Local investigations of global English: Teaching English as a global language at the Freie Universität Berlin

Erling, Elizabeth (2008). Local investigations of global English: Teaching English as a global language at the Freie Universität Berlin. In: Dogancay-Aktuna, Seran and Hardman, Joel eds. Global English Language Teacher Education: Praxis & Possibility. Alexandria, VA, USA: TESOL, pp. 147–165.

URL: http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/sec_document.asp?CID=...

Abstract

Although it is important to consider the global presence of English in language teaching programs, Norton and Toohey (2002) remind that language learning is a situated practice, and learners should therefore be seen as individuals with varying social and historical collectivities. To account for this complex nature of language learning, Pennycook (1994) recommends that English language teachers be 'engaged with both the local context and the global domain' (p. 306). In other words, they must address local histories and global practices as well as how these factors meet and intermingle. This chapter focuses on ways to integrate both the local and the global in English language teaching programs. Educators must situate their pedagogy in the specific context in which English is taught to encourage students to express their individual voices in English without sacrificing comprehensibility when communicating globally.

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