Materials in ELT: Looking Ahead

Abstract

The chapters in this volume have been written against the background of the growth of English as a global language. Nine of the fifteen contributors, representing Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Ghana, Japan, and Thailand, point out that English is being taught in these countries because globalisation has made it the language of economic and social access and participation. Although the role of English in people’s actual access to economic and social opportunities is highly problematic (see Coleman, 2011), its status as an international language (EIL), or global lingua franca (ELF), is well established. As such, the importance of English has resulted in policy decisions in countries around the world such as: lowering the age of compulsory English in schools; the provision of school subjects in English; and the required use of materials that may not match the teacher’s background. These policies have created huge challenges to their implementation from the standpoint of materials development, of teaching and teacher preparation, of learner-readiness, and of available resources, particularly technology. These challenges are a cause for concern, since difficulties in implementing the policies undermine the teaching workforce and simply do not produce the desired results. As Wedell puts it,

national policy makers seem generally to have given insufficient thought to existing socio-economic and educational/cultural realities, when considering hoped-for curriculum outcomes. Teachers have thus often failed to enable learners to achieve them. (2008: 635)