University of Nottingham Malaysia
School of Education
     
  

Language awareness and diversity management: Developing an appropriate framework for teaching English in Asia

Location
F4LG10
Date(s)
26th April 2017
Contact
To participate, kindly register here. For more information on this event, you can contact Wong Tze Peng.
Description
Misbeliefs about English persist, consequently affecting teaching and learning the language. In Asia, as well as in many parts of the world, the language has become a status symbol that separates the well-educated elites from their less-educated counterparts. Proficient speakers of English are regarded as upwardly mobile, while those who are not proficient in the language are insecure about using it, making language learning even more burdensome for both teachers and students. Whatever attitude exists about the language, the fact remains that English is a requirement in important domains of society.

The realities about English in Asia also point to the language as having international currency. Knowing that English is used in a wide variety of domains in many countries in the world, students strive to learn it to communicate well in an international setting. However, the emergence of new English varieties poses challenges to intercultural communication. The English that a speaker of one country uses, for example, may not be easily accessible to users of other varieties.

This workshop introduces participants to a framework for ELT that engages the sociolinguistic realities of English in Asia, including negative attitudes associated with the language, and the need to learn it for intercultural communication. This framework strives to incorporate language awareness and diversity management in its lessons. Participants of this workshop will have opportunities to reflect on their own teaching practices, as well as create teaching strategies and instructional materials that are appropriate to English language teaching and learning in multilingual settings.

Details: 
Date: 26 April 2017, Wednesday
Time: 14:00 to 15:00
Venue: F4LG10  
             The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
             Jalan Broga 43500 Semenyih

About the speaker: 
Dr Isabel Pefianco Martin is Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics and Chair of the Department of English, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines. She has published in various internationally recognised publications on topics ranging from World Englishes, Philippine English, English language education, language policy, to language and law. She also serves in the editorial board of Asian Englishes (Routledge).

This event is free and open to all.

School of Education

University of Nottingham Malaysia
Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

telephone: +6 (03) 8725 3717
fax: +6 (03) 8924 8020

Make an enquiry