The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Master's Projects and Capstones Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects Spring 5-18-2017 Global Voices: A Student-Centered Guide to Teaching English as an International Language Megan M. McAra University of San Francisco, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons Recommended Citation McAra, Megan M., "Global Voices: A Student-Centered Guide to Teaching English as an International Language" (2017). Master's Projects and Capstones. 541. https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/541 This Project/Capstone is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Projects and Capstones by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. University of San Francisco Global Voices: A Student-Centered Guide to Teaching English as an International Language A Field Project Presented to The Faculty of the School of Education International and Multicultural Education Department In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language By Megan McAra May 2017 Global Voices: A Student-Centered Guide to Teaching English as an International Language In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS in TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE By Megan McAra May 2017 UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO Under the guidance and approval of the committee, and approval by all the members, this field project has been accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree. Approved: _______________________________________________ __________________________ Instructor/Chairperson Date i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter I—Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 Statement of the Problem .................................................................................................. 2 Purpose of the Project ....................................................................................................... 3 Theoretical Framework ..................................................................................................... 4 Significance of the Project ................................................................................................ 7 Limitations ........................................................................................................................ 8 Definition of Terms........................................................................................................... 9 Chapter II—Review of the Literature...........................................................................................11 Introduction......................................................................................................................12 Politics of the English Language..................................................................................... 14 Importance of Critical Pedagogy and Critical Literacy in ELT.......................................17 The “Third Way”: Critical Pedagogy as an Empowering ELT framework ....................17 Critical Literacy as a Practical Application in ELT.............................................19 Examples and Ideas for a New, Critical ELT Curriculum...............................................22 Participatory Approach....................................................................................................23 World Englishes...............................................................................................................24 Focus on the ‘How’ Instead of the ‘Why’........................................................................26 Summary..........................................................................................................................28 Chapter III—The Project and Its Development...........................................................................30 Description of the Project................................................................................................31 Development of the Project.............................................................................................33 ii The Project.......................................................................................................................36 Chapter IV—Conclusions and Recommendations.....................................................................158 Conclusions....................................................................................................................159 Recommendations..........................................................................................................160 References..................................................................................................................................162 iii 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem Purpose of the Project Theoretical Framework Significance of the Project 2 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem The current dominant paradigm of ELT (English language teaching) as reflected in textbooks and other materials does not meet the needs of the estimated 1.5 billion students learning English in today’s interconnected, dynamic world. Too often, teaching English as a second or foreign language is viewed and practiced as a straight-forward, neutral act of imparting grammatical, phonological and semantic knowledge to students. The ideal teacher is seen as “the knower”—a native speaker from what Kachru (1985) has termed an “inner circle” country (U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, or New Zealand), who teaches a standard, static English from a textbook covering ‘safe’ apolitical topics such as school, food, weather, or romanticized cultural tidbits from the inner circle country (Davari 2014, p.66). In such a model, students are viewed as passive recipients of neutral knowledge and are expected to accept this material unquestioningly as objective fact. As a result, the personal, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds of students are deemed either unimportant or treated as hurdles to overcome. There are several serious problems with this view. To begin with, both language itself and the teaching and learning of language are far from neutral. Language is how we express our form of knowing, and as Pennycook (1990) states, “there is no form of knowing outside the linguistic, social, historical, and cultural frames within which we exist” (p. 18). By treating language as a neutral object, we are putting on blinders to the social injustice and oppression that do indeed exist in this world, and are even often directly related to language in terms of language differences, status and policy. These issues pertain to all languages, but are exponentially heightened when considering English language learning and teaching. Historically English has been the dominant language, the language of colonialism and of the oppressor. We as English 3 language teachers must be aware of this if we want to empower students and broaden horizons instead of imposing a restrictive, oppressive dominant language and world view. Kuo (2014) agrees that language learning is never neutral, but is instead highly personal, social, and political, and should be treated as such. Ignoring these key aspects of language learning only serves to build barriers and a sense of disconnect, just as ignoring students’ personal background can raise their affective filter (Krashen 1985), thereby impeding learning. Additionally, this model of language teaching and learning implies passivity on the part of the learner, which is of course a problem for anyone who wants or needs to actually use the language. Equally problematic to the dominant ESL/EFL paradigm described above is the fact that many students learning English today are more likely to need to use English to communicate with another non-native speaker, than with a native speaker. Teaching English as a static, singularly correct form fails to empower students with the critical language skills and strategies that they will need to communicate internationally. Purpose of the Project The purpose of this field project is to address and analyze these problems through a critical lens and a review of literature and current English language textbooks. This analysis will be used to create an adaptable, dynamic curriculum and teacher’s guide that exemplifies a shift away from the dominant “English first” and teaching as training paradigm. The completion of this project, including the development of materials, will serve as a connection between theory and practice. Specifically, the theories and ideas of critical pedagogy, critical literacy, strategic competence, affective filter, multiple intelligences, and world Englishes will be applied to create 4 an active, meaningful, relevant, engaging resource that values and employs students’ backgrounds and voices. The curriculum is intended to be appropriate and useful in both ESL and EFL classroom settings, and adaptable across many different levels of ability, with the main target audience falling within the high-intermediate to advanced level. Though