Rethinking TESOL in Diverse Global Settings: The Language and the Teacher in a Time of Change

About the Book

Shortlisted for the BAAL Book Prize 2020

What do TESOL teachers actually teach? What do they know about language, about English and the ways it is used in the world? How do they view themselves and their work, and how are they viewed by others? How is TESOL perceived as a profession and as a discipline? How can teachers make the most of the available resources? Can global English really deliver what it seems to promise? These are some of the questions explored in Rethinking TESOL in Diverse Global Settings, a book which examines what we mean when we talk about English language teaching and what we understand the job of an English language teacher to be.

Covering diverse teaching environments, from China to Latin America and the Middle East, and from elementary school to university, the authors take a critical look at TESOL by focusing on the actual substance of the subject, language, and attitudes towards it. Through concrete examples from language classrooms, in the form of vignettes and accounts from native speaker and non-native speaker teachers alike, they explore the experiences of teachers worldwide in relation to issues of identity and professionalism, nativeness and non-nativeness, and the pressures of dealing with the expectations with which English has become invested. While recognising the often precarious academic and institutional status of TESOL teachers, the book pulls no punches in challenging those teachers as a whole to become more ambitious in their aims, positioning themselves not as mere skills providers, but language experts, specialists in their subject, members of a legitimate academic discipline. Only then, the authors argue, will TESOL teachers and their work be taken seriously and their expertise recognised.

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction: What Is It about Language Teachers and Language?
2. Is English Different? The Numbers and the Narratives
3. What Kind of Language Do We Teach? Lingua Francas and Lingua Franca English
4. What Do Learners Expect to Learn? Beliefs, Prospects and Realities
5. What Does It Mean To Be an English Language Teacher? Identity and Expertise
6. How Does Linguistics Help? (1) – Describing Language
7. How Does Linguistics Help? (2) – Analysing Language
8. What Does the Learner Bring to the Classroom? Students’ Linguistic and Cultural Capital
9. What Makes a Classroom Authentic? English Inside and Outside the Classroom
10. Conclusion: What Do I Teach when I Teach English?
References
Index

About the Author :

Tim Marr is Visiting Professor in TESOL and Applied Linguistics at Universidad Icesi, Colombia.

Fiona English is Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Applied Linguistics at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, University College London, UK. She is the author of Student Writing and Genre (Bloomsbury, 2011)
Together they are the authors of Why Do Linguistics (Bloomsbury, 2015)

Review :
A timely and impressive piece of work that comes as a breath of fresh air to those of us involved in the field of language pedagogy ... The publication stands as a pathbreaking contribution to the broad field of ELT. The fact that the authors have recognized the need for this topic to be addressed and have given it such comprehensive attention in this book makes it a welcome addition to the case for increasing professionalism within the field of TESOL. Marr and English's thoughtful engagement ... makes the book a must-read for English language teachers. It is also an important resource for language teacher educators who may wish to rethink how English language teacher education programmes should be organized and consider what needs to be done to further strengthen the knowledge foundation for language teachers' professional practice. An intricate, in-depth examination of complex themes, interlaced with examples and narrative from the authors and teachers they have met ... There are two clear messages in this book: that "Teachers have to embrace linguistic diversity" and that "if they wish to be taken seriously, teachers at every level have to own the disciplinary identity of the language specialist." I couldn't agree more. An enjoyable and engaging read that I would recommend to all those interested in the global reality of English and the TESOL profession ... Marr and English aim to open a dialogue that doesn’t focus solely on pedagogy or methodology, but examines language awareness and the fact that good methodology stems from solid linguistic knowledge. This knowledge will empower teachers to be even more interested in language, to respect it and to become specialists in their field. This book challenges many of the assumptions that teachers may have about the status of English, the TESOL profession itself, and issues related to linguistic inequality, politics, power, race, and economics. The message of the book is clear: English language teachers need to have specialized knowledge not only of the mechanics of language but of how, why, and by whom language is actually used. Offers a timely examination of why so many teachers of English can articulate so little about how the language works, and predicts that the days of the unqualified native-speaking teacher 'winging it' in classrooms around the world may be numbered. The greatest rewards will in future accrue to those teachers who possess disciplinary expertise through their knowledge of the language system. The book explores how, in the era of global English as a Lingua Franca, these teachers will not necessarily be native English speakers.