#KELTchat Slowburn – ELT Megatrends in Korea (Tuesday, April 15th 10 am-10 pm)

UPDATE: Here is the Storify collection of tweets from this chat. 

David Graddol gave talks at both TESOL and IATEFL this year. Here is the link to the talk at IATEFL (he starts talking at the 8:40 mark in the clip)  and here is the link to his talk at TESOL (he starts at about 12:45 in the clip).  The title of the IATEFL talk was “English and Economic Development: Myth or Reality” and the title from TESOL was “Five Megatrends shaping the future of TESOL.” You are not required to have watched the talks to participate in the chat!

Here are some blog posts on the IATEFL talk:

1. A handy recap of the IATEFL talk
2. A thoughtful review of the talk 
3. “David Graddol, ‘Trends Analyst'” which is another nice recap that focuses on some key issues from the talk
4. This persuasive post by Mura Nava talks quite a bit about Graddol
   (along with mentions of and comparisons with Sugata Mitra’s speech)

Update: David Harbinson’s (@DavidHarbinson) excellent new post makes connects Graddols IATEFL talk to his learners in Korea.

And here are some posts on the TESOL talk:

1. Thoughts from IndiaELT on the talk
2. A short review from Andy Curtis

In case you are wondering, the megatrends he mentioned were demography, economy, technology and politics. Wait, that is only 4? The fifth, was us, teachers.

Some questions to get us thinking and rolling for the chat:

• Why do students in Korea learn English?
• How important is English for Korean people working in Korea?
  What levels are required? What do people need to be able to do in English?
• What are the economic benefits students can derive from learning English?
• How can we account for the “English Fever” in Korea?
  Are there signs of the “English Fever” waning or increasing?
  What are they?
• What is the rate of return for the time and money invested in English education in Korea? How is this similar/different to other countries you are familiar with?
• What does the increase of “non-native speakers” of English worldwide mean for Korean students?
• How will demographic changes around the world and in Korea impact the field and our job prospects?
• How do any of the changes and trends figure to impact teaching and pedagogical choices?
• What predictions do you have for the ELT industry in general and Korea in specific?
• Any other related questions you have or that arise in the ongoing discussions.

This chat is a  #KELTchat Slowburn™ which means it is the same idea as an hour chat but it is spread out over 12 hours. Participants can feel free to dip in and out of the ongoing conversation as their schedule and interest allows. We are hoping it will be something of an event, but a slow and steady one throughout the day. You can see what is happening by checking out the #KELTchat hashtag throughout the day.

#KELTChat – 6th April 2014 – Too much fluency?

Hello #KELTChatters,

Your favorite Korean online teacher development group (I’d call us an organization but I think it would be a contradiction in terms) offers you the chance to offer advice on a possible problem for teachers in Korea during our one hour chat on Sunday night at 8pm Korea time. We’d point out that you neither need to be involved for the whole hour, nor be in Korea to participate. Any and all contributions are welcome.

The problem is this*:

My classes are heavily fluency focused, with a lot of free talking, conversational tasks and role playing. We use a textbook, but students claim that they already know most of the language that it aims to teach. Therefore I try to focus on getting them to use the language that they already have. I also feel like this is what my administration expects of me. During activities I try to supply language at the point of need, which students appreciate, but if I try to use this to teach grammar or lexis past individual vocabulary words, then I sense attention starting to wane and boredom setting in. I wonder if there is more to be gained from fluency work than just fluency gains and incidental vocabulary.

* This is an imaginary scenario compiled from my experience and that of teachers that I have spoken to. I have left it deliberately vague in order that it can be adapted to different contexts. Feel free to invent or assume anything about this situation that is not given in the description.

Some questions that we might like to answer:

– What other learning oppportunities do conversation and tasks provide?
– How can we take advantage of these for learning?
– Can we structure tasks and conversations differently in order to provide language learning opportunities without explicitly focusing on language?
– How can we help students to achieve or set language goals within tasks?
– How can we create opportunities for students to use target language within freer speaking?

– Do you think that native speaking English teachers in Korea are expected to have more fluency based classes?
– If so, where does this expectation come from? Does it work against native speaking teachers? How can teachers counter it if they wish to?

If you have any answers to these questions, or any comments in general, we would be delighted to hear them during the chat. If this your first time, you can find a how- to guide on the tab above, or simply ask anyone in the Facebook group. We look forward to seeing you on Sunday night.

Cheers,

Alex (@breathyvowel)