Main Content
Session Information
07 SES 07 B, Multilingualism and Plurilingual Research
Paper Session
Contribution
With an estimated 1.6 billion speakers world-wide, English has situated itself as a global language. While there may be competitors such as Chinese or Arabic, English dominates as a language spoken by different people, in different places, for different means. It is spoken on all continents and in most countries either in an official or unofficial capacity. It is the number one foreign language taught in most schools and dominates as a lingua franca in the realm of politics and commerce (Crystal, 2003; Eurobarometer, 2012). As a result, Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) has become a global industry. In 2012, it’s estimated that the English language learning market was more than $63 billion USD (GSV, 2012). To meet the demand, around 250,000 native English speakers work as English teachers abroad in more than 40,000 schools and language institutes around the world (Hoare, 2010). In trying to meet such high demand, the TEFL industry has encountered several critical issues in training, recruiting, and retaining teachers. For one, attrition is particularly high. One TEFL recruitment agency estimates that fifty percent of teachers remain at their school for a second year, dropping to 10 percent in the third year (International TEFL Academy, n.d.). Second, TEFL pre-service and in-service training is notoriously inconsistent. TEFL programs can be an online course or a Master’s degree programs. In fact, many schools even provide certification to teachers after they arrive and while they are teaching (Hobbs, 2013). Despite hurdles, there have been calls for improvement from within the profession. Many have argued for increased professional standards including increased regulation for certification, improved pre-service and in-service training, increased accountability, and better recruiting practices to battle high attrition rates (Rogers, 2010; Johnston, 1997). While there is a call for improvement within the profession, the details thereof largely remain vague particularly regarding teacher education. As such, the proposed research aims to shed light on the notion of 1) the ideal TEFL teacher and 2) the education and training necessary for one to meet or at least approach the notion of the ideal. As such, this research will interview TEFL teachers with several years of experience within varying teaching contexts. The purpose is to gain insight into professional needs and desires of those committed to the profession as well as the changes they wish to see for new teachers entering the profession.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Crystal, D. (2012). English as a global language. Cambridge University Press. Eurobarometer Special 386. (2012). Europeans and their Languages. European Commission. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf GSV EDU (2012) Education Sector Factbook 2012. GSV Advisors. Retrieved from http://gsvadvisors.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/GSV-EDU-Factbook-Apr-13-2012.pdf Hoare, S. (2010, November 30). Rising demand gives English-speaking teachers a world of choice. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/nov/30/international-schools-english-teachers-hoare Hobbs, V. (2013). ‘A basic starter pack’: the TESOL Certificate as a course in survival. ELT journal, 67(2), 163-174. How large is the job market for English teachers abroad? International TEFL Academy. Retrieved from https://www.internationalteflacademy.com/faq/bid/102201/how-large-is-the-job-market-for-english-teachers-abroad Johnston, B. (1997). Do EFL teachers have careers?. Tesol Quarterly, 31(4), 681-712. Roger, A. E. (2010). From Working Holiday to Serious Professional Career: Why TEFL Has to Change. 神田外語大学紀要, 22, 141-151.
Programme by Network 2019
00. Central Events (Keynotes, EERA-Panel, EERJ Round Table, Invited Sessions)
Network 1. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations
Network 2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Network 3. Curriculum Innovation
Network 4. Inclusive Education
Network 5. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Network 6. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures
Network 7. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Network 8. Research on Health Education
Network 9. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement
Network 10. Teacher Education Research
Network 11. Educational Effectiveness and Quality Assurance
Network 12. LISnet - Library and Information Science Network
Network 13. Philosophy of Education
Network 14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Network 15. Research Partnerships in Education
Network 16. ICT in Education and Training
Network 17. Histories of Education
Network 18. Research in Sport Pedagogy
Network 19. Ethnography
Network 20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Network 22. Research in Higher Education
Network 23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Network 24. Mathematics Education Research
Network 25. Research on Children's Rights in Education
Network 26. Educational Leadership
Network 27. Didactics – Learning and Teaching
Network 28. Sociologies of Education
Network 29. Reserach on Arts Education
Network 30. Research on Environmental und Sustainability Education
Network 31. Research on Language and Education (LEd)
Network 32. Organizational Education
The programme is updated regularly (each day in the morning)
Marginal Content
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.