, each class was composed of students from many countries who spoke a range of languages – at that time, these students were principally from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, but also from China, Korea and the Middle East.
It was my first teaching job, and I was assigned to teach the 'most beginner' classes. (Are beginner classes 'easier' for a novice, as is often assumed? Beginners, for me, have always been the most difficult to teach well; and, by the same token, the most rewarding.) Friends were often curious about this kind of work, and I would be asked questions such as: 'How can you be teaching in English when your students cannot yet speak English?' My answer, as you might expect, was that teachers made use of classroom actions, real objects, pictures, drawing and so on; that is, we drew upon semiotic systems other than language. But at the earliest opportunity, in the summer vacation, I did undertake a crash course in Vietnamese.
Looking back, it is hard to believe that at that time I had never set foot on the continent of Asia. Consequently, it was in the classrooms of a Sydney school that I first heard communication in languages such as Vietnamese, Khmer, Chinese and Korean. It was exciting to listen to Vietnamese in particular, whose sounds and words were so distant from English or any European language I had studied. Culturally, too, I was fascinated by differences among student groups, some of which were immediately obvious, and others which it took time to see.
EFL in Thailand: The Second Wave
Naturally, then, the second wave fell on an Asian shore – and in 1988, the most accessible country from Australia was Thailand. I arrived in Bangkok prepared only by my Linguaphone tapes of Thai, and naively booked into a 'short-time' hotel. 'Why were the windows painted black?' I wondered. Through a process of phoning universities around Thailand, I was lucky to be appointed as an EFL teacher in a tranquil, rural university, located about two hours by coach from Bangkok. There was one other Westerner (or 'farang', in Thai) on campus at that time.
Professionally, I soon discovered that although I was of course still an English teacher, the two dominant features of my experience to date – immigrant students and monolingual teaching – no longer applied in this Asian context. And by talking to my new colleagues and students, I began to better understand the distinctive nature of teaching/learning English as a foreign language (EFL) rather than a second language (ESL). In this Thai EFL context, students nearly always shared a common tongue with their teachers; and my later experiences confirmed that this is usually the case with English classes across Asia. So, this second wave of teaching began to open my eyes to the nature of local EFL practices and while I initially worked in Asia for the relatively short period of a year, the experience did give me some understanding of culture and movement across borders – of how it feels to be 'other' in a new land.
EFL in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos: The Third Wave
A third wave took me to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in the 1990s, where I worked with teams of local and Australian colleagues to design and deliver nationally-funded EFL teacher training projects. Although I was now lecturing at an Australian university, I travelled to these countries for several months of each year during that period. Readers less familiar with South East Asia may be reminded that following the 'liberation' or 'fall' of Saigon in 1975 (according to either the Vietnamese or American view), the former Indo-Chinese countries of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos became allied to the USSR. Consequently, Russian became the favoured foreign language. At the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, while the political systems of former Indo-China remained communist, their need for international communication prompted a rapid switch from Russian to English as the most favoured foreign tongue. In fact, many of the workshops that we held in the early 1990s in all three countries were designed for teachers of Russian who were retraining as teachers of English. Some of the older teachers had previously taught French in colonial and post-colonial eras: English was now their third foreign language. We were also impressed by one Lao teacher who mentioned that she was additionally self-studying a fourth language – Japanese – 'just in case'.
At that time, all these countries were economically poor, with low technology and disrupted education systems (almost obliterated in the case of Cambodia of course). The English language proficiency of most teachers was not high. Therefore, we had to consider what was appropriate in terms of the methodology that we were presenting in our workshops.
I would like to say a little more about our largest EFL project, funded by the Lao and Australian governments. It was located in the capital and provinces of Laos; and the team itself comprised eight Australian and 12 Lao trainers. On an annual basis over five years, we delivered in-country programmes both as professional development and at Graduate Certificate level. Central to our programmes were lesson observations conducted by Australian and Lao trainers, which involved some 40 Lao teachers per year. Through these observations I spent considerable time in schools and colleges, some of which were located in very remote areas.
Projects such as this provided some amazing experiences for the Australian component of the team, but I frankly say that at first, we were not equipped with a good understanding of local needs. In fact, we started with the classic mistake of thinking that what worked in our own Western context would be transferable to this Eastern context. Standard Western ESL at that time – as now – followed principles of Communicative Language Teaching, which stresses maximum/exclusive use of L2, both by the teacher, and by students who are often organised into pairs/groups to undertake communicative 'tasks'. When this methodology emerged in the West, it was often practised in private language schools with small class sizes, good resources, and students from European language backgrounds. But clearly, the conditions of EFL which we met in South East Asia were very different. It took some tears, reflections, the capacity to listen to Lao team members and then further false starts – but over time, we were able to jointly develop a methodology which was appropriate to that context. One major part of such 'appropriate methodology' related to the use of L1 to assist L2 learning.
When considering the issue of L1 in L2 teaching, we made an important distinction between two terms which have often been linked together: 'exclusive' and 'maximum' use of L2. We embraced 'maximum' but rejected 'exclusive'; and referred to this approach as 'bilingual teaching'. That is, we supported a pedagogy where the target language is given maximum exposure in class, and also where the first language is valued as a resource for efficient translation of meaning, explanation of grammar, and discussion of culture. In using the term 'bilingual teaching', we also sought to position local teachers differently: as 'bilingual plus' rather than 'monolingual minus'.
At one workshop, there stands out in my mind a question posed by a Lao teacher trainer (who was herself a revolutionary figure from pre-1975 days): Where does it come from, the bilingual approach to teaching English? But this was not easy to answer, for in fact it came from our joint reflections on what seemed to work best for Lao teachers in Lao classrooms; and in supporting bilingual teaching, we were at first apprehensive because such an approach did run counter to the principles of Communicative Language Teaching which had worked well for us in many Western settings.
My university was the first to provide post-war English language input to the Lao education system back in 1992 (as indeed we were in Vietnam in 1991, and in Cambodia in 1994). Since that time of course, all three countries have become better known, and more recently, popular travel destinations. For readers who may be interested in knowing more about Laos in particular, I recommend a research monograph written by my colleague Jacqueline Widin (2010), as well as on a lighter note, the detective novels of Colin Cotterill, who was a good friend to our projects over many years.
Teacher Training in Australia: The Fourth Wave
In 1990, when I had returned to Sydney to lecture in TESOL and Applied Linguistics, there were no international students in our postgraduate programmes. Now, as in many parts of the Western world, international students represent a large proportion of our intake. At my institution, these students are principally from China, Korea and other East/South East Asian countries, as well as from the Middle East. Many of the teachers whom I had got to know through our EFL projects also came to Australia to study master's programmes – and some I have supervised in their doctorates. Because of our existing relationships, I have been able to listen to honest accounts of what has been valuable for Eastern students in their Western studies, and of what has been less valuable.
What have these international EFL students said about their postgraduate TESOL programmes? In sum, students have generally been positive about both lecturing staff and teaching performance, often commenting on the dedication of staff, their expertise, and good relationships with students. But the content of the programmes has often been less well received. In particular, two areas seem to be problematic.
The first relates to methodology subjects, which tend to remain predicated upon monolingual teaching in ESL contexts, and thus do not explore important methodological issues such as: the relevance to EFL teachers of Western methodologies including Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL); the place of L1 in L2 classes; the role of translation ('the fifth skill'); how to set and mark local tests of L2; how to prepare students for international tests such as IELTS and TOEFL; and how to deal with the language and culture of Western 'global' textbooks. For example, the classic 'Literacy' subject in these Western university programmes is often concerned with English literacy in L1 contexts and rarely addresses the EFL curriculum, where the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing are often taught separately, and where the reasons for reading and writing a foreign language may be different from those relating to ESL. Neither does it address what some might see as central to L2 literacy: practices of translation.
The second area which can be problematic concerns the more theoretical subjects. These are often enjoyed by international students because, having already learned (at least) two languages, they usually possess a strong grammatical, lexical and cultural awareness. However, once again, there may be an issue of relevance. Generally, subjects concerned with grammar and discourse are confined to English grammar. Again, points of contrast and transfer between languages – which lie at the heart of second language teaching – are not usually examined in any depth.
Finding Out More: An In-depth Study of Thai EFL Classrooms
As a result of the professional experiences described above, I had become more aware of how language affects the way we see the world and ourselves in it. I had also witnessed how powerfully English was spreading across the Asian continent, and was interested to explore more fully how local teachers were responding. Thus in 2002–2004, I returned to my former university in Thailand in order to undertake classroom research of an ethnographic nature. This time, I wanted to be able to observe and record teachers in action, and to interview them about many aspects of ELT, but using as a focus the role of L1 in L2 teaching. Fifteen years had elapsed since I had first worked in Thailand: some former colleagues had retired, but a number did remain on staff, including my former head of department. Trusted relationships are fundamental to Thai society, perhaps to all societies; I found that re-entering this site was a smooth and harmonious process.
The English Department itself had by now expanded from nine to 21 staff. Two-thirds of teachers were Thai nationals, and one-third were expatriates from English-speaking countries. (This proportion of 2:1 was regarded by the department as ideal – a view that I share.) Through the new head of department, I put out a request for volunteers to participate in my study: nine teachers responded, of whom four were already known to me.
When I refer to Thai teachers in this book, I will follow Thai custom, which is to use the person's first name, preceded either by the word 'Ajarn' (meaning 'lecturer'), or 'Doctor'. Thus, for example, I will refer to Ajarn Rajavadee, or Dr Bua. In fact, I remember when I first arrived on this campus as a young man, being drilled to never address a Thai colleague simply by a first name. Though customary in most English-speaking contexts, to do so in Thailand would be extremely impolite. This was one of my first lessons about South East Asian culture; a quick second lesson was that Thai telephone directories, class lists, and so on, were arranged by first name rather than family name.
In all, at this site I was able to watch and audio-record nine teachers delivering one or two classes. This resulted in around 19 hours of lesson data. I also interviewed each teacher on two occasions, which produced around 18 hours of data.
It was fun to see old friends again, and to see the changes that had occurred over 15 years. The increase in staff size which I mentioned earlier had resulted from growth of student numbers and was reflected in the physical environment of the campus, where much of the formerly green area had been filled with new buildings. The English Department, which used to be housed in a two-storey wooden building with open verandas, was now located in an eight-storey concrete and glass block. Indeed the entire region had developed economically during this period, being located in the industrialising Eastern seaboard of Thailand. On campus there was also a noticeably greater number of Westerners compared to the two who were employed 15 years ago. It was a relief to me – and maybe also a little disappointing – to no longer receive the attention given when foreigners were rare in this rural and traditional part of the country.
In regard to ELT methodology, perhaps the greatest single change was related to the use of English in teaching. In 'my time', I had rarely seen a Thai colleague use English to communicate in class but now every teacher did so. And whereas previously, my spoken English class was considered 'noisy', resulting in its move to a salaa (wooden pavilion); now, every teacher encouraged the use of English by students (though with variable success, as I will discuss later).
Theoretical Foundations
The aim of this book is to create new knowledge which can be useful to both academics and teachers, many of whom may have English as a second or additional language. While my focus is on classroom practice, I aim at the same time to bring in theoretical perspectives which can elucidate and enrich our understanding of the classroom. Here I will briefly mention the key theories upon which this book will draw.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from First and Second Language Use in Asian EFL by Ross Forman. Copyright © 2016 Ross Forman. Excerpted by permission of Multilingual Matters.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Dedication
Inscription
Preface
Part 1: Overview
1 Introduction: The Author’s Story
2 Language, Learning and Teaching
3 A Case Study in Thailand; Scenes from Classes
Part 2: Pedagogic
4 Bilingual Teacher Talk
5 Intercultural and Intertextual Dimensions
6 Ten Principles of L1 Use
Part 3: Personal
7 Identity and Alterity
8 Language Play
9 Teachers’ Views of L1 and L2 Performance
Part 4: Professional
10 Global Textbooks
11 EFL and ESL Domains
12 Conclusion: Productivity at the Boundaries