Teaching English in ASEAN: The voices of English teachers in ASEAN nations

Abstract

The effective teaching of the English language is regarded as an essential element in the creation of a culturally vibrant, economically sound and socially stable ASEAN community. The ASEAN region is populated by a culturally diverse collection of peoples with very different and complex linguistic histories, some of which included a strong English component. This paper examines the opinions and understandings of teachers of English in eight of the ten ASEAN nations. It arose out of a research study of English teaching in ASEAN being conducted jointly by Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia and CfBT Brunei. Although the teachers differed in their levels of competence in English and in their experience of local, national and international culture, they shared a remarkably similar story in attempting to provide the best instruction they possibly could to their students. As non-native speakers of English, they shared the responsibility of representing not only the English language but also the culture of first language English speakers to their non-native speaking students. The conflicts and tensions of their roles were identified and examined. The study concluded that teachers need support in their intercultural role as well as in their pedagogical responsibilities. Teachers reported that their students had little knowledge or appreciation of the ASEAN community or of the importance of their own capacity to speak English in it.

The Outcome of Authentic Material-Based Teaching in a Speaking Class

“…The Outcome of Authentic Material-Based Teaching in Speaking Class countries uses English as a primary language (Waterworth, 2016) to foster "respect for the different cultures, languages and religions of the peoples of ASEAN … in the spirit of unity in diversity" (Kirkpatrick, 2017).…”

“…World Englishes refers to the variation of the English spoken in different countries. Indonesia uses English solely as a method of communication (Waterworth, 2016). As such, English language instruction in Indonesia uses an "English as a Foreign Language" format that focuses on the learners' perspective (Lange & Leuckert, 2019).…”

Experiences and Challenges Perceived by Indonesian EFL Teachers as Non-Native English Speaker Teachers (NNESTs) in Thailand

“…The most important qualification for a teaching position is training and experience in teaching languages (p.165). Hence, not only native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) who have the privilege of teaching English (Methanonppkakhun & Deocampo, 2016) Despite the fact that both native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) and nonnative English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) have an equal chance to teach English, more NNESTs are teaching English in some parts of Asia, especially in the ASEAN region (Waterworth, 2016). In the Asia context, the issue where native speakers are often the ideal model and that American English is the preferred variety is particularly noticeable (Young & Walsh, 2010).…”

Understanding English Texts for Non-English Students: Reading Habits and Reading Preferences in Az-Zainiyah Nurul Jadid

“…Depending on the quality of their school and teacher training in English, their devotion to learning and to improve their English skills and their level of confidence, teachers may also try to convince doubts that arise about how well they can teach English. (Waterworth, 2016). According to UNESCO data, reading interest Indonesian people is very alarming, itjust 0.001%.…”