Cultural continuity and ELT teacher training

A Systematic Review on Using Literature for the Young Learners in an EFL Classroom

“…The same study had also shown that when teachers use unique strategies that are tailor-fitted to the needs and personalities of their learners, students learn to adopt more positive attitudes towards learning the language (Bahous, 2011). Ultimately, the challenge is in initiating and maintaining young learners' interest in learning English, and studies have shown that one of the best ways to achieving such a goal is through extensive reading (Brown, 2000). Extensive reading helps young learners gain more interest and increases their confidence and fluency in speaking and writing in English.…”

“…However, among the many teaching strategies created, by far the most popular technique is reading English from all types of literature. Brown (2000) posited that extensive reading helps young learners gain more interest and increase their confidence and fluency in speaking and writing in English. Such a technique cultivates the habit of reading in a foreign (English) language.…”

Cultural Continuity in EFL Teaching in International Higher Education: From a Discourse Perspective of Chinese Learners

“…Behavioral and environmental links exist between the traditional and the new which facilitate the cultural absorption of the latter (Jacob, 1996). However, Brown (2000) does notice the conflicts related to cultural continuity in ELT while teachers implement changes in their classrooms. Based on a public statement of the key points of their methodology, he summarizes 12 "manifestos": Evaluating materials and practice: telling good materials from bad, good practice from bad practice.…”

“…The newly integrated teaching pattern in international higher education in China is very dynamic. How Western teaching continuity and local Chinese teaching continuity are applied by both NEFLTs and NEFLTs depends on the overall teaching contexts defined by Brown (2000): the teachers, the learners, the learners' parents, the teachers' peers, the teacher administrators, society as a whole -all have the role of the teacher and his or her learners. At the cross-cultural level, the analysis of cultural continuity in class taught by teachers from different cultural backgrounds also prove that NEFLTs and LEFLTs are apt to their domain knowledge which includes the concepts, facts and procedures explicitly identified with a particular subject matter, which is generally explicated in textbooks, class-activity management and teaching patterns.…”

“…As for EFL classroom teaching, it has been greatly influenced by changing views on the nature of teaching and learning which are reflected in the objectives and content of teaching, as well as the teaching materials, and teachers' and learners' roles in the classroom. Although there have been changes in practices of higher education over the past twenty years, it is still traditionally believed (e.g., Brown, 2000;Holliday, 1997Holliday, , 2001) that cultural continuity in relation to curriculum design and course development should be required. The cultural continuity is usually summarized within the teaching framework of curriculum design from a form-focused, or structural approach, to a meaning-focused, or communicative approach.…”